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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.

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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.

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The Most Wonderful Time Of The, Only Joking

Tax season, every year, is a stressful time for me. That’s been the case since I came to the States; I remember that first time of trying to do American taxes and basically thinking to myself, this is arcane and ridiculous, and somehow I have to do this every year? (Yes. Yes, I do. Every single year.)

It’s not just that I’m hardly fiscally-minded. I try to make myself feel better about that each year by going, oh, I’m creative, that means I get a pass on being business-minded or serious in a way that actually benefits me — a theory that certainly makes me feel a little better about myself before the crushing reality sets in and I worry if I don’t have all the paperwork I need and perhaps I’m going to be destroyed by a system that really couldn’t care less how creative I may or may not be. It’s also that the tax system is this very strange, seemingly very intentional anxiety machine that makes things as difficult to understand as possible: do you have the right forms? Have they all been filled in by other people appropriately? Because if they screwed up, that means you screwed up. Are you going to get everything filed in the appropriate manner to two different entities in time? And, because I’m in Portland, Oregon, will you also remember to pay the entirely separate Arts Tax, which isn’t included in the State filing for some reason?

It doesn’t help that I have experience of having done it wrong in the past; I remember being told, the first time I went to a tax specialist, that I’d been doing it so wrong for the past three years that I owed an entire subsection of taxes I wasn’t even aware of. Oh, and because I’d owed it for so long, I’d be charged a 100% penalty for non-payment, so I basically had six years of back taxes waiting for me like the worst Christmas gift ever. I remember being called while on a business trip to the UK by a separate tax preparer that something was wrong with my paperwork and they probably wouldn’t be able to file on time unless I scanned and submitted entirely different documents that I didn’t have to hand because, again, I was in a different country on a work trip.

Because of all of this, I try to do my taxes pretty early each year — preferably somewhere in February, so I have two months or so to fix things if and when they go wrong. Except that, this year, I spent February and the first half of March sick, so I had this internal pressure of gotta do taxes gotta do taxes GOTTA DO TAXES in my head the entire time. They were done before the end of March, filed and accepted, but still. I’m half-convinced that, somehow, something is going to go wrong at any moment and I won’t have time to fix it.

Happy tax filing deadline tomorrow, everyone.

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Absent Friends

Something I remember from returning back to Scotland two years ago now — and somehow, it’s already two years ago, which is wild to me; suddenly, it makes more sense that I managed to go more than a decade without traveling back in the first place — was the feeling of places I remembered just simply not existing anymore. In some cases, that could be taken literally, because entire streets and neighborhoods had been reshaped and remade in the time I’d been gone so that they simply did not exist at all anymore; in others, it was because I remembered a previous tenant at a particular location, or a storefront that had closed years earlier, if not decades.

It’s a strange by-product of creating so many psychogeographical maps of locations in my past. When I think about Glasgow, I specifically think about a Glasgow of a quarter-century ago or more, the time I was in the city most often and had regular haunts. The Glasgow in my head, the one that is filled with personal flagstones and places that are filled with such specific significance for me that I could never hope to fully explain if I had years to try, is a ghost now, with so much lost to makeovers and reconstruction and simply the passage of time. There’s an entire history of the city that’s just gone now, I discovered with no small amount of sadness.

This hit me the hardest, I think, when walking around the area where all my old comic shops had been; none were there anymore, and that was the strangest feeling given how many hours I’d spent in each of them across the years. One of the shops still existed in a new location, and another had a new comic shop replacing an old favorite in its old location. (The new one was basically a toy shop that sold a handful of comics; my heart sank, but that’s what the kids want now.) It’s embarrassing if I think about how each of those old shops fed into the me I am now, but somehow even more so given that they’re all entirely gone if you visit the city today. An entire history of me that only I know, with no sign left to the rest of the world.

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It’s All A Numbers Game

So, let me tell you about the last week of March from a work perspective. We have traffic goals that we’re set at the site — no surprise, because that’s been the case at literally every single website I’ve worked at — and, for reasons too complicated to go into, March’s goal went from “oh, we’re definitely going to hit that” to “oh, we have no chance of hitting that” in the blink of an eye about a week out from the end of the month. (It was a technical thing, not the fault of any particular person.) The reason I’m sharing this isn’t to complain, but to tell you that what happened next surprised the living shit out of me. Namely, I refused to accept it.

That’s not entirely right; I knew throughout the entire week that the goal was virtually impossible — there was a chance, but it was the slimmest of slim chances — but, for whatever reason, I just decided to act as if we’d do it anyway. I worked stupidly long hours, I set specific targets for particular writers to write particular stories for me to edit, I just… pushed, for want of a better way to put it, utterly determined that if we were going to fail, at least I’d have tried my very fucking hardest to succeed and no-one could say anything different. I got the bad news, I spent about a couple of hours being upset and mad about the extenuating circumstances, and then I just… went.

Part of this came from the fact that, the week before, when we were all thinking it was a sure thing, I purposefully took my foot off the gas to give myself, and the writers I edit, a break. February and March had been stressful, I figured, let’s all take a breather for a little bit. The numbers are good, we can afford ourselves this luxury. And then we found out the numbers weren’t good, and I felt embarrassed and mad at myself for that decision.

More than that, though, I was just mad. I was mad that, after these past couple of stressful months, the win that looked like it was right there suddenly wasn’t, and I just decided that I wanted it anyway. And if I wanted it hard enough, and if I really, really, applied myself, then why couldn’t I get it? Or at least, get close? As the song goes, anger is an energy… and at least this way, it was one put to good use. There’s a lesson there I should probably take into other parts of my life.

We ouperformed by the numbers by 10,000 by the time the month was done.

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The Movies of March 2025

I’m not entirely sure why March is so lacking in movies compared with other months lately; it wasn’t an intentional choice, and somehow it happened anyway. Was I watching too much TV? (No, although I feel like I watched more TV than usual; Severance, The Pitt, Mythic Quest, and Adolescence made sure of that.) Was I just watching less in general? I suspect so, which is a nice thing to think about. So, what movies did I watch last month…?

(Spoilers: I thought A Complete Unknown was laughably bad, and would call it one of the worst things I’ve ever seen if it wasn’t for the fact that I watched Wicked a couple of days earlier…)

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The Comics of March 2025

As is traditional, heading to a convention completely wrecked by regular rhythm of comic book reading, with Emerald City Comic Con at the start of the month leaving me too exhausted to read much if anything at the end of each day. That said, I managed to climb back on the horse pretty impressively, based on this outrageous list of things that I read last month. (It’s actually not as impressive as it might look, but I will say that my habit of reading Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk every evening proves to make it look pretty great.) That said, if anyone could explain what made me so obsessed with DC’s Justice Society as I became midway through the month, that would very much be appreciated…

  1. All Star Superman #1
  2. Fantastic Four (1961) #64
  3. The Mighty Thor (1966) #141
  4. Captain America (1968) #314
  5. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #374
  6. G.I. Joe (1982) #s 31-33
  7. All Star Superman #2
  8. Fantastic Four (1961) #65
  9. The Mighty Thor (1966) #142
  10. Captain America (1968) #315
  11. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #375
  12. G.I. Joe (1982) #34
  13. Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #285
  14. Icon (1993) #s 9-10
  15. Jack of Hearts #2
  16. Fantastic Four (1961) #66
  17. The Mighty Thor (1966) #143
  18. Captain America (1968) #316
  19. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #376
  20. Icon (1993) #s 11-13
  21. New Gods (2024) #4
  22. Legionnaires #58
  23. Jack of Hearts #s 3-4
  24. Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #18
  25. Fortune and Glory: The Musical
  26. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 377-379
  27. Icon (1993) #s 14-15
  28. Avengers (2023) #24
  29. Doctor Strange of Asgard #1
  30. The Ultimates (2024) #10
  31. Uncanny X-Men (2024) #11
  32. NYX (2024) #9
  33. Storm (2024) #6
  34. Fantastic Four (1961) #67
  35. The Mighty Thor (1966) #144
  36. Captain America (1968) #317
  37. Superman: Birthright #s 1-3
  38. Fantastic Four (1961) #68
  39. The Mighty Thor (1966) #145
  40. Justice League Unlimited (2024) #5
  41. Metamorpho: The Element Man (2024) #4
  42. Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante/Eagly Double Feature #1
  43. Superman (2023) #24
  44. Fantastic Four (1961) #69
  45. The Mighty Thor (1966) #146
  46. Captain America (1968) #318
  47. Wonder Woman (2023) #19
  48. Superman: Birthright #4
  49. Fantastic Four (1961) #70
  50. The Mighty Thor (1966) #147
  51. Fantastic Four (1961) #71
  52. The Mighty Thor (1966) #148
  53. Fantastic Four (1961) #72
  54. The Mighty Thor (1966) #149
  55. Fantastic Four (1961) #73
  56. The Mighty Thor (1966) #150
  57. Fantastic Four (1961) #74
  58. The Mighty Thor (1966) #151
  59. Justice League: The Atom Project #4
  60. Green Lantern (2023) #21
  61. Black Canary: The Best of the Best #5
  62. Birds of Prey (2023) #19
  63. Superman: Birthright #5
  64. Captain America (1968) #319
  65. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 380-381
  66. Captain America (1968) #320
  67. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 382-385
  68. Superman: Birthright #6
  69. The Best of 2000 AD Special Edition #1
  70. DR & Quinch’s Totally Awesome Guide to Life
  71. Fantastic Four (1961) #75
  72. The Mighty Thor (1966) #152
  73. Showcase ‘94 #s 8-9 (Waverider story only)
  74. Zero Hour (1994) #s 4-0
  75. Zero Hour 30th Anniversary Special #1
  76. Generation Zero: Gods Among Us Special Edition #1
  77. Generations Shattered #1
  78. Generations Forged #1
  79. Fantastic Four (1961) #76
  80. The Mighty Thor (1966) #153
  81. Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comic #13
  82. Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #19
  83. Superman: Birthright #s 7-12
  84. Action Comics (2011) #s 1-2
  85. Action Comics (2011) #s 3-4, 7
  86. Fantastic Four (1961) #77
  87. The Mighty Thor (1966) #154
  88. JSA (2024) #6
  89. Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1
  90. Action Comics (2011) #8
  91. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 386-387
  92. Captain America (1968) #s 321-322
  93. Paradax (1987) #1
  94. 2x Peter Milligan and Brett Ewins
  95. All-New Venom #4
  96. The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #69
  97. Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom #1
  98. Iron Man (2024) #6
  99. Phoenix (2024) #9
  100. Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2
  101. West Coast Avengers (2024) #5
  102. X-Men (2024) #13
  103. X-Factor (2024) #8
  104. Star Trek (1989) #1
  105. Secret Six (2025) #s 1-2
  106. You’ll Do Bad Things #1
  107. We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #1
  108. G.I. Joe (2024) #s 1-2
  109. Fantastic Four (1961) #78
  110. The Mighty Thor (1966) #155
  111. G.I. Joe (2024) #s 3-5
  112. America vs. the Justice Society #1
  113. All-Star Comics #s 58-61
  114. JSA (1999) #s 52-55
  115. Aquaman (2025) #2
  116. JSA (1999) #s 56-58
  117. Hawkman (2002) #s 23-25
  118. Action Comics (2011) #5
  119. JSA (1999) #s 59-60
  120. All-Star Comics #62
  121. JSA (1999) #s 61-64
  122. The Power Fantasy #s 5-7
  123. Fantastic Four (1961) #79
  124. The Mighty Thor (1966) #156
  125. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #388
  126. Captain America (1968) #323
  127. JSA (1999) #s 65-67
  128. Action Comics (2011) #6
  129. Booster Gold (1985) #s 8-9
  130. Avengers (1963) #s 235-236
  131. JSA (1999) #s 68-70
  132. G.I. Joe (1982) #s 35-37
  133. All-Star Comics #63
  134. America vs. the Justice Society #2
  135. Alpha Flight (1983) #6
  136. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #389
  137. Aquaman (2025) #3
  138. JSA (1999) #s 71-72
  139. All-Star Comics #64
  140. Captain America (1968) #324
  141. Invincible #s 1-14
  142. JSA (1999) #s 73-77
  143. JSA Classified #s 1-4
  144. Justice Society of America (1992) #s 1-2
  145. Avengers (1963) #237
  146. Star Trek (1989) #s 2-4
  147. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 390-393
  148. JSA (1999) #s 78-81
  149. Star Trek (1989) #s 5-7
  150. JSA (1999) #82
  151. Sooner or Later
  152. Sooner or Later Presents: Swifty’s Return
  153. Fantastic Four (1961) #80
  154. The Mighty Thor (1966) #157
  155. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #394
  156. Captain America (1968) #325
  157. Avengers (1963) #238
  158. JSA (1999) #83
  159. G.I. Joe (1982) #38
  160. Invincible #s 15-16
  161. Action Comics (2011) #9
  162. Exceptional X-Men #7
  163. One World Under Doom #2
  164. Action Comics (2011) #s 9-12, 0
  165. X-Force (2024) #9
  166. Cable: Love and Chrome #3
  167. Batman and Robin (2023) #20
  168. Fantastic Four (1961) #81
  169. The Mighty Thor (1966) #158
  170. Captain America (1968) #326
  171. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #395
  172. Avengers (1963) #239
  173. Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1
  174. Green Lantern Corps (2025) #3
  175. JSA (1999) #s 84-87
  176. Justice Society of America (2006) #1
  177. Action Comics (2011) #s 13-14
  178. Fantastic Four (1961) #82
  179. The Mighty Thor (1966) #159
  180. Captain America (1968) #327
  181. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #396
  182. Justice Society of America (2006) #s 2-4
  183. Avengers (1963) #240
  184. All-Star Comics #65
  185. Justice Society of America (1992) #s 3-5
  186. G.I. Joe (1982) #s 39-40
  187. Action Comics (2011) #15
  188. Fantastic Four (1961) #83
  189. The Mighty Thor (1966) #160
  190. Captain America (1968) #328
  191. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #397
  192. Action Comics (2011) #s 16-18
  193. Star Trek (1989) #s 8-12
  194. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #s 398-400
  195. Justice Society of America (1992) #s 6-7
  196. Aquaman (2025) #4
  197. Star Trek (1989) #13
  198. Fantastic Four (1961) #84
  199. The Mighty Thor (1966) #161
  200. Captain America (1968) #329
  201. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #401
  202. Star Trek (1989) #s 14-16
  203. Justice Society of America (1992) #s 8-10
  204. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #s 301-305
  205. All-Star Comics #66
  206. Fantastic Four (1961) #85
  207. The Mighty Thor (1966) #162
  208. Captain America (1968) #330
  209. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #402
  210. Web of Spider-Man (1985) #s 2-3
  211. It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #43
  212. Star Trek (1989) #s 17-21
  213. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #s 306-307
  214. Invincible #s 17-24, 0
  215. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #s 308-310
  216. Web of Spider-Man (1985) #s 4-9
  217. Fantastic Four (1961) #86
  218. The Mighty Thor (1966) #163
  219. Captain America (1968) #331
  220. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #403
  221. Star Trek (1989) #s 22-24
  222. Invincible #s 25-30
  223. Invincible: Origins #1
  224. Justice Society of America (2006) #s 7-9
  225. Al’s Baby
  226. Fantastic Four (1961) #87
  227. The Mighty Thor (1966) #164
  228. Captain America (1968) #332
  229. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #404
  230. Invincible #s 31-34
  231. Marvel Team-Up (2004) #14 (Invincible crossover)
  232. Web of Spider-Man Annual #s 1-3
  233. All-Star Comics #67
  234. Hawkgirl (2006) #50
  235. Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #20
  236. Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comic #s 14-15
  237. Web of Spider-Man (1985) #s 10-13
  238. Star Trek (1989) #s 25-28
  239. Fantastic Four (1961) #88
  240. The Mighty Thor (1966) #165
  241. Captain America (1968) #333
  242. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #405
  243. Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four #1
  244. Fantastic Four (2022) #30
  245. Uncanny X-Men (2024) #12
  246. Star Trek (1989) #29
  247. Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #2
  248. The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #70
  249. The Incredible Hulk (2023) #23
  250. Summer of Superman Special #1
  251. Challengers of the Unknown (2024) #5
  252. Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #38
  253. Wonder Woman (2023) #20
  254. Fantastic Four (1961) #89
  255. The Mighty Thor (1966) #166
  256. Captain America (1968) #334
  257. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #406
  258. X-Manhunt: Omega #1
  259. Wolverine: Revenge #5
  260. Daredevil (2023) #19
  261. Weapon X-Men #2
  262. Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #15
  263. Fantastic Four (1961) #90
  264. The Mighty Thor (1966) #167
  265. Captain America (1968) #335
  266. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #407
  267. DC vs. Vampires: World War V #s 1-4
  268. DC vs. Vampires: World War V – Darkness and Light #1
  269. DC vs. Vampires: World War V #s 5-6
  270. Justice League of America (1960) #166
  271. Fantastic Four (1961) #91
  272. The Mighty Thor (1966) #168
  273. Captain America (1968) #336
  274. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #408
  275. It’s Jeff! Infinity Comic #44
  276. 52: World War III #s 1-4
  277. Justice League of America (1960) #167
  278. Fantastic Four (1961) #92
  279. The Mighty Thor (1966) #169
  280. Captain America (1968) #337
  281. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #409
  282. Justice Society of America (2006) #s 10-12
  283. Detective Comics #1096
  284. Titans (2023) #22
  285. The New Gods (2024) #5
  286. Absolute Wonder Woman #s 1-5
  287. Justice League of America (1960) #168
  288. Fantastic Four (1961) #93
  289. The Mighty Thor (1966) #170
  290. Captain America (1968) #338
  291. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #410
  292. Invincible #s 35-47
  293. Fantastic Four (1961) #94
  294. The Mighty Thor (1966) #171
  295. Captain America (1968) #s 339-340
  296. Iron Man (1968) #228
  297. The Incredible Hulk (1962) #411
  298. Serenity: Those Left Behind #1
  299. Kingdom Come #1
  300. Red Hulk (2025) #2
  301. Invincible #s 48-50
  302. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #s 231-232
  303. All-New Collector’s Edition #55 (Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes)