Mini-Series/Maxi-Series of the Year--2017 in Review

The Weirdest Assortment Possible
This year there have been three mini-series that especially caught my attention. One has already wrapped and two others are maybe half-way through. One is a big release from DC featuring a unique take on superheroes, one is a fantastically twisted indie comic and the other is about as cheesecakey as a comic can get without being straight-up porn. Yeah, my taste in comics can vary.

Mister Miracle

Tom King is of course the writer behind such stellar 12-issue series as, "The Omega Men," and, "The Vision." He writes ongoing titles currently too such as, "Batman," but for my money his, "Mister Miracle," has been a smashing title. The first issue didn't, "Wow," me as much as other folk but since then it has provided an amazing take on superheroes, mental illness, and otherwise has just continued to impress me more and more. The fifth issue just came out recently so we have seven more to go, and I look forward to every page.

Slasher

Charles Forsman starts this book out with it seeming like a tale about two sympathetic individuals who lead lives of quiet desperation. A man and a woman who have bonded over the internet thanks to their shared fetish of knives and blood-play struggle with difficult family members, miserable jobs, or other issues. They really seem quite sad  and easy to relate to...at least until the killing starts and by issue #4 it turns out one person has been catfished and the bodies keep piling up. I don't get scared or unsettled by movies/video-games/t.v. shows/comics that often but this book gets incredibly twisted just slowly enough that you don't realize how flat-out wrong things have become until its the final fifth issue and someone in a full-body S&M suit who had their hand cut-off is eating raw meat in the middle of a grocery store.

Lookers: Ember

I won't deny this book published by Boundless is like the guiltiest pleasure possible. A book about two sexy female private detectives hired by a famous superhero to find her sex tape sounds like the hokiest plot possible, but the book is self-aware enough of how silly everything is to actually be quite fun, and works in a lot of surprisingly deep commentary on technology and privacy whilst doing so. I know its a limited series but set to go into the double digits (I don't recall how many issues it will be total, however). It's silly fun, but sometimes silly fun is what you need in this world.

Television Show of the Year: Legion--2017 in Review

X-Men Meets Arthouse

Imagine if you took a superhero show about mutants--who have had countless movies and television programs--but for once you switched it up and gave it to a showrunner whose style is more art-house than, "Blockbuster." This could be a recipe for disaster, or it could result in a show so bizarre, clever, and beautiful that I consider it my favorite program of 2017--and I've been singing its praises since earlier this year! That show is, "Legion," on FX, and it came out right at the start of 2017 and nothing has been able to match it since in its pure majesty.

The plot seems simple with its focus on a young man who thinks he has a mental disorder but might be the most powerful mutant ever...while still having a mental disorder. Showrunner Noah Hawley gives us a program so full of ingenious twists, turns, and gorgeous imagery that, "Legion," impresses in basically every episode of its tragically-short (at least in my opinion) 8-episode season. I can't wait for 2018 to finally arrive and bring with it more of this amazing show.

I Hope Everyone Had a Good Christmas/Year in Review Posts Start Tomorrow!

I just wanted to say I hope everyone had a good Christmas if they observed it, and if not, I hope they just had a good day! As has become a tradition of sorts I will begin posting all of my posts reviewing the year of 2017 tomorrow up through the 31st. It's...well, it has been a year!

Christmas Eve Advice: Stay out of Bitcoin

Here is some Christmas Eve advice for you, my pre-Christmas gift, if you will: Stay out of Bitcoin (and if you don't know what that is, here is some basic info here and here). People know I like technology, the news, etc. Therefore, folk have asked me what I think about Bitcoin at various times. They'll say, "David, what's your advice for getting into Bitcoin and I'll say, "Don't." Cryptocurrency has very little in the way of market stability in that it has no market stability, and Bitcoin is the most famous of all the Cyptocurrencies.

People said I was just being a downer about Bitcoin as it kept going up and up in value...and now it just crashed spectacularly. Cypto markets are broken and have been horrendously flawed from the start. Bitcoin isn't necessarily a hoax, but it is a horrible idea.

If You Waited Until Now to Do Christmas Shopping, You're Screwed

Sometimes I use the internet--like, every other day, maybe once a week, or nearly constantly. Therefore, I get emails from assorted retailers and see advertisements. To my amusement, on this day of December 23rd, 2017 with Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday (limiting mail/Fedex/etc. options), I see ads declaring how, "It's not too late to buy the perfect gift!" I spot this and respond, "Really?" I mean seriously, if someone has waited until today to buy or ship-out all their presents they are just procrastinating to a level bordering on self-harm. The news is calling this, "Super Saturday," and I'm just calling bullshit.

Hanukkah has passed already so anyone still shopping for that is more than a week late. Kwanzaa starts the 26th so if you mailed something today with super-expensive shipping it might arrive just in time. Christmas though, you're just royally fucked-over. Feel free to run to the store and find they are sold-out of all the hot toys and gifts, or maybe see if you can ring-up Santa at the North Pole and beg him to pick-up that gift you forgot to ship a week ago and see if it can drop it off while doing his deliveries. Try anything you can, but know that you screwed up.

I know not everyone shops for their holiday gifts well in advance, and that's okay. I'm not making fun of people who happened to forget one simple thing and are running-out to grab it; the folk who wait until Mid-December to get gifts due to funds being tight or their schedules being absurdly busy are a-okay with me too. I'm mocking the people who woke up this morning and realized they had never bothered to buy more than half the stuff they intended to and now are feverishly checking their local Facebook Marketplace/Offerup/Letgo in the hopes someone will sell them a Fingerling for less than a 5X mark-up even if that means meeting behind the Waffle House a couple counties over at 5AM, because that doesn't sound sketchy.

Anyways, I hope everyone reading this can just relax and enjoy Christmas Eve tomorrow and Christmas on Monday without having to engage in an absurd amount of hectic last-minute shopping. Worst comes to worst, just print-out a picture of what you bought online today and honestly explain the delivery will be delayed till a bit after Christmas; odds are whomever you're buying for already expects you to have waited till it was too late if this is the kind of thing you regularly do.

Return of the Manga Reviews!

Manga Again!
It's become a more and more regular occurrence for me to seek-out and read manga that I hear good things about online/have recommended to me/etc. To that effect I've read even more titles lately that looked appealing, people told me I might like, or which I enjoyed the earlier installments of. Thanks to the library, comic-shops, and used bookstores I've been busy, so let's dive in!

Time to Read Right-to-Left!

One Piece Volume 1
This manga has been going since 1997 and still shows no sign of slowing down! This first volume centers on a young man named Monkey D. Luffy who wants to become the world's most famous pirate but can't swim due to eating a fruit that makes him made out of rubber, for some reason. Created by Eiichiro Oda, this apparently is the best-selling manga of all time. It's a fun and charming series as the headstrong Luffy gets in a lot of trouble in his effort to build a pirate-crew. Yes, as this is simply the first volume the whole focus is on establishing how Luffy wants to be a pirate and the beginning of his attempts to form a crew. That makes this book busy doing a lot of foundation-building but it still is a fun read. I imagine as the volumes continue (and as this has been going since 1997 there is a lot more) things get even more interesting.
3 out of 5 stars.
The first volume of, "One Piece," is on Amazon.

My Brother's Husband Volume 1
Gengoroh Tagame is a creator who has made a lot of comics strictly for grow-ups. Like, super pornographic as men have sex with each other both sometimes consensual and sometimes not. That makes him doing a young adult-geared comic that has an interesting point to make about Japanese culture and its acceptance (or lack thereof) of same-sex relationships among men (outside of genre fare like Yaoi) quite notable. Tagame's story is very good, focusing on a twin dealing with his brother's death and the arrival of that brother's Canadian husband to Japan. It's a quiet story, focused on its characters and clever in how it explores things that might be normal in other countries are taboo in Japan. It is a solid first volume and I liked it! You can buy yourself a copy on Amazon.
4 out of 5 stars.

Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
I actually first discovered this title when I would see repeats of its anime adaptation on Cartoon Network's late-night programming. I enjoyed the T.V. program and the manga is highly well-regarded. Even though I've only now read the first volume I can see why folk like this series--it is full of humor, action, and is all-around a really good time! The Elric brothers make for great protagonists with their funny familial interplay, and author Hiromu Arakawa gives us some gorgeous artwork with her alternate-history Industrial-focused world.

It's like a dash of steampunk mixed with a lot of iron and oil. This first volume explains a little of how the brothers began their travels and the, "Rules," of the alchemy that is so popular. Besides the bits of plot there is some great action such as when the brothers fight a train-hijacking (Arakawa's artwork impresses, as I mentioned). All-in-all this is a great beginning to what I've been told is quite a great series. I look forward to reading more.
4 out of 5 stars.
You can buy the first volume at Amazon or via Things From Another World.

It took some editing to make this suitable for public viewing!

Welcome to Mizuryuland: The First Day
I've talked about enjoying the more sexually explicit comics from Project H (that link is extremely NSFW) in previous posts. I've also said how I like their energetic and sex-positive comics the most as it is easy to make something that is just straight-up raunch but working in clever concepts or storytelling is always welcome. Therefore, the zany concept of the, "Mizuryuland," park caught my attention. Set in the near-ish future, it is a massive indoor amusement park of sorts designed to encourage everyone to have sex. After getting tested for STI's at the entrance people are encouraged to have fun and enjoy each other's company however they like. Picture, "Westworld," but without the robots and all the sex is actually consensual.

It's a greatly fun comic, with it actually taking a good chunk of time to break-down just how consent works at a park like this, with it explained people have signs indicating if they are open to simply be touched/hugged, kissing, or flat-out having sex. Anyone who just wants a cuddle can get that and people who want to get extremely freaky are able to indicate it too, with no shame or embarrassment. A variety of characters appear with the author even admitting in an afterword that perhaps the focus seems to shift a bit too often, but I wasn't really thrown by it. I found the story of a young man and woman realizing they also want to date after having a lot sex very cute in a romantic-comedy kind of way. It's a great read and can be bought at Project H should you desire a physical or digital copy!
5 out of 5 stars.

Once Punch Man Volume 1
I've heard a lot about his manga and its anime so I thought I would try it out! I'm glad I did as I was impressed with the mixture of heroism and comedic elements. The idea of a hero so powerful he can defeat all his enemies with one punch explores what would most likely happen in such a scenario--he would be bored out of his mind. After-all, if nothing poses a challenge to you what is the point? When you can stop any threat with a single punch life gets pretty dull. It is a funny exploration of existential crisis and I for sure want to seek out the next volume. Great stuff. Amazon has it for a good price.
4 out of 5 stars.

Goodnight Punpun Volume 4
My favorite manga-series I've ever read (although I admittedly haven't read too many) continues to just get more and more depressing yet enjoyable as I read further volumes. The series started with its focus on a young child named Punpun who is surreally drawn as just a strange bird-shape whilst everything else is very detailed in its drawing. As the series has continued Punpun has reached adulthood and basically his life has just gotten worse between family members dying, a dead-end job, and pining over a girl he once loved whom he hasn't seen in years and probably still hates him named Akio...but wait, come volume 5 are things going to get better, right? I"ll check it out from the library and see. In the meantime, this is a fantastic series even people who normally don't like manga should read! Copies can be found on Amazon.
5 out of 5 stars.

Continually Good Stuff
As long as I keep finding or getting recommendations of manga worth reading I'll keep seeking it out!

Not a Good Week for Diversity at Marvel Comics

At least this book isn't cancelled.

So, Marvel basically announced just recently how they are cancelling a variety of comics, ostensibly due to poor sales. Of the comics that are ending, a theme is very clear. Namely, the comics either seem to feature women protagonists, minority leads, LGBTQ leads, or have a creative team that is female, of color and/or LGBTQ. Now, plenty of people will get defensive and yell, "Hey, Marvel didn't cancel these comics because of that!" but the fact remains the comics were cancelled and had those elements. It is just kind of sad, and reminds me of that whole, "Diversity doesn't sell," fiasco that was stated by a Marvel exec not too long ago. Hopefully there will be other promising titles that are yet to be announced that will be both great reads and contain more diversity than a bunch of white dudes. I unfortunately doubt it, but we shall see.

People Either Love or Hate the New, "Star Wars," Flick

First off, this post does not actually have any spoilers for, "Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi," outside of that joke one at the top (poor Scrappy Doo). Also, I need to share that I have not in fact seen the movie because I ain't been to the movies in months and Redbox works just fine if you're patient enough to wait a bit for the DVD release. All of that said, I have been fascinated by how divided opinion has been with the latest, "Star Wars," movie. Directed by Rian Johnson--whom I'll always respect for his stellar, "Brick," and "Looper," movies--I've observed people who were lukewarm on the 7th movie, "The Force Awakens," seem to love this, and fans of that movie are decrying this as subpar. Johnson to his credit has taken criticism in stride and at the end of the day Disney is happy because they made a bucketload of cash.

I was curious about why folk might have such varied opinions so I reached-out to my friends and asked them for their thoughts. My chum Justin actually disclosed he sought-out spoilers before he saw the movie so that he would know what to expect and not get his hopes absurdly high. He loved the movie and was glad he did that. My friend Sarah however was extremely disappointed. She told me that while she loved Episode 7, this one, "Felt too Disney," and seemed more concerned with introducing new characters to sell merchandise than continuing the past stories (something which some reviewers loved and other people have also disliked). That said, she and everyone else seemed to like the Porgs and didn't think they were overused.

Yes, give into your feelings and give me money!

From talking with my friends I honestly am not any clearer on why the movie has split folk so much. The very thing some of my friends told me they hated other friends adored. I guess I'll just need to see this here movie and form my opinion. Whatever the case, I thank everyone who spoke with me for sharing their thoughts and hope to see, "Star Wars Episode VIII," before too long!

Thoughts on the Mercari App

Mercari came about some years ago and has caught on more and more lately. It is kind of like if eBay had a baby with Etsy and it was obsessed with flea markets and coupons whilst refusing to put its phone down. Putting aside how terrifying such a thing would actually look like as a living and breathing human being, that's basically my visualization of what Mercari is. That said, the app has flaws but I like it.

Mercari is only on smartphones as an app so there isn't a website you can actually visit. However, the fact it is designed solely with phones in mind allows it to be quite the snazzy-looking app. You can easily search for what you want as with eBay but there are no auctions, just stuff you can buy right away or make an offer on. Messaging between buyers and sellers is as straightforward as an in-app instant messenger too, which is better than eBay's email-style messaging, I will admit.

The idea of Mercari is to sell stuff you've owned and no longer want, hence it being a bit more like a flea market than eBay in its focus, but there also is a lot of handmade stuff for sale as with Etsy, I've found. Another fun thing is that Mercari seems eager to give coupons. Upon my downloading and registering with the app I was given $3 off a purchase of 30 dollars or more coupon I had a number of days to use. I bought a cool Funko that someone was selling well below its usual market value for exactly 30 smackers and upon my purchase of it Mercari thanked me for buying something and said, "Here's a coupon for $5 off a purchase of $25 or more!" I haven't bought anything else yet so who knows what it might do next, but compared to how stingy eBay generally is with coupons I appreciate Mercari's eagerness to throw me some discounts. You can't actually use your Paypal balance with Mercari, however, with it instead preferring Apple Pay or a Credit Card (although you can have it go through Paypal and use a card linked with the the website, but not your balance itself, defeating the purpose of even bothering with Paypal, I'd say).

You might be reading this and wondering if Mercari is better than eBay. I would say no, it is just different. I haven't sold anything on Mercari because I've spent way too much time and effort building my sterling eBay rating, but I know some people like doing it because Mercari is a bit more straightforward for selling than eBay in their mind. That said, Mercari has a lot less stuff than eBay and seems to have a slightly different focus with the used-goods and homemade items spotlighting. Still, plenty of new stuff is there too (such as the unopened Funko I bought), and I enjoy the user-friendly elements of the app such as the easy messaging.

I am still going to continue doing the lion's share of my buying and selling with eBay, but I admire Mercari for excelling at its more specific focus and having some really snazzy elements eBay could stand from learn from. The lack of true Paypal support however and smaller selection of goods does somewhat limit my own uses for the app however. Should you have a smartphone I'd recommend checking Mercari out and seeing if you like it, plus if you join and use my referral code, "ENMPXA," you'll get an extra $10 off your first purchase!

Call for Suggestions Regarding My "2017 In Review" Posts!

As we are well into December I am hard at work on my posts discussing the,  "_____ of 2017." I have many posts already under-way discussing things like my favorite television show, the most annoying thing in comic-books this year, and so forth, but I would love suggestions. If you have one please feel free to comment here or send me an email at davidbitterbaum@gmail.com with your thoughts.