The Shadow

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”

I first encountered the Shadow, the pulp hero, in the pages of Comics Scene Magazine, I think. They had a new item about a movie in development, accompanied by a reproduction of one of the pulp covers. I couldn’t tell you which one. It doesn’t matter; it was the look of the Shadow that caught my imagination—that face with the intense eyes, the eyebrows and aquiline nose, both of which went on for miles, the rest of the face hidden by the broad-brimmed hat and the red scarf, the only color in an otherwise black costume—and I was hooked.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Fiction

As someone who enjoys both Star Wars and the Disney Parks, I’m pretty excited about Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. However, we are currently on a Disney Parks break; we haven’t been to one since last fall, and we probably won’t go to one until next spring. That doesn’t mean I haven’t visited Galaxy’s Edge, even if it’s only in my imagination. Disney and Lucasfilm have published a number of stories set in Black Spire Outpost, on the planet Batuu, which is the setting for Galaxy’s Edge, and I’ve been enjoying them all.

Before I go any further, just a warning that there are spoilers after the jump.. And also, I would remind readers that this isn’t a review of these stories, because this blog doesn’t do reviews.

Newbury & Hobbes

As I write about some of my favorite things here, over and over again I find myself feeling as if they were created just for me. I guess I feel lucky that I can find so many comics, books, movies, TV shows, and more to enjoy and talk about, rather than complaining about not being able to find any. (Seeing complaints like that was the impetus for creating this blog, after all.) A favorite book series of mine is Newbury and Hobbes, by George Mann, which feels as if he went into my head, picked out some of my favorite things, and put them altogether into one steampunk-y stew. I don’t talk a lot about books here, because they're not very visual. However, since Titan Comics has just published the collection of Mann’s (hopefully first) Newbury and Hobbes comic book miniseries, so now I can finally showcase it.

Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food

While my wife and I love visiting the Disney Parks, we haven’t been to Disneyland for about a year and a half. We’ll be correcting that shortly, and to prepare for the trip, I read a great book that my brother gave me for Christmas: Eat Like Walt: The Wonderful World of Disney Food by Marcy Carriker Smothers.

12 Blogs of Christmas Day Eight: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

Today’s blog features another Christmas novel: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum. Baum is probably best known for the Oz series, which I love. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus displays the same far-reaching imagination as those books. I suppose, in its own way, it’s as all over the place as Hoffman’s Nutcracker and Masefield’s Box of Delights, which shows what I’m looking for in a Christmas story. (I also love Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, though, which has a laser-like focus, so there you go. When you think I’m going to zig, I zag.)

12 Blogs of Christmas Day Four: The Nutcracker by ETA Hoffman

An annual Christmas favorite is the Nutcracker ballet. However, another favorite for me is reading the Nutcracker novel by E.T.A. Hoffman, written in 1816. 

The first part of the story will be very familiar to anyone who has seen the ballet, with Herr Drosselmeyer attending the Stahlbaum family Christmas party. He displays some works of clockwork genius, but the prize gift is a beautiful nutcracker. The nutcracker ends up in the hands of Marie (Clara in the ballet), is broken by her brother Fritz, and repaired by Drosselmeyer, using one of Marie's ribbons.

12 Blogs of Christmas Day Three: The Box of Delights by John Masefield

For the third day of Christmas, I want to talk about one of my favorite Christmas books: The Box of Delights by John Masefield. I was actually introduced to the story through the BBC TV adaptation, which aired on PBS, on the sadly-missed Wonderworks series, which aired in December of 1984. As a young Doctor Who fan, I was excited to see that the part of Cole Hawlings was played by former Doctor Who Patrick Troughton. The show was great, and I was pleased to rediscover it a number of years ago. I was even more pleased to discover it is available in its entirety on YouTube. Since the book isn’t heavily illustrated, I’ll share the episodes of the series here to break up the text a bit.

(Spoilers after the jump. Spoilers from a book written in 1935, so sorry if that’s upsetting.)