The World That\'s Coming

May 7, 2025April 20, 2025

Now that, my friends, is more like it. After a few months of not really watching that many movies, I got back up to speed and then some in April — there’s a lot of old favorites in the list below, but what stands out more are the new favorites: Sinners, obviously, was something that just left me in awe and in love, just such a good movie (and such a good vampire movie, at that), but that might sit behind Burnt Milk as my favorite discovery of the month — a short movie that’s basically a spoken word piece with some amazing cinematography that felt at once intensely intimate and speaking to a larger truth that’s difficult to articulate. (It’s on The Criterion Channel, which is where I found it; maybe it’s available elsewhere, but it’s worth searching out nonetheless.)

Also a lot of fun: Companion, Shampoo, and Orson Welles’ The Trial, which I’d never seen before, and which feels very contemporary in the way it’s shot. (And its paranoia, for that matter.) Less fun: Little Murders and You’re A Big Boy Now, two movies in Criteron’s unofficial “New York City in the ’60s and ’70s was a mess” curated collection, both of which proved to be a little too unintentionally misanthropic and misogynistic for my contemporary tastes. (You’re A Big Boy Now also has a brief, pointless sequence that might be the most racist thing I’ve ever seen in a mainstream movie, and I think it was intended as pointed comedy against racism…!)

Also also: not pictures in the graphic below because I finished it after the screenshot: Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, which was absolutely fucking amazing; I have a vague memory of seeing it around when it came out, but I’m almost convinced that has to be wrong, because I was so blown away by it this time around…!

But I digress. What I meant to say is, this is what I watched this past month:

May 2, 2025April 30, 2025

The Comics of April 2025

When I was a kid, John Byrne’s Fantastic Four was the bee’s knees for reasons I didn’t fully understand. I didn’t even read that many issues of it when it was coming out — maybe a handful of issues towards the back end of the run, when I found them imported in newsagents or reprinted in the UK version of Secret Wars — but for some reason, I instinctively thought of it as the idealized Marvel superhero book. Reading it in full as an adult a few years back for Baxter Building on the Wait, What? podcast with Jeff made me realize how wrong I was (the idealized Marvel superhero book was really the Lee/Kirby run), but I ended up diving back into it in April in my attempt to continue a nightly reading routine, and it’s… better than I gave it credit for last time, maybe? Perhaps some things just read better in serialized format. Or it could be that my mind has just decayed to the point where I can’t tell what’s good or bad anymore. (See also me reading the full Alan Grant-written run of Marvel’s very disappointing 1990s RoboCop comic.)

Anyway: here’s what I read, comic-wise, in April.

All-New Venom #5
Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1
X-Men (2024) #14
West Coast Avengers (2024) #6
Fantastic Four (1961) #95
The Mighty Thor (1966) #172
Captain America (1968) #341
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #412
Invincible #51
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 233-235
Star Trek (1989) #30
Fantastic Four (1961) #96
The Mighty Thor (1966) #173
Captain America (1968) #342
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #413
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #236
Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #s 21-22
All-Star Comics #68
JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice OGN
Superman (2023) #25
Justice League Unlimited (2024) #6
Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #3
Batman (2016) #159
Green Lantern (2023) #22
Invincible #s 52-54
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #237
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 414-416
Superboy (1949) #s 195, 197 (Legion of Super-Heroes stories only)
Helen of Wyndhorn #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #97
The Mighty Thor (1966) #174
Captain America (1968) #343
Hulk: Future Imperfect #s 1-2
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #417
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 238-242
Metamorpho, The Element Man (2024) #5
Absolute Martian Manhunter #2
Superboy (1949) #s 198-199
Fantastic Four (1961) #98
The Mighty Thor (1966) #175
Captain America (1968) #344
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #418
It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #45
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 243-244
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 200-201
Fantastic Four (1961) #99
The Mighty Thor (1966) #176
Captain America (1968) #345
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #419
Invincible #s 55-58
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 1-3
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 202-203
Fantastic Four (1961) #100
The Mighty Thor (1966) #177
Captain America (1968) #346
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #420
Fantastic Four (1961) #101
The Mighty Thor (1966) #178
Captain America (1968) #347
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #421
Kingdom Come #s 2-3
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 4-5
Fantastic Four (1961) #s 102-104 (End of the Lee/Kirby era!)
The Mighty Thor (1966) #s 179-181 (End of the Lee/Kirby era!)
Fantastic Four (1961) #232 (First Byrne)
Captain America (1968) #348
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 422-423
The Mighty Thor Annual (1966) #5
Kingdom Come #4
The Batman Adventures (1992) #6
Invincible #s 59-67
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 245-247
The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #1
Robocop (1990) #1
Captain America (1968) #349
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #424
Fantastic Four (1961) #233
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 13-15
The Question: All Along the Watchtower #6
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest Annual #1
Detective Comics Annual (2025) #1
Firekind
Robocop (1990) #2
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 204-206
Robocop (1990) #3
Fantastic Four (1961) #s 234-235
Captain America (1968) #350
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #425
Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #23
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #s 4-5
Fantastic Four (1961) #236
Captain America (1968) #351
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #426
The Power Company Recharged #1
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 16-17
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6
Robocop (1990) #4
Justice Society of America Annual (2008) #1
Justice Society of America (2007) #18
Web of Spider-Man (1985) #s 14-15
Mystik U #1
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 248-252
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 19-20
Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special – Superman #1
Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special – Magog #1
Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special – The Kingdom #1
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 21-22
Invincible #s 68-70
Invincible Returns #1
Robocop (1990) #5
Fantastic Four (1961) #237
Captain America (1968) #352
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #427
It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #46
The Batman Adventures (1992) #7
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 23-27
Nick Fury vs SHIELD #s 1-2
Fantastic Four (1961) #238
Captain America (1968) #353
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #428
Invincible #s 71-96
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 28-29
The Batman Adventures (1992) #8
Helen of Wyndhorn #2
Web of Spider-Man (1985) #s 16-27
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 30-33
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 429-431
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 9-10
Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic #7
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 432, 434 (#433 unavailable on Marvel Unlimited?)
Fantastic Four (1961) #239
Captain America (1968) #354
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 433, 435-439
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 11-12
Justice Society of America (2007) #34
JSA All-Stars #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #240
Captain America (1968) #s 355-357
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #440
JSA All-Stars #s 2-3
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 35-40
JSA All-Stars #s 4-6
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 441-450
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 13-14
Robocop (1990) #6
Exquisite Corpses #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #241
Captain America (1968) #358
Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #24
Black Canary: The Best of the Best #6
Justice League: The Atom Project #5
JSA (2024) #7
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #451
The Batman Adventures (1992) #15
Justice League of America (2006) #s 44-48
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 41-43
Fantastic Four (1961) #242
Captain America (1968) #359
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 452-454
X-Factor (2024) #9
Superior Avengers #1
Star Wars: The Legacy of Vader #3
Iron Man (2024) #7
Exceptional X-Men #8
Concert of Champions #1
Star Trek (1989) #31
JSA All-Stars #7
Robocop (1990) #s 6-7
Fantastic Four (1961) #243
Captain America (1968) #360
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 455-456
The Batman Adventures (1992) #16
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1974) #s 253-258
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #259
Robocop (1990) #8
Fantastic Four (1961) #244
Captain America (1968) #361
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #457
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 260-261
The Batman Adventures (1992) #17
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #216
The Incredible Hulk (1962) ## 458-460
Heroes Reborn: The Return #s 1-4
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 262-265
Helen of Wyndhorn #s 3-6
Robocop (1990) #9
Fantastic Four (1961) #245
Captain America (1968) #362
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #461
It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #47
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 266-267
Robocop (1990) #10
Fantastic Four (1961) #246
Captain America (1968) #363
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #462
JSA All-Stars #s 8-11
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 268-271
The Batman Adventures (1992) #18
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 44-49
Invincible #s 97-104
Fantastic Four (1961) #247
Captain America (1968) #364
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #463
Justice Society of America (2007) #s 50-54
Axel Pressbutton #s 1-3
Fantastic Four (1961) #248
Captain America (1968) #365
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #464
G.I. Joe (2024) #6
The Power Fantasy #8
Youngblood Deluxe #1
JSA All-Stars #s 12-13
Spector: Incorruptible
JSA All-Stars #s 14-18
The Batman Adventures (1992) #19
Invincible #s 105-107
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #272
The New Golden Age #1
Axel Pressbutton #s 4-5
The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #2
Avengers (2023) #25
One World Under Doom #3
X-Men (2024) #15
Fantastic Four (1961) #249
Captain America (1968) #366
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #465
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #273
Justice Society of America (2022) #s 1-2
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1
Axel Pressbutton #6
Six months’ worth of The Phoenix (Yes, really, six months of a weekly comic)
Fantastic Four (1961) #250
Captain America (1968) #367
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #466
Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #25
Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic #8
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #2
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #274
The Batman Adventures (1992) #20
Justice Society of America (2022) #s 3-6
Stargirl: The Lost Children #1
Invincible #s 108-122
Action Comics #1086
Batman and Robin (2023) #21
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton #1
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 275-276
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #467 (Final Peter David)
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #217
Fantastic Four (1961) #251
Captain America (1968) #368
Justice Society of America (2022) #s 7-8
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 277-280
Invincible #s 123-132
Fantastic Four (1961) #252
Captain America (1968) #369
It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #48
Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic #9
Justice Society of America (2022) #s 9-12
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #s 281-282
Invincible #s 133-144
Captain Marvel (2000) #s 0-5
The Incredible Hulk: The End #1
The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #s 134-136
The Sensational She-Hulk (1988) #12
Wolverine: Global Jeopardy
Spider-Man: The Trial of Venom
Mommy Blog #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #s 253-254
Captain America (1968) #370
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #283
Spider-Man 2099 (1992) #s 1-3
JSA (2024) #1
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton #2
Fantastic Four (1961) #s 255-256
Captain America (1968) #371
Captain Marvel (2000) #s 6-7
Spider-Man 2099 (1992) #4
Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #284
JSA (2024) #s 2-7
DC vs. Vampires: World War V #s 7-9
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 218-221
The New Defenders #128
Batman (2016) #s 158-159
The New Defenders #s 129-130
Absolute Green Lantern #2
Secret Six (2025) #3
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton #3
Fantastic Four (1961) #257
Captain America (1968) #s 372-377
Captain Marvel (2000) #8
Predator vs. Spider-Man #1
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton #s 4-5
Fantastic Four (2022) #31
Godzilla vs. Spider-Man #1
Laser Eraser and Pressbutton #6
Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #16
Fantastic Four (1961) #258
Captain America (1968) #379
Captain Marvel (2000) #9
Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #26
Planet Death #0
The Batman Adventures (1992) #s 21-22
Batman the Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #s 0-1
The Batman Adventures (1992) #23
Batman the Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #s 2-7
Heavy Metal (2025) #1
All-Flash #1
The Saga of Crystal, Crystal Warrior #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #259
The Thing (1983) #s 1-4
Captain America (1968) #380
The Batman Adventures (1992) #24
Captain Marvel (2000) #s 10-13
Captain America (1968) #381
Alpha Flight Annual #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #260
The Thing (1983) #s 5-6
Captain America (1968) #382
Captain Marvel (2000) #14

April 30, 2025April 14, 2025

Stay Clear At All

April 28, 2025April 26, 2025

On Feeling Unsteady

April was always going to be an odd month, this year; there was a two-and-a-bit week period right in the middle of the month where my work schedule low-key imploded (intentionally so, but no less disruptively; there were conventions and editing and things that needed to be done that knocked my regular schedule and routine on their head) that felt like a black hole, pulling everything into it and warping the sense of reality surrounding it. There was a stretch where I worked eight days straight without a break, with a few of those days really long ones, and by the end of that, I felt notably off, as if my head has simply run out of power.

The thing about all of this, though, is that it’s happening at the same time as everything in the rest of the world — or, really, the rest of the country, with what used to be called “norms” and “the rule of law” breaking down at such speed and with such severity that it only added to the sense of having accidentally fallen off the face of the Earth and ended up somewhere that looked kind of the same but was notably, importantly, different in such a way that I couldn’t actually explain.

(At the end of that eight-day work stretch, I sat down to look at the news for the first time and saw that Trump was planning to withdraw all funding for public broadcasting; it seemed at once inevitable and the kind of thing that someone would object to, if we weren’t all exhausted by objecting to everything else that is arguably more important.)

There’s something to be said for that liminal feeling, when things just don’t feel entirely right, but not necessarily wrong, either. Even in such dire circumstances, to be able to sit there in that feeling just for a few moments and feel lost but not terrified is a wonderfully freeing thing.

And then, of course, reality sets in and you remember to be terrified again.

April 25, 2025April 14, 2025

When May is Rushing Over You

The wonderful thing about Spring is how easily I forget it after it’s finished each year.

Despite how that sounds, I don’t mean that sarcastically, or as any type of warning that I actually hate Spring and look forward to it ending every year — just the opposite, in fact. What used to be one of my least favorite seasons (I’m an October baby, I’m naturally predisposed to the fall, what can I say?) has become more and more of a highlight the older I get, and the longer I stay in Portland with its lengthy and emotionally difficult winters. (Man, the unrelenting greyness gets to you after awhile.)

That said, I feel as if Spring is something I remember in the abstract, at best; I know in theory that everything comes into bloom and plants sprout new life, and the sun starts to shine, and all that good stuff. If you asked me to describe the kind of thing that happens in the season, I could do that, no problem. I just forget what it looks like, is all. And then, each Spring, there will come a moment when I’m out on a walk, and I look up and see all the trees covered in their new growth and it takes my breath away.

It reminds me of something I realized when I was back in my hometown for the first time in years, back in 2023; I went for a walk in the early morning before anyone else was up, it felt like, and there was a point where I realized that I’d grown up surrounded by beauty and nature, and hadn’t even noticed at the time. There was such lush greenery all around me, and it had become alien enough that I noticed it again, and appreciated it as if it was new.

I get that every Spring here. There’s a point where I suddenly remember that there’s all this life happening all around me in such colors and varieties, and I feel humbled and touched at the same time. I always forget how genuinely beautiful Spring can be, and I actually love that; every year, I get to see everything new and fresh and fall in love all over again.

April 23, 2025April 14, 2025

We’re Walking Through Town

April 21, 2025April 8, 2025

I Heard The Siren Call A Truce

It’s been awhile since I shared a playlist, in part because I started from scratch with the new year a few months back. (In addition, when I got sick, I just… didn’t listen to music at all for a few weeks, which probably should have been my biggest sign that something was wrong, but also meant that I wasn’t really adding anything to the list to get it to my entirely fictional threshold of 50 tracks before I share it here. So… later than I might have hoped, but here it is now.

For anyone who has no idea what I’m on about; every year for the last few years, I’ve made a Spotify playlist for the year that I add new discoveries, songs I’ve rediscovered, or just simply things I can’t get out my head to, as something akin to a musical diary of the year. It’s a throwaway project but a fun one, and I share the playlist every 50 entries here. You can see the beginnings of the list for 2025 below, and listen to the playlist itself right here.

April 18, 2025March 30, 2025

Analog Nonsense

Ever since I started in this job, I’ve made it a point to keep analog, handwritten notes whenever possible. I have multiple notebooks — I generally go through two a year, although that’s in part because I always like starting a new notebook at the start of each calendar year, so the real measurement is probably closer to going through one-and-a-half-maybe-more — filled with comments to myself from meetings, from planning sessions or those brief moments of inspiration where I suddenly know just what I should be doing to achieve success or whatever; I have notes that are instructions for specific tasks, and notes that broader plans for, if not world domination, then at least ways to move through the world without too much disruption.

And, for the most part, I rarely look at them a few weeks after they’ve been written.

There are certainly some notes that I find myself poring back over, however long later; there are instructions for specific things that require codes or particular steps to be followed to avoid failure, or there are things that should be remembered very particularly for the desired result. But for the most part, almost everything I make note of is temporary, and forgotten about within weeks. Each of these notebooks is filled with comments and phrases that are meaningless to most everyone, including myself after enough time has passed.

Occasionally, I’ll look through old notebooks, looking for one of those codes I need or something else that suddenly seems relevant long after the fact, and I’ll find myself lost and confused: what does all of this mean? Why did I write these meaningless phrases, and did I even know what they meant back then? I’m creating an archaeology of myself that no-one will be able to decipher if they tried.

April 16, 2025March 30, 2025

The World That's Coming

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Stravinsky Knew

The Movies of April 2025