Wagner's Writings

  It’s hard to keep going sometimes. The first half of 2025 was a repetitive kick in the nuts. In the past three months I’ve lost my job, lost my mom, and some other unfortunate things happen beyond my control. It’s genuinely a miracle I did not kill myself with everything that’s happened from March to now and will have to deal with later. I’ve thought about it many, many times, but I chug along all the same. Call it going with obligation. Call it a naturalistic need to keep moving forward, but I’m very tired, y’all. It’s hard to keep going sometimes, but I still keep on keeping on.  Since my mom passed, my love for life has certainly dimmed. There’s not a lot of people I can talk to about it. Especially with me certainly going, “Nooo, I’m fine!” When asked if I’m okay.  And I feel I’ve reached this period of time after a loved one passes of “Okay, keep it in. It’s been long enough. You’re bumming people out.” So I don’t talk about it. What’s to talk about? She’s gone and...

  The heavy metal world took a devastating blow with the death of Ozzy Osbourne last week. He was the frontman of Black Sabbath and went on to have a insanely successful solo career. He sang nine albums for Sabbath and thirteen for his solo career. The Prince of Darkness is gone and the world feels that emptiness left by him. But before he went, he got to play a spectacular final show in honor of the long and impactful career he’s had, including a five-song set with all the original members of Black Sabbath in their native Birmingham, England; right where it all began. Poetic, really.  With the alarming amount of deaths coming out of this year, this one is a real gut punch. Ozzy’s the kind of guy with the Keith Richards syndrome, that because they survived so many drugs and decades of rock and roll excess, that they somehow achieved immortality. “If all that couldn’t kill him, then nothing will,” we’d all say. Alas, no one gets to live forever, but sometimes you get eched into...

  From the ashes of Zack Snyder’s DC Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) comes James Gunn’s DC Comics Universe (DCU). Jame Gunn’s first film in his vision of the DC Comics universe is Superman.  Growing up, I was a huge DC guy, more so than Marvel, actually. There was just something that particular universe I liked. Sure I was then a big fan of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, but I was also really into Batman, the Flash, Teen Titans, and the Justice League as a whole. However, before there was Spider-Man (2002), Batman (1989), Batman the Animated Series, and Justice League Unlimited there had to be a catalyst to my foray into the superhero genre. That was Richard Donnor’s Superman: The Movie.  The tagline was so real to a young Cody. I truly did believe a man could fly because of  Christopher Reeve’s portrayal as Clark Kent/Superman. Then Superman was there again when I was 18 with Henry Cavill’s take on Superman with Man of Steel. Superman’s an important character to...