Back Issue Binge

Marvel has just released their solicitations for comic books released in the month of February, which can be found here. Here are some items to watch out for:

February finally sees the solicitation of “Spider-Man #1,” the first solo book starring Miles Morales in the “main” Marvel Universe. It’s unclear why Marvel chose to delay the title for so many months following Miles’ debut as one of Earth’s mightiest heroes in the pages of “All-New All Different Avengers,” although the most optimistic guess is that Marvel wanted to spread out its current onslaught of #1 issues across a number of months and figures on this book being a big hit for February. Regardless of the timing, there’s little doubt that Miles’ creator Brian Michael Bendis and his frequent collaborator Sara Pichelli will continue to tell excellent stories about the “Ultimate” Spider-Man.

Nick Spencer and Mark Bagley are the creative team behind “Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill,” a 40-page one-shot that will provide the “prelude to the Spring’s blockbuster Avengers event.” The strange solicitation language is full of spooky imagery but little in the way of actual information, but given the Cosmic Cube on the cover, Nick Spencer’s current role as “Captain America” writer, and the fact that Steve Rogers’ 75th anniversary is coming up, it’s a safe bet to assume that the old super-soldier will be playing a big part in the story.

Although best buddies Luke Cage and Danny Rand have worked together many times in various titles, they haven’t actually co-headlined a book since 1986 when the original Heroes for Hire disbanded in the pages of “Power Man and Iron Fist.” February sees a new relaunch of the book with the creative team of David Walker and Sanford Greene, and the previews look promising as Marvel tries to capitalize on the upcoming Netflix series for both heroes.

Less than a year after the “Deadpool” team released an oversized issue to commemorate the Merc with a Mouth’s 250th solo issue, February sees the release of another big and expensive book with “Deadpool #7.” Clocking in at 96 pages and costing a whopping $10, the book celebrates both the 25th anniversary of the character’s debut in the pages of “New Mutants #98” and the release of the “Deadpool” movie on February 12. As with previous oversized issues in this run, there will be a number of back-up stories by frequent Wade Wilson writers like Cullen Bunn and Acker & Blacker, and this time around the focus is on “Deadpool’s new allies, the members of the Mercs for Money,” who are also getting their own mini-series the same month.

It’s a promising sign of longevity for new characters when they’re featured as guest-stars in other books, which is good news for Amadeus Cho, will be making appearances as the Totally Awesome Hulk in the February issues of “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” and “Old Man Logan.” In his own book, Cho will be taking on the much-beloved Fin Fang Foom, who is having a busy month of his own as he faces off against a different green superhero in the pages of “Drax.”

After three years, over eighty issues, and a handful of crossovers, “Uncanny X-Men #600” closes the door on an eventful run by Marvel’s mightiest mutants by the company’s flagship writer Brian Michael Bendis. Fans were skeptical when Bendis first announced his plans in 2012 to bring the original team of X-Men forward from the past in the pages of “All-New X-Men” while turning Cyclops and his followers into a team of outlaws in “Uncanny X-Men,” but the unusual premise proved to be a commercial success and was well-received in most circles. In his final chapter, Bendis uses his gift for natural, interesting dialogue to tie up a number of plot threads while leaving others open for his successors to explore.

The main focus of the issue is on the long-awaited “Trial of the Beast,” as Storm stages an intervention for Hank McCoy in front of the entire Jean Grey School to urge him to stop making game-changing decisions without consulting those closest to him. Over the course of Bendis’ run, we’ve seen Beast repeatedly choose dangerous avenues in the name of progress, such as when he misled the original X-Men into traveling to the present on the pretense of averting a non-existent mutant genocide or when he got a power-up from the Black Vortex while others debated the best course of action. No mention is made of Beast’s actions with the Illuminati in the pages of Jonathan Hickman’s “New Avengers,” but it’s hard not to think of his world-destroying actions there as another example supporting Storm’s accusations.

The Beast is well-known for changing his physical appearance from one furry form to another, but it’s interesting to consider just how much his personality has changed over the years. Hank McCoy used to be just a wise-cracking bruiser for the X-Men and Avengers with a proclivity for big words, but various writers this century have slowly transitioned him into a super-genius on the level of Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man. Along with that increase in intelligence has come a huge chip on his shoulder, most notably seen when he walked away from the team as the threat of extinction became very real during Matt Fraction’s run. Having the X-Men confront Beast over his superiority complex feels like a natural payoff after years of character development, and Bendis makes sure to show both sides of the conversation as the Beast’s friends urge him to take a step back and pick the health of mutantkind over his own sense of self-importance.

While Beast’s solution for a non-violent resolution to the Schism ended up in conflict, Cyclops’ promises of change started in aggression but ends in a moment of unity. Alongside his brother Alex, Scott Summers gathers the “entire” mutant population together at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to begin his so-called “revolution.” The X-Men arrive expecting a battle, but instead Cyclops urges everyone to maintain the peace in order to show that mutantkind isn’t interested in conquering humanity.

It’s a nice scene on the surface, helped along by Chris Bachalo’s wonderful art and a number of fun cameos from characters that hadn't already appeared in Bendis' run (Madrox! Rogue! Cable! Juggernaut!), but it feels too abbreviated and simple upon further inspection. Are we to believe Cyclops when he says that “every mutant in the world” is in attendance? Surely some mutants must have said “no” or be otherwise indisposed or in jail. Even so, how did Cyclops actually manage this without anyone in the X-Men hearing about it? Would this really help the X-Men to forgive Cyclops after he’s turned into such an insufferable jerk over the last few years?

On a conceptual level, however, it does work as a thematic conclusion to Cyclops’ arc in the last few years. Cyclops has always been the strongest proponent of Professor X’s dream, and it’s easy to see how he would believe that creating this moment of harmony would serve as a fitting tribute to his fallen father figure and an act of contrition for the role that he played in Xavier’s death. Those hoping for a large-scale punch-up between Cyclops and the leaders of the Jean Grey School may be disappointed, but it’s important to remember that despite the massive sprawl of characters and plotlines, the inciting incidents of Bendis’ run were caused by two of Professor X’s first and proudest sons as they struggled to accept his message of non-violence after his death.

Looking outside the book, the moment is undermined a bit by the timing of the issue’s release. The issue was originally scheduled to have been released in May before the beginning of “Secret Wars,” but Marvel chose to push back its release until six months had passed. Their reasons are unclear - there aren’t any plot points here that rely on other books having already been published, and Bendis has said that the book could’ve met its original shipping date - but the momentum of the story has clearly suffered from the delay. Marvel also chose to release the issue in the same week as the first issue of Jeff Lemire’s “Extraordinary X-Men,” which picks up eight months later with Cyclops having caused some unknown catastrophe in the interim and mutantkind back on the endangered species list because of a deadly reaction to the airborne Terrigen Mists that give the Inhumans their powers. While “Uncanny X-Men #600” ends on a note of relative optimism, “Extraordinary X-Men #1” resumes the story in a much darker place, creating a tonal disconnect that feels jarring.

Intercut with the main story are flashbacks serving to wrap up some of Bendis’ major subplots. Magik, having grown as both a sorcerer and human being in her time at the New Charles Xavier School, mends fences with her brother Colossus with the help of Kitty Pryde. (Kitty herself doesn’t get any wrap-ups since Bendis is taking her back with him to the new “Guardians of the Galaxy” series.) Illyana Rasputin was always the most interesting of the New Mutants thanks to a rich inner conflict and cool powerset, and so the work of Bendis and Kieron Gillen before him are greatly appreciated in breathing new life into Magik after what initially looked to be an ill-advised resurrection in the 2000s. As for Colossus, there have long been rumors that Bendis isn’t a fan, but he writes Peter perfectly here and his reunions with both Kitty and Illyana feel touching and worthy of comparison to the trio’s classic scenes under Claremont in the 1980s.

One of the biggest developments in Bendis’ run was young Iceman’s revelation that he was gay, and here we see the long-awaited moment when he comes out to his older self, with Jean Grey at his side for support. As with the original scene, Bendis pulls the moment off beautifully, with the older Iceman’s admission to his own sexual preferences ringing honest and true. It’s a happy moment that feels perfectly in the spirit of the X-books, which at its heart has always been about those who feel ostracized coming to terms with their true selves.

The final and least successful of the flashbacks focuses on Jean Grey’s choice to leave the All-New X-Men and return the younger Beast’s romantic interests with a kiss. Young Jean Grey has easily been the break-out character of the “All-New X-Men,” showing a fire that the original character rarely displayed post-Dark Phoenix Saga, and her desire to break out of her predetermined fate has led the characters down some very interesting paths. Bendis tries to play up her decision as a break-up for the entire team, but we’ve already seen other members of the All-New X-Men leave and return without any long-term repercussions. Additionally, the timing of the issue’s release works against the story once again because we know that Jean is joining the cast of “Extraordinary X-Men” while the rest of the team will remain intact, leaving any relationship between Jean and Hank as a non-starter.

The main throughline of these flashbacks, and perhaps Bendis’ run altogether, centers on how these characters thrive when they ask for help rather than try to go it alone. Kitty Pryde provides the opportunity for Peter and Illyana Rasputin to work out their differences; Jean Grey stands by both Icemen for support when they need it the most; young Hank McCoy finds his concerns about the team splitting up alleviated by Jean. Outside of the flashbacks, older Cyclops learns the value in ending the Schism and standing with his community. It’s only older Hank McCoy that tries to move forward without his friends, and as a result, he unintentionally finds himself on the outs with the one true home he’s ever had.

Some of Bendis’ other subplots remain unresolved, and while any good comic writer should leave the door open for his or her successors, it seems unlikely that many of them will be addressed in the future. The issue of the Phoenix Five’s “broken powers” seems to have been quietly dropped, and we may never know exactly what the long-term effects are to the Beast’s “breaking time” by bringing the All-New X-Men to the present. The appearance by the amazing Eva Bell here is welcome but brief, and I can only hope that Bendis will pick up her story in another book. Havok appears here once again without any mention of his inversion or kidnapping of Wasp in the pages of “Axis,” and while his actions there were written by Rick Remender, it seems frustrating not to have them at least addressed in his next appearances.

Live on October 25, 2015, from Los Angeles, CA. Your announcers are Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and John Bradshaw Layfield.

John Cena comes out to the usual mixed reaction for an U.S. Open Challenge title match. Zeb Coulter rides out in a scooter to say that Cena is a polarizing figure who needs to lose the title to a uniting force: Alberto Del Rio, making his surprise return to the WWE.

MATCH 1: United States Championship Match: John Cena (champion) vs. Alberto Del Rio

Cena hits Del Rio early with a shoulderblock. Del Rio fires back with a hard kick to the hamstring that sends Cena limping to the outside. Cena works Del Rio over in the corner but misses a charge and gets caught with an armdrag. Another kick to the back of the leg puts Cena on the ropes. Del Rio misses a running splash but catches Cena with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. He follows up with a double axehandle off the top for two, then locks in a chinlock. Cena blocks a suplex and hits his own. He heads to the top but Del Rio runs up and hits an enziguiri for two. Another double axehandle off the top gets two. He riles up the crowd for the armbreaker but Cena hits him with a running clothesline, then hits the usual to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Del Rio slides out of the Attitude Adjustment into a Backstabber, then connects with a low kick to the face for the pin and the title at 7:48.

Compared to to Cena’s typically excellent U.S. Open Challenge matches this year, this disappointing match lacked any real flow and the finish came far too abruptly. However, the return of Alberto Del Rio after a nasty separation from the WWE last year was a genuine surprise and a worthy finale to Cena’s long and entertaining run as champion. Del Rio impressed by getting into excellent shape and losing the grandiose entrances that defined his previous tenure in the WWE, but the impact of his return appears to have already been squandered in the weeks following the event.

WINNER: Alberto Del Rio (new champion)

RATING: **1/4

 MATCH 2: Hell in a Cell Match: Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt

Reigns tosses him from corner to corner. Wyatt fights back but Reigns hits a jumping punch and two overhead tosses. He hits the Drive By and tosses Bray into the cage repeatedly. Bray tries for a suplex from the ring into the cage but Roman fights him off. When he goes to bring Bray back in, Bray catches him with a kendo stick he pulled out from under the ring. Bray whips him with it inside the ring, then sits him on the top turnbuckle and knocks him off to the outside. He pulls out a chair, and after deciding not to hit Roman with it, takes a seat next to Roman and beats him with it. He wedges the chair and the stick into the cell wall, and then slams Roman’s head through the stick. Roman fights back and throws Bray into the chair. Roman pulls out two more kendo sticks and starts wailing on Bray, drawing cheers. He very slowly pulls out two tables, smiling and badly  adlibbing to the camera. He sets one up outside and hits a Drive By before setting up the other, then pulls Bray to the apron. Bray blocks a suplex attempt and instead slams Roman down through the table. He rolls Roman in for two, and then hits a running senton for two. He splashes Roman into the cage, and then puts his head next to the post and charges into it. He sets up a table in the ring but Reigns blocks a superplex and powerbombs him through it for two. Roman reverses Sister Abigail into a roll up for two, followed by a Superman Punch for two. They head out to the apron and Roman spears Bray through the standing table. He rolls Bray in for two, and then sets up a spear but gets caught in Sister Abigail for two. Bray wedges the kendo sticks into the turnbuckles but it backfires as Roman throws him into one and spears him for the pin at 23:03.

An overlong but pretty great match from Bray and Roman to finally wrap up a long and good feud. There was too much dead time between big spots and having the spear finish felt flat compared to the brutality before it, but the big spots were well done and most of the selling felt earned. Had some of the stalling been reduced, it could've been a real classic.

WINNER: Roman Reigns

RATING: ***3/4

 MATCH 3: Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (champions) vs. The Dudley Boyz

Xavier is sadly absent but New Day is still accompanied by the busted trombone. D-Von hits Kofi early with the spinning elbow, pancake drop, and running headbutt, then tags in Bubba for the double elbow. Kofi tries to climb but Bubba tosses him off the top, so New Day regroups outside. The Dudleyz badly mess up a double-team move on Kofi, drawing major boos. Big E barrels over D-Von and dances, then New Day goes to work stomping him down in their corner Kofi hits a DDT for two, and then Big E hits a big splash for two. New Day sets up for a Wassup Drop but D-Von kicks off Kofi and makes the hot tag. Bubba cleans house and mocks Big E's dancing during the Wassup Drop. Kofi interrupts "Get the tables", and then tosses Bubba the trombone and pretends to have been hit in a funny spot. Bubba pleads for the ref not to disqualify him, and when the ref agrees, he breaks the trombone over his knee. The Dudleyz’ backdrop/neckbreaker combo gets two, and they set up for 3D. Big E hits Bubba with the trombone behind the ref's back. D-Von clotheslines him out of the ring while Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise for the pin at 8:24.

The match recovered well enough after the horrible botched spot, but the Dudleyz – particularly D-Von – looked pretty rough here. After failing to win the titles after three straight events, they look like chokers too. The New Day has officially won this feud, and it's time to move them onto something new. As big of a fan as I am of Bubba, it's hard to think that the Dudleyz will be sticking around much longer.

WINNERS: New Day

RATING: **

 MATCH 4: Divas Championship: Charlotte (champion) vs. Nikki Bella

Both come down to the ring unaccompanied by their respective team members. Charlotte dominates early Nikki with a neckbreaker and a hurricanrana. Nikki slams Charlotte out of the ring with forearm and tosses her over the barricade, then brings her back to ringside and stomps on her back. She throws Charlotte back in the ring for a two-count and a chinlock. A snap suplex gets two. Charlotte hits Nikki with some chops but gets hooked into two consecutive backslides. Nikki hits her with a facebuster and locks in a half crab, and then catapults her into the ropes for two. A big boot by Charlotte gets two, but her back gives out during a suplex attempt. Nikki hits a spinebuster for two. Charlotte fires back with chops again and Nikki pushes her off but misses a kick off the second rope. A neckbreaker by Charlotte gets two, and she tries to climb. Nikki follows her up and tries for a back suplex off the top, but misses badly and lands on her neck as Charlotte flips away. Charlotte hits a spear and puts Nikki in a figure four, but Nikki reverses and makes the ropes. They head outside and Nikki gives her an alabama slam into the apron. Back inside, she sets up for the Rack Attack but Charlotte rolls through, and the Figure 8 makes Nikki tap at 10:39. Paige and Becky come out to celebrate, with Paige subtly edging Becky away from Charlotte.

It’s been convenient to blame the Bellas for holding back the Divas Revolution from greatness because they are the “old guard” compared to the new arrivals from NXT, but Nikki looked great here once again. It's Charlotte that came away looking unimpressive once again compared to what we know she can accomplish, and the time has long come to move her onto some new feuds so that we can see if she really can make it on the big stage. Meanwhile, Sasha Banks is just being wasted off to the side, although she may be better off in the shadows since the spotlight hasn’t done anyone else any favors.

WINNER: Charlotte

RATING: **1/2

 MATCH 5: World Heavyweight Championship Match, Corporate Kane is fired if Demon Kane loses: Seth Rollins (champion) vs. Kane

Kane plants Rollins with a DDT and a running kick, then chops him off the top to the outside. He follows and starts setting up the Spanish announce table for some mayhem, but Rollins runs back to the ring. Kane slams him down and goes to the top, but Rollins knocks him off the top rope. He follows up with a running somersault dive over the top to the outside. Back inside, a sling blade gets a one-count and a neckbreaker gets a two-count. Kane catches Rollins coming off the top with a right hand, but hangs himself up when he misses a running boot to the corner, allowing Rollins to hit a series of splashes. Rollins goes to the top again but Kane brings him down with a superplex. Kane hits a series of clotheslines and a big boot for two, followed by a flying clothesline. Rollins fights off the chokeslam with an enziguiri, but Kane escapes a Pedigree and lands the chokeslam for two. Rollins escapes a tombstone and rolls to the outside. Kane tries for a chokeslam through the announce table, but Rollins drops down between the tables and powerbombs Kane onto the Spanish announce table, which doesn't break. Kane beats the ten count and fights off a Pedigree, but Rollins keeps him down with two jumping knees and two kicks to the face. A frog splash gets two, and a Pedigree finishes at 14:35.

Glen Jacobs made a memorable debut as Kane at the 1997 “Hell in the Cell” PPV, and while he has created quite a career for himself in the following 18 years, his dull performance here shows that he really shouldn't be in the title picture anymore. Kane isn’t much known for great matches but his best ones have featured him as an unstoppable heel and not as a face selling for a much smaller opponent. As for Rollins, he picked up a decisive win for once in his championship reign here, only to vacate the title a few weeks later after suffering a knee injury.

WINNER: Seth Rollins

RATING: **1/2

 MATCH 6: Intercontinental Championship Match: Kevin Owens (champion) vs. Ryback

Ryback dominates Owens in and out of the ring to start. He picks him up for a press slam but Owens slips out. Owens tries for a suplex but soon finds himself held up in a long vertical suplex by Ryback. Ryback misses a charge to the corner and Owens starts working the shoulder. Ryback slams him down and knocks him off the apron. He punches him in the corner, but Owens trips him up and hits a running senton for two. Owens runs into a spinebuster, drawing boos. Ryback hits a powerbomb for two. He tries to climb but Owens grabs his leg to bring him down to the apron, then superkicks him off. Ryback runs back into the ring at the count of nine but gets caught with a drop toehold onto the ropes and a roll-up for two. He comes back with a running clothesline and picks Owens up for a Shellshock. Owens grabs the ropes and slips out onto the apron, then pokes Ryback in the eyes and hits the Pop-Up Powerbomb for the pin at 5:35.

Ryback and Owens tried to fit a lot into only a few minutes and were no doubt rushed for time thanks to other matches running late. That said, it's hard to complain about the short runtime keeping it brief because Ryback looked terrible here and the crowd was almost completely uninterested.

WINNER: Kevin Owens

RATING: *1/2

 MATCH 7: Hell in a Cell Match: Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker

They stare down and Undertaker does the throat cutting motion in Lesnar’s face. Lesnar goes for a german suplex right away and Undertaker punches out. They brawl from corner to corner and Lesnar goes for a german suplex again, but Undertaker hipchecks him through the ropes to the outside. Undertaker follows out and gets thrown into the cage. Lesnar goes for the F5 but Taker fights out and pushes him into the ringpost. Lesnar starts bleeding from the forehead in an obvious bladejob. He catches Undertaker with a spinebuster back in the ring, then hammers him with three chairshots to the back. The doctor comes in to wipe the blood off Lesnar's face. Lesnar follows Undertaker outside with repeated chairshots, and the last one catches Undertaker in the face, drawing blood from another obvious bladejob. Lesnar tries for a suplex on the floor but Undertaker gets his own. He brings Lesnar back into the ring and drives the chair into his throat. He starts elbowing the cut on Lesnar’s forehead, but Lesnar fires back with a german suplex. He ducks a punch and hits two more german suplexes. An F5 gets two, and the doctor comes in to wipe the blood off Undertaker's face as Lesnar goes for the chair. The doctor stops Lesnar to wipe his forehead, so Lesnar tosses him out and hits another F5 on Undertaker for two. He throws the stairs into the ring and wallops Undertaker with them for two. He tries to drive the stairs into Undertaker's leg, but Undertaker rolls out of the way. Another attempt with the stairs by Lesnar, and Undertaker kicks them back into his face. He locks in Hell's Gate, but Lesnar fights out and pounds him into the ground. Lesnar rips the canvas off the ring and takes out the padding to expose the wooden boards underneath. Undertaker sits up and chokeslams a stunned Lesnar onto the boards. He adds a Tombstone but it only gets two. Taker does the throat cutting motion and Lesnar uppercuts him in the nuts, then hits an F5 on the boards for the pin at 18:10. After the match, Undertaker slowly gets back to his feet as the crowd chants “thank you” until the Wyatt Family arrives to lay him out and carry him to the back.

Undertaker and Lesnar pulled off an absolutely brutal match that felt miles beyond their previous two encounters. The two veterans pulled out all the stops, literally tearing up the ring and clearly blading in defiance of the current "no blood" policy. Most importantly, Undertaker and Lesnar felt evenly matched this time around, with the Undertaker looking healthier than before and finally coming across as a legitimate threat to the intimidating Lesnar. Lesnar now goes off to wait for the Wrestlemania buildup while Undertaker gets a match with Wyatt at “Survivor Series” to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his debut.

WINNER: Brock Lesnar

RATING: ****1/2

One of the secret gaps in my pretty decent repository of film knowledge is a nearly complete unfamiliarity with the movies in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise. It was only this past summer that I watched the original movie and found it to be an equally dumb and charming riff on "Point Break" with loud cars instead of surfboards. So it’s with relatively open eyes that I recently watched the massively success blockbuster "Furious 7" to see how things have changed over the past 6 movies and 14 years, besides the obvious need to remove any unnecessary words from the title. Is it for streamlining purposes to make the movie go faster? Have Vin Diesel and Paul Walker sacrificed the need to be fast in order to become even more furious? I couldn't rest with these questions rolling around in my brain.

I'm not sure I ever really learned the answer to that, but what I did discover was that drawing a line from the silly but relatively rational original movie to the pure souped-up insanity that is this seventh installment is like trying to understand how Anthony Michael Hall went from being the nerdy kid in the “Breakfast Club” to the intimidating bully in “Edward Scissorhands” – how did things get so big, so fast? Diesel and Walker's characters were once ordinary men with a need for speed, but now they and their crew of drivers/spies/somehow martial artists act like full-blown superheroes, donning their cars like manga battle armor, incapable of feeling pain and driven to action with battle cries about "family" and "the streets." Together they accomplish some of the most purely unbelievable action sequences released in theaters this year, and yes, I’m counting that one where a team of gods and monsters fought a sentient robot in a floating city.

Don't take that as anything but a compliment – I come here not to bury "Furious 7" but to praise it. After all, it’s a rare movie that can hold what we consider to be the very notion of "reality" in its celluloid grasp and beat it with impossibly giant wrenches until it resembles a Frankensteinian amalgam of car commercials, music videos, James Bond movies, and the fevered imagination of a five-year old “Hot Wheels” collector. Director James Wan has always shown a great talent for making memorable horror movies like “Saw” and “The Conjuring,” but here we see him so skillfully pulling together one incredulous sequence after another that it’s clear his destiny lies in big budgets instead of small ones.

The plot – I mean, who cares, but here it is – sees our heroes chasing and being chased by Jason Statham as rogue special forces assassin Deckard Shaw, whose brother Owen was beaten into a coma by Vin Diesel’s Dominic Torretto in the last movie. Shaw is quickly established as a match for our heroes when he delivers a Shakespearean soliloquy at his brother's hospital bedside, then tells the doctors to get to work before revealing to us that he kinda blew up the whole hospital on his way in. If you're wondering how blowing up the hospital would help and not hurt Owen’s chances of recovery, then your brain is still working from a place of reasoning and logic and so you should keep watching to be remedied of that unfortunate habit.

Statham quickly sidelines DSS agent Hobbs, the literal embodiment of muscular awesomeness played by The Rock, and then assaults Toretto by remotely bombing his house and killing his friend Han in Tokyo. My understanding is that we first saw Han die at the end of the third movie “Tokyo Drift,” which means that installment takes place between the sixth and seventh installments of the franchise, because “The Fast and the Furious” movies do not need to observe your simple notions of continuity.

Toretto gathers up his crew – Paul Walker as former FBI agent and BFF Brian, Michelle Rodriguez as Dom’s tough-as-nails amnesiac girlfriend Letty, Ludacris as the mechanic-slash-hacker Tej, and Tyrese Gibson as the funny and somewhat cowardly Roman – and vows at Han’s funeral to take revenge on Shaw. After first fighting Shaw to a stalemate, the group is recruited by a shadowy operative named Mr. Nobody, played to complete over-the-top perfection by Kurt Russell. Mr. Nobody wants Toretto's group to recover a technological MacGuffin named the "God's Eye" that can track anyone's location by using every camera in the world and promises to let Toretto use the technology to find Shaw.

Never mind that Shaw is stalking Toretto's group around the world T-1000 style and they could easily just wait to be found – these characters need something to do, right? So off Toretto and his group go to rescue the God's Eye from terrorist Mose Jakande played by Djimon Honsou, who has taken it along with its gorgeous hacker Ramsay, played by Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones. If the projects had gotten mixed up together and Khaleesi's dragons had suddenly appeared from the skies, I wouldn't have blinked an eye.

Toretto’s group then executes one impossible task after another, all with very minimal setup in-between and most involving cars in some way. The crew jump out of an airplane in super expensive cars. Toretto and Brian jump a car from one skyscraper to the next. There are brutal fights with legit badasses Ronda Rousey and Tony Jaa. The Rock literally flexes off a cast on his arm and then walks the streets of Los Angeles with a machine gun the size of a young child. None of the characters ever lose a fight, suffer a lasting injury, or acknowledge the astounding amount of stress that would surely cripple a normal person once the adrenaline wears off.

What’s most impressive is that many of these action sequences were done with practical stunts and little CGI. In fact, much of the digital effects were used on Paul Walker’s character to compensate for the actor’s tragic death in a car accident during the filming of the movie. Production stopped as the film was rewritten to compensate for this sad turn of events, and then his remaining scenes were finished using old footage, CGI, and his brothers as body and voice doubles. I felt a morbid anticipation as Walker's character encountered one dangerous situation after the next, wondering if this would be the stunt that writes him out, but – spoilers – instead the character makes it out alive and gets written off into domestic bliss with his son and partner Mia, played by franchise mainstay Jordana Brewster. Even having missed most of the character’s previous escapades, his final send-off is legitimately touching and adds a touch of dignity to a movie mostly concerned with horsepower.

One of the smartest decisions Robert Kirkman made when kicking off his massively successful comic "The Walking Dead" was to drop his hero Rick Grimes into the story of the apocalypse in medias res, after modern civilization had already been torn apart like a horde of zombies does to its meals. There was no battle left for Grimes to fight and no secret weapon hiding for him to find – the war was over and we had lost, and that sense of hopelessness and uncertainty set a lasting and memorable tone for the book and equally successful TV adaptation going forward.

When a spin-off series was put into development, that undocumented time when society began to crumble seemed like fertile ground to tell stories that were different from but related to the parent show. After all, we’ve all seen zombie takeover stories before, but not necessarily in the same way that "The Walking Dead" would tell it. Even better, a spin-off series also gave the creators a chance to learn from the mistakes of the parent show's uneven early seasons when the plots progressed in fits and starts and the characters’ motivations felt muddled with artificiality.

Happily, the first season of “Fear the Walking Dead” does feel like an improvement over the wildly uneven first season of the “Walking Dead,” possessing a greater consistency and sense of direction than we saw in the first six episodes chronicling Rick Grimes' journey. It’s also unfortunately a much duller show, never quite finding the right balance between tension and release and concentrated more on family drama and government conspiracy plotlines than the wall-to-wall human buffet line most viewers had wanted. After years of wondering how things got so bad for the denizens of the "Walking Dead" universe, it's disappointing that the incident was pretty, well… lifeless.

The action takes place in the suburbs of Los Angeles, far from the wild stomping grounds of Rick Grimes, and is focused on a standard-design-for-modern-television family unit: single mom and guidance counselor Madison Clark, her junkie son Nick, her overachieving daughter Alycia, her boyfriend and teacher Travis Manawa, Travis’ ex-wife and nursing student Liza Ortiz, and their resentful son Chris. It's Nick and outsiders like him that first encounter the undead during their less lucid moments, and even as news reports of seemingly invulnerable troublemakers with a penchant for biting hit the internet, most well-adjusted members of society require more first-hand knowledge to convince them of what’s on the horizon.

These confrontations mostly take the form of soap opera-style dramatics with a little zombie twist. Nick's goody two shoes friend Calvin is secretly his dealer - oops, now he's a zombie! Alycia and her boyfriend are from different worlds - hey, what's with that fever and those bite marks? It’s all a bit too manufactured to create real drama but at least delivered capably thanks to strong work by Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, and Elizabeth Rodriguez as Liza. (Rodriguez plays Daya’s ruthless mother Aleida on “Orange is the New Black,” who I’m sure would end the zombie threat in short order.)

It's not until Los Angeles begins to erupt in riots at the end of the second episode that the show captures some of the energy we'd all been anticipating. Travis and his family seek refuge from the destruction in a barber shop owned by an El Salvadorian man named Daniel, played sharply by Ruben Blades, and his family. Meanwhile, Madison and her children are back at their home dealing with some bitey neighbors and the moral weight of whether to warn the rest of their community about the strange happenings taking place around them. But just as things are really getting going, the army conveniently locks down their homes as a “safe zone,” pulling us out of any danger of real action and into a standard issue “immoral and secretive army” story that could be about any virus outbreak instead of the kinds that shuffle and bite.

Focusing on the role of the government during this time of crisis makes total sense from a big picture perspective. Most people already have a healthy fear of what the government is hiding from us, and the idea that information will be withheld from us until it's too late to protect ourselves is a resonant one. From the perspective of audience engagement, however, this feels like a misfire after dragging us through seemingly endless scenes of resentful children and overprotective parents. When the zombie hordes do finally arrive, along with a new character who seems improbably strange compared to the mundanity of everyone else we've seen,  it feels like an appropriate time for the walkers to whittle down the large cast into a smaller and more interesting group. Alas – spoilers – most of the boring characters manage to make it out alive.

After watching Steven Spielberg step behind the camera for nearly 30 feature films over the last 40 years, it’s easy to assume what to expect from the legendary director, especially when it comes to the more “serious” projects that have dominated his output for most of the decade. The same can be said about Tom Hanks, who has starred in nearly 50 films in the last 30 years and whose dramatic performances have made him one of the most celebrated actors in history. “Bridge of Spies," the fourth collaboration between the two, tells the true story of a staunchly moral lawyer standing up for his convictions and for basic human rights at the height of the Cold War. It's a familiar-feeling project that falls squarely into the “prestige” sweet spot that has helped the two earn their many Oscar nominations, but while it’s easy to dismiss “Bridge of Spies” as more of the same, moviegoers shouldn't overlook this thoughtful and exciting thriller that is easily the best work from both men in years.

Hanks is terrific as James B. Donovan, a wholesome insurance lawyer charged by his firm and the government with defending suspected Soviet spy Rudolph Abel on charges of treason. Everyone wants Donovan’s defense to be capable but halfhearted in order to show the public that even America’s enemies get a fair shake before issuing an assuredly guilty verdict. Donovan believes Abel – played with beautiful complexity and charm by Mark Rylance –was behaving honorably out of a sense of duty to his country, and so despite the growing public sentiment against both men, he uses all of his powers to prevent Abel from getting railroaded by the system.

Although we never see anyone take the stand, watching Donovan navigate the politics of his client’s circumstances brings to mind some of the great courtroom dramas of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s like Billy Wilder’s “Witness for the Prosecution” and Stanley Kramer’s “Judgment at Nuremberg.” Helping to set the nostalgic tone is the excellent cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, who lights the movie in such a faded style that the color almost appears to be slipping away into black and white. The dialogue feels perfect for the era and as crackling and melodic as one would expect from the Coen brothers, who worked on a script originally written by Mark Charman.

The second half of the movie sees Donovan working with the CIA to negotiate the exchange of Abel for Francis Gary Powers, a pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviets and is now being held as their prisoner. Arriving in Berlin, Donovan enters a series of negotiations with the Russians and Germans, who use their spy games to throw the staunchly moral Donovan off his game and away from a favorable deal.

It's in these deliciously complex negotiations that we most see the influence of the Coen brothers as Donovan is pulled into sometimes comical but clearly dangerous manipulations by the various European officials. Watching the unflappable Donovan’s befuddlement as he loses his overcoat to a gang or is presented with a clearly fake family of Abel is hilarious, but it’s never in doubt that this American lawyer is operating in very perilous territory.

Spielberg also shows off his cinematic muscles more in the second half of the movie after sitting back in the first half. The two halves of the movie are separated by Powers’ thrilling plane crash, which is done with such ease as almost a reminder that Spielberg could do this stuff all the time if he wanted. There's a fantastic scene set around the building of the Berlin Wall, and a moment on Donovan’s train travels through Berlin that hauntingly evokes Spielberg's “Schindler's List” in the best possible ways.

Like “Lincoln,” “Bridge of Spies” is a chance for Spielberg to explore his theme of the need for decency in a morally complicated time. In Donovan, Hanks uses his well-honed everyman persona to embody the idea of “the righteous man” who understands his responsibility to his government but also is bound to his certainty that everyone has value. While the movie is sometimes overly sentimental and patriotic – the Russian prisoners are tortured and interrogated while Abel sits comfortably in an American prison – Donovan is portrayed as a hero for his convictions rather than his ties to his homeland.

While a Spielberg-Hanks collaboration may have once set the box office on fire, the fact that “Bridge of Spies” only placed third best in opening weekend shows how much we’ve grown to take their work for granted. One wonders if they'll be similarly overlooked in the next round of Oscar nominations as well. Instead, anyone looking to make predictions would do well to bet on Rylance, whose nuanced and memorable performance should earn him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, along with nods for Kaminski’s cinematography and various other technical categories like production design and costume design.

Live on October 3, 2015, from New York, NY. Your announcers are Byron Saxton, Rich Brennan, and John Bradshaw Layfield.

MATCH 1: Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev and Sheamus

Orton works over Sheamus to start, but Rusev makes him tag out after a poke to the eyes. Ziggler hits a dropkick, stinger splash, neckbreaker, and jumping elbow for two, but Rusev catches him in a bodyblock attempt and hits a spinning slam. The heels work Ziggler over, and a dropkick on Rusev gets caught and turned into a catapult into the corner. Rusev and Sheamus each hit bodyslams on Ziggler, but Ziggler soon comes back with his own bodyslams and makes the hot tag to Orton. Orton runs Sheamus over with clotheslines, a scoop slam, and a draped DDT, then tosses Rusev. Ziggler hits a superkick on the apron while Sheamus clubs Orton down. Brogue Kick on Orton misses, and a superkick followed by an RKO puts Sheamus down at 9:00. After the match, Rusev berates Sheamus for the loss and gets a Brogue Kick in return.

This was perfectly acceptable tag team wrestling to get the crowd going, and a much appreciated change of pace from seeing more singles matches between Orton/Sheamus and Ziggler/Rusev. Sheamus and Rusev’s post-match scuffle appears to be more of an “anything can happen” moment rather than any kind of face turn, which is disappointing because this incarnation of Sheamus is dreadfully uninteresting. Also, what’s up with all the bodyslams in Rusev’s matches? It’s never going to be a thing, sorry.

WINNERS: Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler

RATING: **1/2

MATCH 2: Neville vs. Stardust

Stardust gets in some taunts after a shoulderblock, but Neville shuts him up with a few kicks to the leg and then somersaulting across the ring into a bodyblock. Cody takes back control with an enziguiri, and after playing with Neville’s cape, keeps him down with clotheslines, stomps, and shoulderblocks. Neville comes back with kicks after Cody misses a bodyblock, then hits a springboard moonsault to the outside. Cody catches him with a slam and goes to the top wearing Neville’s cape, but gets caught with a fist coming down. A superkick and the Red Arrow finishes off Cody at 7:20.

Another decent but uneventful match between two go-nowhere competitors. Cody always gives 110% and Neville’s agility is astounding, but when their contests put the crowds half to sleep, it’s not hard to understand why they’ve been crowded out of the midcard in favor of other wrestlers who get more of a reaction.

WINNER: Neville

RATING: **

MATCH 3: Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Alicia Fox vs. Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch

Becky works over Alicia early on, then hits a pumphandle slam on Brie. She chases Brie outside but gets intercepted by Alicia and caught coming back in. Brie locks in a resthold, then announces that she’s in “Brie Mode” and hits a running knee for two. Becky catches Nikki with a roll up for two and makes the hot tag to Charlotte, who connects with chops, a neckbreaker, and a spear. She tries to finish with the Figure 8 but Paige tags herself in for a pin attempt. The faces argue, allowing Nikki to hit a clotheslines on Paige, leading to another heat sequence. Alicia hits a northern lights suplex for two. Paige clotheslines her and Nikki down and gets to her corner for the tag, but Charlotte and Becky walk away. Nikki’s Rack Attack finishes Paige at 8:35. Paige complains about the betrayal on mic after the match.

Another show, another decent six-person tag team match for the Divas. The Team PCB break-up is dragging on for a surprisingly long time, but the ending here was interesting and helped to further define the characters’ personalities for those who didn’t watch NXT. Many are already calling the Divas Revolution as a “failure,” but I’m inclined to label it instead as “progress” since the division is certainly in a much better place than it has been for years. We all know that the new divas can put on good-to-great matches every week, but obviously the WWE isn’t ready to give them more screen-time and so has continued to group them into easily digestible teams. With any luck, we’ll start seeing these teams break up soon and get some fresh new match-ups to enjoy.

WINNERS: Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Alicia Fox

RATING: **1/4

MATCH 4: Intercontinental Championship Match: Kevin Owens (champion) vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match, Jericho talks about some old friends at ringside, including Lance Storm, who he wrestled against in his first match 25 years ago on this day. Owens tries to beat Jericho down early but gets hit with a springboard dropkick and hammered into the announce table. He catches Jericho coming back into the ring, and a running senton by Owens gets two. Jericho fights back with chops and a double axehandle off the top. Walls of Jericho is fought off but an enziguiri by Jericho gets two. Owens fails to hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb but turns a Codebreaker attempt into a package powerbomb for two. Jericho comes back with the bulldog but a Lionsault hits knees. Owens hits the running cannonball into the corner but a senton off the top hits knees. Jericho capitalizes with the Walls of Jericho but Owens makes the ropes and throws him into the turnbuckle, then rolls him up for two. A Codebreaker gets two for Jericho. Owens catches him with a superkick but the Pop-Up Powerbomb is reversed into a rana. Jericho tries for the Walls again but Owens thumbs him in the eye and rolls him up for the pin at 8:10.

One would expect great things in a match between two fantastic wrestlers like Owens and Jericho, and while the match wasn’t an all-time classic or anything, it was certainly a quality outing and a worthy tribute to Jericho’s career on his 25th anniversary. Jericho never wins anymore and so the ending was never in doubt, but if one of the all-time greats wants to keep coming back to put on quality matches and put over the younger generation, you’ll never hear me complain.

WINNER: Kevin Owens

RATING: ***1/4

MATCH 5: Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (champions) vs. The Dudley Boyz

The New Day does their usual funny promo before the match. The Dudleyz take turns dominating both men until Big E manages to hit a bodyslam on Bubba. His dancing celebration is cut short when Bubba sets up the Wazzup Drop, but Kofi distracts the ref and Xavier pushes D-Von off the top. The New Day work over Bubba in the corner with trumpet-motivated stomps, but Big E misses a splash and Bubba makes the tag to D-Von, who cleans house. Kofi misses a springboard and gets hit with 3D, but Xavier runs in for the DQ at 6:40. After the match, The New Day set up a table but take so long celebrating that the Dudleyz recover and 3D Xavier through it.

Why bother with doing an abbreviated and less impressive version of their Night of Champions match if you’re not even going to change the ending? I’d still rather see the Dudley Boyz as title contenders than any of the other tag teams in the division, but the booking of this feud is taking things nowhere fast.

WINNERS: The Dudley Boyz

RATING: *3/4

MATCH 6: Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar

Brock tries to take Big Show off his feet, but Big Show casually tosses him over the top rope. Show fights off a german suplex and hits three consecutive chokeslams, but it only gets two. Lesnar ducks a KO punch and hits three german suplexes, but can’t quite hold him up for an F5. Another german suplex and an F5 finish off Show at 4:05. After the match, Brock heads back down the aisle but returns for a belly-to-belly suplex and another F5. Once Big Show gets to his feet, the ring announcer tries to draw some sympathy applause by saying “Let’s hear it for the Big Show!,” but the crowd doesn't care.

Lesnar got a pretty sweet payday here by getting to wrestle for just five minutes and completely no-sell Big Show’s chokeslam. If the WWE wants to spend money to show off Lesnar’s strength and make him look like a million bucks, this is exactly how you do it. Whether that’s a good use of their money is up to them.

WINNER: Brock Lesnar

RATING: **

MATCH 7: United States Championship Match, steel cage match: John Cena (champion) vs. Seth Rollins

Rollins fights off a long headlock from Cena by throwing him into the cage twice. A splash in the corner gets two and Rollins tries to walk out the door, but Cena pulls him back in. Rollins tries to climb but Cena pulls him back down and hits a bulldog off the top for two. Cena starts to climb but Rollins throws him down and hits a jumping knee off the top for two. Rollins heads back up the cage, but he has to jump down to prevent Cena from crawling out the door. A sling blade gets two. Rollins grinds Cena’s face into the cage and climbs, but Cena brings him back down with an electric chair for two. They fight on top and Cena slams Rollins’ face into the cage to knock him off, but Cena’s leg drop off the top gets turned into a powerbomb by Rollins for two. They take turns throwing each other into the cage and Cena does the usual to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Rollins kicks him away and heads for the door, then hits an enziguiri when Cena pulls him back in for two. Rollins’ own Five Knuckle Shuffle is stopped and Cena finishes his in response. Rollins slips out of an Attitude Adjustment onto the cage, but jumps off the ropes and gets caught in an STF. Rollins crawls to the door and chokes Cena on the bottom rope until he releases the hold, then they take turns diving for the door until Rollins slams it on Cena's head for two. Cena tries to slingshot Rollins out of a Pedigree, but Rollins catches the cage and tries to climb. Rollins’ superplex/falcon arrow combo gets two. They fight on top until Cena throws Rollins back to the mat, them jumps off the top for a tornado DDT for two. Cena makes for the door but Rollins springboards off his back to the top, then kicks the door into Cena's face. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment again, but Rollins lands on his feet and hits a superkick for two. STF is reversed into a crossface. Cena picks him up for the Attitude Adjustment once more but Rollins slips out and hits a low blow. Rollins gets to the top of the cage when Kane comes out and stands where Rollins would climb down. Rollins eventually chooses to splash Cena off the top instead of climb down and face Kane, but he misses and an Attitude Adjustment gives Cena the pin at 22:49. After the match, Kane comes in and hits a chokeslam and tombstone.

Cena and Rollins can do no wrong together on PPV, and this was a pretty fantastic cage match as the two focused on using the cage as an essential part of the story and made lots of exciting escape attempts. As with most of their other matches, this was marred by a bad ending and the unfortunate result of having the world champion once again lose to the holder of the secondary title. I remain befuddled by the creative team’s choices when booking Rollins. He’s constantly undermined by his compatriots and never looks dominant in any of his feuds despite clearly having the goods in the ring. Either make him a fluke champion and get the belt off of him, or even better, give him some wins and make a believable star out of him.

WINNER: John Cena

RATING: ****

As titles from the "All-New All-Different Marvel" era start to hit the shelves, let's take a look back at the top ten best runs from the "Marvel Now" era, which began in October 2012 with the conclusion of the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline and ended with the arrival of "Secret Wars" in May 2015. This list is limited to ongoing runs by author and do not include standalone miniseries unless they are connected to a run in some way.

10. Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn's "Deadpool" (Deadpool vol. 4 #1-45, Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet Infinite Comic vol. 1 #1-13, Death of Wolverine: Deadpool and Captain America vol. 1 #1, Hawkeye vs. Deadpool vol. 1 #0-4, Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos vol. 1 #1-4 - w. Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Christopher Priest, Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Tieri, Gail Simone, Victor Gischler, Daniel Way, Mike Drucker, Nick Giovannetti, Paul Scheer, Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, Scott Aukerman, Jason Mantzoukas, and Matt Selman, a. Tony Moore, Scott Koblish, Mike Hawthorne, Declan Shalvey, John Lucas, Mirko Colak, Scott Hepburn, John McCrea, Paco Medina, Niko Henrichon, John Moreira, Dexter Soy, Alvin Lee, Shawn Crystal, Bong Dazo, Carlo Barbieri, Javuan Kirby, Ty Templeton, Natalie Nourigat, Todd Nauck, Jacob Chabot, Reilly Brown, Scott Kolins, Matteo Lolli, and Jacopo Camagni)

9. Ryan North's "Squirrel Girl" (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol. 1 #1-8 - w. Ryan North, a. Erica Henderson)

8. Nick Spencer's "The Superior Foes of Spider-Man" (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man vol. 1 #1-9 and 12-17 - w. Nick Spencer, a. Steve Lieber and Richard Ellis)

7. Brian Michael Bendis' "X-Men" (All-New X-Men vol. 1 #1-41 and Annual #1, Uncanny X-Men vol. 3 #1-35 and Annual #1, X-Men: Battle of the Atom vol. 1 #1-2, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 #11.NOW-13 and 24-25, Old Man Logan vol. 1 #1-5, and Uncanny X-Men vol. 4 #600 - w. Brian Michael Bendis, a. Stuart Immonen, David Marquez, David Lafuente, Brandon Peterson, Mahmud A. Asrar, Brent Anderson, Arthur Adams, Lee Bermejo, Jeff Scott Campbell, Ronnie Del Carmen, Rafael Grampá, Dan Hipp, J. G. Jones, David Mack, Jake Parker, Robbi Rodriguez, Jason Shiga, Paul Smith, Jill Thompson, Bruce Timm, Kent Williams, Max Wittert, Skottie Young, Sara Pichelli, Michael Del Mundo, Andrea Sorrentino, Frank Cho, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Chris Bachalo, Frazier Irving, Kris Anka, Marco Rudy, and Valerio Schiti)

6. Mark Waid's "Daredevil" (Daredevil vol. 4 #16-36, Daredevil: Road Warrior Infinite Comic vol. 1 #1-4, and Daredevil vol. 5 #1-18 - w. Mark Waid, a. Christopher Samnee, Michael Allred, Javier Rodriguez, Jason Copland, and Peter Krause)

5. Jason Aaron's "Thor" (Thor: God of Thunder vol. 1 #1-25, Original Sin vol. 1 #1-8, Original Sin: Thor and Loki - The Tenth Realm vol. 1 #5.1-5.5, Thor vol. 6 #1-8 and Annual #1, Thors vol. 1 #1-4 - w. Jason Aaron w/ Al Ewing, a. Esad Ribic, Jackson Guice, Nic Klein, Ron Garney, Emanuela Lupacchino, Das Pastoras, Agustin Alessio, R. M. Guéra, Simon Bisley, Simone Bianchi, Lee Garbett, Marco Checchetto, Szymon Kudranski, Russell Dauterman, Jorge Molina, Timothy Truman, Christopher Sprouse, and Goran Sudžuka)

4. G. Willow Wilson's "Ms. Marvel" (Ms. Marvel vol. 3 #1-19 and All-New Marvel Now! Point One vol. 1 #1 (Ms. Marvel story) - w. G. Willow Wilson, a. Adrian Alphona, Jacob Wyatt, Elmo Bondoc, and Takeshi Miyazawa)

3. Dan Slott's "Spider-Man" (Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #698-700, Superior Spider-Man vol. 1 #1-33, Amazing Spider-Man vol. 4 #1-18, Spider-Verse vol. 1 #1-2, and Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1-5 - w. Dan Slott w/ Christos Gage, a. Richard Elson, Humberto Ramos, Ryan Stegman, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Marcos Martin, Javier Rodriguez, Ramón K. Pérez, Olivier Coipel, Kris Anka, and Adam Kubert)

2. Matt Fraction's "Hawkeye" (Hawkeye vol. 4 #1-22 and Annual #1 - w. Matt Fraction, a. David Aja, Javier Pulido, Steve Lieber, Jesse Hamm, Francesco Francavilla, and Annie Wu)

Live on October 7, 2015, from Winter Park, FL. Your announcers are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.

MATCH 1: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe vs. The Mechanics

Joe hammers away on Wilder but the Mechanics take control after Joe misses a charge. An enziguiri buys Joe time to make a tag to Balor, who hits his own enziguri on Wilder and knocks both Mechanics to the outside, then follows with a running hands-free flip dive over the top. He sets up for the Coup de Grace but has to jump down and gets chop blocked by Dawson. The Mechanics take turns working over Balor’s knee. Balor sends both men to the outside but Wilder pulls Joe off the apron before Balor can make a tag. Joe storms the ring, and while the referee tries to escort him out, the Mechanics hit a backbreaker/elbow drop combo. Dawson misses a charge in the corner and Balor makes the hot tag to Joe, who hits an atomic drop, running kick, senton, and powerslam on Wilder for two. A Muscle Buster and Coup de Grace finish Wilder at 9:05, but Balor’s knee is clearly hurt.

Both teams turned it on for a great opening match to start the event. Balor and Joe looked like the main eventers they are, but the more impressive tag team were the Mechanics, who showed a level of tag team coordination that has become increasingly rare these days. Balor’s knee injury nicely set up an extra level of tension going into the tournament finals against the winners of the next match.

WINNERS: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe

RATING: ***1/4

MATCH 2: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals: Baron Corbin and Rhyno vs. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan

Jordan and Corbin trade takedowns and shoulderblocks to start. Rhyno tags in and gets taken down by Jordan, then Gable comes in with a jumping sunset flip for two, followed by some chain wrestling. Rhyno knocks Gable down and puts him up in a fireman’s carry, but Gable slips out and starts working the arm. Jordan and Gable hit a double northern lights suplex for two. Rhyno tries to toss Gable over the top rope  but Gable locks in a armbar while hanging over the ropes. Gable is knocked off the apron and Corbin works him over outside. Corbin and Rhyno grind Gable down with chinlocks, and a big boot from Corbin gets two. Rhyno misses a splash from the top, allowing Gable to tag out. Jordan hits both opponents with dropkicks, tosses out Rhyno, and plants Corbin with a side suplex. The straps come down and a spear in the corner connects, but when Jordan tags out to Gable, Corbin clotheslines Jordan and black hole slams Gable. Jordan breaks up the pin but Rhyno hits him with a belly-to-belly suplex. Gable deadlifts Corbin into a german suplex but Rhyno breaks up the pin. A Gore and End of Days on Gable give Corbin and Rhyno the match at 10:28.

In both appearance and craft, Gable and Jordan resembled the World's Greatest Tag Team of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas in all the right ways. Corbin and Rhyno make a decent pairing but slowed down the match too much in the middle with rest holds. The final sequence after the hot tag picked things up nicely, and both teams walked away looking strong.

WINNERS: Baron Corbin and Rhyno

RATING: ***

MATCH 3: Asuka vs. Dana Brooke

Brooke slaps away a handshake before the match. The two trade wristlocks and Asuka transitions into a hammerlock, rolling with Brooke as she attempts to roll through. They trade slaps until Asuka explodes on Brooke with punches, followed by a running hip bump and some mocking poses. They trade elbow and Asuka grounds Brooke with a fujiwara armbar. Brooke makes the ropes and Asuka hammers her with kicks. Emma grabs Asuka from the outside and Brooke hangs her on the ropes. Brooke chokes her in the corner with a handstand and locks in a bodyscissors, but Asuka escapes into an ankle lock followed by a german suplex, a cross armbreaker, and a big kick. She elbows Emma off the apron and hits a sitting dropkick to the face on Brooke. Brooke submits to the Asuka Lock at 5:33. Asuka stares down Emma after the match.

This was mostly a squash designed to introduce Asuka to the fans, although Brooke got in a surprising amount of offense. Asuka looked impressive in victory and the crowd was very receptive to her style. Brooke looked good in defeat as well.

WINNER: Asuka

MATCH: **1/2

MATCH 4: Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze

Crews dominates Breeze to start with a shoulderblock and a dropkick, then runs Breeze down when he rolls outside. A vertical suplex with a very long delay gets two. Breeze rolls Crews to the outside and flings him into the apron, then rolls him back in for two. A sideways Backstabber gets another two count. Breeze climbs the turnbuckles and Crews grabs him for a press slam, but Breeze slips down and locks in a sharpshooter until Crews makes the ropes. Crews looks for a powerbomb but Breeze rolls through into a hurricanrana. He catches Breeze with an enziguiri coming off the ropes but gets backdropped to the apron and nailed with a Supermodel Kick coming back in. Breeze pushes Crews outside and hits a dropkick on the apron. He dives off the top but Crews catches him with a powerslam for two. Gorilla press by Crews but a standing moonsault hits knees and a small package gets two. Breeze starts throwing running forearms into the corner but Crews hits a big kick, then turns him from a belly to back suplex into a powerbomb for the pin at 9:48.

Like the previous match, this was another solid outing with a good story despite the winner being a foregone conclusion once the announcers played up Crews’ undefeated streak. Crews certainly has a good look and moveset, and it's clear that the booking team sees some main event potential . However, he still looked green compared to Breeze, who came away looking like a polished veteran in control of the match.

WINNER: Apollo Crews

RATING: **3/4

MATCH 5: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin and Rhyno

Balor immediately goes for a roll up on Rhyno, so Corbin tags in and goes for Balor’s injured knee. Balor hits a dropkick and tags in Joe, who dominates Corbin until getting caught in a spinebuster. Rhyno tags in and hits a spear to the corner and a belly to belly suplex for two, then locks in a chinlock. Corbin splashes him three times in the corner and hits a running big boot for two. Joe reverses a whip to the corner and hits a butt splash and enziguiri. Hot tag to Balor, who jumps off Corbin's back to dropkick Rhyno. An elbow to Corbin follows but Balor’s knee gives out after a jump. Corbin connects with a big boot and starts to climb, Corbin starts to climb but Balor catches him with an enziguiri. He heads to the apron to capitalize but Rhyno takes out the knee for the second heat sequence of the match. Corbin wraps his leg around the post. Balor fights out of the heel corner but runs into a black hole slam for two. Corbin hits two running punches but Balor fights back with a sling blade. Hot tag to Joe, who hits Rhyno with clotheslines, an atomic drop, a running big boot, a senton, and a Rock Bottom out of the corner. Joe hits an STO on Corbin but turns around into a Gore. Balor breaks up the pinfall attempt on Joe and plants Corbin with a floatover DDT. He clotheslines Corbin to the outside and gives him a running boot from the apron. Rhyno knocks him to the floor and sets up the Gore on Joe. Joe boots him out of it, and a Muscle Buster and Coup De Grace finish him at 11:10 to win the tournament. After the match, Dustin, Cody, and other members of the Rhodes family award the title to Joe and Balor, and Cody gives a heartfelt speech about Dusty.

As with Corbin and Rhyno’s previous match, most of the match was slow and uneventful but things heated up for the ending sequence. Having two extended heat sequences felt like a bit of overkill considering the limitations of the heels' "methodical" offense. The post-match speech and trophy ceremony added a classy touch to the tournament, even though one could argue that a more appropriate final match for a "tag team classic" would have been between two cohesive tag teams like the Mechanics and Gable/Jordan rather than two pairings of solo stars.

WINNERS: Finn Balor and Samoa Joe

RATING: **3/4

MATCH 6: Divas Championship 30-Minute Iron Man Match: Bayley (champion) vs. Sasha Banks

We see the competitors wordlessly psyche themselves up before coming through the curtain for their entrances. After a tentative lock up and some headlocks and shoulderblocks, the two cycle through myriad pinfall attempts such as roll-ups, small packages, and backslides until Sasha breaks up the rhythm with a big dropkick. Bayley hits a Japanese armdrags, then a second armdrag that drops Sasha on her neck for two. Sasha takes back control with a hurricanrana and a top rope wristdrag. Each competitor fights off a finishing move attempt by the other. Sasha offers a hug and hairdrags Bayley to the mat. Bayley gets angry and hits Sasha with a jumping armdrag, a clothesline to the corner, elbow drops, and a dropkick. Sasha rolls to the floor and Bayley chases her with a sliding dropkick through the corner under the bottom rope, then another through a different corner. A bulldog back in the ring gets two. Sasha tries a roll up with her feet on the ropes but the ref sees it. The refere gets trapped in the corner, and Sasha obscures his view and thumbs Bayley in the eyes. A roll-up gives Sasha the first fall at 8:31.

Sasha chokes her in the corner but Bayley rams her face into the turnbuckle ten times. Sasha pushes Bayley into the turnbuckle and lays her across the second rope for the double knee stomp. Bayley catches her and drops her into the top turnbuckle. Sasha tries to climb but Bayley pulls her down and hits Bayley to Belly to tie it up 1-1 at 10:52.

Sasha rolls outside again to catch her breath, and when Bayley goes for another sliding dropkick, Sasha catches her and flings her into the steps for two. She throws Bayley into the steps twice more and yells at Bayley’s family at ringside. Bayley tweaks her knee on another toss to the outside. Sasha throws Bayley into the LED board and makes Bayley’s superfan Izzy cry at ringside by stealing her headband and throwing it at her. The referee counts out Bayley at 14:08 while Sasha gloats with her sunglasses on in the ring.

Sasha mocks Bayley while working on her back. Bayley tries to kick at her from the corner but Sasha throws her up into a backbreaker. Sasha hooks on a Walls of Jericho, and when Bayley makes the ropes, she stomps on Bayley’s hand. She looks for Walls of Jericho again but Bayley rolls her up to tie the score again at 17:20.

A double knee stomp in the corner to the back from Sasha misses, and a charged up Bayley runs her over with running axe handles and a possibly botched running neckbreaker for two. Bayley hits a spear, jumping elbows to the corner, and a flying elbow from the middle rope. A tree of woe and jumping elbow get two. She tries to set Sasha up top but gets pulled into her own tree of woe and hit with a double knee stomp for two. Sasha goes for another tree of woe but takes too long mocking and runs shoulder first into the post. She slips the outside and Bayley slams her hand into the steps. Bayley rolls Sasha in for a two count, then throws her through the ropes to the apron and snaps her arm across the middle rope. She sets up the steps, slams Sasha’s hand into them, and runs up them for a jumping clothesline. Sasha kicks her back into the steps and tries a dive through the middle rope, but Bayley catches her with a Bayley to Belly on the floor for two. Bayley lifts Sasha up to the middle rope and hits a jumping Bayley to Belly, buy Sasha’s foot is in the ropes during the pinfall attempt. Bayley sets up Sasha on top and tries for a reverse Bayleycanrana, but Sasha rolls through and hits her own Bayley to Belly for two. She hooks in the Bank Statement, and when Bayley tries for the ropes, Sasha pushes off them and rolls them back to the middle of the ring. After minutes in the hold, Bayley twists and slams Sasha’s injured hand to break free. Bayley locks in a double armbar, pulling Sasha’s fingers and kicking the back of the head. Sasha taps out with only seconds left on the clock, giving Bayley the 3-2 victory. Triple H and Stephanie congratulate both competitors with flowers afterwards.

If the Brooklyn match can be compared to an explosive battle, this would be the equivalent of a long and brutal war. Iron Man matches (or Iron Woman matches, as the case may be) are often problematic to book because important sequences have to be timed to match the countdown of the clock. This match was no exception, as can be seen from the slow stalling at the beginning and the overly long Bank Statement sequence at the end. But so much of the middle of this match was excellent and Bayley and Sasha are so gifted in the ring that every single move is a pleasure to watch. Equally important is their dedication to their performances - Bayley is such a classic face and Sasha is such a classic heel that their matches carry a kinetic spark of energy. While it wasn't as good as their Brooklyn match, this was another fantastic outing between two deservedly celebrated wrestlers in what has become a classic rivalry.

WINNER: Bayley

RATING: ****1/2

This was my first time watching a complete NXT event after months of reading great things about the product, and it certainly did not disappoint. All of the performers looked hungry and energized, and it's a pleasure to see good matches in not only men's single competitions (which is the WWE's bread and butter) but in women's single and tag team competitions as well. The low-key aisle set-up and lack of video screens and pyro made for a refreshing change from the main WWE product. The two hours flew by quickly and made me a big fan of NXT and it’s roster. I look forward to the December event in London and may even check out a few of their weekly episodes in the interim.

With most of their major characters’ titles replaced by alternate reality stories during “Secret Wars,” it makes sense for Marvel to replace the currently deceased Wolverine’s book with a new story about Old Man Logan from the hugely popular story by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven published in 2008. What was more surprising was the revelation that Old Man Logan would be sticking around in the post-“Secret Wars” universe as a member of the X-Men in Wolverine’s absence. Although it doesn’t capture the same absurdist magic that made the original such a success, Brian Michael Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino’s miniseries does a great job functioning as both a sequel to the original and a lead-in to the new series, as it tells the gripping tale of one mutant’s journey to hell and back for a chance at redemption.

At the end of the original story, Logan unsheathed his claws once more to take revenge on the Hulk family after they murdered his family. Now on a mission to bring law and order back to the world around him, his world turns upside-down when an Ultron head mysteriously falls from the sky, leading him to search for answers by traveling over the wall separating his section of Battleworld from others. His journey throws him from one strange alternate reality to the next while the Thorsguard pursues him for committing the breaking Doom’s law of leaving his domain.

Bendis positions Logan as an almost mythological figure descending into the underworld as punishment for defying God’s will. Along the way, the ghosts of his past confront and attack him – a stop in the Age of Apocalypse reality is good fanboy service to us but torture for Logan. Angels judge him with the cleansing fire of lightning. Emma Frost appears three times along his path, pushing him forward and weighing the suffering of his soul. Echoes appear repeatedly not just of Logan’s past, such as the appearances of Sabretooths and Hulks, but of moments in Bendis’ earlier works, such as the Ultron head macguffin that popped up in his “Moon Knight” run. It’s not until after facing an endless swarm of demons – in the form of zombie symbiotes, since this is a Marvel comic – that he realizes his hubris for imposing his own rules over Doom’s may have cost him everything he holds dear.

The story structure is similar to that of Bendis’ previous collaboration with Sorrentino and colorist Marcelo Maiolo on the Eva Bell focused-X-Men annuals, which featured a journey through time instead of space. Sorrentino’s gorgeous art was the highlight of that story and is even more impressive here, full of thrillingly bold layouts and kinetic action sequences. His beautifully textured work draws out the personalities of the characters, such as the contemplative nature of Logan or the vanity of Emma Frost. Maiolo’s bold colors add glorious mood to each new setting, such as the hellish orange of the Age of Apocalypse, the cold steel of Technopolis, and the dusty yellows of the zombie wastelands.

It’s disappointing that Logan doesn’t find the audience he seeks here – after all, this is a “Secret Wars” tie-in and the showdown with Doom will have to wait for the main book – and the ending reads as confusing without the benefit of knowing what’s happening in Bendis’ “Ultimate End” tie-in book. But the pleasure is in the journey instead of the destination, and by taking the time to show us Logan’s tragedies, his addition to the X-Men will be much more impactful than if he were to just show up out of the blue.

Young Man Logan will be back eventually – after all, superhero comics are always fond of cycling back to the status quo – but Bendis and Sorrentino’s story makes a good case for taking a different approach to the character for a while. In no small part due to Bendis’ work, many of the conflicts that defined Logan since his introduction had been resolved over the last decade as he transitioned from violent wildcard to respected Avenger and beloved schoolteacher. Logan accomplished the redemption he had sought out for so long, but Old Man Logan still needs a second chance to make things right. We know now why Old Man Logan needs the Marvel Universe – now it’s up to the ongoing title’s team of Sorrentino and writer Jeff Lemire to show us why the Marvel Universe needs Old Man Logan.

Have you ever watched “Back to the Future” and wondered just how twisted the relationship between Doc Brown and Marty McFly can get? That’s the high concept behind “Rick and Morty,” a hilarious animated show from creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon about an immoral alcoholic scientist who pulls his impressionable young grandson into inappropriate and life-threatening cosmic misadventures. The recently concluded second season is so astoundingly inventive and shockingly offensive that you may feel both smarter and horrified at the same time.

Although the creators originally based their eponymous characters on Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox’s most famous roles, “Rick and Morty” plays out more like a demented “Doctor Who.” Rick possesses incredible technology and is wise from experience but is completely detached from “normal” human behavioral concepts such as love, appreciation, or morality.  Whereas the Doctor often travels in the spirit of adventure or curiosity, Rick makes his way through time, space, and alternate dimensions mostly to perform experiments and make money. His grandson Morty acts as his naïve companion, pushing him towards compassion but unable to negotiate the tricky circumstances they often encounter. They’re sometimes joined in their travels by Morty’s sister Summer and often become entangled in family drama situations at home involving Rick’s assertive daughter Beth and her spineless husband Jerry. It's a fun premise with endless possibilities, but it nearly always circles back to how the arrival of this mad scientist has affected the lives of his impressionable grandchildren.

Roiland and Harmon often establish each continuity-free episode’s premise by ripping apart science fiction and sitcom tropes to their basic parts, then recombining them into something new. “Total Rickall” may play with the dusty old “clip show” format, but it does so by having memory-implanting parasites create each of the character’s flashback in order to multiply and infiltrate Rick and Morty’s home. As in Harmon’s beloved deconstructionist comedy “Community,” “Rick and Morty” generates outside-the-box ideas faster and sharper than nearly any other show on the air today.

Once they’ve established the basic set-ups, the creators reveal a huge talent for constantly escalating the complexities of the characters’ problems. Various shows have played with the idea of alternate timelines, but “A Rickle in Time” reveals dozens of them simultaneously in split-screen and have their actions effect each other. “The Ricks Must Be Crazy” sees the pair journey inside a microverse generating power for Rick’s car battery, only to find that they’ve created their own microverse to generate power for their society, and so on. No matter how complicated the situations get, everything remains grounded because the characters’ goals are always consistent and understandable.

Although the show does play with the standard redemption arc of having Rick learn to appreciate his long-forgotten family, but it also takes the subversive stance of teaching Morty the pitfalls of being a do-gooder. What usually gets Rick and Morty into their predicaments isn't Rick's horrible behavior but Morty's desire to act ethically, which often results in great danger to them and the societies with which they interact. For example, Morty is shocked when Rick sells a gun to an assassin in the episode “Mortynight Gun” because he believes Rick is responsible for everyone that assassin kills. Morty rescues the assassin's target, but the conflict ends up taking the lives of the assassin and dozens of innocent people.

Because Rick’s always at least a step ahead of everyone else, he never really learns the error of his ways. Part of that is a condition of the show's underlying premise – the show is over if Rick changes his ways – but the question of whether Rick’s immorality is an appropriate approach to handling life’s problems is an intriguing one. Morty wants to be a force for good and believes that Rick’s abusive and addictive behavior makes him a force for evil, but as much as we’d like to believe that everything follows a moral constant, Rick may be right in seeing that as a childlike oversimplification. After all, he’s experienced enough to understand that the universe is a big place and the best way to stay alive sometimes is to look out for yourself first, even if a few sentient clouds get hurt along the way.

Even the most diehard fans of the immensely popular show “The Walking Dead" would (or at least should) admit how uneven the show has been over the course of five seasons. In its earliest seasons, the show would produce terrifically exciting and often gruesome game-changers, only to squander the momentum of each new status quo with a string of dull and repetitive episodes afterwards. The consistency of the series stabilized in seasons four and five with the arrival of showrunner Scott Gimple, and having now wrapped up the first season of its new spin-off show, "The Walking Dead" is primed to set record-breaking numbers with its season six premiere. In anticipation of Sunday’s episode, here are my top 10 episodes of “The Walking Dead”:

10. Seed (Season 3, Episode 1 - w. Glen Mazzara, d. Ernest Dickerson)

9. What Happened and What's Going On (Season 5, Episode 9 - w. Scott Gimple, d. Greg Nicotero)

8. Pretty Much Dead Already (Season 2, Episode 7 - w. Scott Gimple, d. Michelle MacLaren)

7. Better Angels (Season 2, Episode 12 - w. Evan Reilly & Glen Mazzara, d. Guy Ferland)

6. Killer Within (Season 3, Episode 4 - w. Sang Kyu Kim, d. Guy Ferland)

5. No Sanctuary (Season 5, Episode 1 - w. Scott Gimple, d. Greg Nicotero)

4. Too Far Gone (Season 4, Episode 8 - w. Seth Hoffman, d. Ernest Dickerson)

3. Clear (Season 3, Episode 12 - w. Scott Gimple, d. Tricia Brock)

2. The Grove (Season 4, Episode 14 - w. Scott Gimple, d. Michael E. Satrazemis)

After nearly a decade of misfires, director Ridley Scott makes a dynamic return to form with “The Martian,” an exciting, warm, and often funny sci-fi movie about an astronaut’s struggle to survive on Mars alone after a freak accident causes his crewmates to believe he was dead. The film was adapted from a 2011 novel by Andy Weir, who originally published the story serially on his website “Fifty Shades of Grey”-style. Of course, here the story is much more intellectually, uh, stimulating.

Comparisons with recent astronaut movies like “Gravity” and “Interstellar” are inevitable, but “The Martian” plays more like a cross between “Castaway” and “Apollo 13” as a lone man struggles to survive in uncharted territory while others attempt to organize a rescue mission. Channeling the “everyman” qualities Tom Hanks brought to those films is Matt Damon as botanist Mark Whatley. Damon’s performance is wonderfully captivating as we spend a substantial amount of the film’s long runtime alone with him, acting as the video log he uses like a Wilson-esque confidant.

A veritable murderers’ row of quality actors play the fellow astronauts and members of NASA struggling to bring him Whatley home. Damon’s “Interstellar” co-star Jessica Chastain leads Damon’s team of travelers, which includes a substantial number of superhero movie alumni in Michael Peña, Kate Mara, and Sebastian Stan. The NASA team includes Jeff Daniels, Kristin Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Sean Bean, who discusses “Lord of the Rings” in a funny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. This all-star line-up lends an air of prestige to what feels like an epic story, which starts on Mars and expands to the USA, then internationally, and into the cold recesses of space itself.

Behind the camera, Scott’s confidence and expertise makes this tricky story look almost effortless to execute. Working again with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, “The Martian” is full of stunningly gorgeous imagery from the mountainous terrain of Mars to the technical wonder of the Hermes space shuttle. The script by Drew Goddard feels a tad overlong and the ending pushes the characters over the line from super scientists to super heroes, but is a pleasantly polished crowdpleaser and a welcome change from the grittier material that’s brought Scott most of his success.

Similar films would play Whatley’s situation as an intense struggle filled with one explosive calamity after another, but the thrills of “The Martian” are in watching characters figure out the solutions to complicated problems like how to grow potatoes on Martian soil or extend the battery life of a planetary rover. Whatley’s circumstances present him with a staggering number of ticking clock problems - how long until food runs out or a rescue mission can find him - and so he sets to work rationally solving each one using determination and calculations. The filmmakers took great steps to make each solution as scientifically accurate as possible and explain everything in clear and understandable methods. The result is a very realistic-feeling movie where characters live or die based on their precise calculations and level-headed demeanors.

Above all, “The Martian” is a love letter to the sense of child-like wonder that comes from facing the new and unknown. After all, very few movies have managed to make botany seem cool. Despite the seeming hopelessness of Whatley’s predicament, we often see him at peace with his newfound home contemplating the warm red sunsets and expansive rocky landscapes that few before him have experienced. It’s hard not to cheer Whatley as he achieves his nearly impossible goals, and every accomplishment feels like a success not just for one man but also for mankind. Public interest in space exploration may have waned over the years, but “The Martian” is both a wonderful reminder that we once saw our future in the stars and an inspiration to rekindle that sorely missed spirit of adventure.

Live on September 20, 2015, from Houston, TX. Your announcers are Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and John Bradshaw Layfield.

MATCH 1: Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (champion) vs. Kevin Owens

Big pop for Owens, who is clearly a crowd favorite here despite playing the heel. Ryback dominates early with shoulder tackles and a press slam over the top to the floor. Owens starts working the left arm, including a single arm DDT and a hammerlock/Russian leg sweep combo. Ryback comes back with shoulderblocks and a spinebuster but is unable to hit the Shellshock due to his now injured arm. Owens hooks on a Fujiwara armbar but Ryback powers out of it with a slam. He picks up Owens for a Shellshock but Owens rakes the eyes and rolls him up for the pin at 9:32.

Kevin Owens continues to impress with his ring psychology and heelish antics as he carries Ryback to a decent, well-told match. The limitations of Ryback’s offensive repertoire were very apparent here and so it was smart to have Owens dictate the pace and keep Ryback down on the mat as much as possible. With any luck, Owens will avoid the Intercontinental Championship curse that has so often derailed the careers of promising wrestlers in the last decade.

WINNER: Kevin Owens (new champion)

RATING: **3/4

A video package narrated by Paul Heyman reveals that Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar will fight in a Hell in a Cell at the aptly-named “Hell in a Cell” PPV on October 25. Everyone had assumed that this rubber match would take place at next year’s Wrestlemania but now it seems to have moved up in… time. Is someone playing with time itself? Are these the diabolical doings of Brock Lesnar’s real nemesis, the terrible Timekeeper?

MATCH 2: Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev

Ziggler puts Rusev off-balance early with dropkicks and sleeper holds. Rusev hits a spin kick and slows down the match with chinlocks and bodyslams as the crowd chants for Lana, who is absent from ringside following wrist surgery. Ziggler comes back with a bodyslam of his own, then connects with a series of clotheslines and a neckbreaker. He attempts a crossbody block but Rusev catches him and slams him down. Ziggler fights back with a fameasser for two but gets taken off the top rope and hit with a superkick. Rusev shakes off another sleeper hold but gets planted with a DDT for two. Rusev connects with another superkick for two, but Ziggler slips out of an Accolade attempt and hits his own superkick for two. Summer Rae comes into the ring and is ejected by the referee. She starts throwing her shoes around in anger and accidentally hits Rusev with one, allowing Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag for the pin at 13:47.

This felt like a long television match at first but built up quite nicely in the last few minutes before the ridiculous ending. Ziggler did his best to bump for Rusev’s offense, which unfortunately felt dull and basic at times. The drama surrounding Rusev and Lana's split has been a frustrating waste of all involved, and the WWE would be wise to hit the reset button as soon as Lana recovers from surgery and allow everyone to move along to new storylines.

WINNER: Dolph Ziggler

RATING: ***

MATCH 3: Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (champions) vs. The Dudley Boyz

The New Day mention in their pre-match promo that President Obama has signed their “Save the Tables” petition, which draws boos from the Texas crowd. God bless ‘Murica! The Dudleys look to hit 3D on Kofi early but he bails to regroup with his team on the outside. Big E calls Bubba an “old man” and tells him to “go home,” but Bubba responds with a shove and a superplex. Xavier distracts Bubba to allow Kofi to take control, then times his trombone playing to the New Day stomping Bubba down in the corner. Big E splashes Bubba and Kofi lays in some boxing punches as Xavier plays the Rocky theme. Bubba catches Big E in a Bubba Bomb and makes the hot tag to Devon. The Dudleys hit 3D on Kofi but Xavier breaks up the pin for a DQ at 9:57. After the match, the New Day bring in a table but the Dudleys recover and 3D Xavier through it.

The Dudley Boyz are a welcome addition to the tag team division and looked decent here, but overall this was an unremarkable match brought down by another bad finish. The New Day continue to be one of the most entertaining acts in the WWE and it makes sense to keep them as champions for at least another month. Xavier Woods’ routine with the trombone here was one of the funniest sequences I’ve seen in wrestling this year.

WINNERS: The Dudley Boyz

RATING: **1/2

MATCH 4: Divas Championship, title changes hands on count-out or disqualification: Nikki Bella (champion) vs. Charlotte

Nikki goes after Charlotte’s knee early and hammers it relentlessly for most of the match using stomps, crabs, leglocks. She suplexes her leg onto the bottom rope twice and locks in a figure four on the ring post. Brie Bella and Alicia Fox pull the ropes away from Charlotte as she attempts to escape a submission hold, causing Paige and Becky Lynch to brawl with them at ringside. Charlotte finally comes back with chops, a neckbreaker, and a big boot, but Nikki connects with a third suplex onto the bottom rope. Nikki comes off the top but Charlotte catches her with a spear and makes her submit to the Figure Eight at 12:47 to win the championship. Her father Ric comes out to celebrate.

Nikki and Charlotte put on an impressive showing but the ending didn’t work well because Nikki hadn’t been properly set up for the Figure Eight and Charlotte’s leg injury didn’t factor into the finish. The Bellas have happily shown their wrestling skills as of late thanks to the improved competition from the NXT Divas, but it was clear that the WWE was planning to have Nikki drop the title as soon as she passed AJ Lee’s record as longest Divas champion.

WINNER: Charlotte (new champion)

RATING: ***

MATCH 5: The Wyatt Family vs. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and a mystery participant

The mystery participant is Chris Jericho, who arrives to a big pop and hits Harper early with a flying bodypress and enziguiri. Braun Strowman comes in and dominates all three faces single-handedly, tossing them to the outside. Ambrose plays face-in-peril until he hits a backbreaker on Bray and makes a hot tag to Reigns, who hits a powerbomb on Harper for two. Strowman grabs Reigns from the apron, allowing Harper to hit a kick. He follows up with a dive on Reins to the outside. Reigns makes the hot tag to Jericho, who gets the Walls of Jericho on Bray until Harper breaks it up. Ambrose and Bray hit a double KO spot and tag out to Reigns and Strowman. Strowman stays standing after two Superman punches, but a top rope cross body block by Ambrose and a spear by Reigns take him off his feet. Jericho tags himself in and hits the Lionsault for two. Strowman blocks the Codebreaker and hooks on his bearhug finisher until Jericho passes out 13:05. After the match, Jericho refuses to explain his actions to Ambrose and Reigns, and blows past Ambrose as he leaves the ring.

It’s always nice to see Jericho in the ring but his arrival immediately telegraphed who would be taking the loss at the end of the match. Strowman is clearly a non-starter and having him beat a part-timer like Jericho won’t get anyone over. Focusing on building up another bumbling strongman feels like a waste of time compared to building up real talent like Reigns, Ambrose, Wyatt, and Harper.

WINNERS: The Wyatt Family

RATING: **1/2

MATCH 6: United States Championship Match: Seth Rollins (champion) vs. John Cena

Prior to the match, Sheamus teases to the Authority that he plans to cash in the briefcase after Rollins has wrestled both of his matches. Cena comes out swinging but Rollins catches him with a Buff Blockbuster. Rollins slows things down with a sleeper and hits his double stomp off the top rope for two. He goes for a Five Knuckle Shuffle and Cena pops up with shoulder tackles. Rollins tries to fight off Cena’s standard comeback offense with a neckbreaker. He interrupts Cena’s Five Knuckle Shuffle and goes for the Pedigree, but Cena lands a Code Red for two. Rollins escapes an Attitude Adjustment and drops Cena’s neck across the top rope. Cena reverses a powerbomb into the corner with a rana into the bottom turnbuckles. Rollins flips out of another Attitude Adjustment attempt and hits a series of kicks. He connects with a senton to the outside but misses a frog splash back in the ring. Cena lands a tornado DDT but takes too long getting to the top rope, allowing Rollins to land a superplex that floats into another suplex. Rollins gets caught in an STF but makes the ropes, then escapes an AA and powerbombs Cena into the corner. Cena escapes the Pedigree and tries a bodypress, but Rollins rolls through into an AA, which Cena escapes into a reverse suplex. Cena finishes with a top rope legdrop and Attitude Adjustment for the pin and title at 16:01.

Another fantastic match by two men who are currently wrestling leaps and bounds above everyone else in the WWE. Rollins played the aggressor against the smart veteran Cena at Summerslam, but here they reversed those roles by having Rollins play defense against a fired-up Cena. There’s little to complain about here other than the long-term effects of having Rollins lose yet another match to Cena.

WINNER: John Cena (new champion)

RATING: ****1/4

MATCH 7: World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins (champion) vs. Sting

Rollins tries to escape before Sting’s entrance. Cena gives him an Attitude Adjustment on the floor, rolls him back into the ring, and leaves. After taking off his coat, Sting immediately hits a Stinger Splash and puts Rollins in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Rollins makes the ropes. Rollins goes for a top rope crossbody block but Sting rolls through for two. He goes for the Scorpion Deathdrop but Rollins fights out. Back body drop on Rollins over the top rope and Sting follows him out to prevent an escape. Rollins tries to hit Sting with a monitor but Sting stops him and throws him around ringside and in the ring. Rollins tries to leave over the announce table but Sting picks him up onto it. Rollins pushes Sting off the announce table through the Spanish announce table. He considers leaving with the belt but instead covers for two. A Sling Blade, Falcon Arrow, and powerbomb into the corner each get two. He goes for the Pedigree but Sting backdrops him over the ropes. Rollins lands on the apron and tries to springboard back in but Sting pushes him off the top rope into the railing. Sting throws him back in, hits two Stinger splashes, then clothleslines him out and hits a crossbody off the top rope to the floor. A Scorpion Deathdrop gets two. Sting connects with another Stinger Splash but Rollins hits him with another powerbomb to the corner in what may have caused a legitimate spinal injury. Sting collapses after ducking a clothesline. Rollins gloats while the doctor checks on him. The match resumes and Sting reverses a Pedigree into a Scorpion Deathlock. An enziguiri by Rollins connects, and Sting reverses the Pedigree to a Scorpion Deathlok again, but Rollins rolls him up for the win at 14:52. After the match, Sheamus runs in with a Brogue Kick on Rollins and tries to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, but masked Kane comes down to chokeslam them both, then hits Rollins with a tombstone.

Sting and Rollins both gave the fans their money’s worth here. Sting pushed himself to the limit and took many unnecessary risks to ensure that his trip back to the main event would be memorable.  The effort certainly took a toll on his body and he deserves a lot of credit for finishing the match after suffering a serious injury.  Rollins put on a marathon performance and did a great job making Sting look good. It was noticeable that he took an active role controlling the pace of the match when Sting was injured or looked uncertain about what to do next.

WINNER: Seth Rollins

RATING: ****

Night of Champions 2015 was a very watchable but somewhat unexceptional event until the excellent Rollins-Cena-Sting gauntlet, which is definitely worth checking out. The line-up of champions coming out of the event represents most of the best talents the WWE has to offer: Seth Rollins, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Charlotte, and New Day are all at least entertaining and most are capable of putting on excellent matches. Unfortunately, the World Heavyweight title picture looks much bleaker for the next few months with the return of Kane and the looming threat of a Sheamus cash-in. Neither contender will help to legitimize Rollins after months of looking like a fluke champion.

In 2007, Marvel released one of its most controversial storylines ever with “One More Day,” which nullified the marriage of Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson after 21 years of publication time. Then-editor-in-chief Joe Quesada argued that bringing Peter Parker back to bachelorhood opened up a number of storytelling possibilities that had been cut off to writers for decades. Fans were furious, not just with the fact that the status quo an entire generation had grown up reading was now erased but also with the way Marvel executed their plan. Rather than have Peter and Mary Jane get divorced, which Quesada and others argued would “age” the characters, the two sold their marriage to Marvel’s devil stand-in Mephisto in exchange for the life of Peter’s octogenarian Aunt May, who lay at death’s door after receiving a gunshot wound in the aftermath of Marvel’s landmark “Civil War” story. Peter Parker made a deal with the devil, and unlike most of Marvel’s stories, there would be no redemption to follow.

The uproar has subsided in the years since the story’s release, not in the least because of writer Dan Slott’s subsequent landmark run taking the character in surprising new directions. While romance hasn’t always been a major factor in Slott’s stories, there’ve been enough twists and turns to argue that the change was a step in the right direction. This year’s major crossover event “Secret Wars” has put a temporary halt to Marvel’s main continuity in favor of a number of alternate reality stories taking place on a patchwork Earth named Battleworld, giving Slott and artist Adam Kubert the opportunity to revisit the life of a married Spider-Man in a five-part miniseries entitled “Renew Your Vows.”

Unlike many of Marvel’s “What If” stories that feature a particular divergence point, there doesn’t seem to be one particular moment where “Renew Your Vows” splits off from the timeline we know best. Instead of picking up immediately after the events of “Civil War,” we’re brought back to something close to Marvel continuity circa 1991 where Peter and Mary Jane had a baby named Annie relatively soon after their marriage. A new villain named Regent captured and stole the powers of most of the world’s superheroes except Spider-Man, who ducked out of the battle to protect his family from a bloodthirsty Venom. After Regent proceeded to take over the world (or at least the area that is part of Battleworld), Peter abandoned the responsibilities of superheroing in favor of his responsibilities as a father and now lives an unassuming life with his wife Mary Jane and daughter Annie.

As the story progresses, Slott takes Peter on a fairly predictable journey where Annie inspires Peter to resume his web-slinging ways to protect the innocent and overthrow Regent. Along the way, he touches on many of the reference points we associate with Spider-Man continuity in the late ‘80s: the black costume, a Sinister Six featuring older mainstays Kraven and Hobgoblin, Peter taking pictures for the Daily Bugle, and of course, the return of worried wife Mary Jane Watson.

Younger fans may not remember the circumstances around the original marriage storyline in 1987, but at the time, Mary Jane’s transition from relatively easy-going party girl to always-worried wife felt like an abrupt and damaging change to a beloved character. Mary Jane hasn’t had nearly as much page time in the years since her supernatural separation from Peter, but when she has shown up, Slott has managed to find some balance by making her both responsible and fun loving. Although things never got quite as dark in the main continuity as they do here, “Renew Your Vows” highlights how heavy the overall tone of the Spider-Man books had gotten in the ‘90s.

Despite Marvel’s reluctance to age a 50-year old character, it’s interesting to see how easily Peter fits into the role of a father. Annie feels like the kind of light-hearted but levelheaded kid that Peter and Mary Jane would create, never coming across as cloying or annoying until she picks up a ridiculous costume and codename at the end, having picked up the same powers as her web-slinging dad.

On the villain side, Slott quickly establishes Regent as a substantial threat but his design and personality are bland and unmemorable. Slott’s characters sometimes insist that Spider-Man is special in a way that doesn’t ring true in-story, and here we see that despite Regent’s possession of the powers of both the Avengers and the X-Men, he believes that Peter’s spider-sense is the most essential power in his quest to overthrow Dr. Doom, ruler of Battleworld. Even though the characters in “Secret Wars” and other stories set on Battleworld seem to know about Doom and the layout of the planet, the rest of the characters in this reality seem to blow off Regent’s rantings as lunacy. It’s a frustratingly inconsistent note that has cropped up in various books which could have easily been fixed editorially without diminishing anything in the story.

As one of the ‘90s’ hottest artists thanks to his work on the X-Men, Adam Kubert’s presence immediately takes us back to that era. Kubert never had a major run on Spider-Man and seeing him tackle some of these characters for the first time is the highlight of the book, especially on villains like Venom, Hobgoblin, and Kraven. While there is a distinct loss in sharpness between issues three and four as inker Scott Hanna takes over for John Dell, Kubert’s work is typically excellent throughout all five issues.

“Renew Your Vows” is a solid but unremarkable diversion that will appeal more to completists than casual fans. Positioning the setting so far outside natural continuity is a frustrating detour away from the book’s promise but allows Slott to bring the story of a married Spider-Man to its natural conclusion. While many still prefer the older status quo nostalgized here, the strength of Slott’s work on Peter Parker in the last decade and the promise of even more new developments post-“Secret Wars” makes it more exciting for this reader to look forward rather than backward.

Much of the conversation about television these days revolves around the concept of “peak TV.” FX network president John Landgraf recently coined the term during the recent Television Critics Association press tour after his internal research estimated that viewers will have access to over 400 scripted television shows this year, including on streaming services. This marks a drastic increase in both programs and outlets from even a decade ago, and Landgraf argues that this flood of offerings makes it harder for quality shows to stand out from the crowd.

The flipside of this conversation is that there are now a lot of tremendous offerings from networks looking to stake a claim in this brave new world. Back when basic cable programming was seen as a wasteland of network cast-offs, it’s unlikely that any of the major channels would have taken a chance on a show like “Mr. Robot,” the bold new show focusing on the secret life of a dangerous hacker. The USA Network, previously best known for WWE programming and “Monk,” not only picked up creator Sam Esmail’s show but gave him the freedom to express his vision in a bold and uncensored way. The result is an edgy and thrilling drama that definitely stands out from the crowd as one of the best new shows of the year and a great reason to be thankful for “peak TV.”

Rami Malek stars in “Mr. Robot” as Elliot, a brilliant young man with few skills engaging in social interactions but many skills in the art of computer hacking. Elliot hacks everyone he encounters, whether it be random strangers or anyone that poses a threat to those close to him, such as the boyfriend of his best friend Angela or the supplier of his drug dealer and occasional hook-up neighbor Shayla. He tells himself that he hacks people for good reasons – using his findings to anonymously report crimes and drive away cheating boyfriends of his therapist Krista – but it’s also clear that he hacks people because it's the only real contact he can make with others.

Elliot’s troubles aren’t just limited to shyness. He has a morphine habit that he swears is under control. His father contracted leukemia after coming into contact with a toxic waste leak while working for a major conglomerate named E Corp, who covered up the dump and left his family destitute. Perhaps most significantly, Elliot has begun talking to a very specific voice in his head – us.

Putting us in the head of Elliot, an extremely unreliable narrator with a very distorted interpretation of reality, influences our understanding of the show’s events in major and minor ways. He refers to E Corp as "Evil Corp," and it’s hard not to notice that everyone else in the show does, too. But we also see more than he does when we get peeks into the lives of his friends and enemies - a fact which Elliot even calls into question.

One day, Elliot is approached by “Mr. Robot,” the leader of an underground hacker group called fsociety. Mr. Robot has a plan to eliminate Evil Corp’s data on much of the world’s credit system, which would result in a massive redistribution of wealth. Elliot works at the cybersecurity firm Allsafe, which maintains Evil Corp as a client, and so Mr. Robot’s plan relies on Elliot's ability to infiltrate Evil Corp’s networks. Once Elliot agrees to help fsociety, he begins forming relationships with members of the group, particularly an abrasive girl named Darlene. But Elliot doesn’t always healthily engage in relationships, and events soon begin to spiral out of his control.

Meanwhile, Elliot is being courted by an angel in the form Gideon Goddard, the head of Allsafe who seeks to be a mentor to Elliot, and a devil named Tyrell Wellick, an Evil Corp official and former hacker who plans to become CTO by any means necessary. Both parties have taken a genuine interest in Elliot’s well-being and skillset, and their influence on Elliot may prove to be the deciding factor in the outcome of Mr. Robot’s scheme.

Esmail, who originally envisioned this season as the first third of a feature film, quickly establishes most of his set-up in the pilot and then proceeds with an ambitious and thrilling story that is constantly ramping up tension. Unlike many shows that don’t have enough story to make every episode count, “Mr. Robot” is carefully paced to include a jaw-dropping plot twist in each installment. These twists are important but Esmail isn’t interested in surprising you with them. In fact, he telegraphs the twists by layering in enough clues so that we are often ahead of Elliot in anticipating what might happen next. By removing the surprise from our reaction, we can instead focus on the emotional impact that these developments have on the characters.

As the season progressed, many of the plot points provided a timely reflection of real world events. The finale was delayed by a week because of a scene that bore similarities to a tragic event the day before the original airdate, and also contained references to hacks on the dating site. (Esmail originally cut the references but put them back when the site suffered its most severe hack in July.) News reports of websites and organizations being hacked have become an almost daily occurrence, and “Mr. Robot” feels like an inside look at a cleaned-up-for-television version of the culture, rarely dumbing down technical terms or slang in an attempt to make them more palatable for the audience.

In addition to its astoundingly smart writing, “Mr. Robot” is one of the most visually arresting shows on television, starting right from the way it cuts out title sequences in favor of layering its logo over stunning imagery. Esmail and director of photography Tod Campbell have created their own visual language for the show that is counterintuitive to what we’ve come to expect. Most importantly, their style doesn’t just create memorable images but helps to put across the characters’ positions or struggles.

Instead of placing characters at the center of the frame, they’re usually placed near the edges or corners, allowing for massive amounts of background to be shown over or around them. This open space is used to convey emotion like the weight over someone’s head or a feeling of being small and lost. When two characters communicate, they’re shot separately and each placed at the edge of the frame nearest to the other character in a technique called “shortsighting.” This effect demonstrates the power dynamic between two characters or how isolated they may feel even as they communicate. Eliot and so many characters are trapped by their inability to communicate, and separating them even as they interact keeps us mindful of what they’re feeling just as much as what they’re doing.

Rather than cast a number of known actors, Esmail has found a group of mostly relative unknowns who are perfect for the roles and are likely to become known for these purposes. Martin Wallström has had very few roles in American media, but we should expect to see a lot more of him soon after his villainous turn as the charismatic and frightening Tyrell. Portia Doubleday makes Angela into a wonderful companion and mirror for Eliot as she heads down her own dark and interesting path. Carly Chaikin takes the snotty girl routine she honed as rich girl Dalia in the ABC sitcom “Suburgatory” and twists it into a much deeper and vicious performance as hacker Darlene.

At the center is Malek in a star-making performance that keeps the audience emotionally tethered as the plot whips around him. Malek conveys Eliot’s internal fears using only his large eyes and a few words, and when he begins to spiral out of control, we often feel as if the show is about to do the same.

Most well-known amongst the actors is Christian Slater, who is still a notable star even after a few years of failed shows. Esmail’s casting of Slater as the paranoid and unhinged “Mr. Robot” is a brilliant callback to his memorable roles as rebels in early ‘90s movies like “Pump Up the Volume.” Slater, whose presence is sometimes overpowering, smartly yields the floor to Malek most of the time and then explodes with words and actions that feel legitimately dangerous.

Esmail spends most of his first season keeping us guessing about Elliot’s state of mind. Elliot tells himself that fsociety’s efforts will save the world, but is he just looking for revenge on Evil Corp? If Evil Corp wasn’t a factor, would he just be lashing out at the world? In this digital world, we often attempt to define ourselves by using our online personalities to reveal the people we’d like to be instead of the people we are. Elliot uses his hacks to tear through these illusions and find the real people behind them, but how willing is he to look behind his own walls, and what will he find when he looks?

By the time the finale hits, “Mr. Robot” has answered many of our questions but raised even more. There’s lots for Esmail and his team to play with in season two, and where he plans to go is anyone’s guess. After watching this astounding debut, season two of “Mr. Robot” is certain to become one of the most anticipated shows of 2016.

I grew up with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or perhaps more accurately, I grew up alongside Buffy Summers. I was a sophomore in high school when the show premiered in 1997, and Buffy was too. She and her friends graduated high school in 1999 and so did I. We went to college at the same time, and my relationships with my high school friends started to strain at the same time hers’ did. Until the show concluded in 2003, I felt connected with Buffy in a way that I hadn’t before with any other character.

It wasn’t just good timing that made me such a fan of the show, nor was it the crackling, pithy, almost-too-smart dialogue for which creator Joss Whedon is known. “Buffy” felt special because it was willing to take chances that most other shows wouldn’t dare to take. Characters fell in love, split apart, hurt each other, and died under tragic circumstances. Even though the show was based around the concept of a good slayer fighting evil monsters, all of the characters’ motives were determined by real desires or how they had been hurt by others.

The consequences of these characters’ actions compounded from year to year in a sensible and organic way. Take Willow, Buffy’s friend who started off as a shy wallflower in season one. She began to dabble in magic in season two; her skills slowly grew in seasons three and four; she was strong enough to fight a god in season five; and tragic circumstances nearly led her to destroy the world in season six. At a time when shows were expected to hit the reset button at the end of every episode or season, nothing was held sacred in the "Buffy" universe.

The show also helped popularize the approach of having an overarching villain in each season who would cause trouble for our heroes before being defeated in the finale. This structure can now be seen in many major dramatic series, and “Buffy” coined the now-standard term “Big Bad” to represent the villain.

“Buffy” wasn’t the first or last show with which I fell in love, but it was the show I fell in love with the strongest and remains my personal favorite to this day. Much like the show’s villains underestimated the power of the show’s eponymous hero, it was hard to imagine that a low budget show built around a campy premise would become one of the most groundbreaking and beloved shows of all time.

Without further ado, here are my top 10 episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”:

10. Graduation Day, Part II (Season 3, Episode 22 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

The third season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is its most consistently good, starting shakily but quickly evening out into over twenty good-to-great episodes. The main plot centered on the arrival of a second slayer named Faith and her collaborating with the evil Mayor of Sunnydale, who sought to become a demonic power that would enslave the town. “Graduation Day” serves as the explosive finale to not only this heated war but also to two defining aspects of the show’s early years: Buffy and her group leave their high school setting behind, and vampire boyfriend Angel departs for his own spin-off show. Some dodgy CGI aside in the final battle, “Buffy” had never felt quite so epic before.

9. Passion (Season 2, Episode 17 – w. Ty King, d. Michael Gershman)

For most of its first two seasons, the violence in “Buffy” was done with a big wink and a nod, and any characters who died were background players that could be forgotten about by the beginning of the next episode. “Passion” contains a moment of such unexpected brutality that the characters - and audience – are instantly put on notice that the villain is playing for keeps this time. What follows is an almost-as-shocking response by another character seeking vengeance.

8. The Gift (Season 5, Episode 22 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

The show’s 100th episode - and the final one to air on the show’s original network WB - finds Buffy and the rest of her “Scooby Gang” facing off against Glory, a god imprisoned on Earth who can only be released by sacrificing a “Key” that can unlock dimensions. That “Key” turns out to be Buffy’s sister Dawn, given human form and inserted into reality by a group of monks at the beginning of season five. After a massive and memorable battle in which characters make some very hard choices, Buffy sacrifices herself to save her sister and the world. Heavily foreshadowed for years, her death is one of the most effective moments in the entire show, and her epitaph serves as the perfect summation of the character: “Beloved sister, devoted friend, she saved the world. A lot.”

7. Innocence (Season 2, Episode 14 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

The story of a boy who sleeps with a girl and turns into a monster afterwards is a familiar one, but this being “Buffy,” things aren’t quite so simple. Good guy vampire Angel loses his soul after spending the night with Buffy and becomes the show’s most defining villain after a season and a half of romantic overtures. “Innocence” is the show’s cleverest metaphor and the episode that put “Buffy” on the map, serving as a strong mission statement that Whedon and company were able to craft smart and relatable stories.

6. The Wish (Season 3, Episode 9 – w. Marti Nixon, d. David Greenwalt)

If the character of Buffy is at least partly based on the X-Man Kitty Pryde, then “The Wish” is the equivalent of comics’ famous storyline “Days of Future Past.” After being jilted by goofball Xander, mean girl Cordelia wishes to a new friend that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Of course, that new friend happened to be a wish-granting vengeance demon by the name of Anya, who would become a major character in later seasons. Cordelia suddenly finds herself in a world where Buffy wasn’t around to stop season one “Big Bad” the Master from breaking free of his underworld prison, and as a result, he and his vampire army overtook Sunnydale. A classic and fun “what if” that plays with audiences’ emotions by slaughtering familiar faces and turning beloved characters like Xander and Willow into evil vampires. “Dopplegangland,” a sequel where Vampire Willow comes to Sunnydale, nearly made the list as well.

5. Restless (Season 4, Episode 22 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

Every season of Buffy features the climactic battle against that season’s “Big Bad” in the finale except for season four, which wrapped up its main story an episode earlier and used its finale to explore the characters’ psyches through their dreams. When the core members of the Scooby Gang fall asleep watching a movie, they find themselves hunted by a strangely familiar predator. Bad dream sequences are the worst storytelling trope in the wrong hands, but Whedon confidently explores the inner workings of his main characters using insight and humor. Building characters that have such unexplored inner lives after four seasons is no small feat, and “Restless” also provides heavy foreshadowing of seasons to come.

4. The Becoming, Part II (Season 2, Episode 22 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

The culmination of the show’s explosive breakout season features Buffy in a final battle against her former lover Angel, who unleashes a plot to destroy the world that can only be stopped with his death. Emotional and action-packed, “The Becoming” is an absolutely perfect season finale and would be the best episode of nearly any other show in existence. That it doesn’t take the top spot on this list speaks to the way the remaining episodes pushed the boundaries of television like few others.

3. The Body (Season 5, Episode 16 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

Despite the violence at the heart of the show’s concept, death was never portrayed in such a horrific way as in “The Body,” in which Buffy comes home to find her mother Joyce dead of natural causes. Whedon strips out all of the “comforting” aspects of watching a television show – removing all background music, minimizing the number of edits, and staying with the characters in their grief for long periods of time - to make us confront the reality of the situation. Filled with one tear-jerking moment after another, “The Body” is one of the most honest explorations of death and mourning ever filmed.

2. Once More, With Feeling (Season 6, Episode 7 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)

Blame “Buffy” if you must for inspiring dozens of shows in the 2000s to make musical episodes, but none of them did it better than “Once More, with Feeling,” which kicked off the trend. It’s not just that the songs are better than those other shows’ songs (they mostly are) or the “Buffy” actors can sing better than the other shows’ actors (they mostly can). What makes “Once More, With Feeling” so wonderful is that actually advances the show’s narrative – the show’s characters are unwilling to share their innermost feelings until a demon’s curse forces the residents of Sunnydale to reveal their secrets in song. The most devastating secret belongs to Buffy, who was at peace in heaven after the events in “The Body” until Willow’s magic returned her to life.

1. Hush (Season 4, Episode 10 – w. Joss Whedon, d. Joss Whedon)