Back to the Start Line Again

Welcome to the beginning of Year 18 at Reporting on Marvels and Legends. What a year, huh? So full of adventure and good times, one could have mistaken it for Heaven on - 

What's that? I'm sorry, I'm being informed there were not really that many adventures or good times.

I did avoid any weather-related mishaps, and the one major vehicular issue at least didn't result in me getting injured. I did have a really shitty time trying to get home from a training back in the summer, but I at least turned that into some writing. That felt healthier and more productive than just posting a profanity-laden tirade, which was my initial plan.

Here on the blog, things were pretty much business as usual. In February, I did a write-up about how my new comic purchases have changed since I started this blog. Then May brought a post about how I dither over when to drop a book. In March, I floated the idea of an alternate version of Cable's birth, where the Juggernaut shows up while Madelyne Pryor's all alone in the X-Mansion. Come April, I had to fend off Pollock's nefarious attempt to ruin my day by having an owl steal my baseball caps. June, I hopped back over to sports talking about the Golden State Warriors winning an NBA title. August through September, I made 4 posts answering a bunch of questions about writing I saw online. October, even if I don't love the book, there are still things I find interesting about West of Sundown. November brought Blogsgiving, all the insanity that comes with it.

I've bought more new comics this year than I have in a while, which meant a decrease in the number of reviews of trade paperbacks and manga, and also fewer visits to the Random Back Issues. 21 over the last year, compared to 26 the year before. The one major change to the blog was the start of Saturday Splash Page, which is like Sunday Splash page, but starting at the end of the alphabet. The former's initial run made it from volume 1 of Young Justice to The Union as of last weekend. Sunday Splash Page kept rolling, moving from volume 1 of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man all the way through Hitman.

At the beginning of the year, I estimated the two would meet up somewhere around Ennis' MAX imprint Punisher run in February of 2026. Of course, I've added many more titles since then, so I'll have to check and see where I stand after the annual culling of the collection in January. Right now, I expect Saturday Splash Page to get somewhere near Supergirl by the end of next year, kicking off a long stretch of "S" titles. Sunday Splash Page might reach the Abnett/Lanning Legion of Super-Heroes books by December.

Of course, once they meet up I have to go back and hit all the titles I added to earlier letters after I'd passed them. I think the Bs already have 2-3 months worth waiting, but such is life.

In theory, the new series meant a return to everyday posting, which hadn't happened since 2015 when I abandoned Saturday because it was just too tricky getting somewhere with wi-fi more than a couple of times a week. Knoxville, TN was surprisingly unaccommodating in that regard.

While I am going to end up with more posts this year than any since then, in practice, Thursday took over as the skip day at least a couple weeks every month. As a plus, I've watched a lot fewer terrible movies that made me deeply regret the life choices that brought me there! I still read and reviewed around 2 dozen books, so that didn't change much.

I also don't anticipate much changing in the year ahead, barring unforeseen catastrophe. I finished one of the very long things I was posting elsewhere, and I'm most of the way through the other one. Maybe I'll get some more diversions done now. Although there are other long things I'm also trying to write, so no promises. I feel like the tpb/manga reviews and Random Back Issues might tick back up, if only because the number of new comics might drop again. The stuff I'm planning to buy is shrinking, and these smaller publishers have erratic shipping schedules. Or maybe that's on Diamond.

I guess we'll see what happens in the next year. Thanks to everyone who reads or leaves comments.