Forthcoming Howardian Comics That Piqued My Interest

Legendary scribe Gail Simone is bringing us The Ring: The Man Who Beat The Man in June, courtesy of Dark Horse.

The eight-issue series, produced in co-operation with venerable boxing magazine, The Ring, follows:

"...veteran Ring Magazine journalist Cameron Duggan and rising broadcast personality Lisa Wolfe, a former podcaster who has transitioned into television commentary. As the pair travel the boxing world covering a new wave of contenders chasing championship glory, they encounter the ambition, rivalries and politics that shape the sport at its highest level.

"Each fighter approaches the pursuit differently, but the goal remains the same, reach the top of the sport and prove himself as the man who beat the man. As Duggan and Wolfe document the journey of these fighters, they also find themselves navigating the pressures and personalities that surround the sport."

While not directly a Robert E Howard story, Two-Gun Bob was a massive fan of boxing and wrote plenty of pulp tales set in that world - including those of my favourite character, Sailor Steve Costigan.

However, the next comic that caught my eye - and will be added to my pull-list PDQ - is pure Howard.

The incredible writer/artist Patrick Zircher brings his take on Howard's Puritan monster-hunter Solomon Kane back for another miniseries from Titan Comics in July.

Solomon Kane: The Lion Errant sees our hero travelling to India, guided by a "mysterious black-maned lion" where he is drawn into a "confrontation between the warrior queen Rani Durgavati and the mighty Mughal Empire".

"But the coming battle is more than a clash of armies. Ancient powers are stirring, gods and demons walk among the living, and Kane’s arcane Atlantean staff may hold the key to it all. Steel meets the divine. The Sword of Vengeance answers a higher call."

Joe Jusko cover art

The final forthcoming comic with serious Robert E Howard vibes is Dan Panosian's Fire And Ice: Darkwolf, from Dynamite, which also kicks off in July.

This is a spin-off from the gorgeous - but erratically published - Fire and Ice sword and sorcery comic book series.

"Born from the immortal imagination of fantasy illustrator supreme Frank Frazetta, Darkwolf storms into a new era of savage fantasy-brought to life by writer Dan "Urban Barbarian" Panosian and powerhouse artist Andrey Lunatik.

"Dynamite's acclaimed exploration of the world of Fire and Ice continues in this new series!

"It all begins when a mother and her twins flee the warlock who sired them - until a masked warrior descends from the mountains and unleashes hell upon their pursuers. But saving them is only the beginning. 

"Violent. Mythic. Unrelenting. This is Darkwolf, and the legend begins here - a fierce, visceral rebirth of one of fantasy's most iconic warriors

Dan Panosian cover art

World Cup Fever Raises Temperatures In Riverdale

Main cover art by Dan Parent

Seems like my "new-found" love for the beautiful game has spilled over into the world of Archie Comics.

Scheduled for release this June, just in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Archie American All-Stars one-shot comic is not only part of the publisher's 85th anniversary celebrations but also introduces a new sporting character into the canon: football star Eternity Fields.

"It’s almost time for the big Boy vs. Girls All Star Soccer Game and Reggie wants his team to do whatever it takes to win — but when a mysterious new girl named Eternity Fields joins the girls’ team and makes them unstoppable, the boys are going to have to work extra hard to beat them... but will they heed Reggie’s advice? And just who is Eternity Fields, and how is she so good?! Celebrate the World Cup with this fun, sports-themed issue!"

Written by Tania del Rio with interior art by Dan Parent, who also provides both the main cover and variant cover art, Archie Comics 85th Anniversary Presents: Archie American All-Stars (One-Shot) is guaranteed to be an emphatic victory for readers, no matter who actually wins the game.

Variant cover by Dan Parent

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Sporting Injury

I am not a sporting person. Like a comedy comic strip character I think I've probably exerted more energy conniving ways to get out of participating in sporting events than I would have had I actually taken part.

However, for this Throwback Thursday (with the accident-prone Winter Olympics in full-flow), my thoughts turned to the story behind one of my oldest scars, a small, but lasting, slash across my wrist that you can - hopefully - pick out in the picture above.

Back during my three years at Yardley Court prep school, in Tonbridge, there was a changing room in the basement of the old house that served as the main building for the school.

In the centre of the changing room was a table tennis table, where - as well as straight-forward table tennis - we used to play 'round the table'.

Basically a normal game of table tennis, but played by a group of us (probably about six boys) and once you'd hit the ball you'd run round to the other side of the table.

I can't remember exactly how many of us were playing that day, but I'd just hit the ball and started running when I slid/tripped over the wood panel covering a footbath set into the changing room floor. As I fell my wrist caught a screw sticking out from the table's leg and it slashed my wrist.

I was helped to the school nurses' office (matron), where they bandaged my cut.

Seeing the blood pumping from my wrist, I got stars in front of my eyes - a new experience at the time (little did I realise that a few decades later that would become a regular occurrence) and I sank down onto the bed where they were treating me.

Obviously, given the cut's location, it could have been a lot worse, but as it was it's just become an amusing anecdote about how I got my sporting injury... playing table tennis!

I Blame Nominative Determinism

Showing off my new purchase... which means a new wargames project

Remember the other day when I said I would only be focusing on a single wargame project going forward?

Well, that pledge lasted about a week.

I shall be supplementing my investment in Dead Man's Hand with Hairfoot Jousting, a comical, fantasy jousting game that pitches halflings/hobbits/hairfoots against each other, while mounted upon pigs, sheep, giant turkeys, dogs, ferrets etc 

The rules seem simple and brief, so much so that the delightful book, published by Osprey, is actually split in two. The back half, which you flip the book to read, contains a variant of the game, Wartnose Jousting, allowing you to play despicable goblin jousters riding rats, roaches, frogs etc

Honestly, I couldn't help myself.

I've always been fascinated by knights (the clue's in the name) and, by extension, jousting.

The wallpaper of my childhood bedroom was resplendent with pictures of knights on horseback, and one of my early introductions to the concept of wargames was Andrew McNeil's 1975 tome, Knights At War (part of the Battlegame Book series).

One of the treasured books I have held onto since my childhood

As well as text pieces on the history of knights, arms and armour, heraldry etc, the oversized hardback contained four games. Each game's board was a double spread of pages, and the rules and counters you cut out from the card insert pages. It was a brilliantly simple idea that I can't believe hasn't been revived.

My favourite, and most played, game in the book was, unsurprisingly, Tournament, where you took control of teams of jousting combatants.

The other games were Arsouf, refighting the 12th Century clash between Saladin and Richard the Lionheart; Siege, which did exactly what it says on the tin; and Border Raiders, a snatch-and-grab scenario involving feuding 13th Century German lords.

To be honest, they were all great games, but it was Tournament I returned to most often.

In recent years, these passions have seen me visiting living history and re-enactment shows to get a more visceral taste of Medieval life.

For a while, there was even coverage of genuine, full contact jousting (rather than the scripted, wrestling-style jousting you see in the grounds of various castles and stately homes around the UK in the summer) on television.

I became quite a fan of world champion Charlie Andrews and his Knights of Mayhem. Sadly, those television shows - like the equally-enthralling Knight Fight about the Armoured Combat League - failed to attract the attention of audiences who'd rather watch yet more "documentaries" about Ancient Aliens and the Second World War.

Of course, now we have the magnificent A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, the latest Game of Thrones spin-off, whose story unfolds amidst the grime and graphic violence of a jousting tournament. 

Anyway, I already ordered myself a set of miniatures for my new jousting wargame - a team of hairfoot jousters on their assorted mounts - from North Star, the game's manufacturer, using my monthly discount code from my Wargames Illustrated subscription. The figures arrived today.

Expect more updates on this new project in the future.

Hairfoot jousters from North Star Military Figures

SUPERB OWL LX MOVIE TRAILERS

SUPERGIRL

THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU

DISCLOSURE DAY

SCREAM 7

MINIONS & MONSTERS

HEALTH UPDATE: We Take The Kingdom!

Seven Sisters: The largest living tree in the British Isles

After last week's wash-out, we were able to get out for another healthy walk and tree safari this weekend, visiting Kingdom in Penshurst, a 13-acre woodland created in the wake of 1987's Great Storm.

I can't believe I've lived around here all my life (and covered the aftermath of The Great Storm as a cub reporter for the local press) and this is the first I've heard of the place.

It turned out to be rather impressive, and popular with fellow dog walkers on a Sunday lunchtime, probably because the recent persistent rain held off all day.

Kingdom is home to The Seven Sisters Chestnut, which, has six trunks (two forking) growing in a close circle that creates a girth of more than 50 feet. It's so large that you can now get married inside the heart of the tree, where a "roof" has been installed to meet the legal requirements of the wedding ceremony (that it has be conducted in a covered space).

There's a nice looping track through the surrounding trees, which we managed most of (I was walking for over half-an-hour this week).

It led us past the outdoor sauna and spa (which was smoking nicely, wafting a lovely aroma into the air) and opened up to some gorgeous vistas across the Kent countryside. 

Oooh, random Georgian mansion in the middle of nowhere... so Bridgerton

I managed to get some more tree pictures for my portfolio, but, unfortunately (for me) there were a few too many signs of modernity and man's influence (e.g. wire and plastic fencing of various types) to get that proper Shire vibe that I'm trying to collate with my pictures.

The trail loop then guided Rachel, Alice, and I back to Kingdom's delightful, elevated café where we decided to have brunch.

Given that I was awoken at 6am by our smoke alarm going off (the batteries were dead... it wasn't a fire) and then I was rather traumatised by the live coverage of poor Lindsey Vonn's career-ending crash during the women's downhill ski competition at the Olympics  (you could hear her screaming out in pain, the commentator was crying, it was not Lindsey's hoped-for fairy-tale return to the sport), I have to admit that I feel better for the brisk walk, fresh air and protein-packed "hearty all-day breakfast".

And we were home in time to see Chelsea beat Spurs two-nil in the Women's Super League.

So, that was good!

TODAY IS ROBERT E HOWARD'S 120th BIRTHDAY

It's the 120th anniversary of the birth of the greatest pulp adventure writer of all time, Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan, Solomon Kane, Sailor Steve Costigan, King Kull et al.

In the videos above people way smarter and more erudite than I share their love and appreciation for the man and his inspirational and enduring writing.

And what better time to make your own contribution to the legacy of Robert E. Howard by supporting  the Robert E. Howard Foundation, which needs funds urgently for the upkeep of Howard's former home - now a museum of his life and work.

"...the home of Robert E. Howard requires some serious repairs: its foundation and piers are rotting and collapsing, there is termite damage to a large section of an outside wall, and many of the floors are starting to buckle and drop. While the hard-working folks of Project Pride in Cross Plains have restored and cared for the House since acquiring it back in the 1980s, their small volunteer army cannot address the extensive repairs that will be needed. Professional restoration is required for this 100+ year old home on the National Historical Register, and it is needed now, before the damage gets worse.

"Because the house is on the National Historical Register and the State of Texas Historical Places list, the cost of repairs will be affected. All repairs will require contractors that have experience with this type of historical preservation, as we will need to keep the House as close to its original state as possible, during its historical period (i.e., when REH lived there)."

You can support this fundraiser here.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Nick's Traveller Campaign

Until the formation of the Tuesday Knights in 2008, our longest running campaign was Nick's Traveller game, which began when we were still in school.

It followed the intergalactic adventures of Jamus Dirkson (a suave, big game hunter, Roger Moore-wannabe and ladies' man, played by Steve), and his stunted, ne'er-do-well comrade, Marcus DeChambre (a psychotic, trigger-happy, bargain basement-Wolverine, mercenary/scout, played by me).

As much as I enjoyed the gun-fu, hack'n'slash of Marcus at the time, in retrospect I realised I role-played the character very poorly and Nick was extremely tolerant of my juvenile violence obsession - no matter how much it must have screwed with his carefully plotted adventures.

Pete made guest appearances every now and again - but always playing different characters as was his M.O. during that period.

This campaign ran for years and years and only came to an end because 'real life' got in the way and meant regular gaming meets were exiled to the waste bin of history.

After Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller was the first game system of any substance that I played regularly, thanks to Nick. I would hazard a guess that, with substantial breaks, this particular campaign ran for about a decade.

As a side-project Nick also invented the Grav-Ball boardgame (kinda American football in zero-G), which in later years of school became a mainstay of the after-school games club, when we created a league. I'm not sure if we ever finished a season of that, though!

Years before Eden Studios suggested framing games of their Buffy The Vampire Slayer RPG as a television show, Nick was presenting us with Traveller adventures as on-going seasons of futuristic vid-casts.

Back in 2007, Nick kindly unearthed his log of our various adventures over the years, with annotations where appropriate.

Season 1

• 1. Loggerheads (an old Journal of The Travellers Aid Society adventure)
• 2. Rumpus on Ranther
• 3. Yo-ho-ho (river pirates in Apocalypse Now-style boats)
• 4. Wheel of Fortune (the first appearance of the Corsair Casino, a popular haunt, and Grav-Ball)
• 5. Hot Spot (archaeology in Vargr space...)
• 6. March or Die (... results in 'volunteering' for the Vargr Alien Legion)
• 7. Night-time on the Khanate (... from which I believe you ended up deserting!)

Season 2

• 1. The Mission (captured by Claw, the Ho Chi Minh of Vargrdom)
• 2. The Shooting Party (hob-nobbing with the local nobility)
• 3. We're Leaving on a Jet Plane (making their getaway...)
• 4. The Night After the Morning Before (... back to the casino)
• 5. Age Concern (a spot of big-game hunting)

Season 3

• 1. Unlucky for Some (fighting the Vargr invasion on an iceworld)
• 2. Dirkson's Dogfight Demise
• 3. Royal Dirk (in which Jamus becomes King of Andrex...)
• 4. King Kang: The TV Movie (a diplomatic mission to a mad Vargr ruler, which also involved rescuing the Marquessa, Jamus' recurring romantic partner [although he had to keep dodging the Marquess] from the harem)

The Mini-Series

• 1. Adventures in Baby-Sitting (a luxury liner - Pete was B'zarr, the head of security - escorting the Archduke's young niece and nephew home)
  
• 2. Day of the Knight (a hijack attempt - well, there had to be really)
• 3. Farewell to Arms, Hello New Order (the all-time quote of the game from Marcus de Chambre: 'I grab a beermat and rush into the toilet..' Dirkson is knighted on Deneb, Marcus deChambre gets proper bionic arms, aahhhh!)
• 4. Dirkson's Dirk (into the desert; velociraptors are mentioned)
• 5. Bungle in the Jungle (possibly some big game hunting to finish off?)
  

What I always loved about Traveller - besides the character generation system where you could kill off your creation before he'd even got to adventure - was the simplicity of the whole system, something sadly lacking in many of the modern inspired systems.

You had a handful of skills, rolled 2d6 for task resolution and your physical attributes were also your "hit points"... it really couldn't have been any easier.

BACK OF THE NET!!!

Following my first "random bookshop puchase" of the year earlier in the week, I have now made my first "random online purchase" of a book: Ultimate Football Heroes – Goal Machine (Career Mode).

Costing mere pence more than the hardback book I got at the weekend, this is not a typical "choose your own adventure" book. There are (I'm guessing) no dragons or magic items in this one. Instead, it capitalises on my newly invigorated interest in football.

Like a great many kids, over several generations, I grew up with Dungeons & Dragons-inspired gamebooks where you selected which page your adventurer would go to next, depending on the options offered at the end of your current location.

Generally, there was randomness, fighting, limited statistics etc to stress the danger of the situation your character found themselves in - be it searching an abandoned spaceship, avoiding ghosts in a haunted mansion or delving into a dungeon.

From what I can see in Goal Machine - and I realise I am way older than the target demographic - character creation is 'limited' to giving your in-book persona and their team names, and designing warm-up and first team strips. Everything else, as you progress through the story, is purely down to your choices.

And I'm okay with that. I'm interested to see what twists and turns Roland Hall's gamebook takes me on during my journey from the "playground to the pitch".

It'll also be a chance to revive (to some degree) my old Subbuteo team, Pogle Rovers, if I can just remember what their team colours were. I'm pretty sure I had a team of Feyenoord miniature players that doubled as Pogle Rovers, but I'll have to rack my brains a bit harder to double check.

THE RANCH GATES ARE OPEN, COME ON IN!

Photo by Gonzalo Acuña

Welcome to The Triple C Ranch*, for the official opening of the Cowboys, Capes, and Claws blog - my personal odyssey through the realms of horror movies, Westerns, and superheroes (not necessarily in that order).

Mosey on in and make yourself comfortable. There's plenty to read - and watch - from the get-go as I have postings dating back to January 1. Many of these are what I term "retro reviews" (it's in the tags under the post), which are reviews I've written over the years but were originally to be found on other sites (different blogs, Facebook etc).

However, you'll also find plenty of fresh material, encompassing my real life "adventures" and the various areas of geekdom that tickle my fancy (and hopefully yours).

I'm aiming for a laid-back, easy-going, approach here and welcome comments, opinions, and constructive criticism (even after almost two decades of blogging and a career in local and trade journalism, I'm still learning and honing my craft).

The blog was deliberately designed to be bright and cheerful and - as with all the blogs I create - is best viewed in "web format" (that is, on a laptop or PC) rather than in "mobile format". While it will, of course, be accessible in the latter format, I just feel you miss out on a lot of the bells and whistles that have come with the 'carefully crafted' appearance and features of the site.

Stetsons - and capes - are cool!

Yes, there will still be typos - even in the older material. My brain often zigs while my fingers zag - especially when I'm writing enthusiastically - and things go unnoticed because I inevitability proofread my posts "as I intended them to be" rather than "what is actually on the page".

There'll be some Doctor Who and roleplaying chatter along the way, between the comic book stuff and movie reviews.

Hopefully you'll also see a lot of wargaming-orientated material as I slowly pull together my Dead Man's Hand game and possibly a Judge Dredd one as well... before I turn 60 next year (aka PROJECT 60).

However, my recent (since July) health issues - with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis in my lumbar facet joints, and the attendant problems of major mobility issues and general weakness - have rather derailed my plans for both PROJECT 60 and my 20/20 Vision.

This has also contributed to a surprising loss of interest in roleplaying games (particularly the effort involved in running them), which I hope to dissect and analyse in due course. However, I am looking forward to playing in Pete's upcoming Outgunned game.

Contrarily - and unexpectedly at this late age - my interest in watching sports has increased dramatically, particularly Lucy Bronze and her colleagues in Chelsea Women's team.

But don't worry: this isn't going to become a sports blog - unless you count musings on Red Dwarf's Zero Gravity Football, 2000AD's Aeroball, or the awesome 1990 post-apocalyptic sports movie Salute of The Jugger.

If you've got this far, I'd be mighty pleased if you clicked on the "follow" tab down in the right-hand column (marked "posse"), to allow this humble offering to slide into your reading list - and give me some idea of how may of you fine folks are actually still interested in my twaddle.

Crack a cold one, pull up a chair, and sit a while... you've got 321 days of reading to catch up on.

* Please note, I will probably never refer to this site - or my home - as The Triple C Ranch ever again, but it worked for this welcome post.

Image by Xoán Carballo from Pixabay

"Oh, He’s Football Crazy! He's Football Mad!"

"This is turning into an obsession now, isn't it?" joked my old pal Nick when I shared my purchase of the (controversial) new autobiography of former Lioness goalkeeper Mary Earps, signed by the legend herself.

Nick was referring to the recent surge in my fandom for women's football (which has resulted in Rachel telling her friends - with tongue-in-cheek - that she has become a "football widow").

The thing is, I'm never really been a football guy. I'm not even a sport guy. I'll watch baseball when I can (I'm British though, so it's a rare treat when a game comes on that's available for me) and, for some reason, I absolutely love international football, especially when England are playing.

I guess it's like my passion for the Olympics, I enjoy seeing athletes at the peak of their game - competing on a broader arena than just the weekly slog of domestic league tournaments.

I simply had no interest in the sport at club level.

It’s not as if I haven't tried.

As a youngster I read football magazines and comics (I was a big Roy of The Rovers fan and even converted one of my Subbuteo teams to his Melchester Rovers).

When I was working Matt and Nick would take me to the occasional Plymouth Argyle (their team) match and once I went to uni I even attended a couple of Bournemouth matches on my own, as my first residence was just round the corner from their ground.

I even used to watch Fantasy Football League with David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, but I suspect this was more for the fact that the hosts were two of my all-time favourite comedians than the subject matter.

But none of this actual football made any lasting impact on me.

That is, except when it comes to the national squad playing in a major tournament - the men's or the women's teams - and I find myself invariably glued to the TV.

For those couple of hours I'm a veritable football pundit.

This was taken in Rachel's old flat
about 20 years ago!

I'm not even sure how (or why) I acquired an official England Umbro top in the first place, but I now dutifully wear it whenever it feels appropriate to throw my weight behind our country. 

However, one of the 'problems' I've always had generating any enthusiasm for watching team sports is, even pre-brain damage, I have no capacity for retaining the details of what I've just watched.

Give me a superhero movie and I can tell you the minutiae of the plot a year later, but the moment I step away from a sport's match, either on TV or at a sports ground, I couldn't even tell you what the final score was... let alone who scored, or any fancy passing combinations.

That was always Matt and Nick's ability: they could regale you with trivia from football matches several decades or more earlier, with encyclopaedic accuracy.

I have to say I always envied them that. Not the specific facts that they were recounting, but simply their ability to know with such confidence the details of an event from such a long time ago.

However, now, in the wake of the women's second, back-to-back, victory at the Euros, and the increasing coverage of women's football my interest has skyrocketed.

My treasured Euros prize!

Strangely coinciding with my recent decline in physical health (which has also contributed to a rapid decline in interest for one of my oldest passions, roleplaying games) and my adoration for key stalwarts in England's line-up, such as goalkeeper Mary Earps, and, most particularly, the amazing Lucy Bronze (who played through our recent, triumphant Euros campaign with a broken leg), I now find myself actually drawn to weekly, club football as well.

I don't know if it felt like discovering a whole new sport to me or that I was getting in on the ground floor (neither of which, of course, are actually true), but I can now be found watching regular games, reading match reports, catching up on YouTube clips of thrilling game moments etc.

Because of my massive fanboying over Lucy Bronze - and knowing nothing about the state of the teams in the Women's Super League - I elected to follow Chelsea (Lucy's team) and see how that went.

It turns out Chelsea are, probably, the strongest team in the league (which was a bonus for me, I guess), with a squad that features a large number of Lionesses.

So, now, I watch - when accessible through our Sky TV package - weekly Chelsea league games and the occasional UEFA Women's Champions League match (when Chelsea are playing, that is) on Disney Plus.

I've been pestering my family for an official Lucy Bronze England jersey for my birthday or Christmas - but they are ridiculously expensive (£99 plus shipping), so I'll be sticking to my increasingly tight Umbro shirt for the moment.

Meanwhile, there’s definite irony in the fact that, given my current state of disability, I won an “official Adidas match ball” in a Women’s Euros sweepstakes, via Amazon, back in late July (see picture above).

I had been entering a ton of competitions in the hope of winning myself the Lucy Bronze England football shirt (so I didn't have to employ puppy dog eyes and quivering lip on Rachel).

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Football Crazy

Oh Captain, My Captain: That's me, second from the right, front row
- my feet didn't even touch the ground!

I've spoken about my sporting prowess (or lack thereof) before, but - outside of my fencing - one of my "proudest" moments was somehow being named team captain of the Third (or Fourth?) XI football team at Tonbridge's Yardley Court Prep School, one year in the late '70s.

Not being a top-tier team, there weren't many other schools in the area with similar numbers of teams, so we didn't get to play many games.

I was only on the team for a season and am pretty certain I wasn't captain for the whole time. It's even quite possible that we all took it in turns.

I played in defence, the position of "left back" (which was the root of much humour in the Knight household).

However, I have no recollection of how we actually did in those matches four decades ago, but I played for my school, and have a team picture to prove it.

What Would You Sacrifice For Greatness?

What would you sacrifice to become the greatest of all time?

From Oscar winner Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, producers of the landmark horror films Get Out, Us, Candyman and Nope, comes a chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, idolatry and the pursuit of excellence at any cost, featuring an electrifying dramatic performance from Marlon Wayans (Air, Respect).

Former college wide-receiver Tyriq Withers (Atlanta, the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer) plays Cameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback who has devoted his life, and identity, to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma.

Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife, Elsie White (Julia Fox; Uncut Gems, No Sudden Move).

But as Cam’s training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma begins to curdle into something darker, sending his protégé down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for.

The film features a dynamic supporting cast including alternative comedy legend Tim Heidecker (First Time Female Director, Us) and Australian comic Jim Jefferies (The Jim Jefferies Show), plus MMA heavyweight fighter Maurice Greene and hip hop phenoms Guapdad 4000 and Grammy nominee Tierra Whack, all three in their feature film debuts.

HIM is directed by Justin Tipping (Kicks) from an acclaimed Black List screenplay by Zack Akers & Skip Bronkie (creators of the sci-fi crime series Limetown) and by Justin Tipping.

HEALTH UPDATE: Getting There... Slowly!

I won an official Women's Euros' ball!

In the weeks since my two days of hospital tests, my GP has done a 180 on her approach to my condition and done a magnificent job of chasing up my necessary referral.

I now have an appointment with the Orthopaedics department at the end of the month... for further examination and more tests, Rachel and I presume. Still not quite the physiotherapy we were hoping for, but I guess there's a protocol for these things.

As well as the near constant pain in my spine (and often in my legs when I try to get up or sit down), it's just frustrating and depressing not being able to do the normal things I used to do without thinking (such as reorganising a shelf, picking a book up off the floor, taking a shower, put the bins out, load the dishwasher etc).

Even my reading has been impacted. Due to the discomfort caused by any suitable reading posture (unlike TV watching in my fully-extended recliner) I've hardly read a thing. While I was at the hospital the other week I read a huge chunk of Carrie, but nothing since. I've managed a couple of chapters of the graphic novel "Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?".

However, the most annoying thing is that I set aside an afternoon this week to try and make a dent in my growing pile of unread comic books... and only managed two! Each one I got about half way through and had to take a nap before resuming.

On the other hand, a wonderful distraction during this period was following the Lionesses through to their second triumphant win at the Euros. Sadly, the footie fun is all over now until the next big tournament (which I guess is the World Cup in 2027, although there will be men's international football in between).

After witnessing this marvellous moment of sporting history, I was determined to win myself a Lucy Bronze England top (she's incredible, Proper English, played the entire tournament with a broken tibia). I investigated the cost of a genuine replica top... and it was £99 plus shipping!

So that was a big no, but several major companies were running competitions for serious merch. I don't usually bother with such things, but I was really hooked on the idea of that shirt (even if it wasn't actually being offered as a prize).

In the ultimate irony (given my current condition), I won an Adidas match football through an Amazon sweepstakes.

At first I thought it would make for a good joke, and anecdote, however once it arrived this week I immediately fell in love with it. Not sure where I'm going to put it (or what I'm going to do with it) but it's an undeniably cool memento of the Lionesses victory.

My prize

Meanwhile, Rachel's dad has installed a second handrail on our stairs, which is such a boon.

I can now - sometimes - use both rails to get down the stairs,  although going up the stairs is still incredibly hard. More times than not I end up either back on my arse or doing some kind of spider-walking (Linda Blair in The Exorcist-style), using whatever limbs have strength at that moment.

The new (left-hand) stair rails installed by Rachel's dad this week

The new rail is a godsend

Obviously, I hope my puny muscles will build up (through my weekly exercise class, my own exercises at home, and the general use of my walking frame) so I can master walking up and down stairs again... rather than feeling "trapped" on whichever floor I happen to be on at the moment.

Not only has Rachel invested in a walking frame for me, but also a wheelchair - of similar design to the one we initially hired, but with a separate cushion in it.

The chair means, when I can face it, I won't have to stay indoors as much I have been... and we can actually visit places.

This is what we used to go to the cinema to see Fantastic Four: First Steps. One thing we took away from that experience is that, despite ramps and wheelchair places in their auditoriums, our multiplex is not easy for wheelchair users to navigate.

The airlock doors into the screens are so heavy (and open towards you when you are going in, as do the doors to the disabled toilets) that it was nigh on impossible for Rachel to manage the door and chair-bound me simultaneously. We found ourselves relying on the kindness of strangers to hold open the doors.

If I'd had a self-propelled chair and was, somehow, there on my own, I'd never have got through any of the doorways without the assistance of random fellow cinema-goers!

Everything is moving so slowly these days... and I'm generally not a patient person (as Rachel will tell you), but thanks to my brilliant wife, her parents, and our friends we are making some kind of progress.

Posing on the stairs: this is currently about as far up as I can walk normally,
but I shall keep trying

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

I hope Helen Mirren got paid a lot of money for this because Shazam! Fury of The Gods is a right mess.

There are bits that are great, but also a lot where director David F. Sandberg's inconsistent tone doesn't seem to know if this is a "DC dark" film or a slapstick comedy.

For instance reasonably early on a seemingly decent person is brutally murdered in front of one of the heroes (who, admittedly, is horrified), but this is never mentioned again, even though this was clearly someone that Billy Batson (Asher Angel) would have known.

It turns out that when Captain Marvel (yes, I'm calling him that because that's his name; why would a superhero have a name that he can't say without transforming back into a kid?) broke the staff at the end of the last movie he also rent the barrier between worlds (or something).

This allowed the Daughters of Atlas - Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) - through to retrieve the two halves of the staff, and stick it back together.

Their plan is then to retrieve a seed from the Tree of Life and restore their godly realm to its former glory. 

However, human-hating Kalypso goes full Khaleesi, riding a massive CGI dragon, and plants the seed in the middle of Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia (home of the Philadelphia Phillies).

Because it's not in divine soil, the tree becomes corrupted and starts sprouting monsters from Greek mythology (manticore, cyclops, harpies etc).

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel's extended family of fellow superheroes keep getting stripped of their powers by Kalypso and the magic staff, and it's left to our main man (Zachary Levi) to face the Big Bad.

After the conflict is set-up in the first act the bulk of this overly long 130-minute movie is a massive superhero slugfest, which only comes into its own sporadically.

While Mary Marvel (Grace Caroline Currey) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) have a fair share of the plot and the action, the other member's of Billy's family are largely reduced to space-filling background characters, although young Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) does step up at one point.

This sequence - which elicited the biggest laugh from me - must have been paid for by the Wrigley Company because the Skittles product placement was off the chart!

I'm not a fan of superheroes having their powers removed or nerfed, even if the reasoning here made more sense than the treatment the Hulk got in the later Avengers movies.

It just feels like a cop-out by the writers, having been given a scenario where there's a team of heroes, why not find a clever way to use them?

For me, one of the unique aspects of the Captain Marvel comics of my childhood was the fact that he had a family of similarly powered heroes, a ready-built team, to call upon.

If you introduce that then take it away, that's an unnecessarily cruel bait-and-switch in my book.

And I realise that Dame Helen Mirren has done big budget action movies before, but I can't help feeling that she turned up, delivered her lines impeccably, took the cheque and flew off of to wherever she likes to hang out and chill.

As awesome as she is in this role, there was no need for a global icon of her stature to play the part of Hespera. 

That said there are standout moments of wit and humour in Shazam! Fury of The Gods, from the youngsters having turned the Rock of Eternity into a proper kids' hangout to the genuinely surprising cameo (see, it pays to avoid spoilers, even this long after a film has hit cinemas) during the film's denouement, and a couple of solid "mid/post-credits" scenes (any appearance by Mr Mind is worth the price of admission... and this was especially amusing).

And matters certainly improve in the protracted beat-'em-up once the Daughters of Atlas start feuding among themselves, and the climactic punch-up between Captain Marvel and the dragon is visually impressive.

Ultimately quite mediocre and not up the potential suggested by the original movie, Shazam! Fury of The Gods suffers from a paucity of story and surfeit of characters, meaning many of the protagonists don't really contribute that much.

Robert E Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author

The last estimate I got from Amazon for a delivery date said Robert E Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author might not show up until November - it arrived today!

While I have a lot of Howard's work in paperback form, I find as I get older I'm more comfortable with hardbacks (the text is usually larger for one thing).

Willard M Oliver's The Life and Times of a Texas Author is the latest addition to my growing library of hardback books by or about Howard, and comes highly recommended from a number of Howard aficionados whose opinions I value.

This tome is published by University of North Texas Press, while the rest of my Howard hardbacks are from The Robert E Howard Foundation, which appears to be putting out gorgeous new collections monthly.

 I will probably dig into the lovely new fiction books first, but this biography is on the "to be read" list for later in the year. Its speedy arrival across The Pond rather caught me off-guard.

My growing collection of REH hardbacks

DING! DING! ROUND ONE!

Today's very exciting delivery in the mail was the latest hardback tome from the The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press: Fists of Iron - Round One.

This is the first of four volumes collecting all of Howard's boxing stories, poems, and articles.

While the arrival of any book from The Robert E. Howard Foundation's Ultimate Edition line is a cause for celebration, I'm particularly psyched for this series as his boxing tales (particularly the adventures of Sailor Steve Costigan) are my favourites.

Steve Costigan doesn't actually feature in this book (although there is a Slade Costigan, I see), but I already know I'm going to enjoy the pulpy goodness of Fists of Iron - Round One because I've read other great boxing works penned by Howard in an earlier, paperback, collection, Boxing Stories, published by Bison Books in 2005.

This reminded me that back in March, courtesy of eBay, I picked up issue four of a vintage fanzine called Robert E Howard's Fight Magazine.

Published by Necronomicon Press, in1996, the 40-page zine is rammed with Howard’s writing on boxing - particularly, in this issue anyway, short stories revolving around Sailor Steve Costigan!

"What's Your Favourite Superman Story?"

Hope. Legacy. The ultimate symbol of truth and justice.

Join DC’s superstar creators as they celebrate the timeless tales that made us believe a man could fly. What’s your favourite Superman story?

THROWBACK THURSDAY: En Garde!

That's me on the right, with the white trainers and black trousers

It should surprise no one that I was never a particularly sporty person. Sure I captained one of the football teams at my prep school (but it was like the Fourth XI or something, a sop for those who wanted to play but weren't very good) and I played football and squash at university, but the only sports I truly enjoyed were table tennis and fencing.

Those were my 'thing'. I think, if my aorta hadn't exploded and hospitalised me, I could have been a fairly decent fencer if I'd kept it up.

Although I never competed in any official tournaments, there was this one time when our fencing club traveled to Eastbourne for a friendly match against another club, and that's where these pictures come from.

At one point my coach Maître d’Escrime Christopher Penney said something along the lines of "if you keep practicing you could fence for England one day", but I suspect he was just being polite.

Anyway, it did inspire me to keep going at it regularly until I went off to university. Sadly, although I hoiked my fencing gear all the way to the coast, at that time Bournemouth University didn't have a fencing club.

So my swords gathered dust for three years and by the time I returned to 'real life' I, stupidly, thought I didn't have time for fencing anymore.

The Salvation (2014)

No genre quite embraces the revenge story like westerns.

Danish immigrant Jon Jensen (Mads 'Hannibal' Mikkelsen) has worked for seven years preparing his farm and raising the funds to ship his wife and child over from the motherland.

Unfortunately, on the day they arrive, and the family is traveling to Jon's home - that he shares with his laid-back brother Peter (Mikael Persbrandt), just outside the town of Black Creek - they end up sharing a stage coach with a couple of ne'er-do-wells with tragic consequences.

Jon, an ex-solider like his brother, quickly exacts revenge, but that's only the beginning of his troubles.

One of the men he kills (Once Upon A Time's Michael Raymond-James) happens to be the brother of the irredeemably loathsome land baron Colonel Henry Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, of Watchmen and Supernatural fame), an unbalanced ex-Indian killer, with ambitions to take over Black Creek.

Delarue, a gonzo pantomime villain of an antagonist, wants to buy up the town because of the oil beneath it that his paymasters have their beady eyes on.

He also lusts after his brother's mute wife, Madelaine (Penny Dreadful's Eva Green), and very quickly takes advantage of her loss.

Venting his anger on the townsfolk of Black Creek - which includes undertaker-mayor Nathan Keane (Jonathan Pryce) and sheriff-priest Mallick (Primeval's Douglas Henshall) - Delarue demands the capture of his brother's killer and it isn't long before the cowed inhabitants point the finger at Jon.

Despite aspiring to be the new Unforgiven, The Salvation is more spaghetti western in its execution (just check out the number of quirky, gimmicky deaths in the third act, for instance) with a script - from director Kristian Levring and co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen - that's not afraid to corral a few clichés along the way.

Eva Green's character, in particular, gets the short end of the stick, being little more than a trophy to be 'won' and whose development revolves around successive brutalisation until she is finally driven to fight back.

Given that Jon would have only known her as Delarue's sister-in-law and accountant, there's no real logic for why Jon saves her, mid-battle, from Delarue's lieutenant, The Corsican (ex-footballer Eric Cantona), except for the fact that she's Eva Green!

Shot in South Africa, The Salvation looks gorgeous, has great pacing and an ice cool central performance from Mads Mikklelsen - who really can do no wrong.

Plot wobbles and misogyny aside, The Salvation stands as a stylish, old school, western revenge movie.