Monthly Update - December 2022

    Read 50 Graphic Novels (Last Year 41) (53+15=68)

• Superman Son of Kal-El Vol 2: The Rising HC
• Daredevil to Heaven Through Hell Vol 3 HC
• Gideon Falls Deluxe Book 2 HC
• Black Paradox
• Sensor
• Liminal Zone
• Immortal Hulk Vol 5 HC
• Art of Star Wars Visions
• Catwoman of East End Omnibus
• Friday Book 2 TP
• I Hate This Place Vol 1 TP
• Black Panther by Priest Vol 1 HC
• Magic Vol 3 HC
• Twig Vol 1 TP
• Seven Secrets Vol 3 TP

Comics I Read This Month (Last Year 396) (330+33+363)

• A Vicious Circle #1
• Action Comics #1050
• American Jesus Revelations #1-2
• Batman vs. Robin #4
• DCeased War of the Undead Gods #5
• Daredevil #6
• Dark Crisis Big Bang #1
• Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7
• Dark Web #1
• Fantastic Four #2
• Image Anthology #9
• Invincible Iron Man #1
• John Stewart the Emerald Knight #1
• Mary Jane & Black Cat #1
• Moon Knight #18
• Nice House on the Lake #12
• Night Club #1
• Nightwing #99
• Poison Ivy #7
• Punisher #8
• Radiant Pink #1
• Sandman Universe Dead Boy Detectives #1
• Secret Invasion #2
• She-hulk #9
• Spider-Man #3
• Star Trek Strange New Worlds The Illyrian Enigma #1
• Star Wars High Republic The Blade #1
• Stargirl The Lost Children #2
• Strange #9
• Superman Son of Kal-El #18
• The Variants #5
• Timeless #1

Favorite Comics This Year:

1. Nightwing
2. Superman Son of Kal-El
3. Dark Knights of Steel
4. Devil's Reign
5. DCeased War of the Undead Gods
6. Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2
7. Mary Jane & Black Cat Beyond
8. Astro City That Was Then
9. Daredevil
10. Moon Knight
11. Saga
12. Iron Cat
13. Star Trek Discovery Adventures in the 32nd Century
14. Catwoman Lonely City
15. Public Domain
16. Daredevil Woman Without Fear
17. Dark Ages
18. Dark Ride
19. The Variants
20. Savage Avengers
21. Death of Dr. Strange
22. Strange
23. I Hate This Place
24. Batman vs. Robin
25. Rogues
26. Eight Billion Genies
27. Spider-Punk
28. Spider-Man
29. She-Hulk
30. The Joker
31. Devil's Reign Moon Knight
32. Secret Invasion
33. Punisher
34. Punisher War Journal
35. DC Mech
36. Parker Girls
37. Hell to Pay
38. Amazing Fantasy
39. Nice House on the Lake
40. Batman
41. Fantastic Four
42. Amazing Spider-Man
43. Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
44. Justice League Road to Dark Crisis
45. Stargirl the Lost Children
46. Robin
47. Little Monsters
48. Joe Hill's Rain
49. Rogue Sun
50. Radiant Red
51. The Closet
52. Newburn 
53. Blade Vampire Nation
54. Robin & Batman
55. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Annual
56. Radiant Black
57. Alien
58. Star Wars Visions
59. Flawed
60. Minor Threats
61. American Jesus Revelation
62. Reckoning War Trial of the Watcher
63. Crossover
64. Poison Ivy
65. Rogues Gallery
66. The Phalanx
67. Stray Dogs Dog Days
68. Star Trek Picard Stargazer
69. DC vs. Vampires

TV I Watched This Month:

• Avenue 5 "Season 2"
• Doom Patrol "Season 4"
• Fleishman is in Trouble "Season 1"
• Ghosts "Season 2"
• Letterkenny "Season 11"
• Mythic Quest "Season 3"
• National Treasure Book of Secrets "Season 1"
• Sex Lives of College Girls "Season 2"
• So Help Me Todd "Season 1"
• Star Trek Prodigy "Season 1"
• Tulsa King "Season 1"
• Welcome to Chippendales "Season 1"
• Willow "Season 1"

Top TV This Year So Far:

1. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
2. Atlanta
3. She-Hulk
4. Ms. Marvel
5. The Afterparty
6. Peacemaker
7. What We Do In the Shadows
8. Better Call Saul
9. Sandman
10. Julia
11. Barry
12. The Bear
13. Only Murders in the Building
14. Harley Quinn
15. Cobra Kai
16. Reboot
17. Moon Knight
18. Hacks
19. Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
20. The Boys
21. Never Have I Ever
22. Mythic Quest
23. Avenue 5
24. Sex Lives of College Girls
25. Star Trek Discovery
26. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
27. Star Trek Picard
28. Star Trek Lower Decks
29. Severance
30. Grand Crew
31. Girls5Eva
32. Midnight Club
33. Minx
34. The Offer
35. Welcome to Chippendale's
36. Death to 2021
37. Quantum Leap
38. HALO
39. Last Week Tonight
40. Inside Job
41. Tulsa King
42. The Orville New Horizons
43. Evil
44. Rings of Power
45. Baymax
46. Murderville
47. Pam & Tommy
48. Rutherford Falls
49. Ghosts
50. Made for Love
51. Loot
52. So Help Me Todd
53. Archive 81
54. Stranger Things
55. Tales of the Jedi
56. Obi-Wan Kenobi
57. Book of Boba Fett
58. Andor
59. Reacher
60. Big Shot
61. The Watcher
62. Our Flag Means Death
63. Fleishman is in Trouble
64. Uncoupled
65. Bumper in Berlin
66. Physical
67. Dragon Prince
68. House of the Dragon
69. Killing It
70. Shoresy
71. Letterkenny
72. Umbrella Academy
73. Star Trek Prodigy
74. Bumper in Berlin
75. Woke
76. Russian Doll
77. Undone
78. Cat Burglar
79. Little Demon
80. Superman & Lois
81. The Resort
82. The Expanse
83. The Patient
84. Wolf Like Me
85. Westworld
86. We Own This City
87. Bust Down
88. Interview with the Vampire
89. From
90. WeCrashed
91. Slow Horses
92. Pieces of Her
93. Resident Alien
94. Upload
95. Maggie
96. The Outlaws
97. Welcome to Wrexham
98. American Horror Stories
99. American Horror Story
100. Bad Sisters
101. The Imperfects
102. The Woman Across The Street From The Girl in the Window
103. Paper Girls
104. League of Their Own
105. The Old Man
106. Players
107. Cyberpunk Edgerunners
108. Tokyo Vice
109. American Auto
110. Man Who Fell To Earth
111. Dahmer
112. The Baby
113. How We Roll
114. The Dropout
115. Bel-Air
116. Single Drunk Female
117. Legend of Vox Machina
118. Pivoting
119. Suspicion
120. Life & Beth
121. Joe vs. Carole
122. Echo 3
123. Outer Range
124. Roar
125. The Endgame
126. Naomi
127. Stay Close
128. How I Met Your Father
129. Welcome to Flatch

Movies I Watched This Month: 

• See How They Run
• Nobody
• Nightmare Alley
• Elf
• Nope
• Violent Night

Favorite New Movies This Year So Far:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Glass Onion
3. Barbarian
4. The Sea Beast
5. RRR
6. Black Panther Wakanda Forever
7. Weird
8. Violent Night
9. Enola Holmes 2
10. Prey
11. Nope
12. Confess, Fletch
13. Scream
14. Turning Red
15. Do Revenge
16. Three Thousand Years of Longing
17. Thor Love and Thunder
18. Top Gun Maverick
19. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
20. Vengeance
21. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
22. Lightyear
23. Incantation
24. Ride the Eagle
25. The Adam Project
26. Orphan First Kill
27. Bullet Train
28. The Gray Man
29. X
30. Hellraiser
31. Kimi
32. The Batman
33. Day Shift
34. Tragedy of Macbeth
35. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
36. Rosaline

Places I Ate This Month (Last Year 325): (412+29=441)

• Arby's
• Brotherton Black
• Chuy's
• Corner Bakery
• Deckhand Oyster Bar
• Franklin BBQ
• Golden Chick
• Hoody's Subs
• Jewboy Burgers (x3)
• Jewboy Subs
• KFC
• Liberty BBQ
• Mod Pizza
• P. Terry's (x2)
• Popeye's
• Smoking Beauty (x2)
• Smoky Mo's
• Texas Roadhouse
• Tony C's
• Torchy's Tacos
• Tso's Chinese Delivery
• Tumble 22
• Via313
• Whataburger
• Ziggy's Kielbasa House

Best of 2022 - Comics

Ongoing Comics:

Last year I read about 400 comics, and back during the pandemic, I read between 250-300. This year I read a little over 350, so more than the pandemic, but it was definitely a weaker year for comics.

In some ways. Last year was particularly good, I had trouble cutting down to a Top 10 ongoing and miniseries, and pretty easily got to Top 10 new series. This year my miniseries was over-flowing, but my ongoing couldn't get past 7, and four of those ended this year.  

Best Ongoing Series:

This year Savage Avengers closed out with a great finale, and it was #2 on my ongoing series last year. Immortal Hulk also ended last year.

Last year nine of the ten of my top 10 were on last year's list. This year, six of them were from last year's new series and the other one was on last year's top 10.

1. Nightwing (#88-99, Annual #1) (Last year #1 Best New)

Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo continue to deliver the best comic book on the stands, month-in and month-out. Progressive, funny, sweet, and action-packed, this year sees further development of the long-delayed and finally consummated Nightwing and Batgirl romance, the culmination of the Blockbuster plot in a very satisfying way, and then in an annual at the end of the year, the secret origin of Heartless, the next big bad who's been a part since the first issue of the run.

2. Superman Son of Kal-El (#6-18) (Last year #2 Best New)

As much as I love Nighwing, Superman Son of Kal-El is close to taking that #1 spot every month. Jon Kent as the queer young activist Superman is a thing I didn't know I needed, and this year's story, pitting him against Lex Luthor and Henry Bendix, is a great acceleration of what started in the first volume, and wraps up with this one. The return of Kal-El is also great, and seeing how Superman deals with his gay son is note perfect, but I have to admit I'm sad to see Jon returned to the secondary position that he'll be in with Kal back.

3. Moon Knight (#7-18, Annual #1) (Last year #8 Best New)

Jed McKay's Moon Knight has risen month by month to the top of my reading list. The inclusion of Tigra, his West Coast Avengers pal, as an inside man for T'Challa, was a nice touch. The Structure, a sort of pyramid scheme/mafia vampire group, makes for a great set of bad guys. And the annual, which brought in Werewolf By Night in an interesting and new way, was a great way to finish off the year.

4. Newburn (#3-7)

Chip Zdarsky's story of a fixer for the mafia who's an ex-cop continues to be great.

5.  The Joker (#11-15) (Last year #3 Best New)

The first two thirds of this series were good, but I was slowly losing some interest, and while it wrapped up solidly enough, I didn't love the finale as much as I loved the opening. That said, it's a solid finale to a series that was really more about Jim Gordon than the Joker. I just would have liked a stronger ending for Gordon's story, it all boiled down to Court of Owls/Bane/Joker more than I wanted at the end.

6. Amazing Spider-Man (#84-93, #88.Bey, #92.Bey)

This was #6 on last year's top 10 too. Most of the second half of the Spider-Man Beyond story was great, with especially great stuff featuring the Daughters of the Dragon and Monica Rambeau. It almost tanked because of the weird decision to turn Ben into a villain at the end, but on balance it was the best Spider-Man has been since Slott left.

7. Robin (#11-17) (Last year #7 Best New)

This was #7 on last year's best new series, and the  last third of this series giving Damian a new costume and a new standalone status quo was a solid read, leading nicely into Batman vs. Robin.

Best New Series:

1. Eight Billion Genies (#1-6)

Everyone on Earth gets a genie with one wish. Things go poorly. An amazing high concept with a really fun, wacky, apocalyptic interpretation courtesy of Charles Soule and Ryan Browne. I'm a little wary because their last collaboration, Curse Words, didn't quite come together at the end, but so far, this is great.

2. Public Domain (#1-5)

Chip Zdarsky writes and draws this story that's about superheroes, their creators, and the companies that own them, and it feels like the kind of inside baseball that's working out stories from his time as a creator. It's also got fascinating characters and Zdarsky's trademark weird sense of humor, and is so far a great ride.

3. Dark Ride (#1-3)

Speaking of great rides, this one from the team of Birthright posits a Disneyworld style park based on a man with more of a horror bent, and then goes a step further that his success came from a deal with devils. It's sort of about the legacy of Walt Disney if he was a secret satanist with magic powers, as viewed through the lens of his two screwed-up kids, and it's another great premise well-executed so far.

4. Strange (#1-9)

Jed MacKay is one of my favorite writers at Marvel right now, and his take on Clea as the new Sorceror Supreme is as good as his take on Moon Knight and Black Cat. Mixing in the departed Stephen Strange, a conspiracy-minded magic bad guy, and a new magic-inflected version of SHIELD makes for more worldbuilding fun alongside the usual great character work, dialogue, and moments I've come to expect.

5. She-Hulk (#1-9)

It is weird how much of this book is about resurrected D-lister Jack of Hearts. But after taking time to read it in a trade-sized chunk, I realized I really liked Rainbow Rowell's take on Jen, even if it's quite different from what we got in the TV series or in the comics up to this point. It's not up to the level of Soule's or Slott's run yet, but it's a solid offering for a favorite character of mine, and the artwork, by Roge Antonio, is fantastic.

6. Hell to Pay (#1-2)

Image launched a few books this year with great premises, and Hell to Pay is the last one on this list, with Charles Soule on the helm. Where Eight Billion genies has the weirder art of Ryan Browne, this has a more traditional style from Will Sliney. It's about a couple working for a magical illuminati, and has in its DNA a bit of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Thin Man, and the first three issues are a great trip.

7. Fantastic Four (#1-2)

Two issues in and Ryan North and Iban Coello's Fantastic Four compares easily to the kind of thing Busiek and Anderson were doing on Astro City, which is honestly about the tone I'd want for a perfect FF book. I'm a little wary of the dark secret at the heart of the book, and starting the ultimate team book by having everyone separated, but the first two show a real knack for two of the important romantic relationships in the book, not to mention humanistic science-fiction superheroics, and it's got me more interested in the FF than I have been in years.

8. Punisher (#1-8) (and Punisher War Journal)

OK, confession time, even with his very problematic nature, I've always been a Punisher fan. He's been co-opted by the military, the police, and right-wing douchebags for so long, and that probably had something to do with Jason Aaron and Marvel deciding to re-invent him as a sword-wielding badass leading the Hand, the evil ninjas from Daredevil. I don't know how sustainable it is long term, but it's been a fun action-adventure ride, and the painted style artwork from Jesus Saiz is exceptional.

9. Rogue Sun (#1-6)

Another entry in the Massive-Verse, this one is supernatural, about a son getting his estranged father's powers, set in New Orleans, and I think it is my favorite of the bunch. It's got gorgeous art from Abel. It is also very likely to wind up on my "reading in trade" because it seems that once these books get more than a half a dozen issues in I lose the thread, but I always enjoy it in larger chunks.

10. Spider-Man (#1-3)

I'm not sure where this is going to land next year. I will either like it a lot, as the finale of the Spider-Verse saga Dan Slott began, and returned to finish with Mark Bagley on art, or I'm going to be really annoyed with it. There are some choices made that I'm not crazy about, and it's less fun than the original Spider-Verse, but Slott has a handle on Peter and some of these other characters more than anyone who has followed him, and he thinks big, and Bagley, while sometimes a little plain, is an expert storyteller.

11. Poison Ivy (#1-7)

G. Willow Wilson's tale of a more villainous Ivy, estranged from Harley Quinn and deciding whether or not to commit genocide against the human race, is really compelling, and helped considerably by Marcio Takara's stunning artwork. It's not *quite* a Vertigo style riff, it's pretty comfortably inside the superhero/anti-hero mold, but the moment-to-moment writing of Ivy is really good and the body horror/plant horror stuff is really well done. I don't know if the second story arc will keep my attention, but so far it has it.

Miniseries:

1. Dark Knights of Steel #3-8, Tales From Three Kingdoms) (Last year best new #5)

Tom Taylor's DC Elseworlds taking the characters and turning it into a fantasy epic with more than a little Game of Thrones really kicked into high gear this year. I'm not yet ready to say it's as good as DCeased overall, or better than his high points like Nightwing and Son of Kal-El, but it's damn good.

2. Devil's Reign (#3-6, Omega)

Chip Zdarsky and Marco Chechetto did something impressive by giving me a line-wide crossover that had a really satisfying ending and never dropped the ball. The backdrop of a Mayoral race between Kingpin and Cage, the use of the Purple Children, the mix of legal maneuvering and superhero action? It was Civil War on a smaller scale, and ten times better than that comic ever was, and it also gave us a new Daredevil status quo that I love. I just wish I enjoyed the Thunderbolts follow-up a little more, because the re-invention of that team was really good.

3. Iron Cat (#1-5)

Black Cat was #3 ongoing last year, and it's nice to see Jed MacKay getting what I call the "Agents of Atlas" treatment where a creatively amazing but commercially disappointing property keeps getting more chances than it probably should. Because this miniseries, introducing an old partner now rival of Felicia, and teaming her up with Iron Man? It was a ton of fun, and I'm glad that all of it is being collected into an omnibus in 2023.

4. Star Trek Discovery Adventures in the 32nd Century (#1-4)

Licensed comics are notoriously spotty, but this series of one-shots focusing on a singular member of the crew of The Discovery was universally good. The reason it's so high on the list, though, is issue #1, entirely from the point of view of Grudge, Booker's cat. Just a delight all the way through.

5. Catwoman Lonely City (#1-4)

I am on record as thinking that artists-turned-writers often disappoint. I understand the transition, customer response is often writer-focused, you can turn in a lot more scripts than you can finished art, and creative control is absolutely a thing. But I'm always sad when a great artist becomes a good or mediocre writer, often reducing their artistic output to covers only or less. So it is especially good when one of the best artists in the industry (Cliff Chiang) also turns out to be a damn good writer, turning in a Dark Knight Returns for Catwoman, with a bit more of an Elmore Leonard touch than Frank Miller. I'm a sucker for the "one last heist" story, and this is a brilliant example of it with stunning art.

6. Daredevil Woman Without Fear (#1-3)

Elektra taking over for Daredevil gave us a really cool looking new costume and an interesting take on a character that I've enjoyed only sporadically. Her frustration with Matt's methods, combined with her weird sense of honor that forces her to stick to them, is a lot of fun. This establishing mini lead nicely into the new Daredevil run.

7. Dark Ages (#4-6) (Last year best new #4)

Tom Taylor can do no wrong for me at DC, but his Marvel track record is not too bad. All-New Wolverine remains a favorite, X-Men Red was cut tragically short. And Dark Ages is another alternate universe Tom Taylor story, the kind of thing he does best. Turning an apocalyptic event into something kind of hopeful, but also serving up plenty of danger, this is likely to get lost in the hype around DCeased, Dark Knights of Steel, and Nightwing, but it's a really good read.

8. The Variants (#1-5)

Gail Simone takes the multiverse approach to Jessica Jones, along with artist Phil Noto, and the result is a twisty noir mystery with superhero overtones, basically the kind of thing Jessica is perfect for. I admit I wanted more, but it's a solid done-in-one story. If Gail and Noto were to wind up doing more Jessica Jones in the future, though, I certainly wouldn't be sad about it.

9. Spider-Punk (#1-5)

One of the best characters to come out of Spider-Verse, the anti-fascist Hobie Brown Spider-Punk gets a posse here with Kamala Khan, Riri Williams, and Karl Morgenthau, and faces off against President Norman Osborn. Overtly political and clever, Cody Ziglar really nails the character here, and Justin Mason's character designs and punk rock art work really well. I wouldn't be sad to see more of these characters from this creative team either.

10. Batman vs. Robin (#1-4)

We're just over half way through Mark Waid's story, and it is weirdly supernatural, but I can't deny it's working. Pitting Damian against his father works, and bringing back Alfred (even though it was a tease, boo) gave some nice emotional heft to a lot of it. Also it's got art by Mahmud Asrar, so it looks great.

11. Rogues (#1-4)

See above for my thoughts on "one last heist" stories, add in Flash's Rogues Gallery (arguably the best one in comics, up there with Batman and Spider-Man), and mix in stunning artwork from Leomacs, and you get this gem of a story from Joshua Williamson. There are some weird choices here (Bronze Tiger was never a Rogue), but the characters are spot on, the heist plot suitably DC superhero-y, and the whole thing unfolds beautifully.

12. Secret Invasion (#1-2)

The first Secret Invasion was a mess, and I only half-read it. But the concept is sound, and Ryan North seems to be re-inventing the story, taking a cue from the international espionage of the upcoming Disney+ series. His take on Maria Hill as a smart, savvy CIA operative trying to stop a shapeshifting invasion is really good, and though I wish artist Frncesco Mobili was better at coherent and exciting action sequences, the first two issues have me interested to see where it goes.

13. Joe Hill's Rain (#1-5)

If I have a grudge against artists-turned-writers, I have an even bigger grudge against licensed books that use the author's name but are written by someone else. So it's surprising that Chris Ryall's adaptation of Joe Hill's horror short story was so effective for me. I'll admit that it sort of petered out by the end, but I don't know how else you would have ended it. It's a melancholy and engaging read.

14. Radiant Red (#1-5)

Another miniseries in the Massive-Verse, this one focusing on the more criminal Radiant Red. All of these read better collected, but the miniseries format serves it well, and this was a fun read.

15. Parker Girls (#1-3)

I forget how much I love Terry Moore's artwork, and most of what I remember about Strangers in Paradise was that it ran too long. But it turns out that a return to the call girl assassin ring Parker Girls was exactly what I wanted, and I'm enjoying this a lot. So much so it got me to read some of Moore's back catalog that I'd miss.

16. Nice House on the Lake #7-12) (Last year #6 best new)

I confess that James Tynion is starting to fall into the "great opener, poor ending" category as this one sort of whimpered out for me by the end, and reveals itself not to be a complete story, which is kind of disappointing. That said, the art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno is stunning, and I suspect when read all in one (or as the two volumes it will be by the end of the year) I'll enjoy it more.

17. The Closet (#1-3)

See above re: Tynion's endings. This has some amazing moment-to-moment writing, a really creepy premise, and needed at least one more issue to really land. But it's still a solid horror outing.

18. Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (including Justice League Road to Dark Crisis) (#1-7)

To be honest, like most crossovers, I thought this dissolved into nonsense by the end. But the first half really worked for me, and even if the ending was cosmic editorial gobbledygook, those moments carried it through for me.

19. Rogues Gallery (#1-4)

A story about a home invasion by disgruntled fanboys, this one was a pretty dark little crime tale. Yes, I picked it up in part because it's the name of my store.

Best Returning Series:

I did add a "returning series" for stuff that came back like Saga, or had a new volume like Daredevil and DCeased.

1. DCeased War of the Undead Gods (#1-4)

So glad to see the return of Tom Taylor's DC zombie series. This is the finale of the trilogy (yes, there were three series in volume 1), and Taylor is going big, with zombie Darkseid with a yellow lantern ring being only the tip of the iceberg. It's great, and I can't wait for the finale in 2023.

2. Daredevil (#1-6)

This was my #1 for last year, along with the first two issues of Devil's Reign. It remains a super good run, and the idea of Daredevil and Elektra as a team running the opposite number of the Hand is a really interesting new take on the characters, and is right in line with what Zdarsky has been doing. It's also taking advantage of the new Punisher status quo in interesting ways.

3. Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2 (#1-3)

I didn't expect a second series for this but it is a goddamned delight. Full of fun puns, outrageous ideas, and as great as the first one.

4. Saga (#55-60)

There was a loooong wait for this to come back, but it came back strong. I'm still not sure about the decision to kill off a major character for shock value, but it's working so far. I'm not as in love with it as I was when it went on hiatus, but it's still great.

5. Alien (#1-2)

This one I'm not sure about, I tend to lose interest in them, but the first two issues, focusing on an android kill squad on a suicide mission to an alien-infested planet, is really interesting.

Best One-Shots:

This format had a good year.  It's rare to get this close to a top 10.

1. Mary Jane & Black Cat Beyond

So much fun. There's a miniseries coming tying into Dark Web, and it's honestly the thing I'm most looking forward to in that crossover. It's Jed McKay, which is worth noting as he's written maybe the best Black Cat ever.

2. Astro City That Was Then

With big new collections *finally* available, we get this nice little one-shot that reintroduces the world and its concepts for new readers as well as a solid story for those who have missed getting new Astro City.

3. Devil's Reign Moon Knight

Most of the Devil's Reign tie-ins and mini-series lost my interest, but this one-shot, putting Moon Knight into prison, where his crazy and brutality is sort of an asset, made for a good read.

4. Amazing Fantasy #1000

This anthology of Spider-Man stories had some real gems in it, from Dan Slott, Neil Gaiman, and Kurt Busiek, and really nice art, with Michael Cho a real standout.

5. Reckoning War Trial of the Watcher

I didn't really read Reckoning War, but this one-shot, which is basically "What If the Watcher Hadn't Interfered with Galactus?" is a really good read and one of the best What Ifs produced in quite some time.

6. Timeless 2022

Last year the Timeless special, also written by Jed MacKay, felt more like an ad for upcoming Marvel books, even though I enjoyed it. This year it had sprinkles of visual teases for next year, but it also had a really good story pitting Kang against a foe that challenged him, without punking him out or making him any less the powerful conqueror and time-traveler that he should be. I am crossing all my fingers and toes that MacKay is the next writer for Avengers, which promises to pick up on what was established here.

7. Blade Vampire Nation

This is a weird one, as Mark Russell gives us a political thriller/assassination story set in Dracula's new Russian nation with Blade as the sheriff. It's a spinoff of Aaron's Avengers, which I don't really like, but if there were more stories in this setting by this creative team, I'd totally read them.

8. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Annual

What a fun anthology one-shot this was, all tied into the Wild Beyond the Witchlight setting from Dungeons & Dragons.

9. Star Wars Visions

Picking up on one of the best stories from the Star Wars Visions series, this was a solid one-off.

10. The Phalanx

I did not think I had any interest in a riff on Youngblood and the like, but Jonathan Luna has a history of doing fun stuff with weird concepts and this one-off was no different.

Good Series I'm Waiting on Trades for:

I added a category for "good series I stopped reading" because there are some books that just need bigger chunks to read in, and so I've switched to trade collections on some series.

1. I Hate This Place

2. Radiant Black

3. Crossover (Last year #7 ongoing)

4. DC vs. Vampires

5. Little Monsters

6. Twig

7. Star Trek

8. Bone Orchard Mythos Ten Thousand Black Feathers

9. Skybound Presents

10. Sins of the Black Flamingo

11. New Masters

12. Star Trek The Mirror War (Last year #9 best new)

13. Stillwater (Last year #8 ongoing)

14. Department of Truth (Last year #10 ongoing)

Best of 2022 - Graphic Novels

I bought 37 graphic novels this year and I've read 27 of them so far, which is better than I did last year keeping up. I only have 5 left unread from 2020-2021, although I do also have some more from 2019 and before to read. All in all, I read about 90 graphic novels this year, most of them bigger hardcovers, some of them in serialized format. That's double the number I read last year, so making good progress on my stack.

If you wanted to get a sense of what I think was the best of 2022, and you're only buying graphic novels, here are my recommendations, broken down by creative team a bit:

1. Tom Taylor (Superman Son of Kal-El Vol 1-2, Knights of Steel Vol 1, Seven Secrets Vol 3, Nightwing Fear State & Vol 2, Batman The Detective)
2. Ed Brubaker (Reckless by Brubaker & Phillips (two volumes out this year, plus the three from years before, and Friday Vol 2 TP)
3. Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil Vol 2-3 HC, Daredevil Woman Without Fear, Devil's Reign, Newburn Vol 1)
4. Jed MacKay (Moon Knight Vol 1-2, Death of Doctor Strange, Strange Vol 1)
5. James Tynion (Batman Vol 5, The Joker Vol 2, Something Is Killing the Children 4-5, The Closet, Nice House on the Lake Vol 1)
6. Junji Ito (This year's were Liminal Zone and Black Paradox)
7. Jeff Lemire (Ascender HC, Gideon Falls Vol 2 HC, Mazebook, Little Monsters Vol 1, World of Black Hammer Vol 4, Bone Orchard Vol 1 The Passageway)
8. Kurt Busiek (Astro City Metrobook Vol 1-2)
9. Darwyn Cooke (Parker Martini Edition Last Call HC, Catwoman East End Omnibus)

My Top 50 Favorite Graphic Novels of 2022:
(Published in 2022)

1. Parker Martini Edition Last Call HC
2. Reckless (Ghost in You HC & Follow Me Down)
3. Nightwing Fear State HC & Vol 2 HC
4. Superman: Son of Kal-el Vol. 1-2 HC
5. Knights of Steel Vol 1 HC
6. Catwoman East End Omnibus
7. Me You Love in the Dark TP
8. Milestone Compendium One
9. Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky: to Heaven Through Hell Vol. 2-3 HC
10. Astro City Metrobook Vols 1-2 TP
11. Savage Avengers Vol. 5 TP
12. Moon Knight by Lemire & Smallwood Complete TP
13. Moon Knight Vol 1-2 TP
14. Death of Doctor Strange TP
15. Strange Vol 1 TP
16. Friday Book 2 TP
17. Newburn Vol 1 TP
18. She-Hulk Vol 1 TP Jen's Back
19. The Nice House on the Lake Vol 1 TP
20. Good Asian Vol 2 TP
21. The Sandman Book 1-4 TP
22. Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond Vol. 1-4 TP
23. Batman Vol 2 Joker War TP
24. Batman Joker War Saga TP
25. Batman Vol 5 Fear State HC
26. Batman The Detective HC
27. Robin Vol. 1-2 HC
28. Ascender HC
29. Gideon Falls Vol 2 HC
30. World of Black Hammer Library Edition Vol 4 HC
31. Little Monsters Vol 1 TP
32. Halo & Sprocket Complete Color Edition TP
33. Usagi Yojimbo Origins Vol 2-4 TP
34. Many Deaths of Laila Starr TP
35. Moon Knight Omnibus Vol. 1-2 HC
36. Immortal Hulk Vol 5 HC
37. Black Paradox/Liminal Zone
38. Swing Tp Vol 05
39. I Hate It Here Vol 1 TP
40. Chu Tp Vol 02
41. Mr. Lovenstein Presents Failure HC
42. Curse Words Omnibus
43. Radiant Black Vol 2 TP
44. Twig Vol 1 TP
45. Magic Vol 2-3 HC
46. Crossover Vol 2 TP
47. The Flintstones HC
48. Fire Power by Kirkman & Samnee Hc Book 01
49. Bone Orchard Vol 1 The Passageway HC
50. Die HC

Other Graphic Novels I Read This Year:

Alien Dead Orbit TP

All New Wolverine HC

Avatar Imbalance Library Edition

Avatar North and South Library Edition

Babyteeth Vol 2 HC

Beasts of Burden Occupied Territory HC

Black Hammer Visions Vol 1 HC

Clementine Vol 1 TP

Daredevil by Charles Soule Omnibus

Ether Library Edition HC

Fine Print Vol 1 TP

Hack Slash Vol 1-2 HC

Rachel Rising Omnibus

Rat Queens Vol 3 HC

Seven Secrets Vol 3 TP

Spider-Man Life Story HC

Stillwater Vol 2 TP

The Kitchen TP

The Silver Coin Vol 2-3 TP

Tuki Vol 1 Fight for Fire TP

Tuki Vol 2 Fight for Family TP

World of Black Hammer Library Edition Vol 2-3 HC

Best of 2022 - Boardgames

Last year I played 20 games that were new to me, 46 different games, and 60 times. This year, I played a *lot* more, in part thanks to Boardgame Arena's online tools, but in part due to more game nights and a super-productive BGG Con, plus a visit to GAMA and GenCon. All told, I played 94 different games, 250+ times, with 70 of them being new to me. However... 82 of those plays and 3 of those new games were on BGA, but still, that's 170+ plays, 67 new games, and over 90 different games.

Top 20 Favorite New Games:

1. 7 Wonders Architects (59 plays, 14 of them in person, it's fair to call this my favorite new game of 2022)
2. Dice Throne Adventures
3. Birdwatcher
4. Marvel Dice Throne
5. Canvas
6. My Father's Work
7. Flamecraft
8. Starship Captains
9. Trekking Through History
10. Vengeance Roll & Fight
11. Eternal Palace
12. Framework 
13. Namiji (and Aquamarine Expansion)
14. Marvel Remix
15. Wormholes
16. Cubitos
17. Guild of Merchant Explorers
18. My Shelfie
19. First Rat
20. Vivid Memories

Other New Games, In Order of Favorites:

1. Aeon's End
2. Radlands
3. Azul Master Chocolatier
4. Spirit Island
5. Clank!
6. Dungeons, Dice & Danger
7. Zombicide Gear Up
8. Everdell
9. Roll Camera!
10. Quantum
11. Call to Adventures Epic Origins
12. Saloon Tycoon
13. First Empires
14. Dragon Parks 
15. Arch Ravels
16. Monolyths 
17. Project L
18. Oh My Ring
19. Skull Canyon Ski Fest
20. Don't Llama Dice
21. Ready Set Bet
22. Mists Over Carcassonne
23. Horizons of Spirit Island
24. Star Trek Five Year Mission
25. Decorum
26. Kites
27. Dead Men Tell No Tales
28. Elector Counts
29. Yak
30. Floriferous
31. Wavelength
32. Ted Lasso Party Game
33. Big Monster (BGA only)
34. Unicorn Stew
35. Loot of Lima
36. Gingerbread House
37. Zoff in Buffalo
38. Can't Stop (BGA only)
39. Happy Dim Sum
40. Scout 
41. Cover Your Kingdom
42. Small Islands
43. SPECTRE the boardgame 
44. Bullet❤️
45. Twilight Inscription
46. Magic Maze
47. Firefly Misbehavin
48. Hey Yo
49. Hive Pocket
50. Train of Thought

Favorite Games:

1. Star Realms (mostly app play)
2. Azul (Mostly on BGA)
3. Barenpark (BGA only)
4. Deep Sea Adventure
5. PARKS
6. Horrified Universal Monsters
7. Space Base
8. DC Comics DBG
9. TEN
10. Dinosaur Island Rawr n Write
11. Dice Forge
12. Super Skill Pinball: 4Cade
13. Kingdomino
14. Caper Europe
15. Terrors of London
16. Isle of Cats
17. Celestia
18. Downforce
19. Dune Imperium
20. Marvel Champions
21. Here to Slay
22. Just One
23. King of New York/King of Tokyo
24. Quacks of Quedlinberg

My "to play" list of games I have

1. Abstract Academy
2. Canopy
3. Chronicles of Avel
4. CULTivate
5. Dragon Prince Battlecharged
6. Galaxy Trucker
7. GI Joe Mission Critical
8. Meeples & Monsters
9. On Tour
10. Pandemic Legacy Season 0
11. Roll Player Adventurs
12. Rolling Realms
13. Starfinder Pirates of Skydock
14. Truffle Shuffle
15. Unmatched (lots of them)

My "to play" list of games I have preordered:

1. Age of Comics The Golden Years
2. DC DBG Injustice
3. Motor City
4. Sagrada Artisans
5. Star Realms Rise of Empire
6. The Fox Experiment

My "to play" list of games I don't own

1. Alien Fate of the Nostromo
2. Ark Nova
3. Bequest
4. Between Two Cities Essential Edition
5. Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Capers
6. Cakes!
7. Cartographers Heroes
8. Chai
9. Chronicles of Crime 2400
10. Crime Zoom
11. Dinosaur World
12. Dune War for Arrakis
13. D&D Heroes of Undermountain
14. Endless Winter Paleoamericans
15. Forsaken
16. Getaway Driver
17. GI Joe DBG
18. Heat Pedal to the Metal
19. Hibachi
20. It's A Wonderful Kingdom
21. Libertalia Winds of Galecrest
22. Living Forest
23. Monuments
24. Nightmare Productions
25. Origins First Builders
26. Paint the Roses
27. Skate Summer
28. Skull
29. Skymines
30. So You've Been Eaten
31. Sobek
32. The Spill
33. Stella Dixit Universe
34. Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition
35. Tusk Surviving the Ice Age
36. Unfathomable
37. Verdant
38. The Wolves
39. Wonder Book

Best of 2022 - Movies

Last year, I watched 126 movies, 58 of which were rewatches, 23 of which were new to me, and 46 of which were new releases. This year I watched 87 movies, 37 of which were new releases, 24 of which were new to me (8 of which were terrible movies Les and Nick made me watch for TV Dudes Patreon), and 26 were rewatches.

Top 15 New Movies This Year:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Glass Onion
3. Barbarian
4. The Sea Beast
5. RRR
6. Black Panther Wakanda Forever
7. Weird
8. Violent Night
9. Enola Holmes 2
10. Prey
11. Nope
12. Confess, Fletch
13. Scream
14. Turning Red
15. Do Revenge

Other New Movies I Saw This Year: 

1. Three Thousand Years of Longing
2. Thor Love and Thunder
3. Top Gun Maverick
4. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
5. Vengeance
6. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
7. Lightyear
8. Incantation
9. Ride the Eagle
10. The Adam Project
11. Orphan First Kill
12. Bullet Train
13. See How They Run
14. The Gray Man
15. X
16. Hellraiser
17. Kimi
18. The Batman
19. Day Shift
20. Tragedy of Macbeth
21. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
22. Rosaline

Movies That I Saw For the First Time This Year:

1. tick, tick... BOOM!
2. The Night House
3. Nobody
4. Scream 4
5. The Forever Purge
6. The Descent
7. Under the Shadow
8. Nightmare Alley
9. Pig
10. The Sandlot
11. Unstoppable
12. Orphan
13. Days of Thunder
14. The Faculty
15. Casper
16. My Boyfriend's Back
17. Robin Hood
18. Karate Kid Part III
19. Stolen
20. Primal
21. Between Worlds
22. Outcast
23. Arsenal
24. Jiu Jitsu

Best of 2022 - Food

Last year I ate out about 300 times, this year...about 450. I need to cut back a lot next year.

These are my top 20 favorites, the ones that are accessible, affordable *and* delicious enough that I went there numerous times during the year. 

Favorites:

1. Jewboy Burgers (still my favorite burger place, I ate there at least once a month, sometimes twice)
2. Julie's Noodles (soup dumplings, cucumbers, scallion pancakes, pretty much every month)
3. Hopdoddy (pricey but always good, and the burger of the month usually gets my attention)
4. Jewboy Subs (I love Jewboy Burgers, but Subs became a favorite this year too, in no small part due to monthly specials and that smoked meatloaf sandwich)
5. Tso Chinese Delivery (This is my favorite Chinese delivery place)
6. Ziggy's Kielbasa (Amazing kielbasa and pierogis, it's way up in Leander but delicious)
7. Tumble 22 (now that this is closer, I eat there every month at least)
8. Chuy's (Yes, I'm a basic bitch for tex-mex)
9. Mod Pizza (build your own pizzas, a favorite of my son)
10. Smokin Beauty (pretty good Vietnamese/BBQ mash-up, close to the house, I should eat here more often)
11. Deckhand Oyster Bar (love their crawfish etoufee, we'll sometimes escape work for a sitdown lunch here)
12. Liberty Barbecue (maybe my favorite chicken fried steak, only on Thursdays)
13. Texas Roadhouse (best affordable steak, great sides, delicious bread)
14. Torchy's Tacos (I ate this less this year, but I still like the over-stuffed not really tacos tacos here)
15. Brotherton Black BBQ (the brisket reuben and grilled cheese put this on my regular rotation this year)
16. Jack Allen's Kitchen (really delicious local southern comfort food)
17. Pinthouse Pizza (close to the store and really good, I'm surprised I don't go here more)
18. Kerbey Lane Cafe (not 24 hours, but still one of the few places to get late night food)
19. Sushi Nini (man am I glad to have these guys back, it's recent so I only had them twice this year, but I expect it'll be more next year)
20. El Dorado Cafe (I found this gem late this year, I expect I'll eat there a lot more in 2023)

I also kept track of where I ate lunch this year, and these are my favorites, based on how often I ate there. It's not just quality of food, here, but also closeness to work, where I'm usually eating lunch. I doubled my options this year.

Lunch Favorites:

1. P. Terry's (still my favorite quick burger place, and the only place I ate every month besides Jewboy Burgers)
2. Culver's (good burgers, good cheese curds, near my house *and* my work)
3. Popeye's (my favorite fast food fried chicken by a mile, and I love their sides)
4. Raising Cane's (just chicken strips and delicious sauce)
5. Whataburger (I don't *love* Whataburger, but it's in the parking lot of my store, so...)
6. Smokey Mo's (see above about Whataburger, it's in the same complex for lunch)
7. Vera Cruz (really good tacos, near the store, lunch only)
8. Arby's (curly fries. That is all)
9. Tarka (surprisingly good fast casual Indian food)
10. Wingstop (Solid wings with lots of flavors)
11. Wiseguys (chili dogs, beef sandwiches and other good Chicago food)
12. Cotton Patch Cafe (good fast southern food)
13. Fire Bowl (decent stir fry)
14. Firehouse Subs (like their meatball subs)
15. Juarez Mexican Bakery (good, cheap tex-mex, located near the store, but closes early)
16. Taco Pelenque (solid enough fast Mexican food)
17. Waffle Love (really good chicken and waffles and waffle grilled cheese)

Other places I like but only went to a couple times: Arepitas (Aleida's is better, but much further away), Chi'lantro (good, just a rare craving), Garbo's (delicious but so expensive), Mighty Fine Burgers (always solid), Rodeo Goat (delicious burgers in Dallas), and Short Stop (good place to get a cheap chili burger),

I didn't fully avoid chain fast food this year, had a couple meals at KFC (I wish someone else had chicken pot pie), McDonald's (sometimes you just need a comfort burger or chicken nuggets), Wendy's (cheap combos), and Sonic (chili cheese dogs and delicious drinks).

Then there were the places that I ate at once or twice, due to either it's location (downtown especially) or price, or because it's too new to have tried many times. This list is purely down to my favorites, where I'd eat if location and price were no object. 

I didn't make it to Estancia this year, so I'll likely do that in 2023. 

Rare Treats:

1. Kemuri Tatsu-Ya (my favorite restaurant in Austin)
2. Franklin BBQ (my parents get it for Christmas, and sometimes I'll put together an outing with a group of friends, order ahead of time, and we eat at my place. The line is for tourists or special occasions only)
3. Cork & Barrel (upscale Irish pub food in Round Rock, pricey but delicious)
4. Valentina's Tex-Mex (so far south, sells out often, but when I can manage it, it's always amazing)
5. Salty Sow (fantastic happy hour)
6. Gus's Fried Chicken (My favorite fried chicken, and I'm happy to learn there's one in Dallas when I go to BGG Con)
7. Interstellar BBQ (Really good BBQ, not as long of a wait as Franklin, easier to get to than Valentina's, but pricey)
8. Tiki Tatsu-Ya (more expensive and not as good as Kemuri, but a good show)
9. Culinary Dropout (overpriced, but their charcuterie plates, especially the grilled bread, are really good)

Best of 2022 - TV

Every year gets better. For television. Last I year I watched 73 shows and had 21 that I didn't finish. This year I had 87 and 44 that I didn't finish. 

Of the 15 shows in my Top 10 new last year (I combined Marvel and Star Wars into one entry, and I'll do the same this year), none of the Marvel or Star Wars shows had a second season in 2022. Midnight Mass and Cowboy Bebop were both one season shows from Netflix (Bebop was canceled, Midnight Mass was planned), Top Chef Family Style was a one season show so far, Resident Alien lost my interest, and Only Murders in the Building stayed in my top 10, Sex Lives of College Girls stayed in my top 20, and Physical and Rutherford fell outside the top 20, mostly because the offerings this year were so good.

Yes, I know about Reservation Dogs and Our Flag Means Death. I gave both second chances after they failed to impress me, and I finished Our Flag and still can't get into Reservation Dogs. I'm glad people love them, they're just not for me. And yes, I know everyone loved Andor and I know why, but it wasn't even my favorite Star Wars show this year, and none of them cracked the top 50.

In the Top 20, 3 came from Disney+ (6 less than last year), 3 came from Netflix (the same as last year), 5 from networks and Hulu (same as last year), 1 from Apple+ (1 less than last year, 1 from AMC+ (more than last year), 1 from Prime (more than last year), 1 from Paramount+ (more than last year) and 5 from HBO Max (4 more than last year). 

Network Breakdown:

Apple+
Even without Ted Lasso, Apple+ had 6 shows I liked, including more Physical and Mythic Quest, and new ones in The Afterparty, Severance, Loot, and The Patient.

Disney+
Disney+ had 9 shows for me, but they were mostly different flavors of Marvel and Star Wars. 

HBO Max
HBO Max came on strong this year with a 1/4 of my Top 20, and 11 really good shows. Last year I wasn't sure it was worth the $15/month, but at this point, it was well worth it. Wonder if Zaslav will change all that in 2023.

Hulu
Hulu had 13 shows, less than the 23 from last year, and of those, 4 are finished (Atlanta, Woke, Pam & Tommy, The Orville). Then again they have 1/4 of my top 20 as well, although that's a big drop off from the number of shows I was watching. 

Netflix
Netflix had 16 shows, 5 less than last year, and of those, it seems unlikely Cat Burglar or Russian Doll will be back, and Midnight Club and Archive 81 are both, sadly, canceled. 

Paramount+
Paramount+ came on strong this year, not just with a really solid slate of Star Trek (5 shows!) but with 7 other shows, two of which are from CBS, but most of which are originals for the network. The Good Fight didn't make my list, but I might finish it out. 

Peacock
Peacock had 6 shows, most of which were either just OK, canceled, or moved to a new network (RIP Rutherford Falls, see you on Netflix, Girls5Eva). But they're the only place to watch the new Quantum Leap, which I'm really enjoying, which will keep it on my list until hopefully another show comes along. 

Prime
Prime continues to be underwhelming overall, but they delivered some great TV this year, with 6 shows I'd call good to great.

Most of the streaming services took a notable uptick this year, with HBO Max, Paramount+, and Apple+ in particular being notable in terms of quality. Netflix and Hulu, however, while still being worth the money, both lost a ton of viewing time to their challengers. Streaming is likely to change a lot in the next year or two, I'll be interested to see who's still standing by 2025. Based on this year, Paramount+, Apple+, and Disney+ are my must-haves that keep improving, and I suspect HBO Max and Netflix will continue to decline in 2023. Hulu remains solid with a decent back catalog, FX shows, and impressive originals, and Prime is moving up with new seasons of Rings of Power and The Boys (and its upcoming spinoff), and now Mike Flanagan's Dark Tower and Henry Cavill's Warhammer 40K in development. 2023 could be a slower year for them, because I doubt any of those will show until 2024, but we'll see what they have on deck.

One thing is for sure, though, I won't be sorry to see Peacock go, as they've lost all the shows I loved and so they basically at this point are only an obstacle to Hulu or Netflix having Quantum Leap.

1. HBO Max (#6 last year)
2. Apple+ (#5 last year)
3. Disney+ (#1 last year)
4. Hulu (#3 last year)
5. Netflix (#2 last year)
6. Paramount+
7. Prime
8. Peacock (#4 last year)

Top 10 Ongoing Shows:

Interesting to see how many of these have been gone for one, two, or in one case four years. Better Call Saul, Harley Quinn, and Hacks jumped way up for me. The first one is the big surprise, because I've always loved it, but I guess there was just a lot of competition in 2020.

1. Atlanta (FX/HULU) (#2 in 2018)
2. What We Do In the Shadows (FX/HULU) (#2 last year)
3. Better Call Saul (AMC+) (#38 in 2020)
4. Barry (HBO Max) (#5 in 2019)
5. Only Murders in the Building (HULU) (#1 new last year)
6. Harley Quinn (HBO Max) (#47 in 2020)
7. Cobra Kai (NETFLIX) (#4 last year)
8. Hacks (HBO Max) (#32 last year)
9. The Boys (Prime) (#5 in 2020)
10. Never Have I Ever (Netflix) (#5 new in 2020)

Top 10 New Shows:

1. Star Trek Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) 
2. Marvel Shows (She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy & Werewolf by Night Specials) (Disney+)
3. The Afterparty (Apple+)
4. Peacemaker (HBO Max)
5. Sandman (Netflix)
6. Julia (HBO Max)
7. The Bear (Hulu)
8. Reboot (Hulu)
9. Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix)
10. Severance (Apple+)

Just Outside the Top 10:

I know, I'm cheating even more than usual, but this was such a good year for TV. Any of these shows would have been top 10/20 in a slower year. If I extended out to Top 20 on New and Ongoing, here's roughly where everything lands

1. Mythic Quest (#11 on Ongoing)
2. Avenue 5 (#12 on Ongoing)
3. Sex Lives of College Girls (#13 on Ongoing)
4. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (#14 on Ongoing)
5. Grand Crew (#11 on New)
6. Star Trek (Discovery S4, Picard S2, Lower Decks S2, Prodigy S1) (#15 Ongoing, big huge cheater pick)
7. Girls5Eva (#16 Ongoing)
8. Midnight Club (#12 on New)
9. Minx (#13 on New)
10. The Offer (#14 on New)
11. Welcome to Chippendale's (#15 on New)
12. Death to 2021 (#16 on New)
13. Quantum Leap (#17 on New)
14. HALO (#18 on New)
15. Tulsa King (#19 on New)
16. Last Week Tonight (#17 Ongoing)
17. Inside Job (#18 Ongoing)
18. Rings of Power (#20 New)
19. Pam & Tommy (#21 New)
20. Murderville (#22 New)
21. The Orville New Horizons (#19 Ongoing)
22. Evil (#20 Ongoing)

Complete List of Shows:

1. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
2. Atlanta
3. She-Hulk
4. Ms. Marvel
5. The Afterparty
6. Peacemaker
7. What We Do In the Shadows
8. Better Call Saul
9. Sandman
10. Julia
11. Barry
12. The Bear
13. Only Murders in the Building
14. Harley Quinn
15. Cobra Kai
16. Reboot
17. Moon Knight
18. Hacks
19. Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
20. The Boys
21. Never Have I Ever
22. Mythic Quest
23. Avenue 5
24. Sex Lives of College Girls
25. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
26. Severance
27. Grand Crew
28. Star Trek Discovery
29. Star Trek Picard
30. Star Trek Lower Decks
31. Star Trek Prodigy
32. Girls5Eva
33. Midnight Club
34. Minx
35. The Offer
36. Welcome to Chippendale's
37. Death to 2021
38. Quantum Leap
39. HALO
40. Tulsa King
41. Last Week Tonight
42. Inside Job
43. Rings of Power
44. Pam & Tommy
45. Murderville
46. The Orville New Horizons
47. Evil
48. Baymax
49. Rutherford Falls
50. Ghosts
51. Made for Love
52. Loot
53. Kids in the Hall
54. So Help Me Todd
55. Archive 81
56. Stranger Things
57. Tales of the Jedi
58. Obi-Wan Kenobi
59. Book of Boba Fett
60. Andor
61. Reacher
62. Mayor of Kingstown
63. Big Shot
64. The Watcher
65. Our Flag Means Death
66. Fleishman is in Trouble
67. Uncoupled
68. Physical
69. Dragon Prince
70. Killing It
71. Shoresy
72. Letterkenny
73. Umbrella Academy
74. Bumper in Berlin
75. Woke
76. Russian Doll
77. Undone
78. Cat Burglar
79. The Resort
80. The Expanse
81. The Patient
82. Wolf Like Me
83. Pieces of Her
84. Upload
85. Maggie
86. The Outlaws
87. The Woman Across The Street From The Girl in the Window

Shows I Didn't Finish:

1. House of the Dragon
2. Little Demon
3. Superman & Lois
4. Westworld
5. We Own This City
6. Bust Down
7. Reservation Dogs
8. Interview with the Vampire
9. From
10. WeCrashed
11. Slow Horses
12. Resident Alien
13. Welcome to Wrexham
14. American Horror Stories
15. American Horror Story
16. Bad Sisters
17. The Imperfects
18. Paper Girls
19. League of Their Own
20. The Old Man
21. Players
22. Cyberpunk Edgerunners
23. Tokyo Vice
24. American Auto
25. Man Who Fell To Earth
26. Dahmer
27. The Baby
28. How We Roll
29. The Dropout
30. Bel-Air
31. Single Drunk Female
32. Legend of Vox Machina
33. Pivoting
34. Suspicion
35. Life & Beth
36. Joe vs. Carole
37. Echo 3
38. Outer Range
39. Roar
40. The Endgame
41. Naomi
42. Stay Close
43. How I Met Your Father
44. Welcome to Flatch

Monthly Update - November 2022

   Read 50 Graphic Novels (Last Year 41) (51+2=53)

• Newburn Vol 1 TP
• Little Monsters Vol 1 TP

Comics I Read This Month (Last Year 396) (295+25=330)

• Batman vs. Robin #3
• Blade Vampire Nation #1
• DCeased War of the Undead Gods #4
• Daredevil #5
• Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #6
• Dark Knights of Steel #8
• Eight Billion Genies #6
• Fantastic Four #1
• Hell to Pay #1
• Moon Knight #17
• Nice House on the Lake #11
• Nightwing #98
• Nightwing 2022 Annual #1
• Parker Girls #3
• Poison Ivy #6
• Punisher #7
• Secret Invasion #1
• She-Hulk #7-8
• Spider-Man #2
• Star Trek Picard Stargazer #3
• Stargirl The Lost Children #1
• Strange #8
• Superman Son of Kal-El #17
• Wildcats #1

Favorite Comics This Year:

1. Nightwing
2. Superman Son of Kal-El
3. Dark Knights of Steel
4. Devil's Reign
5. DCeased War of the Undead Gods
6. Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2
7. Mary Jane & Black Cat Beyond
8. Astro City That Was Then
9. Daredevil
10. Moon Knight
11. Saga
12. Iron Cat
13. Star Trek Discovery Adventures in the 32nd Century
14. Catwoman Lonely City
15. Public Domain
16. Daredevil Woman Without Fear
17. Dark Ages
18. Dark Ride
19. The Variants
20. Savage Avengers
21. Death of Dr. Strange
22. Strange
23. I Hate This Place
24. Batman vs. Robin
25. Rogues
26. Eight Billion Genies
27. Spider-Punk
28. Spider-Man
29. She-Hulk
30. The Joker
31. Devil's Reign Moon Knight
32. Secret Invasion
33. Punisher
34. Punisher War Journal
35. DC Mech
36. Parker Girls
37. Hell to Pay
38. Amazing Fantasy
39. Nice House on the Lake
40. Batman
41. Fantastic Four
42. Amazing Spider-Man
43. Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
44. Justice League Road to Dark Crisis
45. Stargirl the Lost Children
46. Robin
47. Little Monsters
48. Joe Hill's Rain
49. Rogue Sun
50. Radiant Red
51. The Closet
52. Newburn 
53. Blade Vampire Nation
54. Robin & Batman
55. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Annual
56. Radiant Black
57. Alien
58. Star Wars Visions
59. Flawed
60. Minor Threats
61. American Jesus Revelation
62. Reckoning War Trial of the Watcher
63. Crossover
64. Poison Ivy
65. Rogues Gallery
66. The Phalanx
67. Stray Dogs Dog Days
68. Star Trek Picard Stargazer
69. DC vs. Vampires

TV I Watched This Month:

• Andor "Season 1"
• Atlanta "Season 4"
• Avenue 5 "Season 2"
• Bumper in Berlin "Season 1"
• Dragon Prince "Season 4"
• Echo 3 "Season 1"
• Fleishman is in Trouble "Season 1"
• Ghosts "Season 2"
• Inside Job "Season 2"
• Interview with the Vampire "Season 1"
• Mythic Quest "Season 3"
• Quantum Leap "Season 1"
• Reboot "Season 1"
• Sex Lives of College Girls "Season 2"
• So Help Me Todd "Season 1"
• Star Trek Prodigy "Season 1"
• Tulsa King "Season 1"
• Wednesday "Season 1"
• Welcome to Chippendales "Season 1"

Top TV This Year So Far:

1. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
2. Atlanta
3. She-Hulk
4. Ms. Marvel
5. The Afterparty
6. Peacemaker
7. What We Do In the Shadows
8. Better Call Saul
9. Sandman
10. Julia
11. Barry
12. The Bear
13. Only Murders in the Building
14. Harley Quinn
15. Cobra Kai
16. Reboot
17. Moon Knight
18. Hacks
19. Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
20. The Boys
21. Never Have I Ever
22. Mythic Quest
23. Avenue 5
24. Sex Lives of College Girls
25. Star Trek Discovery
26. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
27. Star Trek Picard
28. Star Trek Lower Decks
29. Severance
30. Grand Crew
31. Girls5Eva
32. Midnight Club
33. Minx
34. The Offer
35. Welcome to Chippendale's
36. Death to 2021
37. Quantum Leap
38. HALO
39. Last Week Tonight
40. Inside Job
41. Tulsa King
42. The Orville New Horizons
43. Evil
44. Rings of Power
45. Baymax
46. Murderville
47. Pam & Tommy
48. Rutherford Falls
49. Ghosts
50. Made for Love
51. Loot
52. So Help Me Todd
53. Archive 81
54. Stranger Things
55. Tales of the Jedi
56. Obi-Wan Kenobi
57. Book of Boba Fett
58. Andor
59. Reacher
60. Big Shot
61. The Watcher
62. Our Flag Means Death
63. Fleishman is in Trouble
64. Uncoupled
65. Bumper in Berlin
66. Physical
67. Dragon Prince
68. House of the Dragon
69. Killing It
70. Shoresy
71. Letterkenny
72. Umbrella Academy
73. Star Trek Prodigy
74. Bumper in Berlin
75. Woke
76. Russian Doll
77. Undone
78. Cat Burglar
79. Little Demon
80. Superman & Lois
81. The Resort
82. The Expanse
83. The Patient
84. Wolf Like Me
85. Westworld
86. We Own This City
87. Bust Down
88. Interview with the Vampire
89. From
90. WeCrashed
91. Slow Horses
92. Pieces of Her
93. Resident Alien
94. Upload
95. Maggie
96. The Outlaws
97. Welcome to Wrexham
98. American Horror Stories
99. American Horror Story
100. Bad Sisters
101. The Imperfects
102. The Woman Across The Street From The Girl in the Window
103. Paper Girls
104. League of Their Own
105. The Old Man
106. Players
107. Cyberpunk Edgerunners
108. Tokyo Vice
109. American Auto
110. Man Who Fell To Earth
111. Dahmer
112. The Baby
113. How We Roll
114. The Dropout
115. Bel-Air
116. Single Drunk Female
117. Legend of Vox Machina
118. Pivoting
119. Suspicion
120. Life & Beth
121. Joe vs. Carole
122. Echo 3
123. Outer Range
124. Roar
125. The Endgame
126. Naomi
127. Stay Close
128. How I Met Your Father
129. Welcome to Flatch

Movies I Watched This Month: 

• Wendell & Wild
• Glass Onion
• Weird
• Bullet Train
• Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Enola Holmes 2
• The Martian
• Clear and Present Danger
• Patriot Games
• Glass Onion (x2)

Favorite New Movies This Year So Far:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Glass Onion
3. Barbarian
4. The Sea Beast
5. RRR
6. Black Panther Wakanda Forever
7. Weird
8. Enola Holmes 2
9. Prey
10. Nope
11. Confess, Fletch
12. Scream
13. Turning Red
14. Do Revenge
15. Three Thousand Years of Longing
16. Thor Love and Thunder
17. Top Gun Maverick
18. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
19. Vengeance
20. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
21. Lightyear
22. Incantation
23. Ride the Eagle
24. The Adam Project
25. Orphan First Kill
26. Bullet Train
27. The Gray Man
28. X
29. Hellraiser
30. Kimi
31. The Batman
32. Day Shift
33. Tragedy of Macbeth
34. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
35. Rosaline

Places I Ate This Month (Last Year 325): (381+31=412)

• Arby's
• Brotherton Black's
• Chefhouse (Dallas)
• Chuy's
• Corner Bakery
• Curry Pizza
• Fat City Stacks
• Fire Bowl
• Firehouse Subs
• Gus's Fried Chicken
• Jewboy Burgers
• Julie's Noodles
• Liberty BBQ
• P. Terry's
• PB Cafe
• Phonatic
• Pietap (Dallas)
• Pinthouse Pizza
• Popeye's
• Rodeo Goat (x2) (Dallas)
• Smoky Mo's
• Texas Roadhouse
• Toasted Yolk
• Tony C's
• Torchy's Tacos
• Tso's Chinese Delivery
• Tumble 22
• Vera Cruz (x2)
• Whataburger

BGG Con 2022 Game List

 1. Flamecraft

2. Starship Captains

3. Trekking Through History

4. Vengeance Roll & Fight

5. Eternal Palace

6. Framework 

7. Marvel Remix

8. Cubitos

9. My Shelfie

10. Zombicide Gear Up

11. Quantum

12. Saloon Tycoon

13. First Empires

14. Dragon Parks 

15. Arch Ravels

16. Monolyths 

17. Project L

18. Oh My Ring

19. Mists Over Carcassonne

20. Horizons of Spirit Island

21. Unicorn Stew

22. Loot of Lima

23. Gingerbread House

24. Happy Dim Sum

25. Scout 

26. SPECTRE the boardgame 

27. Bullet❤️

28. Magic Maze

29. Firefly Misbehavin

Monthly Update - October 2022

  Read 50 Graphic Novels (Last Year 41) (44+7=51)

• Reckless: Follow Me Down HC
• Knights of Steel Vol 1 HC
• Good Asian Vol 2 TP
• Mr. Lovenstein Presents Failure
• Tuki Vol 1 Fight for Fire TP
• She-Hulk Vol 1 TP Jen's Back
• Fine Print Vol 1 TP

Comics I Read This Month (Last Year 396) (257+28=295)

• Alien #2
• American Jesus: Revelation #1
• Batman vs. Robin #2
• Bone Orchard Mythos: Ten Thousand Black Feathers #2
• Catwoman Lonely City #4
• DC Horror Presents Sgt. Rock vs The Army of the Dead #2
• DCeased War of the Undead #3
• Daredevil #4
• Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #5
• Dark Ride #1
• Earthdivers #1
• GCPD: The Blue Wall #1
• Iron Cat #5
• Minor Threats #2
• Moon Knight #16
• Moon Knight Annual #1
• Nightwing #97
• Poison Ivy #5
• Public Domain #5
• Rogues #4
• Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2 #3
• Spider-Man #1
• Star Trek #1
• Star Trek Picard Stargazer #1
• Star Wars Visions #1
• Superman Son of Kal-El #16
• The Approach #1
• Variants #4

Favorite Comics This Year:

1. Nightwing
2. Superman Son of Kal-El
3. Dark Knights of Steel
4. Devil's Reign
5. DCeased War of the Undead Gods
6. Shirtless Bear-Fighter 2
7. Star Trek Discovery Adventures in the 32nd Century
8. Mary Jane & Black Cat Beyond
9. Astro City That Was Then
10. Daredevil
11. Moon Knight
12. Saga
13. Iron Cat
14. Catwoman Lonely City
15. Public Domain
16. Daredevil Woman Without Fear
17. Dark Ages
18. Dark Ride
19. The Variants
20. Savage Avengers
21. Death of Dr. Strange
22. Strange
23. I Hate This Place
24. Batman vs. Robin
25. Rogues
26. Eight Billion Genies
27. Spider-Punk
28. Spider-Man
29. She-Hulk
30. The Joker
31. Star Trek
32. Devil's Reign Moon Knight
33. Punisher
34. Punisher War Journal
35. DC Mech
36. Parker Girls
37. Nice House on the Lake
38. Amazing Fantasy
39. Batman
40. Amazing Spider-Man
41. Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths
42. Justice League Road to Dark Crisis
43. Young Justice Targets
44. Twig
45. Robin
46. Little Monsters
47. Joe Hill's Rain
48. Rogue Sun
49. Radiant Red
50. The Closet
51. Bone Orchard Mythos Ten Thousand Black Feathers
52. Newburn 
53. Skybound Presents
54. Do A Power-Bomb!
55. Robin & Batman
56. Dungeons & Dragons 2022 Annual
57. Radiant Black
58. Alien
59. Star Wars Visions
60. Flawed
61. Minor Threats
62. American Jesus Revelation
63. Reckoning War Trial of the Watcher
64. Crossover
65. Poison Ivy
66. Rogues Gallery
67. The Phalanx
68. Stray Dogs Dog Days
69. Star Trek Picard Stargazer
70. DC Horror Presents Sgt. Rock vs. Army of the Dead

TV I Watched This Month:

• American Horror Story NYC "Season 11"
• Andor "Season 1"
• Atlanta "Season 4"
• Avenue 5 "Season 2"
• Big Shot "Season 2"
• Ghosts "Season 2"
• Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities "Season 1"
• Midnight Club "Season 1"
• Quantum Leap "Season 1"
• Reboot "Season 1"
• Rings of Power "Season 1"
• She-Hulk "Season 1"
• So Help Me Todd "Season 1"
• Star Trek Lower Decks "Season 3"
• Star Trek Prodigy "Season 1"
  
• Star Wars Tales of the Jedi "Season 1"
• The Patient "Season 1"
  
• The Watcher "Season 1"

Top TV This Year So Far:

1. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
2. Ms. Marvel
3. She-Hulk
4. The Afterparty
5. Peacemaker
6. Atlanta
7. Better Call Saul
8. The Bear
9. What We Do In the Shadows
10. Sandman
11. Julia
12. Barry
13. Only Murders in the Building
14. Harley Quinn
15. Cobra Kai
16. Moon Knight
17. Hacks
18. The Boys
19. Reboot
20. Never Have I Ever
21. Star Trek Discovery
22. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
23. Star Trek Picard
24. Star Trek Lower Decks
25. Severance
26. Grand Crew
27. Girls5Eva
28. Minx
29. The Offer
30. Death to 2021
31. HALO
32. Rings of Power
33. Evil
34. The Orville New Horizons
35. Last Week Tonight
36. Baymax
37. Murderville
38. Pam & Tommy
39. Rutherford Falls
40. Ghosts
41. Made for Love
42. Loot
43. Stranger Things
44. Archive 81
45. Obi-Wan Kenobi
46. Book of Boba Fett
47. Reacher
48. Our Flag Means Death
49. Andor
50. Uncoupled
51. Physical
52. House of the Dragon
53. Killing It
54. Shoresy
55. Letterkenny
56. Umbrella Academy
57. Woke
58. Russian Doll
59. Undone
60. Quantum Leap
61. Cat Burglar
62. Little Demon
63. Superman & Lois
64. The Resort
65. The Patient
66. Wolf Like Me
67. Westworld
68. We Own This City
69. Bust Down
70. From
71. WeCrashed
72. Slow Horses
73. Pieces of Her
74. Resident Alien
75. Upload
76. The Expanse
77. Maggie
78. The Outlaws
79. Welcome to Wrexham
80. The Imperfects
81. American Horror Stories
82. Bad Sisters
83. The Woman Across The Street From The Girl in the Window
84. Paper Girls
85. League of Their Own
86. The Old Man
87. Players
88. Cyberpunk Edgerunners
89. Tokyo Vice
90. American Auto
91. Man Who Fell To Earth
92. Dahmer
93. The Baby
94. How We Roll
95. The Dropout
96. Bel-Air
97. Single Drunk Female
98. Legend of Vox Machina
99. Pivoting
100. Suspicion
101. Life & Beth
102. Joe vs. Carole
103. Outer Range
104. Roar
105. The Endgame
106. Naomi
107. Stay Close
108. How I Met Your Father
109. Welcome to Flatch

Movies I Watched This Month: 

• Werewolf by Night
• Casper
• Pitch Perfect 1 & 2
• Rosaline
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• Hellraiser (2022)
• Thor Love & Thunder
• Vengeance
• X
• Incantation
• Under the Shadow
• Scream (2022)
• The Faculty
• Barbarian
• Overlord

Favorite New Movies This Year So Far:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Barbarian
3. The Sea Beast
4. RRR
5. Prey
6. Nope
7. Confess, Fletch
8. Scream
9. Turning Red
10. Do Revenge
11. Three Thousand Years of Longing
12. Thor Love and Thunder
13. Top Gun Maverick
14. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
15. Vengeance
16. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers
17. Lightyear
18. Incantation
19. Ride the Eagle
20. The Adam Project
21. Orphan First Kill
22. The Gray Man
23. X
24. Hellraiser
25. Kimi
26. The Batman
27. Day Shift
28. Tragedy of Macbeth
29. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
30. Rosaline

Places I Ate This Month (Last Year 325): (346+35=381)

• 1431 Cafe
• Brotherton Black
• Chez Zee
• Chuy's (x2)
• Cocky Teriyaki
• Corner Bakery
• Cotton Patch Cafe
• Culver's (x2)
• Curry Pizza (x2)
• El Dorado Cafe
• First Watch
• Hopdoddy (x2)
• Jewboy Burgers (x2)
• Jewboy Subs
• Julie's Noodles (x2)
• Liberty BBQ
• P. Terry's
• Popeye's
• Raising Cane's (x2)
• Sharks Burger
• Short Stop
• Sushi Nini
• Tarka
• Torchy's Tacos
• Tso's Chinese Delivery
• Whataburger
• Xian Sushi & Noodle
• Yak & Yeti