February 2012
20 posts
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“…if you still couldn’t shake the fear and your grip, it wasn’t...”
– Dick Grayson (Batman: The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder)
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Book Review: Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
By Rafael A. Hernandez Music. Romance. Tribulations of life itself. These are just a fraction of the contents sewn within the narratives of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes. Comprised of five short stories, Ishiguro’s work discusses the complications and beauties of music and musicianship. Of course not every story involves musicians per se. Music lovers are just as important to this book as those who...
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Comic Review: Avenging Spiderman #4
By Rafael A. Hernandez
“I can’t miss.” The words of a man who’s resolution of perfection pushes him to a level of skill unknown by many, all except the Avengers of course. The most recent issue of Avenging Spiderman pairs Spidey with the master marksman, Hawkeye. Though Spidey is our titular character, the focus of this issue is his Avenging compatriot. Sure, Spiderman drops in his clever...
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Comic Review: Scarlet Spider #1 & #2
By Rafael A. Hernandez
#1
You know that trope where a former villain gets into a moral conflict that ushers them to mend the error of their ways? Not uncommon, right? Sometimes it bodes well for them, sometimes they slip back into evilness. The appeal: always wondering where their actions take them next. In Marvel’s new series Scarlet Spider, the character Kaine, former minion of the Jackal,...
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I Don't Know How To Read: The Barbarian Nurseries
It is a long road of bumps, tight turns and marked up pages for one who reads and writes. When you are a reader, the world is yours and you may pick from it what you will, like passerby taking a plump apple from a tree. But when you’re a writer, you must plant the tree. You must water it and take care of it. When the time comes, you must harvest the fruit of your labor. Not all that bad, I...
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Prose Exposition: A Coin
By Rafael A. Hernandez
Consider what you see when you look at the sides. Both are metal. Both are printed. But the images differ greatly and if you did not know of the other side, you may think this a completely different coin. That is the problem. We dropped our token in public and now that it has been picked up, all they want to show us is one side. There is only one side perhaps. But I know...
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Movie Review: Chronicle
By Rafael A. Hernandez
If you recall my earlier review of the epicly awesome (awesomely epic?) anime feature film Akira, then you will definitely be in familiar territory while viewing the film Chronicle. This recent take on the handy-cam genre puts the audience in the perspective of Andrew, one of three high school boys who by means of excavation and mischief, find a translucent rock that...
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Comic Review: Ultimate Comics Spiderman #6
By Rafael A. Hernandez
Well we now have our new Spiderman in his black suit. Satisfaction? Yes. Is Miles worthy of the new threads? Darn tootin. In his first official outing as Spiderman, Miles Morales has proven to be an initially clumsy but definitely correct helmer of the webs and wall crawling. His character has developed a much needed step into maturity as he not only tackles the growing...
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Book Review: Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin
By Rafael A. Hernandez
Would it be such a crime to have writers stay consistent in ALL of their publications? I still claim The Mistress of the Art of Death series as my favorite mystery series as it combines the relevance of historical events with mind teasing and nerve tensing mystery, all encompassed by a relatable female protagonist. The most current chapter in the series, Grave Goods, has...
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Who Watches The Watchmen?
So the recent news of the Watchmen prequel has been circulating and I could not be happier. The original Watchmen was a masterpiece in both comics and literature as it harnessed real world issues, characters with immense depth and an ending that provokes anyone’s philosophical sensibilities. Now DC comics is preparing to tell the story before the story. Though the original creators will...