Kody's 2024 Favorites

Oh man, so there's been a ton of year-end lists coming out these past few days, and Keeping Time's been on a few of them which is so humbling. I thought I'd try to pay some of that forward! I'm not a comics critic, so I'm not doing a "Best Of" framing -- instead, I just want to share some of my favorites!

FAVORITE ONGOING COMIC

LIES WITHIN - Just shy of 400 pages and hurtling towards its finale (once it's back from break later in 2025!), Lies Within by byelacey has been running for years. It's the webcomic that made me believe that webcomics was the route I wanted to take. It's got vampires, it gives off the 00s supernatural TV show vibes (in the best way possible), and has a gripping plot that rewards the folks who pay attention to the hints and reveals Lacey leaves along the way. Lys is the disaster you absolutely love to root for.

FAVORITE CLASSIC EVERYONE LOVES THAT WAS NEW TO ME

TIGER, TIGER - I would see Tiger, Tiger update posts get hundreds and hundreds of notes on Tumblr which made me go, "dang, now THERE'S a webcomic with a really engaged readership! I gotta check it out!" So, eventually, I did and IMMEDIATELY I understood why. The art is... maybe, some of the finest craftsmanship I've... ever? seen? in any media? ever? Also the comedic timing of the lighthearted moments is a masterclass in how to do comedy in a dramatic adventure story? Also I just.. really love every single character and the way Petra Erika Nordlund draws faces? And gesture of body language? Okay that's enough question marks, TIGER, TIGER is so fucking good and I'm only halfway through what's currently available to read so no spoilers!!!

FAVORITE 2024 WEBCOMIC RELEASE

INTO THE SMOKE - Bob's Into the Smoke is an incredible independent scrolling comic that anyone who likes supernatural comics is sure to love!! Bob also has a knack for comedic timing and is just an all around lovely human, and the care Bob has for their craft shines!!

FAVORITE 2024 DIRECT MARKET RELEASE

S.IR. - Motorcycle lesbians jousting for love. Need I say more?! I needn't, but I will anyway: my friend Fell worked SO hard on this, her debut series with a publisher, and she killed it. It's an incredibly satisfying 5-issue series with a trade paperback on the way, so keep your eyes peeled and grab that when it drops!!

FAVORITE SHOW THAT GOT RESCUED FROM STUDIO TAX CUT HELL

PANTHEON - The fact that I had some pals who worked on this show and was furious at the way AMC+ treated them aside, this was a really fun watch. I love adult animation that takes wild swings (partly why Scavenger's Reign is up there for one of my favorite shows of all time, but that was a 2023 watch for me, unfortunately), and Pantheon took some Wild. Swings. It pushes its central questions SO much further than I was expecting, haha! It may be about artificial/constructed intelligence, but blessedly its production predates genAI being a thing so you don't have to deal with that. Also -- Daniel Dae Kim is in it!!

FAVORITE J-DRAMA THAT MADE ITS WAY TO U.S. NETFLIX

STORY OF MY FAMILY!!! - I watch a lot of j-dramas, half as language practice so my Japanese comprehension doesn't deteriorate TOO much, and half because it's nice to brain-off and enjoy something silly/dramatic/romantic. This is by far one of the best J-dramas I've ever seen, objectively. The writing on it is phenomenal. It's "what if the first son of a famous Noh family was a pro-wrestler" executed to the best possible degree. You'll laugh and cry. And if you like Japanese pro-wrestling at all, you'll REALLY enjoy the very subtle puroresu jokes that make it in there.

FAVORITE BOOK I READ

John Irving's In One Person - I think it might surprise some folks to learn that the type of fiction I read the most is contemporary, grounded Wally Lamb-esque sort. I think I just like my novels long and winding! This summer when I wanted to get a library card to start reading again, I googled "who are Wally Lamb's favorite writers" while in the stacks of my local library, and saw John Irving is one of his inspirations. My library only had In One Person in stock, so I checked it out, and, yeah, my life was pretty much changed. I didn't read what the book was about and just dove in, and was EXTREMELY surprised to learn how pivotal transgender issues and characters were to this book. I've since read a few more Irving, but In One Person, I think, is likely my favorite novel, not just of 2024, but of all time.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM

...Yeah, man, I don't know either. In the past few months, my partner and I started watching the Japan men's national volleyball team matches (because of the Olympics), and that's now expanded to watching old matches going back to 2022, as well as the Japanese V.League matches these players are from, and documentaries about them, and.... we are absolutely volleyball-pilled.

I now know the names of a bunch of professional volleyball players from around the world. I may or may not have bought tickets to go watch the U.S. Men's team play Italy in Chicago next year. I have never been this invested in a Sport before in my life. (Pro-wrestling, the king of sports, does not count here.) The Japanese team remains my favorite because I find them the most fun to watch because of how explosive their attacks have to be, being the little giants, and how INCREDIBLE their defense is. (The Japanese attackers are, by normal standards, not even short! They're about 6'2"/187cm, but when they're up against 6'6"/200cm+ giants, it's... a big difference!!)

I feel like every person who has ever read/watched Haikyu should check out the Japanese men's team because it's so easy to understand actual men's volleyball once you've learned it from Haikyu!!