Daredevil #1 by Stephanie Phillips and Lee Garbett arrives at local comic shops tomorrow, the latest Marvel Comics launch available to purchase in new Daredevil #1 True Believers Blind Bags. In these blind bags, fans have the chance to find any of the issue’s regular covers OR rare Blind Bag exclusive covers, including ultra-rare, one-of-a-kind, hand-drawn sketch covers from surprise artists and contributors! Marvel has revealed some of those surprise covers will come from legendary Daredevil writer/artist Frank Miller, and actors Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal, who reprised their roles as Daredevil and Punisher in Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again last year. A selection of Charlie Cox’s signed copies will also feature artwork by influential Daredevil artist Alex Maleev.
The anticipation for the new comic book run and the buzz around True Believers Blind Bags have made Daredevil #1 the biggest Daredevil launch in Marvel Comics history! With over 300,000 copies already sold, it’s not too late to join the excitement.
Each Daredevil #1 Blind Bag will contain one issue of Daredevil #1 with one of the following covers:
DAREDEVIL #1 COVER BY LEE GARBETT
DAREDEVIL #1 FOIL VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY ROSE BESCH
DAREDEVIL #1 VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY ROSE BESCH
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY ALEX MALEEV
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY DAN PANOSIAN
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY JOE QUESADA
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY PABLO VILLALOBOS
DAREDEVIL #1 VARIANT COVER BY DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON
DAREDEVIL #1 250TH HOMAGE VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND
DAREDEVIL #1 BICENTENNIAL CALENDAR HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY SAL BUSCEMA
DAREDEVIL #1 BLANK VARIANT COVER
DAREDEVIL #1 MARVEL TELEVISION VARIANT COVER
DAREDEVIL #1 VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY DAN PANOSIAN (Available only in the Blind Bag)
DAREDEVIL #1 VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON (Available only in the Blind Bag)
DAREDEVIL #1 MARVEL RIVALS VARIANT COVER BY NETEASE GAMES (Available only in the Blind Bag)
Rare Blind Bag Exclusive Variant Covers by surprise contributors including Greg Land, Mike Hawthrone, Mike Henderson, Justin Mason, Frank Miller, Alex Maleev, Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal!
A middling third season aside, Hulu/FX’s The Bearhas been one of the best American TV shows of the past few years. The show follows the trials and tribulations of Carmy Berzato (Jeremy Allen White), a hot-shot chef, who leaves New York City to run his family’s sandwich shop The Beef after the passing of his brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal). In Season 2 and 3, he opens his own restaurant called The Bear with the help of the staff of The Beef. The Bear features strong performances from a deep ensemble cast, a powerful sense of narrative momentum that matches the stressfulness of the culinary world, and isn’t afraid to experiment like an hour-long flashback episode in Season Two called “The Fishes” set around the Feast of the Seven Fishes featuring guest appearances from Jamie Lee Curtis (As Carmy’s mother), Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, and Sarah Paulson.
It also has some pretty damn great music choices of mainly the alternative rock variety that enhance the characters’ arcs or just remind the audience that Chicago is a cool city with tasty food. (I miss it, but am never driving there again.) Without further ado, here are the seven best needle drops across The Bear‘s three seasons in chronological order.
The tensest episode of The Bear Season 1 starts with a breezy little ditty from Sufjan Stevens from his concept album Illinois. (He was supposed to make concept albums about all 50 states, but only did Illinois and Michigan.) It’s diegetic music with the radio DJ from Chicago’s adult album alternative station bantering about Stevens dressing up as a unicorn at the Metro before the more vulnerable demo version of “Chicago” plays in one of The Bear‘s mini montage. With historical, black and white flashbacks, archival footage of Barack Obama and Michael Jordan, and of course, loving tracking shots of many of Chicagoland’s beloved restaurants, it places Carmy, Manny (Richard Esteras), and Sydney’s (Ayo Edebiri) commute in context before shit hits the fan.
Wilco is one of the great Chicago bands, and their 2004 11 minute track “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” is the backbeat of The Beef being utterly torn apart when Sydney leaves the preorder option on for their to-go orders, and the receipts keep printing out orders before the restaurant has even open. Christopher Storer’s single take/single song approach to direction keeps the stress levels increasing with Carmy throwing a fit and Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Sydney walking out after Carmy verbally abuses them. The creativity they’ve shown with their donut and risotto dishes respectively is thrown out the window to the whine of distorted guitars and Jeff Tweedy’s barely-heard vocals in-sync with the receipt machine.
Even though Carmy is busy trying to open his new restaurant The Bear, there’s a little time for romance in Season 2. He reconnects with an old friend named Claire (Molly Gordon), who is a resident physician, and understands working in a hectic profession where everything is literally life and death. He initially gives her the wrong number, but Neil Fak (Matty Mattheson) plays matchmaker and gives her Carmy’s real number. There’s some flirtations and a long car ride to get a liquor license, but they finally kiss at the end of a long, stressful day setting up The Bear’s kitchen. (Of course, Fak interrupts them at first.) And what better song to soundtrack a first kiss than “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements with Paul Westerberg’s emotive vocals matching the yearning in Gordon’s face, and that lovely chorus with the strings and horns kicking in as they start making out. Also, the lyric “Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes” definitely defines The Bear’s back of house area. Pairing one of the brightest moments of The Bear with one of the best college rock songs of all time is a genius move from director Joanna Calo.
My favorite episode of The Bear Season Two is “Forks” where Carmy sends his brother’s best friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) to stage at a fine dining restaurant called Ever even though he doesn’t have any culinary skill. He begins the episode by resenting having to clean forks to a spit-shine, but eventually, bonds with his colleagues, buys into their philosophy, and provides speedy, attentive service. Richie falling in love with his front of house role, suit jacket and all, is set to “Love Story” by Taylor Swift with Moss-Bachrach doing emotionally charged car karaoke vocals on the way to work. This song is emblematic of his Richie’s character development in Season 2, and Taylor Swift is his daughter’s favorite artist so there’s also a personal touch too.
The Bear loves its opening montage needle drops, and Season 3 is no exception with a cover of The English Beat’s “Save It for Later” by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. It kicks off episode two and looks at a hustling, bustling Chicago starting its day and finds humanity in every corner from the diner waitress pouring coffee to the zamboni driver on the ice and even the guys who literally make the sausage. It’s how society should function before going into the chaotic world of The Bear. Vedder’s take on the iconic song is soulful, and there’s a feeling of basically everything be okay in the end. It put me in a calm state of mind before an episode full of arguing.
“Napkins” is easily the best episode of The Bear Season 3 with its laser focus on Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), and how she navigated economic insecurity and the job market as a middle-aged Puerto Rican woman before finally finding a home at The Beef after a heart to heart with Mikey, who spots her crying at the restaurant. In the episode, Tina talks about liking having routine through working consistently, and “Morning Fog” by Kate Bush, which plays throughout “Napkins”, reinforces this character’s trait. It helps the transitional moments in the episode like Tina taking the bus all across Chicago to hand out her resume or go to job interviews that get cancelled pass pleasantly. It’s just sad that “Morning Fog” sadly won’t get an airplay boost like its more famous Hounds of Love sister “Running Up That Hill”.
The Bear weirdly has a lot of Weezer songs with a track from their Christmas album wrapping up “The Fishes” and “Getchoo” from Pinkerton showing up earlier this season. However, “In the Garage” kicks off The Bear Season 3 finale with a slideshow type of montage of different influential chefs who will be attending the funeral dinner for Ever, including Carmy himself, who stands off and looks at the pictures instead of interacting with anyone. The lyrics of the song are basically about Rivers Cuomo being happier to hang out in his garage with his comics, action figures, and guitars than interacting with people and having relationships, which if you substitute the nerdy stuff for the foodie stuff, that’s Carmy to a tee. (I’m kind of ticked that they didn’t leave in the verse about Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler.) He loves tinkering with food and changing the menu every night even though this affects his colleagues and the restaurant’s bottom line. The “In the Garage” needle drop playfully creates a parallel between its lyrics and Carmy’s psyche. He just wants to be left alone cooking food.
Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
Logan
The Bear S3E6 “Napkins” – Leave it to Ayo Edebiri to direct the best episode of The Bear Season 3. She, writer Catherine Schetina, and actress Liza Colon-Zayas tell Tina’s origin in such a beautiful way and touch on how infuriating it can be to find a job in this day and age. The quiet glory of Kate Bush’s “Morning Fog” is contrasted with the dead faces of the young employees that Tina interacts with at different jobs as not even replying to an open interview hour on LinkedIn gets her a position. She breaks and gives a “Fuck you”, but is saved by dropping into The Beef, getting a comped sandwich and coffee from Richie, and having a real heart to heart with a then-stranger Mikey (Jon Bernthal). Edebiri, Schetina, Colon-Zayas, and Bernthal cut the bullshit and just have two people venting about their days and also finding inspiration in the next generation with Mikey showing a picture of one of Carmy’s dishes that was teased in the season premiere. One benefit of TV as a medium is the ability to go deep into people’s lives and motivations for a half hour, and “Napkins” pulls that off with grace and rhythm. Overall: 9.1
The Bear S3E7 “Legacy” – This episode was okay. The restaurant review cliffhanger goes some resolved, and there’s lots of great lines and sequences, but they don’t really fit together. This is definitely a companion piece to episode 5 with the intro featuring Carmy and Claire at dinner, and an extended Fak banter bit about the “haunting”. It’s growing a little stale, but obscure character actor Paul Reilly embodies a Fak much better than John Cena. Also, Shapiro attempts to poach Sydney for his new restaurant where she would have more pay, good benefits, and get to do her own thing, which leads to a lot of frustration and hand wringing across the episode. One true bright spot of the episode is the energy Paulie James and Christopher Zucchero bring as previous employees of The Beef straightening up the sandwich with a killer Beastie Boys needle drop to boot. Overall Verdict: 7.3
The Bear S3E8 “Ice Chips” – The Bear Season 3 excels at these hyper-focused, bottle-type episodes featuring a character or two, and “Ice Chips” is no exception. Writer Joanna Calo, and actors Abby Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis create a little magic as Natalie goes into labor, and her mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the only person to pick up the phone. Calo and director Christopher Storer turn in one of the most tense scenes in the show as Natalie attempts to navigate Chicagoland traffic after her water breaks and also find anyone to pick up the phone using voice to text. Donna and Natalie begin by arguing about epidurals with Curtis giving a loud, over the top performance before mellowing out and sharing stories of Natalie, Mikey, and Carmy’s birth. By the end of the episode when Pete (Chris Witaske) shows up, she’s silent and tears after sharing these beautiful moments with her daughter. Sure, the restaurant review plotline is on the deep freeze, but Calo, Storer, Curtis, and Elliott give us a window into a complex mother/daughter relationship told in an emotionally honest way. Overall: 9.2
The Bear S3E9 “Apologies” – Another semi-frustrating, fragmented episode of the bear. Writer Alex Russell continues the back half of Season 3’s formula of single character-centric episode and then ensemble one, and he’s stuck with the ensemble one. There are some strong visual moments in this episode from director Christopher Storer like a dual color/split screen showing how the front of house and back of house have never been on the same page at The Bear. Between some silly moments with the Faks, Sydney and Pete finding common ground, and an overlong Cicero monologue about Carbon-14 dating, the Claire/Carmy relationship arc has barely progressed plus Oliver Platt speaks for me in his anticipation for the review of The Bear. This season’s best arc has been the dissolution of the Sydney/Carmy working relationship, and the number on her offer sheet matches the bad vibes of their interactions. There’s an interesting early scene in this episode where they lock eyes for a minute showing their distance. However, Marcus and Tina make a new dish of their own while the restaurant is closed continuing the show’s theme of little flowers of hope in the midst of despair. Overall Verdict: 6.5
Hey everyone! Sorry for the informal opening to this article, but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m happy to be back writing about television (And soon, comics!) at Graphic Policy after almost a four month hiatus. One day, I’ll go into why I took the hiatus, but I really missed analyzing the media I consume and sharing my thoughts on this website even if I feel like my memory/cognitive abilities/attention span have been on the decline for the past 4-5 months or so. Well, on to the article, I guess.
Hulu/FX’s The Bearwas a show that was on my radar, and a couple weeks ago, I decided to watch it while folding laundry because I thought it would have good Chicago vibes. (Chicago is probably my favorite city in the United States.) It definitely did, especially any of the close-ups of the food (Fuck, I want Italian beef.), the opening of the penultimate episode, which is a historical/montage love letter to the city set to the dulcet tones of “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens, and funny anecdote featuring the Blackhawks and Bill Murray. However, the main reason that The Bear resonated with me is because it’s the most anxiety-inducing piece of visual media I’ve watched since Uncut Gems and captures what it feels like to be in a fast-paced toxic work environment that never lets up with frenetic editing, a jarring score, and its own unique sense of humor. Seriously, with the exception of flashbacks, we rarely get to see outside The Original Beef of Chicagoland. However, there are a moments of hope and beauty along the way, especially in the season finale.
The basic premise of The Bear is that after the suicide of his brother Mike (Jon Bernthal), award-winning fine dining chef Carmen (Shameless‘ Jeremy Allen White) returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef restaurant that is drowning in debt, health code violations, and is barely staying afloat. Carmen seeks to change and modernize the restaurant while still staying true to its spirit while also dealing with the demons of his past experiences in fine dining kitchens and the loss of his brother. Writer/director/creator Christopher Storer uses slightly surreal imagery to show the fear, anxiety, and tenseness he feels, including an encounter with a literal bear and a darkly comic parody of a day time cooking show. Instead of going for boilerplate suspense, Storer and the other directors linger in a negative moment almost daring the characters to screw up. For example, Carmen’s sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who has formal training at the Culinary Institute of America and idolizes him, drops jus after refusing one of her co-workers’ help, and baker Marcus rushes his preparation (Odd Future’s Lionel Boyce and easily my favorite character) and ends up tripping a breaker for the whole restaurant.
Although the season finale features big reveals and heartwarming moments, The Bear‘s arc is one of toxicity boiling under the surface, and everyone can be the asshole. Even Sydney, who is one of the show’s kinder characters, is a passive aggressive and doesn’t offer constructive feedback when Carmen switches the restaurant’s workflow to a French brigade model. The same goes for Carmen, who lets Marcus explore his creative side and create a custom donut for the restaurant in earlier episodes before throwing the donut on the floor towards the end of the season because he’s behind on his tasks and throws a full-on tantrum when the restaurant gets unexpected influx of to-go orders. The Bear can have its wholesome moments, but something overtly or passively aggressive is always on its way as the whole season untangles Mike legacy’s for the restaurant and Carmen as a person.
I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but my only experience working food service was a three month stint at Little Caesar’s when I was 16 so a lot of the lingo that Carmen, Sydney, and their compatriots throw around was confusing to me. The big one is everyone being called “chef” as a sign of respect, but this ends up being parodied by Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), who calls Carmen “Jeff” and clashes with Sydney because she came into a leadership role without paying her dues. Colon-Zayas has killer sarcastic timing, but she also has a softer side like when she brings her son into the restaurant for Sydney to teach him how to work in the kitchen and any time she reminisces about Mike. This is just one of many ways the writers use the language of the kitchen to flesh out characters and create tension, especially during the to-go order fiasco. It seems like a script or a template at times, and Carmen often uses it as a crutch for how he’s actually feeling.
A character who always exactly says what he’s feeling and will somehow to make nearly every situation an opportunity for an overlong story or stale homophobic or sexual joke is Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who was Mike’s best friend and was basically the interim manager of The Beef before Carmen returned. A flashback sequence shows that Richie was basically trying to pattern himself off Mike, but is weighed down by insecurities and a gnawing feeling that he can’t do anything useful at the restaurant except for threaten cosplayers with his gun or run the cash register. Fittingly, he’s in his ex’s phone as “Bad News”, but The Bear‘s writers don’t just portray him as an asshole or a heel all the time. For example, he has a conversation with his daughter where he empathizes with her being bullied and loses the wise guy act for a minute even admitting to Sydney that she knows more about restaurant repairs than him.
This interaction and others in The Bear showcase its greatest strength, which is finding the humanity beneath the toxicity. If it wasn’t for capitalism and gentrification, we could noodle with doughnuts and braised beef risotto plus the bar down the road would still be open. Jobs could be pleasant and not hellscapes of verbal abuse delivered by Joel McHale (Who plays a chef from Carmen’s past.) and Jeremy Allen White. The Bear‘s final scene includes the whole staff of the restaurant plus Carmen’s sister and her boyfriend sitting down for a meal along with one lingering shot of Michael. Not all of the interpersonal issues between Carmen and the staff are solved, but the season wraps up with him finding some closure (and financial windfall) after his brother’s passing and a golden opportunity to do thing his and his staff’s way instead of trying to decipher Michael’s “system”.
The Bear is a cathartic, at times painful viewing experience for anyone who has felt trapped in a toxic environment and has had their hopes and dreams stymied by others’ expectations or forgot what work/life balance is. It also has yummy shots of food and some wonderful dad rock needle drops and is thankfully getting a second season to explore the new restaurant and the cast’s dynamic in that space.
The current situation has impacted events all over and that extends to the military. The USO is going virtual with its Military Virtual Programming Con which takes place on October 6-8. Headling the event is Captain America and Black Widow, aka actors Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson.
Other guests for the event include Norman Reedus (Darryl from “The Walking Dead” and star of AMC’s “Ride With Norman Reedus”), Gerard Way (lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance and creator of the Netflix series “The Umbrella Academy”) and Jon Bernthal (Marvel’s “The Punisher”) also highlight the event.
Much like you’d find at any other virtual fan convention, the USO’s event features panels that will be broadcast online. Panels include ones from the National Cartoonists Society Panel, MAD Magazine, DC FanDome, and more.
Unlike other events, this is meant for the military. For each Zoom event you’ll need to vouch that you’re a Department of Defense ID holder or dependent of one, but it’s the honor system. You will be asked to provide your installation, service branch and rank for yourself or your family member.
Frank, Pilgrim, Madani, Russo, Amy, Curt and the Schultz family. No bullet is left unspent as season two comes to an explosive conclusion.
Can this episode wrap up all of the loose plot ends? The episode is packed and when it comes to every episode of the season, it’s the best. The pacing. What happens. It’s just an overall solid episode that does a good job of wrapping almost everything up.
There’s David. There’s Pilgrim. There’s David’s parents. There’s Billy. There’s Krista. It all wraps up impressively in less than an hour. And more impressively it feels like everything is given more than enough time to play out. And even better, it’s in a way that feels satisfying. Except one thing. One thing is utterly ridiculous.
It’s amazing that a season that has been so uneven and so poorly plotted actually pulls together in the final episode. This is the rare Marvel Netflix season where the villains feel like they’ve been dealt with correctly.
Having sat down and watched the entire season, the ending wasn’t quite worth it but it’s a good ending. There’s very little about the season that stands out. The 15 minutes of action per episode is some of the best Marvel has put out in Netflix shows but that doesn’t make up for the 35 minutes of plodding per episode.
Again, a solid example of when a show has too many episodes to work with.
Buckle up — Mahoney and Frank are about to take a ride to remember. Amy makes an entrance, Russo cashes out, and Madani comes clean to Krista.
The best thing to say about the episode is… at least there’s only one more?
There’s movement in the Pilgrim plot with him tracking Frank’s shack down. There’s movement with Madani and the utterly ridiculous Krista plotline too. That latter one is so stupid in the result that it’ll leave you screaming at the television.
The most interesting aspect the episode is Frank wising up and going to the probable source of everything hunting down David whose blackmail triggered everything. It’s a tactic that has you wondering why he didn’t do this to start? So much time wasted.
And after just watching the episode, that’s what I’ve got out of this season, so much time wasted. You could fast forward through the episode and get everything that goes on. There’s that little of substance or anything really of interest. It goes as expected.
Amy rushes to protect Frank, who lies defenseless in a hospital. Pilgrim gets some crushing news, and Karen Page calls in a favor.
Frank has been framed and now he’s in a hospital handcuffed as he attempts to recover. There’s still a bounty on his head and $5 million sounds pretty good to folks. So, it’s an episode that’s all about building some tension if that goes anywhere and also setting up the last two episodes of this uneven season.
Much like the issue with many of the previous episodes, this one too doesn’t feel like it accomplishes much. It’s one that’s supposed to get us to the end but still, you don’t need a break to achieve that. And that’s what this is, a break. We have the guest appearance of Karen Page who isn’t needed. We have others wanting to break him out. We have actual detective work. And Billy is all snug through it all, because a wanted killer isn’t getting the cops called on him.
We do learn more about Pilgrim but that too emphasizes issues with the season. We have a second villain who has barely been used and it turns out, is actually fairly interesting. If the season stuck to him or Russo, it’d have been much stronger.
It’s yet another episode that doesn’t use its time appropriately and drags us along. I felt myself watching the screen wishing the episode would get to the point. And that right there, feels like most of the season.
As Madani and Krista debate who’s worth saving, Frank prepares to storm Russo’s territory. A brutal encounter pushes Pilgrim back into old habits.
Another episode with a lot of discussion but it’s also the episode that so far has shown what this season should have been about. By simplifying the season to just be Russo vs. the Punisher it could have better focused.
The episode touches on two key things. What made Billy Russo the person he is? The second is about the vets who have rallied around him. Why have they? Both of those things would be an amazing examination of toxic masculinity as well as looking at how we fail our veterans.
The episode starts off with Fight Club and then repeats Fight Club about half way through. A bunch of hyper-masculine men who are lost in direction and feel lost. It’s all about the toxic masculinity here. Focusing on that, vet issues, you have a framework to make for an amazing season. But instead we have Pilgrim, some religious nuts, the Russian mob, Nazis. There’s too many distractions.
And then… with 14 minutes left, the action of Frank’s assault begins. Again, the episode sticks to the 2/3 1/3 split of each episode for action versus talking. It’s beyond predictable and a little too formulaic. The action though, like all the action this season, is solid and brutal.
It’s an episode that shows potential then falls into the usual pattern. It teases how great of a season this could have been.
A big bounty inspires New York’s worst to pursue the Punisher. A restless Amy seeks help from a fellow grifter. Russo and Krista consider the future.
And now we’re getting somewhere. Russo is putting together a small army and going all video game robbery on New York City with masks that make him and his team look like they’ve been playing too much Payday. There’s absolutely a Heat element about it all and it’s a solid segment of the episode. There’s also a bit too little of it.
The rest of the episode refocuses the narrative bringing threads together as there’s now a bounty on Frank Castle. That eventually leads to another action sequence. The episode sticks to the formula of about 15 minutes of action and 30 minutes of a whole lot of nothing.
The season touches on interesting things but never commits all the way and this is a fine example of that. The beginning with Russo is interesting. Vets not taken care of who turn to crime to take care of themselves, that’s interesting! But, too much was thrown in to the season. Too much was attempted in a story that attempts to be more complicated than it needs to be.
Another episode that shows shorter seasons were the way to go.
