The Mummy

Monday June 19, 2017 • Howard Tayler

The trailers for The Mummy suggested that it was going to be a supernatural horror film retreading ground that Universal Studios has already covered several times. There was no hint that the movie would have any joy in it. 

To my delight, there was a lot of joy¹. While not as outright campy as 1999’s The Mummy², it definitely leaned in that direction. Yes, there are jump-scares and spooky bits, but there’s also lots of witty banter, and a healthy dose of dark comedy. I had a pretty good time. My 16yo daughter really liked it too.

Fans of the 1999 film may be pleased to note that a prop from that film³ has a featured cameo in this one, suggesting that perhaps Rick, Evelyn, and Alex O’Connell share this universe with Jenny Halsey, Nick Morton, and Dr. Henry Jekyll (along with the rest of Universal’s DARK UNIVERSE stable of monsters and mortals.) It’s not explicitly declared, but there’s nothing explicitly ruling it out.

The Mummy (2017) doesn’t clear my Threshold of Awesome, but it was a lot of fun. It entered my list at #6 for the year, which is not too shabby for June.

¹Recent experiences with misleading trailers invite comparison: Suicide Squad‘s trailer promised campy fun, but the movie was bleak. The Mummy’s trailer promised horror, and the movie was horror plus dark comedy. I prefer having my expectations set low.

² I’m sitting down to watch 1999’s The Mummy right now, while I ink. It’s like an old friend. A really old friend, who tracks sand everywhere, and doesn’t like my cat.

³ If you must know, it was the big gold book with the fancy star-shaped key. You’d think I’d know the name of my friend’s favorite book, but no, I do not. 

Schlock Mercenary Turns Seventeen

Tuesday June 13, 2017 • Howard Tayler

On Monday, June 12th of the year 2000 the very first Schlock Mercenary strip appeared on the web.

Yesterday, Monday, June 12th of the year 2017 marked the seventeenth anniversary of that start date—seventeen years of uninterrupted¹ daily² updates here at schlockmercenary.com.

That I am now in my eighteenth year of doing this stands as evidence of ongoing good fortune. I’ve enjoyed seventeen full years without any sort of debilitating injury or crisis preventing me from working for more than a couple of weeks at a time. I’ve gotten sick and been injured, of course, but I keep getting better with sufficient time to spare.

At some point this streak will end. That point lies in the mists of a hopefully-distant future, and is not today.

Today I am making comics.

(Just as soon as I finish this blog post.)

If you would like to celebrate the beginning of Schlock Mercenary’s eighteenth year, you might consider sharing the strip with a friend. But whatever you do, don’t send them back to the very beginning. That would be cruel. Start here, with Book 12.  Which, by serendipitous convenience³, is the most recent of the Schlock Mercenary stories to appear in print.

How long will Schlock Mercenary continue to run? The over-arching story is in its final act, and will draw to a close soon, probably  in Book 19. But on the day following that big finish there will be another update, and another one the day after that. Those will launch a new story, featuring some characters you know, and a universe you think you know, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a satisfactory conclusion coming up, and you can enjoy it secure in the knowledge that it won’t end the delivery of daily strips here at schlockmercenary.com.

¹ There have been service interruptions, of course. Like that time the data center’s UPS failed, and a fire destroyed part of the facility. But Schlock Mercenary has updated every day, and with a bit of back-up hosting has never been unavailable for more than a few hours at a time.

² That’s 6,210 strips. Yes, the image files are backed up in more than one place. 

³ A friend who also happens to be flush with the good fortune of a spot of discretionary income, might purchase that book as a gift. Shared links are lovely, but a thing made out of colorful paper is a thing that will be remembered. 

Wonder Woman

Friday June 2, 2017 • Howard Tayler

Wonder Woman was pretty much a perfect movie.

I loved it, Sandra loved it, and we’re both extremely happy that it is a thing  that exists in this timeline.

Does it redeem the clumsy, colorless DC movie franchise? Well, if my ticket purchases for those other movies (the ones with with the altruistic alien, the disturbed rich guy, and the clown-guy’s psychiatrist) helped fund Wonder Woman I have exactly zero regrets, and would spend that time and money again. Twice more, even. But I’m glad I don’t have too, because now I still have that time and money, and can go see Wonder Woman again.

Wonder Woman clears my Threshold of Awesome, and while it doesn’t quite edge GoTG2 out of the top slot, it comes really close. It’s not as if these things matter. I get to live on the timeline where I can enjoy both of them.