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Popverse Playlist: The 3 things you need to check out in pop culture April 25 through May 1

A Hannibal reunion, Stranger Things returns and Swamp Thing regrows: Popverse Playlist's 3 things you have to see over the next seven days

Guides by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Tue Sep 22 2026

The weekend is here, and that means one thing: sitting down and planning your pop culture intake for the next seven days. (Wait, what do you mean, “I’d rather relax and take it easy”…?) There’s just one problem: there’s a lot of pop culture released every week, and last time I checked, you don’t have time to watch and read everything. Don’t worry, though; we’re here to help, by recommending the three things we think you absolutely have to check out in the next seven days. You’re welcome.

If you only watch one show this week, then it really has to be… Stranger Things: Tales from ’85

Sure, it was odd that Netflix made such a big deal about the “end” of Stranger Things even though it had already started promoting this animated spin-off, set between the second and third seasons of the original series — which arrives just four months after the “final episode.” That said, it’s fun to see a Stranger Things story that isn’t struggling under the weight of its own lore, and a flashback to happier, easier times. Is it a little throwaway and lightweight compared to the last couple of seasons of the central series? Definitely… but that’s also what makes it feel so fresh, as well.

All 10 episodes of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 are currently streaming on Netflix.

If you check out one movie this week, then it should be… Dust Bunny

I suspect this one passed everyone by when it quietly premiered on the festival circuit in 2025, but the HBO Max release of Dust Bunny feels like it's something that could make a lot of people happy — especially considering that it's the long-awaited reunion of Mads Mikkelsen and Hannibal showrunner Bryan Fuller. That isn't to say that the movie, which is Fuller's big screen debut as a writer/director, is Hannibal-esque; if anything, it's closer to his 2007 TV show Pushing Daisies, but wilder: a magical realist story about hitmen and monsters under the bed that also stars Sigourney Weaver and Popverse favorite David Dastmalchian. Come for the Hannibal, stay for the don't step on the floor.

Dust Bunny is streaming on HBO Max now.

If you can only pick up one comic this week, then it should be… Swamp Thing 1989 #1

Arguably the surprise announcement of NYCC 2025, Swamp Thing 1989 rights a wrong from more than three decades in the comic industry’s past, completing and publishing a cancelled storyline from writer Rick Veitch’s acclaimed Swamp Thing run that… well, has to be seen to be believed, speaking as someone who’s been lucky enough to get an early glimpse. Psychedelic and ambitious, DC’s resurrection of a comic once so controversial that the company would rather have let Veitch leave the series altogether than publish is a good sign for where its mature readers Vertigo imprint is headed in the future.

Swamp Thing 1989 #1 will be available in comic book stores and digitally April 29.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for more than two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.