Category Archives: What Im Reading

Comic Collection Stats: A Year in Review

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Summer is over and the kids are back in school. Everyone is thankful for that. For me, I’ve been working, playing games, drawing, and reading comic books. Its a tricky balancing act, trying to find time for all my hobbies, while trying not to neglect my family.

/ art over the summer
/ inktober
/ comic collection stats
/ video games for the remainder of the year

//

As I mentioned in my last post, I wouldn’t have much art to share, but in less than two months, I actually feel I have more to share than I expected.

First up, can’t go wrong with Spider-Gwen. She has a new number 1 issue on the stands and a new costume.

Next up, the exiled sorceress-warrior Wysta, the Wayward Wytch of the Spider Sect. From my favourite comic book of 2025, Bug Wars.

And a current work in progress piece, currently not shared anywhere else. Kpop Demon Hunters. This has become a new favourite in the house as my young boys enjoy the movie. As its very trendy, I figured I’d draw the 3 main characters. and I’m very happy with the progress so far, so I will likely turn this into a full coloured piece and print it as a poster for the boys. By then it might not be cool – but who knows. So far I have completed Rumi, and sketched out Mira and Zoey. But I’ve been taking my time, which I think shows in the final results below.

As an annual tradition, I like to do the #faceyourart challenge, to make a collage of all the faces I’ve drawn over the last 12 months. Mostly from Drawtober in this collection, but its a cool visual. This is from August 2024-2025.

Speaking of Drawtober, the prompts for this year have been posted. I’ve come up with ideas for all, and the KPOP demon hunters drawing is a good warmup for me, leading into October, as the summer I didn’t draw much. After reviewing the list, I have a general idea for each one, but, if I decide to apply a theme, I also have a backup plan: to do all Batman/DC characters as a theme. As I get closer to the start of the month I’ll decide which route to go.

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In comic books news I’ve come to the harsh reality that I am collecting too many. I think I’m around 70-75 books a month. So I’ve been slowly cutting back on some titles, and watching the miniseries conclude through the end of the year so hopefully all I have left is the on-going books. My goal is to get the number down to around 50 by 2026. And then get a little more strict. Average 10 a week I think is a good number.

Here are some stats from May 2024 – 2025

+991 comics
+840 read (2023 I had read 85% of my collection. Now its up to 87%)
2024 saw 63% increase annually over 2023 in new books
Batman overtook Spawn as most collected character. And Spider-Man made the top 5, booting out Joker who is now in 10th.

It’s always interesting to look back on the collection stats year after year.

//

In video games, I’ve been a little all over the map.

Doom Eternal, I play a mission here and there, but like the name implies, the missions feel eternally long so I need a break after each one. 18 hours in – although I think that number might be a little inflated. Can’t imagine I’ve actually played that long.

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition, like Doom, I play for a bit once a week just to make some progress. 5 hours in.

Gears of War Reloaded, playing in co-op every Wednesday. We have finished act II. 3 hours in. We are also still playing Skull and Bones, and have Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on our shortlist.

Dredge. What I thought was going to be a cosy fishing game has turned into quite the time sink. 30 hours in, and I’m nearly done. I’ve completed the main story and 1 DLC, and 1 left to do.

Star Wars Outlaws, just started this, 4 hours in. So far its a pretty impressive game. Big maps, pretty visuals and an interesting story.

Spider-Man 2. Definitely my primary game right now. 10 hours in and starting to get interesting, with the introduction of Venom. As expected, the game has a very good photo mode, so I spend a lot of time taking pictures.

See in you in October with Drawtober.

Rogan

What was always expected…

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Hello everyone, and welcome back for another monthly wrap-up. Last update was in July, and we’re, gasp, in September? Where did the summer go? Kiddo’s going back to school, and morning’s start to become a little more hectic again. Life returning to normal.

//

On the battlefront, it has been a little chaotic…a lot on the go, but not really dedicating a lot of time to one specific game. Feels like a freefall, and grasping at whatever looks shiny on that particular day.

Bad news first: Atomic Heart is no longer on GamePass, so I’ve stopped playing it. To be fair, I never really started, and didn’t really invest a lot of time into it. But I will probably buy it if/when it goes on sale. It’s on the wishlist. I liked the concept, and it felt like a good successor to Bioshock. I just didn’t really give it enough time.

Tried out Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. The game looked pretty, but didn’t really feel like it had a lot of substance. Like some out of the box mechanics pasted overtop of the Unreal Engine. Maybe that’s a little harsh. It’s on GamePass for now, and once I wrap up a few other on-going games, I’ll drop back in to see it through.

Surprisingly the game I spent the most time on over the summer was The Division 2. Yes the same Division 2 from 2019. I’ve been playing through some of the free seasonal content they added over the years, as well as the Gangs of New York expansion – which I previously bought, but is now tacked on, free to play. The game is still a lot of fun, and you can boost your character with the new season. And I wish Ubisoft would make another. But this dive-back-in was mostly to grab some outstanding achievements. Currently G1005/1420 : 47/60. 54hrs.

Playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League with Illestrader every co-op Wednesday. The game feels a lot like Gotham Knights and The Avengers. Mostly focused on combat and traversal. Rocksteady has done a good job with the story thus far, but my complaint is the focus on gear and gear attributes. And it seems like every time we sit down to play, there’s a new combat mechanic added to the mix. I feel like I have to break my hand to try out the different button combinations. Also, the game gets interrupted after every missions with a competition screen, to show who on the team did the best, and unlocks, etc. I wish it played a little smoother and seamless. I’m playing as Harley, obviously, and he’s playing as Deadshot, and then we each share one co-op AI buddy, in King Shark and Captain Boomerang. So far my favourite in the game is Boomerang due to his dialogue. Harley is a little heavy on the accent. G80/1000 : 7/50. 6hrs. Still early in the game.

My main three single-player games are The First Descendant, Final Fantasy, and God of War. All on the PC.

The First Descendant has been a lot of fun. The story is mostly nonsensical, but as I mentioned last month, plays like a Destiny game, only with a lot more gear and weapon mechanics. Its overwhelming and I’m trying to not spend too much time focusing on it, as I’m not in it for the grind. I will play through the story and see if I can 100% the achievements, but if they become a little much, which I’m expecting 2 to be, then I’ll call it quits until there’s an expansion or more content. Free to play means there will be, and I’ll keep playing it as long as its still fun and not a burden. One thing I will say, that I appreciate about this game, is that it has cross-play, cross-save and cross-progression enabled. So if I wanted to, I can switch between the Xbox and Steam, and the achievements unlock for both. G680/1000 : 19/24. 10hrs.

I finished Chapter 12 in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Chapter 12 was a doozy with multiple characters dying. Took quite the toll. But the game is still fun, and I’m taking it slow as I don’t want the wait between me completing it and then waiting on PC version FF VII Rebirth to be too far in-between. 27/63. 20hrs.

Lastly on the list is God of War. This is a replay for me, on the PC. I’d previously played it on release on the PS4. But I haven’t invested in a PS5 and likely won’t, so I’ve been waiting on God of War Ragnarök’s PC release. Which is just around the corner. So I figured I should do a replay of the first one, to get caught up on the story again. I even got a PS5 controller for the new God of War, to take full advantage of the game. But God of War is still so good.

After I wrap up God of War and Ragnarök, and Final Fantasy, I think my next PlayStation games will be the Horizon Forbidden West sequel and Spider-Man replay w/ Miles Morales. Hopefully by that time, either Spider-Man 2 or The Last of Us 2, or Final Fantasy Rebirth will have been ported over.

//

Onto some drawings. Which, as expected, over the summer, tend to slow down a bit with the hot summer nights. But will hopefully pick back up as we switch to fall, and then I’ll have to think about what I’m going to do for Drawtober this year…if anything. We shall see how I’m feeling. How tired I am.

First up, Dazzler. I’m not sure where the motivation came from this, but it was an X-Men character I’ve had on my list, and I guess the planets aligned for one night.

Annually, there is a hashtag that pops up called #faceyourart, and it’s to show just the faces you draw. Facing your art. Always a fun glimpse into what I’ve been drawing, and how many female instead of men I draw. This is the group for the last 12 months, ending with Dazzler:

Over on my Substack, I recently did a write-up for CHU, as a recent series that followed John Layman’s last big series in CHEW. This is the sister prequel series. Here is the quick fan art that I like doing for the column. Saffron Chu.

The rest are still in various forms of completion. Like my games list, these drawings are just on a continual rotation of work-in-progress. So this is actually the first place these have been shared. Maybe the only place. First up is Savage Land Rogue. I like where this is heading. Still need to fine tune some things. Like the belt, and the back arm I think is a little short. And then decide if I want to add colour and some background elements.

Catwoman and Batman. The wife recently watched The Wolf of Wallstreet for the first time, and there’s a classic scene between Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio in the bedroom. I wanted to mimic that for the Bat and the Cat. WIP. This one has been fun. Might turn it into a poster if it turns out well.

Bunny. 2022 was the last time I had done a webcomic on my StrangerThanFriendship site. And I have a new idea focusing on The First Descendant, and just how unnecessarily sexy the female costumes are in the game. I get that its a F2P and they want to get as much money out of their targeted demographic as possible. But its a bit much at times. Here’s a quick sketch of Bunny for the comic – or maybe just an excuse to draw the Bunny character from the game ;).

Lastly is Jinx, which is another addition to the GI Joe drawings I’ve been doing. Ink is done – just need to find the time to colour.

//

Over on the Substack, I finished The Hard Switch, by Owen Pomery, CHU (see above) and Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and did a nice little write up for each. Next up is Far Sector, which is a DC Green Lantern book, and then rounding out #30 with The Watchmen. Then I gotta buckle down, as I got roughly 16 more weeks left in the year to see if I can read and write about 22 more books. Can I meet my 52 book goal. Not likely, but worth a shot.

And with that ends August. Remember to go outside.
Rogan
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Ready to move on?

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Hello everyone, and welcome back for another monthly wrap up. Last post was end of May, so I shall catch us up to end of June. Lots of art, lots of games, lots of reading comic books.

//

As always, lets start with games.

In my last post I had wrapped up playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as the big completion. In June I completed Another Crab’s Treasure which is a souls-like action game where you play as a hermit crab who has his shell repossessed through a collecting loan shark, because he couldn’t afford a new rent imposed on his tide pool. It was a recent release on XBox Game Pass, and a good palette cleanser. The cool gameplay mechanic is your shell acts as your shield, and as a hermit crab you can swap out of shells on the fly, testing out a variety to types of garbage found in the ocean. A fun, humourous, colourful game with similar souls-like fighting and gameplay mechanics. 22 hrs – 1000g/1000g.

I also beat Exoprimal‘s story, just in time for the team to announce that they’re basically done with the game. No more seasonal content or anything as the player count had dropped down pretty low. Multiplayer will still be available as well as all the content on a repeating rotation, but they’re just done with it now. So, so am I. 23hrs – 850g/1000g.

I started Atomic Heart and I’m a few hours in, but as we’re getting into the hot summer months, and I’m playing it on the PC – its a little too warm to play in the evenings – so I’ll probably take a rest on this game for a few months. Same with Final Fantasy VII Remake. In FF I think I’m up to chapter 12 now.

Illestrader and I completed Saint’s Row reboot (2022) but we had an issue with the final mission. Half way through the mission, last week, we called it a night – against my better judgement. And the issue came about because the final mission stipulates that its an end-game mission, warning you that you can’t return to the city hub whilst this mission is active. So what happened this week? Illestrader launched the co-op campaign mid-mission, but I can’t join a mission in progress. So I’m locked out of the final mission, and because its his campaign save, I can’t do it on my own, and there’s no mission replay function. So he got to complete it and I didn’t, which sucks. On my own I might blast through the campaign missions again just to get the final mission’s achievements – everything else in the game is unlocked for me, so it shouldn’t be too bad plus there’s a lot left to do and DLC. But right now I’m too mad to think about it. 14hrs – 215g/1424g.

Also playing through Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I play this for 20-30 minute spurts usually after dinner, before putting the boys to bed. They enjoy watching me play it and the gameplay is exciting and colourful and kid-friendly enough.

Lastly and most recently, I’ve started playing The First Descendant as a new co-op game with Illestrader. Game launched free to play a week ago, and it’s a lot like Warframe and clearly a lot of Destiny 2 influences. And Outriders similarities. A lot of egregious microtransaction incentives since its F2P – P2W, with the standard and premium season pass, and multiple character options that are not unlocked outright, but you can unlock them naturally with enough game time spent, or you can pay to unlock, and the skin bundles, etc, etc. Lots of mods and currencies. I will play through the story missions and then move on – I’m not sticking around for the grind. And not spending any more than the season pass. Like one of the top tier end-game characters is $135 if you bought it outright. No thanks.

//

Onto some drawings:

In May I drew Scarlett from G.I. Joe and said I’d draw more. Well I drew one more at least: Baroness. There’s a few more I’d like to draw as well. One day…

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been writing a comic reading / review column thing over at Substack. I don’t really know how to describe it, other than I’ve tasked myself with reading at least 1 graphic novel / trade paperback book a week, and then writing about it. Discussing the story, the art, and the creators and my thoughts – just to get them out of my head. At this point, like this journal, its really just for me, as an outlet, as I don’t have any subscribers.

But one of the cool parts is its gives me some motivation to draw some characters I wouldn’t typically draw. One of the series I read was Jupiter’s Legacy, and I did a quick fan art of Lady Liberty.

Next up was a fun inking render of Magik, from the X-Men. This piece has also inspired me to draw her demon side, Darkchilde, which I should be able to share in my next post.

Harley Quinn Fan Art to celebrate another graphic novel reading review. Not that I need an excuse to draw Harley Quinn…read Suicide Squad: Get Joker, by Brian Azzarello and Alex Maleev.

Next was Black Cat, a quick ink wash render.

And then finally a multiple day fully rendered piece for the anniversary of Beyond Good and Evil, Jade. A really great game from 20 years ago. And a fun piece to draw. I’ll probably turn it into a poster as I need some new art on the wall.

//

Comics, still reading a lot and buying a lot. Roughly 15-20 months issues a week – which is crazy to think about. And also very hard to keep up with. Presently I’m 5 weeks behind on my reading. I’m hoping over the summer to catch up a bit, as usually my gaming and art slow down due to the hot weather – I don’t enjoy sitting in front of a computer, sweating.

But for my Substack graphic novel / TP schedule, here is my next 5 reads, and my last 5 reads:

Next Read:
Week 26: The Hard Switch – Own D. Pomery
Week 27: Chu – Vol. 1 – John Layman & Dan Boultwood
Week 28: Spider-Man: Noir – David Hine
Week 29: Far Sector – N. K. Jemisin & Jamal Campbell
Week 30: The Watchmen – Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Previous read:
Week 24: Phenomena, Vol. 1: The Golden City of Eyes
Week 23: Suicide Squad: Get Joker / Wolverine: Rot
Week 22: Jupiter’s Legacy Vol 1-5
Week 21: Head Wounds: Sparrow
Week 20: The Incal

Also some more recent books I’ve acquired:
The Hard Switch
Homicide: The Graphics Novel parts 1 and 2
Seven Secrets vol 1-3
The Ballad of Halo Jones
20th Century Men
IN.

Looking forward to getting around to reading those at some point in the next few years. Ha!

//

I think that wraps up June. Take care. ‘Til next time.
Rogan
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The Side Job

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to another monthly wrap-up. After last month’s lengthily post, I have a somewhat shorter installment, as I didn’t really get up to all that much throughout last month, April. In the month of May I accomplished a bit more, but April was very much a rest month.

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As always, let’s start with the games.

I beat Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. 125 hours. 1020/2110 Gamerscore. This includes the main storyline quests and the Order assassinations, and most of the side stuff, like the Orlog games and Flyting, and the Alpha animals. I didn’t do the other completionist stuff like collectibles or completing each territory. But I did get Thor’s full gear. I also did the Ireland DLC, a bit of the Ragnarök DLC. Kind of got burnt out on the game near the end, and didn’t try the France DLC.

Still playing Final Fantasy VII: Remake on the PC. Its a slow burn, where I play maybe an hour or so a week. I think I’m on Chapter 9 now.

And also playing Saint’s Row (2022 Reboot) with Illestrader, in co-op. As I mentioned in my last post, the quality of the game isn’t a huge step forward over the past iteration. There’s some fun missions, and the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Fun in co-op at least.

Now that I’ve wrapped up Assassin’s Creed, my next Xbox story game will probably be A Plague Tale: Requiem. Something smaller and shorter, while I take a breather from open-world games. I also have Hellblade 2 that recently released, Brothers Remake, and Valiant Hearts – Coming Home. Some shorter artistic style games, to cleanse the palette. Maybe I’ll give Prince of Persia The Lost Crown and real try as well.

//

On to some drawings, which again, as I mentioned, April was very much a rest month. But I was able to draw a few things this month, including Rogue (on paper and digital), a cyber witch from the book Hexware, slowly plugging away at a Jinx drawing, and Scarlett, from G.I. Joe.

With Rogue, I originally drew it fully digital, and coloured. But I wasn’t happy with the face. Easy enough to fix in digital – but – I had recently purchased some Posca Paint Marker Pens. I figured because I hardly draw on paper anymore, I might be rusty. So I printed off the line art for Rogue, and light-boxed it onto a comic board in pencil, fixing the things I didn’t like a long the way, and then inked it. Just as an experiment to warm up my hands and test how steady they are. I have the tools, just not really the time or proper space. I do want to test out the markers on a canvas though, so I’m thinking, throughout the summer, as I don’t really like sitting at my computer on hot summer nights, I might do more traditional art.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I’ve been reading and writing about the graphic novels that I consume every week. Comics and art – two huge passions, that I won’t shut up about and need to share. Well, one graphic novel a week is my set homework – to help overcome my ever-growing backlog. And so I thought, to help add some variety to my art, I might try to do more fan art, of the books I’m actively reading. First was a book by Tim Seely called Hexware (week 19), and the main character, Witch-Ware. Loose and quick. Kind of messy. But a fun warm up. I didn’t want this side job to my writing to take up to much time.

Link below to the Substack column on Hexware – also where you can check out all 20 books I’ve read to date: https://andrewrogan.substack.com/p/week-book-19-hexware?r=2glri

Jinx has been a work in progress as I noodle for about 30 mins – 1 hour in the ink, and then step away.

And finally, just finished tonight, Scarlett, from G.I Joe.

Skybound recently started publishing the G.I Joe comic and I’ve been reading it for the first time. It’s now part of the Energon Universe with Transformers, and they’ve been publishing a lot of spin-off books as well, focusing on Duke, and Cobra Commander, and Scarlett.

In its current interpretation, G.I Joe has been around for 40+ years, and I’m now getting to learn about these characters for the first time.

//

I think that wraps up April and most of May. I think I’ll do more G.I Joe characters before the month is out – Baroness for sure.

Alright, that’s all for now.
Rogan
G404,683

Silence is Golden

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Welcome back, we missed you. A little bit of an absence here and there but at least I’ve been productive. Just not here…

My last update, from what I can recall was in November, post Drawtober. Since then I’ve played a lot of games. I’ve drawn a lot of pictures. I’ve been writing…elsewhere – and I feel guilty about that. But enough of the delays. Let’s talk about the last (gulp) 5 months.

We’ll start with the games first:

Starfield.
We first things first. I beat Starfield. Clocking in at just over 90 hours, finishing in December (started in September). 740/1000 gamerscore. I didn’t do all the completionist type stuff like visiting all the planets or Star Systems. I didn’t reach the max level or anything like that.

Spoiler warning: I didn’t even play any further than stepping through the stargate and becoming a Starborne. There is apparently an expansion coming, and I’ll step back in then, but for now I can comfortably say I’m done.

I played and beat Crysis 1 Remastered, in one sitting. 10 hours, 820/1000 GS. I still have two and three of the trilogy to play as well.

Illestrader and I beat Redfall, finally. 18 hours. 617/1000GS. I’m really annoyed that this game had some uneven GS achievements, and I’ll either need to play with other people, or go through the story again to complete those, but I’m honestly not interested. The game was decent overall as a co-op shooter. I’m glad I played through it as it had some good ideas.

Illestrader and I also went through Outriders and the Worldslayer expansion. I had previously gone through this game, initially in co-op but then finished it alone. With the replay I was able to 100% the main game and play the expansion. Finished 1260/1305 after 56 hours. The last two achievements will require more hours of grinding and I’m not interested in that.

I started playing Baldur’s Gate 3 with the wife. We played about 8-10 hours which is not a lot. She complained that I was holding her back – not making decisions in combat fast enough, so we’re not playing that anymore. I might still go through it some time. But I have a lot of other games so chances are low.

Finished Star Wars Jedi Survivor, 48 hours, 885/1000 GS. The remaining 3 achievements are collectible types and completionist stuff. Great game overall. Very good looking and fun combat.

Currently working my way through Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and nearing the end. 92 hours, 70% done the main story and already wrapped up one expansion. I want to wrap this game up before I tackle Horizon Forbidden West, which released for the PC a few weeks ago.

Alongside AC Valhalla, I am also playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PC. I recently purchased this as it was on sale. It is my first FF game I’ve ever played, and for the most part it’s been a lot of fun. Even resulted in a Tifa drawing or 3, for obvious reasons ;).

I jumped into Helldivers II for a bit when it released. And I play a random game here and there and continue to follow the news about it. Fun satire game with good mechanics. Even spawned a Stranger Than Friendship comic idea that I might work on.

Now that Redfall and Outriders are out of the way, the next co-op game Illestrader and I have moved to is the Saints Row reboot. So far it is nothing great. Ugly city, feels like there hasn’t been much modernization over the last versions. Which is a shame. But it could be fun in co-op so we’ll see.

Ok, on to drawings. Over the past few months I’ve put out quite a few, which I’ll share below.

Here’s the list:

  • Wonder woman
  • Huntress
  • Black Canary
  • Fallout Vault Girl
  • Psylocke
  • X-23
  • Captain Marvel
  • Jessica Rabbit
  • Poison Ivy
  • Harley Quinn
  • Inked Red Sonja
  • AndrAIa
  • Inked Hawkgirl
  • Rose Wilson
  • Birds of Prey
  • Widowmaker (incomplete)
  • Lara Croft (incomplete)
  • Red Sonja
  • Tifa
  • Red Sonja again…
  • Spider-Gwen
  • Nightcrawler

Lastly, in January, I started writing about comics more, in a different format. I looked at my shelf and it dawned on me that I had accumulated over 200 graphic novels that I had yet to read (did a full count and I have 650 graphic novels / hardcover collections in total, and currently counting my single issue books which is 1500+). So I gave myself a homework project to read 1 every week. 52 a year, to help work down those numbers, because it’s not like I’m going to stop buying new ones. So since the first week in January, posting a new “review” every week, over on Substack. It’s been a rewarding venture thus far, and I can show proof that I am indeed reducing the amount of unread books.

https://andrewrogan.substack.com

Alright, that’s all for now.
Rogan
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