This is my 11th annual installment of this post, so you’d think I’d have this figured out by now. Well, you’d be wrong. Every year, I’m like “How do I do this again? We’re just recapping the year? Yeah, I guess I can do this…”. It’s funny, though, what a difference a few weeks make. Had I written this at the very beginning of the year, it would have been vastly different than what you’re reading today. For one thing, there would have been more of an emphasis on TikTok, as that’s a medium to which I’d been giving my main focus.
Outside of West Week Ever and Willfully Ignorant posts, most of my comics and toy content had pivoted to video, as I felt folks would rather watch than read when it came to those subjects. Then, the “ban” happened. I put that in quotes because it was some bullshit how that was handled, and anyone with a clue knows it was bullshit. The hardcore users don’t care, and they’re just glad it’s back, but I care, and I haven’t gone back. Apparently, it got a 90-day reprieve, as ByteDance and Trump come to terms. When all is said and done, it’ll probably be owned by an American company, and Trump will somehow benefit financially, as no one seems to care when he does that now. Plus, who’s to say it won’t go away again after the 90 days, simply because he doesn’t like the deal offered to him? I’m not playing these games, and there are other platforms. So, until I figure out where to go next, that chapter is closed for now.
One thing I’m focusing on is reading more this year. I buy a ton of books and comics, but I don’t make time to read any of them. I’ve never been a “goals person”, as I tend to just go where the wind blows me. Part of that, though, is because I’m scared of them. I’m scared of falling short of them, but also scared of the power they hold when you stick to them. In this instance, though, I’m setting some goals. In regards to reading, I’m going for 300 comics, 50 graphic novels/trade paperbacks, and 6 “book” books. Those really aren’t that hard, but they’re not easy, either. For comics, that’s basically 25 comics per month, or 5 per week. Easy. For GNs/TPBs, that’s basically 1 per week. Easy. Books, that’s 1 book every 2 months. Sure. Honestly, the one I’m most worried about is that last one, as I haven’t really read a book since we had kids. That takes concentration. I’ve been working on Black Like Me for over a year, and how complicated can a white man cosplaying as a black man BE? I’m just not inspired to power through it. So, that goal is gonna come down to careful choice. A book is a time investment, so I’m gonna need to choose some that I’m actually excited to read. To keep me accountable, this bad boy will show up regularly in West Week Ever posts, updated with that week’s reads:
So, wish me luck on that whole project! I’ve also got another website concept I’m working on, but I’m not ready to announce it yet, so sit tight! Meanwhile, let’s take a look back at 2024’s milestones.
Movies Watched In 2024
- Night Swim
- Turning Red
- Without Warning
- Unfrosted
- IF
- Quiz Lady
- Self-Reliance
- Tell Them You Love Me
- Deadpool 2
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Black Barbie
- Civil War
- A Face in the Crowd
- Trap
- The Warriors
- The Greatest Night In Pop
So, it wasn’t a stellar count, unlike my 70+ totals when this feature started. Still, it’s 4 more than 2023’s 12 movies, so I’ll take it!
Podcast Appearances
2024 was the first full year of Remember That Show?, and we kept the train running for a total of 23 new episodes. If you’ve never checked out the podcast, my friend Adam and I discuss obscure, and possibly forgotten, TV shows of the 80s and 90s. In 2024, we covered:
#6 – Masters of the Maze
#7 – Studs
#8 – She’s With Me
#9 – Unhappily Ever After
#10 – Pryde of the X-Men
#11 – Learning The Ropes
#12 – Salute Your Shorts
#13 – MADtv
#14 – The Fall Guy
#15 – E/R
#16 – Good Morning, Miss Bliss
#17 – Saved By The Bell: The College Years
#18 – Saved By The Bell: The New Class
#19 – Saved By The Bell (2020)
#20 – Kids Incorporated
#21 – Xuxa
#22 – Baywatch Nights
#23 – Eerie, Indiana
#23.5 – Punky Brewster (cartoon) – Halloween Episode
#24 – Punky Brewster (2021)
#25 – Mama’s Family
#26 – Out of This World
#27 – Team Knight Rider
You can find them wherever you find podcasts, but I also write little “commentary” posts for each episode, which can be found on this very site.
But that’s not all, as I was also a return guest on a few shows this year, including:
After Lunch Podcast #236: Comic Villains Sour 16
Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics #89: Wizards Wild Card
Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics #89.5: Batman: No Man’s Land
Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics: Gen13 The Animated Movie Review
I also made my debut on a few new-to-me podcasts, including:
Totally Rad Christmas #254: E/R
Advent Calendar House – Season 12, Episode 12: It’s A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special
Geek Out! Podcast, Episode #5: Boy Bands with William Bruce West
Advent Calendar House – Season 13, Episode 5: The Love Boat: The Christmas Presence
So, that’s 31 different places you could have heard me throughout the year, and they’re still out there, so go give those shows a listen!
Top Posts of 2024
“You Pay For Music?!”: A Brief History of Music Piracy
Willfully Ignorant: What Do You Think Happened During “The Blip”?
Streaming Ain’t It: Why We Need Syndication More Than Ever
The Event Is Too Damn High! The Changing Economics of Comic Cons
Willfully Ignorant: The State of Pop Music
Between The Covers: “The Power of Love”
Willfully Ignorant: Parasocial Media Manager
The Fate of The Franchise: Are Pop Culture Dynasties Attracting NEW Fans?
The WBW40 – Will’s Top 40 Songs of 2024
West Week Ever Recipients of 2024
Some years, I give you a little blurb, containing director’s commentary as to why that specific person/thing “won” the honor of having experienced the West Week Ever. That said, I’ve never had 52 of them to go back and do that for. That was more suited to when I did 15-20 posts a year. But I had a streak (still going, actually), and we hit every week last year. And ain’t nobody got time to give commentary on all of that! So, you’re just getting a dated list this year.
January
1/5 – Nothing, though kinda David Copperfield?
1/12 – Nothing, though kinda NFL coaches who hadn’t been fired that week
1/19 – Ted (TV series)
1/26 – Justin Timberlake
February
2/2 – Sesame Street
2/9 – Taylor Swift
2/16 – Usher
2/23 – DC Comics
March
3/1 – Willy’s Chocolate Experience
3/8 – Nothing, though there was a Dragon Ball tribute
3/15 – X-Men (comics)
3/22 – X-Men ’97
3/29 – The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story
April
4/5 – Silver Surfer
4/12 – Gambit
4/19 – SNL Beavis & Butthead sketch
4/26 – The Tortured Poets Department
May
5/3 – Royal Crackers
5/10 – X-Men ’97
5/17 – X-Men ’97
5/24 – Nothing
5/31 – MSNBC/NBC News
June
6/7 – Eminem’s “Houdini”
6/14 – Animation
6/21 – Internet Memesters
6/28 – McDonald’s
July
7/5 – Jim Lee
7/12 – John Cena
7/19 – Nothing, but tribute to my old laptop
7/26 – American Politics
August
8/2 – Marvel Studios
8/9 – Tim Walz
8/16 – D23
8/23 – Lil Jon
8/30 – West Life Ever – Mr. Taylor
September
9/6 – English Teacher
9/13 – Shannon Sharpe
9/20 – High Potential
9/27 – Matlock
October
10/4 – DC Bullet logo
10/11 – Absolute Batman
10/18 – Family Guy Halloween Special
10/25 – Batman: Hush 2
November
11/1 – The Warriors
11/8 – Nothing
11/15 – Bluesky
11/22 – SNL‘s Domingo
11/29 – A Man on the Inside
December
12/6 – Teen Titans Go! Episode #400
12/13 – Luigi Mangione
12/20 – Star Trek: Lower Decks
12/27 – West Week Everception
The reason I do this post is because it’s really important to look at the year as a whole, or else recency bias takes over. I tend to forget the stuff from the beginning of the year, and it gets lost in the shuffle. Off the top of my head, I would have sworn Taylor Swift had the West Week Ever more than anything else this year. Boy, was I wrong! In fact, she technically only got it once, way back in February, while her album, The Tortured Poets Department got it in April. So, the Swiftie Camp walks away with 2 awards, but that’s nothing compared to Marvel’s Merry Mutants, the X-Men.
2024 saw the debut of the highly anticipated X-Men ’97, which was a continuation of the 90s Fox Kids cartoon. From week to week, the show continued to surprise us, by meshing modern stories, such as the destruction of Genosha from the early 00s Grant Morrison New X-Men run, with classic 90s Jim Lee designs. Then, Gambit – the team’s Ragin’ Cajun – had the West Week Ever in April, as the show gave him his most pivotal storyline since Uncanny X-Men #350. He was always my favorite mutant growing up, and that episode reminded me why.
Meanwhile, the X-Men comics, with their post-Krakoa, back-to-basics relaunch, had the West Week Ever in March. Their 5+ year overarching storyline had come to an end, and they were finally returning to what I recognized as “The X-Men”, and not some weird thing where they were living on an island, and raising the dead, and forming thruples, and all sorts of nonsense. Then, in July, Jim Lee – the artist who created the character designs seen in the cartoon – opened up art commissions for the first time in 15 years. It made the news cycle, as his rates were between $8,000 and $35,000, depending on level of detail. A lot of folks thought this was absurd, but I understood. Plus, I already have a Jim Lee sketch, that cost me Free.99, so not my circus, not my monkeys.
It’s safe the say 2024 belonged to the X-Men, but I’m going to drill down more specifically and say it belonged to X-Men ’97. From what we know, a lot of its success could be attributed to showrunner Beau DeMayo, who was fired just before the show premiered. It was a MESS. We still don’t really know what DeMayo did, but then he continued being a catty bitch online, by contributing commentary and behind the scenes info with each weekly episode release, despite Disney’s requests that he not do that. The show was nominated for an Emmy, yet he wasn’t even given a ticket to the ceremony. There will be a second season, though it’s probably not coming until 2026, when the momentum will have long since died down. And it’ll probably fall short of the first season. And we’ll all say “It’s because Beau wasn’t involved.” But, for 2024, we had Beau, and we had that excellent first season, so X-Men ’97 had the West YEAR Ever of 2024.
