2021 Favorite Things in Books, Movies, TV, Podcasts, and Comics

I’m trying a new format for presenting the massive amount of pop culture and entertainment I consumed this year. It’s one table which should allow the reader to sort, search, change the number of rows displayed, and use a horizontal bar for reading across the columns.

Books

You can follow along with my reading and recommendations on GoodReads. I’ve read more books than I expected this year. I admit two on my list are children’s picture books. They were still good reading and worth noting on my list. I have respectable amount of reviews done which is probably where my time went instead of podcasting.

Favorites:

• The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
• Flea Market Magic by Bella Falls
• A Different Dawn by Isabella Maldonado

Rather than give a ton of details here, the table above has all the books listed; plus there’s my GoodReads profile. It would be redundant to say the same things again.

Comics

I want to put this out there first: It may seem that my “top favorite comics” is filled with cis-male identities, but at least one writer is non-binary. I don’t know about anyone else’s gender ID. There were non-men involved in comics I read, but they weren’t completed stories. My top picks are longer arcs. I admit I look forward to an ending and a wrapped up story.

• Goblin by Eric Grissom and Will Perkins
• Chartwell Manor: A Comics Memoir by Glenn Head by Glenn Head
• Made in Korea by Jeremy Holt (w), George Schall (a), Adam Wollett (L)
• Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? by Harold Schechter, Eric Powell

I look forward to following Deadly Bouquet and Charlie’s Spot. Another is Blood of the Taken by Sian Mandrake comes out with each page in pencils, inks, then final stage through Patreon and eventually the finished issue is sent to backers. Vera Greentea has a proven career of writing compelling stories for comics and she manages to always find talented artists to partner with on each story. She’s great at one-shots and miniseries. I still love Emma Kubert and Rusty Glaad’s Inkblot as much as I did last year; it’s also ongoing.

Then there’s a special case like Stray Dogs. It is absolutely gorgeous and well-done with a solid story about kidnapped dogs BUT it’s too sad for me to keep going. I hoped volume two would shift once the dogs had a hopeful outcome at the end of volume one. Doesn’t seem to be happening.

Snow Angels volume one was captivating and I look forward to the next installment. The young characters go through trauma and have to make the most difficult of decision of leaving the only living space they’ve know which is in an ice trench with a small community of people.

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

One thing different about this year was that there was a new Psych movie, Psych 3: This is Gus. I loved that Selene’s character has become more than that first appearance of her when the regular series ended. And Lassie was back! It was wonderful to see him have that emotional conversation with Henry Spencer. I hope Shawn and Gus continue to indulge fans with the occasional movie.

I had to return to some comfort watching with my usual “go-to” shows like Bob’s Burgers, Superstore and Brooklyn 99. Bob’s Burgers is still generating new episodes and sometimes they are weird as fuck. There are three episodes I usually skip: Tina’s fetal pig nightmare on Halloween, the butt worms, and Bob’s LSD-like dream of being miniaturized in his car’s pile of trash.

Shows you should give a chance if you haven’t: Leverage: Redemption, Bless the Harts, The Great North, and American Auto. And Midnight Mass is a must-watch and I’m a person who doesn’t like scary stuff. Once the animal death scenes were over (I think only in episode 1 or 2) I couldn’t stop watching. Episode 3 is where the real brilliance comes out.

I also watched a ton of true crime shows like On the Case with Paula Zahn, American Detectives with Joe Kenda, Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace (she thinks that name will catch on when the job title is more like forensic genealogist). There are plenty of one-shot specials on various channels. I started to have problems with Investigation Discovery (IDGo) because they display shows that aren’t actually available there but are on Discovery+ which they want you to subscribe to. I found FilmRise Mysteries and though it’s filled with even more repetitive commercials than IDGo which I didn’t think possible, it’s at least free.

This year I also watched and rewatched a ton of standup comedy like I did in the 80’s when my grandparents had cable and a VHS machine. I taped comedians and watched them repeatedly. It’s basically the same thing now only I switch between Hulu, Netflix, and Prime.

Movies

I have watched a considerable amount of forgettable or nigh unwatchable movies this year. I also had a week of joyous fun watching monster movies like Rampage and Godzilla stuff.

Thankfully, an artist I model for, Christine Myshka, told me about The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain on Prime. I’m certainly not a Benedict Cumberbatch stan, but I respect his work. Even as Doctor Strange in which I consider him miscast, he did a great job with it. He has that undeniable talent to use all of his body and voice in his performances. He brings out every raw emotion as Louis Wain.

What made this movie even more special for me to watch this year of the pandemic in 2021 (besides the importance of having cat companions) is that we went to the VanGogh Immersive Experience at the pier in New York City.

My second top movie pick is Sweet Girl starring Isabela Merced and Jason Momoa. This young actor, Isabela Merced, carries so much of this movie. She’s 20-years-old and already has 31 credits to her IMDB page. Sweet Girl is emotional and filled with action hero sequences. There’s a twist at the end. Momoa and Merced present like a genuinely loving family who would do anything for each other.

It’s last minute addition to my list, but Red Notice on Netflix starring The Rock, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds is damn delightful and so much fun.

Adventures & Cases

As far as our own Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency mysteries, cases, shenanigans, and adventures, we have many to choose from. Fifty-two to be exact since I post one each week. Our fiscal year does not mirror the calendar year. Take a look at the case file numbers Year 4 no. 34-190 to Year 5 no. 33-241 and let me know what your favorites have been.

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.