Blog Update for March 2008

This is the latest monthly update to the left column of the blog, updating my favorite comics and TV for the previous month. The listings are alphabetical, not by rank of how much I liked them in comparison. My criteria for what makes the list is when I read them, not necessarily when they were published. This is basically also my own records of what I read/liked for the inevitable "End of Year" lists I feel like making.

DC made a big comeback this month in terms of comics my interest, partly due to a renaissance in the Batman satellite books thanks to Chuck Dixon and Peter Tomasi, partly due to a couple strong one-shots in the form of a New Frontier special and All-Star Superman and partly due to a couple strong miniseries in Suicide Squad and Teen Titans Year One. Throw in two Vertigo books, and DC makes up almost half of the Top 20 this month. Dark Horse and Marvel both tie for second place with five books each, and Image brings up the rear with two, a regular (Dynamo 5) and a new one (Dead Space). No indies this month, it was not a great month for indie publishers. Comics that didn't make the top 20 cut (but almost did) this month included the first issues of Wolverine First Class and Cable and the latest issues of X-Men First Class, Hack Slash, Invincible, Proof, Atomic Robo, BPRD 1946, Thunderbolts, Walking Dead, Wonder Woman and Northlanders.

I read a pretty decent amount of graphic novels this month, despite also taking a break to re-read the entirety of Hawkworld. Long story short on that one is that there are great moments and a few really good stories, but it didn't hold up to a re-read the way that Ostrander's Suicide Squad or Spectre does. Still pretty good stuff, though, just more uneven than I remembered it being. Anyway, graphic novels that didn't make the top 10 cut this month included three things that I picked up from the clearance table at the store (Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & A Hard Place, Salmon Doubts, Houdini The Handcuff King) and the uneven but occasionally very good anthology Discovered from the Savannah College of Art & Design. Also, I apparently didn't read any Marvel graphic novels this month, and only one DC (Blue Beetle, and I'm so sorry it took me this long to find out just how damn good this book is). I've also just started reading Kirby: King of Comics! by Mark Evanier, which is a good autobiography with amazing selections of Kirby artwork. Highly recommended based on the first two chapters and a skim through the rest for the art.

The strike is over, but TV is still very slowly returning, and there was actually less to watch this month than there was last. Mainly, I was all about Lost, which started off the fourth season with a couple of kickass episodes and, though they weren't all of that caliber, never really served up a stinker. Lost is definitely my favorite TV show running right at the moment. How I Met Your Mother also came back fairly strong, which was nice, and I can't wait for next month when we get the return of Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock and The Office. There may be others, but honestly, I think that's all that's returning that I'm really excited about.

Added a couple items to the RSS feed this month, including the webcomics Basic Instructions and Ctl-Alt-Del and the interesting social experiment site Post Secret.