These monthly collections of joy usually start with a litany of the things that make me unhappy. I don’t have the energy for that this time around.
I considered talking about what I’ll be doing and working on this month. I’m very much looking forward to spending several relaxing days with Saintly Wife Barb and our kids. We’ll be on St. John in the Virgin Islands. I’m also looking forward to the Buffalo Comic and Toy Fan Con on Sunday, May 22.
However, when it comes to holding forth on May’s appointments and projects and such, I’m less enthusiastic. I generally like working, but I’d rather be working than writing about working. I’d need to stick the landings.
Cutting to the chase, here are the things that brought me joy and happiness last month...
April 1: The Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Yildiray Çinar is my new favorite super-hero title. Heroes and villains pushed together like a comic-book Rubik’s Cube. I did this sort of thing as a kid and it truly sparks my sense of wonder.
April 2: I’m late to the ball, but I absolutely love Doom Patrol on HBOMax. I wish I could spend a week on Danny the Street. Maybe do a signing at its comics shop. Because you know Danny is wonderful enough to have include a comics shop.
April 3: This Funko Pop! preview of our first day of summer mantle display. Amity, as you know, means “friendship.”
April 4: The force of love and nature that is Jon Batiste won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. If I ever write a film, I’d want him to score it.
April 5: Saintly Wife Barb’s outpatient surgery went very well. She is resting comfortably and will be doing so at home for the rest of the month under my loving care. I’m completely rocking the “Hello Nurse” outfit.
April 6: Hawkeye. Kate Bishop with Lucky the Pizza Dog. Yelena. My Funko Pop set of my favorite characters from the Hawkeye TV series is now complete. Funko should hire me to do commercials expressing the joy their figures bring me.
April 7: Geiger by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Three issues in, I’m loving this series with a radioactive hero and a post-nuclear war Las Vegas. Great writing and art from two of my favorites creators and the production values are just as stellar.
April 8: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. What a thrill to see the first Black woman, a justice clearly much more qualified to be on the Court than any of the Trump appointees.
April 9: Moon Knight. I had some doubts after the confusing first episode, but the second episode pulled it all together and has me wanting to re-read the classic Doug Moench stories and all those other MK comics I haven’t read.
April 10: Encanto. The best animated film of 2021 didn’t disappoint on any level. A great story with amazing animation, a whole lot of heart, fun music and wonderful voice performances. I am in complete awe of Stephanie Beatriz.
April 11: I took possession of the Casa Isabella garage on Sunday. With help from my son Ed and with Saintly Wife Barb supervising, I’ve started preparing for this summer’s Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales.
April 12: I accidentally deleted my main bookmarks and, after a few hours of cursing the cruelty of the universe, I decided this was my online Maria Kondo moment. I’ll rebuild slowly in a way that will reduce my time on Facebook and online in general.
April 13: Fun coincidences. The Armstrong service technician who set up my new cable box met Trevor von Eeden at some sort of event in Atlanta. He was thrilled to meet me as well, so I “tipped” him a copy of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands.
April 14: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is back in the studio and with live audiences. I’d given up on the pandemic version, but the host and show are coming back to life. It needs to do more with its talented correspondents, but it’s back on my watch list.
April 15: Randy Reynaldo’s Rob Hanes Adventures. I’ve been catching up with one of my favorite comic-book series and it’s as amazing as ever. Classic adventure and espionage tales with great characters and humor. Highly recommended.
April 16: From the 4/18/22 edition of The New Yorker, the four-page “Collective Shame” by Victoria Lomasko and Joe Sacco is a look at Russians who oppose Putin but are virtually helpless to stop him. An impressive and thoughtful comics report.
April 17: The Octobriana With Love anniversary edition was lots of fun, but what I truly love is the creation of this wondrous public domain fraud. I’m beginning to think I might have my own Octobriana story to tell.
April 18: Guardians. This 2017 Russian knock-off of The Avengers is not a great movie. But it’s fun in its own wacky way and intriguing enough that I will write about it soon.
April 19: Newly arrived at Casa Isabella is my Vincent Price figure from Funko Pop! Come Halloween, he’ll share our mantle with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark! Two sexy icons to make the greatest holiday a little more comforting.
April 20: I received my second booster shot yesterday at the Medina County Health Department. The staff was friendly and efficient. I was done in 30 minutes, including the 15-minute post-shot wait time to make sure I wasn’t mutating.
April 21: Batman: The Caped Crusader Volume 1. While it’s not among my favorite Batman runs, I’m loving the art team of Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo. Outside of Aparo himself, DeCarlo might be the best inker to have worked with that great artist.
April 22: Bob Hearts Abishola: I absolutely love Auntie Olu’s and Uncle Tunde’s heartfelt and hilarious striving to be good allies to their gay niece Morenike. These are real family values.
April 23: The American Wild Horse Campaign, fighting for the future of our nation’s iconic wild horses and burros and the public lands where they roam. Maybe by being kind to animals, we can learn to be kind to human beings.
April 24: Laguardia by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford and James Devlin is an amazing graphic novel about aliens, equality, immigration and inclusion. It should be in every library: home, public and school. I’m in awe of it.
April 25: Saintly Wife Barb and I watched the last four episodes of Only Murders in the Building. We love this incredible show and are eagerly awaiting the second season, scheduled to drop in late June.
April 26: Current Jeopardy champion Mattea Roach is nothing short of astonishing. In a world of big lies and intolerance, Jeopardy continues to celebrate inclusion, intelligence and truth.
April 27: John LeMay’s The Lost Films Fanzine has become one of my favorite magazines. The quarterly digest magazine presents articles on movies that never came to pass. It’s fascinating stuff, which I recommend to all movie buffs.
April 28: Hogan’s Alley #23. The new issue of the “The Magazine of the Cartoon Arts” again delivers nearly 150 pages of cool comics articles and knowledge. Kudos to editor Tom Heintjes and an amazing group of columnists, cartoonists and contributing writers.
April 29: Making progress.
April 30: Neal Adams. His almost unparalleled body of work and the inspiration it provided to so many of us. His being a champion of other creators. His readily shared wisdom. I’m going to miss him, but I’m so glad I knew him.
I’ll have more to say about Neal Adams in the near future, knowing all the time that I can’t possibly compete with all the wonderful tributes he’s already received from all around the comics industry and comics fandom. In the meantime, I’ll try to come up with some other bloggy things between now and my vacation. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back soon.
© 2021 Tony Isabella
"I absolutely love Doom Patrol on HBOMax. I wish I could spend a week on Danny the Street. Maybe do a signing at its comics shop. Because you know Danny is wonderful enough to have include a comics shop."
ReplyDeleteRichard Case was the artist on Doom Patrol when the comic book introduced Danny the Street. He would draw his local comic book shop (from Providence, Rhode Island I think; he was a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design) in background of some scenes, tho' I can't recall if it showed up on Danny the Street specifically...