Nausicaa Manga Review

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Studio Ghibli fans, or followers of the career of Hayao Miyazaki, will know that as well as being the famous animator and creator of films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, Hayao was also an illustrator and writer of manga. I recently read perhaps his most influential manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In this Nausicaa manga review, I hope to bring some of this great work to life in the hopes that you’ll make time to read it.

If you are like me, and had only enjoyed the animation of Miyazaki, then this multi-volume manga is the perfect place to start expanding your palate.

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Write-a-Thon Wrap-Up

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July 29th marked the end of the Clarion West Write-a-Thon. I participated, as you know, and sought to reach my goals while raising money for the CW workshops. I raised $10. Let’s recap what else I set out to do. This is my Write-a-Thon Wrap-Up.

  • Write a novel for real this time. Or, begin work (again) on longtime project Timeless Kid.
  • Keep up with weekly blogging right here at Ink’s My Thing.
  • Do extra reviews for my writing group, WYRM.

So, after six weeks, how did I do?

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Super Comic Draft Part 2

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Why don’t we pick up right where we left off, amidst a game of timing and comicbook know-how, of skill and strategy, round six of our Super Comic Draft! Catch up on the first five rounds if you need to. Read on to learn which characters your Ink contributors value most, and ultimately, who will have the finer team.

Here we go.

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Super Comic Draft, Part 1

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It’s the return of Dan to Ink’s My Thing, and what else would we be doing than diving into comics? It’s summer; Fantasy Football drafts are right around the corner, and Pokemon Go has just about taken over the world, but we decided to have some fun of our own.

We hope you’ll enjoy the first five rounds of our Super Comic Draft, a game that is one part sports management, and one part comicbook storytelling. It started as something fun between friends, but the results were so entertaining, we thought we’d post them for all to see. Some choices may surprise you…

Here’s the deal:

An unknown crossover villain threatens both the DC and Marvel comic universes. It is up to Dan and myself to draft heroes, villains, and other characters from across comics, to see who stands the best chance of defeating the new threat, and saving the multiverse. We know nothing about his or her powers or potential weaknesses, so it will be up to our characters to work together, spoil these plans of domination, and solve a crossover crisis.

Think you can handle that?

Okay, here are our rules.

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Fantastic Four Foundation, Review

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Continuing my FF reading campaign, I’ve reached the conclusion of Volume Six – Fantastic Four Foundation, and with it the end of Jonathan Hickman’s run on the fabled series.

This graphic novel was more of a story collection than a collected storyline, with nothing tying the editions together. I enjoyed nearly all of them.

As a conclusion to a major writer’s tenure, it was curious, as it did not give us a great story or sense of finality like in Volume Five. Instead, it served to tie up loose ends.

 

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Long Tomorrow Review, Classic

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This Long Tomorrow review–or as I’ve come to think of it, Leigh Brackett Strikes Back--represents the first strikethrough on my immediate TBR list. The book is also something of a hidden gem among science fiction of the 1950′s, and I hope that my retelling and analysis might amplify that for anyone reading.

Into the future we go.

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IDK, Independence Day 2 Review

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I see it in the science fiction forums, and the Facebook groups, the ones that say, “Don’t listen to the critics! See this movie!” They really defy reality sometimes, huh? Because I’m here, your resident critic, and I’ll do nothing short of plead with you.

I won’t tell you not to see this movie, or any movie; I would never deny a person their curiosity, or the right to scratch their own itch. But in this Independence Day 2 review, I hope to get something very simple across. It’s like a lot of sequels. So my warning looks more like: don’t see this movie expecting something good. Don’t expect it to live up to your memories of the first film from 1996.

You will get the inkling of a decent concept, a few gags, and perhaps a bit of nostalgia. But the movie at large is replete with self-centered characters, silly parts, and plot holes. It reeks of a lazy storytelling hand, and a team that didn’t take the movie seriously to begin with.

Ready to celebrate your critical independence with me? It was 20 years in the making.

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Some Progress, Vacation Too

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Here I am, back from the beach, and with at least some progress on my Write-a-thon to report. I do not have any startling writing totals to share, but all told, I have been true to my stated goal, which was to begin. And, there is a lot of Write-a-thon left to go. As you may know, this has been week one.

  • Written: about 1,000 words of the novel Timeless Kid. One blog post.
  • Read: One graphic novel (Fantastic Four Foundation), three comics (Nightwing, Stray Sod, and old school Mister Miracle).
  • Zero sponsors.

With that being said, I’m off to continue my Write-a-thon sans the beach distractions. Until the next update, I hope you’ll enjoy some photos!

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My CW Write-a-thon Goals for 2016

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The other day I signed up for one of the most irresistible writing activities, summer’s CW Write-a-thon. For Ink readers who may know, this will be my third straight year participating in Clarion West’s Write-a-thon, and although my results and writing totals have been…less than stellar(?) I still think it’s important to keep going back to take another shot.

This Write-a-thon is open to the public. So, no affiliation with the Clarion West Workshops is required. If you’re interested, and have time (and even if you don’t) then I recommend signing up to see if you can further any of your personal writing goals. I will be there along with a community of newcomers and familiar faces in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

CW also aims to raise money for their organization through sponsorships of the individual writers who sign up. I’ve never raised much, personally, but it’s added incentive to keep me focused on writing, if only for the six weeks of June 19 – July 29. Unlike National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which I’ve known and loved since 2005, there will be no 50k marker hanging over your head. You always set your own goals.

Here’s a closer look at the ones I’ve set.

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Fantastic Four Forever, Review

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One thing I realized reading Fantastic Four Forever: it’s been too long since I’ve read Fantastic Four!

Jonathan Hickman’s story about the Kree invasion of Earth, the Celestials’ attack on the planet, Council of Reeds, humanity’s relationship with Galactus, and the evolution of the FF itself (and add to that many other things) has me recalling why this is the first (dysfunctional) family of Marvel. It also moves me to assert that we should think of Reed Richards as the Superman of Marvel (but we can get to that later).

World’s Greatest Comic Magazine? Not sure. But this was one of my favorite comics in a while.

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