Video Game: Dispatch

I have a lot to say about Dispatch but for conciseness’s sake and honest niceties, I’ll be frank. I didn’t think much about this game from the getgo when my manager at work started barking funny little references I didn’t understand, but when I went home, I caved and found something pretty nice. While there are a lot of narrative options I heavily disagree with, that’s the point of the game. Adopting the developers from Telltale Games, AdHoc Studios put together similar “choose your own adventure” elements in this superhero story from titles like The Wolf Among Us and Batman: the Telltale Series. What was put together, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful games to release in the last few years. The art direction is gorgeous and has this great comic book feel that most Telltale titles share, but Dispatch is so bright and colorful and lively like vintage superheroes. There are so many layers to the game and its characters that replaying even with roughly 12 hours worth of content feels new and fresh down to the third or fourth route.

Going online and seeing feedback on this game doesn’t do it justice, because the only way people know how to talk about Dispatch is by saying it isn’t dark enough to be profound like the inverted superhero tropes of Invincible or The Boys. But not everything needs to be dark and scary to have an impact on people. The speculative fiction aspect of Dispatch is meant more to reflect the everyman playing the game rather than be a massive political commentary. The characters act like your average coworkers, and the protagonist, Robert Robertson III (yes, that is seriously what they called him), is just some guy in his early thirties going through a transitional period in his life as he is essentially disabled out of being a superhero. There’s a lot of themes of grief, moving on, and finding peace through either contentment, or malice and revenge. Overall, a beautiful experience, would recommend playing it not only once, but a few times just to surprise yourself by making the “wrong” choices.

-Lee Nienhaus

TV Series: Peacemaker, Season 2

Peacemaker season two released at the tail end of the year, and was a sensation that built off the first season in amazing ways. They developed characters, expanded the DC Universe, and allowed for characters to take on heavy issues while still keeping that comedic element to the show. They pick up after the events of season one, with many members of the 11th Street Kids looking for new work, and trying to discover themselves in their professional and personal lives. The show faces various issues head-on, including themes of belonging, guilt, privilege, forgiveness, and grief. This show is set apart from other superhero media with how it handles its characters. They show honest growth throughout the series, with the start of this season focusing on Harcourt’s growth following the death of her ex, Chris’ dedication to become a ‘real’ hero, and Adebayo’s dedication to be taken seriously in her new job. Overall, the season is done well, with key comedic action and emotions always the centering point of the show. The one critique for the show held by many, is that the ending is seen as anti-climactic and boring. I personally disagree with this. I see the ending as a way to set up the future of the DC universe, and was a great way to wrap up the series.

-Will Clair

DJ Set: HOOCHIE MAMA MIX OF GHETTOTECH JUNGLE BALTIMORE CLUB JERSEY CLUB MIAMI BASS by girlypop princess

Ever had a bad day? I’ve got something to make sure you don’t have any more of those. 

In the year of our lord 2025, following the path set for me by many a screwtape, not to mention a growing fascination with DJ Kicks, Elevator Music, and NTS, DJ Sets occupied a considerable slice of my overall music listening. The internet is truly a wonder in running across such things, the vast expanses of SoundCloud proving my personal favorite- the depths from which this particular gem fell into my possession. An hour of lush, blissful ghettotech to keep your head high and your booty bouncing. I mean, really, what more could one ask? My favorite stretch goes around the 23-minute mark, featuring an absolutely electric jungle remix of Ciara’s Get Up that had me… well, getting up. A wise man once said, “The DJ got us fallin’ in love again,” and I live by that. In 2026, may a DJ help you fall in love again. Thank you, girlypop princess.

-Evan Raefield

Movie: Sinners

Released in April of 2025, Sinners took the film industry by storm, impressing both critics and audiences alike, rated with a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. And its reputation precedes itself. The movie is a vampire tale, blending southern gothic horror, drama and musical elements. It explores themes of racial oppression, ancestry, colonization, culture assimilation and spirituality. The film follows main character, Sammie as he abandons his duties as the preacher’s son and runs off to join his cousins, the Smokestack Twins, who want to open a juke joint of their very own. The twins are war veterans and gangsters who return to Mississippi in the hopes of giving back to their community. 

“Stack”, also known as Elias, is the approachable and outgoing brother, often depicted in red. Elijah, whose nickname is “Smoke”, is the serious and cynical brother, dressed in shades of blue. Together, they purchase a venue, gather materials and recruit musicians, cooks and dancers. During the opening night however, Sammie’s musical talent, which is so powerful it can transcend time and connect ancestors, attracts the attention of bloodsucking vampires who seek to harness that power. Therefore, the main characters must come up with a plan to survive the night or die at the hands of the supernatural evil that needs nothing but an invite to ruin their lives. 

Coogler really nails this film as both a horror and a well-developed drama: the characters are realistic and complex, the premise is simple yet effective, the vampire folklore is handled with expertise, and the cinematography is gorgeous. A standout moment in the film is when Sammie’s performance invokes different generations of musicians/performers, and as they join the fun, the screen extends beyond the standard widescreen and envelops the entire picture. It marks the transition to the second half of the movie and raises the stakes and horror elements without us even noticing it. Additionally, Sinner’s casting was exceptional, with the actors all giving award-worthy performances. Overall, it’s a beautifully crafted vampiric horror movie that is absolutely worth the watch.

-Clara Carrion

Video Game: No, I’m Not a Human

This year, I seem to have become the de facto video game journalist for the KRUI website. If you know me at all, you know I’m woefully unqualified for the position. I have no reputation as a gamer, having only started getting into gaming this year, and I’ve only played a measly few games that I got for free on Steam. In fact, my favorite game of the year, Trioskaz’s No, I’m Not A Human, is one I haven’t even played myself. I’ve only seen it played, over and over, by various streamers.

For those not familiar, No, I’m Not A Human centers around a dreary apocalypse: the sun is moving closer to the Earth, making daytime unbearably hot. Simultaneously, strange beings dressed in human skin (called Visitors) are emerging from the ground, trying to gain entry into people’s homes and murdering anyone they find alone. You just so happen to live alone. So, against your better judgement, you start accepting people in off the street who are searching for shelter from the sun. Except some of those people might not be people. So now you’re an investigator, trying to determine whether the people you let in at night are actually human or an alien Visitor in disguise. This is the main mechanic of the game, listening to your companions’ stories and checking them for signs that they might be Visitors. But the information you’re getting about what makes someone a Visitor is shaky at best. Visitors allegedly have red eyes, dirty fingernails, and perfectly straight teeth. But what if a human spent the night crying? What if a Visitor washed their hands? What if a human recently went to the dentist? There’s no foolproof way to tell if someone’s a Visitor, meaning you’re often forced to convict without enough evidence. Either that, or you let more innocents die.

The game’s art style and writing only heightens the tension of its premise. It’s tempting to decide who to let in based on looks alone, or maybe their general attitude. But, in this game, everyone who approaches your door, Visitor or human, looks uncanny. Not even humans look human, meaning your gut instincts on who to trust will often lead you astray. It’s hard to tell who’s honestly being nice and who’s faking it; every character has unique and well-written quirks, regardless of whether they’re human or Visitor.
When creating any piece of media, it’s hard to make your audience feel the specific emotion that you want them to feel. But I and every other person who has played or watched this game knows exactly the strain of paranoia that No, I’m Not A Human depicts so well. This is a game that will make you question everything. It will give you a piece of information, then immediately contradict it. It will introduce you to a sweet, lovable character, then force you to shoot them in the face before they kill again. In times of true unprecedented crisis, the only choices you can really make are shots in the dark. But who are the stray bullets going to hit?

Can you deal with the consequences?

-Bailey Vergara

World Cup Qualifier Match: Hungary v. Ireland, Nov. 16th

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is taking place across 16 cities in North America this upcoming summer, and boy am I excited. One of the final rounds of qualifiers for the UEFA (European) teams occurred this past November, where 12 nations have fully qualified, 26 have been eliminated, and 16 will continue to the vicious UEFA playoffs in March to compete for the 4 final available slots. Hungary hosted the final match for both Hungary and Ireland on November 16, 2025, neither team able to fully qualify, but both contending here for the playoffs. Hungary needed only a draw to move on, while Ireland needed a win.

At just 3 minutes, Hungary scored the first goal to set their immediate daunting lead. The match continued scrappy from that point on, high energy and desperation from both teams charging their playing. Neither country is favored to make it into The World Cup, with Ireland’s most recent appearance in 2002, and Hungary’s in 1986. This time around, both teams have strong players carrying national hopes on each side, Ireland’s hero with two goals against Portugal just three days prior, Troy Parrot, and Hungary’s captain the Liverpool star, Dominik Szoboszlai. The qualifiers are an incredible series of matches to see these fierce teams as they scrap it out, and play with a kind of energy and madness that really makes the game special. It’s not a clean or perfect match from either team, but that kind of toe-to-toe brawl into a last minute, game-deciding hattrick goal is the pure vision of drama that’s special to The World Cup.

Ireland will continue to the playoffs after the unbelievable last minute score from Troy Parrot crushed Hungarian dreams 2-3. They will face The Czech Republic on March 26, 2026. If they win, Ireland will need to beat Denmark or North Macedonia during the playoff final to finally advance to The World Cup

-Pauly

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The story of Mister Miracle follows an American police officer-turned military consultant as he attempts to solve the murder of one of his Iraqi police trainees in war-torn Baghdad in 2004. The series was based off of King’s own experiences in the Iraq war as a CIA officer. King also won the 2017 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series for his Vision miniseries.

Mister Miracle was originally created in 1971 by comic book giant Jack Kirby, known for helping to create characters for Marvel such as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk. Mister Miracle was a part of Kirby’s famous Fourth World saga, a story that followed the exploits of the New Gods, who hailed from the technologically advanced planets of New Genesis and Apokolips.

After a millenium of warfare, Highfather, the God of Life and ruler of New Genesis, and Darkseid, the God of Anti-Life and ruler of Apokolips, agreed to a truce. Each god exchanged one of their sons in a show of good faith to support their pact to end the war. Scott Free, son of Highfather, was sent to Apokolips where he was thrown into the slave pits and subjected to decades of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the diabolical Granny Goodness, who called the slave pits her “orphanage.” Darkseid gave his son, Orion, to Highfather where he would live a life of bliss and comfort on New Genesis.

After the decades in Apokolips, Scott Free escaped the slave pits along with the love of his life, the 7-foot tall leader of Darkseid’s all-female death squad, Big Barda. The lovers fled to Earth where they joined the Justice League and lived lives as superheroes. Scott Free also took the stage-name Mister Miracle and became known as “The World’s Greatest Escape Artist.”

King and Gerad open Mister Miracle with the titular character being taken out of the hospital by his wife, Big Barda, after having attempted to commit suicide. The explanation Scott gives is that he’s an escape artist. The greatest trick of all is escaping death. Immediately after returning home, the pair of them find Scott’s brother Orion who informs them that war has begun again. Highfather has been killed and Darkseid has the Anti-Life equation, which gives him the power to infect and dominate his enemies’ minds, making them believe that their lives are worthless and they willingly submit to Darkseid’s control. Orion informs Mister Miracle and Big Barda that they are to return to New Genesis to fight in the war to save the universe.

However, King isn’t interested in epic space battles. He wants to show these characters as broken, depressed, and utterly human. Mister Miracle is constantly getting flashes of his dead friends. Reality seems to fizzle like a staticy TV, and the panels of action are occasionally broken up by an all-black panel that simply reads “Darkseid Is.”

As the reader, you’re never entirely sure if this is Darkseid and the Anti-Life equation invading Mister Miracles’ mind, or if Scott has just finally snapped after years of abuse. Mister Miracle is essentially the Jesus of the DC universe where he’s the son of God (Highfather) and was traded to the devil (Darkseid) to make peace between the heaven and hell. He was raised by the devil and tortured his entire childhood and even when he finally escapes that torture, he would have lingering pains from a childhood spent in torture chambers and from the pain of being sold by your father into those chambers.

Scott needs an outlet for this pain and manifested itself in the shape of an attempted suicide. Much of the book is devoted to mundane activities like grocery shopping, getting angry at the traffic, and, essentially to the narrative, having a child. Scott is desperately trying to escape his brutal past and create a new, quiet life for himself and his family on Earth. He has no interest in fighting some cosmic war.

The dialogue is quick and snappy and gives the book a little bit of a distant feel, like how someone’s voice sounds underwater. Perfect for story where your main character is depressed and suffering from psychosis, unhinged from reality. It waxes philosophical but the words are brimming with anxiety about their own possible meanings. This makes sense when you consider that Tom King said one of his main sources of inspiration was a panic attack he suffered in 2016. One of my favorite moments in the series sees Scott question the existence of everything by attacking Descartes’ famous “I think therefore I am.”

As this example shows, the art is always in a three by three panel grid. This form deviates only six times in the entire 12 issues, first in a scene at the end of the first issue where reality turns to static and Scott is no longer sure if the life he has been living is real or not. The comic never answers this question.

In the 11th issue, he is told “Where you are is not where you should be, Scott Free.” He was told he could wake up in the real world and give up the act. It forces the reader to question whether Scott actually succeeded in killing himself in the opening scene and has been in Hell this entire time. Perhaps that’s why he is constantly miserable, forced to fight and be tortured forever. Maybe in hearing this and choosing to ignore it, Scott has given up trying to escape. However, it’s equally as possible that this is heaven and he decided not to escape it. After all, behind all the weariness and pain and doubt, this life that Scott has found is also filled with joy. He has a wife who loves him and a son who grabs his nose and laughs.

Or, maybe everyone is lying. Maybe Scott is still alive. I hope so, anyway. When Scott tried to kill himself he wasn’t trying to escape death, he was trying to escape life. By the end of the series we’re reading about someone who has completely given up a life of adventure and life-and-death stakes. All Scott wants the normalcy of two kids and a condo in LA with his seven-foot tall wife. This entire story has been one of Mister Miracle learning to escape past trauma and getting to a place where he can choose — actively choose — to leave behind the pain that defined his existence for decades in favor of happiness. I think that is beautiful. Also there is a scene where the biggest bad guy in all of comics double dips. It’s awesome.

The post Comic Review: “Mister Miracle” by Tom King appeared first on KRUI Radio.

My assignment of watching a movie each day this year has taken a serious blow. Professional football season has begun. I enjoy just about every major sport including college football, but when the NFL season starts, it seems that all I have time to do is either watch football, analyze football teams, or watch talking heads overanalyze football teams. Still, this movie thing has got to get done.

I could have just watched a bunch of football movies, but any of the ones worth watching are about high school or college ball. God knows I am not wasting my time writing about Draft Day. So instead I decided to look at my list of movies and see which ones resemble which teams in today’s NFL landscape. I am a bit of an asshole when it comes to football, so if I go hard on your team, sorry. Just keep in mind I’m a Detroit Lions fan.

The Dallas Cowboys are the entire modern DC Comics film franchise. America’s Team. Not a great nickname considering most people you know probably find the Cowboys and their fans to be insufferable. Year after year, the Cowboys come out of training camp as one of the most hyped teams in the league. Even when their quarterback breaks his back in the preseason and they have quite literally no defense, they are still supposed to win it all.

Just like Man of Steel, Batman Vs. Superman, and now Suicide Squad, it seems impossible for the Cowboys to live up to the hype. These movies (and the Boys) always come primed and ready to become financial successes, but no one really made sure to bother that they would be good or even entertaining. Yes, I am very excited for 2017’s Wonder Woman, and yes I still think the Cowboys will suck next year.

The Baltimore Ravens are director Ridley Scott. Both have celebrated and storied pasts. Both won their respective industries’ highest honor in early 2001 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl and Scott’s Gladiator won the Oscar for best picture. Most important of all, no one has any idea what to expect of their next effort. Scott’s last movie, The Martian, won awards, made tons of money, and was hailed as an unmitigated success. He is also responsible for instants classics such as Blade Runner and Alien. Recent flops however, like Prometheus and Exodus, have shaken viewers’ confidence much like the Ravens’ last season. Much like Scott’s recent films, the Ravens could go 6-10 with a sluggish season or 10-6 with a playoff berth or better.

Finally, my Detroit Lions are the film Requiem for a Dream. Year after year I find myself coming back to football just as excited as the year before, even though my favorite team is historically one of the worst in the NFL. They were the only team to post a winless 0-16 season after all. Much like the lives of four people who are tragically ruined by drugs in Requiem for a Dream, my world seems to come apart each fall. I keep coming back to my Honolulu Blue-clad team with high expectations that are set simply to be crushed almost instantly. The fact that I can even make a comparison between being a Lions’ fan and a drug addict shows just how bad my team is. At least I will have more time to watch movies when they start the season 1-7 and the sweet high of football season wears off.

For those interested to take a look back into some of the greatest football matches, then you should take a look at the history of St James’ Park here.

Watch and Talk is a column that discusses movies. They are not always reviewed, but are simply talked about. Watch and Talk looks at the various cultural aspects and impacts of films.

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