Another cool thing we’ve been missing all year, but we’re happy to find out about it now. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Invader Comics released the Back To Fairtaylia comic series, written by Jorg Alberts and Roland Heep, with artwork by P.R. Dedelis. “Once upon a time, childhood friends found a magical doorway to Fairtaylia, an enchanted realm full of wizardry and wonder. 20 years later they are a bunch of self-absorbed adults who don’t believe in fairy-tales anymore… until a talking squirrel and a chainsaw-wielding fairy show up on their doorsteps. In a fast-paced quest to save Fairtaylia from an unspeakable evil, the gang has to evade wicked witches, battle orcs and ogres, and break into Cinderella’s castle while suffering through fairy farts, skimpy outfits, and several musical numbers. Good luck with happily ever after…” Issues are available now.

image c. 2023 Invader Comics

This should come as no surprise, but Roger Ebert was a personal hero of mine. The man lost his voice years ago, but he was still able to speak clearly as ever in his writing, especially the movie reviews that were his main job. He died earlier this year.

I was reminded of a line he occasionally used during Blue Sky Studios’ Epic during a scene where the villain has captured the comedy relief sidekicks and is telling them stories of his son. One of them exclaims, “Your stories are boring and torturous!” As Ebert would point out (as he did for Jason X), the movie just reviewed itself. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Epic features some really wonderful animation, great special effects and what I’m sure would have been remarkable use of 3D technology if I’d bothered to watch the movie that way, but none of it really matters, because the story is, well, boring and torturous.