2020 Favorite Things in Books, Movies, TV, Podcasts, and Comics
Books
You can follow along with my reading and recommendations on GoodReads. I’m usually talking about them on Twitter and Instagram when I’m not talking about cats and how incredibly fucked up things are.
Scanning over my files, it seems that I have a lot of books started and unfinished. Primarily those are non-fiction which I like to digest sporadically. Unfortunately that means if they are not “completed” they don’t get on my GoodReads Reading Challenge and I’m coming up short (edit: I’ve caught up!). Rest assured, I read more this year than last year even with stretches of time where reading was too difficult.
My favorite novels of 2020:
- Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
- Tricky by Josh Stallings (technically it’s not out until Jan 2021)
- Drawn by Carsen Taite
- Don’t Look Down by Hilary Davidson
Favorite Comics of 2020
Virtually Yours by Jeremy Holt, Elizabeth Beals, and Adam Wollet. This is a heartwarming story bringing classic romantic comedies like You’ve Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle up to date with modern dating apps, racial diversity, and queer representation.
I won’t take up too much space here since I have a post about Virtually Yours from my Vodka O’Clock episode with Jeremy Holt.
Another new comic on the scene that blew me away was Inkblot by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd published by Image Comics. They create their issues using the old “Marvel Method” which is working out things through the art first and adding the dialog last. But also, it’s a hilarious, adorable magical black cat creature who only says, “mow” and can move through time and space.
Apologies for the crappy HTML table below. I tried several different ways to embed it and this was the best version. Yeesh.
**The table below has horizontal scrolling features and pagination.
Nearing the end of the year, I also made a trip to Comic Fusion which I hadn’t visited in far too long. I had been emailing with Bill Meccia (the owner) about needing a lot of things. First was putting together a selection of gifts for $100-150 to be donated to the yoga studio’s chosen charity for this year. Second was selecting things for kids in the family but that I only see once a year in a normal year so I don’t know what they like. Bill picked out games with expansions so that each kid would get to open something. I also picked up a new volume of Tiny Titans and the first issue of Batman/Catwoman (the art by Clay Mann and Tomeu Morey is incredible).
If you have a comic shop that’s nearby or not but one you like to support, they will likely be more than happy to put together a package and ship it for you. Comic Fusion has always done a steady mail order business. Due to the constant weekly updates in comics and merchandise, running all of it through a website might not be available for your LCS. If you present them with what you need, a great shop will be able to ask you questions and narrow down choices with you.
TV Shows
I had to return to some comfort watching with my usual “go-to” shows like Psych, Bob’s Burgers, and Brooklyn 99. Psych is occasionally making movies which keeps fans happy. Bob’s Burgers and Brooklyn 99 have had new episodes this year. If you haven’t given Bless the Harts a chance, I recommend it. The seasons are much shorter than Bob’s Burgers but it’s every bit as sweet and weird.
I enjoyed some stand-up comedy this year on Netflix mostly. What the selections proved was that if you watch one white cis male comedian that’s all Netflix will show you. It may show other men, but their selections will be all men. If you search for someone else like Hanna Gadsby, Ally Wong, Iliza Schlesinger, Kathleen Madigan, or Tiffany Haddish, and actually watch one, then Netflix will show two lists: one of male comedians and one of “because you watched ___” with women and minority comedians. I love the hell out of Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, John Mullaney, and Jack Whitehall, but I want to see other people too. Plus, there were several male comedians I turned off after five minutes. We get it: you hate women.
Movies
Out of the new-to-me movies I got to watch this year, I am totally surprised that I didn’t love certain ones but did love others. I expected Gone Girl and Blow the Man Down to be favorites for me, but they weren’t. Kill the Irishman is probably the best movie I watched this year.
*Edit: I watched Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max. Yes, there were some annoying problems, but by watching it disconnected from the comics and other things, I loved it. I would have made some other choices, but I’m not the writer.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.