Best Movies: The Avengers, John Carter – deserved more respect, Moonrise Kingdom, Resident Evil: Retribution – What can I say? Mila, Looper, Skyfall, The Cabin in the Woods, Chronicle – underappreciated classic- contrived at times, but spectacular, Kumaré, Total Recall – imperfect by far, but interesting and fun nonetheless Most Disappointing Movie: Battleship, a concept so bad the execution almost had to be better, yet it failed even that remarkably low bar. Worst Movie: 2016: Obama’s America – awesome in its terribleness
Best TV Shows: Doctor Who – Of course, Sherlock – I also like Elementary, but there’s no contest, Sons of Anarchy – Waaay better than The Sopranos, Breaking Bad – best show on TV? Yup., The Newsroom – Great show, Childrens Hospital – best comedy on TV, The Walking Dead – what an improvement, American Horror Story, Fringe – I’ll be sorry to see it go, Arrow – biggest surprise, Last Resort – I like it, but it could be so much better. Finally, should have been better: The River – I’ll call this a noble experiment and a good try.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Avengers, FF and Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman, Before Watchmen
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Star Trek Into Darkness– the nine minutes preceding The Hobbit just whet my appetite
Most Looking Forward to seeing: Django Unchained
Steve Ahlquist writes the column, “Applied Mythographics” for Forces of Geek
Dean Galanis
Best Movies: There are a still a handful of potentially great films I haven’t seen yet, but of the movies I’ve seen this year, only two really wowed me; The Cabin in the Woods: hugely entertaining, consistently surprising and a truly generous gift to lifelong horror fans. The elevator lobby and merman moments are instant classics. Skyfall: the best Bond film in eons (maybe my favorite, period). Great action, top-notch villain, terrific performances, as well as a nicely-handled backstory for Bond, that thankfully doesn’t reveal too much. There were a few films I thought were unfairly maligned (or at least underrated or ignored); The Grey: yes, the wolves’ behavior may not conform to reality. But this is exciting, stylish stuff with a refreshingly non-phoned-in turn by Liam Neeson (the rest of the cast is very good also). Peeps have complained about the abrupt ending; I felt it tied in perfectly with the film’s theme and outlook. John Carter: infinitely more entertaining than most of the year’s blockbusters, JC was a notorious financial flop. But despite some major flaws, this is great fun, and deserves rediscovery. The Three Stooges: good, dumb fun. Uneven and silly, to be sure, but the gags are there, and the three leads do an excellent job of recreating the chemistry of Moe, Larry and Curly. The Tall Man: not seen by many, and disliked by the majority of those who did, The Tall Man is an admittedly tough one for casual horror fans, as it definitely subverts expectations. But if you just go with the director’s intentions, it’s a very rewarding film. And Jessica Biel is surprisingly effective in a difficult role. I also admired Looper, Chronicle, and after a lumpy start, The Hobbit settled into being a fun time at the movies.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Gonna get some flack with this one – The Avengers: I love me some Joss Whedon, but was sorely disappointed with this (unlike nearly everyone else on the planet). Hardly a bad film – and, full disclosure, I’m really burned out on the superhero genre – but it felt mostly tired and flat to me. The sight of Hulk tossing Loki around like a Rottweiler with a chew toy is one of my favorites of the year, but little else stuck with me. Argo: as with The Avengers, my disappointment is mostly due to huge expectations. Again, not at all a bad movie, and it’s got spot-on period detail, but it never grabbed me and wasn’t the tense nail-biter I was hoping for.
Best Books (fiction): I read shamefully few books this year. But I FINALLY got around to reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and now understand what all the fuss was about. Great stuff.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Looking ahead, there’s not a lot that has me excited in 2013. I was excited about a new Lone Ranger movie, until I saw the dreadful trailers. I still hold out SOME hope, but it doesn’t look promising. I will say that despite my lack of enthusiasm for superhero films of late (and “reboots” in general – you can imagine my reaction to the dire The Amazing Spider-Man), I’m surprised that the trailer for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel is pretty damned good. Here’s hoping.
Dean Galanis is a contributor to Forces of Geek
Marc Bonanni
@marcbonanni | https://neckice.blogspot.com | https://www.facebook.com/neckice
Best Movies: Argo
Best TV Shows: Homeland
Best Books (fiction): Dead Stars by Bruce Wagner
Best Books (non-fiction): Ascent of the A-Word by Geoffrey Nunberg
Best Video Game: Draw Something
Best Songs: “Gold on the Ceiling” (The Black Keys)
Best Albums: good kid, m.A.A.d city (Kendrick Lamar)
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Building Stories (Chris Ware)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Quadrophenia (Criterion Collection)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012? iPhone 5
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Pasolini’s Tree of Life Criterion Collection DVD
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Mad Men returns
Marc Bonanni is an educator and mammal and friend of Forces of Geek
Marvin C. Pittman
@marvinpittman
Best Movies: The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Looper, Lincoln, The Raid: Redemption, Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Best TV Shows: Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings, Boardwalk Empire, TRON: Uprising
Best Books (non-fiction): In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Best Songs: Gangnam Style by PSY, Some Nights by fun., Wide Awake by Katy Perry, Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye feat. Kimbra, We Found Love by Rihanna, Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO
Best Albums: El Camino by The Black Keys, Making Mirrors by Gotye
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Hawkeye, My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Dark Knight Rises
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: The Office; I stopped watching despite being a big fan
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Man of Steel
Marvin C. Pittman writes “Blerd Vision” for Forces of Geek
Peter Briggs
@peterbriggs | https://www.facebook.com/Panzer88Movie | https://www.facebook.com/MortisRexMovie
“Best Of” lists are curious birds. You end up idling through others’, either nodding in approval or exclaiming aloud in staggered disbelief. They’re an interesting litmus test as to whether you’re found a new online mentor to steer you through rocky waters of new discovery, or conversely discovered a fresh Internet Nemesis and potential Keyboard Tomato Candidate. As someone who’s spent 20 years in the trenches of what’s euphemistically termed “The Hollywood Creative Community”, my personal choices have long since veered away from the shiny-as-a-dime fanboy ideals. And plus which, I’m British. And we can spraypaint clouds onto any silver lining. So, here goes.
Best Movies: Every January, I pray the forthcoming movie year will be better. And perennially, it seems that hope gets heaved into a euphemistic back alley and kicked senseless. “Enhanced” by giant technological “improvements” at the movie theaters — which I can’t help but feel are largely for the worse — heading out the door to be cinematically entertained feels repeatedly less of a treat, and more an endurance test. This year had the usual crop of disappointing tentpole movies. I don’t want to name them: you know what they’ve been. Compounding the issue, I’ve been exiled in snowy Scandinavia in 2012, and stymied by a staggered release schedule (which accounts for latecomers like The Artist and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol sneaking onto my list.). At time of writing (December 18th), there are 31 eagerly-awaited movies on my To View, that simply haven’t made it here, a smattering of them being Wreck-It Ralph; Life Of Pi; Hitchcock; The Master; and Robot And Frank. And of the titles I’ve favoured here, I’m not even including foreign language films in the mix (although I’ve seen some corkers, like the Danish WW2 resistance movie Max Manus, the absolutely fantastic Kon Tiki by the same director as Max Manus; and the French romantic comedy Les Emotifs Anonymes). I generally don’t like making lists for the previous year until at least the end of January when I’ve had a chance to play full catch-up, so come January 31st it’s entirely possible these (current) personal choices might get drastically shunted. Here’s how they stand right now (sans individual critiques, which could take all day — yes, I’m especially looking at you, Disney’s The Avengers). My Tops: The Woman In Black; Chronicle: The Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists (or, Band Of Misfits, in the less civilized backwaters of the world.); The Artist; Argo; Lincoln; People Like Us; Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World; Avengers; The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The Honourable Mentions: Flight; The Five Year Engagement; The Muppets; Is Anybody There?; The Debt; Hunger Games; Hysteria; Arbitrage; War Horse; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; Coriolanus; Anonymous; Everything Must Go; Dark Shadows; Salmon Fishing In The Yemen; The Bourne Legacy; Ted; Safe House; The Grey; Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; End Of Watch; Magic Mike; Deadfall; 21 Jump Street; Lawless; Trouble With The Curve; Get The Gringo; Big Miracle; Goon; Red Tails; Ruby Sparks. (Yes, I put Red Tails in there as a guilty pleasure. While the film was troublingly uneven, the aerial effects by Pixomondo and ILM were nothing short of exhilarating.)
Best TV Shows: Well, this is at least a bit easier. I guess most of this site’s contributors, through sheer Geek Gestalt, will list pretty much the same shows. I doubt mine’ll diverge much. My big surprise this year was a non-Geek show, Nashville. I just like following the characters, and although I can’t bear Country Music, the whole milieu fascinates me. Otherwise, we’re into familiar territory with the US slate: Homeland; Walking Dead; Dexter; Big Bang Theory; Mad Men (with the quirkily gorgeous Jessica Paré); Boardwalk Empire (although that’s starting to wane on me). Alcatraz really had promise but quickly blew it, and it’s probably good that Fringe is ending when it did, as it’s rather run out of steam (has, I feel sadly, Alphas). I’m watching Game Of Thrones, but almost out of a sense of duty: I’m afraid I don’t feel it’s as great as everyone else does. I’d sooner watch its more historically-based cousin-in-nudity, The Borgias, although I do confess to being titillated at the prospect of Thrones’ upcoming snow zombies. Sons Of Anarchy, with my very own Hellboy Ron Perlman, was a little bit on-autopilot this season. Right now (although it does seem to look like they’ve run out of money in places), I’m loving the Galactica Blood And Chrome web series. We’ve been missing a good slice of Zoic deep space combat lately. Hey, SyFy: are you listening? On the British front (that’s why I’m here, right?) Peter Capaldi’s acerbic spin-doctor character Malcolm Tucker continued to delight in the Parliamentary black comedy The Thick Of It, especially its spellbinding S04E06 hour-long Goolding Inquiry special, one of the funniest and most riveting television highlights of the year. As grim cop drama goes, Lennie James was fantastic in the BBC’s Line Of Duty, as was Kenneth Branagh in the Beeb’s own homegrown remake of the Swedish Wallander police series. I have to also shamefacedly admit to flying the flag for ITV’s tweedy Downton Abbey (although that too began to wear thin towards the end.) The BBC’s monsters-in-a-house Being Human was fine in its latest season, although the “Kid Saviour From The Future” trope this season got old quickly. Doctor Who under Moffat continues to feel woolly and not fully baked, and I keep hoping the show will try to be less wacky and stop following a thuddingly-predictable series paradigm. Still: it’s the Doctor. And I’m always there when he makes a call. The single best thing I saw on TV in 2012, was the entirety of Mark Cousins’ 15-part British Channel 4 documentary, The Story Of Film: An Odyssey; which should be required viewing if you’ve anything more than a passing interest in seriously making a living in the movie business. Truly inspirational, magical, and as the Irish Times correctly critiqued: bizarrely underpromoted. And before we move on, let’s not forget Danny Boyle’s jawdroppingly ambitious 2012 British Summer Olympics TV pre-show, which pulled off both humungous psychedelic steampunk theatrics, AND a skydiving Bond-and-the-Queen. That one really made me proud to be British. Yellow Submarines and Voldemort. Outstanding.
Best Books (fiction): This has been a tough year for finding time to plunge into new books, which as an avid reader has been a frustration. Fresh titles have accumulated on shelves (digital and physical), while I’ve spent my free moments catching up on gaps in older fiction (in particular, a lot of British comic-satirical author Leslie Thomas: Magic Army; Orange Wednesday; Running Away ; Arrivals And Departures”), and saving enough of a breather to concentrate on my fave “franchise” additions as they roll off the literary assembly line. I tend to dip more readily into detective and historical new fiction than actual science fiction these days, mostly in the form of Robert Crais (The Sentry and Taken in 2012) and Michael Connelly (Fifth Witness, Black Box and The Drop). I rub my hands with glee every time one of British author Simon Scarrow’s historical Macro and Cato Roman Legion yarns hits the shelves, most recently his excellent Praetorian. In terms of Geeky material, Ian Douglas’ Star Carrier trilogy topped-out for me with its second and third books on galactic scale warfare. Very same-y, but enjoyable space opera nonetheless. I loved Charles Stross’ Apocalypse Codex, the latest installment of his massively enjoyable Harry Palmer vs Cthulhu Laundry series. Enjoyed Stephen King’s 11/22/63 immensely, and was sad when it ended (it reminded me greatly of my all-time favourite book Replay, by Ken Grimwood; with whom I had a correspondence before his untimely death.) Peter Cline’s superhero/zombie mash Ex Heroes was a nice spin on what’s becoming a crowded genre (and, as much of the story was set within the beleagured walls of the Paramount Pictures lot in LA where I once had an office, made me smile a great deal). And the perennially brilliant Kim Newman’s period double-whammy of Mysteries Of The Diogenes Club and Professor Moriarty: The Hound Of The D’Urbervilles continued to warm the cockles of a Learned Genre Afficionado’s intellect.
Best Books (non-fiction): I bought the Art Of Prometheus book. Some truly stunning unused concept art in there, which at least made me feel a tad warmer towards that mess of a movie. I’d read a number of film-related technical books and biographies this year, most of them older releases. Ranked high amongst the recently-old titles, was Roger Moore’s anecdotally enjoyable memoir My Word Is My Bond; Bill Bryson’s wonderful tales of growing up in ’60s Atom-Era America, The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid; and director Nicholas Meyer’s career overview View From The Bridge. Even better than Meyer’s book was British veteran director Lewis Gilbert’s All My Flashbacks, which had some great insights into the three Bond movies he directed. Film prop-master Eddie Fowlie’s David Lean’s Dedicated Maniac – Memoirs of A Film Specialist was a fantastic look at a seldom-documented facet of filmmaking both epic and intimate, and the late Fowlie doesn’t shirk from dishing the dirt on celebrities throughout the decades. Away from the world of movies, Annie Jacobsen’s 2012 book Area 51 was a fascinating (and heavily factual) account of the growth of the CIA’s worst-kept-secret research facility.
Best Video Game: Prepping hard in every department for production with Gary Kurtz on our movie, Panzer 88, I try to stay away from videogames, which chew evilly into my time. I miss being in the same room with my Panzer co-writer Aaron Mason (with whom I have conquered both Left4Dead titles on the hardest levels; the Halo series; and numerous Star Wars shooters), but did succumb to some Halo 4 in this past month. I’ve spent far, far too much time in Galaxy On Fire and on NOVA 3 online this year, as I’m seldom far away from my iPad. I spent a lot of fingertapping effort earlier in 2012 with Infinity Blade 2, mostly because of its lovely creature design…right up to the moment that a program update corrupted my character file (which at least gave me a get-out clause to stop playing the damned thing!)
Best Songs: I haven’t listened to chart music in something like three years now, so I’m the last person to ask this question. I’ve never listened to a Lady GaGa song, and just about know and like Muse’s greatest hit. Sorry! (Around the kitchen, I do find myself singing “I’m Going Head To Head With The Undead” by Chas And Dave, from this year’s British horror comedy film, Cockneys vs Zombies. Perhaps that counts. Though I suspect not.)
Best Albums: Dozens and dozens of film soundtracks. Actual current pop and chart music feature little in my life. (This year I liked Pink’s The Truth About Love, and was disappointed with Bill Shatner’s Seeking Major Tom, so…yeah. Best to skip this section, also. Nothing to see here.)
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: If you’re unlucky enough to be on my Facebook page, you’ll have waded weekly through my forensic moan of all the latest titles. There’s been an embarrassment of riches this year, and simply trying to keep up is exhausting, never mind penning a year-end recap. (Hey: I have a day job! They don’t pay me for this!) Here’s a bit of a skim, by no means exhaustive. Fantastic Four #602 had Galactus and the Celestials kicking ass, which got a big thumbs up from me. The entirety (almost) of Fear Itself was wonderful, with special kudos for Gillen’s witty writing on Journey Into Mystery. Marvel Zombies Destroy was just the right flavour of bonkers. Really digging the newly revamped and minimalist Hawkeye series. A vs X Consequences is the only real X-Men book I genuinely enjoy (why are there SO MANY X-Men titles? It’s crazy!) Oh: and with a 2001 pastiche opening…giant sharks…a sentient Man Thing…the Watcher…the Celestials (again!)…Von Doom…and fluent X’Zelzi’Ohr (which made me ROAR with laughter), Dark Avengers #176 delivered in spades! In rebooting the DC comic universe, DC has given a hefty shot-in-the-arm to their Batman line (the current cross-title Joker epic is twistedly wonderful), although I’m less satisfied with their treatment of their Kryptonian titles, which varies worryingly in quality from title-to-title and issue-to-issue. Power Girl in particular was evolving terrifically before the reboot, and I’m dismayed she’s been shunted aside now into virtually a secondary supporting (and much less fun) character. Pete Milligan did some great work on Justice League Dark, and actually made Deadman an interesting presence to me for the first time. (Justice League International was fun, too…but we definitely need more Booster Gold in the future!) The Flash revved up nicely and surprisingly around #5, while the latest dark and galaxy-threatening Green Lantern Corps arc has stunningly reinvigorated a moribund franchise (which could have sunk even lower after the disappointing movie.) Blue Beetle continues to evolve into something worthwhile and intriguing, even if the current object of desire storyline does read a little bit too obviously like Gollum and his Precious. Aquaman and the Black Manta vengeance story is my choice for the title that REALLY went through the roof with the reboot, though. (Once upon a time, when the WB’s Mercy Reef live-action Aquaman show looked like it might have gone to series, I was approached to be a showrunner on that. I wish this title had been around then!) The current DC Rotworld title crossover series is great, and I’m curious as to how that’s going to pay off. To my great surprise (and likely a giant mope from Alan Moore), I’ve loved the entirety of the Before Watchmen line, but their Comedian title sags somewhat and while still interesting, feels to me the weak link. LOVED IDW’s Rocketeer Adventures (but then, I’m a huge Rocketeer fan), a strong contender for my own personal title of 2012. League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009 was a worthwhile send-off for Moore’s ongoing tricksy series. Image’s The Manhattan Projects miniseries was compelling and fascinating, and Red Five’s various Atomic Robo titles continued to delight me this year. On a personal note, I was very pleased to see Dark Horse’s Hellboy In Hell title just burst into print. Back in 1996 when I signed on to create the Hellboy movie (years before a certain Mexican director would become attached), Mike Mignola and I sat down together in Portland and talked about where the title would be going long in the future. I was privileged then to have knowledge of some of the storylines that I’ve watched reach fruition throughout this past decade, and it’s gratifying to see this one, which we discussed on that brisk Oregon day over 15 years ago, finally appear.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: A year or so ago, I watched a hundred movies over a 2 week period at Christmas, so with that kind of sad and lonely dedication to the cinematic arena, as you can imagine it’s all been a blur. Despite the movie being terrible, I enjoyed Charles De Lauzirika’s many comprehensive extras on the Prometheus set.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: As a massive Ridley Scott acolyte, I was most excited about Prometheus. Was. Remind me to never get my hopes up that much again.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: In movies, it’s a three way toss-up between Prometheus; Skyfall (which I simply don’t understand the popularity of…it’s barely better than Quantum Of Solace, and nowhere near the dizzyingly superb heights of Casino Royale); and one other movie I’d rather not talk about. There were way too many tepid flicks this year. The suicide of Tony Scott left me in a state of shattered disbelief. I worked with Tony on an earlier incarnation of the Judge Dredd movie back in the early’ 90s, and I still can’t get my head around his death. I almost rented Ray Bradbury’s office once, so his demise was sad news; although I was more taken aback by sci-fi humourist Harry Harrison’s passing. Harrison’s work, especially The Stainless Steel Rat, gave me a lot of fun times as a kid. An online friend, Bryan Walker, also died this year through transplant operation complications. That one deeply affected me: it’s strange how someone you speak with daily but have never physically met, can profoundly knock you for six. I wrote to him each day while he was in a coma, in the hope that when he came around he’d have an actual diary repository and had seen that people out there in the electronic ether were genuinely pulling for him. Tragically, that never happened. Ace columnist Geoff Boucher leaving the LA Times’ “Hero Complex” for Entertainment Weekly was a jaw-dropper. Geoff had built “Complex” into something cross-platform and truly wonderful, and the Times should seriously have tried harder to make it work with him. And don’t get me started in George selling out Star Wars to Disney. Star Wars formed my whole evolution from when I was a kid, so I REALLY don’t know about that one. Yeah, shallow as that might be compared to the passing of a fellow human being, this story I’m afraid might actually be the one.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Hopefully finally saying “action” on a movie set. Gary Kurtz (yes, he of Star Wars fame) and myself have been actively casting our supernatural WW2 piece, Panzer 88, with the various Hollywood talent agencies throughout 2012. We have some great actors already involved, and we’re a hair’s breadth away from rolling. Keep your fingers crossed it will be soon. My other movie, Mortis Rex, has been frustratingly stalled due to producer inactivity unfortunately outside my control. I’m hoping recent developments mean that’s about to change, but regardless it’s still in a holding pattern until we’e done with Panzer. In terms of anticipating others’ movies, probably Man Of Steel and World War Z have my attention most at this juncture. And my friend Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 promises a more interesting direction than Favreau’s last installment. I’m sure 2013 will have more than its share of surprises, which’ll sneak in under the radar.
Peter Briggs is a director, producer, and screenwriter and an upcoming columnist for Forces of Geek
James Sime
@jamessime | www.isotopecomics.com
Best Movies: Dredd, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises
Best TV Shows: RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones
Best Books (non-fiction): Sexytime by Jacques Boyreau, Hallucinations by Dr. Oliver Sacks, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
Best Video Game: The Walking Dead by Telltale Games
Best Songs: Apocryphon by The Sword, Bride of Infinity by Blondie, Celestial Skies In Flames by Watcher
Best Albums: ORO: Opus Primum by UFOmammut, Drokk by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, And So It Goes by Don Williams
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra, Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, Building Stories by Chris Ware
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Bond 50, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, Indie Game: The Movie
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: MorrisonCon
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Prometheus
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: Angel & Devil “a BalletNoir comic” by 10 year old creator Emma
James Sime, the Comic Pimp, is the proprietor of Isotope, the Comic Book Lounge in San Francisco
Christopher Farnsworth
@chrisfarnsworth | www.chrisfarnsworth.com
Best Movies: Going to be honest here: I have two kids. So I rarely ever see movies in the theater anymore. But I made a special effort to see SKYFALL, and it was worth every penny we paid the babysitter. Possibly my favorite Bond movie ever: Brilliantly acted, beautifully shot, it was a naturalistic answer to the previous films in the series, filled with scenes that show the carnage a job like Bond’s would inflict. But it also had lovely touches of nostalgia for the old movies, as when the Aston Martin was revealed. (The theater erupted in cheers at that scene.)
Best TV Shows: It’s been said before, but we’re going through a golden age of TV right now. My TiVo runneth over with my favorites: SHERLOCK, JUSTIFIED, ARCHER, COMMUNITY, HAPPY ENDINGS, and ELEMENTARY. I know that list is all over the map, but they all have one thing in common: they’re smart. They take the familiar tropes and cliches of TV and twist them just enough to infuse them with meaning again.
Best Books (fiction): I’ve read a lot of great stuff this year. But my favorites were ANGELMAKER by Nick Harkaway and LIMINAL STATES by Zack Parsons. ANGELMAKER is about a man who discovers that he was born into an international mystery involving a clockwork world-ending device, an octogenarian femme fatale, the scariest bastard alive, and a small, foul-tempered dog. LIMINAL STATES is an alternate history, featuring two men in the Old West who stumble upon the secret of eternal life, and how they change the world with their never-ending hatred. Both are the kind of amazing, world-building, richly detailed, insanely imaginative stories that I wish I could create.
Best Books (non-fiction): Most of my non-fiction reading is a little weird. And by a little, I mean “a lot,” and by weird, I mean “batshit crazy.” For research, I’m usually reading conspiracy theories, obscure tomes of cryptozoology, and UFO lore that stretches the definition of “non-fiction” beyond tolerance. (For example, this year alone I read a book that suggest connections between Charles Manson and a vast Satanic cult, an account of a supposed interdimensional breach at a cattle ranch, and a lot of stuff about diseases that can eat your flesh.) But my favorite was William Gibson’s too-short collection of non-fiction, DISTRUST THAT PARTICULAR FLAVOR. Gibson’s prose is simultaneously so clean and so nuanced that I can spend a long time pondering one sentence. He’s one of the best, most interesting thinkers alive. I just wish he’d share those thoughts more often.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Best ongoing comic? Still John Layman and Rob Guillory’s CHEW, which is hilarious, addictive, and disgusting.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: SKYFALL. That turned out pretty well.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?/Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: It’s hard for me to be too disappointed in anything that came out in 2012, because geek entertainment has come so far. I grew up with watered-down imitations of my favorite comic-book heroes on TV and in the movies: a David Banner who barely ever turned into the Hulk and a Captain America who used the windscreen from his motorcycle as a shield. Now we’ve got the Avengers fighting aliens in the streets of New York, and it’s the biggest movie of the year. Disney bought Lucasfilm for billions of dollars. Batman has gone from a campy sitcom to an Oscar contender. I can get Jack Kirby’s entire run of New Gods in hardcover. And 2013 is only going to be better. We’ve got Superman, Iron Man, Thor, and Star Trek all coming back to the big screen. We’ve got a whole movie that is literally all about giant robots getting into fistfights with giant monsters. We’ve got SHIELD agents coming to TV in a show produced by Joss Whedon and a new Neil Gaiman novel hitting the shelves. I’ll save my disappointment for when this ride ends. For now, I’m just going to enjoy it.
Christopher Farnsworth is the author of RED, WHITE, AND BLOOD, the third in a series of books about a vampire who works for the President of the United States.
Kevin Cafferty
@kcafferty
Best Movies: The Queen of Versailles, Moonrise Kingdom, The Avengers
Best TV Shows: Louie, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Community
Best Songs: “Pyramids” (Frank Ocean), “Tonight” (Saint Etienne), “Fold the Cloth” (Cate Le Bon)
Best Albums: “The Idler Wheel” (Fiona Apple), “Channel Orange” (Frank Ocean), “Tramp” (Sharon Van Etten)
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Building Stories (Chris Ware), Saga (Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples), Hawkeye (Matt Fraction/David Aja)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Get a Life, Chris Elliot’s sitcom, finally arrived on DVD in a full-series set.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: “Then She Fell”, Third Rail Projects’ live immersive staging of the writings of Lewis Carroll in an abandoned Greenpoint hospital, was the best thing I saw in 2012. Look for it to be restaged in Manhattan in 2013.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Dan Harmon’s ouster from his showrunner position on Community, one of the funniest and most inventive shows on television. As of this writing the fourth Harmon-less season has yet to debut. My hopes are not high.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: I’m hoping that rumors of a new Punchdrunk show materialize into something concrete in 2013. Their 2009 Brookline production of “Sleep No More” remains one of greatest artistic experiences of my adult life. I’m also very excited for the James Turrell retrospective at LACMA.
Kevin Cafferty is an upcoming contributor to Forces of Geek
Clay N. Ferno
@claynferno | leaguepodcast.com
Best Movies: The Avengers, Dark Knight Rises (duh!)
Best TV Shows: Downton Abbey, The Newsroom, Breaking Bad, Adventure Time
Best Video Game: Wreck It Ralph for Wii
Best Songs: Neato (Three Loco)
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Batman, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder, Supurbia, Vol. 1 by Grace Randolph
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises (duh!)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2012?: The Avengers
Thing that disappointed you most in 2012?: Violence
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2013?: New year and new opportunities
Clay N. Ferno is a contributor to Forces of Geek
