Learning | Musketeers and Elites

This week, I've been reading a dystopian fantasy novel for teens. Marie Lu's The Young Elites takes place in a world where survivors of the Blood Plague are feared and ostracized. The king has an organization called The Inquisition, which aims to eliminate the malfettos, or survivors. 

These survivors are all marked in one way or another, with strange colorations of hair or skin. Adelina is one such survivor; she lost an eye to the plague, and her hair is now silver.  The story begins when Adelina is about to be executed for the murder of her abusive father; she quickly discovers that she is one of the rare malfettos with special powers--an elite. She finds herself joining The Daggers, a group of young elites who are using their powers to protect other malfettos from The Inquisition.

Cover image courtesy of LibraryThing.

You may remember that Marie Lu is the author of the Legend Series. The Young Elites is the first novel in a new series for teens.  It is recommended for ages 12 through 17.  

While I was reading The Young Elites, I was reminded of a classic series by Alexandre Dumas, The D'Artagnan Romances, including The Three Musketeers. 

Cover image courtesy of LibraryThing.

The iconic Musketeers have been featured in countless adaptations on the big and small screen.  D'Artagnan and his fellow Musketeers fight with swords, not superpowers, but I think people who like Alexandre Dumas' stories would like Lu's book. 

Professor O | Superman and Batman: Comic's Peanut Butter and Jelly

Raise your hand if you like Peanut Butter and Jelly!

Raise your hand if you like Superman and Batman! 

Now, you add some bread and you got yourself one of the Professor's favorite food, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Put the two heroes together and have them work as a team, that is World's Finest Comics. 

A late, but exciting hello, fellow adventurers!

It is time to dive back into the comic book collection at the Stockton/San Joaquin Public Library. In this installment, we will take a close look, not at the snack, but at the two aforementioned heroes. They will not be pitted against each other, but teaming up to fight battles too heavy for the other guys, and too big for one of them alone. The ever dutiful and just, Superman, paired with the rough justice and smarts of Batman will have to take on enemies of galactic proportions. It is only fitting, wouldn't you agree? The title in mind today is Superman/Batman: Absolute Power by Jeph Loeb, with Carlos Pacheco on art. Wherein The Dark Knight Detective and The Man Of Steel are evil dictators that rule through pain and terror. What? But, how did this happen? Who could be behind this? The Professor asks that you, fellow traveler, see for yourself, and go borrow the book to answer all piqued questions.

 

Jeph Loeb brings in one of the Professor's favorites, and sometime collaborator, Darkseid. He does some big damage. Add a little time travel, interesting plot twists, and you've got an epic worthy of the heavy hitters. Recall the Professor mentioning, "galactic proportions"?  What else could be a match for the Titans of comics? Jeph Loeb knows how to focus on the best of their skills and balances well the character's personalities. Ultimately, Batman does not trust Superman. Discuss. 

A good and worthy look into the Superman/Batman's BFF-ness, for lack of a better term. There are other Superman/Batman titles throughout the entire library system, feel free to borrow. Batman kicks butt and outsmarts everyone, Superman takes care of the muscle and lights stuff on fire. Eye beams rule. 

Until the next time, warrior...

Professor O | It's the Comic/Anime/Manga Odyssey and Adventures!

Excelsior, intrepid explorers of the graphic storytelling sort!

Snikt! Snikt!

My name is Professor O and I humbly ask to be your guide on a tour of the varied and eclectic comic books/Anime/Manga your local library has to offer in its collection. I propose to read and watch as many of these tales and offer my knowledge, accumulated through eons of space and time travel, to educate and entertain. Quite possibly, creating new converts along the way. The adventure begins, fellow adventurer! We will read of tales of adventure, of heroics, of universe altering events, and stories to reinforce our humanity. All this and more await on the library's shelves, lets take a peek...



As this is our first step together, I wish to begin our trip with a little history lesson. We must have a context to base all of our subsequent findings, do we not? We need to know the history of Superheroes and what their place in our world is. Professor O believes in the merits of being a well informed fanboy; I do not know about you. Anyway, the first submission for our blog will not be of a comic book, anime film, or manga, but it will be of a book. A history book to be exact. Supergods by Grant Morrison (Arkham Asylum, All-star Superman) is a great book that gives a quick history of superheroes, starting with that alien orphan we love so much, Superman, and that other human orphan whose parents were murdered one fateful night: Batman. Morrison, who is a personal fav comic book writer of Professor O's, takes the journey of the flying men in tights all the way up to the modern craze of profitable (sometimes terrible) Hollywood movies. An overall theme of the book is the connection of heroes being conduits of the ideas, feelings, and norms of a particular time. Our heroes reflect us more than we think, or want to imagine.

Reading about the hero's various incarnations through the decades is hilarious, sometimes mildly disturbing. For example, in the 50s and 60s our heroes did everything but fight crime. Superman was constantly fighting off a ferocious and resolute Lois Lane and her constant marriage proposals/nags. In one story, the Man of Steel promised to finally marry her if she met him at a chapel at a set time. He then proceeds to weld the doors of the car shut, with her in it, to prevent her from making the agreed upon date! Professor O is shocked at such blatant misuse of a powerful weapon! The Man of Steel should be wasting his heat vision on space monsters, not chickening out of marriage!

This book will be a good start. Next installment, we begin our journey...

Professor O also recommends these other works by Grant Morrison, located at your local library: