MAIN ENTERPRISES' *PPFSZT! #49: ENTERTAINING EMPATHY & MORE

Main Enterprises has just released *PPFSZT! #49 (Summer '22), and with it comes a sprightly, if not cynical spread of timely and eclectic ingredients, for which Troy Boyle's empathetic cover speaks volumes. 

Inside one will find Jim Main/Verl Bond's gritty Hitchens (Episode 2), where the eponymous bounty hunter greets Sheriff Keeler for his fee, but soon grants readers a hardy view into the events that shaped him. 

In addition, readers are treated to Will Murray's atmospheric Day of the Dead fable, "Blood of the Butterflies"; a warm and welcoming "The Publisher Speaks"; "The UFO Checklist"; and ample and contagious "Comic Book Remembrances". 

All of this is bracketed and underscored by stylish artwork from the aforementioned Boyle and Bond, along with profound, pop-culture creations (of DC, Marvel and beyond) by Alan Groening; Brad Foster; Kel Crum; Roland Austin; Scott McClung; Anthony C. Gray; Doc Boucher; Kevin Duncan; Marc Haines; Tom Ahern; and Russ Maheras. Yep, another all-star cast, but would anyone expect anything less from Main Enterprises?

*PPFSZT! #49 is an invigorating product, so latch on asap to commune with its cool, creative offerings. 

A preorder special is currently available for this swell issue, which can be purchased for $6.50 (including postage, for U.S. mailing only). A nifty pdf will be emailed to you and then later the hard copy. To get the collectible combo, send check/money order to Jim Main; 130 Wellsville Av; Back of House; New Milford CT 06776. Mr. Main also accepts Paypal funds through jmain44@aol.com. Remember to include your mailing address in any case.

SO LONG, BO HOPKINS...

You covered both exploitation and mainstream runs with enviable consistency. 

The titles are memorable ones, too: Tentacles; Mutant; From Dusk Till Dawn 2; Phantoms; The Bridge at Remagen; White Lightning; A Small Town in Texas; The Wild Bunch; Monte Walsh; Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone; The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing; The Ballad of Little Joe; Posse; Macho Callahan; The Kansas City Massacre; The Getaway '72; The Day of the Locust; Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway; Invasion of Johnson County; Midnight Express; American Graffiti; More American Graffiti; Woman on the Run; The Killer Elite '75; and with that fine gent who so resembled, Jerry Reed, What Comes Around. 

Your television expanse was as impressive: Hawaii Five-O; The Mod Squad; The Rookies; Charlie's Angels; The Scarecrow and Mrs. King; Bonanza; Gunsmoke; The Virginian; The Rat Patrol; The Fall Guy; Murder, She Wrote; The A-Team; Fantasy Island; The Andy Griffith Show; The Rockford Files (where you even earned a recurring role); plus heck of a lot more. 

You had an everyman charm, even while you roamed with the cream of the crop. That made you identifiable and respected, Mr. Hopkins, with a personality that will stay eternal within the hearts of all cinema buffs. 

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: STRANGE/HULK

I saw Stranger Things: Season 4 (Vol 1)...

The Duffer Brothers, through Netflix, have  released Stranger Things: Season 4 (Vol 1). I've watched the first seven episodes (against all odds, due to my grueling schedule) and as such, I now offer my passing reflections. 

For one, I dig this season's amped-up '80s music groove. Though other decades since have produced fine tunes, the '80s was the last decade to fuel it high with continuous, catchy hits and memorable melodies. This atmospheric element proves meaningful for anyone who savors that cozy timeframe, whether or not a Lucio Fulci-lookin' creature and revengeful, Lovecraftian remnants of the Cold War were around.  

Of course, for those in Hawkins, Indiana, the circumstances are again dire, if not colorful, as Season 4 demonstrates, with upside-down phenomena hitting all hyperventilating levels. This leaves Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhead); El Hopper (Mille Bobby Brown); the flashbacked Jim Hopper (David Harbour); Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer); Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton); Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo); Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke); Steve Harrington (Joe Kerry); Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink); Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin); Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder); Will Byers (Noah Schnapp); the enigmatic Sam Owens (Paul Reiser); and that erudite bastard, Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) to experience further brain-wracking, interdimensional interludes (and for a special few, a dandy D&D group called the Hellfire Club). And just for the record, Joseph Quinn joins the cast as the cool but under-suspicion heavy-metalist, Eddie Munson. Alright! 

The new, underlying events cater to bullying, the fate of being different and how to cope with such (all in the courageous, Rebel Without A Cause vein), and when the spectral invasion becomes unavoidable, the Scooby-Doo-ing downtrodden investigate. This results in a return to the saga's It/Poltergeist/Aliens/The Fly annals (with The Keep, The Kindred {the '87 flick, of course}, The Elm Street movies {in particular The Dream Warriors} and House by the Cemetery then manipulating the chilling queue). 

So, is this reignited rehash as engaging as what preceded it? Sure, even if yet incomplete for viewers' seamless consumption. The conclusion hits early July. (Come on, it's gonna consist of two concluding episodes. Why not drop the whole thing at once for full, melodramatic impact?) Anyway, though some might say Season 4 is all-too-familiar, the show's successful ingredients still defy the mundane. In other words, the path feels logical. (It never hurts to add a few twists to any lay of the land, but also no point in reinventing the wheel here, folks, as in the way of those decrepit, neo Star Wars movies. If something ain't broke...)

Anyway, more Stranger Things will come, and when such strikes, rest assured I'll have more to say. Stay tuned. 

MEMORIAL DAY 2022: IN HONOR AND RESPECT

 

R.I.P. RAY LIOTTA...

You were a Jersey boy who made damn good, hitting stardom on a prestigious level, in particular in acclaimed, gangster/police stories like Goodfellas, The Many Saints of Newark and Copland.

And among other swell, movie adventures (both realistic and outlandish), you were just as renowned, with forceful appearances in Sin City: A Dame to Die For; Hannibal; Turbulence; Unlawful Entry; Something Wild; Unforgettable; Control; Narc; Identity; Blow; Slow Burn; Smokin' Aces; Killing Them Softly; The Rat Pack; Bee Movie; John Q; Revolver; Wild Hogs; The Place Beyond the Pines; and the underrated, action gem, No Escape.

However, my favorite of your performances resides in Phil Alden Robinson's movie adaptation of W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe, where you brought great poignancy to a real-life character wrought by long-term woe through a redeeming Field of Dreams.

If the truth be known, Mr. Liotta, you should still be with us, but you managed to stack up a lifetime of artistic worth that will entertain well beyond your brief but valuable visit on Earth. 

HAPPY WORLD DRACULA DAY 2022

 

IANQU'S ASSUMPTIONS: INEBRIATED TRACKS

Adarcah Ianqu's Assumptions is Ray Milland's Lost Weekend and Dick Van Dyke's Morning After rolled into one. It's an album that assumes suffering, its consequential addictions and the desperate means to snap from an opiate's shackles. 

It starts with a long "second" drilling into one's head, a simulated salvation that only shoves one deeper into Hell's heart. It also turns one's "second" chance into an album all unto itself, exploring the sort of erratic toot that one wishes to end, but gets nurtured all the same, buzzing along with and without refrain. 

But "drunk {the first bottle}" is the real kicker. It guzzles down and sloshes the cerebral throat, blurring the vision and wobbling the knees. Its sounds are cool and defiant (a nod to junkie pride), but as it progresses, it becomes an unceasing, diabolical transmission, whizzing like a mad scientist's machinery, creating something big and bad.

With "drunk {the last drop}", the intoxication has struck its satanic summit. It sounds like a wistful whirlybird sputtering ever onward, but going nowhere. It mocks. It taunts. And for better or worse, it lives. 

"Try" is the feature-length reply, filled with tingles and chills. In Ianqu's notes, the need to untangle, to clear one's doubts becomes the obsessive pursuit. It feels like going to church, even though one is forever damned, but even so, one must try--try and try again!

Perhaps "tomorrow" will be better. Perhaps, one will see the light, even become anointed by it, cleansed and free of one's poisonous prison. A robotic melody creaks through this track, even more epic than those that preceded it, cranking like a vampire's fingers, daring not to melt, to fade away, cutting into the rays, demanding unmitigated hope. Yes, tomorrow will be brighter. Tomorrow one will be cured. It's all one can presume or else what's the point?  

Ianqu's Assumptions lays it all on the line, never apologizing, never resigning, and because of it, it's the best treatment plan one can embrace, so if one is snared by the Devil's mix, partake the moody maestro's audio allusion as quick as one can: 

https://adarcahiancu.bandcamp.com/album/assumptions?fbclid=IwAR30GoO4X1azoWi2-cr_X1SRNElydO_jzSQaL6iCaenlU-PrT3viomQBBDc

HAPPY WORLD GOTH DAY 2022

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRED; FROM BROTHER MIKE