At the start of the new year, we look back on the previous, and as usual, I do this by handing out Golden Typewriter Monkeys - nothing more than bragging rights, physical copies do not exist! Stop asking! - for excellence in what I've read or seen during the year (regardless of when it was originally released, unless I decide it's important). As usual, only newly experienced material will be up for consideration (no old favorites!). For television episodes, no more than one per show can be put up for nomination. Other limits may apply. In any case, your write-in votes and anti-votes should go in the comments section.
Best Book of 2024 - The runners up are...
5. Three Assassins by Kotaro Isaka
4. Rosewater by Tade Thompson
3. A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
2. Erasure by Percival Everett
...and the Siskoid goes to: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It was the first book I read in 2024, and it still wins the award 50+ books later! Here's what I had to say: "Becky Chambers' debut novel stars the diverse crew of a 'tunnelling' ship bound for a distant battleground where they've been assured diplomacy has won the day and a space tunnel needs to be built for trade. But while the crew of the Wayfarer will have an impact on that larger story, it's really background for a picaresque, each chapter exploring one of the characters, giving them or resolving a dilemma, even as Chambers does some efficacious world building. It plays like a television series that, despite the special effects, is deeply centered on the characters. And what characters! I immediately fell in love with this 'chosen family' and how they lent each other support. There is something about showing grace that I find incredibly touching, and these characters have it by the cargo-ful. I wept, like, a LOT. It's just charming as heck, and perhaps it's because I cast them well enough in my head (thanks to descriptions and dialog) that the performances sprung off the page so vividly. Chambers has written three more novels set in this universe, but they're not about the Wayfarer, which on the one hand, is a good idea - the spell woven here is unbroken - but on the other, I'll deeply miss this crew."
Best Film of 2024 (in theaters and streaming) - The runners up are...
5. Civil War
4. Poor Things
3. Dune Part 2
2. Conclave
...and the Siskoid goes to: Challengers. On my Letterboxd profile, I use the fourth slot to showcase the previous year's winner, and it's going to be a littke weird to see this one up there instead of Godzilla Minus One, but it deserves it! From my original review: "Wow, I feel like I could write a dozen film theory essays on Challengers! Luca Guadagnino's use of homoerotic imagery (this is essentially a study in where to place balls and bananas in the frame). The notion of playing relationships out as a sporting event. Transference in many forms, with the tennis players funnelling the sexual frustration of their partnership to a woman who appears to be the sport at its peak, and that same woman judging based on their sporting ability/philosophy alone, "playing" through them in coaching/manipulating capacity. The metronome set by the ball translating into a back and forth through time in the structure of the film... Guadagnino has an amazing talent for presenting complex relationships, and the cast is more than up for it (certainly Zendaya's personal best to date). The tennis stuff is fun to watch. Reznor's score uses the kind of driving electronic beats I love, though rarely admit it to myself. There are a lot of laughs. A lot of subtext to keep one engaged (one might call it SURtext given how it amusingly manifests). It doesn't resort to tired old sports tropes. Hugely entertaining."
Best Film of 2024 (at home, not actually from 2024) - The runners up are...
5. The Munekata Sisters
4. The Brand New Testament
3. Where Is the Friend's House?
2. The Justice Riders
...and the Siskoid goes to: Hundreds of Beavers. "While watching the absolutely delightful Hundreds of Beavers, I kept thinking of the aesthetic of Guy Maddin's similar faux-silent films, and wouldn't you know it, the trailer has a pull quote from him endorsing the movie. If I hadn't been sold already... This loopy movie is like a live action Looney Tunes cartoon (though it still has animated elements, both classic funny animals and CG-produced collage animation that made me think of Karel Zeman's Invention for Destruction and Fabulous Baron Munchausen) with hundreds of gags and a kind of video game logic. Jean Kayak (great name) is a hapless fur trapper at odds with a variety of animals intent on outsmarting him - and I think it works best when they can, rather than the middle part where he's growing in ability - animals played by people in mascot costumes, as this is a lo-fi near-silent that I'd love to smuggle back in time and show to unwary 1920s audiences. The gags really build on one another cleverly, and director Mike Cheslik never pulls a shtick once if he can't pull it half a dozen times at least, each with an amusing twist. But that's damning it with faint praise, because it often provokes genuine laughter. Sometimes it's the small things that do it, but it's also how crazy it all gets as time goes on. And what you thought was just a silly gag? It'll probably turn out to be important to the plot later. It may LOOK like the vignettes in any given Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny or Road Runner cartoon, but it's intricately written so that everything fits like those plastic pieces in the old Mouse Trap board game. A great time!"
Best TV Series of 2024 - The runners up are...
5. X-Men '97 Season 1
4. Extraordinary Season 2
3. The Outlaws Seasons 2-3
2. Extraordinary Attorney Woo
...and the Siskoid goes to: Interior Chinatown. "When I discovered they made a TV show out of Charles Yu's postmodern novel Interior Chinatown, I thought, no, not doable. But as it's Yu himself with comedy genius Taika Waititi... okay, yeah, maybe it is. As it happens, this 10-episode limited(?) series is pretty great, though I think if you want to know what it's really saying about the Asian-American experience, you need to read the book. The novel uses a television script conceit to track its lead, Willis Wu's (Jimmy Yang) journey from background extra to 'kung fu guy' (which itself proves limiting), but here, we're already in television land. So Yu and Waititi lean into that and make it a cop show, going through various eras (80s, CSI, up to today's big conspiracy arcs) to explore how television itself has changed of the years, especially in connection to showing more diversity on screen. To make it work as a television series, ancillary characters get much more to do, including Chloe Bennet as Willis' cop partner, Diana Lin as the mom, and the Daily Show's Ronny Chieng as the comic relief best friend. The absurd metatextual premise is amusing, but Chieng brings more straightforward comedy to the proceedings. So wow, guys, they did it. And the result is different enough from the book that both can still be enjoyed without spoiling one another."
Best Comic of 2024 - The runners up are...
5. The Holy Roller
4. Fishflies
3. Action Comics
2. Fantastic Four (still going strong)
... and the Siskoid goes to: It may be a little early to tell, but DC's Absolute line wins the prize, eking out a victory at the finish line. These reinterpretations of (to date) DC's Trinity are fresh and interesting, in a way that their similar Earth-One projects never were. Though the All-In Special promised that this universe could be visited (so crossovers could spoil the whole thing in '25), and indeed was the only accessible universe post-Absolute Power (yes, please let the Multiverse rest!), and further that in the future it would be conquered by Darkseid. So the common threat, to date, is that these are the heroes we know, bereft of their most famous toys. Batman isn't rich, Wonder Woman is the only Amazon, and Superman doesn't have the Clark Kent identity. It's all a little more desperate and yet true to the characters, and unlike a reboot like pre-Crisis or New52, the creative teams are allowed to mess with the premise a whole lot more. They're all interesting and have great art, but for now, Kelly Thompson's Wonder Woman is my favorite. Looking forward to a couple of years of this universe standing side by side with the mainstream DCU.
Let us know what YOUR picks would have been in all categories. And next week: The Technical Awards as given in a ceremony prior to this one, just like with the Oscars (but more entertaining).
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