January Top 5, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Review Round-Up
January Top 5
Stealing a bit from Wookiepedia (which posts their top 5 searches for the previous month each month), here are the top 5 posts from the site in terms of page views in January:
My review of X-Men (vol. 2) #2 got linked to in a Reddit thread, so I assume that's what vaulted it to the top. #2 and #3 are just new reviews from the month, so that makes sense. Not sure if anything in particular drove traffic to Gene's review of the XTAS making of book, but it's a pretty reliable performer traffic-wise, so it might have just had a good month.
And I have no idea why the Uncanny X-Men #234 review did so well.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
I've watched the first three episodes of YFNS (sidebar: what is up with the weird release schedule? Two episodes on launch - fine, normal - then three more the week later?); it's pretty good! I'm as sick of the multiverse stuff as the next person, but putting it in an alt reality (vs. as a direct prequel to the Tom Holland Spider-Man films) lets it have its cake and eat it, too: do new, interesting, and unexpected things (like making Nico Minoru Peter Parker's HS buddy) while also playing with viewers' expectations based on our knowledge of future/parallel events (like recasting Norman Osborn in the role of Tony Stark in the Holland movies).
The animation is also fantastic, evoking both the feel of comics in general, with scene transitions accompanied by split screens and gutters, but also a sort of Ditko-esque vibe (the way Peter's round glasses routinely devour his face, sometimes even being shaded as opaque, feels very Ditko). Spider-Man is also a character which just lends itself naturally to animation, and thus far, the series captures, like the Spider-Verse films before it, the kind of effortless kineticism of the character as Spidey swings between buildings, flips through the air, etc.
Good stuff all around, and I'm looking forward to see where its heading.
Review Roundup
For Comicon.com, I reviewed the new Jango Fett trade paperback, collected last year's miniseries, Wolverine #5, which mostly treads water but does give Wolverine a Wendigo sidekick, and Star Wars: A New Legacy #1, an anthology issue celebrating 10 years of Marvel Star Wars (a second time) by highlighting the original comics characters introduced in the line (both the current version and, delightfully, the original one as well. Rik Duel! Dani the Zeltron! Drebble!).
Unfortunately, by looking back at past successes, the issue also serves to highlight how relatively lackluster the line is at the moment, but that's not really the issue's fault.
What Else?
What I'm Watching
I am writing this before watching the Super Bowl, so I can only safely assume some football was played, a some buzzy commercials that were already released online aired, the poles in Philly were well-greased ahead of fan riots, Taylor Swift showed up and a bunch of people got mad about it, the halftime show was loved and/or hated, and the best team won.
Also, I just learned this week that Top Chef is coming back with a new season (in Canada, which the events of the last week add a whole new layer to...) on March 12th, so I'm excited about that.
The fourth Captain America movie, Captain America: Brave New World, comes out this week. I probably won't see it opening weekend (my wife and I are going to Hadestown with Doctor Bitz and his wife on Saturday, so that pretty much eats up our "time away/babysitter" allotment for the weekend), but given this is the first cinematic outing of Sam Wilson as Cap, you may want to check out this "fun facts" piece I did on Sam (and Bucky) ahead of the release of Falcon and the Winter Soldier four (Four?!? What is time?) years ago.
What I'm Playing
A new season of Marvel Snap started last week, tying in to Brave New World, and I wrote up my recap of the last season and pre-ranked the new season's card in my latest Snap into Marvel column. As of this writing, I am still grinding towards infinite, having crossed into the 90s early Friday morning and then stalling out considerably since then as I swear the matchup algorithm starts seeking out decks with the perfect counters...
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'Til next week, Excelsior!
"And I have no idea why the Uncanny X-Men #234 review did so well."
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone else posted a link to it too?
"the release of Falcon and the Winter Soldier four (Four?!? What is time?) years ago. "
Lol so true. Then again, I'm thinking something similar when the occasional pop culture reference from 2014/2015 comes up and thinking "That was TEN years ago? Damn..."
ReplyDeleteI’m only two episodes into YFNSpM but not for lack of admiration. The stories hit the sweet spot of a modern take on classic Spidey and I love, love, love the visual style from character design to blessedly “flat” animation.
Ooh, I’d love to see Hadestown. Enjoy. (And “What is time?” indeed.)
New stuff I’m watching includes Paradise, which has a big twist at the end of the first episode that reviewers are rightly if sometimes backhandedly praising for at least not coming halfway through the season or more. I first was of the mind that said twist made the show less interesting to me because the specific character dynamics set up were enough, but even with another rather predictable twist upon the big twist revealed in last week’s episode it’s still very much worth it for the cast. Despite a character’s awful taste in pop music being called out in-story, however, they’ve repeatedly hit the bullseye on songs I absolutely loathe, so kind-of like “RickRolling” it would be funny if it weren’t so exactly nails-on-the-chalkboard.