Miss Dawn’s Musings – Best of 2016

There was a lot of bad in 2016 – celebrity deaths, politics, natural disasters, terrorist acts. But as the year finally comes to an end I want to reflect on some of the good, at least in my opinion. In the realm of geek there was a lot that made us all happy this year and helped us to, if not forget, at least distract ourselves for a little bit from all the bad. 

Movies

Most films involving Marvel – It started in February when Fox’s Deadpool hit theaters. Of course, I consider that the best movie of the year. It’s the closest any movie has ever come to being a true adaptation of a comicbook character. Then there was Captain America: Civil War, which changed up a bit of the original premise but showed some of the best large-scale comic action sequences ever. And, of course, Doctor Strange. I, like most comic fans, was both excited and hesitant at first because it was Marvel’s first big entrance into the world of magic – and they pulled it off beautifully. It really has some of the most gorgeous scenes ever on the big screen.

Fantasy and sci-fi ruled – Aside from comic films in general, there was plenty of sci-fi and fantasy to enjoy this year too. The new Ghostbusters film was incredibly fun and completely lived up to the original. And big fandoms definitely got some satisfaction – there was Star Trek Beyond for the trekkers, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them for the potterheads and, of course, Rogue One for the Star Wars fans (why don’t they have a catchy nickname?).

Television

Again with the Marvel – On Netflix we got the awesome second season of Daredevil, which introduced us to their version of the Punisher. The character was so popular, it was announced not long after that Punisher would get his own series. And then there was Luke Cage, who we first got a glimpse of in 2015’s Jessica Jones. It had a different feel from the other Marvel shows, but such a great vibe and fantastic storyline. And, of course, Agents of SHIELD kept things pretty strong with the Ghost Rider storyline this season.

More geekdom than you can watch – Seriously, there were so many geek shows on the air this yer that it was impossible to watch them all. We were constantly trying to play catch up with the dvr! My favorite show was Westworld (I’ve talked about it before) – such a great surprise to get a deep, thought-provoking series that elicited so much talk. And in the same techy vein was Black Mirror on Netflix – so dark, but so good! Of course, we had all the comicbook shows too, from the non-superhero ones like Preacher and Outcast to the heroes of Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Flash.

Comics

Girl power – Yes, there was controversy in the comics industry this year, but we still got some great female-led comics. One of my favorites was Mockingbird, written by Chelsea Cane. It had solid writing and art, reintroducing a character that used to be in the background. It was a shame that it got cancelled. Then there was Faith, a hero who was not only female, but outside the norm when it came to size, a refreshing change. Black Widow came on strong with her own series as well (and a YA novel too). And one of the most popular titles of the year (though one I admittedly haven’t gotten into yet) was The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Plus, I Hate Fairyland featured a supposedly young girl who attempts to hack and slash her way out of a Fairyland she’s been stuck in for 30 years – a girl after my own heart!

Getting deep – There were a lot of comics that went beyond the usual superhero plots. The Vision was a great example. A short run comic, it showed what can happen when AI attempts to be human. Sex Criminals did a great job of showing some not-so-ordinary powers and what happens when they are abused. And Outcast explored the paranormal side of things and raised questions of trust and loyalty. Then there was the award-winning March, a non-fiction three-part series covering the civil rights movement – the first graphic novel to ever win the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Overall I’m not sure that the balance for 2016 favored the good side, but at least it wasn’t all bad.

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