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The Stop Button

blogging by Andrew Wickliffe

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ONESIES

22.7 Finale (Finally), or: Maximum Bob (1998) 7 of 7
18 May 2026
22.6 Patriarchal Hunks (Almost Done), or: Maximum Bob (1998) 6 of 7
2 May 2026
22.5 Unharmed Canines (Low Bars), or: Maximum Bob (1998) 5 of 7
24 April 2026
22.4 Disappointments (Flambé Terrorists), or: Maximum Bob (1998) 4 of 7
17 April 2026
22.3 Familiar Faces (Judicial Misconduct), or: Maximum Bob (1998) 3 of 7
11 April 2026

709 Meridian

Masters of the Universe (1987) audio commentary - 709 Meridian - watch-along
1 May 2026
Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) audio commentary - 709 Meridian - watch-along
31 March 2026
The Adventures of Hercules (1985) audio commentary - 709 Meridian - watch-along
11 October 2025
Hercules (1983) audio commentary - 709 Meridian - watch-along
16 September 2025
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986) audio commentary - 709 Merdiian - watch-along
2 September 2025

Briefly (15 May 2026)
Comics

Superman: Lost (2023) #1 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. Portentous, if not actually big, concept SUPERMAN limited. He and Lois are happy workaholic marrieds until he disappears on a Justice League mission. Except he reappears--twenty years later--at just the same moment Lois finds out. It's actually a bit of a team banter book, which is fine from Priest, but nothing's gelling yet. Good-looking enough art.

Superman: Lost (2023) #2 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. Priest's all over the place with the narrative--intentionally (present then varying degrees of past)--with Clark's first stop in his trip back home. It's an Earth-like planet, seemingly without any secrets to reveal. The numerous reveals keep the otherwise light outing going (fun dialogue only goes so far); so far, all Priest's got going is the gimmick.

Superman: Lost (2023) #3 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. After a concerning Lois characterization (Clark's got a time limit on recovering from trauma), it's a fairly outstanding issue. Big space adventure with grounded, beautifully detailed art. Priest's finding Clark's voice, which is working through being more concerned with his own wellbeing than the beings he's encountering. Provides interesting fodder amid strange new worlds and so on. Book's cooking.

Superman: Lost (2023) #4 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. Priest changes the book but keeps the momentum. We skip ahead to Clark settled and trying to help on a planet divided between the haves and the people they're trying to eradicate. There's some fun and some pointed political observations, with a crowd pleaser hard cliffhanger. It's just taking the story back two issues; Priest's back to being cautious.

Superman: Lost (2023) #5 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. Some surprises and some excellent art get the issue through. Clark was LOST twenty years and halfway through they're barely at five years. Seems like we'll need some more jump aheads. The book's moody and competently done, but it's on autopilot for this one. Priest gives away too much in the lack of certain characterizations. It's on cruise control.

Superman: Lost (2023) #6 W: Carlo Pagulayan, Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz. The present day stuff is still concerning (Priest's not making a Clark should be in therapy joke is a tell), but the flashback's good. LOST is going to be about the single planet; committing to it helps Priest with the stakes. Flashing forward and back not so much. And there's a big cop out about horny superheroes. Great cliffhanger.

Superman: Lost (2023) #7 W: Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Lee Weeks, Michael Jason Paz. Artist changes and Lex Luthor, it's like they didn't have a finish for the book. While flashback Clark listens to a potential future from a potential future self (most of the Weeks material), Lois decides the present day arc needs a kick in the pants if Priest can just do imaginary story homages to fill. It's knowing not creative.

Superman: Lost (2023) #8 [2024] W: Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Michael Jason Paz, Will Conrad. Well. Priest certainly does know how to do a much ado about nothing. Not a plot homage, just a plot without any character development for the ostensibly growing Clark. Some of it has to do with the Lex Luthor subplot, which isn't any good (Priest's Lex's boring), and doesn't earn it any patience. Great art, however. Great art.

Superman: Lost (2023) #9 [2024] W: Christopher Priest. A: Brett Breeding, Carlo Pagulayan, Dan Jurgens, Michael Jason Paz. Honestly, LOST does read like a Superman who day dreams about himself illustrated by Dan Jurgens. And they get Jurgens to do it and those pages are rough. They clash with the better art, but the issue--Priest's go at a Lex and Superman issue--is already a fail. Luthor's got more personality stealing a Hostess. Bad cliffhanger, too.

Superman: Lost (2023) #10 [2024] W: Christopher Priest. A: Carlo Pagulayan, Joe Prado, Jonas Trindade, Jose Luis, Julio Ferreira, Michael Jason Paz. In addition to multiple complete cop outs, timey-whimey and otherwise, Priest also has a *Superman: The New Movie* beat-for-beat-for-beat "nod." It's out of nowhere, which is fine because the fill-in art on it makes it feel all the more artifical. So it's easy not to take the issue's bellyflop finish too seriously.

Movies

Boom Town (1940) D: Jack Conway. S: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Chill Wills, Frank Morgan. Overlong big-budget studio melodrama comes up empty. Roaring Twenties oil "wildcatters" Gable and Tracy, whose friendship-turned-business-partnership-turned-love-triangle (with Colbert) ostensibly drives the narrative. Unfortunately, the more rackish Gable gets, the less Tracy's around, and Tracy's a lot more likable. Lamarr's all kinds of wooden as a scheming harlot. Okay action; real bad editing.

Human Highway (1982) Director's Cut D: Dean Stockwell. S: Neil Young, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Charlotte Stewart, Sally Kirkland. Micro-budget post-apocalyptic absurdist comedy from Neil Young, Stockwell, Tamblyn, and Devo. It's at least twenty percent music video, though the occasional full cast numbers are much better. It's strange without anything particular to recommend it (and the anti-Middle Eastern stuff is gross--brown-face), but it's often entertaining and always enthusiastically executed. Great miniature effects work, too.

The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026) D: Reinaldo Marcus Green. S: Jon Bernthal, Deborah Ann Woll, Jason R. Moore, Judith Light, Chelsea Brea. Effective and well-executed but middling outing for Berenthal's PUNISHER. Set at an indeterminate time related to the years past Netflix show, it tries hard to be moody until it's time for the kickass righteous ultra-violence; albeit not particularly impressive action movie stuff. More proof-of-concept than full pilot episode. Light's a lot of fun. And, Bubs.

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