Morning,
Funny old day today. Increasingly feels like a dead-space between years. Maybe it’s just me getting old. I’ve got today off work but have some catch up reading to do this afternoon. Then back into it fully tomorrow. I stopped being a religious person in my teens, thanks mostly to Brother Lawrence, but I do think that as a country we need that little restart at the end of the year. A couple of days where everyone just pauses, chats to family, eats a good meal and watches some bad TV. It makes for the dive back into the cold water in January a bit easier.
But not everyone feels the same. It’s important to remember that Christmas is a spike in loneliness and depression. As 2023 closes it gives me another chance to pimp the brilliant services of the mental health charity M.I.N.D. – pop over and have a read, and donate if you are able.
Hope you enjoyed the Favs of the Year episode we just put out yesterday. You can find the link here. I got a bit carried away with mine, but sometimes it’s important to not allow anyone to curb that comics enthusiasm. Mine is daily reinvigorated and at the moment I am busy re-cataloguing (not a word?) my collection. I’d manage more than two boxes a day if I wasn’t stopping to read them all!
I’m currently going through the sections where I wasn’t adding runs of titles/characters together, but was just reading and then sticking the issues into long boxes. This has given me a little insight into the eras, for want of a better term, of comics making from Marvel, DC, Image etc. You can see into the trends and styles evident through the years. Currently I’m in 2004-2005 and you can see the influence of the thought out writing arc. The likes of Brubaker, Bendis, Rucka, Fraction etc. Pushing both form and character. It’s a period I really enjoyed.
Back to that task at paw.
Top.
Easy one. My yearly Christmas gift from buddy Dan Butcher.
Still the best. For those missing the British Comics industry it’s still there! Hidden in the motorway services, in the high street newsagent. Still hilariously giving zero fucks.
It’s also an oversized hardback that costs £13.99!! Amazing value. Get on it and cheer up your new year!
Bottom.
Watered-down bollocks. A Punisher comic that seeks to replace the old character with a personality black hole of a new one. Motivations are all at sea with a ‘twist’ ending so limp-dicked it was laughably inadequate. The dialogue bumps down the stairs like a thrown away toaster that makes you wince with each crash. The panel/page transitions have you going back to work out where and when you are and then not being bothered just a few pages later.
I’m told this is now a mini-series? Anyone make me right on that?
My Best of 2023 will be coming in a few days. Keep an eye out for it.
Many thanks for reading and don’t get yourself in trouble on New Years Eve!
Never Iron Anything - The Comics Review Website 