C.T. Phipps's Blog

Lies of P review

 
    Lies of P by Neowiz, Round8 Studios, and Rough is a Souls-like game in the vein (no pun intended) of Bloodborne. The premise is an odd one that immediately caught my attention: what if Pinocchio was a steampunk dark fantasy? It’s such an out-there premise that I didn’t initially check the game out, which proved to be a mistake. I was a huge fan of Bloodborne and it was one of my all-time favorite games by the time I finished it. 

    I ended up choosing to play Lies of P because I’d hear...

The Return of Supervillainy is now available on Audible

 

“Gary’s back. Tell a friend.”

Gary Karkofsky AKA Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy

TM has managed to fall into a comfortable routine as the (acting) Supreme Archmage of Earth. More hero than villain these days, he’s recruited to a shadowy black ops team with a shocking mission: assassinate Helios: The Sun King, ruler of Tomorrow Island. Gary immediately twigs to the fact he’s the fall guy even as he has his own score to settle with Helios. Joining him w...

Fantastic Four (2025) review

    THE FANTASTIC FOUR is a movie that a lot of us were looking forward to as much, if not more, than Superman (2025). A lot of people complain about superhero fatigue but I actually think it's more like "cinema fatigue" with the problem not being that people aren't going to see superhero movies but that they aren't seeing movies period anymore. Streaming and Covid-19 are a one-two punch that means that if people are going to the movies, they'll probably do so only for things that are big events...

Bloodborne review

    Bloodborne is one of the seminal Souls-like games and is something that was recommended to me if I liked “Castlevania, HP Lovecraft, and Ravenloft.” Which, by and large, I certainly do. It has been out for about ten years and pretty much the opinion has been decided on the game: it’s good, very good. Great even. However, there’s a decent chance you might not have played it even if you picked up Elden Ring. It was a PlayStation exclusive and remains so. I managed to miss it the first time...

Robocop: Unfinished Business review

    ROBOCOP: UNFINISHED BUSINESS is not quite DLC and not quite a true sequel to the excellent ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY game by Teyon. I really love Robocop and he remains one of my all-time favorite cyberpunk works of fiction. OCP, Ed-209, the black humor, and a surprisingly nuanced jab at the idea of police to save us (where only Alex Murphy and Lewis do any good) stick in my mind decades later. Rogue City managed to capture a lot of what made the original movie (and to a lesser extent its sequel) ...

Superman (2025) review

    SUPERMAN (2025) by James Gunn is a work that you certainly don’t need me to tell you to go see. Virtually the entire response to the movie has been nothing but positive and I’m not going to be a naysayer. After the controversial choices of Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman, and Justice League, it’s interesting to see something go the other way to embrace goofy fun as an alternative.

    Of course, goofy fun is misleading because there’s a lot of darkness underscoring the wackiness in a...

Book Updates for July 9th, 2025

 
I wanted to thank everyone for their support for these past year and apologize for not including as many updates as you guys have been paying for. We've got some great new updates that you deserve to hear, though.

Jeffrey Kafer will start recording THE RETURN OF SUPERVILLAINY audiobook this August.TALES OF AN ELDRITCH WASTELAND is now available on audiobook. It is narrated by Gary Noon.We just finished on a new Books of Cthulhu Anthology, TALES OF SHUB-NIGGURATH.My next project will be the fourt...

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga review

    Furiosa: A Mad Max Story is the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, one of the best movies of the 21st century as well as arguably the best of the Mad Max franchise. The movie was originally supposed to be filmed back to back with Fury Road, starring Charlize Theron, but events resulted in it being filmed a decade later with a new actress. The recasting and the long wait time may have contributed to its failure at the box office. There is also the question of how much of a niche property a...

My small town protest

 
    I live in Ashland, Ky, which is a medium sized city in Kentucky (pop: 21,154) but surrounded by smaller towns like Russell (pop: 4000). Ours is a deep Red state but people who hate tyranny and the abuses of power going on in our country do exists. I'm a crazy leftist so I could be here all day saying what I hate about Trump but let's say I dislike deportations without trial to countries where we're paying to hold people indefinitely, the Medicaid cuts to pay for rich tax cuts, the cuts to f...

Paradise (2025) review

    Paradise is a 2025 political thriller that shockingly diverts into a science fiction one after the first episode. It’s one of those things that is best experienced without spoilers so if you want to enjoy Paradise in the best manner possible, you should go and watch it without reading any further. It’s a good series. There are some flaws but it is a solid and serious take on the subjects it tackles. It also has a truly spectacular seventh episode. That’s about as much as I can say abo...