Just the Ticket

Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Retrospective Ticketmaster. Today is kind of a perfect day to start this, Ticketholders! It's the first of a new month (which happens to be October; the month of Halloween) and I'm reviewing the first issue of a new (at its time) comic series' first Volume. So there are plenty of ones involved here, if you have a weird numerology brain like mine. Welcome to October, and welcome back to Wonderland ! The first Volume of the Wonderland Ongoing series is a standard compilation affair with no specially redesigned covers or in-between pages, and the ComiXology version and the scanned version are identical, so sorry if that doesn't leave me with much of an intro in which to critique or complain about the overall TPB experience. I will include a bonus tidbit at the end of the Omnibusted compilation because Volume One's extra content is a preview of the sixth issue, in much the same way as the Call Of Wonderland Trade had a preview ...

Content Calendar Announcement, Week of September 28, 2025 by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Ticketmaster. I've kind of hit a point of aimlessness, Ticketholders. Like, I know that I'm going to review the two good Urban Legend movies in October, and I have the whole Wonderland thing scheduled for the rest of the year, plus X-Men and the It's Alive! movies for December...but with I Know What You Did Last Summer behind me and 2026 looming in the distance (and so many shows, anime, and movies that I want or "need" to catch up on, and the major projects that I have allowed to languish on my list), I feel that dangerous mix of "what next?" and "why bother?" gnawing at the back of my brain. So it's time to start slowing down so I can catch up, and get things in a more organized state than just a list. That means a scant few Anime Spotlight entries and only one Just the Ticket in October and nothing but Zenescope content in November. Otherwise...

Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Ticketmaster Who Doesn't Know What You Did Last Summer. I did not like these movies, Ticketholders! I mean, I liked the first two when they came out almost thirty years ago, which is why the third one disappointed me so much that I only ever watched it once and didn't even want to watch it for this review (but I watched the Children Of the Corn franchise and most of The Curse movies, so it's nothing by comparison). The second time I watched the first two movies, I thought the core four were unsympathetic, the villain reveal came out of nowhere, the second movie was obvious and stupid, and Julie James was the worst final girl of all time. But has my opinion changed with time, book knowledge , and exposure to eight hours of Amazon-produced zoomer torture ? Let's find out, and then check out this year's legacy sequel to see if it's as bad as everyone says. Directed by Jim Gillespie ( Joyride —not to be confused with Joy Ri...

Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Retrospective Ticketmaster. Remember, Ticketholders: the people and things in our immediate lives, and in the larger world, can only affect us (for good or ill) if we grant them the power to do so. I know that I'm attributing a metaphysical philosophy to real, tangible things and that it sounds like I'm boiling broad, complex global issues down to "ignore it and it will go away," but what I'm really speaking to is our rights as people to reinforce what makes us happy, to make choices that benefit ourselves and those we love, and to withhold support from that which means us harm. Evil triumphs where good men do nothing, and the most insidious trick of evil is convincing the world that it doesn't exist. The means by which my country came to be what it was may not have been the most noble, but the intent behind looking at the rest of the world and saying, "we don't want to be that because we've been on the bad ...

Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Pagemaster. If there are any three words or phrases that I find myself using on repeat lately (not counting the copypasta method I have used for my Time Drops posts since their inception), they would be "aristocratic," "I'm in charge here, so I can do whatever I want," and "to be brutally honest." Now, the last one I think I've only used once in recent memory, but it feels like more than once, and not only am I about to say it again, but I was so aware that I'm about to say it again that I opened this post by drawing attention to it. With that said, to be brutally honest, I didn't want this  to be the subject of my tenth-ever issue of Cover Charge (so named to keep in the theming of tickets, admission fees, movies, and stagecraft that I have mostly built the blog around since before it existed in the form you see today), but since I promised to deliver it as a slightly delayed companion piece to my C...

Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. The Animeister. It's been quite awhile since I watched today's anime up for review, but I'll try to include and elaborate on as much opinion as possible. And, as you'll see in my initial thoughts on the series FROM Anime Spotlight #41: Spotlightning Round IV (August 5, 2024) , said opinion was mixed at best and ascerbically cynical at worst: Wistoria - Wand & Sword : What if Mashle wasn't funny or trying to say anything meaningful about brutal, class-based societies? What if Black Clover was boring? A guy with no magic who's really strong with a sword and almost useless otherwise enrolls in a magic school so he can be a strong mage and protect the world with his childhood friend. The animation and fight composition are pretty peak so far, but I don't expect to be invested in this for very long. Wistoria - Wand & Sword the anime is based on a manga  by Fujino Ōmori ( DanMachi , which has a new season I should prob...