Into the Longbox

I saw Captain America: Brave New World on Monday and now that I've sat with my thoughts a little bit, I can share what I thought. I'll save the suspense and say I thought it was a good movie, but not great. It was a very SAFE movie. That statement is what I want to explore with my review, which will be a little different than how I normally talk about movies. Apologies if this gets a little long, but it will give you a little insight into how I feel. Disney/Marvel missed a real opportunity here. Having a Black Captain America is a huge deal and instead of leaning into that, Marvel made a movie that is essentially color-blind, ignoring that topic completely. The "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" series addressed this and I thought this movie would take the opportunity to take that conversation further. It doesn't. The fact that a Black Captain America has a Hispanic side kick is also a huge deal. Again, not discussed here. For little black and hispanic kids, this was...

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series and whatevers. Favorite Writer of 2024 Bryan Hill (Blade, Blade: Red Band, Ultimate Black Panther) - I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's because I didn't expect to enjoy these Blade series as much as I did and that is a tribute to the writing. Truthfully, what do we REALLY know about Blade outside of his movies. He's a blank canvas for anyone to write on and I'm glad he's getting a little more love this year. Yes, he was also involved in that Bloodhunt Event you'll hear me mention below, but Bryan Hill wasn't writing that. The most important piece of work this year though, is his Ultimate Black Panther run. I railed in the past about who I think I should write the character, but with this book he has changed my mind. With the Ultimate Universe, it allows him to be free and not be constrained by 40 years of continuity....

  Life got crazy this year, so I was consistently behind on my comic book reading. That's why this list is so late. I needed my recency bias to help me with some of these picks. There were a lot of good surprises this year though, which I will talk about in more detail. One thing I'll start adding to these reviews is how many 2024 books I bought and read this year. This total is not how many comics I read in total, because I have a backlog of older stuff I cycle through as well when I get caught up on the recent stuff.  That official count is: 469 . Let's break that down. How do my numbers fall out in regard to publishers? It's no surprise that I'm team Marvel, but I try to balance that with other publishers. DC is always my number two and then a toss up amongst the other indie publishers. What is surprising to me is that IDW has outpaced Image comics. But really, in looking at my numbers, that IDW number is inflated because those are 95% Ninja Turtle comics. My pur...