2025 was a horrible year. I had to buy both a new car and a new computer, both of which I’m still paying off. The world went even more to shit. I’m discovering in real time that my new landlord isn’t going to spring for plowing the snow out of my driveway. Marvel movies are doing poorly at the box office. And Grand Theft Auto VI was delayed until next year, if we’re lucky.

So boo on 2025!

But one thing I like to do every year is a roundup of my favorite bits and pieces of pop culture from the past year. My favorite movies, TV shows, comics and more. Why not? Every website does this at this time of year. Why not try to lift my own spirits with writing about my favorite things? And keep in mind, this is not a list of the best media, it’s my own personal list of favorites from the past year. Your mileage may vary.

Personal artistic achievement: Completed Cover Bard #1, Mostly

I never have enough categories to fill my blog-standard of six, so this last category is usually a crapshoot. This year, we’re going with personal achievement, and I want to celebrate that I’ve finally finished the interiors of Cover Bard #1, my own solo comic. I wrote the comic, plotted out a whole arc, hired the artist and other creators, and will hopefully make this available for sale or Kickstarter sometime in the near future. But after several years of writing and planning, and several years of self-funded artwork, all 22 pages are drawn, colored and lettered. So it exists. It’s in my Google Drive. And someday everybody will get to read Cover Bard! Hopefully!

And I should really get back to work at writing issues 2 through 6ish.

Music: KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack

As I say every year, I don’t know music, but I know what I like. I’m not a music guy. I don’t follow trends or have playlists or know anything about current or popular artists. I discover new music through osmosis, hearing it on a commercial or in a TV episode or, in this case, from a movie. Then I add it to my growing playlist that I’ve had since college 20 years ago.

Fun fact about getting a new car is that I’m no longer reliant on a CD player. I’ve got my entire 20+ year playlist of gathered songs on a single thumb drive and have that plugged into the sound system in my vehicle. And funner fact, I don’t want to listen to most of those songs! Go me.

Anyway, KPop Demon Hunters was a banger of a movie filled with total bangers on the soundtrack. I loved all the songs, they all got downloaded and added to my playlist, and they’re all still fun to listen to. I don’t know the first thing about KPop music as a whole and I will never learn, but these songs were so much fun! I especially love a lot of the lyrics; they get really in there.

Video Game: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

This past year was a great one for video games, even if we didn’t get the new GTA. I played new games consistently throughout the year and had a grand old time. My favorite was Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 at the start of the year. I love a big, open world RPG and KCD2 delivered just like the first game, then expanded on everything to make it even more fun to play. I love a game where you have a whole world full of activities to do, with gun gameplay and character design. I liked being able to learn different weapon times and equip them all. I loved starting from the bottom and having to work my way up to afford better armor, after putting together makeshift gear from defeated bandits. And then I loved becoming a master thief and using the tunnel system to rob the main city blind! The story was good, the ending was good and it was a great sequel overall. Love me a big, explorable, interactive world like that.

Runner Up: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I jumped onto Clair Obscur at launch after so much praise for its way online, and the game easily lived up to all the hype. It was an extremely fun callback to the turn-based Final Fantasy games of my youth. The characters were neat, the writing was stellar, the battles were great; pretty much everything you could want from a good, solidly made video game. Definitely earned all of its awards.

Honorable Mentions: Death Stranding 2: The Beach and Ghost of Yotei.

TV: Andor

What else could it be but Andor? I remain a fan of most Star Wars content. It’s not all great, but most of it is at least fun to watch. Fortunately for us all, the second season of Andor came in like a hurricane and was as damn good as the first season, if not better. The drama was rich. The characters were bold. The real-world allusions were stronger than anyone could imagine. This was real drama, this was powerful storytelling, this was a series of great speeches; Andor delivered everything anyone could watch from a damn good TV show. Though I watched Rogue One the day after and I didn’t feel any greater attachment to the movie. That was a shame.

Runner Up: Twisted Metal

I’m going to swing for left field on this one and name the second season of Twisted Metal as my runner up. This show was so much fun! The second season if where we finally got the vehicle-on-vehicle tournament, and it lived up to all the hype and excitement, with an awesome cast of wild characters, a diverse batch of episodes and just an all around good time. Mortal Kombat wishes it has an adaptation as pure and as awesome as this Twisted Metal TV show.

Honorable Mentions: The Pitt, The Studio, The Residence, Long Story Short, Slow Horses, Pluribus.

Movie: KPop Demon Hunters

For the first time in many years, I just didn’t go to the theater a lot this year. I used to do movie reviews for my newspaper, but that got canned last year, I think. And so I just didn’t go to the theater much. But I didn’t need to, because my favorite movie of the year was right on Netflix! KPop Demon Hunters was a smash hit for all the right reasons. It was super fun, with great songs, great characters, stellar animation and a solid, enjoyable story. This movie had everything going for it and I’m glad it found the success that it did.

Runner Up: Sinners

Sinners is damn good. It’ll be at the top spot for a lot of people, as it should be. I made it to theaters to see this one and am glad I did. The first half is so good, I wished they’d turned it into a TV show. Then the second half kicks in and we get a rip-roaring vampire movie! With some great musical moments thrown in for damn good measure. And it all wraps up with a very nice epilogue, which some people missed in my theater because the credits had started to roll. Poor fools. Great film from beginning to end.

Honorable Mentions: Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Thunderbolts

Comics: Absolute Comics

The Absolute Comics from DC are as good as everyone says, and are rightly revitalizing the industry. They’re just like the original Ultimate Comics from Marvel. Take some of the most talented creators in the industry and have them reinvent the main superheroes for the modern day. Give them edge. Give them heart. Keep the core aspects of the characters, but feel free to shake up everything else, especially the supporting cast and the villain. Batman is balls-to-the-wall action, Superman is big, epic scale stuff and Wonder Woman is all heart. And they’re all great! Martian Manhunter is doing something insane and everything loves it. I gave up on Green Lantern and Flash, but I’m sure they’ve got their fans. I really should try them again. But the core three are dynamite!

Runner Up: Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League

This is just a fun little mini-series that delivers exactly what it promises: a super nifty heist story starring a team of baddies infiltrating the Justice League Watchtower. Greg Rucka knows these characters, this world and this style of storytelling like the back of his hand, and Nicolas Scott has always been a favorite artist of mine. Just an all-around delightful little series that I’m very glad exists.

Honorable Mentions: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman

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