A Descent into Dullness

I'm still not certain if its as amazing as all the online praise/hype its gotten.  But it definitely is a great movie and not just a Marvel movie.  In fact, outside a few minor call-outs (and the 2nd post credit scene) it could exsist without being tied into the greater MCU while still fitting perfectly within it.  Also I can't say Killmonger is the best Marvel Movie Villain as others are praising.  But Michael B. Jordan does give him an intensity and focus that very much makes him a contender for the top spot.  And that casino fight, followed by the car chase.  Awesome.

Fun movie, especially all the "I may be the hero, but I'm kind of a doofus" moments (especially the Dr. Strange ones).  Hemsworth & Waititi make for a good combination.  Also very much enjoyed the various call-outs, especially the Warbound and Skurge's Final Stand.  Hela/Blanchett maybe my favorite of the MCU I AM EVIL villains.  Goldblum was golden as the Grandmaster, Ruffalo/Hemsworth was also great - in both forms and Tessa Thompson's Valkryie/Scrapper-142 was a delight. (even if I had to look her up to remind myself I'd seen her in Dear White People & Creed).

Arrow s.2: Brother Blood, the return of Count Vertigo, Clock King, Slade Wilson & flashback Professor Ivo & Slade Wilson.  Oh and the League of Assassins & some Suicide Squad Deadshot.

the Defenders:  I like Danny the Well-Intentioned Dumbass here better than Smug Ass or Self-Righteous Ass in his own series.  Several good fight sequences and some fight sequences that might have been good if they were in better lighting so I could follow them.  And the group interactions between both the leads and the their supporting characters was good.  Plus Sigourney Weaver and Scott Glen are always great.

Comrade Detective:  I found out this was a recently made satire and NOT a recovered bit of 80s era Romanian state media television.  Which moved it from a bonkers yet unintentionally brilliant piece of period propaganda to a pretty good satire of the buddy cop genre with amusing political comedy.  Basically when I thought it was "real" I would have ranked it an unintentional 5/5, but finding out it was "fake" moves it to an intentional 3.5/5.

April:
Short Fiction:  Jo Walton's a Burden Shared & Sharon Lee/Steve Miller's Cutting Corners.

New Read:  Joe Hill's the Fireman.  Apocalyptic-Dystopia involving self-combustion plague.

• Joanne Harris' Jigs & Reels.  Anthology, decent not great.
• Richard Castle's Driving Heat.  I actually bought like 4 or 5 more of these at once, all fairly cheap e-editions.  But this was the only one I finished as I just got bored with the series.  Kind of like how I skipped the final season or two of Castle.
• John Wick's Daughter of Fate.  7th Sea tie-in novel I got for free as part of kickstarter-ing the new edition of the rpg.  Pretty good and like the better tie-in novels makes me want to play the game (again).
• Ian Thomas Haley's the Bulletproof Badge.  Short fiction collection that ties into Haley's "Just Cause" supers series.
• Poul Anderson's Midsummer's Tempest.  Combo Shakespeare fanfic and Roundhead English Civil War historical romance.
• Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking.  I think this was Fisher's last memoir.  Funny if dark, like her.
• Michael Swanwick's Not So Much, Said the Cat.  Another short story collection, all very good.

Reread:  M. Magdalene's Curvy vol.1-3.  This nekkid magical adventure webcomic is actually finishing up right now.

Graphic Novels/TPBs/RPGs:  Faith Erin Hicks/Jordie Bellaire's the Nameless City: vol.2: the Stone Heart

• Kristen Gudsnuk's Henchgirl

Total:13


May:
Short Fiction:  Allen Steele's Sanctuary Ramsey Shehadeh's Red & Rich Burlew's How the Paladin Got His Scar

New Reads: Adam Christopher's Standard Hollywood Depravity.  I keep trying and yet something about Christopher just never clicks with me.  This one is robots + noir + free will issues = ennh.

• T. Kingfisher's Jackalope Wives & Other Stories.  Anthology of Ursula Vernon short fiction.
• Marko Kloos' Fields of Fire.  Mission to Mars!
• Walt Boyes/Bjorn Hasseler (ed) Grantville Gazette vol. 68-70
• Megan Abbott's You Will Know Me
• Ellen Datlow/Terri Windling (ed)  Black Swan, White Raven.  One of several of their fairy tale short fiction anthologies.
• Avery Duff's Beach Lawyer.  Sometimes you just want to try stuff outside your normal wheelhouse.  And sometimes that just means reading an ok legal thriller full of lying liars who lie.
• Foz Meadows' a Tyranny of Queens.  Sequel to An Accident of Stars and hopefully not the last visit to the setting and characters.
• S.J. Delos' Some Kind of Hero.  Reformed villain supers fic.
• Ian Thomas Healy's Just Cause Stories vol. 2 & Jackrabbit: Big in Japan.  The humor in this second Jackrabbit book feels a bit forced.  Especially the older ladies lust for Jackrabbit bits.
• Joan Aiken's the Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Reread:  Terry Pratchett's the 5th Elephant, the Truth, Nightwatch, Going Postal, Thud!, Monstrous Regiment, Making Money, Unseen Academicals, Snuff & Raising Steam.  Just went on a big Pratchett binge to start off May.

Graphic Novels/TPBs/RPGs:  Ben Fleuter's Sword Interval vol.1

• Kieron Gillen/Salador Larroca/Leinel Francis Yu's Darth Vader: the Shu-Toran War
• Kieron Gillen/Salvador Larroca's Darth Vader: vol.2: Shadows and Secrets.  Gillen and company's Darth Vader series was really, really good.  Successfully works with an evil lead and one who's early and final story has already been set.
• Ryan North/Erica Henderson's the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe.  Squirrel-Girl beats up everyone!  Even Squirrel-Girl!
• Chris Claremont/Brent Anderson's  X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills

Total:28



June:
Short Fiction: Jessica Reisman's Bourbon, Sugar, Grace & Shira Glassman's Knit One, Girl Two.

New Read: Seanan McGuire's Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, Every Heart a Doorway & Velveteen Vs. the Seasons.  The first is about ghosts and moving on.  Then the start of her new-ish "Wayward Children" series about kids who travel to magical worlds (and sometimes come back) and the last is the latest collection of her "Velveteen" stories.

• R.J. Ross' Rocky Road.  More "Cape High" popcorn.
• Maggie Stiefvater's the Raven Boys & the Dream Thieves.  Modern fantasy centered around the search for sleeping Welsh king in Virginia.
• Ellen Klages' Passing Strange.  1940s San Francisco lesbian counter-culture with a dash of magic.
• Chuck Wendig's Thunderbird.  Latest "MIriam Black" book.  With south-western doomsday prepper cult.
• Charlie N. Holmberg's the Paper Magician, the Glass Magician & the Master Magician.  Enjoyable, if a little slight, trilogy of magical historical/romance/adventure.
• Karen Diem's Human.  Second of her "Arca" supers series.
• Sharon Lee/Steve Miller's the Gathering Edge.  Most recent "Liaden" book.
• Rachel Manjic/Sherwood Smith's Rebel.  Third of their "the Change" books.  Still the best Gamma World game setting.
• V.E. Schwab's a Darker Shade of Magic
• Pen & Cape Society (ed) the Good Fight 3: Sidekicks

Reread: Michael Stackpole's  X-Wing: Rogue Squadron; Wedge's Gamble; the Krytos Trap & the Bacta War.  One of my favorite bits of the Star Wars 90s EU book line.

• Jeffrey Brown's Incredible Change-Bots Two.  I know I'd read this before but everything about it seemed unfamiliar.
• Kate Beaton's Never Learn Anything From History
• Rick Remender/Daniel Way/Marjorie Liu's Punisher: Franken-Castle.  This is exactly the kind of crazy that I like to see when mixing Punisher with a supers setting.

Graphic Novels/TPBs/RPGs:  Christopher Hastings/Irene Stychalski/Gurihiru's the Unbelievable Gwenpool: Head of M.O.D.O.K.  Hasting's is a great comedic writer and I just adore Gurihiru's art.

• Brandon Montclare/Amy Reeder/Marco Failla's Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur: Cosmic Cooties.
• Jason Aaron/Kieron Gillen/Mike Deodato/Salvador Larroca/Mark Brooks' Vader Down.  Vader is just super scarily competent in this one.  Like end of Rogue One scary.
• Kieron Gillen/Salvador Larroca/Juan Gimenez' Darth Vader: vol.4: End of Game.
• Faith Erin Hicks' the Adventures of Superhero Girl (Expanded Edition).  Just enough new material for me not to count this as a reread.
• Ben Aaronovitch/Andrew Cautmel/Lee Sullivan/Luis Guerrero's Rivers of London: Body Work
• Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Space: the Golden Lion.
• Rick Remender/Jerome Opena/Matt Hollingsworth's Seven to Eternity: vol. 1: the Godwhisperers.  I know this new Remender series gets a bit of positive buzz, but it didn't connect with me at all.

Total: 32

Tom Holland is pretty great as Parker/Spider-Man, espcially the 15-year old rookie part of it.  Michael Keaton's Vulture falls into the mid-range of Marvel villains, right on the edge of the top tier, as he has actual motivations and some personality beyond I Am The Bad Guy.  Among the character cameos is a very stealth set-up for Miles Morales using Donald Glover.  Oh and Jacob Batalon's sidekick/best friend Ned was pretty good.

Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks #1: Created, Written & Drawn by Jim Mahfood, Colored & Lettered by Justin Stewart & Designed by Carmen Acosta.  So I guess there was a volume 2 back in 2004 that I missed or forgot about?
The Wicked & the Divine: 455 AD: Writer Kieron Gillen, Artist Andre Aruajo, Colourist Matthew Wilson, Letterer Clayton Cowles & Flatter Dee Cunniffe.  One-shot of the final days of the 5th Century Pantheon.
Invincible #136: Writer Robert Kirkman, Penciler & Inker Ryan Ottley, Colorist Nathan Fairbairn & Letterer Rus Wooton.  I've got a feeling Thragg's poor parenting choices are going to be part of his downfall.

the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #20: Writer Ryan North, Artist Erica Henderson, Color artist Rico Renzi & Letterer Travis Lanham.  Its a bear dressed as Dr. Doom!  Bear Von Doom!

Knights of the Dinner Table #243: EiC Jolly R. Blackburn, Development team Steve Johansson, David S. Kenzer, Brian Jelke & Barbara Blackburn.  Gary Jackson running a HackMaster session for Gordo, Crush, Patty, B.A. & Brian.

Astro City #44: Writer Kurt Busiek, Penciller Rick Leonardi, Inker Andre Parks, Lettering & design John Roshell & Jimmy Betancourt of Comicraft & Color art Peter Pantazis.  Kittyhawk the Cat with guest Rocket Dog the Dog.

Knights of the Dinner Table #242: E-i-C Jolly R. Blackburn with devolpment team Steve Johanson, David S. Kenzer, Brian Jelke & Barbara Blackburn. The Hard8 crew all sit down behind the GM screen for the various groups looking to use their Golden Ticket shopping spree.

the Wicked & the Divine #28: Writer Kieron Gillen, Artist Jamie McKelvie, Colourist Matthew Wilson, Letterer Clayton Cowles & Flatter Dee Cunniffe. The Research and Do Whatever cliques of Divinties throw a party. Drama intrudes.
Copperhead #12: Writer Jay Faerber, Artist Drew Moss, Colorist Ron Riley & Letterer Thomas Mauer. An autopsy of the former mayor leads to the revelation of an odd method of murder.
Rat Queens #2: Writer Kurtis J. Wiebe, Artist Owen Gieni & Letterer Ryan Ferrier. One ultra-goose, plucked.

the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Writer Ryan North, Artist Erica Henderson, Color artist Rico Renzi & Letterer Travis Lanham. Melissa's obsession with Doreen would probably make the Falcon or the Lizard all sad, since they were around being all-animal themed and communicative while Squirrel Girl was off in the fringes.

ROM #9: Plot & script by Christos Gage & Chris Ryall, Pencils & inks by Paolo Villanelli, Colors by Alessandra Alexakis & Letters by Shawn Lee. Despite his fellow Space Knights being short-sighted, stoopid heads, ROM still steps up and saves everyone.

Island #15:  Final issue featuring Grim Wilkins, Farel Dalrymple, Dilraj Mann & Brandon Graham.  Edited by Brandon Graham & Emma Rios.
Invincible #134: Writer Robert Kirkman, Penciler & inker Ryan Ottley, Colorist Nathan Fairbairn & Letterer Rus Wooton.  Alan confesses to Mark and Mark works to recruit his father and the other Viltrumites into the final battle against Thragg.

Dark Horse Presents #43: Contributers Michael Walsh & Dee Cunniffe; Paul Levitz, TIm Hamilton & Adam O. Pruett; Francesco Francavilla & Nate Piekos; Shannon Wheeler; Jim Alexander, Will Pickering, Fin Cramb & J.W. Campbell; Patrick Alexander; CHad Lambert, Apri Kusbiantoro & Jaymes Reed.  Chief editor Mike Richardson.

Knights of the Dinner Table #241: On the road to the Golden Ticket Shopping Spree and UT+1 vs. Hard8 grudge match.  Chief editor Jolly Blackburn with development taeam Steve Johansson, David S. Kenzer, Brian Jelke & Barbara Blackburn.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #18: Writer Ryan North, Artist Erica Henderson, Color artist Rico Renzi & Letterer Travis Lanham.  Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boy sign on for the Get Jetpacks with Team Melissa.  But then Nancy confronts Melissa about some potential shenanigans.

Empowered and the Soldier of Love #1: Story by Adam Warren, Arts by Karla Diaz.  The start of an attack on the cities supra-humans.  A love attack!

the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #17: Writer Ryan North, Artist Erica Henderson, Color artist Rico Renzi & Letterer Travis Lanham.  Doreen gets a new mentor and financial backer.  So I guess her Avengers-adjacant team doesn't pay then?  Or is over?

Savage Dragon #220: Writer/artist Erik Larsen, Letters Chris Eliopoulos, Colors Nikos Kovtsis & Flats Mike Toris.  Angel gets kidnapped to Glumworld.  Classic Dragon gets pardoned by the departing Obama.  And Angel's mom might not be dead dead.
Southern Cross #11: Story Becky Cloonan, Art Andy Belanger, Colour Lee Loughridge & Letters Serge LaPointe.  A talking decapitated head.  Opressive corporate goons.  An angry dad.  And space ghosts!
the Wicked + the Divine #26: Writer Kieron Gillen, Artist Jamie McKelvie, Colourist Matthew Wilson, Letterer Clayton Cowles & Flatter Dee Cunnifee.  With a possible new monstrous horrible thing revealed its time for VOTING.  Battle!  Study!  Whatever!

Knights of the Dinner Table #238: EiC Jolly Blackburn with Steve Johansson, David S. Kenzer, Brian Jelke & Barbara Blackburn.  The return of Brian to the table.  Also Cody temping in for Newt with the Black Hands.  And Cody's bringing a secret along that isn't a hand puppet.

Resident Alien: the Man with No Name #4: Script Peter Hogan, Art Steve Parkhouse.  No government alien-hunt in this one.  But the murdered hobo's past is revealed and it helps unravel the mystery of the small town drug ring.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #15: Writer Ryan North, Artist Erica Henderson, "Dream Sequence" Artist Zac Gorman, Color artist Rico Renzi & Letterer Travis Lanham.  Squirrel Girl and her allies step a bit into the background as they battle Taskmaster, in order to let the focus fall on Mew the Cat.  With guest-star Pizza Dog.