The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #1

1980 saw the return of the DC superhero team Teen Titans after being disbanded two years earlier with The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #1. While the team still had Robin, Kid-Flash, and Wonder Girl from the previous roster, the new members include Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy (here briefly called Changeling). The debut issue sees Robin being guided by Raven to form a new Teen Titans team so as to help rescue Starfire from aliens who have imprisoned her. This being the start of the series that would be the inspiration for the 2003 animated Teen Titans series, I can already see how much that shows owes to this roster. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez have such wonderful writing, managing to balance out the drama, big superhero tropes, and chemistry through the good dialogue. Being from its time you do get a lot of expositional dialogue and overdone narration, but between Wolfman and Pérez's writing, the lettering by Ben Oda, and editor Len Wein's work it doesn't get in the way too much. Especially as Pérez serves as the comic's main artist who, alongside inker Romeo Tanghai and colorist Adrienne Roy, all create highly detailed, colorful, and imaginative artwork. Considering this is only five years before Pérez worked on Crisis on Infinite Earths, it's no surprise why DC gave him the job for one of their first epic stories. If The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #1 is any indication it's that this is the beginning to a fun and wonderful series. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:

1. Daredevil Vol. 1 #170

2. The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #1

3. Green Arrow Vol. 1 #1

4. Star Wars: Dark Empire #1

5. Deadman: Love After Death #1

6. Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1

7. Hulk Vol. 5 #1

8. Avnegers: War Across Time #1

9. The Yellow Kid

10. Archie and Me #132

11. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1

12. Action Comics Vol. 1 #674

Top 10 2022 Film Moments

1. Sidney Poitier's rough childhood during Jim Crow Miami in Sidney.

2. Sammy meeting John Ford at the end of The Fabelmans.

3. Vada's reaction to the news of another school shooting at the end of The Fallout.

4. Amleth and Fjolnir's final volcano battle in The Northman.

5. Jack and Babette meeting atheist nuns in White Noise.

6. Paul fighting then attempting to help a French soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front 2022.

7. Pinocchio choosing to become mortal to save his father in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

8. Nick and Javi's LSD induced adventure in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

9. Weird Al facing off against Pablo Escobar in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

10. The reveal of Landor being behind the murders at the end of The Pale Blue Eye.

Honorable Mentions:

Leonard revealed to be working against all of the mobs in The Outfit.

The reveal of Riddler's real plan in The Batman.

The reveal of what Avalonia actually is in Strange World.

Colm threatening to cut off his fingers if Padraic continues to talk to him in The Banshees of Inisherin.

Tár's breakdown in Tár.

The reveal that Brian's family still haven't gotten the money from the VA at the end of Breaking.

Dewey's death in Scream 2022.

Emily escaping to South America and starting her own credit card fraud ring at the end of Emily the Criminal.

Finney killing The Grabber in The Black Phone.

Charlie admitting to Amy about the murders he committed at the end of The Good Nurse.

The publishing of the article exposing Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassments at the end of She Said.

Olivia having constant doubts about herself in Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U.

Mei choosing to keep her Red Panda abilities at the end of Turning Red.

Briggs adopting Lulu at the end of Dog.

The train getting derailed in Bullet Train.

Thomas and Dimitry's drunken intercom exchanges in Triangle of Sadness.

The flashback revealing Helen pretending to be Andi and meeting Blanc to expose Bron in Glass Onion.

Pearl's church chorus audition in Pearl.

The reveal of what's under the house in Barbarian.

Colonel Parker's manipulations of Elvis throughout Elvis 2022.

Namor's origin story in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Bill Nighy's performance throughout Living.

The musical notes magic fight between two Dr. Stranges in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Evelyn and Joy reconciling at the end of Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Margot figuring out how to escape Slowik's restaurant at the end of The Menu.

Marcel reuniting with her family and giving her grandmother a proper funeral in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

Kat confronting her memories and accepting that her parents' death was not her fault in Wendell & Wild.

Otto leaving everything to Marisol at the end of A Man Called Otto.

Stanley telling the story of how he broke his hand in Hustle.

Danni admitting to not being a survivor of the Paris terrorist attacks and the ensuing fallout in Not Okay.

The reveal of Zurg's identity in Lightyear.

Maverick showing the recruits how to execute the mission during training in Top Gun: Maverick.

The Ghost of Christmas Present revealed to have been Ebenezer Scrooge in Spirited.

Manny reminded of his experiences and friends while watching Singin' In the Rain at the end of Babylon.

The motivation behind the murders at the end of See How They Run.

Naru defeating the Predator at the end of Prey.

Michael's death at the end of Halloween Ends.

Ana de Arma's performance as Marilyn Monroe throughout Blonde.

Santa's origins in Violent Night.

Jean Jacket's transformations in Nope.

Jerry pointing out how Tyler's tactics will eventually hurt his friends due to his selfishness in Jerry & Marge Go Large.

The remaining actors escaping from the movie set at the end of The Bubble.

Sweet Pete's animation hybrid transformation in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Alithea wishing the djinn free due to not being able to handle the modern world at the end of Three Thousand Years of Longing.

Sonic absorbing the powers of the chaos emerald in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The reveal of what the retirement home actually does in American Carnage.

Rosaline helping fake Romeo and Juliet's deaths from their families at the end of Rosaline.

Thor giving the kidnapped Asgardian kids powers in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Louis choosing not to know the circumstances of his future death in The Adam Project.

The kingdom opposing the king and queen after learning their war against sea monsters is unjustified at the end of The Sea Beast.

Ben shooting Quentin at the end of Vengeance.

Julia killing Daniel at the end of Watcher.

Howard's death in X 2022.

Maren visiting her mother at a psychiatric hospital in Bones and All.

Bud and Seth helping the Nazarian siblings on a vampire nest hunt in Day Shift.

How Ace ended up in the shelter in DC League of Super-Pets.

Six and Lloyd's final fight at the end of The Gray Man.

Jean threatened by a German spy with ties to the anti-Hitler plot in Operation Mincemeat.

The reveal of Eleanor working against Drea for a past misdeed in Do Revenge.

Neteyam's death in Avatar: The Way of Water.

The reveal of Raju being a part of a resistance movement while working as an Imperial officer in RRR.

Brian letting Charles travel the world at the end of Brian and Charles.

Jon Hamm's performance throughout Confess, Fletch.

Robert Freegard's capture at the end of Rogue Agent.

Blue Beetle

Based on the DC Comics character, though originally created by Fox Comics in 1939 before being bought by Charlton and then DC decades later, Blue Beetle focuses on Jaime Reyes iteration of the superhero. The film sees Jaime being given a blue alien Scarab that bonds with him, turning him into the titular character. While trying to understand how the Scarab works, Jaime gets help from his family and the daughter of the previous Beetle in order to defeat a weapons manufacturer who wants to copy the power of the Scarab into her own army. There's nothing too remarkable in terms of the storytelling as this pretty much follows the standard superhero origin story format. But it not only does it do it well but with the mix of Latin American culture it gives us a wonderful love letter towards people that the superhero genre hasn't widely tackled yet. The direction, set pieces, cinematography, and scoring all aid in giving this movie both its unique touch and wonderful tribute to Mexican and other cultures. What makes the film feel more personal and smaller compared to the previous entries in the DCEU is a good combination of CG and practical effects, especially with the Blue Beetle costume looking so good. However, the strongest aspect to this movie is its cast that mostly involves Latin American actors giving it such authenticity to its story and comic book roots. Xolo Maridueña knocks out from the start and the chemistry he shares with his family, which includes George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, and Damián Alcázar, truly keeps this from being a standard origin story. There's also Maridueña's chemistry between his love interest, played by Bruna Marquezine, and the Scarab itself, voiced by Becky G, that are great highlights towards Jaime's journey. Of course what's a superhero movie without the villains, and while Susan Sarandon and Raoul Max Trjillo play rather average villains the two do give highly memorable performances. Despite Blue Beetle not doing well at the box-office, James Gunn has said that the movie is part of his new DCU which shows just how well done this movie is that it was kept with the change. Over all: 100%

2023 top list so far:

1. Oppenheimer

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

4. Asteroid City

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

6. Blue Beetle

7. Barbie

8. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

9. Elemental

10. Air

11. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

12. Creed III

13. John Wick: Chapter 4

14. Scream VI

15. M3GAN

16. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

17. Cocaine Bear

18. Knock at the Cabin

19. The Flash

20. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

21. Renfield

22. Fast X

23. The Little Mermaid 2023

24. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

25. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

26. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the latest reboot of the franchise being headed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. In this continuity, the Turtles want to take part in human activities despite Splinter's fear and distrust of the world above the sewers. Upon helping and befriending a teen version of April O'Neil, who is an aspiring journalist, the Turtles learn about the crimes of Superfly and want to stop them to prove to Splinter that they're responsible and be seen as heroes by the people of Manhattan. The only problem is that Superfly and his gang, which includes Bebop and Rocksteady, are also animal mutants created by the same ooze that changed them. Considering how many times this franchise has been rebooted in such short amounts of time, you'd think this new one wouldn't be that great or hugely memorable. But not only did Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit all do incredible work as director and writers, but they managed to get an incredible home run in not only a good movie with a great story but the writing willing to do unique things for the franchise. Ending the movie with the Turtles, Splinter, and the other mutants being accepted by the humans and the teens attending April's school is a wonderful change of pace from what's come before. Only downside is not all of the jokes, often occurring too much at once sometimes, land and a bit of the TCRI aspects aren't as interesting. If the one thing that any adaptation of this franchise absolutely needs to nail is the chemistry between the Turtle siblings. Thankfully the combination of the writing and the performances from Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon succeed in this. A wonderful aspect to their voice acting is that they were allowed to improvise together and thus making their bond feel more real. The rest of the cast such as Jackie Chan as Splinter is perfectly suited, Ayo Edebiri is wonderful as April, Ice Cube brings great menace to Superfly, and the rest of the cast including the mutant gang are fun. As for the animation, it's quite beautiful and has a slight stop motion look combined with fun and creative comic book style visuals. The movement and action scenes are fluid, and combined with the strong cinematography, creative editing, and memorable score and music will certainly keep you from forgetting for a long time. First debuting in 1984, the Turtles never had a good track record when it comes to their movies compared to their shows, but hopefully Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will change that. Over all: 100%

2023 top list so far:

1. Oppenheimer

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

4. Asteroid City

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

6. Barbie

7. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

8. Elemental

9. Air

10. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

11. Creed III

12. John Wick: Chapter 4

13. Scream VI

14. M3GAN

15. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

16. Cocaine Bear

17. Knock at the Cabin

18. The Flash

19. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

20. Renfield

21. Fast X

22. The Little Mermaid 2023

23. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

24. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

25. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Top Movies and Shows of 2022

Movies:
1. Sidney
2. The Outfit
3. Emily the Criminal
4. The Fabelmans
5. Three Thousand Years of Longing
6. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
7. Mickey: The Story of a Mouse
8. Operation Mincemeat
9. The Woman King
10. Doctor Who Am I
11. Watcher
12. Vengeance
13. Hustle
14. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
15. Confess, Fletch
16. Glass Onion
17. All Quiet on the Western Front 2022
18. Brian and Charles
19. A Man Called Otto
20. Bones and All
21. Not Okay
22. Triangle of Sadness
23. Cyrano
24. Breaking
25. She Said
26. Wendell & Wild
27. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
28. RRR
29. Tár

30. Living

31. Fresh

32. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

33. The Pale Blue Eye

34. Top Gun: Maverick

35. Turning Red

36. The Bad Guys

37. The Fallout

38. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

39. The Sea Beast

40. The Menu

41. Strange World

42. Violent Night

43. Rogue Agent

44. The Black Phone

45. Prey

46. See How They Run

47. The Banshees of Inisherin

48. White Noise

50. Barbarian

51. Nope

52. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

53. The Northman

54. The Batman

55. The Good Nurse

56. Pearl

57. Cha Cha Real Smooth

58. The Adam Project

59. Babylon

60. Avatar: The Way of Water

61. Lightyear

62. Elvis 2022

63. Dog

64. Everything Everywhere All at Once

65. X 2022

66. Scream 2022

67. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

68. Rosaline

69. Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U

70. Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

71. Spirited

72. The Greatest Beer Run Ever

73. Day Shift

74. Jerry & Marge Go Large

75. Do Revenge

76. Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

77. American Carnage

78. Crush

79. Enola Holmes 2

80. Bullet Train

81. Ambulance

82. Halloween Ends

83. DC League of Super-Pets

84. We Have a Ghost

85. Thor: Love and Thunder

86. The Bubble

87. Minions: The Rise of Gru

88. The Gray Man

89. Jurassic World: Dominion

90. Purple Hearts

91. Black Adam

92. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

93. Deep Water

94. Pinocchio 2022

95. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

96. Morbius

97. Uncharted

98. Blonde

Shows:

1. Andor

2. Better Call Saul

3. Women of the Movement

4. The Devil's Hour

5. Around the World in 80 Days

6. Kevin Can F**k Himself

7. Ozark

8. Peacemaker

9. The White Lotus: Sicily

10. Severance

11. Black Bird

12. Five Days at Memorial

13. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

14. American Horror Story: NYC

15. The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey

16. Rick and Morty

17. Inside Man

18. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman

19. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers

20. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

21. Welcome to Chippendales

22. Only Murders in the Building

23. Superman & Lois

24. Euphoria

25. The Righteous Gemstones

Honorable Mentions:

The Sandman

Saturday Night Live

The Patient

Tales of the Jedi

9-1-1: Lone Star

Theodore Roosevelt

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

What We Do in the Shadows

Inside Job

Inventing Anna

Doctor Who

The Offer

Under the Banner of Heaven

American Experience

The Umbrella Academy

9-1-1

Let the World See

Moon Knight

The First Lady

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

The Book of Boba Fett

The Cleaning Lady

Stargirl

Man vs. Bee

The Flight Attendant

American Masters

Young Rock

Tales of the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead: Dead in the Water

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities

Gaslit

Dark Winds

Barry

Marvel Studios: Assembled

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Pam & Tommy

The Boys

Resident Alien

20/20

Baymax!

Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Ghost Island

The Afterparty

Our Flag Means Death

1899

Snowpiercer

Dexter: New Blood

Solar Opposites

American Horror Stories

Fear the Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

Secrets of Sulphur Springs

The Rookie

Blade Runner: Black Lotus

The Boys Presents: Diabolical

Alaska Daily

Legends of Tomorrow

Tulsa King

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

Two Sentence Horror Stories

Batwoman

Ghosts 2021

The Staircase

Chucky

The Flash 2014

The Thing About Pam

The Simpsons

The Gilded Age

The Man Who Fell to Earth

An Audience with…

The Cuphead Show!

The Mysterious Benedict Society

I Love That for You

The Amber Ruffin Show

Avenue 5

Yellowjackets

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

The English

Wednesday

The Midnight Club

The Old Man

Manifest

Ms. Marvel

Documentary Now!

Talking Dead

The Problem with Jon Stewart

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Blumhouse's Compendium of Horror

Reservation Dogs

The Orville: New Horizons

The Ghost and Molly McGee

Slow Horses

Made for Love

Grace and Frankie

A Friend of the Family

The Resort

The Legend of Vox Machina

The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time

The Watcher

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Quantum Leap 2022

The Crown

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Sherman's Showcase

The Late Late Show with James Corden

Welcome to Flatch

Killing It

Zootopia+

Physical

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Candy

NCIS

Human Resources

Locke & Key

Roar

I Am Groot

Disenchantment

Young Sheldon

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder

Keep Breathing

A League of Their Own

Little Demon

Shining Vale

Walker: Independence

One of Us Is Lying

The Essex Serpent

Bel-Air

The Rookie: Feds

Resident Evil

Hamster & Gretel

Interview with the Vampire

Family Guy

Joe vs. Carole

The Girl from Plainville

Fleishman Is in Trouble

Riverdale

Big Mouth

The Baby

Looney Tunes Cartoons

The Witcher: Blood Origin

This Is Us

iCarly 2021

Blue Bloods

NCIS: Hawai'i

Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber

Law & Order: Organized Crime

National Treasure: Edge of History

American Dad!

Law & Order: SVU

CSI: Vegas

Murderville

Bridgerton

Jack Ryan

NCIS: Los Angeles

Nancy Drew

Great Performances

Raven's Home

La Brea

Good Trouble

Daredevil Vol. 1 #170

While Daredevil has been around since 1964, many of the things we often associate with the character weren't part of his mythos until much later and 1981's Daredevil Vol. 1 #170 introduces his most famous rivalry. Having been primarily a Spider-Man villain, the Kingpin wants to regain the criminal empire he once lost by giving any and all information of his rivals to the government. In turn, his rivals hire Bullseye to kidnap his wife, Vanessa, to lure him out all the while Daredevil reluctantly gets caught in the middle. Frank Miller, who started out as an artist in Spider-Man titles before working on and then getting to write for Daredevil from the late 70s to early 80s, gave the Man Without Fear much of what we know about the character including his Catholicism and martial arts fighting style. With this issue, Miller introduced the start of what would become Daredevil and Kingpin's feud as well as giving the criminal his well known name, Wilson Fisk. Since Miller is both the artist and writer you get a good sense of noir through his slick writing and moody art style. Aided by inker Klaus Janson and colorist Glynis Wein, the comic's lighting and shadows really help in evoking that genre. Early in his career Frank Miller proved how great of an artist and writer he was thanks to comics like Daredevil Vol. 1 #170 that it's no wonder he eventually got to do The Dark Knight Returns. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:

1. Daredevil Vol. 1 #170

2. Green Arrow Vol. 1 #1

3. Star Wars: Dark Empire #1

4. Deadman: Love After Death #1

5. Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1

6. Hulk Vol. 5 #1

7. Avnegers: War Across Time #1

8. The Yellow Kid

9. Archie and Me #132

10. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1

11. Action Comics Vol. 1 #674

Barbenheimer

Yeah, I'm doing it like this. What of it?

Barbie

If Barbie proves one thing is that you can have a toy based movie be not only fun but filled with great writing, superb direction, and an inventive and colorful production. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling shine while Greta Gerwig manages to give a big budget studio film a sense of indie drama that had started her career. How it handles its messages of feminism, existentialism, and masculinity may not go through one hundred percent of the time but it still able to deliver them effectively. Incredibly fun music, inventive set pieces, and just an absolute bonkers look will certain keep Barbie from ever being forgotten. Over all: 100%

Oppenheimer

With Oppenheimer, Nolan shows us the events leading up to the creation of the atom bomb and how the director of the program dealt with the repercussions and political squabbles over a decade later. Being Nolan, he does it by going back and forth between different time periods in a way that feels perfectly him. Cillian Murphy is an absolute beast as he headlines this expansive all star cast. The unique cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema helps establish not only when certain scenes are set but from whose viewpoint we're seeing them from. Oppenheimer is not just a beast of a film, but one of the best there's ever been. Over all: 100%

2023 top list so far:

1. Oppenheimer

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

3. Asteroid City

4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

5. Barbie

6. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

7. Elemental

8. Air

9. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

10. Creed III

11. John Wick: Chapter 4

12. Scream VI

13. M3GAN

14. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

15. Cocaine Bear

16. Knock at the Cabin

17. The Flash

18. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

19. Renfield

20. Fast X

21. The Little Mermaid 2023

22. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

23. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

24. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania