Category Archives: 2024

2024 Year in Review: The Logan/”Hurt” Trailer of the Year and other things

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Trailers are so important to spread the word about movies to the public, specifically the people who may not be as tied in to movie news as some may be. So this year we are instituting a new award for the best and worst in trailers from 2024.

Best Trailer: Superman. This was a tough choice, but this teaser trailer made me excited to see Superman next year, and that is the job of a trailer.

Worst Trailer: Transformers One. I’ve said this before, but I hated this trailer and it nearly caused me to not want to go see the movie. It highlighted all of the humor that simply did not work in isolation. In context, it was much funnier, but in this way, it was horrible. For such a great movie, this trailer was an epic fail.

Best TV trailer: X-Men ’97. Yeah, baby. The mutants were back and this trailer gave us a glimpse into the brilliance that we would get in X-Men’97. How did this become such an amazing show?

Why show that Award: Deadpool & Wolverine reveal of Laura. It was in the final trailer, like a week before the movie released and the trailer spoiled the appearance of Daphne Keen as X-23, aka Laura from Logan. Why? There is no way that her appearance was going to encourage someone else to go see the film at this point. It was just a waste of a spoiler and a poor choice.

Creepiest Trailer: 28 Years Later. This is legit scary. I was totally creeped out when I first saw this trailer and every time I have seen it since, I have had an uneasy feel. Great use of atmosphere and tension to promote the movie.

Most Unexpected Trailer: Karate Kid Legends. Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio? Weird. The trailer does give us an idea of what the film will be like. How does Cobra Kai play into this, if at all?

2024 Year in Review-Top Geek Stories

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This is the top ten Geek stories of 2024, according to EYG!

#10. Diddy. This should probably be higher up this list, but I just did not want to have such a negative story up the list. It needed to be mentioned… so there… I’m done.

#9. Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show. Jon Stewart returned to the Daily Show for Mondays during the election season… and decided to stay longer. I know I have missed him.

#8. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ends. In December of this year, Taylor Swift’s incredibly successful tour came to a close. 21 months and $2 Billion of ticket sales. Yeah that was billion with a B!

#7. TikTok Banned. The US has decided that TikTok will be banned because it is some kind of Chinese data collection. It is scheduled to be banned on January 19, 2025. Supreme Court gave its okey-dokey. Will it actually happen?

#6. Drones in New Jersey. Government called them drones… however, the conspiracy theorists and UFO supporters believe something else. I wonder if we will ever truly know the truth.

#5. “I’m Just Ken” steals the show at the Oscars. Though the song did not win the Oscar, the performance absolutely stole the show. Ryan Gosling and a gaggle of Kens danced and sang and blew the crowd away.

#4. Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson on Netflix. This was a massive match, but the live stream on Netflix did not handle things well. I know I was unable to watch it because of the infamous spinning wheel of doom. Jake Paul won, by the way.

#3. Deadpool and Wolverine. The only MCU movie this year was a massive hit with Deadpool and Wolverine teaming up and becoming the highest grossing rated R movie in history, with over 1.33 billion dollars in box office worldwide. It was also the highest grossing opening weekend of the year with $211 million.

#2. Inside Out 2 dominates. The biggest movie of the year is Pixar’s Inside Out 2, making almost 1.7 billion dollars at the world wide box office. It was a huge hit for Pixar and was one of the reasons Disney made over $5 Billion at the box office this year.

#1. Robert Downey Jr. returns to the MCU…as Dr. Doom? Staggering news coming out of San Diego Comic Con this year as Marvel Studios announced that RDJ is going to be playing Victor Von Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars films. The news blew up the internet for weeks afterward as everyone had an opinion.

2024 Year in Review: The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year Award

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Anna Devane was one of my favorite characters on General Hospital mainly because she was an agent for the WSB and she could kick the butt of anyone messing with her. I loved that and so, in honor of the awesome Anna Devane, this is the kick ass female award.

We have ten females who kicked plenty of ass in their individual places. Some are comic characters, some are TV/movie characters and we even have a professional wrestler.

The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award

Previous winners:  Rey (Star Wars), Mockingbird (Marvel Comics), Wonder Woman (DCEU), The Shirewolves, Captain Marvel, Kamala Harris, Wanda Maximoff, Pearl, Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Fargo season five)

Top 10 Kick Ass Females of 2024

#10. Liz Danvers (True Detective: Night Country). Jodie Foster brought a bad ass female to the snowy world of Alaska. She had all kinds of troubles, but you just knew she would find her way thorugh.

#9. Anora (Anora). Mikey Madison was a force of nature as the titular character in this movie from 2024. She was a tornado dealing with the Russians and she was more than a handful.

#8. Black Canary (Black Canary: The Best of the Best). The new DC series featured the writing of Tom King and Black Canary in a tournament with Lady Shiva to discover the best hand-to-hand fighter in the universe.

#7. Zatanna (Zatanna: Bring Down the House). A flashback series showed us how Zatanna came into her own as a member of the Justice League.

#6. Laura (Deadpool & Wolverine, Laura Kinney: Wolverine, NYX). Laura, X-23, returned in the Void during the awesome cameo reveals, but she played a major part with Logan in the movie. It was a real feel good moment… and she sliced Juggernaut’s feet off. Ooooooh. We could extend this one to the comics too as X-23 is known as Wolverine and has her own series, plus a role in NYX.

#5. Storm (X-Men ’97, Storm). It was a big year for Storm. She was a major character in X-Men ’97, she joined the Avengers in Marvel Comics, and she got her own series. Marvel has big plans for Ororo Munroe.

#4. Rhea Ripley (WWE). Rhea “Bloody” Ripley! The Eradicator. One of the biggest stars in the WWE, Rhea took a huge step in her character development when she became a face when her boyfriend Dominic Mysterio turned on her and left her. Rhea is a superstar.

#3. Abigail (Abigail). Alishia Weir brought a serious kick ass girl, a ballerina vampire who has been feeding for centuries. Abigail dominated the film and was incredibly fun.

#2. Elphaba (Wicked). She almost won this award this year and she may be a leading candidate for next year. Elphaba became more and more powerful as the film progressed and the whole “Defying Gravity” sequence at the end of the film was amazing!

And the winner of the Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year Award is…

#1. Agatha Harkness (Agatha All Along, What If…?, Marvel Comics)

It was Agatha all along. Played by the wondrous Kathryn Hahn, Agatha Harkness has risen from a lesser Marvel Comics character to a superstar. After her star turn in WandaVision in 2020, Agatha returned in this year’s surprise hit Agatha All Along on Disney +. Meanwhile, in the comics, Marvel returned Agatha to the young status, making her much closer to Kathryn Hahn. She was in the best episode of What If…? so far co-starring with Kingo. Agatha is one witch whose world is at her fingertips. Down, Down, Down the road… Down the Witches Road…

2024 Year in Review: The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

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In honor of those movies that feature large casts without a clear protagonist, it is time for the Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award. This has been around since 2019 and has had a strong list of movies win, as seen below.

The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), In the Heights (2021), Mass (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), Oppenheimer (2023)

Runners-Up: I considered giving this award to the movie I saw today, A Complete Unknown, but I decided that there is too much of a lead character in Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, despite the fact that the cast surrounding him was excellent. Another Chalamet film this year was Dune: Part Two that could have been a winner in this category. Another potential Oscar film was in consideration for this category with Conclave, the story of choosing a new pope. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever had a great cast, especially of young actors that deserve recognition in this category. I loved Wicked, but again, that film is more of a two person lead and may not be right for the ensemble award. Alien: Romulus was a fantastic movie with an ensemble that wound up as fodder for the Xenomorphs. Civil War was a strong film earlier in the year and its cast had a tough story to delve into. Emilia Perez had a strong ensemble as did The Piano Lesson, both on Netflix.

Winner of the Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year is…

Saturday Night

The film focuses on the opening night for SNL, as a group of performers running around unsure if they were actually going to get on the air. There are some great performances among the cast and the roles are beautifully cast. There may be some weaknesses in the script, but the cast itself is impeccable.

2024 Year in Review: I Am Groot Voice Acting Award

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This has been a big year for animation and that means this was going to be a tough award to pick. Of course, it is not just animation for a voice over. It could be a character on a show in a helmet that you never see their face. It could be a mo-cap character. There are a ton of choices.

“I am Groot” Voice Acting Award

Previous Winners:  Robin Williams (Aladdin- honorary), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes),  Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Ryan Reynolds (Detective Pikachu), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Jeffrey Wright and Chadwick Boseman (What If…?), Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish), Bradley Cooper (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

Runners-Up: Let’s start off with one of the toughest jobs of the year. Chris Hemsworth did the voice of Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and had to step into the shoes of iconic EYG Hall of Famer Peter Cullin. And he did a tremendous job in Transformers One. Another film with big shoes to fill was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Noa was a new protagonist voiced by Owen Teague, who took over the franchise from Andy Serkis. Tom Hardy was the best part of Venom: The Last Dance as he was the voice of Venom as well as Eddie Brock. The Wild Robot had two great performances from Lupita Nyong’o as Roz and Pedro Pascal as Fink. Hamish Linklater was our new animated Batman in Prime’s Batman: The Caped Crusader. Maya Hawke was awesome as the voice of the antagonist in Inside Out 2, Anxiety. Just today, we heard Kathryn Hahn return to the role of Agatha Harkness in one of the best episodes of What If…? ever, and her voice brought the power of this character. Mark Hamill is an iconic voice actor and he continued as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe: Revolutions. Lenore Zann delivered one of the most powerful lines in all of animation this year when she said “I can’t feel you” as Rogue clutched Gambit’s dead body at the end of episode five of X-Men ’97. Alison Sealy-Smith was exceptional in X-Men ’97 as Storm. To be fair, there are so many possible choices from X-Men ’97 because that show was epic.

This year’s winner is also from the show, X-Men ’97.

AJ LoCascio, as Gambit (X-Men’97)

“The name’s Gambit. Remember it.“

He was only in half of the season of X-Men ’97, but he absolutely killed it. Then, episode five of the show is one of the best episodes of TV this entire year. Gambit was at the center of that show and was the massive emotional beat.

2024 Year in Review: The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year

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On the other side of the Gomers, you have the films that you have high expectations for but they just don’t reach them. Films you anticipated and when they release, you feel that pit in your stomach telling you that this just was not what you had hoped.

The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year 

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends, Next Goal Wins

This year’s runners-up: Early in the year, I thought the trailers for Argylle were remarkably fun and that this would be a sure thing. Nope. This was such a letdown. Another film I had hopes for were Lisa Frankenstein, but I hated this movie. It will certainly have a place on the worst films of the year. Many people liked Challengers, but I found it to be dull and nowhere near what I had expected. I liked Moana 2, but I had thought it would be better than it was. Juror #2 was a film that I had heard positives about and that I was looking forward to it, but this was a trudge to get through.

This year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is…

Gladiator 2

Another movie that was not horrendous, but just was not very good, and when you are a sequel to an Oscar winning classic, not very good is a real disappointment.

And… sharks. Come on.

2024 Year in Review: The Gomers for the Biggest Surprise

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2024 had plenty of films that fell into the middle of the range between good and bad. Honestly, however, it had a bunch of films that were surprises too. Thus, we have this year’s Gomer Award being quite a challenge to present. There are so many potential choices.

The Gomer for the Biggest Surprise

Previous Gomer Award Winners:  The Gift, Ferdinand, Edge of Tomorrow, We’re the Millers, The Campaign, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Bumblebee, Crawl, Greenland, Free Guy, Deadstream, Totally Killer

Here are the runners-up:

First off, Late Night with the Devil from David Dastmalchian was a huge surprise because it just was something that I had not heard much from. I did hear Kevin Smith mention it on an episode of Fatman Beyond, but still. for it to be one of the best of the year, who saw that coming? Then, since I disliked the original film, who would have guessed that a new version of Roadhouse starring Jake Gyllenhaal that went immediately to streaming would be any good. It was and I couldn’t believe it. Another one that was a reboot of sort from a movie that I did not like was Twisters. No way that was a film I was going to enjoy and yet I did. Abigail was a surprise until I realized that Alishia Weir was the star. I knew it was going great after that. Hit Man was another I saw on streaming that had no right to be as good as it was. It’s the second film on the list from Glen Powell. Sharks in Paris? No way that was anything other than a member of the worst movies of the year list, right? Wrong. Under Paris was a lot of fun and way better than it should have been. Longlegs provided one of those shocking moments in the theater when you discover that Nicolas Cage was going to go over the top and still be awesome. I spoke about how much I was surprised that I enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as I was trying to find an award for Best X-Mas Movie. Skincare? Another one that had no appeal to me that turned out to be fully entertaining. Strange Darling was weird, but really wonderfully constructed and engaging.

Yet after all of this, one film was the biggest surprise of the year. Spoiler for an upcoming Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness winner, this film one of the worst trailers of all time and nearly caused me to skip the film. Little did I know that this is probably a top 10 film of the year (certainly in consideration, at least).

Transformers One

This was an amazing movie and was one of the best animated films of the year. I never thought making Optimus and Megatron friends when they were younger would work. They weren’t Charles Xavier and Magneto, and yet this was done so well that everything made perfect sense. After so many years of utterly hating Transformers films, loving this one, especially after that horrendous trailer, was totally unexpected… and thus a Gomer winner.

PS: Interestingly enough, this is the second Transformers movie to win this award, with Bumblebee being the other. The original Transformers movies brought the bar so far down that I have trouble seeing them as a positive thing.

2024 Year in Review: The John Carter Memorial Award

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This is one of our first recurring awards in the Year in Review. The John Carter Memorial Award, which is to recognize the film that is the “flop” of the year.

A flop is a film that failed to connect at the box office and lost a lot of money for its studio. A film could flop for any number of reasons, and a film can be great and still flop. Looking at the previous award recipients…

John Carter Memorial Award

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines, Playmobil: The Movie, The Rhythm Section, Reminiscence, Strange World , The Flash 

A lot of these films are ones that I did not like, but there are some that were okay, but just either did not bring in the crowds or spent way too much on its budget.

This year, there have been a lot of films that would be considered flops. Particularly, some of the early films of the year were problematic for the studios. Furiosa: A Mad Max Story was well reviewed and beloved by some, but the crowds just did not come to see it. I don’t know if it were the recast of Furiosa with Anya Taylor-Joy or the lack of Mad Max, but Furiosa did not do well. Neither did The Fall Guy, a movie that I really liked and will probably make my end of year list. Fact is that this is a film remaking a TV series from the 1980s that very few people remembered, and, even with the exciting action, The Fall Guy just could not make it a success. It is a fun film though. On the other hand, a film that is not a good film is Borderlands. Borderlands reportedly cost $120 million to make and it had an $8.8 million dollar opening. Ouch. But that was not the worst thing yet. Borderlands dropped 72% in week two. Boom. Joker: Folie a Deux is the next film to talk about, because although Borderlands dropped 72% in its second week, Joker: Folie a Deux dropped a staggering 81%. It is poised to lose between $150-200 million dollars. Finally, and most recently, Kraven the Hunter made a dismal $11 million dollars in its opening weekend and I am curious to see what its second week drop will be. Kraven the Hunter received horrendous reviews, with people even claiming that it was worse than Madame Web (which could be in this category as well).

This year’s “Winner”:

Megalopolis

It made $4 million opening weekend on a budget of $120 million. After four weeks in the theater, it made $7.6 million dollars domestically and a whopping $12.5 million worldwide. All on a budget of $120 million. Reports say that director/producer Francis Ford Coppola put up a lot of his own money for this film. Whoa. I have not seen this film, so I cannot comment on the quality of film (this is probably a June Swoon film next year), but there is no denying that as a box office movie, this one flopped hard.

2024 Year in Review: The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

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The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)

Every year brings us a ton of awesome cameos in movies. In honor of our beloved Stan Lee, we are continuing to honor those actors who show up as a surprise or a short appearance.

Runners-Up: We will touch upon a bunch of these movies. In The Fall Guy, there were three decent cameos. Jason Momoa showed up at the end as a replacement for Aaron Taylor-Johnson character and that was fun. Then we got Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, who, of course, were from the original Fall Guy TV show. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had the original Ghostbusters again, but the top cameo from this film I think was William Atherton as Walter Peck back, now as the Mayor of New York. Danny DeVito showed up in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but honestly, my memory of that one was lacking. There was a cool cameo in Wicked as Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowerth, who were the stars of the Broadway play version, were an awesome inclusion, even though my theater had no idea who they were. Then, Deadpool & Wolverine dominated the cameos this year. I am not sure I would count Westley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and Dafne Keen as cameos. They all were really important cast members, almost to the level of supporting actors. However, Henry Cavill is absolutely a cameo as the Cavillrine and it nearly won this award.

However, the winner of this award is…

Chris Evans (Deadpool & Wolverine)

Chris Evans appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine as Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four instead of Steve Rogers, despite the teasing that he was actually Cap. The theaters exploded when he said “Flame On!” Then he brought some great foul mouthed dialogue. He came a long way from “Language.”

This also ties Chris Evans with Stan Lee himself for three separate wins in this category. Evans won this award for Thor: The Dark World, when he played Loki playing Cap, and Free Guy, playing himself made over the use of Cap’s shield. It is amazing that Chris Evans has now tied Stan in the category that was named after him.

Congrats to Chris Evans!

2024 Year in Review: I See Kid Actors

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Once again, we have the award for the best child actor award from movie or TV. This award goes to the actor who must be 17 years old or under. If they turn 18, they are no longer eligible for this award.

I See Kid Actor Award 

Previous Winners:  Emjay Anthony (Chef), Jacob Trembley (Room), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Dafne Keen (Logan), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), McKenna Grace (Troop Zero), Jeremy T. Thomas (Antlers), Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical), Madeleine Yuna Voyles (The Creator),

These are the runners-up:

In the coming of age movie Didi, Izaac Wang played the lead role and he carried the film. He had to do a lot of emotional work and he was certainly in the running for this award. Elliott Heffernan was the main protagonist in Blitz, and his trials on returning to his mother through war torn London were thrilling. William Fitzgerald debuted as Ezra alongside Robert DeNiro and Bobby Cannavale, and he held his own. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever brought a couple of strong contenders for this award in Beatrice Schneider, who played the lead troublemaker Imogene Herdman, and Molly Belle Wright, who played Beth, the eyes of the audience and perhaps the heart of the film. Cailey Fleming matched up wonderfully with Ryan Reynolds in IF. Dan Hough had to perform without any words in Speak No Evil and he delivered a sensational performance.

However, when I saw this movie, I knew this was the winner of this award. She is the first ever 2-time winner of the I See Kid Actors Award….

Alisha Weir (Abigail)

Alisha Weir won this award a couple of years ago for her performance as Matilda in Matilda the Musical, and you couldn’t get further away from that role with her role as the titular child vampire. Alisha Weir’s dedication and commitment to this performance dominated the movie and she picked the whole film onto her demure frame. She was the key element to why this horror/comedy worked. I wish they had not spoiled the reveal of Abigail as a vampire in the trailers because I can’t imagine how effective it would be if I hadn’t have known the twist.

Year in Review: WWE Matches of the Year

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It ha been a top notch year in the WWE. I have enjoyed every show that they have put on and there have been years where I could not say that.

Because of that, there are a bunch of Match of the Year contenders. I would guess that there are plenty of matches that could make this list from NXT or RAW and Smackdown that do not stand out as much as those on the PLEs.

I have made a list of the Top 20 WWE Matches of the Year.

#20. Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes, Smackdown. Match number one of their best of seven series. Honestly, most of these matches between these two could have made this list.

#19. Axiom/Nathan Frazer vs. Andre Chase/Ridge Holland, NXT No Mercy. Axiom/Frazer are our tag team of the year, and this is one reason why. Ridge Holland turned on Chase U after their loss.

#18. Gunther vs. Sheamus, RAW. A King of the Ring tournament match and you never get a bad match between these two studs. They put on a BANGER… AFTER BANGER… AFTER BANGER!

#17. Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul, King & Queen of the Ring. Cody may not have had the greatest feuds of the year, but he put on some great matches. Logan Paul is a special star too.

#16. Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus vs. Kaiser, Survivor Series. Breakker defended his Intercontinental Championship in this hard hitting triple threat.

#15. Cody Rhodes vs. AJ Styles, Backlash. The French crowd may have helped this match, but these are two masters going at it. It was an amazing match-up, much better than their I Quit Match.

#14. Bayley vs. Iyo Sky, Wrestlemania 40. The first of several matches from this year’s Wrestlemania saw Bayley get a big victory over her former Damage Control mate. Bayley deserved this big Wrestlemania moment.

#13. Gunther vs. Randy Orton, King and Queen of the Ring. This was a brilliant match between two of the best, that was tainted by a messed up finish. However, that finish was used later in storyline so it helps this out.

#12. Men’s War Games, Bloodline vs. Bloodline, Survivor Series. A great story involved with Solo Sikoa’s rival group and Roman’s shaky alliance with CM Punk. Brutal match that led to three big injuries, but also an unbelievable moment with Bronson Reed off the top of the cage, and some perfect timing for Punk and Roman to avoid the splash.

#11. Axion/Nathan Frazer vs. MSK, NXT Great American Bash. Two of the fastest and most creative teams battled right in the midst of the NXT/TNA talent sharing. Amazing work, and a Wes Lee heel turn as well.

#10. Ilja Dragunov vs. Ricochet, RAW. This was another first round match-up in the King of the Ring tournament on RAW and these two put on as show. I wish Ilja hadn’t gotten injured because he is one of the best wrestlers in the WWE.

#9. Braun Stroman vs. Bronson Reed, Last Monster Standing, RAW. What a main event. Stroman and Reed had been killing each other for weeks and this was the way to put this feud to rest. It also saw the return from injury of Seth Rollins. Big man slapping man meat!

#8. Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable, Clash at the Castle. It was for Sami’s IC title and Sami and Gable put on a classic matchup. Otis had enough of Gable’s behavior and headed for the hills, leading to Sami to defeat Master Gable.

#7. Ilja Dragunov vs. Dijak, NXT. A defense of the NXT Championship, Dragunov was brutal as ever and Dijak lost after some secret interference from Joe Gacy.

#6. Sami Zayn vs. Gunther, Wrestlemania 40. Sami Zayn ended the 666 day IC reign of Gunther at Wrestlemania. What a great match this was with Sami pulling out a top rope brainbuster into the turnbuckle that just looked sick.

#5. Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Money in the Bank. It is Tiffy-time as Tiffany Stratton won the ladder match for the contract. Chelsea Green took one of the big bumps from ladder through a table on the floor. Oh, and Iyo Sky nearly killed Zoey Stark… or else she should have. The women’s match really stole this show.

#4. Rock/Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes/Set Rollins, Wrestlemania 40. The first night tag team match that led to the night two match being contested under Bloodline rules. The Rock pinned Cody Rhodes. Seth was fighting through so much pain. This was such cinema. A great end of night one.

#3. Oba Femi vs. Josh Briggs vs. Dijak, NXT Stand and Deliver. An absolutely brutal match with three massive men. Oba Femi is a monster. Dijak deserved a lot better from the WWE. Oba Femi pulled off some insane power moves and this was epic. The NXT match of the Year for sure.

#2. CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre, Bad Blood. Inside the Hell in a Cell, Punk and McIntyre wrapped up their feud of the year with one of the best Cell matches ever. Bloody. Brutal. Hard hitting. And an amazing story. Most years, this would be the Match of the Year going away, but in 2024, it had to compete with the greatest feel good cinematic match ever.

#1. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns, Wrestlemania 40. Cody Rhodes finished his story as he finally defeated Roman Reigns after an almost four years title reign for Reigns. The match was contested under Bloodline rules and so we saw interference from Solo, Jimmy and Jey Uso, John Cena, “The Final Boss” The Rock, Seth Rollins and The Undertaker. Finally, Roman Reigns succumb to three crossroads and Cody celebrated with all of the babyfaces in a scene right out of Wrestlemania 10. One of the best displays of wrestling and entertainment ever. Perhaps the greatest Wrestlemania main event ever.

2024 Year in Review: WWE

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What a big year for the WWE! Their business is booming and the creativity is at a huge level. Vince McMahon is completely gone, and Paul “HHH” Levesque as head of creative works so much. Just a few years ago I was getting ready to not watch wrestling as much, but now it is can’t miss.

Male Wrestler of the Year: Cody Rhodes. Runners-Up: Gunther, Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Jey Uso, LA Knight

Female Wrestler of the Year: Liv Morgan. Runners-Up: Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax, Bayley, Iyo Sky, Chelsea Green, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill.

Tag Team of the Year: Axiom & Nathan Frazer. Runners-Up: Motor City Machine Guns, Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill, DIY, Street Profits.

Manager: Paul Heyman. Runners-Up: Paul Ellering, Adam Pierce, Nick Aldis

On the Mike: Drew McIntyre. Runners-Up: Kevin Owens, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman

Feud of the Year: Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk. Runners-Up: Bloodline vs. Bloodline 2.0, Kevin Owens heel turn, New Day turns

Underused Performer: Shinsuke Nakamura. Runners-Up: Otis, DIY, Piper Niven, Chad Gable

Comeback of the Year: Roman Reigns. Runners-Up: Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, Drew McIntyre

Saddest Comeback: AJ Styles, who is promptly injured on his return.

Celebrity of the Year: Jellyroll. Runners-Up: Dwayne Johnson, Logan Paul, Jesse Ventura

Moment of the Year: The Wyatt Sicks “murder” Chad Gable and backstage crew.

Heel of the Year: Drew McIntyre. Runners-Up: Gunther, Solo Sikoa, Finn Balor, Dominic Mysterio, Liv Morgan

Face of the Year: Cody Rhodes. Runners-Up: Sammy Zayn, Bianca Belair, Jey Uso, LA Knight

Entrance Song: I Believe in Joe Hendry (Joe Hendry). Runners-Up: Kingdom (Cody Rhodes), Burn it Down (Seth Rollins)

Storyline of the Year: The Final Boss/Bloodline vs. Cody Rhodes. New Day Turns on Big E, Bloodline vs. Bloodline.

Best Broadcaster: Michael Cole. Wade Barrett, Pat McAfee, Joe Tessitore, Corey Graves

Breakout Star: Jacob Fatu. Runners-Up: Braun Breakker, Chelsea Green, The Wyatt Sicks, Tiffany Stratton

Heel Turn of the Year: Kevin Owens. Runners-Up: New Day, Shinsuke Nakamura, DIY

Shock of the Year: New Day turns on Big E. Runners-Up: Wyatt Sicks debut, The Rock shows up on WWE TV, #WeWantCody

Faction of the Year: Wyatt Sicks. Runners-Up: Judgment Day, Bloodline 2.0, Original Bloodline

NXT Male Wrestler of the Year: Oba Femi

NXT Female Wrestler of the Year: Roxanne Perez

2024 Year in Review: Comic Cover Artist of the Year

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This year, we started a weekly post called Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. I wound up giving our Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist every week for the best comic covers (in my opinion) of the week.

I decided that we then could give out the Comic Cover Artist of the Year and use what we have done this year to determine our medalists.

I kept track of the medal winners each week. If they received a Gold medal, they earned 3 points. Everyone listed as working on the cover each got three points. If they received a Silver medal, they got two points and a Bronze would earn them 1 point.

If there was a tie, the number of gold medals was the first tie break and the second tie break was how many artists worked on the cover. A solo artist gets the edge over the duos.

Spoiler alert, both of those tie breaks came into play.

Year in Review: Favorite Comic Covers of the Year

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2024

In 2024, I started something new. It was a weekly feature in which I would choose the best comic cover of the week on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. After a few weeks, I adjusted the concept so that I was giving three awards, and I connected them to the Olympic medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). That way I could honor more of the great covers that was coming out every week.

I reviewed my list of winners and I picked out the best of the best and gave them the year end medal.

I decided I would give out the top three regular covers (Cover A) and I would give the top three variant covers from the gold medalists from this past year. Then, I would give an overall medal (Platinum) for the Best Cover of the Year.

Let’s kick it off with the…

Medalists for the Regular Covers (Cover A)

Bronze Medalist for 2024

Ice Cream Man #38

Cover Art by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Silver Medalist for 2024

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz

Gold Medalist for 2024

Zorro: Man of the Dead #3

Cover art by Dan Panosian

Medalists for Variant Covers of the Year

Bronze Medalist for 2024 Variant

Namor #1

Cover art by Alex Maleev

Silver Medalist for 2024 Variant

Hello Darkness #4

Cover Art by Jenny Frison

Gold Medalist for 2024 Variant

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2

Cover art by Mitsuhiro Arita

Platinum Medalist (Best Overall Comic Cover of 2024)

Congrats to all of our Medalists.

Runners-Up: (Cover A) Get Fury 34, Swan Song #6, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Uncanny X-Men #1, Fantastic Four #26, (Variant) Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3, Spider-Boy #7, Resurrection of Magneto #1, Ice Cream Man #39

2024 Year in Review: Comics

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It was a big year for comic books. The massive amount of independents were out, Marvel and DC both found great success with their “Ultimate” and “Absolute” books respectively, and some of the best artists and writers plied their trade across the companies.

EYG continued our post EYG Comic Cavalcade looking at a bunch of books over a week period, and we added the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, giving out a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal each week.

There were a lot of difficult choices to be made for these Comic Awards. The Comic Cover of the Year and the Cover Artist of the Year will be coming at a later date. However, here are the comic awards for EYG this year.

Best Marvel Series: Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter and MJ happy with children? Yes, please. More of that. This has been a solid series all year long as Peter finds his fate in the spider costume.

Best DC Series: Absolute Batman. One of the hottest, most successful selling books in a long time, the story is also solid.

Best Independent Comic: The Deviant. This was the single most difficult choice to make because there were so many potential choice. Saga returned. Feral. Something is Killing the Children is always a classic. Grommets. Ice Cream Man. But I finally settled on the James Tynion IV penned book about a serial killer and a man trying to make a comic about it. It has kept readers off balance all year.

Best Character: Erica Slaughter, Something is Killing the Children. Eric has been consistently one of the best characters in comics since her debut. Some of the flashback issues this year have really helped give even more perspective to Erica.

Best Writer: Jason Aaron. Jason Aaron has had a great year including Absolute Superman, Namor, Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime, and he may have written the best single issue of any comic issue this year, in my opinion, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.

Best Artist: Mark Spears. I wasn’t sure whom to pick for this award, so I asked Todd, and he suggested Mark Spears. As soon as he did, I knew that was the proper pick. He has had a great year this year, hotter than most any other artist and his Mark Spears Monsters book is as sought after as any.

Best Graphic Novel: Bad Dreams in the Night. I only have seen a handful of graphic novels this year and that makes things tough for this category so I chose a recent one that was a series of horror shorts that were extremely entertaining. This was a great graphic novel.

Best Issue #1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. As I mentioned in the Jason Aaron award, I think this is the best single issue of the year. I was not a reader of TNMT, but I grabbed number one because of the buzz and I LOVED that issue. It had me completely hooked and I continued collecting the series. That is what a number one is intended to do.

Best Surprise: Blade was behind Blood Hunt. I did not see that one coming. Sure, it turned out Blade was controlled, but it did not dull the shock of seeing Blade bury his fangs into Doctor Strange’s neck. Blood Hunt was a surprising crossover and this kicked it off on the right note.

Under Appreciated: Ryan North. I have not heard enough about this writer, who has been on the Fantastic Four this last year and has given us some of the best FF issues in a long, time. He was also the writer on Deadpool Wolverine Weapon X-Traction #1 which was really fun. North has been great and I want to see him with other Marvel heroes as his career moves on.

Best One Shot: Doom #1. I was actually not a big fan of this issue, but I know it was a huge hit and, because of that, I think it deserves this award.

Best X-Book: Uncanny X-Men. Gail Simone has brought some of the best X-books to the franchise in years. Plus, she has one of the best lineup of characters around with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and the leader Rogue. I look forward to Uncanny every month.

Relationship of the Year: Tony Stark and Emma Frost. Yeah, I know a lot of others did not like this, but I really enjoyed this pairing. So much so that I was sad when they left each other as you knew they would. Emma and Tony had a great chemistry and held each other in a deep regard, more than either wanted to admit.

Crossover of the Year: Blood Hunt. This was just going to be an excuse for Marvel heroes to fight vampires, but it turned out more entertaining than that. With Blade as our villain and with Doctor Doom taking over as Sorcerer Supreme, there are some definite major implications for the Marvel Universe. Oh and Miles Morales was turned into a vampire too.

Trend of the Year: Horror Comics. Horror comics have always been around, but this year horror seemed to explode. Books such as Mark Spears Monsters, Ice Cream Man, Hello Darkness, DC Horror Presents, Creature Commandos, Displaced, The Deviant, the Universal Monsters series, Blood Hunt, Feral, Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House By the Sea, House of Slaughter, Dark Ride, Arkham Horror, Killadelphia, Plastic: Death and Dolls are just some of the books available in 2024.

Comic Character MVPs for 2024: Batman, Miles Morales, Redcoat, Deadpool, Space Ghost, Blade, and Frankenstein.

Best Individual issues (in no particular order)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Uncanny X-Men #1

Swan Songs #6

Ice Cream Man #39

Big Burn #1

Grommets #6

Fantastic Four #17

Something is Killing the Children #37