Category Archives: Marvel
Low-Key Great: The Hit-Monkey Cartoon
You know what’s low-key great? The Hit-Monkey cartoon on Hulu. I just finished up the second season and I’m here to tell you that the showrunners go all-out for season 2! Honestly, I’m sure they were all surprised to even get a second season, so they really gave it their all. This show gets my highest recommendation!
Hit-Monkey is actually a Marvel cartoon, based on a fairly recent but now also obscure Marvel Comics character. He’s a monkey who wears a suit and is an assassin. I never read any of the comics, but Hit-Monkey was named way back in 2019 as one several shows being considered by then Marvel Television to turn random characters into shows.
Of that group, we only ever got M.O.D.O.K. — which was great! — and Hit-Monkey. The first season came out all the way back in 2021. I have very little memory of the season, but I’m confident I enjoyed it. And it’s just plain shocking that anybody involved greenlit this show for a second season an entire three years later! Marvel Television is no more, it’s all subsumed into Marvel Studios. There’s no M.O.D.O.K. season 2, for example.
But I’m not about to look this gift horse in the mouth!
This is just going to be a brief review/recommendation to go watch Hit-Monkey. The first season was good, from what I can remember, and the second season is damn great! The writing is awesome, the jokes are fun, the story really goes to some crazy places, episode-after-episode. It’s an ongoing, serialized story across the entire season, but they do something new and different each episode. The characters are a lot of fun and the voice acting is no slouch. Jason Sudeikis does not phone it in as the show’s real protagonist, Bryce, and then the likes of Olivia Munn, Leslie Jones, Stephanie Beatriz and Keith David round out an excellent cast.
The animation is awesome, the action is excellent, and it’s an adult cartoon with swearing and real violence, and that’s always a plus.
The show isn’t steeped in Marvel lore, so you don’t need to know anything to enjoy the show. There are a few minor characters throughout, like Fat Cobra in season one, and Lady Bullseye in both seasons, but it’s mostly a stand alone show that just happens to be based on a Marvel Comics character. It’s actually kind of crazy that, in 2024, we got a show starring Hit-Monkey, with Lady Bullseye in an ongoing subplot role. Madness!
Hit-Monkey is currently available to watch on Hulu, which I think is part of Disney+ now anyway, so all the Marvel stuff is in one place. Take it from me, this show is a damn fun watch!
————–
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/24/24
Another week, another stack of interesting comics. Nothing too mind blowing came out this week, but I felt like reviewing some on my pile for funsies, like Nightwing and Ultimate Spider-Man.
Comic Book of the Week goes to the stand alone Power Rangers Infinity #1 because it’s just a fun, silly comic that I enjoyed.
Meanwhile, only a week until I’m on vacation and playing Star Wars: Outlaws! Can’t wait! I hope it’s good! Shame to hear we won’t be getting a second season of The Acolyte, but at least now I can watch the second season of The Rings of Power!
Comic Reviews: Nightwing #117, Power Rangers Infinity #1 and Ultimate Spider-Man #8.
Read the rest of this entry
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/17/24
This is quite the week for comics! Some new weirdness, some ongoing X-Men awesomeness, and the end of Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk. There were even more comics, but I settled on these couple.
Comic Book of the Week goes to X-Factor #1 for an excellent, if repetitive, start.
Meanwhile, it’s the last week to pledge for the new issue of The Cloak Room on Kickstarter, so it would be awesome if you readers would support that series. I had a short story featured in the first issue! Beyond that, I got caught up on The Boys, and it was a fun season. Beyond that, I’m kind of just waiting for Star Wars: Outlaws to drop before I have anything really exciting going on in my pop culture life.
Comic Reviews: Biker Mice From Mars #1, Sensational She-Hulk #10, X-Factor #1 and X-Men #2.
Read the rest of this entryWhen a New Kraven Trailer Comes Around
At random this morning, we got a new trailer for the upcoming Kraven the Hunter movie, and it’s something special. Never have you heard Johnny Cash like this before. Brace yourself.
They’re really leaning into the new R rating they have received, pushing the violence in the hopes that it makes for a fun movie. Will it work? I don’t know. I still don’t know if I’m going to see this one in theaters. I never saw Madame Webb, and I’m pretty sure I only watched Morbius in theaters because I was doing movie reviews at the time for work. But Kraven the Hunter? This Kraven the Hunter? Fighting a CGI Rhino? Dude, I just don’t know…I mean, I have zero faith in this universe and wish they’d just stop. But at least they’re putting the movie out instead of voiding it completely for the tax write off…
Kraven the Hunter comes to theaters on Dec. 13.
———————–
Let’s Enjoy Some D23 Trailers!
D23 was this past weekend, which is a big Disney convention where they show off all sorts of stuff they’re working on. The news sounds pretty good! And we got a ton of trailers officially released, along with a ton of trailers I had to watch bootleg copies of online. That still works, to a degree, but hopefully we get the full trailers soon.
So let’s just run down what we’ve got
First up is Moana 2. I read online that this started as a TV show and then transitioned into a movie. Could be. It won’t have the Lin Manuel Miranda music, which is a shame. But the animation looks sharp, and the cast is back. Here’s hoping it’s a fun adventure.
Moana 2 comes to theaters on Nov. 27.
Second up is the first trailer for the live action Snow White.
I will say two things: this looks good, but these live action movies tend to stink. So I’m honestly fairly convinced it’s going to be bad. But it’s still a big release, and I’m sure Disney is hoping for the best, so I wanted to share.
Snow White will come to theaters next year, on March 21.
Third up is a new trailer for the live action Mufasa movie, the Lion King prequel.
I think this is a dumb idea and the trailer looks dumb. I did not enjoy the live action Lion King movie, and I definitely don’t need a prequel. I especially don’t need a prequel with some weird lore. So Mufasa wasn’t actually in the royal lineage? He was an orphan adopted by Scar’s family? I’m not a fan of it.
I’m also not a fan of the tropey story where two future enemies start out as best friends. We’re going to see the exact same story in Transformers One. So…weird.
Mufasa comes to theaters on Dec. 20.
Now we turn to Marvel, with a new trailer for Agatha All Along!
Look, I’m an unapologetic MCU apologist. I’ve enjoyed all of their TV shows, with the sole exception of Secret Invasion. I even enjoyed Echo. So it’s entirely likely that I’ll enjoy Agatha All Along. I’m definitely going to watch and hope for the best!
Agatha All Along comes to Disney+ on Sept. 18 and will mostly release weekly, right into Halloween season.
Speaking of Marvel, I saw bootleg trailers for Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart and a new trailer for Captain America: Brave New World. They all looked great! I can’t wait to watch the trailers for real. I’m looking forward to all three projects.
Lastly we have the trailer for the next Star Wars show, Skeleton Crew.
This one is really interesting. A bunch of kids on an adventure, set in Star Wars. It’s the Goonies, it’s Stand By Me; a fascinating idea. It looks great, full of Star Wars stuff, so I’ll definitely watch — though I haven’t been particularly thrilled with most of the Star Wars shows. So we’ll see.
Skeleton Crew comes to Disney+ on Dec. 3.
Meanwhile, I saw bootleg trailers for the Mandalorian and Grogu movie, which didn’t show too much. And the second season of Andor, which looked great. So I’m definitely excited for those. Lots of good things coming out in the year ahead. Can’t wait!
And I can’t wait to share those other trailers when they’re released for real.
——————————-
Henchman-4-Hire 