I haven’t done one of these for a while. Close to a year, I think. Inspired by the AEIOU and Sometimes Why blog, I’m going to do a wrap up somewhere around the first of the month of what I’ve enjoyed in the previous month. I got to the point where I realized that forcing myself to write hundreds of words about a comic wasn’t a good use of my time when all I really wanted to say was “I liked it”. I also grew up with a mom and aunt who keep (to this day) a journal of what books they read over a calendar year. Thus, I want some sort of record for what I’ve consumed in books, comics, movies, and TV. I do at times look back on these posts to see if or when I’ve read something. These posts have their own set of rules, made up by me. I’m not counting weekly wrestling shows, nor the wrestling homework. If anything receives its own post then I’m not repeating that here. YouTube doesn’t count unless there was something very different. Usually it’s Mr Beast and top 10 superhero videos. With all of that out of the way, let’s look back at October. 

For the Halloween season I have a couple things that must be watched every year and then sprinkle something new to me in there. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Garfield Halloween, and Paul Lynde Halloween Special are watched every year. I squeezed in Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein this year. That really should be an every year thing. At this point I’ve seen it so many times I’m discovering new things each time. Subtleties. The interaction between the women is interesting when I’m not paying attention to the funny guys and the monsters. There was an episode of Prime Time Wrestling featuring Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon, and Roddy Piper celebrating the holiday in their own unique way. Finally, I watched the Halloween that Almost Wasn’t AKA the Year Dracula Saved Halloween. It’s a bumbling comedy farce starring Judd Hirsch as Dracula. Very silly and I’ll definitely watch it again on some future Halloween. 

As mentioned before, I finished reading all of the Boys comic series. I’ve watched one episode of the show so far and I think I know where I fall. That will be a longer post once I figure out my feelings. 

I also just started The Woods because I’m trying to read everything from James Tynion IV. The first volume was alright, but I wasn’t sold on the concept. The second volume was much better and I’m going to finish the series this month. Again, that will probably end up being a full post once I’m done. 

Frontiersman was interesting. A retired environmental rugged superhero gets talked into saving a tree. A modern day activist group wants him as a celebrity to get their message across. He agrees and this is when everyone from his past decides to show up. Friends, enemies, lovers, all of it. In a way it reminded me of No One Left to Fight. This is the last hurrah and a time to make peace with the issues in our heads. I’m fascinated by the history that is implied and I’ll be getting the spinoff books plus this series whenever it continues. 

My kid and I are reading all of DCeased. DC Comics epic zombie story. It’s really really good. Comic over the top gore, so stupid it can’t be taken seriously. Or a very important person is killed, or even worse hurt. It really is worse when they’re hurt because then the next few pages are spent preparing for death. There are some heavy emotional moments in this series and we’ve had to stop to scream multiple times. 

Speaking of my kid, there was a cute book I saw at work called Weekends with Dad. A little boy talks about his parents getting a divorce and the changes in his life. He has these things at dad’s house and these at mom’s. Things are different, but that isn’t a bad thing. Having unique things at each place can be a positive. I liked this book a lot and I thought it would be a good series to look into. There appear to be books about babies, death, all the big difficult conversations to have with kids. 

Sticking with the DC comics heroes. We saw Black Adam and that was so much better than I expected. My son made an excellent point, it had jokes, like a Marvel movie. Exactly. I can’t stand Batman vs Superman and my main reason is that the two characters don’t act as opposites. Superman can’t be the light to counter the Dark Knight if he himself is dark. Then here comes this character called Black Adam to add some levity to the movie universe. I feel more possibilities and potential for DC on film from this movie than I did BvS.

The DC animated universe has been fully watched. Wonder Woman: Bloodlines was alright but in the end in the bottom two of the entire series. Constantine: City of Demons is full blown animated horror. This would have fit in well when Sci-Fi channel played creepy anime late at night. Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is animated grindhouse. Crazy shit at the beginning, dial it down in the middle for character development, crank it all the way back up for the ending. Finally, there’s an epilogue called Constantine: House of Mystery that’s about a 20 minute story of the Spectre punishing John for his actions in the overall DCAU arc. Really really messed up stuff. Makes me want to read all of Hellblazer, but I got rid of the copies I had earlier this year.

Many years ago the Pete’s Basement show excitedly talked about a new series called Dark Ark. Finally I sat down to read the whole thing. The idea is during the Noah’s Ark story there was a second ark. An ark that contained all the evil creatures. The rule was this ark cannot attack Noah. In fact, they have to protect it. All sorts of denizens from the shadows appear throughout the story. Noah’s Ark is honestly barely in the story. It’s not about religion or the Bible. Ironically though it is about family. Doing anything to make sure your tribe survives. The idea is great but something ultimately fell flat for me. Everything was good but nothing was great and this wasn’t a situation in which the sum is greater than its parts. 

Harley Quinn Eat Bang Kill Tour is a graphic novel collecting the comics which take place between seasons 2 and 3. It is just as graphic, violent, and sexy as the show. The art is very close to the animation style. Harley and Ivy have a bit of drama which threatens to tear them apart but there are so many people in the world rooting for them it pulls them back together, stronger than ever. Harley is the biggest new comic creation in 30 years (Deadpool second) with arguably more character growth than other top tier heroes in the same amount of time. From sidekick in an abusive relationship to antihero lead in the most prominent LBGT relationship in comics. A good iconic character can have many versions of themself, all of which are still true. The fact that this adult animated Harley is just as valid as Suicide Squad, the comics, the games, or anything else says a lot about the quality of the character and creators. 

So that was October. In November I’ll watch some Thanksgiving specials, finish the Woods, watch Black Panther, and who knows what else.