Guest Columnist GARY SCOTT BEATTY On Priest's Panther, Dark Matter TV . . . . .

Strange days! I hope everyone is keeping healthy and happy. I know many are cursing the internet for creating information problems, but just imagine quarantine without it. Stay connected! (That doesn't mean you have to argue with drunk uncle on Facebook.) +++

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This is why I don't read Marvel or DC comics any more: brilliant series are allowed to run briefly before pulled into the bland, fight-and-teamup world of corporate superheroes. I always thought Black Panther would make an interesting series. T'Challa, king of the African nation of Wakanda, has technology to rival Tony Stark, lives on a continent known for breaking out into open violence, and (like the Dune series) his land contains a natural resource craved by corporations and governments the world over. What a premise for thoughtful stories! I bought Christopher Priest's run on the series, 1998 through 2003. All of those elements mentioned above come together for a smart, exciting tale, aided by fantastic art by Mark Texeira and others -- through issue eight. From then on we get guest stars, a return to the typical Marvel style of drawing, and the over the top elements that makes me, as an adult reader, yawn. And why change from that painterly art style that was so interesting? I understand this is an important, groundbreaking series, with a black author on a black character. I just long for the days when corporations looked beyond the launch. Yes, the first issues are clever and outstanding. John Constantine: Hellblazer was able to go through its entire Vertigo run with intense, surprising stories. That was 300 issues. I'm on 18 of the 48 book Black Panther series. Then I move on to the 2016 Ta-Nehisi Coates run. I guess I just don't enjoy superheroes any more. This series may stand head and shoulders over whatever else was being published at that time. Your mileage may vary. Yeah, I know, they're just comic books. I take my reading too seriously. +++ I have a recommendation and a stay-away warning this week. My smart TV added a new app for Dark Matter, with "film and TV from the dark side." Sounds interesting, right? I'm up for free-with-ads. I expected Dark Matter TV to have the same B-movie offerings the other free channels contained and was pleasantly surprised by some different movies. I picked one. You have to log in. Sure, I thought, I'll log in and Dark Matter TV can keep track of my playlist like other streaming services do. Except they don't. I had to stop my movie and every time I came back to watch I had to search for it and scroll forward to where I stopped. I'm not opposed to ads but, my gawd, the ads here are excessive. Five, four in a row. And during my scrolling forward to find my place in the movie I had to sit through them again, and again, and again. Due to the clumsy and time-consuming interface Dark Matter TV is not recommended.

What IS recommended is The Mimic (the movie I chose on Dark Matter TV). The Mimic is a 2017 South Korean horror film written and directed (always a good sign) by Huh Jung. Actress Yum Jung-ah knocked me for a loop in this one. I remember her from A Tale of Two Sisters (2003). A mythical creature mimics human voices to lure people to it's lair. A family that is trying to live through tragedy moves close by. Many would be put off by the slow buildup or the subtitles. I was sucked in by the powerful story of a mother and family trying to deal with grief. This is a very human tale. (Don't confuse this movie with Guillermo del Toro's Mimic from 1997, also recommended, but an entirely different kind of story.) The Mimic is free with (gawd help us) ads on Dark Matter TV. https://www.darkmattertv.com/feature/mimic +++ Thanks for all the complements on last week's Death Sitting in a Cemetery! Keep passing along complements and smiles to those around you. Being morose and anxious is no way to live, even during a natural disaster. It's OK, we'll get through this. In glorious service to our Aazurn overlords, Gary Scott Beatty StrangeHorror.com