Monthly Update - December 2017

Read 60 Graphic Novels (3+49=52)

1. Suicide Squad Vol 7: Dragon's Hoard
2. Astro City: Everyday Heroes
3. Paper Girls HC

Play 15 New Boardgames (4+31=35)

• DC Deck-Building Confrontation
• Hotshots!
• Red 7
• Spot It!
• Splendor
• Fuse
• DC Deck-Building Teen Titans
• Codenames

My Picks of the Week For This Month:

1. X-Men Gold #17
2. Captain America #696
3. Runaways #4
4. Punisher #219
5. Tales of Suspense Featuring Hawkeye & Winter Soldier #1
6. Quantum & Woody #1
7. Doomsday Clock #2
8. Phoenix Resurrection Return of Jean Grey #1

Comics I Read This Month (35+560=595):

• All-New Wolverine #28
• Amazing Spider-Man ##792-793
• Amazing Spider-Man & Venom: Venom Inc #1
• Astonishing X-Men #6
• Avengers #674
• Captain America #696
• Champions #15
• Daredevil #596
• Doctor Strange #382-383
• Doomsday Clock #2
• Hawkeye #13
• Hawkman Found #1
• Injustice 2 #16
• Iron Fist #75
• Klaus and the Crisis in X-Masville
• Luke Cage #168
• Marvel Two in One #1
• Ms. Marvel #25
• New Super Man #18
• Ninja-K #2
• Phoenix Resurrection Return Jean Grey #1
• Punisher #219
• Quantum & Woody #1
• Redneck #8
• Royal City #8
• Runaways #4
• Star Trek TNG Mirror Broken #5
• Tales of Suspense Featuring Hawkeye & Winter Soldier #1
• Thanos #14
• The Fix #10
• Wild Storm #10
• X-Men Gold #17-18

TV I Watched This Month:

• Arrow "Crisis on Earth X Part 2"
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend "Getting Over Jeff"
• DC's Legends of Tomorrow "Crisis on Earth X Part 4"
• Easy "Season Two"
• The Flash "Crisis on Earth X Part 3"
• The Gifted "Season One"
• Happy! "Saint Nick" "Everyone Hates You, Sax"
• Marvel's Runaways "Kingdom" "Metamorphosis" "Refraction" "Tsunami"
• Search Party "Season One"
• She's Gotta Have It "Season One"
• Top Chef "Episodes 1-3"

Top Five Shows This Month:

1. Happy!
2. Marvel's Runaways
3. Easy
4. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
5. The Gifted

Movies I Watched This Month:

• Christmas Vacation
• Coco
• Colossal
• Die Hard
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• Elf
• Krampus
• Last Boy Scout
• Moana
• Pitch Perfect 3
• Scrooged
• Star Wars The Last Jedi

Places I Ate This Month (23+303=326):

• Batch
• Chuy's
• Culver's
• Easy Tiger
• McDonald's (x4)
• Michi Ramen
• Opal Divine's
• Outback Steakhouse
• Pei Wei
• Popeye's
• Russia House
• Sushi Nini
• Taco Bell (x2)
• Tarka
• Torchy's Tacos
• Trudy's
• Valentina's Tex-Mex
• Vera Cruz
• Xian Sushi & Noodle

Best of 2017 - Movies

Or, more accurately, a list of all the movies I saw in 2017. Because I can't claim best, my movie taste is pretty basic and I only see a handful of movies every year.

New Movies I Saw This Year:

1. The Big Sick
2. Get Out
3. Coco
4. LEGO Batman Movie
5. Blade Runner 2049
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
7. Baby Driver
8. Spider-Man Homecoming
9. Fate of the Furious
10. Thor Ragnarok
11. Wonder Woman
12. Pitch Perfect 3
13. Split
14. Atomic Blonde
15. Star Wars The Last Jedi
16. Dunkirk

Yeah, I liked Baby Driver better than two of the Marvel movies this year. Yes, I ranked Atomic Blonde and Split over Star Wars The Last Jedi. Come at me, bro. (Or don't... I don't need you to share my opinions, and you're not going to convince me to share yours.)

Old Movies I Saw For the First Time This Year:

1. Moana
2. Arrival
3. Furious Seven
4. Fast Five
5. Fast and Furious Six
6. Kubo and the Two Strings
7. Rent
8. Colossal
9. La La Land
10. The Girl With All The Gifts
11. Krampus
12. Hail, Caesar!
13. John Wick 2
14. Midnight Special
15. Sicario
16. Staring at a Blank Wall silently for 2 hours
17. Suicide Squad
18. Staring at a Blank Wall silently for 4 hours
19. X-Men Apocalypse

Best of 2017 - Comic Miniseries and One-Shots

Last year, I had four Marvel series, and Civil War II and its spinoffs narrowly missed the cut. This year, Secret Empire made the cut, there were two other Marvel miniseries (although one was an ongoing series that was canceled and the other a series of one shots), and an IDW and an IDW/DC crossover both based on licensed properties. So the real miniseries winner this year was Image, with five original miniseries, only one based on an extant story (even that a Greek myth) and three of which were by new (or relatively new) writers. Plus Greg Rucka is on there twice, because Greg Rucka is pretty awesome. 

Best Miniseries:

1. Star Trek TNG Mirror Broken #1-5 (IDW)
2. God Country #1-6 (Image)
3. Generations (Marvel)
4. Unstoppable Wasp #1-8 (Marvel)
5. Shirtless Bear-Fighter #1-6 (Image)
6. Secret Empire #0-10 (Marvel)
7. Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil #1-3 (Dark Horse)
8. Batman TMNT Adventures #3-6 (DC/IDW)
9. Lazarus X+66 #1-5 (Image)
10. Old Guard #1-6 (Image)

Also in the running: Kingpin #1-5 and Bullseye #1-5 (Marvel), Britannia We Who Are About to Die #1-4 and Savage #3-4 (Valiant), Disney Pirates of the Caribbean #3-5, Reborn #4-6 (Image), Kill the Minotaur #1-5 (Image), and Serenity No Power in the Verse #4-6 (Dark Horse).

Last year I read about 100 first issues and one shots, this year it was closer to 40-50, but I still found a lot to like. In some cases, I dropped off a series or miniseries but still had warm feelings toward the first issue.

Best First Issues:*

1. X-Men Prime #1 (Marvel)
2. Sherlock Frankenstein & Legion of Evil #1 (Dark Horse)
3. TMNT Usagi Yojimbo #1 (Dark Horse)
4. Justice League Power Rangers #1 (DC/Boom!)
5. Ninja-K #1 (Valiant)
6. Batman Creature of the Night #1 (DC)
7. Punisher The Platoon #1 (Marvel)
8. Punisher #218 (Marvel)
9. Doomsday Clock #1 (DC)
10. Elsewhere #1 (Image)

*Caveat: I didn't include any of the first issues from my Top 10 new series. So you can consider this really the bottom of a Top 20 list if you want.

Those that almost but didn't quite make the top 10 include: Calexit #1 (Black Mask), Clue #1 (IDW), The Dregs #1 (Black Mask), Fence #1 (Boom), Gotham City Garage #1 (DC), Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica #1 (DC/Archie), Mass Effect Discovery #1 (Dark Horse), Slots #1 (Image), Spirits of Vengeance #1 (Marvel) and Nightwing The New Order #1 (DC).

Best One-Shots:

1. Batman Elmer Fudd #1
2. Star Trek Deviations
3. Marvel Legacy #1
4. Secret Empire Uprising #1
5. Klaus and the Crisis in X-Masville

Best of 2017 - Top 10 New Comics

Best New Series:
Marvel has two of my top 10 (down from five last year), Image has five (up from two), DC has two.

Four of them are superhero books, down from eight last year, although you could argue for Mage The Hero Denied as well. Rat Queens is humor/fantasy, the others are all harder to quantify. And while none of the books in my top 10 published 12 issues last year, this year X-Men Gold and Injustice 2 managed more than that.

1. Runaways #1-4
2. X-Men Gold #1-18
3. Injustice 2 #1-16
4. Rat Queens #1-Orc Dave Special
5. Royal City #1-8
6. Redneck #1-8
7. Mage The Hero Denied #0-4
8. Wild Storm #1-10
9. Curse Words #1-9
10. Crosswind #1-5

New Series That Are Too New To Judge:
These series are not quite far enough for me to judge them Best New Series yet, but I really like them all, and I can see any of them making my Best Continuing Series next year. Because I don't think it's fair to compare a single issue or a two- or three-issue run to the more extended runs above, I'm ranking these separately. Last year, none of these wound up on my list and there were about 12 of them. This year there were only 3 on the list. I hope 2018 has more to offer.

1. Captain America #695-696
2. Daredevil #595-596
3. Ninja-k #1-2
4. Doomsday Clock #1-2

Best of 2017 - Top 10 Ongoing Comics

In terms of ongoing favorites, there wasn't a lot of change this year. Half of them were on last year's favorites, the other half were on last year's favorite new series. There will be more change next year, as four of my favorite Marvel series (Amazing Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Sam Wilson, and Moon Knight) are either over, ending, or changing creative teams. These lists are my favorites, based on a reading almost 600 single issues for the year (last year it was closer to 500), and access to more than that.

Last year, Image had 2 of my top 10, and Marvel had the other 8. This year, Marvel has 7, Image still has 2, and Dark Horse has 1. So for all the griping I see online about Marvel, I remain a fan of what they're doing, and I expect the changes under CB Cebulski to be good ones. 

Last year, Amazing Spider-Man had 17 issues, but most of them didn't hit 12. This year, All-New Wolverine hit 12, Amazing Spider-Man hit more than that (with renumbering thrown in), and Hawkeye hit 11.

1. Ms. Marvel #14-25 (Last Year: #1 on my Best Ongoing Series)
2. Kill or Be Killed #5-14 (Last Year: #3 on my Best New Series)
3. Champions #4-15 (Last Year: #4 on my Best New Series)
4. All-New Wolverine #16-28 (Last Year: #5 on my Best Ongoing Series)
5. Amazing Spider-Man #23-793 (Last Year: #4 on my Best Ongoing Series)
6. Black Hammer Annual #1, #7-13 (Last Year: #7 on my Best New Series)
7. Hawkeye #2-13
8. Saga #42-48 (Last Year: #7 on my Best Ongoing Series)
9. Captain America Sam Wilson #17-24 (Last Year: #2 on my Best Ongoing Series)
10. Moon Knight #10-14 (Last Year: #5 on my Best New Series)

Of the series in my Top 10, five of them (Ms. Marvel, All-New Wolverine, Amazing Spider-Man, Saga, Captain America Sam Wilson) were also in 2016's Best Ongoing Series (and Saga, Ms. Marvel, and Amazing Spider-Man were on my 2016 Ongoing Series too), and four of them (Kill or Be Killed, Champions, Black Hammer, Moon Knight) were in my Best New Series of 2016. Only one of them (Hawkeye) was too new to judge, with only one issue out last year.

Also in the running: Captain America Steve Rogers #9-19, New Super Man #7-18, Thanos #3-12, Daredevil #15-27, Descender #18-24, Doctor Strange #16-24, and Motor Girl #3-6.

Best of 2017 - Boardgames

Last year I played 85 games, 40 of which were new. This year I didn't manage quite that number, but I did play 57, 35 of which were new.

New Games:

1. 7 Wonders Duel
2. Above and Below
3. Arkham Horror LCG
4. Batman Almost Got 'Im
5. Bloodborne DBG
6. Buy the Rights
7. Celestia
8. Codenames Duet
9. DC DBG Confrontation
10. DC DBG Teen Titans
11. Dice Forge
12. Funemployment
13. Fuse
14. Hero Realms
15. Hey That's My Fish
16. Hotshots!
17. Kingdomino
18. Machi Koro Bright Lights Big City
19. Red 7
20. Sagrada
21. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Card Game
22. Scythe
23. Secret Hitler
24. Space Team
25. Splendor Cities of Splendor
26. Spot It!
27. Spyfall
28. Spyfall 2
29. Starfall
30. That's A Question!
31. The Thing Infection at Outpost 31
32. Tiny Epic Galaxies
33. Tokaido
34. Total Rickall
35. Unearth

Favorite Games:

1. DC Deck-Building (#3 on last year)
2. Machi Koro Bright Lights, Big City (#2 on last year)
3. Hero Realms
4. Sushi Go Party (#6 on last year)
5. Codenames
6. Tokaido
7. Unearth
8. Dice Forge
9. The Thing Infection at Outpost 31
10. Scythe

Best of 2017 - Food

Last year I ate out about 300 times. This year it was a little over 300.

I'm not qualified to be a food critic, but I did eat a lot of food and I do have opinions. So here are my top 10 favorites, the ones that are accessible, affordable *and* delicious enough that I went there numerous times during the year. My list of favorites is mostly down to how many times I went there, with a little fudging.

Favorites:

1. Easy Tiger
2. Velvet Taco
3. Home Slice Pizza
4. Hopdoddy's
5. Deckhand Oyster Bar
6. Opal Divine's
7. Black Star Co-Op
8. Michi Ramen
9. Jack Allen's Kitchen
10. New Fortune Chinese

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.

Lunch Favorites:

1. Torchy's Tacos 
2. Wendy's
3. Popeye's
4. Vera Cruz
5. McDonald's
6. Pei Wei
7. Whataburger
8. P. Terry's
9. Shake Shack
10. Firehouse Subs
11. Juarez Mexican Bakery
12. Tarka
13. Hoodie's Subs
14. Mod Pizza
15. Fuddrucker's

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

Rare Treats:

1. Valentina's Tex-Mex BBQ
2. Kula Revolving Sushi
3. Batch Craft Beer + Kolaches
4. Franklin BBQ
5. Gus's Fried Chicken
6. Uchiko
7. Kemuri Tatsu-Ya
8. Peached Tortilla
9. Lucy's Fried Chicken
10. JT Youngblood's
11. Haymaker
12. Thai Kun
13. A+A Cafe
14. Sawyer & Co.
15. Wu Chow

I didn't manage to get back to French Quarter Grille, Odd Duck, or TNT Tacos & Tequila after two years away... I need to fix that. This year I didn't go to Salt & Time, Fogo de Chao, or Terry Black's BBQ even though they were on the list for last year.

Best of 2017 - Television

Best Shows (Every Category):
Somehow, again, there was a lot more television this year.

In general, this list is the "If I had to cut back to a certain number of shows, based on money, time, etc., this is the list of shows I'd cut first (starting with #56) to shows I'd cut last (starting with #1). Last year this list was 50 shows, and there are 24 shows from last year's list that weren't on here (either they ended, didn't have a new season, or I stopped watching them), so I added 30 new shows this year. Last year I added 27 new shows.

There were 7 shows that didn't have new seasons (Atlanta, Westworld, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Not Safe With Nikki Glaser, Making A Murderer, Humans), 9 shows ended or were limited run (The People vs. OJ Simpson, Togetherness, The Night Of, Night Manager, The Get Down, Pitch, Agent Carter, Inside Amy Schumer, 11.22.63 ) and 18 I stopped watching or plan to catch up on later (The Americans, Billions, Mr. Robot, Preacher, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Lethal Weapon, Angie Tribeca, Arrow, The Expanse, The Gifted, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Chance, Voltron Legendary Defender, Supergirl, Star Wars Rebels, Punisher, Riverdale, DC's Legends of Tomorrow)

Best New Shows:
1. Legion (FX)
2. Star Trek Discovery (CBS)
3. G.L.O.W. (NETFLIX)
4. Handmaid's Tale (HULU)
5. The Deuce (HBO)
6. Future Man (HULU)
7. Dear White People (NETFLIX)
8. Trial & Error (NBC)
9. Atypical (NETFLIX)
10. Crashing (HBO)
11. Mindhunter (HBO)
12. Godless (NETFLIX)
13. American Gods (STARZ)
14. A Series of Unfortunate Events (NETFLIX)
15. American Vandal (NETFLIX)
16. 13 Reasons Why (NETFLIX)
17. The Gifted (FOX)
18. Santa Clarita Diet (NETFLIX)
19. Ozark (NETFLIX)
20. Travelers (NETFLIX)

Best Drama:
1. Fargo (FX)
2. Game of Thrones (HBO)
3. Better Call Saul (AMC)
4. iZombie (CW)
5. Sense8 (NETFLIX)
6. The Leftovers (HBO)
7. Sneaky Pete (AMAZON)
8. The Expanse (SYFY)
9. Chance (HULU)
10. Supergirl (CW)

The last three shows on that list I'm behind on, but they still rank as best drama when you excerpt all the new shows

Best Comedy:
1. Master of None (NETFLIX)
2. The Good Place (NBC)
3. Better Things (FXX)
4. You're The Worst (FXX)
5. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)
6. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
7. Veep (HBO)
8. Silicon Valley (HBO)
9. Rick and Morty (TOON)
10. Bojack Horseman (NETFLIX)

Overall:
1. Fargo (FX)
2. Legion (FX)
3. Game of Thrones (HBO)
4. Better Call Saul (AMC)
5. Star Trek Discovery (CBS)
6. Master of None (NETFLIX)
7. G.L.O.W. (NETFLIX)
8. The Good Place (NBC)
9. The Handmaid's Tale (HULU)
10. The Deuce (HBO)
11. Future Man (HULU)
12. You're the Worst (FXX)
13. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)
14. iZombie (CW)
15. Stranger Things (NETFLIX)
16. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
17. Dear White People (NETFLIX)
18. Better Things (FXX)
19. Veep (HBO)
20. Silicon Valley (HBO)
21. Rick and Morty (TOON)
22. Bojack Horseman (NETFLIX)
23. The Mick (FOX)
24. Trial & Error (NBC)
25. Atypical (NETFLIX)
26. Sense8 (NETFLIX)
27. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (NETFLIX)
28. Crashing (HBO)
29. Insecure (HBO)
30. Review (COMEDY)
31. Love (NETFLIX)
32. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
33. Broad City (COM)
34. Mindhunter (NETFLIX)
35. Godless (NETFLIX)
36. American Gods (STARZ)
37. The Leftovers (HBO)
38. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
39. Sneaky Pete (AMAZON)
40. Easy (NETFLIX)
41. Orange is the New Black (NETFLIX)
42. A Series of Unfortunate Events (NETFLIX)
43. American Vandal (NETFLIX)
44. 13 Reasons Why (NETFLIX)
45. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)
46. Santa Clarita Diet (NETFLIX)
47. Casual (HULU)
48. Ozark (NETFLIX)
49. Travelers (NETFLIX)
50. SMILF (Showtime)
51. Timeless (NBC)
52. The Tick (AMAZON)
53. Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later (NETFLIX)
54. Defenders (NETFLIX)
55. Castlevania (NETFLIX)
56. She's Gotta Have It (NETFLIX)

Monthly Update - November 2017

Read 60 Graphic Novels (1+48=49)

1. Justice League International Omnibus

Play 15 New Boardgames (2+29=31)

• The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31
• DC Deckbuilding Game
• Kingdomino
• Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Card Game

My Picks of the Week For This Month:

1. Captain America #695
2. Voltron Legendary Defender Vol 2 #2-3
3. Runaways #3
4. Ms. Marvel #24
5. Ninja-k #1
6. Punisher #218
7. Doomsday Clock #1
8. X-Men Gold #16

Comics I Read This Month (41+519=560):

• All New Wolverine #27
• Amazing Spider-Man #791
• Astonishing X-Men #5
• Avengers #673
• Batman Creature of the Night #1
• Captain America #695
• Champions #14
• Crosswind #5
• Daredevil #595
• Doomsday Clock #1
• Fence #1
• Guardians of the Galaxy #146-147
• Hawkeye #12
• Injustice 2 #14
• Iron Fist #74
• Kill or Be Killed #14
• Kill the Minotaur #6
• Lazarus X+66 #5
• Maestros #2
• Mage The Hero Denied #4
• Ms. Marvel #24
• New Super Man #17
• Ninja-k #1
• Punisher #218
• Rat Queens #6
• Redneck #7
• Royal City #7
• Runaways #3
• Slots #2
• Spirits of Vengeance #2
• Thanos #13
• US Avengers #12
• Voltron Legendary Defender Vol 2 #2-4
• Wild Storm #9
• X-Men Blue #15-16
• X-Men Gold #15-16

TV I Watched This Month:

• Alias Grace "Season One"
• Better Things "Arnold Hall" "White Rock"
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend "Josh's Ex-Girlfriend is Crazy" "I Never Want to See Josh Again" "Josh is Irrelevant"
• Curb Your Enthusiasm "The Pickle Gambit" "A Disturbance in the Kitchen" "Running with the Bulls" "Thank You For Your Service" "The Accidental Text on Purpose" "Namaste"
• Future Man "Season One"
• Godless "Season One"
• The Good Place "Derek"
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver "November 5, 2017" "November 12, 2017"
• The Orville "Pria" "Krill" "Majority Rule" "Into the Fold" "Cupid's Dagger"
• Punisher "3 AM" "Two Dead Men" "Kandahar"
• Marvel's Runaways "Reunion" "Rewind" "Destiny"
• SMILF "A Box of Dunkies and Two Squirts of Maple Syrup" "1,800 Filet-o-Fishes & One Small Diet Coke" "
• Star Trek Discovery "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" "Into the Forest"
• Stranger Things "Season Two"
• Supergirl "Crisis on Earth-X Part 1"
• You're The Worst "Dad-Not-Dad" "From the Beginning, I Was Screwed" "Like People" "It's Always Been This Way"

Top Ten Shows This Month:

1. The Good Place
2. Star Trek Discovery
3. Stranger Things
4. You're the Worst
5. Future Man
6. Marvel's Runaways
7. Godless
8. Better Things
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm
10. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Movies I Watched This Month:

• Thor Ragnarok
• Kong Skull Island
• Arrival
• Chicago
• Moulin Rouge
• Tropic Thunder
• Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
• The Big Sick
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Places I Ate This Month (23+283=306):

• Chi'Lantro
• Deckhand Oyster Bar
• Dragonbeard Kitchen
• Flyrite Chicken (x2)
• Fuddrucker's
• Habana SoCo
• Homeslice Pizza
• New Fortune Chinese
• Pei Wei (x3)
• Popeye's (x2)
• Shoal Creek Saloon
• Torchy's Tacos (x2)
• Trudy's
• Velvet Taco
• Vera Cruz
• Wendy's (x2)
• Whataburger