Month: March 2023

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So Much For The Comic Book Fan

A curious thing happened during my Seattle stay for Emerald City Comic Con, which just finished last night. (I got back at 10pm, and pretty much went straight to bed, exhausted from the entire experience of a five-day trip for a four-day convention. It was a lot.) I realized that, despite being on an entire trip for a comic convention, I hadn’t actually read more than one comic during the entire time I was gone.

This is, to be blunt, particularly unusual, because when not traveling, I find myself reading a few comic books per day, whether for work or while unwinding at the end of the day to try and let my brain slow down so that I could fall asleep. That wasn’t what happened on this trip, though; instead, I was getting back from the convention center with my head buzzing from everything that had happened that day at the show — whether work-related, or some other random thing that was just sticking in my head for whatever reason — and then going through the notes I’d made at this panel or that one, or some other work-related activity, until I got so tired that I basically crawled under the covers and fell asleep.

There was only one night — oddly enough, the first night of the entire convention, the second night of the trip — where I read comics, and even then, I found it something that I had trouble concentrating on. My head was elsewhere. (Mostly, on struggling to concentrate, and wanting to fall asleep.)

This all probably says a lot about the complete failure of work/life balance when I’m on a work trip by myself, as does the fact that I’d wake up after a restless night at something like 5am and then start going back through notes or trying to write up a story or at least think of one, really reinforces that. I am my own worst enemy, even when I’m trying not to be.

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I’m Outta Here

Somehow, comic convention season is upon us again; as you’re reading this, I’m in Seattle for this year’s Emerald City Comic Con, which I’m working as part of the Popverse crew for the second year running. (I say year, but the last one was just August last year; it feels simultaneously far closer and further away than 12 months ago.)

It’s the start of at least four shows for this year: I’m doing ECCC, Star Wars Celebration, San Diego Comic-Con, and New York Comic Con as things currently stand, and there’s potentially more where that came from, depending on how things work out and what the Popverse editors have in mind for me. I’m at once excited and anxious about the prospects of a new con season, which feels like the most appropriate response: happy to see old friends and familiar faces that otherwise I wouldn’t get to see, and worried about the travel and potential for everything to go wrong that always comes with this kind of thing on every single trip. At least I’m starting with one that I can get to by train, so airports aren’t in my immediate future… he writes, a month before a transatlantic flight beckons.

For this show, I’m keeping myself busy: in addition to reporting, writing, and all of the traditional journalism business, I’m also moderating a couple of panels on the Friday afternoon (and one on Saturday, too) and also ideally attending a couple of things that are convention-adjacent that haven’t been around before. If there’s a theme to my work in 2023, it’s a quiet attempt to get better at what I do, and try some things that I don’t normally do, as well. (See also: appearing on video, which others really want me to do more of despite my natural unease.)

I’m writing this ahead of time, before I’m even in Seattle, so we’ll see how it all goes on the day(s), but: it’s a trip, no pun intended, to be back on the circuit again so quickly after it last happened. I already find myself wondering if it’s going to be as good as I hope.

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The Comics of February 2023

And here we are, in a new month, which means it’s time for me to share another list of comics that I read last month. In terms of reading, it was perhaps more indicative of what my comic reading usually is, in that there’s a bunch in here I was reading or re-reading for work. (The Spider-Man and Kang-related comics, especially.) That I have a job that requires me to read comics remains a mystery and a joy, I have to admit.

Unlike last month, where I published the list before the end of the month, this is the up-to-the-minute, complete February list. This is it, unfortunately.

  1. Time2 Omnibus
  2. Fighting American (2017) #s 1-4
  3. DC Power: A Celebration #1
  4. Juggernaut (2021) #s 1-5
  5. Golden Record
  6. Night Fever
  7. Judge Dredd from Jan & Feb 2023 issues of 2000 AD
  8. After The Snooter 
  9. A Very British Affair
  10. Danger and Other Unknown Risks
  11. DCeased War of the Undead Gods #6
  12. The Flash #793
  13. Icon vs. Hardware #1
  14. The Fate of The Artist
  15. Fragments (from Alec: The Years Have Pants)
  16. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 121-122
  17. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 31-33
  18. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 50
  19. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 96-98
  20. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1977) #s 4-7
  21. Predator (2022) #4
  22. Punisher (2022) #7
  23. X-Men Red (2022) #8
  24. Strange (2022) #s 2-7
  25. Hulk (2021) #s 9-10
  26. Gag! (2023)
  27. The Years Have Pants (from Alec: The Years Have Pants)
  28. The Human Target (2021) #12
  29. Batman vs. Robin #5
  30. Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 41
  31. Action Comics #1052
  32. Secret Invasion (2022) #1
  33. Justice Society of America (1992) #s 1-3
  34. Miracleman #0
  35. Hugo Tate (Collected edition)
  36. Sacrament #s 1-5
  37. Poison Ivy (2022) #s 1-9
  38. Tim Drake: Robin #1
  39. Hungry Ghost OGN 
  40. Haunthology 
  41. Black Cloak #1
  42. Air #s 1-4
  43. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1977) #s 56-58
  44. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1977) #s 107-110
  45. Ant-Man (2020) #s 1-5
  46. Absolution #s 1-3
  47. Night of The Living Deadline USA #s 1-8
  48. Strange Days #1
  49. Absolution #s 4-5
  50. G.I. Joe (Marvel) #s 57-62
  51. G.I. Joe (Marvel) #s 63-80
  52. The Plain JANES
  53. Black Cloak #2
  54. Fantastic Four (2022) #1
  55. The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #13
  56. Spider-Man (2022) #2
  57. John Stewart: The Emerald Knight #1
  58. Batman ‘89 #1
  59. G.I. Joe (Marvel) #s 80-92
  60. Avengers (1963) #s 267-269
  61. Avengers Annual (1963) #21
  62. Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #4
  63. Multiversity: Harley Screws Up The DCU #1
  64. G.I. Joe (Marvel) #s 93-99
  65. Stargirl: The Lost Children #s 1-4
  66. Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #1
  67. Superman: Space Age #1
  68. The Flash #794
  69. Micronauts Annual #1
  70. Avengers Forever (1998) #s 1-6
  71. Avengers Forever (1998) #s 7-12
  72. Avengers (1998) #s 41-42
  73. The Amazing Spider-Man #s 544-545
  74. The Amazing Spider-Man # 638
  75. Iron Man (2020) #24
  76. Gold Goblin #1
  77. Thunderbolts (2022) #4
  78. Amazing Fantasy #15
  79. Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1977) #131, 132
  80. Web of Spider-Man #31
  81. Avengers (1998) #s 41-45
  82. Avengers Annual 2001 #1
  83. Star Trek: The Early Voyages #7
  84. Superman: Space Age #s 2-3
  85. DC Horror Presents: Sgt Rock vs. the Army of The Dead #s 1-6
  86. Nightwing # 101
  87. Danger Street #4
  88. Spider-Man: Lifeline #s 1-3
  89. Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #1
  90. New Teen Titans (1980) #s 16-18
  91. Lazarus #1
  92. Punchline: The Gotham Game #s 2-5
  93. Shazam! Fury of the Gods: Shazamily Matters #1
  94. The Ultimates (2015) #s 1-7
  95. The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #s 30-44
  96. The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #14
  97. Defenders Beyond #5
  98. All-Out Avengers #3
  99. The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #s 45-49
  100. The Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #s 50-58, 500 (Series is renumbered)
  101. Captain Action #s 1-2
  102. Ultimates 2 #100
  103. Ultimate Fantastic Four #1
  104. Venom #7
  105. Venom #26