(photograph from Buzzfeed)
In which, Andrew and Tracy get to meet the “comic book industry’s greatest sidekick,” Pat Loika, of the Loikamania podcast! Pat has some great insight into what it means to be a fan of classic and modern comics, and tells us a little bit about his own experiences with industry giants such as Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathon Hickman. Mostly, we just sit back and listen to his cool stories and ask occasional questions.
Gene’O is a prolific blogger over on Sourcerer and Part Time Monster, as well as interacting with many geek and culture blogs. He has been a real inspiration in the blogosphere, but he also has some deep insight into the world that Tolkien created so many decades ago. In this post he discusses the semi-sentient nature of the One Ring, and its effect on Isildur at Gladden Fields.
Originally published at Part Time Monster on March 7, 2014, as “The Death of Isildur.” This is the final installment on Isildur. We’re taking a break from these for the April A to Z Challenge, but they will start back up with Gollum in May.
I considered moving on to Gollum this week, but the Disaster of the Gladden Fields is too important to exclude from this series. It is in this episode that we first catch a glimpse of the One Ring as an independent character, and it connects the War of the Ring to the the First and Second Ages of Middle Earth.
Isildur’s position as the central figure here, and the fact that this is an event of his making, make him the most significant figure of the Second Age. They also make him a tragic hero (1).
As with most of the other events we’ve looked…
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Filed under General
Until recently, DC has been the undisputed champion of superhero shows. Sure, Marvel has done pretty well with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but even that is only a qualified success. Now with the Netflix/Marvel series Daredevil, DC’s supremacy in the realm of television is no longer a sure thing.
This series is by no means the same Daredevil as the 2003 Ben Affleck film. When Marvel originally pitched the series, they made it clear that Daredevil would not be just another version of The Avengers. Matt Murdock would instead be a street level hero, fighting to protect the neighborhood that he grew up in and loves. Marvel absolutely lives up to its promises. This new show is a dark and gritty look at Hell’s Kitchen, one of New York’s most infamous neighborhoods, its protector, and those that would wish it harm. While there is a temptation to overdo the grit and gravel, Marvel thankfully stays away from that path. There is just enough of the Frank Miller darkness that events and places seem real, without crossing over into stylized parody. Matt Murdock isn’t a superhero; in fact, he is very nearly a vigilante. At times his motives become cloudy, even to himself. The series does a wonderful job of exploring how far a man is willing to go to uphold his ideals. Continue reading
Filed under Andrew Hales, Television, Television Reviews
While there are many out there who love comics just for the story and have no desire to hoard boxes upon boxes of bagged and boarded floppies, I am not one of them. I have a thing for collecting. (It used to be cards, now it’s comics.) Even so, I made the decision to go all digital about six months ago. The simple fact is that I was slowly being buried alive by my collection. As it stands, I have somewhere between five and six thousand comics, and that is, regrettably, too many. So the question becomes, what to do with all of those books? Continue reading
Filed under Andrew Hales, Geek Life
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Therefore I Geek 