Comics Wrap Up - Things Are Shaping Up To Be Pretty Odd

Film Trailers

Marvel made a Doctor Strange trailer that makes 2 different trailers! One when it's played forwards, and one when it's reversed.

It's called 'Strange's Time' (yes, the trailer has it's own title, but to be fair, whoever made it is probably pretty chuffed with themselves right now.)

Here it is played forwards:

Annnnd here it is in reverse:

And just because I like your robot, dear nerdlets, here's the new TV spot for Doctor Strange too:

TV Trailers

Dudes, the next series of DC's Legends of Tomorrow looks EPIC!!!!

As a reminder: this is the series which totally shouldn't work but does - a ragtag spinoff with minor characters from CW's DC pantheon, along with him-off-Dr-Who (otherwise known as Arthur Darvill, here playing Rip Hunter,) and a flying time machine.

We also have one of the only LGBTQ+ superheroes to ever make it on screen (and still be LGBTQ+ - Harley Quinn, Mystique, Loki, et al. had that part of their identity erased when transferred to screen) - the amazing and beautiful Sara Lance, aka the White (formerly the Black) Canary.

Yes, my dearest nerdlets, this looks pretty damned cool:

Graphic Novels

This week I read and reviewed Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead (UK - US.)

This is a fun and zombie-filled kids/all-ages graphic novel, which I enjoyed a helluva lot more than I thought I would!

You can check out my review of Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead here.

So that's it for my week in comics, dearest nerdlets: on to the next week!

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Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead

Title: Ghoul Scouts: Night of the Unliving Undead

Author: Steve Bryant

Contributors: Mark Stegbauer, Jason Millet

Genre: Kids, Horror, Zombies

Series: Ghoul Scouts #1-#4

Release Date: 18th Oct 2016 (US); 20th Oct 2016 (UK)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via Edelweiss. Edelweiss provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

In honesty, I thought this would just be OK, and nothing more. Turns out, it was really freaking awesome! :)

Premise:

Full Moon Hollow - Paranormal Capital of the World. But of course, those are just stories.

A scout jamboree. Fun, right?

Until the zombies show up, and the remains of two scout groups have to fight to find their way to safety...

What the hell is going on in Full Moon Hollow?

Best bits:

Have you ever thought what would happen when you smoosh a multi-racial Scooby-Doo style gang of kids (unfortunately, without the dog,) into Brian K Vaughn's Paper Girls, with the more family-friendly parts of the film Zombieland?

Nope, me neither. But clearly someone's been thinking about it - because here it is.

And it's really fun!

Bright, spoopy ('spooky' to the purists amongst you,) and with an adventure that really scoops you up and drags you along with it, this is a really involving book.

The artwork was effective - bright, but not too in-your-face.

And the main characters are pretty evenly split between white characters and people of colour (PoCs). Overall, the split may even be slightly in favour of PoCs - depending on who you count as main characters.

It's done well - not forced; it simply is (as it should be.)

Not so great bits:

While the kids were relatively well-drawn characters (in the metaphorical sense - though in the literal sense too, I suppose,) I think they still could do with some character development - though this may be expanded on in continuations of the series.

I also think that things maybe weren't tied up correctly...?

Like, how did the kids explain the zombie attack to the adults? And where the hell did the zombies come from in the first place?

Again, this is possibly just a symptom of first-volume restrictions - and it's entirely possible that this'll get sorted in later instalments.

OK, so I'm nit-picking a little... but someone has to ;)

Verdict:

This was so fun! A well-rounded kids' story (and big kids, like yours truly, of course,) with a diverse cast and zombies!

With room for growth, and perfect for Halloween, I really do recommend this one guys - I enjoyed the hell out of it! :)

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads

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Mini-Review! - Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Title: Finders Keepers

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Series: Bill Hodges #2

Amazon: UK - USA

Verdict:

After reading the first book in this series, Mr Mercedes, a little while back, I wanted to read the sequel.

So, yes, this book is a sequel.

It's actually very different in terms of tone to Mr Mercedes - the central crime-fighting team takes a bit of a back-seat to the plot here - but I actually would recommend reading Mr Mercedes first, rather than reading this as standalone.

(This advice is coming to you from someone who reads most series in a random order according to mood and what book was in the library.

So people who like things organised - and you know who you are - you will definitely want to read Mr Mercedes first.)

This though, is not a book that's that much about our main characters.

I know, that sounds crazy. But this is a book where the central characters of this series are very much in the background.

Instead, our focus is on a decades-old crime, (which, a la Mr Mercedes, we already know the perpetrator of,) and it's unforeseen affect on a teenager from the present day.

This is a tale of literary obsession which bookish folks will recognise as the potential frightening extremity of fandom. This is about the power of words, and people who will literally kill to possess them.

Because this is what happens when the teenage Peter Saubers finds the missing notebooks of a murdered literary genius. This is what happens when the person who hid them wants those notebooks back...

This isn't for the faint of heart - but then, it's Stephen King; even though it's not horror as such, you probably guessed that it was going to be dark.

I found the final showdown pretty disturbing, in honesty. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing ;) But yeah, I actually flinched; it was pretty damn vivid.

There's loads of violence, a shed-load of swearing, and slurs of various sorts from some pretty horrible people.

There's also a lot of reference to rape - there's a lot of rape-as-incidental-plot-point in this book. It's not gratuitous, but it's also very uncomfortable.

I'm glad that black character Jerome is phasing out his jive-talking alter-ego (who consciously came out whenever Jerome decided to act like a jack-a*s,) because that was one of the things that bugged me most about the previous book.

A white dude writing a black character who liked to mock negative stereotypes by inhabiting those stereotypes was a very fine line to tread, and I'm glad that aspect of Jerome's character seems to be falling by the wayside.

I still love our female crime-fighter Holly - the sidekick to main character, ex-cop Bill. She's fab.

She's strong, smart, and has OCD and anxiety problems. And she still kicks a*s.

Allow me to indulge myself in an awesome heroine with mental health problems, ok? ;)

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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Nerd Church - No Future

Poverty. Inequality. Racism.

This is what our Prime Minister is advocating, though she covers it over with a smokescreen of faux-reasonability.

By claiming that Britain will be a meritocracy, what she is actually saying is that those who grow up without the advantages of connections, financial stability, and the best education money can buy, will not be supported by their government.

She is saying that if we are unable to get on in life, it is our fault, and not the fault of a warped system that still cares more about who your father was and what your postcode is, than your actual potential.

via GIPHY

She is advocating an 'in it for yourself' attitude. She is suggesting there are no barriers in British society to those from poorer backgrounds, when this is blatantly untrue.

She may talk prettily about supporting hard-working people, but what she has actually done is throw us all under the bus.







And somehow she has the cheek to come out with policies which actively discriminate against non-British-citizens, including our doctors and medical staff.

Yep, our doctors. The people who actually do things like... oh, I don't know... SAVING LIVES.

via GIPHY

Mrs May, this is what you have done in your short time in office: you have screwed us over and then smiled smugly while telling us to be grateful.

I have only one word for you, Mrs May, the worst insult a Welsh woman could possibly give - and I'm sorry it's come to using such language:

Mrs May, you are THATCHER.

Nerd Church is a weekly post where I try to make this world better and end up very frustrated! I'll try to be less political next week - but no promises!








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#OneNiceThing - 13 Ways To Make The World A Better Place Without Spending A Penny

In honour of fantabulous YA author Juno Dawson's #OneNiceThing effort to defeat the bad stuff going around (and Theresa May,) with kindness, by doing at least one nice thing per day, I decided to write a short list of ways you can make the world a better place without spending any money whatsoever!

(Of course, there are also many things you can do by spending minimal amounts, but I wanted to concentrate on a handful of completely free stuff here.)

1. Say please and thank you. Say sorry when necessary.
2. Use social media for good, not evil - like, RT, share, etc. things which you support: authors, charities, bloggers, or just friends.
3. Help people out - offer to carry things, hold doors open, let pedestrians cross the road when you're out driving.
4. Hug your family, friends, and pets!
5. Play games on FreeRice to earn rice for the World Food Programme via advertiser's fees.
6. Say something nice - compliment your friend's clothes, leave a nice online comment, etc.
7. Find a petition on Change.org that means something to you, and sign it!
8. Support Amnesty International's campaigns by signing petitions and taking action to protect human rights.
9. Don't litter - put your rubbish in a bin, & recycle where possible.
10. Send your old and broken jewellery to be recycled for charity. Two great UK charities which do this (via FREEPOST addresses) are: The Alzheimer's Society, and Parkinson's UK. A lot of smaller, rather than larger, charities tend to do this, so try Googling to find great causes.
11. Send your old Inkjet cartridges to be recycled for charity. Loads of charities do this. And most are more than happy to provide FREEPOST labels or bags.
12. Donate things you no longer want to charity shops or fundraising sales - and yes, this includes books you'll never read again ;)
13. And, and this one is the Golden Rule - the one which, if you follow it, you can't go far wrong with: DON'T. ACT. LIKE. A. JERK! ;)

So what are you waiting for? Go do #OneNiceThing.

Friday Fics Fix - Spoopy Stucky

(Warning: this post contains a gif with flashing images)


This week, I decided to read some Halloween-themed fanfiction.

I mean - October. Halloween. It'll be fun... right? Right?!

Well... it wasn't as fun as I was expecting it to be. Some people see 'Halloween' and read 'sex with pumpkins.' #TrueStory

Dudes, I didn't want it to be that scary.

via GIPHY

So, after what inevitably turned into one of those weeks in my fanfiction reading, I MANAGED TO FIND A CLEAN AND NOT OVERLY DISTURBING HALLOWEEN STORY!

I fell back on my safety-net. Marvel and The Avengers.

And I found a fic which is fun, and just the right level of creepy.

And, most importantly, NO-ONE IS STICKING ANY PART OF THEMSELVES INTO A PUMPKIN.

And I find the idea that Captain America is scared of creepy dolls strangely reassuring. Perhaps this is because I, too, cannot stand creepy-a*s dolls.

via GIPHY

(For those of you too young to remember, this ^^^ is Molly Dolly. She's the reason I hate creepy dolls.

She was the star of several Sabrina the Teenage Witch Halloween episodes.

She is far creepier and more disturbing than any doll I've ever seen in a horror film. And she was in a 90s kids show. Simpler times...)

So then, dearest nerdlets, I give you:

Dolls (aka Steve hates dolls) by Ryvchan

Enjoyyyyy!!!! :)

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Comics Wrap-Up - She's an Extraordinary Girl

Single Issues

This week, I reviewed the very interesting first issue of Bread and Butter by Liz Mayorga.

You can check out my review of Bread and Butter #1 (UK - USA) here.

Other Stuff

This was the week that Wonder Woman was announced as being canonically (i.e. officially) queer.

(I already had a Wonder Woman action figure stock photo, ok?

I was totally gonna use it!)

Which is an awesome-sauce step forward for LGBTQ+ representation! :) Here's a fantastic piece on After Ellen which explains just why this matters.

DC down, Marvel left to go - #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend, even comic book creator Mark Millar is not-so-secretly shipping Stucky!

(Fangirling notes:

Shipping is wanting characters to have a romantic and/or sexual relationship.

Stucky is the name of the fan-favoured romantic relationship between Captain America and Bucky Barnes - the man for whom Cap went to war with over 100 countries.)

And that's about it for this week my nerdlets!

Short but sweet - I'll be back with more comics-y-ness next week!

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