Music of 2026, #4: TYLER BALLGAME

He has a singing style and vocal range that reminds me of the late great Roy Orbison.

 Tyler Ballgame - For The First Time, Again

Tyler Ballgame - - I Believe In Love

Tyler Ballgame - Matter Of Taste

Tyler Ballgame - Got A New Car

HARMED AND DANGEOUS Available For Pre-Order

 EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of you may be wondering why I'm devoting so much space on this blog to HARMED AND DANGEROUS.  The reason is that when I feel strongly about a particular work I want to share it with as many friends as possible. If you're reading my blog, then you are a friend. While it's true that Crystal Lake often sends me advanced digital review copies of their publications, they do not obligate me to review them. I feel this novel is so exceptional that you may want to give it a try.  The paperback edition is available now as well. If you purchase that or pre-order the Kindle release, take a screenshot of your order and email it to newsletter@crystallakepub.com They will send you an offer for a free copy of another Jasper Bark novel. Read below for more details . . .

Tue, Feb 17 at 6:00 PM

Send us a screenshot of your pre-order/purchase by Friday and we'll send you a free Jasper Bark eBook of your choice, choosing between The Final Cut; Draw You In volumes 1, 2, or 3; Dead Scalp; Quiet Places; and Run to Ground. See the world through the eyes of a serial killer, watch as he takes his next victim - your own mother. Pre-Order Today! Put yourself in Kyra’s place.   You're seventeen years old, lost and alone in a remote town in Louisiana. You're searching for the birth parents you never knew. The heat is crippling. The river often floods, washing houses away and lifting corpses from the ground.   The locals treat you with suspicion. You don't belong here. They're hiding something. All over town, in nooks and hidden alcoves, there’s evidence of a forbidden faith. They keep the old ways here, but no one will tell you what they are.   There's an intangible presence following you. Hiding in your peripheral vision. You can't see, hear or touch it, but you know it's there, waiting for its chance to claim you. Then the episodes start.   Your vision goes and when it returns you're seeing the world as it was fifteen years ago. Physically you're in the present, but everything you see happened a decade and a half ago. Suddenly you realize.   You’re seeing through the eyes of the serial killer who murdered your birth mother. He takes control of you, forcing you to watch as he stalks and brutally murders her.   And there’s nothing you can do to stop him. Because he died by lethal injection more than a decade ago. Pre-order Today! All the best, Team Crystal Lake

SAVAGE TALES (1980) Collected in LOST MARVELS VOLUME 3

From the official Fantagraphics  / SuperFan Press Release: 

Marvel and Fantagraphics Collect Savage Tales of the 1980s in Lost Marvels No. 3

The latest volume in Fantagraphics’ Lost Marvels series collects all eight issues of the long-out-of-print, tough-minded 1980s run of Savage Tales

February 17, 2026 - For 13 months in the mid-1980s, editor Larry Hama assembled some of Marvel’s strongest artists and writers to tell gritty, harrowing, and blackly humorous adventure stories ranging from gangster noir to historical battlefields to the deadly old West to post-apocalyptic futures in Savage Tales. The magazine-sized anthology series was unlike anything on shelves and gave legendary artists like John Severin, John Buscema, Herb Trimpe and many more a chance to work on exciting, unique material alongside a new generation of creators. Now, Marvel and Fantagraphics are continuing their celebrated Lost Marvels line with Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales of the 1980s, which reprints all 8 issues of the magazine’s run, the first time they have seen print since 1986. 

Unseen for nearly 40 years, Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales of the 1980 features some of the most shocking work of artists John Severin, John Buscema, Sam Glanzman, Val Mayerik, Ron Wagner, Gray Morrow, Wayne Vansant, Herb Trimpe, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Mary Wilshire, Arthur Suydam, Will Jungkuntz, Vincent Waller, and Ken Steacy, and writers Chuck Dixon, Bill Wray, Don Kraar, Robert Kanigher, Denny O’Neil, Doug Murray, and Archie Goodwin. Stories include Severin and Dixon’s “By Rail to Vladivostock,” Murray and Golden’s “The Nam, 1967,” Glanzman’s “Of War and Peace: The Trinity,” Jungkuntz’s Blood & Gutz series, and Trimpe’s Skywarriors series. With a remembrance by Savage Tales editor Larry Hama. 

Here’s what critics are saying about Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows 

“Old-school Marvel fans will eagerly add this to their shelf and look forward to forthcoming volumes.” 

— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 

“A worthy addition to Fantagraphics’ growing library of archival collections, a peek into a forgotten era. It’s an exciting beginning to a series with at least two more installments planned, surely to be as faithful to the originals as this one. By avoiding the modern contrivance of recoloring or cleaning up the pages, the volume feels more distinctly of its time, more genuine an artifact.” — AIPT COMICS

“Lost Marvels No.1: Tower of Shadows is another great collection by Fantagraphics. From cover to cover, it’s filled with excitement… A must have for fans of the horror-comic genre.”

 — CINEMA SENTRIES

“If you are a fan of horror, this is a must get! It’s Fantastic” — GRAPHIC POLICY

Here’s what critics are saying about Lost Marvels No. 2: Howard Chaykin Vol. 1 

“Lavish” — IGN

“If you like your comics with blood, bile, and jetpacks, and your jokes hard-boiled, you know what to do.” — BOING BOING 

“This new Howard Chaykin-centered volume is bursting at the seams with smartly imaginative scripts and beautifully designed art featuring Dominic Fortune, Monark Starstalker, and Phantom Eagle!” 

— GEEK VIBES NATION

“The book is a gorgeous oversized hardcover printed on premium paper, so it looks and feels outstanding! … these are a must-have for any Marvel fan or anyone who just loves seeing comic book legends at work.”

 — Mike Spring, LIVE FOR FILM and COMIC WATCH

The Lost Marvels series is dedicated to introducing remarkable stories to a new generation of readers and restoring them to their rightful place in comics history. Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows and Lost Marvels No. 2: Howard Chaykin Vol. 1 are available now from Fantagraphics, and Lost Marvels No. 3: Savage Tales will be published on February, 17, 2026. For updates Fans can follow Fantagraphics on X, Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, and YouTube.

Video: New STAR WARS Universe movie coming in May

The Mandalorian and Grogu

Music: FLYPAPER

 Music of 2025, #107:  FLYPAPER

FLYPAPER - Oh Well

Music: THE LEMONHEADS

 Music of 2026, #106:  THE LEMONHEADS

The Lemonheads - Deep End

The Lemonheads - In The Margin

Book Review: HARMED AND DANGEROUS by Jasper Bark

HARMED AND DANGEROUS by Jasper Bark (Crystal Lake Publishing, to be released February 20, 2026) HARMED AND DANGEROUS is very inventive, a time travel story like no other. What if you could go back in time and change the past? The task could prove to be even more difficult, if you were only visiting the past through the eyes of another person living in that timeline. That's the premise of the novel and it enters into horror and Twilight Zone territory when the time traveler learns about what may have caused childhood trauma, as the viewpoint is through the eyes of a serial killer. Worse yet, the killer has a connection to Kyra, the main character.  Bark pulls readers into this world almost effortlessly, as Kyra and other characters in the story are engaging and easy to empathize with. He understands every character's point of view and shares it with us. The author describes this work as a Southern Gothic, paranormal thriller - - which says it best. Indeed. As it winds its way through ever-meandering and engaging side trips, I came to love these characters and worry about them fiercely. Near the end the tale morphs into what it may always have been about at the core - - a heart-warming story about the importance of family. EXTRA NOTES  I love the imagery in Chapter 1: Constance lumbered down the aisle, stretching and yawning to shake off the sleep. Kyra was dragged along in her wake, like a minor planetary body, uncertain how to break out of Constance's orbit. Stepping from the bus was like crossing a threshold. The cool, sterile air of the bus was replaced by the dirty, humid fug of New Orleans. The heat was so intense Kyra could taste it at the back of her throat, like cayenne pepper in a gumbo. Her pores yawned open and sweat soaked into her parched clothes. She was pulled along in Constance's wake instead, like an errant piece of luggage, or a helium balloon losing its buoyancy. Bark seems to know his way around Louisiana or he's just a great researcher as the background of this story feels very realistic. (I'm assuming Bark still resides in the U.K.) It is impossible not to notice the symbolism and inclusion of so many 'eyes' in various forms. Even the main character's name, Kyra, which is pronounced k-EYE-rah. More cool word imagery . . . . Kyra had flown up the stairs like a cinder carved by the inferno of her rage. She just wanted this pain and anger to let up, to leave her alone so she could breathe for a few minutes. But it didn't. It built and built inside her. A pressure with no valve and no release. The burn an open wound, soothed by the night air, throbbed its morse code of pain. Thanks to Jasper Bark and Crystal Lake Publishing for providing an advance digital review copy. I wrote this review without obligation.      The publisher's information:

Harmed and Dangerous by Jasper Bark will be released February 20th. Kindle pre-order is live! Put yourself in Kyra’s place.   You're seventeen years old, lost and alone in a remote town in Louisiana. You're searching for the birth parents you never knew. The heat is crippling. The river often floods, washing houses away and lifting corpses from the ground. The locals treat you with suspicion. You don't belong here. They're hiding something. All over town, in nooks and hidden alcoves, there’s evidence of a forbidden faith. They keep the old ways here, but no one will tell you what they are.

There's an intangible presence following you. Hiding in your peripheral vision. You can't see, hear or touch it, but you know it's there, waiting for its chance to claim you. Then the episodes start.   Your vision goes and when it returns you're seeing the world as it was fifteen years ago. Physically you're in the present, but everything you see happened a decade and a half ago. Suddenly you realize.   You’re seeing through the eyes of the serial killer who murdered your birth mother. He takes control of you, forcing you to watch as he stalks and brutally murders her.   And there’s nothing you can do to stop him. Because he died by lethal injection more than a decade ago.