Marginal Notes

Cover from the 2nd printing of Issue 2 Batman, for all his scowling and batmobiles, is one of the more fluid characters in pop culture. In the 1960s, he was the definition of camp, complete with batcomputer and anti-shark spray. In the 90s he became darker, highlighted with the bizarre neon of Jim Carey's Riddler. And of course Christopher Nolan's Batman has set our expectations of what a superhero can be: grimdark and literary. It's a fluidity that you don't get with any other comic book character, and one of the reasons why he is great. It allows comics like Batman: White Knight  to exist. Where Batman exists in so different forms simultaneously, you can criticize him without danger of upsetting the fans. Batman:White Knight  is what would happen if Joker got his life together. After a particularly brutal fight with Batman, Joker manages to shed his villainous persona and become Jack Napier - the man beneath the makeup. Freeing himself from the Joker allows Na...

   There are three writers who have had a profound influence on my life: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and George MacDonald. Their books have been a friend through difficult times, a refuge in times of great sadness, and reshaped how I see the world around me. Most people know of Tolkien and Lewis, but I've met very few people who have read of George MacDonald. Much of that may have to do with his omnipresent controversial religious beliefs. However, MacDonald represents a moment in which Fantasy was truly bizarre. This is fantasy that takes place in different dimensions. People devolve back into animals if they don't behave themselves. Butterflies die and become books. The first book by George MacDonald I ever read was The Princess and Curdie .  Curdie is actually a sequel to the very enjoyable Princess and the Goblin , though I didn't find that out till years later. Curdie, a miner turned hero, is given the power to feel the creature inside of a pe...

Image from Amazon.co.uk Fantasy is fairy tales for grown ups. It takes the same themes from fairy tales, the same magical elements, and weaves them together. The Bear and the Nightingale  isn't a fairy tale. Instead, it's a story about what it is like to live in a fairy tale. No one lives happily ever after. No one accepts the weirdness that is happening around them. Instead, they react to magic and spirits about the same way I'd react to a small man sitting in my oven - fear, panic, and a desperate search for holy water.  The Bear and the Nightingale  is the story of Vasya, a young noble woman in medieval Russia. Her family lives in the forest far from Moscow. Vasya's grandmother is a shadowy figure many consider to have been a witch. Vasya has inherited her grandmother's power, for she can see the spirits that inhabit the world around her. There are Domovoi (protective spirits that live in ovens), Banniks (guardians of the bath house), and the frost ...

Image from Amazon.co.uk Science fiction often puts the concept above everything else. A whole host of sins can be ignored if the concept is good. It doesn't matter if the writing is poor, the characters obnoxious, or if women are sidelined. That's not necessarily a fault - there should be a space for the growth of new ideas about the future, regardless of the idea's creators literary skills. It makes our collective imagination all the richer. However, when a book perfectly marries character devepment, world creation, and concepts it should be cherished and celebrated. The Binti novellas are an excellent example of what can be done within the science fiction genre. There are three Binti novellas: Binti , Binti: Home , and Binti: The Night Masquerade. However, the three novellas tell a single story so I am treating them as if they are a single book. Collectively, they tell the story of Binti, a Himba girl who leave her family and her planet to attend the intergalactic...

Image from amazon.co.uk Educated  was unexpected. I initially picked it up because I was intrigued by the story. Who doesn't want to read about a self educated Cambridge PhD grad who grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon family preparing for the end of the world? I expected it to be weird. I didn't expect to be able to identify with the story. Educated is the life of Tara Westover. She grew up in a fundamentalist family in the mountains of Idaho. Her father, suffering from what was most likely untreated bipolar disorder, was convinced the government was trying to indoctrinate people and control them through school and hospitals. Her mother was an unlicensed midwife who started a homeopathy business and used muscle testing to treat ailments. One of her brothers was abusive to Tara, her sister, and his various girlfriends. There is one harrowing story after another. Repeated serious head injuries that are not treated in hospital. Two serious car accidents. Amassing of weapon...

Image from amazon.co.uk I cannot remember the last time I hated a book as much as I hate the D&D Player's Handbook. I don't hate the game. It's fun, especially if you have an very good and imaginative DM who ignores most of the rules. Even the mechanics of the game aren't too awful, though again, if I played with a rules focused group I would probably tear up my character sheet in frustration and never play again. However, the Player's Handbook is just the worst. It's whole function is to serve as a reference text to support game play. Instead it is a stumbling block to the imagination. It obscures rules rather than explaining them. It refuses to have even the most basic system of cross referencing. It is just the absolute worst. First of all this book cost £40 and yet has massive issues with printing errors. Alex bought the Player's Handbook, along with the other 5th edition books, online. Of the three volumes that arrived, two of them had print...