When relaunches, reunions, and reboots don't suck.

This is excitement and shock, I think. This photo's also 7 years old!

Usually I'm one of those people crying about the fact that everything from my youth is being recycled for a new generation. Reboots and reunions are at the forefront of this qualm, but that's mainly because many of those come across as either lazy or cynical outgrowths of a lack of current creativity. But this last week has seen a fair amount of movement as icons from my own past are rising again in new and really, really pleasing ways. For once this material seems to be coming in for another cycle because there is actual creative juice behind all of it rather than boredom or a fear of innovation. In fact the thing that makes all of these stand out is a mixture combining the embrace of what made all of these things great with a restlessness to uncover new and exciting angles to explore as they come back into the public eye. In my opinion last week's Veruca Salt album helped really kick this off, but things really started churning this weekend.

First, J.J. Abrams removed any lingering doubts there weren't actual thrills left in the Star Wars franchise, becasue there totally is!


And then shortly after that both Batman and Superman proved their own ongoing reboot was going to continue to please. (Well, please me at least. I know some are not fans of the current Man Of Steel, but I still am.)


That was enough for me, but no! Then Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell have to show up and underscore that not only is their upcoming Evil Dead sequel going to be good, it looks to be even sharper and funnier (and maybe scarier?) than its predecessors.


By now, Tankboy at every age was giddily floating on a cloud because for once totems from both childhood and his teenage era were not only coming back, but coming back strong. It couldn't get any better, could it?

Oh yes, it could.

Posted by Berkeley Breathed on Monday, July 13, 2015

In these cases, I don't mind the ghosts of my youth becoming corporeal. Not one whit.