Staff Picks of the Week — August 11th, 2017

Happy Friday! It’s time for the best part of the week: Staff Picks! We asked staff writers and editors to tell us about something that’s brought them joy this week. Before we dive into their recommendations, let’s do a quick recap.

Podcasts: Stephanie launched her latest podcast, This Page Is Under Construction, wherein she interviews creators who once ran websites on those long-ago platforms Geocities and Angelfire. Plus, we got new episodes of Not Enough Resources, Babes of Wonderland, Scooby Dos or Scooby Dont’s, and The Comics Agenda. Have your earbuds at the ready!

Comics: Josh launched a new comics feature: the Rogues Portal Pull List! Dave interviewed Eclipse creator Zack Kaplan. We also published reviews of Bloodshot Salvation #1, The Nobody Graphic Novel, Redlands #1, Mister Miracle #1, and Quince #10 & #11. There are so many good comics to keep you occupied this weekend!

TV & Movies: Insha told us why we should watch the Netflix original movie The Incredible Jessica James and reviewed the Netflix original series Friends from College. Reed wrote a review of the new Netflix original series Atypical, which starts streaming today. Samantha reviewed S01E06 of Will and dove into Freeform’s Shadowhunters with Shanicka. 

Video Games: Amelia reviewed the “cute, sweet, and simple” mobile game Two Dots. Ryan gave us insight on the Overwatch Summer Games 2017, which run now through August 28. He also gave us his first impressions of Titanfall: Assault. 

Other Stuff: Reed gave a thorough overview and dissection of the allegations leveled against Polygon‘s Nick Robinson. On a lighter note, Insha reviewed Sprayground’s “Bob’s Burger’s Insanity” backpack. Plus, we announced a Site Takeover for National Coming Out Day on October 11. See the post for details on how to participate!

Whew. Let’s dive into our August 11th Staff Picks!

Josh‘s Pick of the Week: My pick of the week is this week’s episode of Rick and Morty, “Pickle Rick”. The cartoon is now on its 3rd episode of its 3rd season after a long break from season 2. Now that the show is back, it’s better than ever!

“Pickle Rick” is by far one of the show’s strongest episodes yet, which is not something I say lightly. The premise of turning yourself into a pickle, only to get knocked down into the sewers and left to somehow fight for your life against roaches and vicious rats is so strange, I can’t imagine it working on any other show. As a pickle, Rick manages to build himself some sort of battle suit using the remnants of dead rats, which he then uses to invade and go on a killing spree in some sort of international embassy. That isn’t even the best part of the episode, but I’m not going to give it all away for you. I strongly recommend watching Rick and Morty if you haven’t already, especially “Pickle Rick”!

Rhian‘s Pick of the Week: “I’M PICKLE RIIIIICK!!!!” Yep, you’ve guessed it, Rick and Morty is my pick of the week!! The third series began (again) last week where we saw Summer becoming a kick-ass, Mad Max-style killing machine. This week, we met PICKLE RIIIICK and I can easily say it’s one of my favourite episodes!! It was ultra violent, crazy, amazing and everything in between. The episode boasted a whole range of special guest stars including Susan Sarandon, Peter Serafinowicz and my personal favourite, Danny Trejo, who provided the voice of Jaguar.

So far the series has been incredible!! It’s left me in shock and had me laughing hysterically. It’s also had me feeling many other things. However, I feel an angsty episode is nigh with the return of Bird Person. I am not ready for that episode just yet.

Robert‘s Pick of the Week: I have been reading Hellboy and the associated books for 8 years. I love the series and it is honestly one I can never see myself dropping. This week, they did something I didn’t expect: they dealt with race. Now demons, occultism and Nazis are typical Hellboy villians. Hellboy is often accompanied by various men and women of different ages and sex. Very rarely does he confront the insipid specter of Racism.

However, in these new issues, which take place in 1955, Hellboy takes a black man to Oregon. Sometimes, in comics, when they use brown people I worry, because the vast majority of writers are cis, white men. While the writing may be sympathetic, it often lacks the empathy that is needed. This issue has the empathy and compassion that it needs to deal with the subject matter. It delivers a great Hellboy story. Sure, I could be blowing a conversation that only takes place over two pages out of proportion, but this story means a lot to me. If you want to read a well-constructed story and something that deals well with social issues, look no further than Hellboy and the BPRD 1955.

Ryan‘s Pick of the Week: Lúcioball from Overwatch‘s Summer Games 2017. This mode is great. I mean, yeah, it is pretty much Rocket League with an Overwatch skin, but why is that a bad thing? The big changes from this year are that Lúcio now moves super fast when you use his ultimate instead of bringing the ball towards you. It makes for some great setups right off the pitch. Also? There is now a competitive mode where you get ranked against other players in this absurd mode! I love that Blizzard is bringing this game type and event back, simply because it is cool that these events look to be annual, regardless of if the Olympics are ongoing or not.

Samantha‘s Pick of the Week: My pick of the week is the Toronto-based punk band PUP. My partner, our concert buddy and I just bought tickets to see them on three consecutive nights this December with Thursday and Frank Iero. It’s going to be wild and I’m probably going to need at least two days to nap and recover. Every time we see them, something totally unexpected happens; in May, the audience stormed the stage during the final song and lead singer Stefan Babcock just gave in and went crowd-surfing while a fan finished the set. 

I’ll admit, PUP is often on my mind and usually playing on my Spotify. However, their recent animation in Game Grumps’ Dream Daddy dating simulator prompted me to tell everyone I knew about them. Again. So if you haven’t listened to PUP and you like fast-paced, interesting punk music, check them out! 

Want to tell us what you’re loving this week? Sound off in the comments or let us know on Twitter and Facebook! Your responses might be featured on our social networks! Have a great weekend, everyone!