Monthly Media Recap - July 2023

 

Streaming Series

 

Slasher: Flesh and Blood (S4, Shudder)

This go round has a dying patriarch gather his very dysfunctional family on his island home for a deadly competition to see who gets his inheritance. And just to make it more interesting, there's a killer on the loose.  Four seasons in, the storytelling is still fantastic and the kills are deliciously gory.

Marvel's Secret Invasion (Disney+)

Why wouldn't you want to see Sam Jackson in his own limited series? When it needs more episodes to dig into the story. I'm well versed in Marvel, even recently read the comics this is based on, and I still felt like I wasn't getting why they did this. I can't imagine how people that only follow the movies/shows are digesting this. Will we even see [spoiler] again and why'd they do [spoiler] dirty like that in this tiny series?

Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators

This was my weekend ritual when it was airing so this was a ton of fun to watch and catch up with the Gladiators. It was also really interesting to see all the behind the scenes stuff that was going on both with the show itself and the Gladiators' personal stories.

 

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones - Marvel Comics

Indiana Jones month is rolling to a close like a giant boulder chasing you out of a temple with the Marvel Comics series that gave us more Indy action between the first two movies and just a little beyond.

The series was published between 1982 and 1985 and lasted for 34 issues. The fact that it lasted as long as it did before Temple of Doom came out I think is a testament to just how much people love Indy! Each story usually lasted 2 issues and there was an ongoing continuity where allies and enemies would return.

In order to talk a bit about the series, I went back over the past month and read them all. I wasn't sure I was going to make it in time for this post because halfway through the month I realized the new MCU show was coming out and I wanted to read that source material before the show. I'm still reading Secret Invasion but I got all the way through Indy, just for you guys!

Choose Your Own Indiana Jones Adventure (Find Your Fate)

Maybe role-playing games aren't your thing, maybe you don't like complicated rules, or can't strong arm enough of your friends to sit down to play. Maybe you don't have any friends (it's ok, we've all been there). There was still another way you could go on a globe trotting archeology adventure aside from, you know, actually going outside to play: the Find Your Fate series of books! 

Image from the Indiana Jones Wiki

As a pre-teen, the Choose Your Own Adventure books had a big imapct on me. Over the years I'd try out any CYOA style book series that came along. When you add a pop culture icon to that style of storytelling, you've got an instant buy from me!