Like many boys, Borderless comic book store owner Peter Newcomb was a reluctant reader as a preteen. Books really didn’t have any draw for him and he saw nothing exciting in pages full of plain text. At the same time, however, he loved looking at the picture in comic books, and he wanted to know the story that went along with them, so he began reading the printed dialogue. Over time, he became a good reader, which led to his becoming an avid reader—and he wants other reluctant readers to be able to do the same thing. This was the driving force behind the opening of his comic book store, and Pete encourages young people to come in and read comic books, even if they don’t buy them.
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Category Archives: Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | Encouraging Reluctant Readers with Comic Books
Filed under Comics, Editorial, Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | Why I’m Done with George R. R. Martin
There’s been quite a bit of controversy over George R. R. Martin lately. From what I gather, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire have gone past the normal concern over the wait for The Winds of Winter, the next book in the series, and are making personal comments about the man’s weight, his seeming lack of motivation, and his dedication to his fans. Apparently, some are even getting very angry about the possibility that Martin may never finish the next installment. I’m saying “apparently,” because, while I’ve seen considerable speculation about these things, I’ve never seen blatant anger toward the author, nor anyone actually abusing him. However, with the amount of “counter-backlash” that is circling the internet these days to defend Martin against these possible aggressors, surely some of this does exist. Continue reading
Filed under Editorial, Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | Starz’ Outlander, My Reaction
This weekend, the Starz channel aired the season one premier of the TV adaptation of the beloved novel Outlander. In the Venn diagram of book genres, Outlander nestles neatly in the overlap between romance novel, historical fiction, and fantasy. The majority of the book is set in Scotland in 1743, but there is definitely magic involved in the tale. I’ve been meaning to read Outlander for quite a while, and was shocked to actually find it in my reading pile of doom recently, meaning that I picked it up without realizing it at some point in my travels. Starz was just about to begin a TV series based on the book, so what better time to read it?
Having freshly read the book for the first time right before watching the first episode of the show has allowed me to make more accurate comparisons between the two. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly about Starz’s TV adaptation.
Filed under Editorial, Movie Reviews, Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | Victims of Cosplay
It’s been one full week since San Diego Comic-con, the mother of all comic book conventions, and in the middle of all the wonderful stories of sneak peeks, exclusive merchandise, and chance encounters with geeky celebrities was a very sad story about a young cosplayer who was found with severe injuries immediately after the con. While it turned out that her injuries were actually the result of a fall, and not the assault that was considered a possibility when the news first broke, the one thing that stood out for me in all of the uproar was a phrase by a comic-con message board user, “I saw her early in the day and she looked really happy and upbeat, but I then saw her around 3 or 4 pm around the convention center and she was covering herself up and looked stressed.” Continue reading
Filed under Editorial, Geek Life, Tracy Gronewold
Therefore I Geek 