Geekin' Podcast and Blog

Loki is the epitome of duality. He's creator AND destroyer. He's a father AND a mother. He's male AND female. He's good AND evil. To the core. While Loki is definitely modeled after humanity, he can never be held to human rules and logistics. He's a god. He's an idea. An archtype. While he has human characteristic, he also has ALL human characteristics. He's much more than any one person could ever actually be. He fathered and gave birth. He had children he loved and cared about. He also cheated on his wife. Stole. Lied. Played cruel and merciless tricks on people. He cut off all of Sif's hair; her prized possession, because he thought it would be funny. Sure, he took one for the team, and turned into a mare to lead away a workhorse of a giant, to keep that giant from winning a bargain Loki struck with him. So, again, cheating and lying, to get out of a mess HE created. And someone suggested he was raped by the horse. I see no evidence anywhere ...

Getting back into role-playing recently myself, I've decided to help my older children roll up 3.5 D&D characters. They're ages 9, 7, and 5. This may seem a little young on the bottom end there, but here's my reasoning on this. I've started role-playing again with a group every weekend. My 7 year old son has expressed an interest and been asking lots of questions. I was 8 when I started playing. My Mom worked at my Uncle's comic shop, and they hosted games at our house on the weekends for as long as I could remember. Finally, after months and months of BEGGING, they let me start gaming with them. I couldn't stay up past my bedtime, one of my "uncles" (read: friend of the family. I had more uncles from that comic shop than any one kid should ever have uncles.) would take over my character. Okay, that's half a lie. I'd usually get myself killed well before then. They didn't hold back on me, and while it might have been disappointing in th...

Those who read this blog know that I hate on this book a lot. That being said, I have lots of good things to say about this issue. While Loki CLEARLY agrees with my earlier assessment of him being misused as comic relief, this book sees a serious change in direction for the character and sets him up for Loki: Agent of Asgard. While dealing with a group of "monster unleashed for the pre-verbal fears of humanity", Loki's thumb starts to bleed. He calls Teddy, saying that he's getting a "mother incursion" and asks if he's done something stupid like go to New York.(Frown!) But it's not Teddy that answers, it's Leah. She has Teddy, which means Mother has direct access to our world and she intends to unleash the bad-versions from the dimensions the Young Avengers lead Mother to onto Earth. (What they don't explain, is why is Mother telling them this? I mean, obviously, to lure them to her, she says so on the last page. But. Why? Why not just UNLEAS...

As Weird West Week here on Geekin' has just passed us by, I've been looking forward to this book for a number of days now. And it was well worth the weight. First, I want to talk about the art. Emma Rios does an amazing job at bringing the old-west feel to this comic, while immersing you in a whole new world with vibrant characters and expressions. Rios is one of those artists that I'd love to see a wordless comic book by. I'd love to see her tell a story with just the art. Jordie Bellaire does the color on this, and while I don't give colorists the credit their due, I do want to stop and take notice of this one. The colors Bellaire chooses help set the tone, which is extremely important in an old-west setting. I'm really pleased with it. Kelly Sue DeConnick writes a creepy, but compelling story, leaving you with enough mystery to pull you in and make you want to come back for more. It's a hard balance in a first issue, to give you enough to feel interested ...

(The introduction to this review is long and windy. Feel free to skip down a few paragraphs.) I grew up in Science Fiction, but was raised in Fantasy. Allow me to elaborate. Sci-Fi didn't happen much at home, early on. Mom read X-Men and ElfQuest. But my Uncle owned a comic book shop, Mom worked it, and I spent every spare second and then some in that store. As soon as I was old enough, I started volunteering at the conventions the store put on. It was mostly Science Fiction. It was centered around Star Trek and would "branch out" into Star Wars, BattleStar Galactica, Andromeda, Buck Rodgers, etc etc... So I began watching the tv shows and movies at home because I'd met and known some of the actors. It was always fun to watch people I'd spent time with in real life on my tv. This naturally led me to the books of the same shows and genre. While I loved watched Sci-Fi on the tv and in the movies, I found the books infinitely BORING. The comics, the novels, all seem...

Hey, Geeks and Geekettes! It's Mid-Week-Mini-Christmas, also known as Comic Book Wednesday, and that means COMIC REVIEWS!!! This week we'll be focusing on my two favorites, Guardians of the Galaxy and Red Hood and The Outlaws, the latter of which comes back after a month away while DC did their Villains Month; we'll talk about that some. Now then! ON TO THE REVIEWS!! Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite comic out right now, for a number of reasons. Love or hate Bendis, he's on a mission; to give a comic that ties into Infinity, but also prepares new and old readers alike for the upcoming movie based on this title. Are the characters exactly like the movie? No, yet neither are they exactly like we've seen before. This title also introduces Angela, formerly of Image comics, and her return to the comic book page. I love her dynamic with the team and the possibilities she presents if she stays in the title, and as future story arc ads suggest, she does. This ...

Hey Geeks and Geekettes! Welcome to the last day of Weird West Week! (cue the sad "awwwww"s) Today we'll be covering video games, music, and awesome groups all Weird West themed! Let's git 'er duuuuuuuun! (Sorry, I got caught up in the moment. Larry The Cable guy, please don't sue me.) Borderlands Borderlands 2 Platform: PS3/XBox/PC I'm lumping these two together, but I highly suggest you play both; though they're entirely playable as separate games. If BraveStarr and Mad Max had a love child, that love child had a comic book based on him, and then the comic book came to life and started using steroids, it would be Borderlands. This is an amazing, over-the-top, crazy-fun FPS. NOT CHILD APPROPRIATE. Lots of blood. Lots of gore. Lots of vulgar humor and sexual innuendos. Both games are must-haves. The first one introduces you to the world of Pandora, where you play a Vault Hunter, looking for the mythic Vault supposedly full of treasure. Then Borderlands...

Serenity Serenity is the "sequel" to the tv show Firefly. Directed by show creator Joss Whedon (his first feature film, as he went on to direct The Avengers) the movie is set a few months into the future from where the show leaves off. Some crew members have moved off the ship to permanent locations, but other than that it's business as usual aboard Serenity; Firefly-class small cargo spaceship. Captain Malcolm Reynolds leads the crew on jobs both legal, and less so. The movie gives us a nice ending to the story; closure for those of us so attached to our TV show that ended far too soon. Even still, the movie stands alone and it a great addition to any sci-fi and weird west collection. Highly recommended, one of my all-time favorite movies. High Plans Invaders High Plains Invaders casts the former Spike of "Buffy" and "Angel" as Sam Danville, a guilt-ridden outlaw who arrives in a small Old West town to b...

Welcome back, Geeks and Geekettes! It's WEIRD WEST WEEK at the Geekin' blog! Today on Weird West Week we'll be focusing on Weird Western themed TV Shows, including a few cartoons. (Cartoons! Yesssss!) BraveStarr This tv show ranks up there with ThunderCats, SilverHawks, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Visionnaires, and other great classic 80s cartoons. Set in the distant future on a planet called New Texas... Well, I'll let the BraveStarr theme song speak for itself. With his partner, Thirty-Thirty - a "techno horse", last of the Equestroids and armed with his gun "Sara-Jane", BraveStarr kept New Texas safe from the outlaw Tex-Hex and his gang. As with most 80s cartoons, BraveStarr could get a little hokey at times, but they always ended with a message of morality, much like He-Man did. This cartoon had a huge impact on me as a small child, and I'm happy to share it with my children today. Galaxy Rangers Here's the ext...

It's Comic Book Wednesday, Geeks and Geekettes! Thanks for checking us out, be sure to leave and comment and let us know how awesome we are. Because we can't ever get enough of that! Now on the to review! Memory Collector's #1 Art and Story: Menton3 The artwork struck me first. Not just the latex covered women. But the striking looks and haunting gazes. That's what made me open the cover. From then, the art just sucks you in. Reminiscent of Neil Giaman's Sandman comics, this book would be very fitting and at home with some of Vertigo's other titles, which is why I find it a bit surprising to see this come from IDW. Darker than what I normally see come out of their camp, this book is captivating. Menton3 does the art and the story. This is the first I've seen from him. The story follows a small band of hunters. What are they hunting? Memory Collectors. Monsters that feed off the emotions of memories - real or fabricated. They've cut themselves off from th...

Superman/Wonder Woman #1 Writer: Charles Soule Artist: Tony S. Daniel I haven't ever been a big supporter of these two as a couple. I just didn't think they meshed well together; and I grew up with Lois Lane being the love of Clark Kent's life. It's like watching your Dad go on a date with a woman who's not your Mother, but is instead your favorite teacher or something. You love everyone involved, you're just not sure you love what the way they're doing things. As far as Diana goes, I actually loved her with Bruce in the Justice League cartoons. I thought it was a fun a dynamic, they were similar in their ways of thinking enough that I could see the draw, the attraction. Diana and Clark are too different. Diana is a warrior. Clark isn't. But that's just my opinion and has nothing to do with this comic! Which, by the way, is actually amazing! And it makes me think that maybe, just maybe, this relationship might not be as bad as I think it is. Clark is...

Welcome Geeks and Geekettes to Weird West Week! Because of my rabid love of comic books, I think we'll start there. Some of these series I've read, some I haven't. I'll do small reviews for the ones I have read/am reading, and at least synopsis on the rest. Jonah Hex Jonah's gone through few changes over the last decade. Civil War vet turned mercenary, Jonah Hex is rough, gruff, and crude. He's a tell-it-like-it-is, no frills, meats and potatoes kinda guy. He's also one of the best shootists in the West. In a genius move by DC, they brought Hex into the New 52 in a comic called All-Star Western. If you haven't picked it up, you need to. Hex has gone through the early history of Gotham City and worked with ancestors of the Wayne and Arkham family. Even did a stint with a time-traveling Booster Gold to much hilarity had by all but Jonah, of course. Currently thrown into present times and having caught the attention of Batman himself, Jonah has proved to b...