Spock's Pickled Brain

Despite the blog's Star Trek reference, I as the Loonatic clearly have an obsession with Star Wars. So while we're exploring all these other genres of geekdom, I've been simultaneously chipping away at Star Wars projects and posts. And of course with recent news and today's special triple-word-score-level pun it would be a crime to pass up this opportunity to gush some more about Star Wars. So, if you would, prepare yourself for a brief intermission in our superhero series and brace yourself for the jump to hyperspace.  1. Star Wars Celebration In April the biggest Star Wars only convention landed in Chicago. This is especially welcome as they didn't have one in 2018 and we're within a year's time of another major Star Wars film. I sadly had to observe this festival of fandom from afar, but it brought a lot of news and great cosplay photos. Lots of panels with the actors, teaser trailers, merchandise, and random shenanigans. Though I had not heard...

All right, let's say this right off the bat. I liked the Wonder Woman movie. I really did. It was fun, it was pretty, it set up a great iteration of the character. But I liked it more for what it represented (a good, female-led superhero action movie) than what it was (a fun way to kill a couple hours). Did it make me cry? Yes, but I'm a sleep-deprived feminist. It had flaws, like everything does, and this is where I'm going to lay out what I personally liked, didn't like, and how I would have changed it. The Good 1) This is an origin movie where the main character undergoes a realistic shift in perception (from morally simplistic righteous warrior to adult coming to grips with the morally grey reality of the world, without giving up on the pursuit of "good"). This is exactly what a coming-of-age origin story should be, instead of just learning to punch people harder and saving the world from clockwork doom. And yes, DC did crap out at the...

When we think of comic books and graphic novels, the majority of us comic-illiterates are familiar with that world only through the superhero movies we've seen. Yet over time I've seen enough to know that it's an extremely varied medium, and is certainly not limited to the typical superpowered heroes and villains. Dig a little deeper and you find that comic books and graphic novels are at the root of a lot of other great movies. Here are just a few that you might have heard of or seen, but might not have know their pictorial origin stories. 1. The Losers (2010) As the leader of a crack special-ops team, Colonel Clay is ready for almost every contingency. But when the team is betrayed by a mysterious voice on the phone and are left for dead, they'll have to cross more than enemy lines to get back home. Seriously short of options and thirsty for vengeance, they're approached by a fiery and unpredictable woman with intel on a certain shadowy businessman. She promis...