Steven Shinder

May 5 saw the release of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, the final installment of the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU) that was created as a result of the events in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. The fifteenth film in the series, Apokolips War feels like the culmination of seven years of animated storytelling. It incorporates members of the teams whom fans have followed in this universe: Justice League, Justice League Dark, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans.

The first season of the CBS All Access TV series Star Trek: Picard has wrapped up, stirring a lot of online fan discussion. Throughout the season, fans conversed back and forth about what they liked and disliked about the series, as is to be expected. In various online threads, people sometimes asked whether or not anyone would be watching the show if it were not focused on Picard. This question has been asked seemingly as a way to evaluate whether the story of this series would have been good enough to carry itself without a familiar character like Picard. My answer to this question is, "No," but for reasons that might not be what one might expect.

Expectations To dive into my thoughts on the Birds of Prey film, I suppose that I should go back to the beginning by talking about my expectations. My earliest experience with any Birds of Prey team was the 2002 live-action show, which included a more grounded Dr. Harleen Quinzel as a villain. The team consisted of a wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon who's gone from Batgirl to Oracle, Batman and Catwoman's daughter Helena Kyle (Huntress), and Dinah Redmond (Black Canary). Overall, I thought that the show was okay.

The new video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a fantastic addition to the Star Wars mythology. Set five years after Revenge of the Sith, it does a good job of connecting to the films, TV shows, and print media in an organic way. Since it is set within the dark times era, I cannot help but compare it to the show Star Wars Rebels, the events of which begin nine years after this game. Both stories feature Jedi in hiding trying to restore hope and meeting characters who are familiar to us along the way.

Within the last few months, I did a series of Yes studio album reviews as a way to commemorate their discography turning 50 years old. The last studio album review was Heaven & Earth, but then a week later, on October 25th, there was a surprise announcement. Now available via Burning Shed was From a Page, a collection of studio tracks worked on by Yes in 2010. At the time, the lineup consisted of Benoît David (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Oliver Wakeman (keys), and Alan White (drums).

On October 25, Yes announced and released a box set containing previously unreleased studio material under the title From a Page, along with a re-release of In the Present - Live from Lyon. This has brought the attention of Yes fans back to the days of the following lineup: Benoît David (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Oliver Wakeman (keys), and Alan White (drums).