All the news that's unfit to print
My wife, Samii, and my son, Clarkson, are awesome! Every year with them is wonderful and I continue to be so happy they are in my life. She truly is the best mom ever and Clarkson is the best son ever, as 2022 continued to illustrate. I look forward to 2023 with them!
Silly Dating Shows
You know what we had a lot of this year, and I appreciate that we did? Trashy dating shows. I am always open about adoring stuff such as, "Love Island," "The Bachelor," franchise, "Too Hot to Handle," "Love in the Jungle," "Back in the Groove," "Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer," and I'll give an honorable mention to, "Big Brother," as a showmance usually forms in most seasons. I'm so happy to be in a loving relationship with my wife because the drama these people face on dating shows makes it clear being single ain't easy. These programs are a good way to kick-back, relax, and just enjoy people acting a fool in the name of finding love, or at least some action.
Bone-In Chicken Wings
This year I was really on a chicken wing kick, but specifically the kind with the bones still in them. I've written before about loving chicken fingers, and I still totally do adore them. That said, it seems like as of late I've just really been into chicken wings that are bone-in. Whether they're a sweet BBQ, a buffalo sauce, or some kind of hot flavor mixed with honey, they've just been delicious this year.
Stan Lee would have turned 100 today. His legacy is complex with lovers, haters, and those in-between. The fact he made an insanely major contribution to the form of comics is undeniable. His presence is missed, but his creations and co-creations will arguably be with us forever. Happy 100th, Stan.
Comics That Came Out This Year
I have to be honest and share I am way behind on many comics. There are a number of series I'm quite delayed on reading much of. With that in mind, there could be something from 2022 that I'll finally get around to reading in 2023 which could have theoretically been on this list. That said, of what I was able to read and enjoy in 2022 these were my favorite comics from 2022...that I also managed to read within this year. In no specific order...
Human Target
Tom King and Greg Smallwood's maxi-series started in 2021, but really endeared itself to me during 2022 as its story of Christopher Chance--a man who always makes himself the target of assassins--followed him actually now dying. It has been a twisty and wild read that will conclude in 2023. I both can't wait to be able to look back over the amazing series as a whole and am sad it will have to end.
Newburn
As with, "Human Target," this series started late in 2021 but really hit its stride in 2022. Written by the eccentric and interesting Chip Zdarksy and illustrated by Jacob Phillips, "Newburn," follows a special kind of detective who works for all the crime families on a retainer and has arrangements with the police. He walks a fine line, in other words. A stellar series.
Ghost Rider
The latest, "Ghost Rider," series has taken the series back in a shockingly horror-styled direction. I've dug it immensely. Benjamin Percy's writing and Cory Smith's artwork have given us a scary and stylized treat of a series.
Shed
Alright, so I was able to read, "Shed," ahead of its release for the purposes of review as it now comes out at the tail end of the year for Kickstarter backers, with physical copies for sale to everyone else next year. This makes it kind of a 2022 release and a bit of a 2023 release. I'm counting it as this year, however, and I love it. A mixture of a slice-of-life story but loaded with magical realism, "Shed," was written by Richard Fairgray and Lucy Campagnolo with Fairgray as the artist as well. I loved it and encourage you to get yourself a copy as soon as it becomes possible from Blue Fox Comics.
It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
I reviewed this superb graphic novel for my friends over at Forces of Geek, and it has continued to stick with me since I discussed it. Equally sad, insightful, funny, clever, and gorgeously illustrated, this autobiographical comic by Zoe Thorogood is fantastic.
They're Back!
Sometimes comics fall out of print, this stinks when they are especially good ones. I was pleased two older yarns were able to come back into print this year and they were my favorites to be brought back in a new edition in 2022...
The Creep
I absolutely loved seeing the earliest stories of "The Creep," republished this year. John Arcudi and Jonathan Case's story (done with Dale Eaglesham and Brian Kalin O'Connell) about a unique detective solving a variety of strange cases is just a fantastic read and featured twists that surprised me--someone who usually can see them coming. I hope we get more stories featuring " The Creep" someday soon.
The Mighty
"The Mighty," was horrendously overlooked when it first came out but thankfully found itself republished by Image this year. A dark tale of a superhero with some really twisted secrets and the one man to try and stand against evil, it is worth diving into these years later. Peter J. Tomasi, Keith Champagne, Chris Samnee, and Peter Snejbjerg absolutely rocked it on this series, I'm glad it escaped publishing-rights purgatory (it was originally a DC title years ago) and can now easily be on our bookshelves.
A man named David Zaslav took over as the big cheese at Warner Brother Discovery. He proceeded to do what he feel was best to save the HBO MAX platform money and basically canceled/erased/slashed-and-burned a ton of content in the name of tax breaks. This resulted in the, "Batgirl," movie that was in post-production being shoved into a vault--to the rage of fans. It also led to James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over all the superhero flicks of DC--which made fans happy until Gunn started making changes (Henry Cavill is out as Superman), leading to further fan-rage.
The DC franchise is in a huge flux, the HBO MAX app is going to merge with Discovery+ in the next year and possibly just be called, "MAX," and things are crazy. It is easy for people to throw ire at Zaslav (I've been critical of him myself), but I don't envy his job trying to make everything profitable. Then, I have zero jealously of Gunn and Safran trying to fix-up the DC film franchise and the mess that it currently is in. 2023 is bound to be an interesting year for Warner Brothers Discovery.
This year two video-games impressed me to a great degree for completely different reasons. During the Summer I had a chance to play, "The Quarry," and loved the complex and branching storyline with intriguing characters and a scary (but also funny and clever) storyline. Then, later in the year, we saw the release of, "Marvel Snap," which has a seemingly simple (but actually quite intricate) gameplay and delightful quick matches against other players (or skilled bots) as you lay down digital cards. "The Quarry," has a fantastic story that you get to alter through choices and, "Marvel Snap," is pure adrenaline-fueled gameplay. Both were my favorite games to come out this year (which I had a chance to play).
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas who celebrates it. In honor of the holiday, I have a photo above featuring a cookie Clarkson colored with edible marker. He made Santa some cool alternate colors instead of the usual red! Have a good one, ya'll.
