Weekly Roundup 05/13/2025
Godzilla vs. MMPR II, DNDark, Thunderbolts*
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been taking a much needed break. I experienced some pretty major burnout. I’ve been overly tired and having a hard time focusing on things. Getting irritated more easily and having very little time to myself to recharge. So I’ve been trying to steal time for myself in order to recharge. It hasn’t been easy, due to the amount of time work has been demanding of me, and various social engagements, but I’ve been mostly successful. I would like to get back to writing soon.
This will likely be the last newsletter I publish till the end of the month. I want to get back to doing these for me. I’ve begun to put to much weight on how many subscribers I have and what they think of me. I really appreciate my subscribers, but I need to write for myself and not worry about what others think of it. Not focusing on the newsletters will help me focus on the other things I want to write, and then I can hopefully get back into the groove of doing both.
Alright, that’s enough about that. I’m going to keep this one brief and focus on just a few things.
So what can you look forward to?
Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II Review
Weekly Roundup
DnDark
Thunderbolts*
A More Ambitious Attempt - A Review Of Godzilla Vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II
Click the image to read the review
This sets up a third volume but I don’t think I’m going to read it. These have been kind of boring and I don’t really like Cullin Bunn as a writer. I don’t have nostalgia for the Power Rangers so I sometimes feel like I’m doing these books a discervice by reviewing them. But it also sucks that I feel like this piece is better then my review of Dracula!
I had this issue on the Fake Nerd Podcast too. It feels easier to talk about things I don’t like then the things I do like. I specifically decided to review the Universal Monster comics so that I could practice reviewing comics that I do like. Because I feel like, when I’m talking about something that I like, I don’t think it’s worthwhile for anyone to hear me say “Oh I liked this” or “This was cool” or “That was cool.” There’s no analysis being made, I don’t find it easy to analyze why I like something, but I find it very easy to analyze why I don’t.
I think some of that actually comes from the Podcast days. Like, I was told by my cohosts that if I don’t like something, then I need to defend it. But you don’t have to defend why you like something, unless it’s Star Wars. Because of that, I don’t like to defend my interests, so if I like something, then I’ll just keep that to myself rather then put it out into the world. But perhaps it’s making me the guy who hates things? Which is the furthest thing that I want to be.
Anyway, this is a review of Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers II, which I thought was better then the first volume, even though it wasn’t by much.
What Am I Working On?
I can’t say that I’m working on anything right now. Hopefully I’ll get the motivation back to do something soon.
Weekly Musings
There was some comic news that I’m looking forward to, like the new Event Horizon and Invisible Man comics, but I’m not going to go in depth, just know that I’m looking forward to them.
Weekly Roundup
Rather then catch up with the things I did, I’m just going to give you my full thoughts on two things.
DnDark
Created by “Danger” Dan Jerz
I’ve talked about this podcast before, but I’ve been waititng for it to end before giving it a proper write up. If you don’t know what DnDark is, then let me explain: It’s DnD show where the players are playing as the classic monsters as made famous by Universal Studios. What are known as the classic Universal Monsters. If that’s all you care about knowing, because you’re a fan of those movies, then start listening, because you are in for something special.
That’s right, first and foremost, Dan and his players (one of them is my very good friend Ben Magnet) created something special. Dan has such reverence for these monsters (that he talks about in his very good interview series Table Talk) and was able to craft a story that pays tribute to the monsters, the films, the history that inspired them, and crafts a new story filled with satisfying character and story moments for the players to explore and have fun with. By the end of the story, if you aren’t fist pumping after a nat 20 is rolled then you weren’t paying attention.
Like any DnD show, the players took a few episodes to get a rythm going and to find the characters as they would define them, but once they do, each player is able to deliver moments that are far more heartfelt then you would expect. There’s so much heart on display and sometimes they do something that is so incredibly funny that you can’t help but pause the show until you’re done laughing.
As special as the show was throughout, I could dedicate paragraphs to Imhotep in Hell, Larry coming to terms with the Wolf Man, the Phantom’s arc, and many more moments, the ending was truly special. Throughout the series, Dan introduced guest stars to play various characters like Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Ankhesenamun, so for the ending, he brought back all the guest players, some in new roles, like the Avengers assembling at the end of Avengers: Endgame. (There’s a lot of comma’s in that paragraph).
I can speak for myself that I was on the edge of my seat for those last five episodes. In the final moments, I was nearly brought to tears. When I intereviewed them for season 2 of Conver-Station, I had no idea where this series was going to go or how I would feel about it by the time it ended. But this show genuinly became one of my favorite pieces of media and was something that I looked forward to every wednesday.
On a more personal note, it is my opinion that they deserve to win at the Crit Awards, and I will do what I can to help them do just that.
I look forward to what they do next.
https://www.dndarkpodcast.com/
Thunderbolts* (Spoilers)
D: Jake Schreier / W: Eric Pearson & Joanna Calo
Thunderbolts might end up being one of my favorite MCU movies. It certainly ranks with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels as one of my favorites post-Avengers: Endgame. It does everything I’ve been missing from the MCU and genuinly feels like it moved the story in a way that actually made me excited.
Like the heroes in the movie, the MCU has felt directionless as they drowned their audience in perfectly fine TV shows and post-credits scenes that lead nowhere. If I didn’t know that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were coming soon, then I would be far more confident in the MCU’s direction because this film does everything right.
It’s a much smaller film, that focused on newly introduced characters anchored by Bucky to give the movie some legacy. While the post-credit scene is meant to tease Avengers: Doomsday, it, most importantly, serves to tease the next MCU movie, Fantastic Four: First Steps. Like the MCU movies of the Infinity Saga. Probably the coolest thing the film does, that I haven’t seen the MCU do in a long time, is have it’s heroes save people. There’s an extended sequence of the Thunderbolts just saing people from the city being destroyed. It’s really great to see.
In many ways, this is the most relatable the MCU has been for me since Iron Man 3. It takes an honest and earnest attempt at telling a story about depression and , in my opinion, nails it. The Void is not just a physical villain for the heroes to overcome, but a metaphorical one. It’s hard to come up with things to say beyond “I loved that,” but I genuinly loved how the story handled The Sentry and his alternate personality. There’s an action sequence between the Sentry and the Thunderbolts that I thought was excellent in choreography and showcasing the massive power gap between Sentry and the other hereos. All the action is really good, with multiple moments that I thought were very cool.
Something that I was surprised to see in an MCU movie (but a welcome one) was how it portrayed the American government. With how apolitical the MCU has been, especially when trying to make a political thriller like Captain America: Brave New World, it was nice to see them portray the government as inefective. They want to impeach Alegra, and Bucky knows that she’s corrupt, but they can’t get rid of her. Bucky decides that he can do more good as the Winter Soldier then as a Senator. It’s not a massive political statement, because the film is more concerned with other things, but it’s in the text of the film which was appreciated.
The cast is genuinly great and work very well together. The film doesn’t ignore previously established relationships and builds the character interactions around their individual personalities. The humor comes from them. They aren’t trying to out quip each other like lesser MCU films or films that try to be the MCU without understanding why they work. It was a shame about Taskmaster, but I’m hoping that this means we may get a more comic book accurate one down the line.
Being a massive fan of Ant-Man and the Wasp, it was nice to see Ghost again. But she’s probably the character with the least to do in the film. I wouldn’t say that she has a character arc and I don’t think the film makes a big enough case for why she sticks around. It’s a small issue though, because it’s hard to make sure everyone gets an arc in an ensemble film.
The film genuinly almost made me cry and if I had a better theater environment, I think I would have. It doesn’t end with the Thunderbolts trying to beat The Void in a massive fight. It ends with a hug. The Thunderbolts telling Bob that they’re there for him and will always be there for him. It meant a lot to me as someone who struggles with depression. I’m almost crying while writing this.
I could probably say more, but I don’t want to begin to repeat myself. I loved it and look forward to being able to watch it again. I wish I believed that this meant the MCU is pivoting back to character first movies, but I know that’s not true because Avengers: Doomsday is looking to become the most bloated MCU movie ever made. I just hope that once it’s over, Thunderbolts* is a sign of a healthy post-Avengers: Secret Wars MCU.
Recently Posted
Here are the last two pieces I wrote in 2024. The more recent things will start to appear on Substack so keep an eye on out if there’s anything you missed on Atomic Geekdom.
