Why Suzuki=Bakudan Delivers an Unforgettable Psychic Villain

There’s a bad moon rising in Suzuki=Bakudan, a crime thriller that’s more than a slow burn than anything else. You’re here to watch Jirō Satō’s performance’s performance more than anything else!

Suzuki=Bakudan movie posterAlthough I didn’t find the time to check out Suzuki=Bakudan (retitled Bomb for North America) during Japan Cuts, I’m glad to have caught it at Fantasia Film Festival 2026. Usually, crime thrillers aren’t my thing, but with Jirō Satō getting a lot of buzz, I had to see what the fuss was about. He plays psychic manipulator Tagosaku Suzuki, and he knows how to get under anyone’s skin.

Yes, those comparisons to the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight are justified. Though he doesn’t sport a grin, what he presents is closer to Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining, before madness took its toll on that poor soul’s mind. Because of the way he taunts the police, nobody’s sure if his psychic predictions are real. Unfortunately, those moments claim lives, and while the tragic scenes play out quickly enough to get the point across, the gruesome truth concerns what else he knows.

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Victoria’s Collectable Scene Is Booming, But Is There Enough Pie for This Explosive Growth?

Victoria’s collectable scene is getting crowded with back-to-back monthly events. Whether this city has enough collectors, vendors, and discretionary dollars to sustain them all is a bigger question than whether we gotta collect ’em all!

Victoria's Collectable Scene

It’s a gamble and a roll of a die, or tossing of a dart, to see which event is worth checking out!

It seems more nerdy swap meets are taking place in my hometown, and I doubt a weekly schedule of events is going to work. When everyone wants a piece of the pie, and there isn’t enough to go around, the bakery is going to run out. That’s how I describe what’s happening to Victoria’s collectable scene this year.

Once upon a time in this part of the world, there was only a biannual toy fair, a quarterly comic book swap meet and Cherry Bomb’s Nerdy Days of Christmas. In what was once a homegrown scene, things have changed into something else. There are three newcomers thinking there’s gold to find in them thar hills, and they will be individually revealed further down this editorial.

When this city only has so many nerds who want to give “used” stuff a new home, even the post-secondary crowd living in dorm rooms and temporary spaces has only so much room for more stuff. The problem isn’t necessarily that Victoria has too many collectors. It’s that there are only so many customers, vendors, weekends, and discretionary dollars to go around. A collector who spends $200 at one show isn’t likely to have more money to spend at next weekend’s event.

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Shiver Me Timbers! There Be A Peril At Pincer Point, or Is That a Tear On Yer Shoulder?CER POINT

As Peril at Pincer Point sails into more film festivals, this shanty is more than one part Hammer but also another part, H.P. Lovecraft? Or should we say, The Fog, if you want the scares to be real?

Peril at Pincer Point PosterWhether or not Peril at Pincer Point is based on some sea shanty, it’s a wickedly fun film that nails the hero’s journey through a semi-Lovecraftian narrative. Here, Jim Baitte (Jack Redmayne) is an underappreciated film employee who specializes in foley. But instead of making these sounds up in a room, he goes out to capture every sound possible and remix it just right so his boss, P.W. Griffin (wonderfully played by Os Leanse), can use it in the next film. When he travels to a remote village whose livelihood depends on what the sea can deliver, little does he know there’s also a town curse placed upon all residents and visitors alike!

This film marks the debut of UK-based Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine, and their first effort looks terrifically campy. They also decided to embrace the look of the classic monochromatic film era, tinged with a sepia tone, and presented in 4:3 aspect ratio to make the story as true to the era as possible. It’s a wonderful nod to those old pulp serials, and as for the effects, shiver me timbers, I’m sure there are some sea salts who’ll approve! Even when the dialogue gets a bit atypical, it hardly distracts from the normalcy our hero tries to live in.

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Decoding Optimus Prime Awakening, A New Chapter or Closure?

Optimus Prime Awakening sends its iconic hero on a spiritual journey through alternate realities, ancient symbols and a mysterious force beyond the Primes. From the Flower of Life to Energon’s possible consciousness, this short may be quietly setting up the boldest change to the IP. Until Hasbro announces something or nothing, the setup can be just as threatening or a reinvention….

Optimus Prime Awakening posterThe big question most fans are asking after seeing Optimus Prime Awakening is what comes next for all Cybertronians. Unless viewers are deeply familiar with the franchise’s lore, my thoughts are focused on Optimus’ final spiritual journey. The questions raised align with various spiritual beliefs, which pose a related question: will we become one with God after death? In this case, “Till all are one” takes on a different meaning, raising the issue of how we can break a vicious cycle of war and conflict.

This animated short nicely addresses how every continuity, from Armada and Cyberverse to G1 and Prime, is shaped by choices and decisions. Where the logic falters is with Earthspark. Megatron already realized that continued conflict was futile and that, unless everyone worked together to save Cybertron, they were doomed. He did not necessarily join the Autobots, but he did renounce what defined a Decepticon. At least, that was my reading.

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Mumm-Ra, The Ever Living and also Ever Lasting? Could He Be Dynamite Comic’s New Master Villain?

Mumm-Ra: The Ever-Living turns #ThunderCats’ greatest villain into a dimension-hopping tyrant with no interest in becoming a better person, which is why I’m already wondering when he’ll cross paths with Cobra Commander. @DynamiteComics #review at:

Mumm-Ra, The Ever Living #1 Cover B, Declan Shalvey variant
Trade Paperback set for release March 27, 2027. Preorder this title on Amazon USA here.

Dynamite Comics

For decades, I have always believed Mumm-Ra is one of animation’s most memorable and least understood villains. He’s in my top five, and as for who is number one, you can read my review of Dynamite Comics’ take on Cobra Commander to find out. If folks think I’m too 80s-centric, that’s okay. That was the era when these characters cemented their legacies! To see some of them return in comic book form suggests the publisher has grand plans to unify them into its own Legion of Doom. Well, maybe.

We’re no longer seeing a cartoon villain plague the ThunderCats every episode. Instead, these are competent nasties who will no doubt cause trouble in the modern day. Yes, the last issue needs to be spoiled, because seeing Wah-Sut transform into the Ever-Living and gain a human disguise changes everything. Now that he can walk amongst men, he is even more dangerous! After getting freed from Second and Third Earth, I just have to wonder why he’s been tossed into the modern day. There’s a reason, and I’ll get to that later. But within this series’ continuity, although he hasn’t conquered the Four Ancient Spirits of Evil, the fact they’re willing to play along shows I’ve got a lot more reading ahead of me!

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Demona’s War With The Gargoyles: Her Past, Present and Future along with Predictions on What’s to Come

In this continuing look at Demona’s history, we see how things fall into place as she once had a daughter, tried to turn another and failed. As for another generation…. it seems creator Greg Weisman has ideas, and readers will be in for quite the ride!

Gargoyles Demona trade paperback coverWhen the danger is real, and Demona has shown that she can’t change her stripes, what happens next can be grounded in what has already been revealed throughout the series and Dynamite Comics‘ Demona miniseries. In part two, I focus on the next two eras.

Also included will be a quick look at her influence with the monthly regular series, as published by this comic book publisher. With the latest freshly out, what’s offered so far is more of a teaser as new characters straight out of legend start wanting a piece of the pie. They are The Green Knight and Queen Mab, Oberon’s mother! Yes, she’s not happy, and that’s for one very good reason!

Demona’s New War

After the massacre at Wyvern, Goliath’s former mate gathers the other gargoyles displaced by this private war and hopes to form a new faction. We see glimpses of this during the series, along with a great deal more in the self-titled miniseries. Although not every century is addressed, there’s more than enough backstory to make her a sympathetic character. Yet after failing with her adopted daughter Angelika, as recounted in the solo series Gargoyles: Demona, the final story featuring the two leaves the aging Angelika’s fate unknown.

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