Author Archives: SpoonyViking

WTH Moments: “Thor – God of Thunder” for the Nintendo DS

  12/13/2014       SpoonyViking      2 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Thor, Marvel’s comic book series. Oh, you might think it’s just because I’m a Vikingophile, but no, actually; what got me hooked was Walt Simonson’s amazing run writing (and also drawing, at first) for the character, from Thor #337 (1977) to #382 (1986). He basically reinvented the character, and he did it not by discarding everything that had been done before him, but simply by changing the focus of the series – Thor still acted as a traditional super-hero, but now his stories dealt a lot more with Asgard and fantasy-mythical elements based off real-life Norse mythology. The character had other great writers – Tom DeFalco’s run comes to mind -, but Simonson is my favourite to this day.

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   Miscellaneous, Video Games      , ,

Heroic Legends of the Modern Age: The Flash

  11/19/2014       SpoonyViking      17 Comments

Hello again, everyone!

So, at first I thought of doing the opposite of what Farla’s been doing: instead of presenting all the awful things that comic book writers and artists do, I’d present good comics. But then I realized that was a silly proposition – I could present good comics (or good things by bad comics), but that doesn’t negate the fact that the comics industry as a whole has some deeply ingrained issues regarding gender, race, a general fear and hatred of changes and, well, a whole lot of things.

However, while re-reading The Flash, volume 2, I was struck by lightning (appropriately enough) and decided to go on a different direction: a brief discussion on how the characterisation of super-heroes and the genre as a whole has changed over the years. To help keep things brief, I’ll focus solely on the Flash, specifically the aforementioned second volume, but much of what I’ll be addressing can be applied to other characters.
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   Comics, On Writing      , ,

Cimmerian, Yes, But No Barbarian

  10/29/2014       SpoonyViking      18 Comments

“Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars […] Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian; black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.”

Proof that even purple prose can be good, when done right.
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   Books, On Writing      , ,