February R.E.P.O.R.T.

I love mythology from all over the world, but I have a special interest in Greek mythology, and I have enjoyed several Greek mythology retellings/reinterpretings over the last several years. Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell is probably my second favorite in this subgenere after Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Lion takes the story of Heracles and tells a new version of the 12 Labors from the perspective of both Heracles (a sweet, strong dummy here) and Hera (vindictive, manipulative) in a way that shows two people can be both right in feeling and wrong in action. After a midpoint twist, the book moves into pushing guilt and atonement together to explore how we can actually resolve the feelings of regret we have for the past. Plus there is a great found family angle here too. I highly recommend it!

I need to talk about potatoes. Likely one of the most versatile ingredients, there are so many things you can do with potatoes. As we try to save money on groceries in my house, we have been using baked potatoes as a replacement for rice to serve chili over, making them into soups and stews (I made my “famous 12-ingredient potato leek soup last night), and a topping for a gardener’s pie. Also hash browns, inside breakfast wraps, and more. I am sure there are other things I’ve already forgotten. But how amazing are potatoes? What is your favorite thing to make with potatoes? I’m always looking for more recipes!

I’ve been trying to be on my phone less, and in that interest, I dug my Nintendo DS and 3DS out of my storage unit. Been testing the battery life and if my giant hands feel comfortable using them, but going back to older games I already own is also a fun way to tap into nostalgia and inner child feelings without spending money. I think I am going to start a new Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds playthrough this weekend.

The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard is going to be essential reading for serious superhero genre fans in the future, and now is a great time to get into it. Issue #16 came out this week, closing the third arc of the series so far. I am also most of the way through a reread of the series from the beginning because my girlfriend has been catching up, and this is a deep comic book. While I have long respected Kieron Gillen’s writing on things like The Wicked + The Divine and Once and Future, it is more respect than enjoyment. But The Power Fantasy feels different. Maybe because it is so clearly in conversation with Watchmen, maybe because the characters that Gillen has created here feel more interesting the less archetypal than some of his other works...I would also be remiss in if I did not mention how stunning Wijngaard’s art is also.

The pitch for this series is that there are 6 superpowered beings on earth that have the power at atomic levels, based on how much destruction they can cause at any moment. These six exist in a kind of social circle cold war, where each of them are messy people playing chess with the other five and trying not to cede advantage or gain too much obvious power (which would trigger at least one of the others to intervene). At the core of this is power, personality, ethics, and relationships, all intersecting in a way I haven’t really seen before. Truly one of the best things on the shelves right now.

This month, I’m recommending Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, in theaters right now as I write this. This is the kind of wholesome, stupid, almost pointless comedy film that is a wonderful balm for the ills of the world. Made by two friends, Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, based on their sketch comedy web/tv series, this is a film about how sometimes the best things in life are the dumb ideas you and your friends come up with. There is such a passion here for making art, even if the fictional versions of these two people are going about it all the wrong ways, that shines through and made me feel somehow less alone.

As I’ve mentioned a few times, being unemployed for a year means my budget is tight tight tight at the moment. So I've tried to scale back to the minimum amount of treating. Some of the things that I've found essential to my wellbeing are comic books, my subscriptions to AMC A-List and Criterion Channel, and finally going through and trying to read all the books I already own but haven’t read. I'm trying to take care of myself as best I can, and sometimes that does mean a donut from the supermarket, or sneaking in a can of seltzer at the cinema so I can have something to drink with my popcorn but not spend $12 on a soda. Joy is where you find it and where you make it.

▶ Working at: My desk at home

▶ Podcast in my ears: Fighting in the War Room

▶ Current reads: Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood, The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

▶ Album on repeat: Wuthering Heights by Charli XCX

▶ Latest writing: Check out my MovieJawn review of the documentary, An American Pastoral: https://www.moviejawn.com/home/2026/2/13/an-american-pastoral-review

▶ Find me: https://linktr.ee/silberwhatever