Author: comicbookman72

Hi, I just wanted to take this time to fill you in on something I shared on a message board on Facebook two years ago. I’m relatively new to the world of comics; two and a half years, to be precise. My love of comics came about from being frustrated by being new to North Carolina and having a very hard time finding friends. Yes, I do have Heather in my life and that is a miracle by itself, but as she told me, I need to find friends of my own. Not just her. That was very hard for me to do. So, as a big fan of the Big Bang Theory and seeing a lot of similarities of the characters to my own personal struggles, I’ve seen them refer to comics a lot and wanted to explore that avenue for myself. A little backstory about my learning disability: I can read books, but I cannot comprehend what I read five seconds ago. So, I have to re-read the same page over and over again and I get bored very quickly. For this reason, I gave up on reading “normal” books. Being a Christian and being told by church leaders and youth group leaders reading the bible is a major part of your walk with Christ is very discouraging when you cannot understand what you are reading. Especially when reading the bible is supposed to be about more than the words on the page, and more about your spiritual walk with Christ. This brings us to two years ago, when I just decided to explore what I’ve seen on Big Bang Theory by going to the comic book store. What a world God has opened up for me! I love it! It all started with reading everything I can about Charles Xavier, a character in the X-men that is in a wheelchair and he is a leader of the X-men and his disability does not stop him. With reading about him, I realized I can read faster and understand everything I read and retain it to present day. This has never happened to me before! About a year ago, I mentioned in passing “I wish there was a Bible that was written in a comic book format.” After that, I was researching on the internet and I came across a Bible called The Action Bible. Even though it’s not a word for word translation of the Bible, it covers the major stories of all the books of the Bible in comic book form that I can understand finally and retain what I’m reading. This is awesome for me!! Some may think I go a little overboard with my new found love for comics, and maybe I do, but to me, I look down at the boxes of comics that I’ve read and remember every story that is in everyone and it is a testimony of where I was to where I am now with the love of reading.

Running in Heaven!!

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I know I’ll be running everywhere in Heaven after I die, but I think my ashes can be in The Dark Side!!

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In the buildup to the release of The Force Awakens, we’ve seen an avalanche of unusual Star Wars merchandise — mostly licensed, but some not — ranging from custom pianos and a diamond-encrusted BB-8 to a Han Solo blaster flask and unintentionally creepy shower heads. However, these Star Wars urns may claim the title of strangest tie-ins, all while causing us to dwell on our own mortality. Or at least Darth Vader’s.

Franchise fans who’ve been struck down probably won’t become more powerful than we can possibly imagine (sorry). However, they can still embrace the Dark Side by making a Darth Vader or Death Star urn their final resting place. Just don’t mistake the former for a Darth Vader cooler.

Although U.K.-based Urns for Ashes introduced the items well before the latest wave of Star Wars mania swept across the globe, CNET reports the company has seen inquiries rocket by 300 percent ahead of The Force Awakens. (Both urns are temporarily out of stock.)

Priced at about $223, the urns are produced using 3D printing, which means the color can be customized. Of course, you can also choose your own inscription, in case you want to remind family and friends that your Force ghost is always within earshot.

A sad day in Marvel Comics!!

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After I posted about Charles Xavier being a great character to me, a friend got me this great comic for CHRISTmas!! 

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Even though Charles Xavier dies in this one, he went out doing what his passion was, wanting to help his FRIEND!!

A “Comic” book CHRISTmas Eve??

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(Icelanders maybe on to something but I’ll tweak it…   LOL)

 The beautiful Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve..

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Book lovers will want to adopt this lovely holiday tradition, which melds literary and holiday pleasures into a single event.

Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply ingrained in the culture that it is the reason for the Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood,” when the majority of books in Iceland are sold between September and December in preparation for Christmas giving.

At this time of year, most households receive an annual free book catalog of new publications called the Bokatidindi. Icelanders pore over the new releases and choose which ones they want to buy, fueling what Kristjan B. Jonasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association, describes as “the backbone of the publishing industry.”

“It’s like the firing of the guns at the opening of the race,” says Baldur Bjarnason, a researcher who has written about the Icelandic book industry. “It’s not like this is a catalog that gets put in everybody’s mailbox and everybody ignores it. Books get attention here.”

The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary. They love to read and write. According to a BBC article, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world… One in 10 Icelanders will publish [a book].”

It seems there is more value placed on physical, paper books than in North America, where e-books have grown in popularity. One bookstore manager told NPR, “The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift, you give a physical book. You don’t give e-books here.” The book industry is driven by the majority of people buying several books each year, rather than the North American pattern of a few people buying lots of books.

When I asked an Icelandic friend what she thought of this tradition, she was surprised.

“I hadn’t thought of this as a special Icelandic tradition. It is true that a book is always considered a nice gift. Yes, for my family this is true. We are very proud of our authors.”

It sounds like a wonderful tradition, perfect for a winter evening. It is something that I would love to incorporate into my own family’s celebration of Christmas. I doubt my loyalty to physical books will ever fade; they are the one thing I can’t resist collecting, in order to read and re-read, to beautify and personalize my home, to pass on to friends and family as needed. Combining my love for books and quiet, cozy Christmas Eves sounds like a perfect match.