review of Thor God of Thunder: The Accursed-volume 3

Malekith of the Dark Elves has been sprung from prison and has gone about the scattered tribes of his own people to massacre them.  A league is formed with Thor, a Dark Elf survivor, a Light Elf, a troll, a dwarf, and a giant.  They try to stop Malekith in the usual hacking manner which does not work.  Thor then bands them together through drink.  He employs some amazingly sneaky thinking that would have made Loki proud and this is how he then stops Malekith.  The tribes finally band together to take a king, Malekith.   The Dark Elf from their group then volunteers to take his place in the pits, so that their people can know peace amongst themselves.

Review of Thor: God of Thunder volume 2-Godbomb

Written by Jason Aaron, artwork by Esad Ribic

This graphic novel is a continuation of the story of the Godbutcher.  The back story of the villain is revealed.  His ideas of worlds without gods is finally understood and developed into something truly twisted.  The bomb built is one that will go throughout time and kill each and every god before and as they are born.  The problem is that the Godbutcher has become a god himself in the process which leads to his own destruction as he had three Thor’s (all from different times in the time stream) converge on him. 

Thor the Avenger is the one to destroy him by the dying gods seeing him fighting for their lives and praying to him; giving him the strength and energy to absorb the godbomb.  He then has to expel the bomb that he had absorbed and the Necrosworld that had been used to kill the gods was destroyed also.  

The Thor’s return to their time lines and forget of what transpired after they see that Asgard is full of gods.  The gods who do not remember what worlds they come from are sent to worlds without gods to make them their own.  The action is dynamic and the artwork brilliant, especially with the three Thor’s and his granddaughter’s.

Review of Life, the Universe and Everything (Ultimate Edition)

Adams had in down to an art on how to make something important into something trivial.  He would do it in an obvious way and then make fun of himself for doing.  He would even put it off on his heritage as on page 396, ‘Of all the races in the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to surrender the Universe and transform it into what I’m afraid is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game.’

He also knew how to draw on the mundane and monotonous aspects of life.  He used reverse bigotry in an immensely sarcastic tone that was undeniable as seen on page 416, ‘The past,’ they say, ‘is now truly like a foreign country.  They do things exactly the same there.’

Adams played on the idea of being aggressively absent or even passive aggressive through absence on page 417, ‘They obstinately persisted in their absence.’

To be annoyed means that a person cares and has a personal interest (hence, they care).  They have such a deep personal interest that they get to the point of being obsessive and delusional in the case of page 424, ‘It was an annoyance of epic proportions.’

He displayed over dramatization to a great degree while stating the obvious and employing the rhetoric.  The character here projects his own thoughts and beliefs about the situation to the other to induce guilt.  It only serves to confuse him further on page 428, ‘You know what you’ve done?’ he gargled painfully, ‘you’ve gone and killed me again.  I mean, what do you want from me, blood?’

He showed the power given to death by the humans who run from it.  The fear of death only leads to the fear of everything else since it is a part of the ‘cycle of life’ and is required.  This is seen on page 433, ‘He ran with the fear of death in him, under him, over him and grabbing hold of his hair.’

474-475, Marvin’s bored and depressed lullaby.

‘Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won’t engulf my head,

I can see by infrared, How I hate the night.

Now I lay me down to sleep, Try to count electric sheep,

Sweet dreams wishes you can keep, How I hate the night.’

Review of Thor: God of Thunder volume 1 Godbutcher

Written by Jason Aaron, artwork by Esad Ribic

This graphic novel is very well written due to its pull of the past portrayals of how Thor is shown and the delving into mythology.  The artwork is beautifully done.  Each panel is a painting.  The action is conveyed with force and the stillness is full of emotion.  There is a sense of a strong story developing into a legend itself within the Nordic pantheon.  

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets review

Rowling once again goes into the coming of age story mixed with good versus evil that we all know as Harry Potter.  The wisdom of Dumbledore is unparalleled and yet, there are profound flaws.  Those will be discussed later, in the last book to be precise.  As he says on page 333, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”  So basically, our actions outweigh our possibilities.  Just because a person is capable of becoming something does not mean that they will become such a thing.  Their environment must enforce their actions in order to become whatever is expected of them.  The fact that Harry could be the heir of Slytherin starts to break the relationships between him and the other students, the ones who do not know him as well.  The Weasley’s and Hermione stay by his side because they know him personally and that, at the time, he did not have such an ability.  All anyone else focused on was the mystery of what happened when he was a baby that turned Voldemort away.  They used to say that it was the goodness of him and then they started to whisper of the badness that must be within.  Voldemort met a greater evil in Harry as a baby and was extinguished from it.  This theory drives them away in fear not because of his actions, but because it is a possibility.

Dobby is an idea that was ingenious to include within a children’s book along with the idea of ‘Mudblood’ versus ‘Pure blood’.  The idea of tolerance and acceptance to be introduced so early on in the series is important for the development of the characters and the readers.  It becomes hypocritical with their prejudices against Snape, but that is something to go into in later books.  Dobby should represent blind obedience, but instead he represents the idea of bad being done for the ‘greater good’ of a situation.  This is something that Harry and his friends come to understand later in the series as what adults also know as ‘necessary evil’.

The author takes from mythology and lore in order to form creatures that symbolize important aspects within the books.  On page 207, Dumbledore explains something very symbolic about Fawkes. “Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn form the ashes.” The Phoenix is a representative of rebirth and rising above from death and destruction.  He is something great coming from love and compassion.  Loyalty and courage and wisdom.  He is called at the end in the Chamber when Harry shows loyalty and faith in Dumbledore.  He heals Harry with his tears suggesting that the mourning of others through tears is in fact a healing process.

Aragog speaks to Harry and Ron on 279, “My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command.  But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst.  Good-bye, friend of Hagrid.” He is a monster with a sense of humanity.  He feels bound to and loving towards Hagrid and yet, he is not bound by human laws and sensibilities.  He still puts the physical above all else, but he is an in between that is evolving from the cave, as it were.

The Diary is an object that would symbolize secrets and shame.  It is something that is made in order to hold secrets and inner thoughts.  It is supposed to bare the inner shame of our decisions.  A part of the mind and soul that is made literal within the book.  Riddle puts his own awareness and soul within it in order to be able to arise again with youth and new knowledge.  Shortcuts and impatience to be found from this approach.

The Basilisk is representative of blind obedience within the book.  He blindly (and is even blinded by Fawkes, the independent one, for his actions) obeys when Riddle tells him to attack.   This is a monster that can only be controlled by the one that can speak to it.  He speaks to it as one does to a friend who is beneath them but needed (as Draco speaks to Crabbe and Goyle).

Faith is something that could be considered to be represented by Fawkes and the sword of Godric Gryffindor.   Faith is hard to describe, but a person needs this in order to ‘grow as a person’.  Harry Potter is primarily a coming of age story and as such, he must become more.  He must have his expectations and beliefs constantly challenged (as they constantly are with Professor Snape).  The faith that Harry has in Dumbledore saves him through the appearance of Fawkes and the Sorting Hat (which sees into the inner workings of the mind, but not the soul).

In short, Rowling goes into the turning of expectations in this book.  She starts to explain that good versus evil is not so clear all of the time.  The good guy can seem like the bad guy because that is how people choose to perceive them.  Evil can be necessary for the greater good.  Faith is a driving force that conquers in a lasting manner while fear fades away.