Comics
For the most part, I turned to familiar titles in 2023. Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo has made a most welcome return to regular publishing and 2023 saw a mini-series team-up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a Space Usagi one-shot and new ongoing stories. Larry Hama unexpectedly returned to his G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero following its cliffhanger ending at IDW; now at Image, he's picking up right where he left off. The best super hero book I read in 2023 was Al Ewing and Kasia Nie's Wasp mini-series, which had an interesting retake on the Wasp's original antagonist.
Books
There were only a few examples of fiction that really engaged with me in 2023. I finally read T. S. Stribling's short story collection Dr. Poggioli, Criminologist, a great continuation of his unusual psychologist/crime solver. I also found some enjoyment in Jo Eisinger's mystery novel The Walls Came Tumbling Down, even though it's a bit too much like Hammett's Maltese Falcon (more about Eisinger's book in this blog post). I read a bit of Oscar Wilde's fairy tale collections and particularly enjoyed the Happy Prince and Other Stories, they somehow manage to be very satirical yet sentimental. I read Nicholas Blake's the Smiler with the Knife because I was curious as to why Orson Welles had wanted to make a film of it; it's a lot like one of John Buchan's spy novels such as the Power-House, a good read. I read Algernon Blackwood's short story collection Shocks, which might be the last of his anthologies I hadn't read; most of the stories were in some manner a ghost story and began to feel a little familiar but other tales had strong twists on the format. And I read Endo Shusaku's historical novel the Samurai, largely because it had been recommended in Philip Yancey's Sole Survivor.
But the best fiction I read in 2023 was by Budd Schulberg. Reading about Jack Kirby had revealed to me that Kirby was a big fan of Schulberg's novel What Makes Sammy Run? so I sought it out to learn why; it's a compelling book, not only an examination of the dark side of Hollywood but of American values as well. I also read Schulberg's short story anthology, Some Faces in the Crowd; more about that when I write about films.
One of the best non-fiction works I read was American Midnight, the latest bit of journalism by Adam Hochschild, this time focusing on how World War I undid many of the socialist politicians of the time. And my wife led me to two great works about how to express belief through one's art - Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle and Art + Faith by Makoto Fujimura.
The rest of the significant books I read in 2023 were Christian books, including the Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen, Where Is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey and N. T. Wright's books Simply Jesus, Reflecting the Glory and Following Jesus.
Cinema
I went to the cinema more frequently in 2023 than most years, due almost entirely to my wife (of the 7 films I saw in cinemas, the only one I didn't see with her is the one I saw before we started dating). I was pleased to find that Avatar: The Way of Water was a pretty good film (and I blogged about it in this post). Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was okay, though the Wasp didn't do much to earn her byline (it was really more about Ant-Man and his daughter). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was an excellent send-off to that film series. I found Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny wasn't up to the standards of the earlier films but was all right (I shared more thoughts in this post). Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One was easily the best action movie I saw in 2023, particularly with a very fun car chase and a great set piece aboard a falling train. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was an excellent biographical film, the sort of story Ridley Scott's Napoleon aspired to be; I don't hesitate to call Nolan's film a triumph but Scott's film had some moments too, mostly due to oddly-chosen dialogue.
Other Films
At this point I'm so well-versed in old films that I seldom discover anything from the '30s-50s that really stands out, yet A Face in the Crowd (based on one of Schulberg's stories from Some Faces in the Crowd) was a very strong work and surprisingly relevant to today's USA (also very much like Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run?). I enjoyed the documentary films Louis Armstrong's Black and Blues and Sidney. I was surprised to find I enjoyed the 1960s musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and very pleasantly surprised to discover the satirical film Johnny Dangerously, which fit precisely into my sense of humour. The Disney film Elemental was a fun one to watch with my wife and she, in turn, got me to watch Blast from the Past, which I had known for decades was supposed to be very funny - it was!
Television
I might have watched more television programming in 2023 than any other year in the last decade. Not all of the programs were memorable, but my wife got me watching the comedy series Arrested Development (which I like a lot) and the action program Alias (which I'll post about when I finish the series). 2023 was the year Ted Lasso ended, not entirely on its best footing but definitely as a strong program (I shared my closing thoughts on the series in this post). That also led me to the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham which has been pretty enjoyable. I also enjoyed the mini-series the 1619 Project, based on the book, but the series seems to have attracted a lot of online hate (just as the book did). Beyond that, I've been slowly revisiting the Dick Van Dyke Show, which I hadn't seen since my early teenage years and I appreciate being in a place now where I understand all of the jokes.
And that was my 2023. How was yours?
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