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A little less than three years after Adult Swim canceled animated series The Venture Bros., co-Creators Chris McCulloch (a.k.a. Jackson Publick) and Eric “Doc” Hammer return with “The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart,” a movie that serves as the series finale.

The movie picks up after the events of Season 7, when Hank Venture (McCulloch) emerged from a coma and left to find himself, having previously caught his girlfriend in bed with his brother, Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas). Meanwhile, The Monarch (also McCulloch) discovered he is related to Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture (James Urbaniak), rendering their villain/hero rivalry kaput due to the rules of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, which controls all villain/hero “arching.” 

In the new film, Hank—frequently seeking advice from the many personas he’s created over the years—is hoping to find his birth mother and get all his questions answered, including the main one: Who is Hank Venture? Hank still feels humiliated by Dean’s betrayal. Dean, for his part, is unwilling to let Hank go, and works with the Venture family bodyguard, Brock Samson (Patrick Warburton), to find him. Their father, Rusty, is busy obsessively trying to bring a new, problem-riddled invention to market to save his company, while the Monarch’s wife, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (Hammer), works to keep the Guild functioning and find out just how her husband is related to Rusty.

Into the mayhem comes a new villain, Mantilla (Nina Ariadna), head of A.R.C.H. and ex-girlfriend of The Monarch. Mantilla has her own motives for drawing The Monarch to her company, but her unsanctioned “arching” is also causing the Guild considerable consternation. As in a regular season of the series, all these competing motivations will collide in spectacular—and hilarious—fashion.

The animation is crisp and colorful, and the satire is as sharp as ever, along with some wonderful foreshadowing. Writers Publick and Hammer never shortchange their characters or their audience, and the references to other media continue to delight, including very funny jokes at the expense of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “Batman Forever.” The film’s short runtime (83 minutes) also means a lot of characters fans have grown to love don’t get a lot of screen-time, but having them show up, however briefly, is still a treat. 

The voice work is excellent, especially the main cast. Standouts from the guest stars include Jay Pharoah as Nuno Blood and Ariadna as Mantilla. Clancy Brown in particular shines as Red Death/Daisy. Something about that deadpan coming out of such a fearsome-looking creature tickles me every time. 

It’s also clear that a lot of love went into “The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.” The result is a fantastic and satisfying conclusion to several of the threads woven throughout the show’s seven seasons. The answers fans have been wanting all get answered—well, mostly—in enjoyably surprising ways.

The Blu-Ray contains three fun extras: commentary on the film by Publick and Hammer; Publick and Hammer answering fan questions; and a featurette with John Hodgman, “Hodgman and Friends” (hint: the friends are Publick and Hammer). A poster is also included. 

“The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart” is available for purchase digitally and on Blu-Ray. The entire series is also available digitally and on DVD.

The post The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.

Mental health has traditionally been frowned upon in Black households over the years, but recent studies show that that trend is slowing down, and more people are seeking therapy to deal with their issues.

According to Capitol B News, more Black men have been going to therapy and utilizing other means to cope with modern-day problems affecting their mental state. Studies show that Black men are four times more likely to commit suicide than Black women. That alone is one of the leading causes of death for young Black men. Another study reveals that based on what society expects of Black men, particularly regarding education and income, the risk of depression decreases for Black women and white people. Not so for Black men. Due to the expectations associated with that, Black men don’t typically reach out for help.

Recently, more Black men are going to professional therapists and taking better care of their mental health using tools like meditation, mindfulness, and massages, fighting against stereotypes and narratives that have afflicted Black men for many years. Approaching mental health issues is becoming part of coping with the Black community’s everyday struggles.

“It makes you build a wall subconsciously,” says Eric Warren Jr., a Los Angeles-based therapist. “For so long historically, we had to be extremely strong.”

Some men have started tapping into what is not considered “normal” for Black men, at least not until now. Activities like yoga, taking time for themselves (alone time), going to spas, and having talks with others to let off some steam is becoming a part of some Black men’s routines to cope with the daily issues faced, primarily when Black boys are taught to be tougher and not show any emotions, or they are deemed “soft.”

A 32-year-old restaurant owner has aspirations to be “one of the largest Black-owned hospitality groups in the South,” with several eateries opening up before the end of 2023; he is well on his way!

According to NOLA.com, Larry Morrow, the owner of New Orleans’ French Quarter restaurant, Sun Chong, plans to open six places by the end of this year. But he is not stopping there, as he has more expansive plans for 2024.

Sun Chong, located in the French Quarter at 240 Decatur Street, is named for his 69-year-old maternal grandmother. Morrow says that many of her Korean recipes are used on the menu at the restaurant.

He credits his business acumen to family, specifically his grandmother and mother.

“My mom’s an entrepreneur,” he states. “My grandmother’s an entrepreneur. I have strong women in my life, and that’s made me strong, too.”

Morrow told AfroTech that he started as an entrepreneur when he produced entertainment industry events under his moniker, Larry Morrow Events. He was recently featured on “Earn Your Leisure,” where he talked about some lessons he learned up to this point in his career.

At 22, he opened Larry’s Poboys & Wings. Although it lasted only a short time, that business taught him some things that helped him avoid the mistakes from the first opening.

“Learning from when I was 22, it helped prepare for when I opened up Morrow’s,” Morrow said. “I knew I needed more reserves, and I was just mentally in a better place. I was much more mature than 22 years old.

“I opened up Morrow’s, it was like a line out the door, and I’m like, ‘Oh sh-t, we on to something.”

Now, Morrow says that he has conceptualized five different restaurants and a club. Along with the burgeoning restaurants, he is also involved in real estate. He bought his first property with $39,000 in cash, so we will be seeing more of Morrow in the near and distant future.

With the new Loki season two trailer, Marvel fans spotted a reference to a very obscure character from the pages of Marvel Comics—the murderous and monstrous Zaniac. It looks like he’ll be taking on Loki and Sylvie at some point during the series, probably during the 1970s. But who is this long-forgotten Marvel baddie? Here’s the comic book history of the killer called Zaniac.

Zaniac is a villain that first appeared in Thor #319, back in 1982. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Keith Pollard, this wild villain is a relatively obscure one from the God of Thunder’s pantheon of bad guys. While most of Thor’s main villains are other mythological beings, occasionally, he fights a more Earth-bound villain like Zaniac. Although, Zaniac’s powers came from otherworldly forces. So god or not, he was definitely more than a mere human.

Who Is Zaniac in Marvel Comics?

In the late 19th century, Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension and mortal enemy of Doctor Strange, exiled an entity to Earth to possess a mortal human to be his agent of chaos. This being attached itself to a deformed and shunned man named Tom Malverne, a man harboring bitter resentment for the way the world treated him. With the power of this entity within him, Malverne went on a murderous rampage in 1888 London, where he butchered five women. He became the serial killer we know as Jack the Ripper. Once the person it possessed died, the entity continued to possess as the decades went on.

Also, this is the basic idea for the original Star Trek episode “Wolf in the Fold.”

Zaniac Fights Thor

This brings us to the modern day. A movie star by the name of Brad Wolfe was filming a slasher movie at the University of Chicago, which was where many early experiments for the Manhattan Project took place. While in costume as the film’s slasher villain, the Zaniac, Wolfe found himself trapped in a nuclear explosion. A pyrotechnics accident on set triggered residual radiation from the Manhattan Project experiments of the 1940s, causing this explosion. Wolfe gained incredible super strength and could create energy knives with a thought. Clad in the killer’s movie costume, he became the Zaniac.

The Entity drove Wolfe to madness; it also amplified Wolfe’s already inherent misogyny. He began to act out the movie’s plotlines. He kidnapped Shawna Lynde, a friend of Thor’s alter-ego Dr. Donald Blake. Thor saved Shawna from Zaniac, but Zaniac got away. He then attempted to act out the movie’s ending in real life, which involved murdering dozens of innocent women. Victims he called his “pretty pretties”. Luckily, Thor ended Zaniac’s plans. Zaniac only appeared a few more times, and Marvel killed him off in 1986’s Thor #372, a story where the Time Variance Authority appears.

How Could Zaniac Tie into Loki Season Two?

Judging from the second trailer for Loki season two, we are getting this obscure Thor villain in the MCU. Not only do we see a movie marquee and several posters for the movie Zaniac, which shows a movie monster in the character’s traditional bright yellow skin, but we see actor Rafael Casal, who is probably playing movie star Brad Wolfe in the film. We don’t know if the MCU version will be an entity from the Dark Dimension, but there’s no reason not to tie it into Doctor Strange mythology. Especially as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended with Strange and Clea headed for the Dark Dimension. Fans have been asking for more connections between MCU projects, and maybe this is it. We’ll find out on October 6, when Loki season two premieres on Disney+.

The post Who Is Zaniac, the Thor Villain Appearing in LOKI Season 2? appeared first on Nerdist.