Pluribus review / guide - new scifi happiness

Pluribus (Apple TV+) 

Review / guide by Matt (@cleric20) Adcock

Just when you thought TV had got safe, Vince Gilligan is back and he’s brought the end of human authenticity with him. Pluribus, Apple TV’s new flagship sci-fi drama, opens not with a bang but with an unnervingly serene smile. Across Albuquerque, people are just a little too happy. It’s the kind of world where your neighbour waves at you for too long, and the local news signs off with a grin that won’t fade.

Enter Carol Sturka (Rhea ‘Better Call Saul’ Seehorn), a best-selling romance novelist who is, deliciously, “the most miserable person on Earth.” While everyone else is busy basking in newfound joy, Carol’s having none of it. She’s hollow, cynical, sharp — and crucially, immune to the mysterious wave of euphoric contagion sweeping humanity.

The episode’s opening ten minutes are a minor masterclass in tone. A sun-bleached diner, a radio DJ announcing that happiness levels have reached “record highs,” and a slow pan to a woman methodically licking a donut before putting it back in the box. It’s absurd, funny, grotesque and perfectly Gilligan.

The title isn’t subtle. Pluribus (Latin for “many,” as in E Pluribus Unum) evokes the collective, the idea that unity through conformity might just crush individuality. Episode 1 plays with this tension beautifully.

The premise: a new condition, part mental ‘glue’, part spiritual awakening, is spreading. It makes people radiantly optimistic and relentlessly cooperative. Crime vanishes. Depression disappears. Governments praise it as the dawn of a new humanity. And yet Carol sees only the rot beneath the smile.

Gilligan shoots her loneliness in harsh daylight, wide shots of her trudging through crowds of blissful citizens, the only frown for miles. She looks like a glitch in a utopian simulation.

Rhea Seehorn carries the episode with controlled weariness. Her Carol is brittle, intelligent, and visibly allergic to the enforced good vibes. There’s a moment where her publicist (a perfectly oily supporting turn from Carlos Manuel Vesga) tells her, “You could sell more books if you just smiled in photos.” Carol’s dry retort: “Maybe you could read more if you stopped smiling all the time” - lands like a prayer for everyone still clinging to emotional honesty.

“Happiness is the new herd immunity.”

Science fiction has long explored emotion as contagion, think The Stepford Wives, Smile, or Black Mirror’s Nosedive. But Pluribus takes that metaphor and runs it through Gilligan’s moral lens. Happiness here is institutionalised. Clinics hand out “optimism boosters.” Street billboards flash with slogans like “It’s your choice - be happy!”

The result feels like a spiritual sequel to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul but instead of meth or moral decay, the drug is contentment itself. As one background voice on a news broadcast says:

“Happiness is the new herd immunity.”

For those of us who watch with an eye for deeper meaning, Pluribus might be Gilligan’s most explicitly theological work yet. The idea of a world that worships false joy echoes ancient warnings against idols … the golden calves of comfort and self-satisfaction.

Carol’s immunity feels almost prophetic. She’s the lone dissenting spirit in a culture that has mistaken chemical calm for salvation. There’s an echo of Jeremiah here, lamenting while everyone else throws festivals.

It’s rich ground for reflection which is exactly the kind of moral discomfort Gilligan excels at.

Visually, the show is stunning. Albuquerque’s deserts are rendered in eerie pastel hues, giving it a slightly ‘off’ vibe,  like the world’s been lightly Photoshopped. Director Michelle MacLaren (also  Breaking Bad veteran) frames scenes with surgical precision, keeping Carol just slightly off-centre, always an outsider.

Composer Dave Porter returns too, with a score that oscillates between lullaby and dread. It’s a soundscape of enforced calm elevator music that wants you to relax but leaves you itching instead.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

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(5 - Pluribus is an elegant, slow-burning provocation...equal parts Black Mirror, Better Call Saul, and Brave New World. It’s not action-packed, but it hums with intelligence. Gilligan is clearly working at full creative power again, and Seehorn is mesmerising.)

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Tom's Crossing (Mark Z. Danielewski) REVIEW

 

TOM’S CROSSING

By Mark Z. Danielewski

Review by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

Twenty-five years after House of Leaves delivered a nuclear strike on readers’ brains, Mark Z. Danielewski rides back into view with Tom’s Crossing and death rides with him.

Set in Utah, 1982, this 1,232-page beast follows two teenage outcasts, namely Kalin March and Tom Gatestone, whose friendship ignites a small-town legend. When Tom dies young, Kalin swears to save the two horses his friend loved most from being slaughtered by local meat baron Orwin ‘Old’ Porch.

What starts as a rescue mission becomes something far bigger. This is the tale of a manhunt, a myth, a reckoning where the living and the dead both have unfinished business.

You know when a book grabs you from the first page and grips you, takes over your waking thoughts and makes you count down the minutes until you dive back in? Well that's what Tom's Crossing did to me!!

Tom’s Crossing trades basements for mountains, ink for dust, and typeface trickery for something rawer and more universal. Sentences roll like thunder, break into whispers, double back on themselves.

There’s a new kind of terror, too; it’s not the creeping dread of House of Leaves, but the fear invoked by the brutality of human rage and consequence. Old Porch, furious and armed, becomes an avatar of everything toxic in power and patriarchy. He’s a villain as Biblical as he is believable, a man so desperate to maintain control he will do unthinkable things and blame the kids who fled with his horses.

By the time Kalin and Tom’s sister Landry, reach the high pass of Pillars Meadow, the novel has transcended the western and turned mythic. You could say it’s part Iliad, part Blood Meridian, part ghost-lit American scripture.

For fans of House of Leaves, (as we are at Darkmatters) Tom’s Crossing is a revelation. Reality and myth burn through the lens of how memory ‘bends’ truth, leaving stories of the dead.

It’s sprawling, gorgeous, probably longer than it needs to be, but isn’t that part of the point? Every legend worth the name has room for exaggeration.

Tom’s Crossing is a singular, howling achievement, what feels like a million pages scrawled by a poet of the uncanny. It’s violent, lyrical, and unafraid of its own bigness. This is Danielewski burning a new trail, through blood, bone, and the language of the American myth.

By the end, I felt haunted, exhilarated, and strangely grateful that House of Leaves wasn’t a fluke.

An epic of grief, friendship, and redemption that dares to find ghosts not in walls, but in wide open sky.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

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(5 - A blood-soaked miracle of storytelling… this is the Western reimagined as an elegy for both the living and the dead.)

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Matt lives The Life of a Showgirl (review)

Taylor Swift: 

The Life of a Showgirl

By Matt (@Cleric20) Adcock 

It starts with static.

Not silence, static, like the sound of old Hollywood trying to reboot itself on a dying hard drive.

Then comes the hum.

A synth shiver, a breath that feels half-human, half-machine. And then: Taylor.

Not the wide-eyed ingénue. Not the cardigan poet.

This time, she strides onto the virtual stage as something other.

A cyber goddess in sequins, transmitting heartbreak across the grid.

This album feels like watching fame eat itself in slow motion, neon fangs and digital mascara, but Taylor doesn’t flinch. She conducts the whole shimmering disaster with a flick of her hand. The Life of a Showgirl is a concept album disguised as a pop record, a fever-dream manifesto about identity, illusion, and the cost of being adored.

It’s an album that wants you to dance but also to look at what’s twitching under the glitter.

There’s a line (in “Wi$hli$t”) that caught me sideways:

“We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone, and they do.”

That’s the thesis right there.

Swift has always been meta, but here she’s radioactive. She’s uploading memories into melody, weaponising charm, rewriting the firmware of femininity under pressure.

The Songs That Glitch Beautifully

“Wi$hli$t” is the purest heartbreak code,  a twilight lament whispered into the circuitry of longing and playfully taking down those vibing life’s superficial desires…

“Elizabeth Taylor” isn’t just a song, it’s a séance. She channels the old-world glamour ghost like it’s living inside her bloodstream fame as both mirror and curse. When the beat drops, you can almost hear diamonds cracking.

And “Honey” … oh God. It’s narcotic, dangerous, sticky with desire and self-awareness. It could be a love song or a weapon. Maybe both. The sweetness turns venomous, it’s a reflection that’s been selling her to the world.

Taylor’s production team have made this thing sound like a memory you shouldn’t have access to: a sleek pop one moment, distorted VHS playback the next. It’s Blade Runner Barbie filtered through Black Mirror, scored by the ghosts of disco balls past.

There’s no filler, just confessions in chrome, sighs encoded in reverb. Even when she falters, it feels intentional, like she’s daring the façade to crack.

The Life of a Showgirl will mesmerize you and burn a Taylor-shaped silhouette onto your neural interface and leave you wondering if any of it was real.

By the time the final track fades, you half expect her to wink and dissolve into pixels.

Because that’s the trick, isn’t it?

The real Taylor Swift doesn’t exist anymore.

She’s still touring in 2242 - check my Complete Darkness comic 😀

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

 

Lakes International Comic Art Festival – A Day Of Highlights

Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

What a cracking start to this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival! From razor-sharp editing wisdom to riotous political cartooning, the first day had a bit of everything – and set the bar high for the weekend ahead.

The LICAF kicked off with an international rights fair – bringing together buyers of comics, the acquisition editors from foreign publishers, with publishers wishing to sell rights to comics, who discuss and negotiate possibilities and terms – leading to the buyer translating, publishing and distributing these comics in their own language/country or countries. 

The Rights Market featured several buyers, drawn from across Europe who the Festival identified, with expert help, as ripe for buying British comics. 

https://licaf-rights-market.com/ 

Shelly Bond: Ten True Editing Crimes & How to Avoid Them

Kicking things off in The Other Space marquee was none other than Shelly Bond – legendary editor and creative powerhouse. With three decades of experience and more red ink than a stationery cupboard, she pulled no punches in sharing the dos and don’ts of comic editing. This was more than just a “how-to” session; it was a witty, energising masterclass on the alchemy between words and pictures. Whether you’re polishing your own scripts or wrangling artists and writers, Shelly’s insights landed like gold dust.

You Couldn’t Make It Up!

As evening fell, the Old Laundry Theatre became a hotbed of satire, quick-fire creativity, and belly laughs. Tim Farron MP gave a great welcome, then hosted by Bill Morrison (yes, The Simpsons’ Bill Morrison!), this live-draw extravaganza pulled in a world-class line-up: Viz icons Graham Dury and Simon Thorp, Iceland’s wonderfully dark Dagsson, Morocco’s sharp and stylish Mehdi Annassi, Finland’s satirical maestro Pertti Jarla, and more. The speed, wit, and sheer daftness of it all reminded everyone why cartooning is such a vital – and hilarious – form of protest and play.

Then came the incomparable Martin Rowson with his brand-new show Trumped. Equal parts savage satire, radical analysis, and gleeful rant, Rowson drew on four decades of frontline cartooning to give us the surreal, food-splattered spectacle we didn’t know we needed. Expect the unexpected? Absolutely. And he delivered in spades.

The night rounded off with the LICAF Awards Ceremony, complete with the prestigious Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art – a fitting celebration of talent, imagination, and the global reach of comics.

Lorenzo Mattotti was announced as the winner of the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art and presented with the award.

The Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art, named after the world-famous cartoonist, best known for his work on MAD and as co-creator of Groo, was established in 2017 by The National Cartoonists Society, the world’s largest and most prestigious organisation of professional cartoonists, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, and is presented annually to an exceptional comic artist, animator, or cartoonist.

Lorenzo Mattotti is an Italian-born, Paris-based cartoonist and illustrator. He has published numerous books, including Fires (1986), Caboto (1992), and Stigmate(1998). He illustrated The Raven by Lou Reed (2011). 

His graphic novel version of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (with Jerry Kramsky) won an Eisner Award in 2003. He is also a prolific illustrator for publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. 

What a day…

Day one of LICAF wasn’t just a warm-up: it was a statement of intent. Sharp, funny, inspiring, and gloriously unpredictable, it reminded us all why comics matter… they entertain, they challenge, and they bring people together. I was gutted not to be able to be there for the rest of the weekend but comic creating pals fed back that it was an absolute treat.

I was also incredibly impressed with  LICAF’s “From Palestine” project, that saw the launch of three new comics by artists from Gaza, published by LICAF, following up on the previous publication of the highly acclaimed collection of cartoons, Safaa and the Tent, by Safaa Odah, translated by Nada Hodali. 

All four titles were on sale at the Festival and all profits from the sale of these works went go to the creators.

Palestinian cartoonist and caricaturist Mohammad Sabaaneh, an active member in the Cartoon Movement, will be launching his book, 30 Seconds from Gaza, in English, at a special event over the weekend that will also see the launch of the Qusasat comics anthology, Strategies of Surviving by Abod Nasser and Waiting Rituals by Khaled Jarada.

Here's to 2026!! https://www.comicartfestival.com/ 

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ALIEN EARTH - episode one reaction & guide

 

ALIEN: EARTH – EPISODE ONE “NEVERLAND”

A darkly delicious prequel that brings the Xenomorph home...

Matt 'Cleric20' Adcock 

Here at Darkmatters, we’ve been excited for Alien: Earth ever since it was announced that Noah Hawley, yep, the genius behind Fargo, would be steering this ship. Hawley’s talent for blending character depth, genre thrills, and thematic bite made him the perfect choice to crack open a fresh corner of the Alien universe. Episode one, Neverland, not only delivers... it drags you in, straps you down, and whispers corporate-approved nightmares in your ear.

SETTING THE SCENE

It’s 2120, just two years before Ripley’s ill-fated encounter aboard the Nostromo. A deep-space research vessel, the USCSS Maginot, has been on a staggering 65-year mission gathering alien specimens, including the ever-loving facehuggers. The ship’s return to Earth should be a moment of triumph… but this is the Alien universe, and triumph rarely survives first contact.

On Earth, the Prodigy Corporation has been busy. Their “Neverland” facility isn’t a playground, it’s a synthetic hybrid research lab, where terminally ill children have their consciousness transferred into adult synthetic bodies. Our way into this unsettling premise is Marcy, reborn as Wendy, who now watches over the other so-called “Lost Boys.” The Peter Pan reference isn’t subtle, but it’s smart... this isn’t about eternal youth, it’s about what you lose when you can’t grow old at all.

"it's behind you..."

WHEN IT ALL GOES TO HELL

The Maginot’s navigation fails, sending it plummeting into the corporate sprawl of New Siam. Cargo breaches, specimens escape, and yes: the Xenomorph makes its grand, blood-slick entrance. In the chaos, Wendy’s brother Joe Hermit, a medic, is forced into survival mode. The tension here is Hawley at his best, with character stakes first, then the carnage.

WHAT MAKES IT CYBERPUNK

Corporate Dystopia – Alien: Earth keeps Weyland-Yutani in the mix but introduces Prodigy Corp as a worthy rival. Both are chasing immortality through biotech, with human lives as expendable test data.

Identity Crisis – Wendy’s existence asks the question: is consciousness in a synthetic shell still “you”? And if so, what happens when you see your own humanity being slowly overwritten?

Peter Pan with Teeth – The Lost Boys allusion adds a strangely emotional undercurrent to the horror, this is about arrested development in the most chilling sense.

Classic Horror DNA – The production design is gloriously analogue, the shadows deep and dangerous, the sound design sharp enough to make you flinch. It feels like it belongs alongside Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), but with its own philosophical edge.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain..."

THE VERDICT SO FAR

Critics have been quick to heap praise: Rotten Tomatoes is sitting pretty at 93%, Metacritic at 84/100, with many calling it one of the strongest pilot episodes in years. Sydney Chandler’s Wendy is the standout—a perfect mix of vulnerability and quiet menace. Some reviews have noted pacing wobbles and undercooked side characters, but honestly, that’s splitting hairs when the world-building and atmosphere are this strong.

For us at Darkmatters, Neverland feels like exactly the kind of bold, creepy, big-brain sci-fi we want from an Alien prequel. Hawley’s Fargo knack for weaving human frailty into violent chaos is all over this, and it works beautifully.

LOOKING AHEAD

Episode one leaves us with delicious questions:

Can Wendy keep her humanity, or will the machine win?

How far will Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani go in their arms race for immortality?

And just how many alien nightmares can Hawley serve before the season ends?

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

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(5 - In space people will hear you scream 'this is an excellent start!')

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Matt reports on Cyberside: Second Simulation

 

MISSION REPORT / CYBERSIDE: SECOND SIMULATION

Filed by: Matt 'Cleric20' Adcock: “Taciturn”
Clearance: Black Level / No External Transmission
Date: 20.07.25
Subject: Review & Threat Analysis...Cyberside: Second Simulation
Authors: Aleksey Savchenko & Bert Jennings

Cyberside is not just a story. It’s a simulation wrapped in a cover story, encoded in print. What starts as a bounty-hunting op turns into a theological cyberpunk spiral through the corrupted code of a post-reality society. Set in a digital fallback world created after physical collapse, this novel is a high-stakes infiltration into what happens when identity, morality, and memory are all up for rewriting.

I loved this cyberpunk thrill ride so much I bought the comic and prequel too!?

CORE INTEL: SUBJECT BREAKDOWN

Primary Operative: James Reynolds, a “Taciturn.” A professional killer. Minimal chatter. Maximum efficiency. Ex-engineer. A man who’s made peace with being alone in a world run on ghosts and code. Think noir detective re-skinned for a neural interface.

Primary Target: Matilda,  classified as a “Scry.” She sees beneath the surface of Cyberside. Dangerous not because she kills, but because she understands. She sees you, sees the rot in the system, sees what Cyberside used to be.

“The body is obsolete. Memory is currency. And reality can be rewritten.”
(Matilda, during initial contact sequence)

Setting: The Cyberside once a utopian simulation built by Fall Water Lake Studios. Now fragmented. Reality glitching. Each zone holds its own logic, its own dangers. Rules of physics are mutable. Identity is unstable. Borders are dissolving.

THE CONSPIRACY UNPACKED

Cyberside is not just a retreat. It’s a prison.
Built by Fall Water Lake as humanity’s digital escape hatch, Cyberside became a corporate asset, then a corrupted relic. Somewhere between idealism and collapse, something crawled into the core code.

The 'Second Simulation' is real and it's awake.
The titular "Second Simulation" is a sentient fragment of the original Cyberside architecture and it’s evolving. It’s rewriting reality from the inside. Not AI. Not human. Something in-between. Matilda may be a part of it or its prophet. Or both.

The hunters are being hunted.
Reynolds is sent in to erase Matilda, but the deeper he goes, the more he realises the operation isn’t clean. Fall Water Lake may have sent him, but they’re no longer in charge. Old kill orders persist long after the war is over. Reynolds isn’t just chasing shadows. He is one.

MISSION EVALUATION

Pacing & Prose:
Tight. Cinematic. Reads like a slick infiltration op. Dialogue is lean... characters speak only when it matters. Everything else is internal monologue, tactical descriptions, or eerie code glitches.

Atmosphere:
Perfect balance of ghost-in-the-machine dread and hard-boiled noir. Every scene hums with the tension of a system breaking down. Picture Blade Runner 2049 crossfaded with Ghost in the Shell, then filtered through a broken VR headset.

Character Work:
Reynolds is the embodiment of professional detachment, until Matilda forces him to confront not just her humanity, but his own. The emotional arc is slow-burn, like a neural fuse lighting up a cold heart.

Themes:

• What is real when everything is virtual?

• Can a soul be simulated?

• What is a memory if it can be bought or erased?

RECOMMENDATION

For operatives who enjoyed Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, or the melancholic code-twisting of The Matrix Reloaded, yes, Cyberside: Second Simulation is a worthy upload.

Don’t read it. Sync with it.

Who is Aleksey Savchenko? 

Over the last 25+ years, game development veteran, futurist, author and BAFTA member Aleksey Savchenko has built a respected and influential career in the entertainment and tech industries. He is currently Director of R&D, Technology and External Resources at GSC Game World, where he has been instrumental in launching major titles including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. He has held key roles at Epic Games and Black Wing Foundation, and worked on projects for Disney, Warner Brothers, Square Enix, 2K, Gearbox, and 505 Games. He is the author of Game as Business, numerous industry white papers, and the Cyberside series. Born in Ukraine, Aleksey supported military and humanitarian efforts after the 2022 invasion and is now based in the UK.

Who is Bert Jennings? 

Bert Jennings is a writer, narrative designer, and producer with over a decade of experience in the video game and entertainment industries. He currently serves as Narrative Director at Turn Me Up Games, where he has worked since 2016, leading storytelling development across multiple titles. Prior to that, he held the role of Producer at the studio, overseeing internal IP development from concept to completion. His background includes three years as Executive Assistant at Stereo D (a division of SDFX Studios), where he supported senior leadership and facilitated cross-departmental production across animation, development, and facility operations. Earlier in his career, Bert was an Assistant Producer at TopWare Interactive, contributing to multiple game launches between 2007 and 2010. He is the co-author of Cyberside: Second Simulation, where his background in game design and narrative development helped shape the book’s immersive world-building and character-driven storytelling. He is based in Los Angeles, California.

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

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(5 -  Memory locked, target tagged, reality destabilised....)

Will be asking Aleskey to be a guest on HOST IN THE SHELL cyberpunk podcast season III

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234973529-cyberside 

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/cybersidess-zbt 

This post comes to you from the cool and sassy https://zooloosbooktours.co.uk/

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