Life can be funny sometimes. You could be perfectly content, making good money at a job you actually enjoy, with a loving wife and a beautiful home, and then suddenly life throws a monkey wrench into the machine.

It's been a bajillion years in the making, but the much-awaited stop-motion animated film from the makers of "Coraline" and "ParaNorman" is finally headed into theaters this September 26.

It's a good time to be a DC fan.

Rocketing out of CW's Arrow comes another DC Universe super hero. His name is Barry Allen. He is the fastest man alive.

I admit, I'm not completely up to speed on the Ben 10 phenomenon. I know that Ben's a kid with a special wristwatch (like Johnny Sokko) that allows him to turn into one of any variety of aliens so that he can go into battle against other aliens (like Ultraman). And, that's about it.

For those of us who live without BBC America on our tellies, the Blu-ray/DVD releases are an event. Yes, we're behind the curve of all the other Whovians, but we just pretend we're time-traveling to the day of the broadcast premiere. It adds to the overall gestalt of following The Doctor.

While the Crime Syndicate was busily taking over the Earth, the question was raised: Where was the Justice League?

The Hunger Games has to be one of my favorite books. Mockingjay -- the third and final installment of the trilogy? Not so much.

There's a giant flying monster that, wherever he goes, acts like a giant EMP burst. Cities are drained of power when he's near. Across the ocean, there's another giant monster on the ground who does the same thing.

Back in the mid-90s, I was picking up Joseph Michael Linsner's Dawn books. I didn't always get the content, but I certainly appreciated the artwork.

DC's Justice League books were, perhaps, the most enjoyable ancillary chapters of the Forever Evil event.

When I was a fledgling comics reader, one of my favorite genres was the horror anthology. I was too young to have enjoyed EC in its heyday, so my go-to titles were the DC books like House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Ghosts, Tales of the Unexpected and Ghosts.

Geoff Johns proves time and again that he not only knows how to play with all the toys in the DC sandbox, but that he can do it better and use them in ways previously untried.

It took a little bit, but I'm finally starting to really like The Flash in DC's New 52 Universe. He has a new status quo, a new life, and a new love in Patty Spivot -- even though there's every indication that at some point in the future Barry Allen is destined to be with Iris West.