The Most Popular Movies And Shows On Kanopy In 2024

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

If you have a library card, then there’s a decent chance you (perhaps unknowingly) have access to thousands of movies and shows on a little streaming service known as Kanopy. In order to become a member, your library must partner with the streamer (you can ask your library about partnering if they haven’t already). A cinephile’s best kept secret in an age of saturated media, Kanopy sports an incredible library of both revered classics—from film noirs to giallo, from Italian Neorealism to the French New Wave, from silent films to New Hollywood—and modern independent films from around the world. If you’re interested in becoming a cinephile (or satisfying your current cinephile appetite), then Kanopy is the streaming service for you. And if you’d like a good idea of their offerings, then look no further than Kanopy’s most-watched films of 2024.

Kanopy released this list just a few weeks ago, and its sports many great films that offer a decidedly different path for movie night. The streaming service released this list for three different categories: narrative films, television series and documentaries. And for any budding cinephile, or for anyone simply looking for an outside-the-box film, each list is chock-full of cinematic goodies.

Let’s take a list at those three lists now, along with each movie or show’s distributor:

Most-Watched Narrative Films

Past Lives (2023) A24
Jules (2023) Bleecker Street
Anatomy of a Fall (2023) Neon
You Hurt My Feelings (2023) A24
Golda (2023) Bleecker Street
Talk to Me (2022) A24
Dial M for Murder (1954) SGL Entertainment
Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) Oscilloscope
Possession (1981) Kino Lorber
She Came to Me (2023) Vertical Entertainment

Most-Watched Series

Father Brown: S1 (2013) BBC Studios
Detective Montalbano: S1 (1999) MHz
Father Brown: S3 (2015) BBC Studios
The Forsyte Saga: S1 (2002) PBS
Beyond Paradise: S1 (2023) BBC Studios
Father Brown: S11 (2024) BBC Studios
Father Brown: S5 (2016) BBC Studios
Father Brown: S2 (2014) BBC Studios
Death in Paradise: S1 (2011) BBC Studios
Luther: S1 (2010) BBC Studios

Most-Watched Documentaries

Lynch/Oz (2022) The Criterion Collection
Cats of Malta (2023) Entertainment Squad
Four Daughters (2023) Kino Lorber
Kedi (2016) Oscilloscope Laboratories
I Am Not Your Negro (2016) Kino Lorber
Close to Vermeer (2023) Kino Lorber
Finding the Money (2023) Giant Pictures
The American Buffalo (2023) PBS
The YouTube Effect (2022) Drafthouse Films
God & Country (2024) Oscilloscope Laboratories

On the narrative films list, the choices are outstanding, starting first and foremost with Kanopy’s most-watched film of 2024, the Best Picture nominee Past Lives. An amazing debut feature from Celine Song, this quiet little romantic drama about the diverging paths that life takes us down, and the inevitable regret—even if it’s regret for just one moment, until we realize how beautiful the path we chose really is—for choosing one over the other. The movie uses a love triangle to reflect this journey for its protagonist, a South Korean woman who moved away from her childhood sweetheart at the age of 12 before rekindling the relationship years later after meeting another man.

There other big standouts in the independent arena, including Best Picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall, Jules, You Hurt My Feelings and Golda. We also can’t forget Talk to Me (one of several A24 films available on Kanopy), a high-art horror film that offers a decidedly different mood and feel from the streamer’s regular selection. Then there are several great classics available on that top ten, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder and Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession (which ranks among my favorite horror films ever).

As you can see from the series list, Father Brown dominates, holding five of the ten top spots. An 11-season British period detective series (the show was recently picked up for its twelfth and thirteenth seasons), Father Brown follows a compassionate and shrewd Catholic priest in 1950s England who uses his keen understanding of human nature to solve crimes and uncover secrets in his quaint parish. BBC Worldwide has sold the incredibly successful TV show to 232 different territories, and Kanopy shows the series’ reach extends to a streaming-hungry audience in the United States.

Finally, the documentary list sports some great picks that lie outside your average selection. Three of the movies immediately stand out to me: Lynch/Oz, Four Daughters and Close to Vermeer. If you’re a fan of David Lynch (personally, he is my favorite director), or if you’re simply mystified by the meaning of his movies, then you can’t miss Lynch/Oz, a rather long film essay that ties the director’s work to The Wizard of Oz. Then there’s Four Daughters, an incredible Tunisian meta-documentary that explores the painful void that exists in a home where a mother’s two daughters disappeared. Finally, there’s Close to Vermeer, which is one of the best art documentaries I’ve ever seen. The movie centers on a Johannes Vermeer exhibition that becomes a retrospective on the elusive painter’s career and cultural impact on the art world.
Beyond the movies on these lists, there are countless others to choose from on Kanopy. If you’re looking for a refreshing library of movies and shows to choose from in the new year, then let these selections be your inspiration to finally join the streaming service.

Tourist hit by train while taking selfie in horrific moment

Travel

A shocking clip captures the horrific moment a woman is hit by a train while taking footage on her phone.

The tourist who goes by the name Liu Nu incredibly survived the collision with the Alishan Forest Railway train in Chiayi, Taiwan, on December 14.

She was seen standing mere inches from the railway track, holding her phone up and smiling, before the train whizzed past and knocked her to the ground.

The train driver honked the vehicle’s horn to alert the woman before the front of the carriage connected with Lui’s shoulder.

Witnesses could be heard screaming in shock as they rushed to help her.

Liu Nu incredibly survived the collision with the Alishan Forest Railway train in Chiayi, Taiwan, on December 14. Jam Press

She was seen standing mere inches from the railway track, holding her phone up and smiling. Jam Press

In the video, Liu can at first be seen lying lifeless on the ground, before eventually moving her legs slightly.

The 55-year-old was bandaged up before being rushed to a nearby hospital.

Fortunately, she did not suffer fatal injuries.

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An examination found she had broken her left foot.

It has been reported that a group of people had made their way onto part of the railway track to take photos.

They were on a trip organized by an agency called Dream International Travel Agency.

An alarm was sounded immediately, as people are not allowed that close to the line.

The train driver honked the vehicle’s horn to alert the woman before the front of the carriage connected with Lui’s shoulder. Jam Press

The 55-year-old was bandaged up before being rushed to a nearby hospital. Jam Press

The Lin Tie Cultural and Capital Office said the travel agency is now prohibited from applying to enter that area for one year. The agency was also fined $10,000.

Police are still investigating any damage that may have been caused to the train or the track.

The travel agency has since apologised and stated that the passenger accident was caused by taking a selfie.

A representative claims that a staff member had warned people in the group about keeping their distance from the train and said the company will strengthen its training to ensure people are kept safe.

What does Big Tech stand to gain from getting closer to Trump?

Technology

Open this photo in gallery:Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks in Las Vegas on June 6, 2019.John Locher/The Associated PressIn a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges and social media overtures, big tech chiefs – including Apple’s AAPL-Q Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s META-Q Mark Zuckerberg, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Amazon’s AMZN-Q Jeff Bezos – have joined a parade of business and world leaders in trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office in January.“The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in remarks at Mar-a-Lago. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”Tech companies and leaders have now poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase – in most cases – from past pledges to incoming presidents. But what does the tech industry expect to gain out of their renewed relationships with Trump?Clearing the way for AI developmentA clue to what the industry is looking for came just days before the election when Microsoft MSFT-Q executives – who’ve largely tried to show a neutral or bipartisan stance – joined with a close Trump ally, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, to publish a blog post outlining their approach to artificial intelligence policy.“Regulation should be implemented only if its benefits outweigh its costs,” said the document signed by Andreessen, his business partner Ben Horowitz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the company’s president, Brad Smith.They also urged the government to back off on any attempt to strengthen copyright laws that would make it harder for companies to use publicly available data to train their AI systems. And they said, “the government should examine its procurement practices to enable more startups to sell technology to the government.”Trump has pledged to rescind President Joe Biden’s sweeping AI executive order, which sought to protect people’s rights and safety without stifling innovation. He hasn’t specified what he would do in its place, but his campaign said AI development should be “rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”Easier energy for data centresTrump’s choice to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, has spoken openly about the need to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centres and artificial intelligence.“The AI battle affects everything from defence to health care to education to productivity as a country,″ Burgum said on Nov. 15, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration″ to address it.Demand for data centres ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and AI, and local governments are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies.But as data centres begin to consume more resources, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities.Changing the antitrust discussion“Maybe Big Tech should buy a copy of ‘The Art of The Deal’ to figure out how to best negotiate with this administration,” suggested Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “I won’t be surprised if they find ways to reach some accommodations and we end up seeing more negotiated resolutions and consent decrees.”Although federal regulators began cracking down on Google and Facebook during Trump’s first term as president – and flourished under Biden – most experts expect his second administration to ease up on antitrust enforcement and be more receptive to business mergers.Google may benefit from Trump’s return after he made comments on the campaign trail suggesting a breakup of the company isn’t in the U.S. national interest, after a judge declared its search engine an illegal monopoly. But recent nominations put forward by his transition team have favoured those who have been critical of Big Tech companies, suggesting Google won’t be entirely off the hook.Fending off the EUCook’s notoriously rocky relationship with the EU can be traced back to a 2016 ruling from Brussels in a tax case targeting Apple. Cook slammed the bloc’s order for Apple to pay back up to €13 billion ($13.7 billion) in Irish back taxes as “total political crap.”Trump, then in his first term as president, piled on, referring to the European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who was spearheading a campaign on special tax deals and a crackdown on Big Tech companies, as someone who “really hates the U.S.”Brussels was eventually vindicated after the bloc’s top court rejected Apple’s appeal this year, though it didn’t stop Cook from calling Trump to complain, Trump recounted in a podcast in October.Making amends?Altman, Amazon and Meta all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund.During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which billionaire Bezos owns. Meanwhile, Bezos had criticized some of Trump’s past rhetoric. In 2019, Amazon also argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract.More recently, Bezos has struck a more conciliatory tone. He recently said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York that he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also endorsing president-elect’s plans to cut regulations.The donation from Meta came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago.During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president, but voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt. Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly.And Altman, who is in a legal dispute with AI rival Elon Musk, has said he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence in the incoming administration. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company earlier this year alleging that the maker of ChatGPT betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.What about Elon Musk?“We have two multi-billionaires, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are tasked with cutting what they’re saying will be multiple trillions of dollars from the federal budget, reducing the civil service, the work force,” said Rob Lalka, a business professor at Tulane University.Musk, he said, has a level of access to the White House that very few others have had – access that allows him to potentially influence multiple policy areas, including foreign policy, automotive and energy policy through EVs, and tech policy on artificial intelligence.“Elon Musk walked into Twitter’s headquarters with a sink and then posted, ‘let that sink in,‘” he said. “Elon Musk then posted a status update on X, a picture of himself with a sink in the Oval Office and said, ’Let that sink in.′”

Top Science Stories of 2024

Science and Health

Research of all types takes place on Tufts campuses, and each year stories about it are among our most popular. These are some of the top-read stories of 2024 from the worlds of biomedical engineering, social science, veterinary medicine, cancer research, and far more. Read on and be inspired.Inspired by Spider-Man, a Lab Recreates Web-Slinging Technology In a breakthrough that came about by accident, like many great discoveries, the Tufts Silklab has created a stream of liquid silk that quickly turns into a strong fiber that can stick to and lift objects. “Rather than presenting this work as a bio-inspired material, it’s really a superhero-inspired material,” says Marco Lo Presti, research assistant professor at Tufts. Diets Rich in Plant Protein May Help Women Stay Healthy as They Age 

“Dietary protein intake, especially plant protein, in midlife plays an important role in the promotion of healthy aging and in maintaining positive health status at older ages,” said the HNRCA’s Andres Ardisson Korat.
Photo: Shutterstock

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“Dietary protein intake, especially plant protein, in midlife plays an important role in the promotion of healthy aging and in maintaining positive health status at older ages,” said the HNRCA’s Andres Ardisson Korat.
Photo: Shutterstock

A new Tufts-led study found women who ate more plant-based protein developed fewer chronic diseases and were generally healthier later in life. With data from more than 48,000 women, the researchers saw notably less heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—and cognitive and mental health decline—in those who included more protein in their diets from sources such as fruits, vegetables, bread, beans, legumes, and pasta, compared to those who ate less.A New Way to Fight an Aggressive Cancer in Dogs 

Hemangiosarcoma can appear in almost any dog breed, although golden retrievers are known to be highly predisposed.
Photo: Shutterstock

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Hemangiosarcoma can appear in almost any dog breed, although golden retrievers are known to be highly predisposed.
Photo: Shutterstock

Bolstered by years of generative cancer work, researchers at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine are taking aim at hemangiosarcoma, a common and aggressive type of cancer in dogs. The researchers also hope that much of the knowledge learned from their work in dogs can be applied to help improve liquid biopsy tests for people with a similar cancer called angiosarcoma.With Living Robots, Scientists Unlock Cells’ Power to Heal 

Michael Levin, A92, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology, is convinced that our cells have untapped abilities. We just need to learn to speak their language.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

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Michael Levin, A92, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology, is convinced that our cells have untapped abilities. We just need to learn to speak their language.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

Michael Levin’s research into how cells work collectively is in service of regenerative medicine, taking advantage of what the body already knows. The steps involved in creating an eye or a limb are too complex to micromanage, he says. But perhaps—with the right set of signals—we can give the body a new goal and let intelligent groups of cells manage the details of how to achieve it. “We don’t want to try to tell every cell and every gene what to do,” Levin says. “We’re not looking to teach cells how to grow a leg; we’re looking to convince them that that’s what they should do.”Cultivated Meat Production Costs Could Fall Significantly with New Cells Created at Tufts 

“While we significantly cut the cost of media, there is still some optimization that needs to be done to make it industry-ready,” said Andrew Stout.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

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“While we significantly cut the cost of media, there is still some optimization that needs to be done to make it industry-ready,” said Andrew Stout.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

At the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture, researchers created bovine—beef—muscle cells that produce their own growth factors, a step that could significantly cut costs of cultivated meat production. “I think advances like this will bring us much closer to seeing affordable cultivated meat in our local supermarkets within the next few years,” says David Kaplan. Tufts Researcher Takes on Epilepsy After Daughter’s Diagnosis 

Photo: Shutterstock

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Photo: Shutterstock

After Madeleine Oudin’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy, she teamed up with neuroscientist Chris Dulla to advance epilepsy research and push for more effective treatments for patients. “I felt like if I couldn’t really do anything to stop my daughter from seizing or help her develop, I could try to do something in the lab to contribute to the field,” Oudin says. Blood, Sweat, and Water: New Paper Analytical Devices Easily Track Health and Environment 

Only a simple finger prick is needed to provide a sample, which can be mailed to a lab for white blood cell counts and other measurements. “This technology is likely to have additional applications in infectious disease such as detecting levels of virus and parasites in the blood and more generally in detecting markers of health and wellness,” says Charlie Mace.
Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Mace

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Only a simple finger prick is needed to provide a sample, which can be mailed to a lab for white blood cell counts and other measurements. “This technology is likely to have additional applications in infectious disease such as detecting levels of virus and parasites in the blood and more generally in detecting markers of health and wellness,” says Charlie Mace.
Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Mace

Three Tufts researchers create inexpensive, shelf-stable, easy-to-use analytical devices for easily tracking one’s health and environment—greatly lowering costs and making them more widely available in the process. “We can put an easy-to-use paper-based test in the hands of every susceptible patient, and with early detection save many lives, since infection can often progress to sepsis if not caught in time,” says Sameer Sonkusale.The Importance of Play for Young Chimpanzees and Their Mothers 

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When it comes to nurturing their young, chimp moms go the extra mile. Using 10 years of observational data on wild chimpanzees, researchers found that while adults often play, and young chimps play a lot, when food gets scarce, most adults put play aside and focus on survival. But in the meantime, mother chimps continue as their offspring’s primary playmate, suggesting that they foster their young’s physical and social development even under food stress.Why the Most Prescribed Chemotherapy Drug Can Cause Serious Heart Damage 

“Our study is the first to show that a specific cell type can cause chronic inflammation in the heart after doxorubicin treatment and the first time T-cells have been implicated in this disease,” says Abe Bayer, shown here with Pilar Alcaide.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

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“Our study is the first to show that a specific cell type can cause chronic inflammation in the heart after doxorubicin treatment and the first time T-cells have been implicated in this disease,” says Abe Bayer, shown here with Pilar Alcaide.
Photo: Alonso Nichols

There’s still much to learn about how doxorubicin, a 50-year-old chemotherapy drug, causes its most concerning side effect: cardiac inflammation. To better understand and potentially control such complications, researchers have isolated the immune cells that become overactive when patients take doxorubicin.Could a Plant Help Guide Design of Next-Generation Solar Panels? 

During the pandemic, Giulia Guidetti says, she bought many house plants, attracted especially to ones with shiny, metallic-appearing leaves, and got interested in what made them that way.
Photo: Jenna Schad

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During the pandemic, Giulia Guidetti says, she bought many house plants, attracted especially to ones with shiny, metallic-appearing leaves, and got interested in what made them that way.
Photo: Jenna Schad

Using silk biomaterials, Tufts researchers copy a jewel orchid’s highly efficient system of capturing and networking light. This is “the first demonstration of optical networks in a living system, because something like that has not been reported before in any plant of anyone as far as we know—a system that can manage the light through an orderly assembly of lenses of cells,” says Fiorenzo Omenetto.People with Schizophrenia Show Distinct Brain Activity When Faced With Conflicting Information 

Imaging of the connections between the mediodorsal thalamus and prefrontal cortex in the human brain.
Photo: Mengzing Liu / Tufts University

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Imaging of the connections between the mediodorsal thalamus and prefrontal cortex in the human brain.
Photo: Mengzing Liu / Tufts University

Researchers show that people with schizophrenia generate distinct neural patterns when asked to make decisions based on conflicting information. The work offers one of the first biological tests to assess whether someone is prone to inflexible thinking and, by monitoring changes in these patterns, a new way to measure whether treatments are working.Study Finds METCO School Desegregation Program Benefits K-12 Students 

The key takeaway of the study is that it shows “really large differences in students’ academic outcomes throughout a variety of ways,” says Elizabeth Setren.
Photo: Shutterstock

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The key takeaway of the study is that it shows “really large differences in students’ academic outcomes throughout a variety of ways,” says Elizabeth Setren.
Photo: Shutterstock

A Tufts economist has found that METCO, the long-standing voluntary school desegregation program in Massachusetts, has a significant positive impact on the urban students who take part in it, with improved test scores, attendance rates, and college outcomes. METCO students’ test scores, for example, were “dramatically higher” than their peers who stayed in Boston. “We saw large gains in math and English for the state standardized test,” says Elizabeth Setren. 

UK Proposes Allowing Tech Firms to Train AI with Copyrighted Works — Campaign for Protection of Rights Fights Back

Technology

Photo Credit: Paul HanaokaCampaigners for the protection of creatives’ rights are critical of a UK Govt. proposal to let AI companies train their models on copyrighted works.A UK government proposal to let AI companies train their models on copyrighted works under a new exemption has campaigners for protecting creatives’ rights up in arms. The new proposal would allow tech companies to freely use copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models unless creative professionals and companies opt out. Book publishers called the proposal “entirely untested and unevidenced,” while crossbencher campaigning to protect artists’ rights, Beeban Kidron, said she was “very disappointed.” Kidron said, “The government is consulting on giving away the creativity and livelihoods of the UK creative sector, which is worth £126 billion a year.” “There has been no objective case made for a new copyright exception, nor has a watertight rights-reservation process been outlined anywhere around the globe,” said Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association. He added it was important to “ensure that the content ecosystem, including publishers, is properly commercially incentivized to invest in high-value content and that rights holders can retain their fundamental control of how and when a work is used.”On Tuesday, news organizations came out against such a system, saying it would allow generative AI firms to “shirk their responsibilities.” Campaigners for creatives assert such a system would “probably only benefit the largest rights holders,” leaving small and mid-sized creators exposed to unfair practices.“News publishers deserve control over when and how their content is used, and crucially, fair remuneration for its use,” said Owen Meredith, chief executive of News Media Association. “Instead of proposing unworkable systems such as the ‘rights reservations’ (or opt-out) regime, the government should focus on implementing transparency requirements within the existing copyright framework.”

Step Into the World of Comic Books in Alex Segura’s “Alter Ego”

Arts & Culture, Books

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Alter Ego by Alex Segura

Alex Segura is a creative force. The award-winning and bestselling author has captured the respect of those who love comic books and adventurous novels filled with immersive storytelling, with fans who eagerly wait for his next project.

He has written a selection of books featuring well-known superheroes, as well as original characters that star in some of his most popular thriller and mystery novels. From a book centered around a beloved Star Wars hero, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, to comic book stories for Marvel and DC Comics, Segura is as multifaceted as he is talented when it comes to his craft.

Secret Identity was a runaway bestseller that won him accolades such as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for the Mystery/Thriller category, and was selected as both an NPR Mystery of the Year and The New York Times Editor’s Choice when it was released.

Segura recently released a follow-up to this acclaimed and popular novel. Alter Ego is a stand-alone sequel that follows Annie Bustamante, a successful and award-winning writer and artist who dreams of adapting the stories of her favorite superhero, The Lethal Lynx. A moving, at times funny, touching and gripping novel, Alter Ego realistically tackles the ups and downs of the comic book industry.

BookTrib had a chance to talk with Alex Segura about his varied writing experience, a love of comic books that inspired his new novel, and what is up next for him.

Many of your books are inspired by the world of graphic novels and comic books, and some have graphics added to the stories. Why did you choose this creative way to deliver stories, and how have readers reacted to this diverse approach?

The response has been mostly positive! I’m always flattered when I connect with a comics reader who got turned on to mysteries by these novels, or vice-versa. The big idea was to have these two wonderful mediums in conversation with each other, so I’m glad it seems to be working. You get to read the main story via the prose, but you also get a very intimate peek into the subconscious of Annie or Carmen through the comics they create, and that felt very unique to me when we were first coming up with the idea.

You’ve written stories featuring well-known characters such as Poe Dameron from Star Wars (Poe Dameron: Free Fall), comic book legend Spider-Man (Spiderman 2099-Dark Tomorrow), and other Marvel and DC characters. Do you have a favorite fandom? And what inspired you to write these stories?

I’m always a fan – so the idea of adding to these wonderful universes is like catnip to me. I was a big comics kid in Miami, but I also loved sci-fi like Star Wars and Star Trek and pulp heroes and mysteries. I was a voracious reader, so I’d burn through a series of books or comics and then look around for the next thing. 

When I write in a shared universe that I love, my first goal is to make sure I get it right – the tone, the voices, the canon – but I also want to add my voice in a way that feels unique but also true to my kind of storytelling, which often revolves around character-driven stories and mysteries.

In Alter Ego, the follow-up to Secret Identity, readers will return to the world of comic books and The Lethal Lynx, this time following a new protagonist. Did you always expect that another book would follow Secret Identity? What were the challenges and surprises in creating a brand new protagonist and premise for this stand-alone novel?

I had no idea we were going to do another one until close to the end of the Secret Identity process – when I started writing a new epilogue to the novel that sent readers forward to the present day. Without spoiling too much, that section gave me a sense of what things were like for Carmen in the present, and opened the door for the adventure of Alter Ego. But the big challenge, for me, was mostly self-imposed.

 I think the easy path would have been to just write another mystery that directly picked up from Secret Identity, with Carmen solving crimes over the years. But that didn’t interest me as much as trying to really create a new story and mystery that was in conversation with Secret Identity – with a new protagonist.

 I think sequels are very hard, because you have the built-in expectations from the original, so I want to subvert that in a way and create a story that was more of a companion to the original, and a story that could stand alone, rather than Secret Identity part 2.

It’s clear that diversity and inclusion are of utmost importance when it comes to your characters and stories. Why is this something that you prioritize in your writing?

Writing and stories should reflect the world we live in. If we only see a certain kind of character – if every story stars a white male, for example – then you’re limiting your narrative opportunities – but you’re also telling young readers that these are the only people that can star in books or movies or whatever. 

When I was a kid, seeing a Latino hero or protagonist who wasn’t a sidekick or comic relief was eye-opening, and it spurred me on to write my own stories. It’s important to me to show readers that stories don’t have to be just one way.

Do you have writers and graphic artists that you admire and who inspire your stories?

Oh, for sure. I love the work of Los Bros. Hernandez, who do the long-running Love & Rockets comic from Fantagraphics. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Greg Rucka. Kelly Thompson. Julia Wertz. David Lapham. George Pelecanos. Megan Abbott. The list goes on!

What are you currently reading?

I just started Rachel Kushner’s wonderful Creation Lake while on tour and I can’t put it down. Her prose and voice makes me very jealous as a writer!

What’s next for you in the creative world? Is there anything that you can share with us?

I’m writing a Daredevil novel for Harper Avenue, featuring the Marvel Comics hero, and putting together a draft of my next crime novel, which will be an organized crime standalone with a female protagonist.

About Alex Segura:
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Mystery of the Year. He’s also the author of the Pete Fernandez series, as well as the Star Wars novel, Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and the YA Spider-Verse adventure, Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow. In 2024, he published a sci-fi/espionage novel, Dark Space, co-written with Rob Hart; the graphic novel The Legendary Lynx, illustrated by Sandy Jarrell; Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños; and Alter Ego, a standalone sequel to Secret Identity. In addition to his prose writing he has written a number of comics for Marvel and DC, including Star Wars: Battle of Jakku, Spider-Society, and The Question: All Along the Watchtower. With Michael Moreci he is the writer behind the noir re-launch of Dick Tracy. He lives in New York City with his family.
(Photo Credit: Irina Peschan)

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Publish Date: December 3, 2024 Genre: Suspense, Thrillers Author: Alex Segura Page Count: 320 pages Publisher: Flatiron Books ISBN: 9781250801777

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion review: Comic book tactics

Arts & Culture, Books

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is developer Savage Level’s debut game. It’s a pirate fantasy that mixes turn-based tactical combat similar to games like Baldur’s Gate, with a unique comic book narrative style. Going into it, I was interested to see how the shenanigans of the pirate lifestyle could be implemented into the immersion of a CRPG. While it has a few new and interesting ideas at play within its combat system and fresh take on storytelling through the comic book style, it struggled to land with me during my roughly 11-hour playthrough.
Roll of the dice

Source: Microids

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion finds fugitive Captain James Flint and his right hand, Billy, on a quest to find a legendary treasure. The task brings them around the world, gathering crew members and establishing a proper adventuring party. It’s a smaller-scale RPG that does include a bit of exploration, loot, and the ability to level up your crew members, however, I did feel a little underwhelmed by its exploration, as the game is very linear so there isn’t much to discover outside of where the story takes you. Regardless, it still felt at least a little gratifying to find the occasional chest in a corner now and then.
Where the game shines is in its combat. If you played Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll be familiar with the game’s turn-based tactical combat style, in which characters occupy hexes on the board and have a certain amount of actions they can take before ending their turn. In Flint, characters can learn and obtain various skill and item cards either through leveling up in their proficiency, finding them within the world, or purchasing them from the Galley. These cards are used during battle, and learning to use them can truly mean the difference between winning a combat encounter and having your entire party wiped.
For example, one of the cards I found most often around the map gave the ability to add an extra action to a character’s turn, which allowed me to do things like getting in close to a further enemy and also attacking, or getting one extra attack in when an enemy had just a little bit of health left, earning me the final blow. Other cards provide armor, weapons, buffs, or throwable debuffs. The result of each action is determined by a visual dice roll, so determining how to use my characters’ abilities together efficiently was fun and felt extremely rewarding when things went my way.
One gripe I did have with the game was its lack of a proper tutorial. There is a rule book, but it’s hidden in the pause menu and the game never explicitly points you there. Because of this, I spent the first third of my playthrough confused by the game’s menus and mechanics, probably under-leveled, and definitely not equipping my crew well enough for combat. The rule book gives just enough information to understand the game’s mechanics, but I would’ve liked to be given this information more upfront, especially because it’s important to be prepared for each battle, as there is no save system that would allow you to go back to a previous spot in your playthrough.
A swashbuckling adventure

Source: Microids

So how does the narrative hold up? Well, the game starts with Flint and Billy stranded in the middle of the ocean on the brink of death, until just at the last moment of desperation, they are captured by an opposing crew, who then takes them prisoner. It is here that the two meet an old man, who tells them the tales of the lost treasure. Flint, being the classic conniving pirate that he is, devises a plan to break them out and make for those sweet riches, starting our adventure.
It’s a fairly generic swashbuckling story that goes more off the rails as the story goes on. Unfortunately, it never quite got its hooks into me. I appreciated the addition of the comic book page-like dialogue, which helped give the characters more life than would otherwise be possible with the game’s isometric point of view, however, the story beats seemed to come and go so fast that I’d barely get the chance to care about any of these characters or even really know who exactly they are.
Additionally, the game introduces a lot of characters at such a fast rate, and then pretty much ignores them, resulting in most of the characters feeling forgettable and like they were only introduced to move the story forward. I still don’t understand the significance of many of the characters introduced, and can only remember a few of their names. This made it difficult for me to get invested in the story and ultimately made the non-combat sections of the game feel like a bit of a slog, which was only further exacerbated by clunky controls and UI. There were several times when I’d have to click on something multiple times or stand at just the right angle in order to activate it, and moving the character felt a little wonky on mouse and keyboard.
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is not a graphically-intensive game, so it should run fine on most systems. Playing on a PC with an RTX 4070 Super and an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, the game ran extremely well. Framerates hovered around the 150-200 FPS range with graphics settings maxed out. I did have two crashes toward the end of the game, and a bug where I got stuck behind a rock and couldn’t move, requiring a restart. I also had one minor visual bug throughout the entire game, where my cursor would cover part of the description of every card that I picked up. However, most of the game was smooth sailing (pun intended).

Finding the treasure

Source: Microids

Savage Level’s video game debut, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion, has some fresh and unique ideas that, in practice, didn’t wow me, but given more time and quality-of-life improvements, could make for an interesting package. I would’ve liked to see the game’s characters fleshed out more and given more screen time, rather than mostly being pawns to be used in battle.
It’s tough to recommend Flint, though. While I did enjoy combat well enough, there was no real payoff for it. I didn’t care for why I’d win in battle or what that meant for the characters and the overall story. If you’re looking for a deep narrative adventure, this is probably not the game for you right now, but if you’re really itching for more strategic turn-based combat, or just really love the pirate setting, maybe consider giving Flint a try.

This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion launches on December 17, 2024, for PC, and PS5 for $39.99.

Josh is a writer from Maryland with an admiration for horror, indie games, and anything with a great story. The first game he fell in love with was Kingdom Hearts on the PS2. Today, you’ll find him online raving about Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, or the hot new indie game of the week. You can find him on Twitter @JTheMogul.