Dungeon Quest - by Joe Daly

I’m a big RPG nerd (surprise!)  I’ve always loved RPGs in any form:  Tabletop D&D (nerd wife actually has a D&D tattoo, lol – ok, it’s supposed to be my initials PD, but it looks kinda like DD), console RPGs (Japanese, western, strategy), MMORPG (I’ve played most of them).  There’s something about the questing and leveling up I just dig.  So, when I saw there was an original graphic novel (OGN) coming out spoofing the adventure RPG I knew I had to read it.  It was so much greater than I hoped for.  That book:  Dungeon Quest: Book One, by South African cartoonist Joe Daly.

Story in brief – Millenium Boy – a freakish little character with a head hinting at Megalencephaly – decides he needs an adventure because homework sucks and he’s sick of watching Dr. Phil.  So he collects his starting level gear (bandana, pocket knife, hobo stick with food) and heads off into Glendale to start his adventure.  He collects a few other characters Steve (starting weapon: Baseball bat, class: developing rogue), Lash Penis (dumbells, warrior/tank), and Nerdgirl (Archer, practitioner of Kyudo-Japanese Archery).  Together they begin their quest, at first starting fighting just local bullies, but later on after levelling up their equipment more dangerous foe.

Anyway, its a great sendup of the RPG genre in general, complete with level up screens each time a fight ends or equipment is updated.  WARNING: This is definitely not for kids.  It contains harsh language and multiple references and views on penis.  (Including an explanation of why Lash Penis is named Lash Penis.)  All in all though, if you like the RPGs, or even know what they are all about, you’ll really enjoy this.  I highly recommend it, and will be looking forward to Book Two sometime soon.

Marked! - by Bob Bristow

So reads the teaser text on “Marked!”, a 1961 Dell First Edition by Bob Bristow.  I read this on my recent business trip while the plane was taxiing and landing and I couldn’t use my Kindle (which is something that drives me crazy, since the Kindle is about as inert as a digital watch when its receiver is turned off).  Published originally in 1961, I was expecting some misogyny, some political incorrectness and straightforward pulp goodness.  However, I got a bit more than I was expecting with this one … and it led to a really interesting reading experience.

The back cover text reads in part: ”He had been a lover for ten minutes and a rapist for thirty seconds. For the rest of his life he would carry the stigma. The oversexed, brazen girl turned out to be a frightened virgin and had branded him forever as a sex criminal …”  So I knew this was going to be a bit on the questionable side, but this is pulp from the 60′s, you expect a bit of controversial content to a modern sensibility.  But, as much as I go in with an open mind to these books, this one even made me cringe a little.  Spoilers follow, but I think that’s ok since I don’t think you’re going to be finding this at your local library.  Nevertheless, if you plan on searching it out, you may want to avoid this review.  

So personal disclosure.  I’ve never raped anyone, but I’ve worried about this before.  You always hear the horror stories of false accusations of rape (e.g., the Duke lacrosse team case), but generally I think these are few and far between (even if you are a professional athlete.)  But I was a Philosophy grad student with an interest in ethics, and completed a year of law school, including criminal law.  From the Philosophy end, I’ve received the extreme feminist perspective that women cannot voluntarily agree to heterosexual sex due to the power difference between men and female and therefore all sex is rape.  From the criminal law end, I understand that it doesn’t matter what the intent of the male was, if the partner was unwilling you’re guilty.  These are the difficult cases and ones I don’t feel too bad debating in my own head (hint: I disagree with the feminist rape argument, and agree conceptually with the criminal law definition).

However, the case in the book is not a difficult one, and that’s where the trouble comes in.  Cliff Russell is a good boy, trying to save enough money at this job to afford college.  His colleagues know he is a virgin and rib him about it.  When a sexy 19 year old neighbor moves next door to him, and begins to car pool with him and his buddies to work, all of his trouble starts.  See, she seduces him.  It begins with her undressing in the window next door (this happens, I had a neighbor that did this twice a day, but I don’t know whether it was intentional or not).  Soon she begins talking to him across the alley while he’s trying to fall asleep.  Eventually she convinces him that he must come over, ” Cliff boy, I’m sexed.  I saw you dressing this morning and I’m sexed.”  Awesome 60′s slang aside, he is finally convinced to carry a 7 foot board that she has left in the bushes up to his room and use it to crawl across the alley into her room.  The next few pages include the rape, in which she at first urges him on moving his hands on her body while pulling him towards her while saying “no” the whole time.  Still, maybe it’s a questionable situation.  But when the author writes “His need became too great; he ignored her pain.” It kinda goes over that edge.

Nevertheless, the rest of the book is about the consequences including his time in prison, but moreso how he is a marked man once he gets out.  He tries to go to college but has a hard time keeping a job once people find out he is a sex offender.  Every time a sexual assault occurs near campus he is pulled in (remember this is pre-DNA testing).  How he clears himself in these cases is really the thrust of the book.  But I felt myself kinda feeling bad for him, and that was a bit disturbing.

Worse was the reactions of others.  I don’t know if this was the attitude of the time or just the imagination of the author, but the reactions were just strange.  For example, the cop that questions him after the initial rape: “You know what could have made a difference?  If you’d been out in a car on a lonely road and had done the same thing, you probably wouldn’t be here today.  She’s have had a good cry and then realized that it was as much her fault as yours. [...] But the way it happened, she was in an apartment house and when she cried out, a dozen people opened her door.  You didn’t have time to calm her down.  She didn’t have time to stop being afraid.”  Or the bad girl in town that constantly comes on to him once she finds out he’d been convicted of rape.  It’s just a really odd reading experience.

In any case, the book was good enough that I finished reading it on the plane rides.  I just felt a little dirty after doing so.  One of my graduate study interests was how narrative can alter your reaction to events, and whether this means that narrative can be considered moral or immoral as a result.  The involuntary action of sympathizing for an unsympathetic rapist is a good argument for the morality of narrative.  Nevertheless, I’ll continue reading the pulps as long as the covers keep catching my attention.

For now, please enjoy this …

Please Do Not Disturb

Who ya gonna call?

Ok, so, I’ve been asked to give MY perspective on living with a geek. Haha, love it!

Last Saturday, I attended my first Free Comic Book Day. Usually, Pete spares me (out of concern for me, or humiliation on his part?) and goes on his own. This year, I was invited to come along. I was only going if I would get to see geeks in costumes AND get to take my picture with them! So worth it!

The morning was actually surprisingly fun! Ghostbusters car, Superman, the Penguin and more. Fav quote of the day, Penguin talking to Superman: “This is my new nose…”

Showing off his new nose!

The costumes and even non-costumed nerds made standing in line entertaining. A tiny Captain America, so cute!  But the line was also… sorry, but it’s true… kinda smelly. What’s up with that?

I was super excited to get my free baggie! Free stuff is always good. And free soda fountain drinks. Yum! But, what, no grape soda for the nerds?

I’m a few comics into my bag of goodies and so far I have a few that sparked my interest, most notably “Love and Capes.”

Definitely had a good time at Free Comic Book Day (even if it DID mean missing my weekly spin class!). And, well, I owed him… he DID go to a bodybuilding show with me recently….

Two books by Bryan Talbot

Four books by Rick Remender

New shipment at the door this afternoon.   I routinely check tfaw.com‘s Nick & Dent section for stuff I don’t have.  The idea is that these are in someway damaged so they’re 50% off.  Normally, though, I can’t even figure out why it’s discounted. This order is especially satisfying since I haven’t read any of this material before.

My latest order contained two books from a modern legend and three by one of the last decade’s biggest breakout writers.  On the left you’ll see Bryan Talbot’s The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Grandville. On the right are Volumes 2-4 of the SciFi romp Fear Agent by Rick Remender and artists Jerome Opena, Kieron Dwyer and Tony Moore and Night Mary by Remender and Dwyer.  I have heard rave reviews for each of these volumes so to find them for half price was a steal.  Even better and unexpected was that Night Mary and Fear Agent, Volume 2 were both signed by Rick Remender.   Time to read.

Weregeek

Coming soon.  By day she is a personal trainer and fitness enthusiast.  But when the night is right a transformation begins.  Until … with little warning (except for the fact she’s a chubby chaser) … she becomes the WereGeek!

That’s right, my much less geeky wife is going to begin posting her honest thoughts on what it is like to be married to and live by night as a geek.  This should be fun.  I often worry what her real thoughts are on my geeky habits.   This is her chance to express them.  I encourage her to be perfectly honest.  We’re thinking she can post a non-habitual comics reader review of comics, maybe once a week or so.  When I drag her to geeky events she can post her thoughts on them (look for her review of Free Comic Book Day 2010 coming soon.)  She can say what she REALLY thinks about the tons of comics, books, video games and toys we have around the house.  So if you’re a geek or married to a geek or just wonder about geeks in a National Geographic sort of way, watch for her posts coming soon.

Shadow of the Wind - by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This is probably my favorite novel of all time.  I mean this without a hint of hyperbole.  It’s been so long since I’ve contemplated a statement like this that I am nervous about expressing it, but I believe it is true. Don’t even read this review just go out and get this book.  Don’t wait for it at the library, go buy it.  You’ll want to read it again.

The plot of Shadow of the Wind is difficult to describe in a sentence or two.  It is the story of a young man (Daniel Sempere) who comes into possession of a rare book in a mysterious secret library called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.  After falling in love with the novel, he seeks to learn more about the author (Julian Carax).  From there the mystery begins as no one seems to know much of the author and Daniel discovers that someone has been seeking out and destroying all copies of Carax’s works.

The pull quote on the front of the paperback is by Stephen King and reads “One Gorgeous Read.”  That sums it up.  Not only is it beautifully written, but I do not recall ever having so many different intense emotional reactions to a single novel.  It is suspenseful at times, frightening at others.  It is hopeful, and utterly heartbreaking.   The story celebrates literature and examines the devastation that so often follows infatuation. It tells us so much about relationships – both good and bad – and what we can lose if we’re not careful.

It has been a long time since I have read something that caused me to lose sleep.   As I laid last night devouring over half of the books 480 pages I knew I had to go to sleep.  But each time I shut the light off, and tried to fall asleep, I couldn’t get it out of my head.  I felt like I was one of the characters, desperate to unravel the mystery of who Julian Carax was and who is trying to erase his memory from existence.

Again, although I am cautious to say this, Shadow of the Wind is my favorite novel of all time.  I do not ever remember being so tempted to immediately re-read a novel upon finishing the last page, but I am struggling with that now.  In all probability I will wait for fear of being disappointed that the experience will be diminished now that I know how it ends.  However, I know there is more to experience here.  I know I will see and feel things I missed the first time through.  And I am sure I will re-read this before too long.  For now, I just want to share this incredible work with anyone that will listen.

Record of Agarest War

So every once in awhile (actually pretty often), I am shamed by something that I buy.  Usually it’s because I spent to much money on a comic,  or couldn’t stop myself from ordering a terrible TV show on DVD (Cleopatra 2525 anyone?) However, once in awhile it’s because a game is released that is just so Japanese that I can’t stop myself from indulging in its perverted glory.

Which brings me to the newest addition to my XBox 360 RPG library: Record of Agarest War – The Really Naughty Limited Edition.  I don’t actually know too much about the game itself other than its a JRPG with a dating element to it.  What locked the buy for me though was the limited edition.  Not only does this treasure come with the game (and I buy almost every RPG released), but it also comes with an original soundtrack CD (meh), a “sensual 3D Vira-Lorr Mouse Pad” (what?) and a 26″ x 20″ Yearning Ellis Pillowcase (BUY-BUY-BUY!).  That’s right, if you check the picture above you can see that glorious sensual 3D mouse pad with “wrist pillows”, and the even more glorious pillowcase with the “yearning” Ellis.  Fantastic.  I may never play this game, but I sure do love this collection.

The Wise Man's Fear - by Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss today announced that his eagerly awaited follow-up to The Name of the Wind finally has a publication date.  According to his blog, The Wise Man’s Fear will be released in February 2011.  Originally expected to be complete in 2008, the author’s sophomore effort is sure to be a huge seller despite the delays.  If you haven’t read The Name of the Wind yet, now’s a good time to pick it up.  While I didn’t enjoy it as much as I have works by Martin, Erikson or Bakker, Name of the Wind was definitely entertaining and really showed a lot of promise for the future.  Here’s to hoping that Rothfuss is able to live up to the built up expectations and avoid a sophomore slump.