My comic shop closed last year. I’ve spoken about that before, but it happened and I’ve not gone out to find a new one.
My kid is almost six years old now, and he’s only shown a passing interest in superheroes as a genre. He can take or leave most hero cartoons, preferring entertainment that creeps towards the supernatural than the super. Scooby-Doo, Haunted House and Ghostbusters all get frequent play in our place, while there is pushback to The Brave and the Bold and Spider-Man.
It is what it is, but the side effect of all of this is that it’s nearly the end of March I’ve not read any comic books in 2019.
I know. I think it’s weird too.
On the other hand, because of the times we live in, I am still immersed in comic book culture, through the movies and television that is constantly flooding the market. Some may worry about hero-fatigue, but I’m actually quite happy that there is enough out there that I no longer feel the need to have to support every show in the genre just to show that there is an audience for the material. If something doesn’t grab me, I can let it slide.
So former mainstays like Agents of SHIELD, Gotham and even Arrow have slipped off my radar and have been replaced by The Umbrella Academy and Titans. I’ve not seen Captain Marvel or Shazam yet, but I have adored Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
If you haven’t seen Into the Spider-Verse yet, make sure you make it next on your list. We’ve spoken about it on the podcast a few times, but I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed this movie. It’s smart and fun and gorgeous to look at. It won the Academy Award for best-animated feature up against Pixar and Disney offerings, and it wasn’t even close. Black Panther was up for best picture, and in my eyes, Spider-Verse was a superior offering. Jake Johnson and Shameik Moore deliver top-notch performances and the supporting cast includes Nic Cage, Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney, Chris Pine and Liev Schreiber all bringing their A-game. Do you know how rare it is that Keith, Jon and I all agree that a movie is great? Pretty damned rare.
I have a huge watchlist as well. I want to see season two of The Punisher, The new Doom Patrol show, the third season of Young Justice. I have Aquaman, Teen Titans Go to the Movies and I Kill Giants queued up. I am trying to catch up on The Flash. Avengers: Endgame is coming out soon, and I’m looking forward to it. I need to check out Justice League Action and the new Harley Quinn animated series. I’m sure there’s more out that that I haven’t even heard about yet that would be right up my alley, especially since DC pumps out animated straight-to-video features all the time, and with their new streaming service out in the United States, they’ll surely be looking to produce more content than ever.
It’s an embarrassment of riches for me, and I love it.
–Scott is a writer and founder at 9to5. He’s a host on The 9to5 Entertainment System and does a lot of the graphic design around these parts.
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