good thing

With Fate of the Furious --- the eighth thunderous installment of that most improbable of superhero franchises --- fast (and furiously) (and fatefully) approaching, it’s a good time to appreciate the music video for Furious 7’s “See You Again.”

Mayhem is one of the coolest indie comics I've ever read. It's feminist, fierce and funny. The colors, the artwork, the characters and the villains --- all of it is so fresh and fun and new. It's the type of book you read and re-read and recommend to everyone. And chances are, you've never seen it before or even heard of it. But that's because you don't live in Austin, Texas (how dare you!?). See, that's where I was when I discovered this book, in among the indie comics. From the moment I saw the cover I was in.

I've never been a huge Masters of the Universe fan. I mean, not since I was seven or eight years old. I've never bought a figure as an adult; I don't even read the current comics, although I've considered it. But the toys, and the comics they came with, were really important to me as a child, and I'm certainly not above nostalgia. So I was happy to receive the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Minicomic Collection from Dark Horse for my recent birthday.

While we were originally supposed to get a new Steven Universe episode this week, SU fans were disappointed to learn that the episode is being held off for a later date. Chances are it’ll be put as the first episode of the next Steven Bomb, but of course it’s still a bummer to have to wait. However, the silver lining is that this week featured a Stevonnie storyline in the the latest Steven Universe comic, and guess what? It’s lovely.

Thanks to the Netflix television show, Iron Fist is a character that's on a lot of people's minds, but not quite for the reasons Marvel may want. The casting of Finn Jones is regarded by many as an ill-conceived choice that adheres too closely to the comics and leans on tropes of the white savior. Inspired by Kris Anka's 2015 redesign of the character as an Asian-American hero, some of comics' best artists have offered their own interpretations of this more badass, more culturally relevant, and --- let's be honest --- more downright sexy Danny Rand.

The team behind one of the most interesting alt-magical girl visual novels ever, We Know the Devil, are coming back with a follow-up, Heaven Will Be Mine, and we're already excited for what should be one of the coolest games of the year. There's almost no information available about it yet, but we do know from the game's website that it will allow players to joyride a mecha, sext their enemies, and fight the pull of gravity. Of course, you may not share this joy if you've never played --- nay, perhaps never even heard of We Know the Devil.

Gabriel Hardman is a writer and artist you might know from Invisible Republic, Kinski and Planet of the Apes, but you might not know that he's also an accomplished storyboard artist, having worked on Inception, Superman Returns and most recently, Logan. Over at his Twitter account, Hardman has been posting several of his Logan storyboards from pivotal scenes in the movie, and not only do they look gorgeous, but they also show how important a talented storyboard artist is in establishing a film's visuals.

I'm not a major superhero kinda guy. I came to comics fairly late, and never managed to dive that much into the superhero realm. I think I always thought it was too big, with too much to catch up on, and a lot of the superhero books I read when I was younger always seemed like they knew something I didn't. That whole lore and world existed way before I was even born. I even came to Valiant's rebooted universe pretty late, only catching up with it recently. But with Valiant, I found a superhero universe I could actually jump into.

The pop culture power-pop band The Shake Ups have made a name for themselves on the Midwestern convention circuit as The Shake Ups in Ponyville, a My Little Pony-inspired project featuring original songs based on the hit cartoon show. For 2017, the band has announced their new side project; The Shake Ups In Beach City. That’s right, Together Breakfast readers --- they’re going full-on Steven Universe.

Valkyrie is one of my favorite Marvel characters, even if she's always been a bit of a B-lister. She's a woman warrior who's never afraid to be aggressive and take what's hers. Indeed, it would be easier just to say that's she's never afraid, period. She's a mainstay of my favorite Marvel team, the Defenders, and she's also probably the only Marvel Asgardian who never stood in Thor's shadow.