Champagne Saves It

Jan 1

I’m not big on New Years, but Champagne, which I adore, does sort of save it.

I don’t like big proclamations. I’m a typically a cautious person who doesn’t like to commit to a promise unless I know I can deliver. And that’s just not the vibe of New Years Resolutions, y’know?

This is the DOALY variant for the print edition of It’s Jeff (out in late March 2023) Truly an incredible cover. I could not love it more. There’s also a Gurihiru main cover and a Lim variant.

I don’t know what all of you have planned for tonight, but I’m being dragged to Karaoke (which I loathe, but which my partner loves) to hang with some friends in a private booth or something? I wanted to do something nice for my partner and so I agreed to this all about a month ago and felt great about myself for committing “future me” to a “selfless” thing. I’m sure you can imagine how grouchy “present me” is feeling today. ;D But it WILL make my partner happy, and I’m sure it will be fine (some of my favorite people in the whole wold will be there — how bad could it be?!)

Anyway, as ever, I am somehow still drowning in work — the holidays always seem like a magical time in which I will somehow miraculously both get a much needed break and also catch up on everything that I have not done in the previous 11 months — what a shock that it never pans out like that. We had some very stressful weather for our holiday travels — but were much luckier than many folks out there who had truly horrifying travel situations this past season — and we are safely home — I hope all of you were at least able to avoid that stuff — and maybe even eek out some love and happiness and warmth and rest before whatever comes next.

In the meantime I thought I’d share here some of my favorite things I read and watched over the last year.

Note: These are not necessarily things that RELEASED in 2022, just things I ingested in 2022.

10 MOVIES I LOVED:

I didn’t watch nearly enough films this year. My “to watch” list feels insane — just loaded down with films I’m dying to see and yet somehow I always end up seeing a lot of shit that isn’t those movies. I don’t know why it happens this way but it does…nearly every year. Very frustrating and I just need to try harder to reverse this course! The best movies I saw in 2022 were: PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (2020), RED ROCKET (2021), POWER OF THE DOG (2021), THE GREY MAN (2022), BARBARIAN (2022), PLEASURE (2021), THIEVES’ HIGHWAY (1949), SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941), KEEP AN EYE OUT (2018), and a tie with KISS ME DEADLY (1949) / TURNING RED (2022).

10 SHOWS I LOVED:

I’m probably going to have to talk about some of these in more depth at some point, because I experienced some of the greatest — not just TV — but TV writing this year — that I have ever experienced — so good that it has actually left me in a bit of a conundrum about my own work. But for today, just the list: ANDOR (2022 - DISNEY+), SEVERANCE (2022 - APPLE TV), WHITE LOTUS S2 (2022 - HBO MAX), THE EXPANSE S6 (2022 - AMAZON PRIME), THE DROPOUT (2022 - HULU), BARRY S3 (2022 - HBO), ATLANTA S3 (2022 - FX/HULU), OUTER RANGE (2022 - AMAZON PRIME), HACKS S2 (2022 - HBO MAX), and AVENUE 5 S2 (2022 - HBO MAX).

10 MUSICS I LOVED:

I’m the worst at listening to “new” music and — as I live and die by playlists — even if I added a bunch of new stuff (rare!) I still end up listing to a ton of older stuff thanks to the playlists I usually listen to. This year, according to my devices that track me, I listened to a hell of a lot of the following: HAIM, THE GO TEAM, DAFT PUNK, M83, CHVRCHES, LORDE, CANNONS, JUSTICE, TV ON THE RADIO, and BO BURNHAM (Inside/Inside Outtakes).

12 COMICS & BOOKS I LOVED:

I FINALLY am reading books again and MY GOD IT IS WONDERFUL. It’s still hard for me to keep up and stay on top of it — and I didn’t really read enough to justify a “Top 10” so I’m mixing them in with my comics pics, but honestly? Every novel I read this year was great: WILD SEED by Octavia Butler (1980); KLARA AND THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021); MIND OF MY MIND by Octavia Butler (1977); THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller (2011).

Often “comics research reading” overwhelms my “comics pleasure reading” and I can struggle in this category even though I SHOULD excel but I read some great stuff this year — in both series and OGN format:

Cover to Keeping Two — art by Jordan Crane

The OGNS: KEEPING TWO by Jordan Crane (2022 - Fantagraphics); DUCKS by Kate Beaton (2022 - Drawn & Quarterly); IT’S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH by Zoe Thorogood (2022 - Image); and HUMAN by Diego Agrimbau (2019 - Europe Comics).

Image from Human Target — art by Greg Smallwood

The Series Picks: HUMAN TARGET (DC Black Label, 2022- ), NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE (DC Black Label 2021- ), PUBLIC DOMAIN (Substack/Image, 2022- ), and SAGA (Image, 2012- ).

Okay. That felt like a very strange whirlwind list but I am impressed at how well I was able to hold back the commentary… a true struggle! So it’s back to work with me on this dreary cold end of the year Saturday, or what’s left of it… and of course I have Karaoke to look forward to later (nooooooo). But I hope you all have great evenings ahead of you — whether going full party mode or full goblin mode (so jealous). Either way, I hope you get a glass of champagne, since it makes this whole NYE thing worthwhile as far as I’m concerned. ;D

Hug someone you love if you can. And see you in 2023. <3

~Kelly