Remember

While Veterans Day salutes living and deceased members of the military, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving. Those last three words are a powerful reminder of how much our armed forces sacrifice, that they accept the possibility of death from their first day of service to their last.

Avengers Assemble

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was, in my opinion, the best Marvel cartoon in decades, finally rivaling Warner Bros. Animation's DC Comics projects. Yesterday, Disney XD previewed its follow-up, Avengers Assemble, which will air in earnest this summer.

I was concerned that Avengers Assemble might be too full of itself with the success of the live-action movie and that it might be similar in tone to Ultimate Spider-Man, too jokey for my taste. Neither is true. I'll miss Earth's Mightiest Heroes' voice cast, but Assemble's is fine at first listen. I'm on board for at least the next episode or two.

At The 5-2: "Aunt Jemima and Me" by P.M. Pearce

This week, a prose poem of purloined pancakes.



Submissions are open for guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15.

SUPERMAN UNBOUND

At the Crimespree blog is my review of the latest DC Universe animated Superman release—starring the voices of Matt Bomer, Stana Katic, John Noble, and Molly Quinn.

At The 5-2: "Silk" by Josefine Petersen

This week, "Silk" by Los Angeles-based Swedish poet Josefine Petersen.

Submissions are open for guest editor Charles Rammelkamp through June 15

ELEMENTARY: "The Woman" and "Heroine"

I've enjoyed this telling of a present-day Sherlock Holmes aided by a female Watson in New York. CBS aired the final two episodes of Season 1 last night, revealing Holmes' femme fatale Irene Adler and his elusive nemesis Moriarty, both powerfully played by Natalie Dormer.

"The Woman" showed Holmes falling for art expert/forger Adler. His belief that she had been murdered drove him to drugs. Her reappearance as the victim of brainwashing compelled him to aid in her recovery. Dormer affected a convincing American accent as Adler and switched to British as she told Holmes she let him to think she was dead to stop him investigating crimes that would eventually point to her.

Moriarty's weakness, though, was her fascination with Holmes to the point she didn't want him harmed. On the verge of letting Moriarty get away with a plot to rig Macedonian currency, Holmes and Watson appeared to have a falling-out and Holmes appeared to overdose. As he lay in the hospital, he was visited by Moriarty, who unwittingly incriminated herself.

I expected the season to end instead with Moriarty's escape, as popular as nemeses have become. But Moriarty appeared sparingly in Doyle's works, most notably in the tale he intended to be Holmes' last. Drawing things out with Moriarty weakens Holmes' crime-solving reputation.

THE BIG BANG THEORY: "The Bon Voyage Reaction"

Leonard gets the opportunity to go on a four-month research cruise for Stephen Hawking. He's concerned how it may affect his relationship with Penny, but she encourages him to go. Meanwhile, Raj pushes Lucy to meet the rest of the gang, but his eagerness threatens to scare her away.

Leonard's departure was not the big, season-ending cliffhanger. Leonard and Penny's bond, solidified this season, should prove strong enough to handle it. The cliffhanger was Lucy's breakup with Raj. In the aftermath, Raj discovered he could talk to women while sober, leaving him optimistic about patching things up. I hope he does. It would be one of the bravest things he's done; it would show how special Lucy is; and Big Bang will have expanded from a show about four friends to a show about four couples, each with dynamics as nuanced as the characters themselves.