Hello Readers! It’s finally summer, so I hope you’re staying cool wherever you are! It has been a minute, but this is the (allegedly) weekly update of what I’ve been up to and what’s coming up.
News!
Safety Guidelines My short poem Safety Guidelines was recently published in the poetry zine Dreams and Nightmares! The issue is a bit difficult to order, but click the link to find out more about the magazine.
Reviews!
Hugh Likes Comics: Zatanna: Bringing Down the House I was snared by Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodriguez’s new take on DC Comics’ magical heroine Zatanna, which puts a Noe-Noir spin on the character, starting her out as a Vegas stage performer haunted by trauma. This is the first issue of the story, and it’s a great jumping on point, with no canon knowledge necessary.
Hugh Likes Fiction: The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed This dark fairytale novella is a short but brutal examination of the rules of power, how to bend them, and how they break you. A sort of inverted retelling of Hansel and Gretel, it’s the story of a woman sent into a magical forest to rescue the two young children of the Tyrant who conquered her village. Tense and thrilling.
It’s the summer, and not too much is going on that I’m ready to talk about yet, but I can announce that I will be appearing at the Better Off Read Festival at Artpartk on August 31st! I’ll be selling books and other goodies, so please stop by and say hello! My very short story collection, The Mountain’s Shadow, is still available from amazon or your preferred online book retailer. Stay cool, and I’ll see you next week!
The Butcher of the Forest Written by Premee Mohamed Published by Tordotcom
The Skinny: A dark fairytale about the rules of power: how to bend them, and how they break you.
The villagers stay away from the North Woods. They raise their children on the stories of the things that live in the forest and the strange, magical realm in its heart. They memorize the rules they will need to survive should they wander too far into the trees. But while the knowledge was passed on, it never reached the Tyrant, who conquered the village and established his castle on the outskirts. Nor did it reach his two children. So when Veris is roused before dawn and brought before the Tyrant, she knows what he will demand before he tells her: His two children are missing, and as the only living person to venture into the North Woods and the Elmever that lies within its boundaries, she will bring them back. In this dark fairy tale reversal over Hansel and Gretel, everything resolves around power, and the rules it follows. Contrasting the typical rules of entering a fairyland (don’t eat anything, don’t give your real name, don’t try and negotiate) with life under a dictatorial regime is a brutal and brilliant choice. Fascists are as capricious and dangerous as the fey. Their rules are no less byzantine, and the penalties for breaking them are no less deadly. Mohamed’s writing is spare and sharp as a knife, compressing the story into a single day. This is a quick but by no means easy read. The story is gripping, and the characters have depths that peek in just at the edges of their dialog and the narration. This book will get its hooks in you until the final, brutal reveal. I highly recommend it. The Butcher of the Forest is available in print from your local independent book store, or in digital formats from the usual online storefronts.
Zatanna: Bring Down the House #1 Written by Mariko Tamaki Drawn & Colored by Javier Rodriguez Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou Published by DC Comics
The Skinny: The first part of a gorgeous and engrossing Neo-noir take on a classic DC Comics character.
Zatanna is a DC Character that I’m not super familiar with, but I always enjoy when she shows up as a cameo character. A stage magician who can do real magic, there’s a lot going on with her, and so when I saw the first cover for Zatanna: Bring Down The House, written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Javier Rodriguez, I snapped it up. And I’m glad I did. This first issue sets Zatanna up as a character apart from the larger DC Universe. Despite being headhunted by larger hotels and even the Justice League, Zatanna works at a run-down Las Vegas casino, doing two free shows a day for sparse crowds. And she never uses the word ‘Magic’ in her act. She says she does ‘tricks,’ but she does have the eerie feeling that someone has been following her, and has been having nightmares involving her childhood and her late father. But surely all that is coincidence. As is the woman who’s been attending every performance for the past week. This gorgeous first issue feels like something out of DC’s ’90’s Vertigo imprint. So far, this is a story all about a character running from their past, and their destiny, working in a small job for small crowds. Unable to face what they’ve done and their great potential. The narrative is hitting familiar beats, but the setting and character are intriguing enough to keep going. It has that common first issue problem that the cliffhanger arrives just as the action heats up, but the slow burn here is worth the cover price. Rodgiguez’s rich and colorful art help as well, lending the story a Neo-noir flair with the bright colors and sleaze of the Vegas strip. Rodriguez fills his pages with garish colors, clever details, and a strange shadow following Zatanna throughout her day. The layouts build tension masterfully throughout the issue to the final reveal. And if that reveal doesn’t quite make sense yet, well, that’s what issue 2 is for, isn’t it? Zatanna: Bringing Down the House #1 is available now from your local comics shop or digitally from your online store of choice. This is an intriguing first issue that has me on the hook for the next one. I recommend it!
Astro’s Playroom Developed by: JapanStudio, Team Asobi Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment Played on Playstation 5
The Skinny: A colorful and vibrant tech demo that might finally give Sony the Mascot Character they’ve been looking for.
Entering the Video Game Console market as a 3rd entry in the mid-’90s, Sony historically struggled to create a family friendly mascot to represent its brand the way Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog did. The transition from 2D to 3D games made the sorts of platformer games they starred in trickier to pull off, and Sony was famously resistant to older 2D and sprite-based graphics. They had a few entries like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, but they didn’t quite carry the day. They didn’t have that same main character energy. Sony soon found its footing as a more grown-up console fronting game franchises like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid, and later God of War. But a true mascot platformer remained out of reach. But with the release of the Playstation 5, which includes the pack-in tech demo Astro’s Playroom, they might have finally done it, with a short, snappy little game that shows off the system’s capabilities with a hefty dose of Playstation nostalgia. Astro himself is a cartoon robot that lives inside your PS5. He and his friends do the work of bringing you your games, and the game consists of a hub area and four zones that each represent different parts of your Playstation’s hardware, such as the CPU, themed as a busy speedway of flying cars, or the cooling system, which looks like a beach resort. It’s fun and clever, and the levels are challenging without being too tricky. They also make full use of the PS5’s Dualsense controller, teaching players how to use the upgraded shoulder triggers and the other new features of the system in a low-stress environment. Each level has its own mechanics as well as sections that transform Astro into a vehicle such as a robot gorilla who climbs using the triggers or a frog that hops using the analog sticks. The game is also loaded with Playstation references and easter eggs. Throughout the levels, Astro will come across his fellow robots ‘filming’ scenes from various Playstation franchise games in little costumes. You might pass by a bot dressed as Kratos or Ratchet and Clank, posing like a part of that game. Each set of levels is also thematically tied to a specific Playstation console generation, with hidden collectables from that era, such as consoles, controllers and accessories that can all be viewed back in the hub. Players also find puzzle pieces that create a Playstation-themed mural on the hub walls. Astro’s Playroom is a great little tech demo that is just the right length and level of challenge as well as finally scratching that nostalgia itch for Playstation fans. It is included with the PS5, so if you own the console it is well worth checking out if you haven’t. Sony recently announced a full-game sequel, Astro Bot, coming this fall.
DC Pride 2024 Created by Various Writers and Artists Published by DC Comics
The Skinny: DC once again delivers a beautiful, fun, and affirming collection of Queer stories by Queer creators.
It is June once again, and that means it is Pride month! DC Comics has released their annual oversized DC Pride anthology issue. Featuring a number of stories and pinups by Queer artists and writers and featuring Queer DC characters, this issue is always a delight, and this year’s collection is no exception. Most of the stories in this book can be picked up without relying on current continuity, and a few even serve as intriguing jumping on points for current ongoing series. This is a perfect book for Queer readers wondering if they want to get onboard with comics. The stories are particularly strong this year, and the art, as usual, is superlative. Al Ewing and Stephen Byrne’s moving opening story about the last two members of an alien race teaming up to stop a lingering threat from a thwarted invasion attempt is particularly great. Despite not knowing the characters going in, it quickly established its vibe and stakes without getting bogged down, and it felt like the kind of little story that happens all the time in the DC universe. Ngozi Ukazu, the writer and artist of the upcoming Barda graphic novel also has a compelling Aquaman story, featuring the New Gods’ equivalent of Pride, which was compellingly executed and gorgeously drawn, and really makes me want to check out the upcoming book. Jarret Williams’ and DJ Kirkland’s ‘Bros Down in A-Town’ is less super-heroic but features a ton of cameos from DC characters enjoying an alien food festival. DC Comics has such a rich history of brilliant, strange concepts to draw on, and I tend to gravitate towards those ideas rather than the editorial drive towards scowling on rain-soaked rooftops. Plus, one of my favorite comics artists drew my current favorite DC character, Argus the space corgi, so this one is a winner for me, too. The stories in DC Pride 2024 are all winners this year, including a heartfelt memoir from longtime DC creator Phil Jimenez to close out the book. The stories all vary in tone, but are generally uplifting and beautiful. There is a little bit of something special in each one, and I highly recommend checking it out and passing it along to your LGBTQ+ comics-reading friends. You can find it digitally through Comixology from Amazon or in print at your Local Comics Shop.
Dredge: Deluxe Edition Developed by: Black Salt Games Published by Team 17 Played on Nintendo Switch
The Skinny: The horror of a cozy fishing game
During the day, things are relatively calm, if bleak. Players will catch the occasional horrifying aberration, which can be sold for bonus money at the fishmonger. When the Sun goes down, things become more difficult, with the thick fog hiding deadly rocks, as well as terrifying sea creatures such as lights in the distance that appear to be other vessels, but are really giant angler fish-like monsters. Some fish can only be caught at night, though, so you’ll have to tough it out if you want to catch everything. The game does allow players to turn off random monsters and scary events if you just want to get down to the fishing. The fishing itself if quite good, with complex but easy enough to grasp mechanics and a gentle gameplay curve and loop that encourages players to upgrade their boat and explore the game’s five diverse areas. Different rods, nets, crab pots and engines are available, and the ship itself can also be upgraded to increase durability and cargo space. You always feel like you are improving, even as the tension in the story and environments ratchets upward. The story path is creepy, but being able to tackle it at your own pace makes it easier. The areas you go through on your quest are varied and interesting, which helps too. You’ll sail around crumbling, abandoned cliffs, a haunted atoll, a maze of mangrove trees, and volcanic ruins. Each area has their own unique catchable fish as well as their own dangers to avoid. These range from environmental obstacles like falling rocks and tornadoes in Gull Cliffs to active enemies such as the giant tentacled monstrosity crouched in the deep water of the basin. There are also other monsters and NPCs scattered around the map with their own rewards and challenges. The game is stuffed full of treasure-filled wrecked ships and planes, but some are giant crab-like mimics that will attack you when you get close, for example. With its compelling gameplay loop and atmospheric main story, Dredge is a great little fishing game that does something different than the Bass Pro Challenges of the world. Indie game fans who are looking for something different should check this one out. Dredge is available electronically from Steam and all the usual e-shops. The physical Deluxe Edition comes bundled with the Blackstone Key expansion, which grants a couple useful items in-game, as well as a poster and art book. You can find it for current generation consoles online and wherever video games are sold.
Balatro Developed by LocalThunk Published by Playstack Played on Nintendo Switch
The Skinny: The House always wins. But let’s do another run, just to be sure.
Balatro is a deck-building rogue-like based around poker. But rather than present you with a simulation of opponents, the presentation is simplified down to core elements. The player presented with a hand of cards floating in a void, and are challenged to beat an escalating series of score challenges. But while Balatro uses the structure and hands of a poker deck, it feels a lot more like Fluxx. While you are building poker hands to survive each round, the real goal of the game is to change the rules to suit your strategy. Between rounds, players go to a Scorched Earth-style shop screen, where they are offered a rotating selection of different options to change the rules and contents of their deck. Planet cards make poker hands more valuable, while Tarot and Celestial cards have a number of different wild effects. You can also add new cards with special abilities such as giving players bonus money or points. But the most important cards for sale are the Jokers. Jokers sit outside of the player’s deck and add different ongoing rules. They might buff the scores of certain suits or change the rules to allow players to skip cards when making straights, for example. There are over a hundred Jokers, and players unlock new ones by completing hidden objectives in each run. Optimization is the core of the gameplay, by removing the opponent and focusing on making the best hand possible with the best rules possible, Balatro takes the core gameplay of deck-builders like Slay the Spire and distills them down to a potent core loop. By removing the action and exploration elements from games like Hades, the challenge changes from reaching a goal to making the numbers go up. And the thrill of watching those numbers rise as you struggle to stay ahead of the challenge curve is the beating heart of the game. The house might always win, but watching a successful combo turn a lowly pair into an unstoppable juggernaut is a pure hit of dopamine.
Balatro’s simple, pixel-based aesthetic reinforces the focused premise. You aren’t sitting at a perfectly recreated poker table with 4K graphics to discern between every fiber of the felt surface. There aren’t any lovingly modeled clay chips that clink realistically as you bet. The cards are all pixel graphics, floating in a multicolor void that looks like an old MP3 player visualizer. There’s even a faux-CRT line grid over the whole thing, selling the simplicity of the game. The music and sound effects get the job done and are agreeable enough, though the game almost expects you to play with a podcast or audiobook in your ear. I played on the Nintendo Switch, and while the handheld version had some disability accommodations, such as high-contrast card mode, it doesn’t quite go far enough, and after even a short session, I felt a bit of eye strain. The text in the game is quite small, and there isn’t an option to enlarge it or change the font, making it difficult to read at times. This is so far a minor nitpick in an otherwise engaging and engrossing pick up and play game.
Balatro is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and Playstation consoles. It’s a tasty little gem, that might eat up more of your time than you expect. But what’s the harm in just one more run?
Three Parts Dead Written by Max Gladstone Narrated by Claudia Alick Audiobook Published by Blackstone Audio, Inc .
The Skinny: A high-magic fantasy novel that eschews the royal court for the courtroom.
Terra Abernathy is a craftswoman, a graduate of the Hidden Schools, and a young woman of incredible power, even if they did literally kick her out after graduating her. But she survived the long fall to the ground as well as the perilous desert crossing that followed. After a brief visit home, she’s rescued/headhunted by the mysterious Ms. Kavarian, a partner at a prestigious craft firm. Craftspeople aren’t merely wielders of mystical powers fueled by starlight and the stolen secrets of the gods. They’re also professionals, offering their services in negotiation, arbitration, and other meta-legal matters. Ms. Kavarian is looking to recruit Ms. Abernathy, but first they have a difficult case ahead of them: settle the affairs of a dead god, and if possible, secure his resurrection. The first novel in Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence, Three Parts Dead is set in a world where magical contracts function like legal contracts, with wizards and liches acting much as lawyers and judges do in the real world. It’s a fascinating system, and Gladstone’s world-building is rich and detailed without becoming dry and overbearing on the story. The setting of Alt Calum and its surroundings is vibrant and bustling, with divine-powered technology, mystical architecture, and a colorful cast of mystics, priests, monsters and others. No matter how strong the world-building, a story lives or dies based on its plot and characters, and Gladstone presents us with a city full of legalist magicians, shady priests, outcast gargoyles, vampire-chasing club kids, and love-sick gods. These are unique, and more importantly, well-realized characters that will worm their way into your heart and break it. Contracts have two sides, after all, and not everyone negotiates in good faith. Often characters are left considering if their goals are worth the costs. I listened to Three Parts Dead as an audiobook read by Claudia Alick and produced by Blackstone Audio. Alick does an excellent job bringing the characters to life from nervous, chain-smoking acolyte Abelard to the terrifyingly professional Ms. Kavarian. Three Parts Dead is a rollicking start to Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence. It is available in print from your local independent book store, digitally from the usual suspects, or in audio from Audible.com.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 1 Written by: Kanehito Yamada Drawn by: Tsukasa Abe Published by: VIZ Media LLC
The Skinny: Fantasy manga grows up.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is part of a new sub-genre of manga and anime that doesn’t merely adopt Western Fantasy tropes, but expands then into a deep examination of the characters and settings. After defeating The Demon King and restoring peace to the land, four adventurers go their separate ways. Elven mage Frieren goes back to her old life of wandering alone without much thought for her companions. When they meet again fifty years later, she finds that her companions have all aged, while she hasn’t changed at all. After their leader Himmel passes away, she realizes that she hardly knew anything about him, and goes on a journey both to learn more about her companions and herself. With such a long-lived central character, author Yamada and artist Abe are able to explore the themes in unique and interesting ways. They transform what appears to be a standard heroic fantasy story into a poignant examination of loss, regret, and the passage of time. The creators are able to play with the pacing of the story in interesting ways, having months or even years pass between chapters. The manga is filled with page sequences where months pass like days. Rather than feeling rushed, however, these sections evoke a sense of stillness and calm. The story also flashes back between the party’s original adventures and the current journey to great effect. Frieren often interacts with people she met in her travels who were children during their quest, and are now elderly. In one particularly interesting chapter, she visits a village where they sealed a demon, knowing that it will soon break free. This is somewhat of a one-off story, but the creators give a lot of insight into the world building and magic system of the setting. The demon was too powerful to defeat outright eighty years ago, but the development of magic has continued apace since he was sealed, in large part as part of an arms race to discover a defense for a particularly dangerous killing spell that the demon developed. Frieren unseals the demon, tells him that his king is dead, and after a short battle, kills him with his own spell. While he was sealed, the world, and the study of magic, had passed him by. His powerful magic became ordinary. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is a melancholiac, thought-provoking, and beautiful examination of how we view the passage of time and our connections to others. It is available in print from your local comics shop or digitally from Comixology. There is also a new anime adaptation available through Crunchyroll!
Superliminal Developed by Pillow Castle Played on PC via Xbox Game Pass
The Skinny: A delightful if short puzzle game that puts your spacial reasoning and perspective to the test!
Framed as a session of lucid dreaming therapy, 2019’s Superliminal from developer Pillow Castle is a surprising and delightful little gem of a first person puzzle game. The game is set from a first person perspective, much like Valve’s smash hit Portal, and players must navigate puzzle rooms and solve perspective challenges in order to progress to each level’s exit. The primary mechanic revolves around perspective and object manipulation. Players can pick up objects and use the surroundings and changes in perspective to manipulate them by changing their size or shape. For example, players can pick up a block from a table, and by placing it correctly in the environment, change its size. This size change is neat, but can be a bit tricky to correctly implement. I found myself dancing with objects in order to get them to be the right size, often having them shrink on my with a careless push of the mouse.
Being set in a sort of a mad science experiment turned strip mall therapy office, the game wears its Portal inspiration on its sleeve, with a snarky AI, enigmatic voice messages from the technology’s developer, and ominous whiteboard messages. The writing is never quite as sharp or as funny as Portal, but it is clever, and it doesn’t get quite as cynical either. Objects and locations are fun and surprising, and the puzzles were tricky without being too frustrating.
Clocking in at just a couple of hours, Superliminal doesn’t really have too much meat on its bones beyond the couple hours of single-player campaign. But what it does provide is fun and engaging. It is the perfect game to while away a winter afternoon with a mug of something warm nearby. Superliminal is available as a download for PC, Xbox, Playstation network, and Nintendo Switch.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 