Month: August 2016

Book Review – Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

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Summary from Goodreads

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World on their quest for the Dark Tower. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis. But beyond the tranquil farm town, the ground rises to the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is stealing the town’s soul. The wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to. Their guns, however, will not be enough….

WolvesOfTheCallaCover

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King, the fifth book in his series The Dark Tower, is one I’d been wanting to get to for some time. After reading book four, Wizard & Glass, and then The Wind Through the Keyhole (4.5), I had had my fill of flashbacks and side-stories. Though it was without the addition of the latter, I can only imagine what the wait must have been like for fans who’d been reading the series since 1982. I enjoyed those books very much, but even I was more than ready to continue following Roland and company on their quest.Read More »

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Mighty Thursday #3

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Joe Hill’s The Cape

By Jason Ciaramella (Writer); Zach Howard (Illustrator); Nelson Daniel (Colourist); 2012

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Summary from Goodreads

Every little boy dreams about putting on a cape and soaring up, up, and away… but “what if “one day that dream were to come true? Eric was like every other eight-year-old boy, until a tragic accident changed his life forever. The Cape explores the dark side of power, as the adult Eric – a confused and broken man – takes to the skies… and sets out to exact a terrible vengeance on everyone who ever disappointed him.Read More »

Movie Review – Batman: The Killing Joke

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IMDB Summary

As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.

KillingJokePoster

Batman: The Killing Joke is the highly anticipated animated adaptation of the famous 1988 one-shot graphic novel of the same name. Originally written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland, the story tells what many consider to be the definitive origin of The Joker, exploring the character’s psychology and drawing upon the similarities between him and Batman. This adaptation is written by Brian Azzarello and directed by Sam Liu.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #2

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The Incredible Hercules: Against the World

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (Writers); Khoi Pham, Reilly Brown, Eric Nguyen, & Bob Layton (Illustrators); 2008

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Summary from Goodreads

From Hulk to Herc and still Incredible! WORLD WAR HULK is over, the man-monster Hulk defeated and imprisoned following an earth-shaking battle that left both allies and enemies struggling to pick up the pieces. Having sided with the Hulk, legendary demigod Hercules and boy genius Amadeus Cho are now outlaws, a situation further inflamed by Cho’s grudge against the super-spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and Herc’s feud with his estranged half-brother — Ares, god of war, who isn’t above abusing his new federal clout for the sake of sibling rivalry. It’s Marvel’s mightiest manhunt, guest-starring Wonder Man and the Black Widow – plus an untold tale pitting Hercules against the Incredible Hulk!Read More »

Book Review – The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

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Summary from Goodreads

Based on the award-winning blog 1000awesomethings.com, The Book of Awesome is a high five for humanity and a big celebration of life’s little moments and the underappreciated, simple things that make us happy, from popping bubble wrap to hitting a bunch of green lights in a row, to waking up thinking it’s Monday and realizing it’s Saturday. With wise, witty observations from writer Neil Pasricha, this treasure trove is filled with smile-inducing musings that make readers feel like kids looking at the world for the first time: AWESOME!

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I’m hesitant to admit this, but The Book of Awesome is a book I thought of as little more than fluff. I cynically regarded it as a fun little novelty that was an easy sell to the casual reading masses, but it exposed to me the jaded husk of a man I can sometimes be. While I expected a read that would present forced enthusiasm over little things for a cheap laugh, I instead got something humorously sincere and genuinely relatable.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #1

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The Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day

By Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr., 2009

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Summary from Goodreads

It’s the climax to a year’s worth of Spider-Man stories as questions are answered and Spidey’s new world is rocked to its core. Who’s the person terrorizing people as Menace? Who’s behind the Spider-Tracer Killings? Who’s going to be the Mayor of New York City? Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. have all the answers.Read More »

Movie Review – Suicide Squad

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IMDB summary:

A secret government agency recruits a group of imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency, which inevitably leads to chaos.

SuicideSquadPoster

Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer, is the latest installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) of films, following Batman v. Superman which released earlier this year. There is a very apparent divide in the reception of this film, with a lot of critics receiving it poorly while fans seem to love it and believe critics are being unfair. For my part, I liked it, but it had a lot of problems.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #0

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I’m a great lover of comic books, but unfortunately I have a tendency to read them infrequently. There are also a great many titles I’ve accumulated in my library that I’ve had for a long time yet never gotten around to reading. Some of these are random volumes that I can’t even recall buying, while others I specifically wanted to read, yet let that desire fall to the wayside after purchase.

Mighty Thursday is my effort to remedy this, where every week I will choose a comic book volume — either off my shelf or newly purchased — and review it. Most of the time this will be one I’ve never read before, but sometimes I will reread a title for the fun of it.

The only requirement I have for these new weekly posts is the medium itself, so while a lot may be focused on the numerous superhero trades I’ve accumulated over the years, I will not be excluding books that fall outside of the genre. Comics are a wonderful art form and I want to explore them more regularly.

Regular posts will begin next Thursday.

Short Story Review – Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was by Paul McAuley

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Summary

“Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was” by Paul McAuley is a complex sf story about politics and xenophobia when human colonists on an Earth-like planet are faced with the possibility of reaching out to alien cultures, especially when a big organization that has previously done harm is in charge of the operation.

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While a little long-winded, I have to admit it was the title of this story that grabbed me more than anything else. While I was aware it was a science fiction story, I love the more terrifying implications of a title like this. I love obscurity I can wrack my brain over, even if I won’t get clear answers. This is easier said than done, however, and unfortunately this story did not quite hit the mark.Read More »