Further Comic Book Prequels to Explore

Daredevil: Born the First Time
A the First Man
To Hell
Dredd Passes the Bar Exam
Maus Babies
The Dark Knight Retires
Before Before Watchmen

The Best Movies of 2011

I know, I know, we're like halfway through 2012. But I finally think I have seen enough movies from last year to provide a decent list of the best films of 2011. Your mileage, as always, may vary. But your mileage would be wrong. (These aren't really in order but they're sort of in order. They're in an order.) (I have not seen The Artist yet, but I've seen all the other Best Picture nominees, except Extremely Loud and Incredibly Cloying, which you can't pay me to see. None of the other nominees are on this list, but Midnight in Paris comes the closest, mostly because I have an English degree.)

Drive: I was riveted from the first frame; and each frame could be a poster.

The Guard: The dialogue really sparkles in this. It's funny, violent, a bit sad. It's like a Coen brothers movie from the 90s. It is better than Fargo.

Attack the Block: In the beginning, I did not think this was for me. By the end, I was for it. This movie is leaner than a greyhound and twice as energetic.

The Ides of March: Maybe I just have a man-crush on Ryan Gosling. If George Clooney quit acting and switched to directing, I'd be fine with that. His films are always good.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop: I have a lot in common with Conan, and I don't just mean we have the same hair.

The Adventures of Tintin: This is the Indiana Jones 4 we didn't get the first time.

Captain America: The First Avenger: I had no complaints. They got everything right.

Honorable mentions:

Rango; Beginners; Midnight in Paris; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol;

The worst movie of 2011:

Sucker Punch: Ugh.

Anything I am missing? Anything I should see? Anything I saw but didn't like that much but you did so you're gonna tell me about it anyway?

Where we're at with the whole DC Comics thing

Remember when I ranked all 52 #1s from DC? Well let's do something like that and check in on what I'm actually still reading.

BUYING:

Batman
Demon Knights
Dial H

BUYING BUT THINKING ABOUT GOING OUT FOR MILK AND NOT COMING BACK:

Animal Man
Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE (let's see what Kindt brings to it)
Swamp Thing

DROPPED:

Blackhawks
Justice League Dark
Stormwatch

 CANCELLED:

Static Shock (I would have dropped it anyway; what a massive dive from a promising debut issue. Bernardin's two issues were an improvement, though)

WAITING FOR THE COLLECTION:

Action Comics (I have gone to hardcovers-only for Grant Morrison comics)
All Star Western
Batman Incorporated
Wonder Woman

SHOULD GET THE COLLECTION BUT WILL PROBABLY CONVENIENTLY FORGET TO DO SO:

Batman and Robin
Batwoman
Birds of Prey
Flash

STRONGLY THINKING ABOUT PICKING UP:

Green Arrow (Ann Nocenti edition)


"WAVE THREE" TITLES I INTEND TO BUY:

...


And just to be fair:

MARVEL TITLES I AM BUYING:

Daredevil (ordered the first trade)
PunisherMAX (one trade left to go)

THE BEST COMIC:

Atomic Robo

Team Comics

(Image by Michael Kupperman. Copyright him.)

Cut out the "about"

A lot of my time on the internet is spent reading articles or critical essays on other works of art, literature, film, comics, TV, etc. Some of my time is spent writing about those same things. The rest, obviously, is naked ladies and pictures of cats, because that's what the internet is for. In this dangerous territory where information is the most dangerous game of all and the government threatens to turn off the lights, only Snake Plissken can escape... the internet.

What am I saying? Right, reading and writing about stuff. After a while, that cuts you off from the stuff itself. It's all middleman. And, you know, it's cool that the world has a platform on which they can praise, discuss, and condemn the culture around them, and I enjoy reading a lot of that. The internet, however, is a hungry beast, and it eats time. I've spent a lot of hours reading about things, writing about things. I have 35 tabs open in Firefox right now. "That looks nice, I'll read that eventually," I say, popping it open into a new tab and moving onto the next headline, the newer fix. The internet chokes on its babies, like the titan Cronos. It is just about time to ralph.

I really need to stop. 2011 was going to be the year I weaned myself off the internet, starting watching and reading the real material, not the stuff written about it, started writing things, creating. It didn't happen. We're in year eight or so of my five year plan.

I've really got to cut out the about.

(By the way, Hausu is awesome.)