Kids Stuff!
Looking back at all our stuff, I was honestly surprised by how many regular "departments" we've got on this site...and some of them I actually contribute to! In general, if you're bored and looking for some recommendations on cool stuff to spend money on, feel free to browse through Ben's older Five Comics Worth Reading entries, which he hasn't done in a while, but that just means what's up there will be available in trade by now. Conversly, if you're a NetFlixer, feel free to go over our Paragraph Movie Reviews, which if written by me will be more than a paragraph. But you're not picky! Hell, there's even my I'll Buy That For A Dollar? reviews for all you cheapskates out there.
For more featurey type stuff, there's our all too rare Cool Kids Roundtables which we're totes going to do more of this year and Ben's regular columns The Essentials, The Definitives and Overrated/Underlooked which highlight some of the better superhero comics of the past 20 years or check in on his ongoing Indy Odyssey wherein Rickey and I refer him to books without heat vision in them.
Finally, on the self-promotion tip, check out some of our other projects of the present in Pimping My Stuff and would be projects from the past with Wizard Features That Never Were.
Oh yeah...and then there's Linko!
Now, if you only read the blog because you're friends with one of us but hate the other two (Dave!) here are a few recommendations from each of our respective blogging stints...
Ben!
If you ever stop by the site, there's a nine-out-of-ten chance you'll be reading something by our erstwhile editor-in-chief. That's not an exageration either. Ben writes about 90% of our content (Rickey and I suck). While plenty of folks probably think of Ben as a go-to superhero pontificator, I really dig it when my bud writes about things that have very little do do with funnybooks. To that end, I'd highly recommend revisiting Ben's epic investigation of the Subway sandwich and the startling new facts it uncovered. There's also his ruminations on his experience with the martial arts. I realize that those two stories make Ben sound like a chubby kid who picks fights, but he's not.
And you know...I don't want to make it seem like Ben's superhero writing isn't worthwhile, because I'll read him go off on nerd subjects when I usually totally ignore that stuff from others. Particularly, I'd start with his explorations of D-list characters like Tombstone and X-Treme before moving on to more heady pieces like his handicapping of a JLA/Avengers crossover, his picks for the ultimate Legion of Super-Heroes or his theorizing on who could wield a ring by the end of Blackest Night. They're fun!
Kiel!
Not to fish for compliments, but I honestly thing most of what I write is bullshit, so I probably should have had someone else pick something of mine to include, but what the hey! I think probably the thing that got the best response ever was my post on My Life In Halloween Costumes, which in retrospect I probably shouldn't have blown my whole history on because this year I'm not sure how to celebrate my favorite holiday. Similarl stupid fun can be found in my examination of this year's NBA All-Star Kryptonite Dunk and that essay on all the famous people I saw while drunk in San Diego. Yeah...that should do it.
Rickey!
I don't mean to put pressure on my dude, but it's a real fucking shame Rickey doesn't have time to blog more. If good blogging is marked by short, sweet prose that immeadiately engages the reader, I'd say Mr. Purdin has it all over Ben and I. Evidence, you say? How's about one of his many radical con reports like this one from Philly or this one from sunny San Diego. Even when I'm not into what he's writing about, I just want to stare at photos of that kid, like from this post about seeing "My Bloody Valentine" in 3-D. Guh. I have such a crush on that crazy Texan.
And oh my God! Holy fucking shit!!! What about Rickey's Watchmen sketchbook? I think more people have come to this site just to read that motherfucker than any other thing we have. Wrap your mind around its awe-inducing awesomeness and then scroll up to read Ben's latest thoughts on the trashiest nighttime soap opera your grandma probably watches.
