What I read/Watched in 2009…

Traditionally, in the past, I would start each year with a list of the books I read and movies I watched in the previous year. This year, however, I decided to keep a running list which I would update periodically. So if you want to see the full lists, they’re waiting for you:

• What I Read in 2009
• What I Watched in 2009

Rather than list everything again, today I thought I’d give you just a short list of my favorites. In my opinion, out of the books I read and movies I watched, here were my favorites of the year in no particular order:

Books:

• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
• Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin
• Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds by Geoff Johns & George Perez
• The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
• Drood by Dan Simmons
• Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman & Andy Kubert
• Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham
• 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins
• The Rookie (YA edition) by Scott Sigler
• Living Dangerously With Saturated Fats (A SHELDON collection) by Dave Kellett
• Mini-Marvels: The Ultimate Collection by Chris Giarrusso and others

Movies:

• Coraline
• Star Trek
• Up
• The Hangover
• Green Lantern: First Flight
• Inglorious Basterds
• Zombieland
• The Princess and the Frog
• Monsters vs. Aliens

I’ll start the 2010 list relatively soon — I’ll wait until I’ve got a few books and movies logged so I’m not starting with a blank post. Have a great 2010, everyone!

Back to work…

I’ve actually gotten an awful lot of work done this week, so I thought I’d share it with you. In addition to the new chapter of Lost in Silver (the book is almost over, so those of you who told me you’re waiting for the end to read it all at once, get ready), I’ve gotten many, many pages written of my newest project, still untitled. I can’t say exactly how much, however, because it’s all been written longhand, during moments I’ve managed to steal during the day. I don’t know why, but I often find I work better if I do my first draft longhand.

Also longhand, I’ve done work on A Long November and Other Stories. I’ve written an introduction for the eBook, as well as notes on each of the nine stories it will contain. It was actually a lot of fun to write, it was like visiting old friends again. (That reminds me — if my sister is reading, I still want to do that Bixby series some day. He shows up in the Christmas stories and I miss those characters, damn it.)

And finally, I’ve been reviewing up a storm. Here are the reviews I’ve tossed out there since the last time I updated you guys:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #4
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #6
• Fables #87
  
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #3
• Hack/Slash #24
• The Muppet Show: The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson #1
• North 40 #2
• Power Girl #4
  
• The Red Circle: Inferno #1
• Secret Six #12
  
• Superman #690
• Superman Annual #14
  
• Superman Secret Files 2009
• Superman/Batman #63
  
• Wednesday Comics #3
• Done In One Reviews for July 25: In which I review Archie #599, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #3, Cars: The Rookie #4, Doctor Who: Room With a Deja View #1, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors #2, G.I. Joe #7, Gemini #4, The Spirit #31 & Tiny Titans #18
• Done in One Reviews for August 1: In which I review Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7, Jack of Fables #36, Last Days of Animal Man #3, The Lone Ranger #17 & Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #3
• Done in One Reviews for August 8: In which I review Chew #3, Dynamo 5 #23, Finding Nemo: Reef Rescue #2, House of Mystery #16, Jonah Hex #46, The Mighty #7, Muppet Robin Hood #3 & The Spirit #32
• Done in One Reviews for August 15: In which I review G.I. Joe #8, G-Man: Cape Crisis #1, Love and Capes #11, PS 238 #40, Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #4 & The Walking Dead #64
• Done in One Reviews for August 22: In which I review Archie #600, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #4, Doctor Who #2, Jack of Fables #37, Monsters Inc.: Laugh Factory #1, The Stand: American Nightmares #5, Tiny Titans #19 & Zorro #15

Look to the skies…

Everything But Imaginary #315: One Legion Once More

Over a year ago, we sat poised for the first issue of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds — a miniseries we hoped would revitalize the Legion of Super-Heroes mythos the same way Geoff Johns revitalized Green Lantern. The final issue finally came out this week. How well did it succeed? Click in for my thoughts — and warning! Here there be spoilers!

Everything But Imaginary #315: One Legion Once More
Inside This Column:

What I’m Reading: Blackest Night #0

Since I’ve more or less decided to review all the chapters of Blackest Night here at Evertime Realms, I went back and pulled out the zero issue released in may for Free Comic Book Day. Produced by the same creative team — Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis — that will handle the regular miniseries, this issue takes place just after the Green Lantern #43 I reviewed the other day.

Hal Jordan is joined by his best friend, Barry Allen. Both the Green Lantern and the Flash are heroes who have come back from death, a feat that has been accomplished by a lot of people across the DC Universe. Today, though, they ponder those who haven’t come back from death’s door, and perhaps more importantly, why they did.

One of the central themes that Johns says will be explored in Blackest Night is the question of why so many superheroes seem to be able to cheat death again and again, and this issue sets up that theme nicely. It’s also a good focus on Hal and Barry as friends. Their own friendship is explored, as is their relationships to certain fallen heroes that we know will show their faces as Black Lanterns. (At this point at least five different Black Lanterns have been confirmed through solicitations and the like, but I won’t mention them here). Basically, the point of this book is to show the readers the chessboard. It reminds us where all the pieces are, who is in play and who isn’t, and gets us ready for the main event.

The book also features a series of pages drawn by Green Lantern artist Doug Mahnke. Each spread features a different one of the eight corps and points out the key players in each one. For those who may not have been reading the last two years of the two Green Lantern titles (more the fool you), it’ll get you up to speed quickly.

So that’s it. The prologues have been read, the players are all in place, and the Blackest Night is about to be unleashed. More than any time in my life of reading comics, I just can’t wait for Wednesday.

RATING: 7/10

Since we all do have to wait for Wednesday, though, how about you take a look at some of the other reviews I’ve written lately over at Comixtreme?

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #3
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #2
• Gotham City Sirens #1
• Incredibles: Family Matters #2
• Incredibles: Family Matters #3
• Literals #3
• The Muppet Show #4
• Secret Six #11
• Superman #689
• Done-In-One Reviews for June 27, 2009-In which I review The Actress and the Bishop #1, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6, Buck Rogers #1, Cars: The Rookie #3, Dynamo 5 #22, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors #1, The Last Days of Animal Man #2, Perhapanauts #6, PVP #42, The Spirit #30, Star Wars: Legacy #37 and Zorro #14
• Done-In-One Reviews for July 4, 2009-In which I review Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #26, Chew #2, Finding Nemo: Reef Rescue #1, Greek Street #1, Irredeemable #4, Jonah Hex #45, The Mighty #6, Muppet Robin Hood #2, and Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #2
• Done-In-One Reviews for July 11, 2009-In which I review Archie’s Double Digest #200, House of Mystery #15, The Stand: American Nightmares #4 and The Unwritten #4

Reviews ‘n Stuff

Tomorrow, my girlfriend Erin comes in for one of our visits, and I can’t wait. We’re actually going to have a lot going on, beginning tomorrow with going to see The Floating Palace at the Bayou Playhouse (reportedly an excellent play that my sister, Heather, happens to be in). Next weekend, we’re travelling to Florida with my family for my cousin Lauren’s wedding. In-between… well, we’re gonna do stuff with my friends, stuff with just us… we’re gonna do stuff. In other words, I’ve got no idea what we’ll be doing all week. But it doesn’t matter, because we’ll be together.

Writing Life

Yesterday I finished a new short story for the eMuse Summer Madness contest. I’ve been telling you guys for some time now how awesome the work of J.C. Hutchins is, so I had to get involved when I heard about a writing contest centering on his upcoming novel Personal Effects: Dark Art. It’s just a quickie, really, something that popped into my head and I worked out really fast, but it was fun to take on a different story. I’ve also been hard at work on two things connected to Project Rebirth, and I’m getting more and more excited about it. Yeah. Still cryptic. Yeah, I know.

Reviews

I’ve also been firing away on the reviews over at Comixtreme.com. Here are some recent ones I’ve turned out:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #2 — Charles Williams seeks his lost brother
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 — Can the Tattooed Man become a hero?
• Hack/Slash #22 — Mind Killer Part Two
• Jack of Fables #34 — The Great Fables Crossover Part Five
• The Literals #2 — The Great Fables Crossover Part Six
• The Muppet Show #3 — Gonzo’s story
• Secret Six #10 — Depths Part One
• Superman #688 — Mon-El’s power loss explained
• Superman/Batman #60 — Mash-Up Part One
• Trinity #52 — The year-long epic comes to a close!
• Done-in-One Reviews for May 30, 2009 — In which I review Batman: The Brave and the Bold #5; Ender’s Shadow: Battle School #5; Futurama Comics #43; The Last Days of Animal Man #1; Muppet Robin Hood #1; The Spirit #28; The Stand: American Nightmares #3 and Star Wars: Legacy #36
• Done-in-One Reviews for June 6, 2009 — In which I review Archie #596; Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #2; Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight #1; Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires #1; Chew #1; House of Mystery #14; Jonah Hex #44; The Mighty #5 and PS238 #39

Reviewapalooza

Once again, I thought I would regale you with some of my recent reviews over at Comixtreme.com. As prolific as I am here at Evertime Realms, I also write a ton of stuff for CX, including mucho comic book reviews, and the occasional movie and DVD review. In fact, after I catch Star Trek tonight with the guys, I’ll be reviewing that one for CX. I also recently reviewed the DVD of PVP The Series: Season One. It was pretty good, for the most part. PVP, as you may know, is one of my favorite webcomics, and I enjoyed the webisodes that were produced a while back. Hopefully this DVD will do well enough to justify a second season.

And how about all the comic book reviews I write? Here’s a batch of the most recent.

• Fables #83 (Part One of The Great Fables Crossover)
• Jack of Fables #33 (Part Two of The Great Fables Crossover)
• The Literals #1 (Part Three of The Great Fables Crossover)
• The Muppet Show #2 (Spotlight on the fabulous, furry, fast-and-frantic Fozzie Bear!)
• Power Girl #1 (Finally in her own series!)
• Secret Six #8 (Date night for three of the Six)
• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #6 (The senses-shattering conclusion!)
• Superman #687 (In Superman’s absence, Guardian and Mon-El hold the line in Metropolis)
• Trinity #48 (Heading into the last month of the year-long weekly)
• Done-In-One Reviews for May 3, 2009: In which I review Ender’s Game: Battle School #5, Madman Atomic Comics #15, & Witchblade #126
• Done-In-One Reviews for May 9, 2009: In which I review Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #25, Cerebus Archive #1, Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1, Hack/Slash: Entry Wound #1, Irredeemable #2, Jonah Hex #43 & The Mighty #4,

Everything But Imaginary #306: A Family Affair

There aren’t a whole lot of superhero comics that are based on a family dynamic. Parents die, children die, brothers and sisters go evil — why can’t anyone in comics just have a stable family? Let’s look at that one this week, shall we?

Everything But Imaginary #306: A Family Affair
Inside This Column:

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 117: Free Comic Book Day 2009

Geek Christmas comes once again, as the Showcase boys go to Free Comic Book Day 2009! The guys camped out at BSI Comics in Metairie, Louisiana for the day, talking to the fans, handing out free comics, and generally having a blast! In this episode, the guys manage to find time to talk about Blackest Night #0 and this week’s Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4, they go through a few more of this year’s free samplings, and host the first-ever live Ask Chase Anything Challenge! Listen as fans of all ages try to summon a question Chase can’t answer, hear the one question that succeeded, and witness the beginning of Chase’s potential intellectual property lawsuit when a bad joke goes horribly awry! And if that wasn’t enough, the guys find time to talk to Kurt Amacker, writer of the new Seraphemera Books horror comic Dead Souls! How good is Dead Souls? It’s Alan Moore-approved! Write us with comments, suggestions, picks of the week, “Ask Chase Anything” questions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 117: Free Comic Book Day 2009
Inside This Episode:

PLUS: This week was the 100th episode of Lost, and the guys are here to dish on the tale of Daniel Faraday. For those of you who want to skip the Lost chat, start listening at 19:20 on your dial while we delve into the season finales of Chuck and Heroes, and talk about the upcoming Star Trek movie and the recent Countdown prequel comic book. Chase talks about a trailer that got him excited and another that broke his heart, and Blake is jazzed at this week’s announcement of the possible 7th Son motion picture! All this plus a DVD release rundown in your Week in Geek!

Week in Geek #19: Lost 100, Chuck, Heroes, and More!

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 107: Final Crisis Retrospective

It’s been a few weeks, the dust has settled, and the guys are ready to pick into DC’s Final Crisis. Chase tells us what he didn’t like, Blake tries to explain the ending, they give their thoughts about the future of Batman and the Multiverse, and talk about the state of “The Crossover” in comics in general. In the picks this week, Geoff Johns dominates, as Chase selects Green Lantern #37 and Blake gushes like a schoolgirl over Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3. Write us with comments, suggestions, picks of the week, “Ask Chase Anything” questions, or anything else at Showcase@Comixtreme.com!

Episode 107: Final Crisis Retrospective
Inside this Episode:

PLUS: The boys bring you a quick Week in Geek this week, with their initial impressions of the new episode of Lost, “316,” plus their thoughts on recent episodes of Chuck, Heroes, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and the premiere episode of Dollhouse!

Week in Geek #11: A Lost 316 Quickie and a TV Roundup!

AND: In a special bonus mini-episode, Chase brings you his review of the new remake of the slasher classic Friday the 13th!

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 106.5: Friday the 13th (2009) Review

2 in 1 Showcase tidbits

Last week, I told you guys that Chase and I were going to try recording a LOST-centric Week in Geek podcast via Skype after the show ended. Well, that didn’t happen. About an hour before the show started, someone on the road near my home hit a pole and knocked out the power for about five and a half hours. I didn’t get to watch the show until the next day, when I rushed home and watched it on the website… only to finish and discover my temperature had risen to 102 degrees. I was pretty much out of it until Sunday.

But this week, we did it! We watched Lost episode 5.5: This Place is Death, and then hopped on Skype and talked about the episode together. We also chatted briefly about several other geek-centric topics, including Heroes, Chase’s beloved Battlestar Galactica, the announcement from Vertigo comics that their first issues for 2009 will be bargain-priced $1 issues and the news that Brett Ratner, the man who singlehandedly ruined the X-Men movie series, is going to be directing a Youngblood film. (As this is both a director and a property I have no interest in, I’m actually in favor of this marriage. Keep Ratner from screwing up a good comic book.)

You can listen to the special by visiting our Libsyn Page, and we’ll also announce it in the thread for our next regular podcast.

Speaking of our next regular podcast, we’re gonna get together to record three new episodes, and we want YOUR THOUGHTS! You can e-mail any comments to Showcase@comixtreme.com. Our topics this Sunday will be, in order:

1. Batman Family (A Battle For the Cowl prelude)
2. Final Crisis (and all spin-off projects)
3. Watchmen (in preparation for the movie)

Of course, we’d also be happy to read any other e-mail you happen to toss our way. And please, friends, don’t be afraid to comment on the show threads at Comixtreme, and give us a review over at iTunes! Every little bit helps spread the word!