Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20
Story Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Script Tom Waltz
Art Ben Bates
Color by Ronda Pattison
Lettering by Shawn Lee
Covers by Ben Bates, Langdon Foss, and Kevin Eastman & Ronda Pattison
Editor: Bobby Curnow
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 20, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

From the opening panel, I didn’t think I would care for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20. ONLY because I am NOT a fan of the Turtles in space. Never have been, don’t think I ever will be. I prefer the Turtles fighting crime, underground in New York City. Was my mind changed? Let’s find out…

Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz craft a VERY entertaining story in this issue, one that, I’ll admit, made me a fan of Turtles in space. When the series began, one of my fears was “How long before the sci-fi element comes into play?” It took awhile, which I’m thankful for, but what’s different about THIS time is that evolves logically throughout the course of the series. There’s no dinosaur guy appearing out of nowhere and dragging the Turtles off to a distant planet. But, back to this issue in particular: It’s the climax to the Turtles’ war with Krang and his forces and it’s VERY entertaining. There’s action, cliffhangers, and a few laugh out loud moments. All in all, a really fun comic.

Holy Ghost People
Director: Mitchell Altieri
Screenwriter: Kevin Artigue & Joe Egender, Mitchell Altieri & Phil Flores
Cast: Emma Greenwell, Brendan McCarthy, Joe Egender, Cameron Richardson, Roger Aaron Brown, Don Harvey, Buffy Charlet, James Lowe, Jayne Entwistle, Jalen Camp

Directed by Mitchell Altieri, Holy Ghost People follows 19-year-old Charlotte (Emma Greenwell) as she infiltrates a snake-handling Pentecostal church in the depths of the Appalachian mountains to find her missing sister with the help of Wayne (Brendan McCarthy), an alcoholic ex-Marine.

Holy Ghost People is no doubt inspired by the 1967 documentary of the same name by Peter Adair. Throughout his film, Altieri uses clips from Adair’s film, which explored the behaviors of a small Pentecostal church in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia, including faith healing, snake handling, and speaking (and singing) in tongues.

Altieri’s narrative, however, fails to be the disturbing, unsettling account that Adair presents in his documentary. This “psychological thriller” takes a pretty great premise and confounds it with subpar performances, and a script that often feels like a first draft.

Star Wars Omnibus: Infinities
Scripts by Adam Gallardo, Dave Land, Chris Warner
Pencils by Ryan Benjamin, Davidé Fabbri, Drew Johnson, Juvaun Kirby, Dan Norton, Al Rio
Inks by Ryan Benjamin, Saleem Crawford, Christian Dalla Vecchia, Neil Nelson, Ray Snider
Colors by Helen Bach, Joel Benjamin, Dan Jackson, Dave McCaig
Cover Art by Chris Blythe and Tony Harris
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Cover Price: $24.99

Remember those really cool (but sometimes tacky) What If comics series from Marvel? Yeah, me too – I loved “˜em. I was a huge fan of the concept of exploring alternative outcomes in a universe in which a single choice can change fate and destiny. Well, my fellow geeks, that’s where the concept of Star Wars Infinities comes in, as far as the Star Wars Expanded Universe is concerned.

Back when Infinities was first released, I can recall some of the uncompromising purists among the Star Wars geeks being infuriated at the mere thought of proposing a continuity that was alternate to the three movies of the Original Trilogy. Some were critical because, to them, they felt it "reduced" the saga for them.

How wrong they were!

The three story arcs of Star Wars Infinities turned out to be quite popular, especially among the EU enthusiasts – and not so much for the alternate paths of events depicted, but instead chiefly for the reason that many of the moments in the Star Wars are made up of singular choices that would, if taken any other road than shown, change the entire path of the galaxy.

Veronica Mars is one of those television series that has a small, but vocal fanbase. If you bring the long-cancelled show up to a hardcore fan, you may as well grab a cup of coffee (or a stiff drink depending on the fan) and cop a squat because the conversation is going to be long and one-sided. They are like a smaller version of Firefly fans, but more on that later. The show’s creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell have been desperate to revive the show in feature film form basically since it was cancelled after it initial three-year run. Warner Brothers never believed there was enough of a following for the series to merit the big budget studio affair that comes with the creation of a feature film. Finally, Thomas was able to get the WB to agree to foot the bill for a limited theatrical run, the marketing of the film, and the distribution of the film in digital form (VOD, iTunes), if he could come up with the shooting budget.

Bell and Thomas crafted a film with a minisule $2 million budget. Then they put it to the fans on Kickstarter to make the movie happen. The goal was to get the full film budget in 30 days. The full $2 million was accumulated via Kickstarter in just under 10 hours. Rewards for those who donated were many, starting from updates during production and a copy of the script on the day the movie premieres for just a $10 donation all the way up to a speaking role in the film for a $10,000 donation. So the money is in place and plans to go into production are underway. The movie will be shot this summer and have a limited theatrical release in early 2014 before heading to digital distribution.

Prince Avalanche
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch, Lance LeGault, Joyce Payne

1988. Meditative and pertinacious Alvin (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend’s half-baked brother, Lance (Emile Hirsch), leave the city behind to spend the summer in solitude repainting traffic lines down the center of an old country highway in Garland, Texas. As the two road workers traverse the remarkable landscape (scourged by wildfires), an unlikely bond develops through humor and nasty exchanges.

David Gordon Green made his feature film debut in 2000 with the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he wrote and directed. In 2003, All the Real Girls cemented Green as an indie filmmaker in the Southern Gothic tradition, telling coming-of-age stories set in small rural towns.

From there, Green moved from the country to the big city, where he was quickly caught up in a maelstrom of bizarre mainstream comedies: 2008’s Pineapple Express, HBO’s Eastbound & Down), 2011’s disasterous stoner-fantasy, Your Highness, and the Adventures in Babysitting remake with Jonah Hill, The Sitter.