Top 10 Newsletters of 2021
It’s January here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time to sum up the last 12 months with Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2021 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?
In a year when my content petered-out a bit and I broke my weekly schedule, it feels strange to celebrate my own writing, but quantity does not equal quality, and I think I put out a lot of great work this year. If nothing else, every installment of this newsletter in 2021was something I wanted to see as a reader, and I think that’s the #1 most important quality of any writing.
But, not all newsletters are created equal, so here’s my ten favorite entries of 2021 (as of now — ask me next week and I might make totally different choices), listed in chronological order. I hope you find something here to appreciate, either a gem you missed the first time around, or an old favorite to revisit.
Seven Things I Learned From Being in Garage Bands, January 13 2021
Being knowledgable about pop culture doesn’t mean all that much; nerds are a dime a dozen these days. On the other hand, the lessons I learned from playing in garage bands in my early 20s feel like rarer knowledge, lessons that I learned through hard-earned experience. I wish I had known these lessons when I was young, even if I probably needed to learn them for myself. As much as I love writing about pop culture, this piece felt like a refreshing, needed contrast to my typical content, and it’s one that seems to have resonated with readers as well.
Withnail & I & Compulsory Heterosexuality, January 27 2021
I was so excited to write this piece that it was on the forefront of my mind for the month (!) between conception and publication, no matter what else I was working on, and I think that passion for the subject shines through in the finished piece. It’s my favorite kind of media criticism, one that examines an established property from a new, specific angle (in this situation, a queer one — the idea of compulsory heterosexuality) and comes away with some really interesting conclusions. Also, even a year later, the concept of the article — the idea that I spent most of the movie thinking the title characters were gay when they actually weren’t — just hits me so funny.
The Not-So-Hidden Heart of the Simpsons, February 3 2021
This piece gave me a chance to be a bit of a cultural archeologist, approaching a TV show that’s almost as old as I am and that’s loomed large over my entire life from my modern perspective, with results that were legitimately surprising to me. When so much of the discussion I see about The Simpsons these days is either lambasting the modern episodes (fair enough), debating which seasons count as “classic,” or regurgitating favorite quotes (and, again, fair enough), it felt refreshing to me to tackle a rarer and more under-appreciated aspect of the series. The fact that it also built to a bit of a personal catharsis when it came to my own childhood experiences with The Simpsons only made this piece stay with me even more.
When a Label Means So Much That It's Meaningless, February 17 2021
I wasn’t going to include this one at first; it just felt too self-indulgent, and, in my memory, too much like just a list of important emo bands. But rereading this piece, I realized that it’s so much more. It’s really my thesis statement on emo as a genre, as a movement, and everything that’s good and bad about it. It’s all the reasons why it’s sometimes so frustrating to try to explain my love for this music, but it’s ultimately also all the many, many reasons I love these bands with all my heart and probably always will. It’s not self-indulgent; it’s celebrating one of the key elements that’s come to make me, me.
The Ritual of Television, March 3 2021
This is some of my absolute best writing, bar none. In some alternate universe out there this ended up just being a WandaVision review, but that would have to be a universe where WandaVision was just another Marvel show. Instead, WandaVision became a show about the relationship between television shows and their audience, and it allowed me to dive into the ideas of television and sitcoms as institutions, as rituals, as family we return to over and over again in times of distress (such as this goddamn never-ending global pandemic!), all of which are fascinating to me. The personal aspects of this article were really, really bittersweet to write.
Daria the Role Model; Daria the Bully; Daria the Flawed, Sad Teen, March 17 2021
I just love talking about Daria, and this article was a great chance for me to talk about what I consider to be the true strength of the series; not Daria’s snark, but her flaws and the ways the show revealed that her snark was a defense mechanism, tore those defenses down episode by episode, and built her into a stronger character for having confronted her weaknesses. The actual star of this piece, though, is the conclusion, the idea that no matter how complex a character Daria actually was, that the series and fans alike will always have to reckon with the distorted version of Daria that’s been etched into culture’s memory and the way that this take on the character has hurt people. It’s an important part of being a fan of anything, really, and I’m glad I got to talk about it.
What the Extreme Violence of Invincible Has To Say, April 28 2021
I’ve talked a lot in this newsletter about my frustrations with gratuitous violence and how juvenile it often feels, so it was incredibly refreshing to watch Invincible and finally, finally find a story that understands the value of gratuitous violence as a storytelling tool, that has something interesting to say about it! This thesis gave me a compelling hook for an article, and it was an absolute joy to dig into and unravel. I wish all my writing could be this insightful.
Fear of Change, and the Reluctant Collector, June 2 2021
Doing a newsletter about accepting the fact that I’m actually *sigh* a collector has been in the back of my mind the entire time I’ve been writing Do You Know What I Love The Most?, but I’m so happy that this is the form it finally ended up taking. It’s not just about accepting my own personal brand of collecting, it’s about learning the worth of physical media outside of the stories they tell, about the way an actual tangible record or book can increase the long-term impact a piece of media has on me; this piece also ended up being my way of reckoning with the fact that the accessibility of streaming and digital media has also blunted the ability a story has to really stick with me. These were all really cathartic and interesting ideas for me to explore, and they seem to have resonated with readers more than usual as well.
After 20 Years of Subtext, Finally a Queer Robin, August 11 2021
Discovering that Tim Drake, a.k.a. Robin, had been revealed as queer in the comics lit a fire in me in a way few topics have. This particular article was very much a passion project of mine and was a joy to work on from beginning to end, especially the time I was able to spend digging through screenshots of old comics to unearth all that gay Tim Drake subtext that had piled up throughout the 2000s; it was nostalgic to revisit foundational comic storylines for me, and also gratifying to see how those clues I had noticed decades ago had finally bloomed. I’m proud of myself for putting this piece out fast enough for it to actually be a part of the hype surrounding the announcement, and also for exploring an aspect of the story (the history of queer subtext surrounding Tim Drake) that was missing from most other coverage.
How We Narrowly Avoided "Peanuts" Becoming "The Room", October 13 2021
This is a pretty silly idea to base an article around, but I think I actually did a really good job supporting that thesis and explaining the thought process behind my silly idea. More importantly though, this article was just an absolute blast to work on, and I had big silly grin on my face the entire time I was writing it. I think that sense of fun translates to the finished piece, and I’m really proud of some of the turns of phrases I use in it (such as saying the actress playing Lisa deserves a Purple Heart for the role). I wish every piece I write could be as effortlessly good as this one.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Exit, Pursued by a Hot Topic Clerk, August 26 2021
I think I’m a good writer and a good critic, but I don’t know if I’m actually all that good of a storyteller. Whenever I tell a story, either verbally or in written form, I find myself getting too caught up in unimportant details and not doing enough to sell the actual point or punchline. This particular piece — telling the story of the first CD I ever bought in a store — contains a really good story, but re-reading it, I get frustrated in myself, thinking it was a story I could have told better. It’s something to work on. That said, my readers seemed to enjoy this piece, and it was one that was not only a bit cathartic to put together, but that continually surprised me as I wrote it, revealing itself to actually be about something far different (my strained relationship with my parents) than I originally thought. That’s worth honoring.
Not Your Typical Token Weak Teammate: The Strange Case of Kazuma Kuwabara, February 24 2021
I really like this piece. I think it’s a smart bit of writing about a really interesting character and how his existence both upholds and subverts typical shonen anime tropes. The problem with this one has less to do with the piece itself and more with the reach of my newsletter. I think there’s very few of my readers who have experience with shonen and even less with Yuyu Hakusho in particular, and while I assume many of you are willing to go on weird journeys with me in this newsletter, I feel like this piece would have been better served on an anime website of some sort where I could have trimmed some of the set-up to focus more on the meat of the concept, and where more readers with a love for the franchise could appreciate it. I love having a newsletter to write about whatever I want, whenever I want; freelance is such a hassle, but perhaps it would be an avenue worth exploring for certain pieces on the future.
Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2021” series:
2021: A Playlist
Top 10 Newsletters of 2021
Top Television of 2021
Top Comics of 2021
My Books of 2021
My Movies of 2021
Top Albums of 2021
And for more, check out last year’s “Best of 2020” series!:
Top 10 Newsletters of 2020
Top Television, Podcasts, and Movies of 2020
Top Books and Comics of 2020
Let’s Talk About Substack
2020: A Playlist
Top Albums of 2020
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!