Trope Tuesday: You Mean Xmas

Posted on by

After a few weeks off, we’re back with another installment of Trope Tuesday, our weekly sojourn into TV Tropes and the lovely literary devices that make our favorite entertainment work. This week, we’re looking at a trope called You Mean Xmas:

Even if the Christmas Special is widely used, a few writers catch on that some stories take place in a setting where certain holidays and celebrations shouldn’t exist in the original sense. So the characters celebrate a holiday that’s (hopefully) just coincidentally similar enough to have the audience roll their eyes.

Despite the eye-rolling, this can be a Justified Trope if the world of the story has solstices and equinoxes like our own, which would be logical times of the year to have a celebration.

Naturally, these episodes are aired around the holiday they’re really trying to depict, and sometimes may receive a name change in order to comment on them without raising the ire of Media Watchdogs.

Two words, folks: Holiday Special.

Gail Simone leaves Batgirl; Comics Weep

Posted on by

I don’t read a lot of comics. I never really have, but when a friend started me reading comics, she reached into her long box, pulled out a long run of Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey and said, “Here, read this. It’s awesome.”

I now have a long box full of Birds of Prey. But only as written by Gail Simone. When she left Birds of Prey, I read a few issues, then was so disgusted with the way the story was going, I gave up. That was okay, though. Because then she started writing Wonder Woman. And all of a sudden, Wonder Woman was interesting! She was more than the pontificating diplomat. I didn’t buy a lot of Wonder Woman because I’d hit that graduate school stage of broke, but I got copies however I could. And then she was back on Birds of Prey and all was right with my world. Yes, I read other Batfamily comics, but that was only to get the context of the rest of universe in which Birds of Prey existed.

Oh, wait. Then DC rebooted. And we were losing Oracle, who I loved, and who Simone wrote so incredibly well. We had a character who was disabled and who still kicked butt, and we were losing that little bit of diversity. But Simone was going to write Batgirl, so that soothed the soul a bit.

Until today, when we discovered that DC fired her from Batgirl, leaving their most well-known female writer out in the cold.

I don’t know what to make of this. The Wired article I linked above points out that DC’s had plenty of problems with gender issues of late. What I am, however, is incredibly disappointed, because the woman who got me–and a lot of other girls–into DC comics–and who kept me interested in them over the last ten years–is no longer associated with them, and I see no good reason for it.

I don’t have a lot of analysis for this, partly because I don’t have a lot of insight into DC’s internal workings right now. But this decision hit me right in the feels, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one. Gail, have you thought about writing Star Wars comics?

EU Retrospective: Republic Commando

Posted on by

When I first started this reread, I couldn’t decide if I was looking forward to or dreading getting to the Republic Commando books.  It wasn’t because they were controversial in some circles of the fandom but rather because I knew they were going to kick me in the gut with feelings.  Omega Squad and Etain Tur-Mukan found their ways into my heart and never left.  Needless to say, I was absolutely not looking forward to rereading Order 66 but more on that later.  At the end of the day though, I think I’m rather glad that I took the time to reread these four books because gosh do I still love them even if they did make me have an emotional meltdown on Twitter.

Hard Contact
Overall, Hard Contact remains a solid action book.  I actually think that it could serve as a decent starting point for someone who’s really interested in the Clone Wars.  There’s not much continuity that you need to know outside of the films.  Additionally, it’s only peppered with the Mandolorian culture that fills the next three books.  In short, it can stand-alone and that’s a good thing in the epic Expanded Universe.

I still really like how Karen Traviss gives each of the clone commandos a distinct personality.  It’s been awhile but I think that this might’ve been one of the first Clone War era novels I read that really did that.  At the same time, she doesn’t shy away from presenting the mentality that the clones are raised with: they are soldiers who follow orders and they are expendable.  Plus, these are the early days of the way and the Jedi and the clones are still trying to figure each other out.  It’s some nice insight into that thought process.

I’ll also freely admit to loving Etain because I am a total sucker for the underdog.   Heroes of the Jedi Order are great and everything but I like seeing the everyman too. (Sorry.  I’ll stop giving Anakin a hard time for being the Chosen One some day.  Maybe.)  She’s a good kid who just wants to prove herself to the world and you have to respect that.

Continue reading →

Cosplay Monday: Doctor Doom

Posted on by

It’s time for another Cosplay Monday and we have to warn you: the following images might be disturbing… because they are JUST THAT CUTE!  (Yeah, we’ve fallen into a bit of a pattern here.)  But hey, when something this awesome appears on your tumblr dash, you just have to share it with everyone!

Enter the great and terrible Victor Von Doom!

Just try and tell me that’s not the cutest thing ever!  To top it off, his costume looks just as good if not even better than the costumes of some adult Doctor Dooms that I’ve seen around conventions.

    

Images from geekfest on Flickr

Samuel L. Jackson wants to be in Star Wars sequels

Posted on by

Because being in three Star Wars movies isn’t enough for the biggest BAMF in film:

“I can come back as one-armed or a one-handed Jedi that’s still around that didn’t actually die,” he said. “I could do that or be a ghost hologram. I don’t care!”

Adding, “I just want to stay associated with the franchise. Not that I won’t, because I’ve been in three of them.” As for why the actor is drawn to the sci-fi world, Sam said he loves the concept of life in other in galaxies far, far away.

Mace Windu in a Holocron as a possible plot point for Episode VII? We’ve heard crazier rumors.

via Yahoo!

Happy Hanukkah from Tosche Station!

Posted on by

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, and to celebrate, if you’ve not seen StarWars.com’s instructions on how to make a Hanukkah Droidel, here’s a link on how to geek up your Hanukkah celebrations; this particular dreidel still has the traditional Hebrew inscription referring to the miracle of the eight nights of light celebrated by Hanukkah.

All joking aside by our “Keep Han in Hanukkah” graphic, we here at Tosche Station would like to wish you a very Happy Hanukkah. May love and light fill your hearts and homes.

Fanwork Friday: Metal Covers by Eric Calderone

Posted on by

Every morning I listen to The Morning Stream, a really great podcast hosted by Scott Johnson and Brian Ibbott. The other day they played a cover of “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepson.

Surprisingly I found myself dancing along. It’s a really awesome cover! I searched the internet to find a YouTube link. Lo and behold, I learned that the artist is Eric Calderone, and he does tons of other covers, some of them very relevant to our geeky interests.

Behold, heavy metal Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Check out Eric’s YouTube channel for all his videos. He also has a Facebook and Twitter.

So You Want To Get Into Comic Books

Posted on by

So you want to get into comics… but you don’t want to read about the superheroes of the big two companies.  That’s okay because comics can be about so much more than just superheroes!  In fact, there are even more comic book publishers than just Marvel and DC such as Dark Horse, Image, Top Cow, and countless other independent publishers.  The following recommendations are mostly the products of a DC Comics offshoot publisher called Vertigo and represent a range of genres.  They are not, however, the only books in the game.  I also avoided recommending any tie-in comic books but if you are a fan of something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Wars, you could always begin with picking up those comic books as a way to see if you like the medium.  Although I’ve only included a few, I’ll also suggest that if you enjoyed a film or a TV show that was based upon a comic book that you pick up the first volume of that comic and give it a try.

Long story short, comics are great and are about so much more than just the Marvel and DC Superheroes.  There really is a book out there for everyone!  With that said, I’ll just get on with some of my own recommendations.

Watchmen
[Amazon – Comixology]
This is a very predictable way to start the list but Watchmen isn’t one of the best selling comics of all time for nothing.  Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did some amazing work when they created this book.  It’s a sort of alternate history where Nixon never resigned and costumed vigilantes began popping up in the 1940s and 1960s.  The story opens with the investigation into the death of one of those costumer heroes, the Comedian.  Rorschach, a former teammate, figures out that someone is trying to kill their entire team and takes it upon himself to warn them and the tale progresses from there.   Not only is the book a critique of the concept of superheroes but it also presents readers with a few ethical dilemmas and you have to ask yourself if the villain is really a villain or perhaps actually the hero of the piece.  It’s certainly a darker comic than some of the others in this article but oh man is it worth it.

In all honesty, Watchmen is probably one of those comics that you will have to read at some point during your comic reading career because it is just that iconic.  I’ll even go so far to say that this book is essential reading even for people who aren’t into comics.  And then you get to walk around for a week afterwards asking yourself, “Who Watches the Watchmen?”.

Continue reading →