Author: Charlie Brooks

Award-winning author of "Fantasy as you Like It" and "Eight-Bit Heaven," Season 9 finalist in RPG Superstar, author of the young adult fantasy novel Greystone Valley, and super-opinionated nerd dad.

Election Day 2024 Fallout

On By Charlie BrooksIn Miscellaneous RamblingsLeave a comment

Well, here we are again.

In 2021, I wrote a reflection about the Donald Trump presidency and the beginning of Joe Biden’s term. I had hoped we were closing an ugly chapter of American history, but I ended by pointing out that it’s not over. And it’s not. Here we are in 2024, and the American voting public decided to bring Trump back for a second term.

In addition to my warning last time of, “It’s not over,” the headers in my previous reflection included:

  • Hubris was One Enemy…
  • …and Cowardice was Another
  • America’s Institutions Held, but Only Barely

So let’s look at those three items again, along with an important question: What happens now?

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Superhero Evolutions: Batman

On By Charlie BrooksIn ComicsLeave a comment

Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible…

A seemingly perfect counterbalance to Superman, Batman first appeared in 1939 in Detective Comics #27. A creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Batman was dark and brooding where Superman was colorful and bright, fallible where Superman was seemingly invincible. He perfectly defined the other side of costumed superheroes, becoming the archetype of the highly competent yet still mortal vigilante.

Along with Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman forms DC Comics’ “Big Three,” the most recognizable and longest-lasting comic book icons in history. That recognition doesn’t give him immunity to people mucking around with the core concept of who the character is, though.

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Meddling Heroes: Eva Corson

On By Charlie BrooksIn FictionLeave a comment

Over the years, I’ve represented sentient robots, hyper-intelligent gorillas, and time-displaced cavemen. They all followed one simple rule: they wore pants in my office.

In a world of vigilantes and supervillains, a good defense lawyer never stops working. Eva Corson is one of the best, having made a living defending the dangerous, the evil, and the criminally insane. For many superheroes, she is worse than the villains she defends. In her eyes, though, everything she does is about the pursuit of justice and redemption.

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Comics & Quests: The Hand of Vaprak

On By Charlie BrooksIn Comics, Role-Playing GamesLeave a comment

Tabletop RPGs can tell many different stories. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic book presented a group of adventurers who took the tried and true track of living at an inn and facing whatever perils came through the city of Waterdeep. But the Forgotten Realms is a huge place, and not all adventurers stick to one locale. About a year after that first Realms-based comic hit store shelves, a second title emerged. Labeled Forgotten Realms, it followed a new group of adventurers who ranged quite a bit farther than the city of Waterdeep.

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Superhero Evolutions: The Incredible Hulk, part five

On By Charlie BrooksIn ComicsLeave a comment

I wish serialized comics sometimes took a breather. After a major event like World War Hulk, described last time, the Hulk could have stood to stay on ice for a few years before going back to monthly stories. The time off could have allowed that cataclysmic story to resonate a bit. Instead, it became just another big event, and the Hulk was on the loose and rampaging around soon afterward. But this time, he wouldn’t do it alone.

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Meddling Heroes: Paradigm

On By Charlie BrooksIn FictionLeave a comment

He doesn’t land; he always floats a few feet above me, looking down on me. Looking down on all humanity, for all I can see.

The first superhero and, for many, the symbol of America, Paradigm has flown the skies since the early 1940s. Created in the heart of an atomic explosion, his every cell is powered by strange radiation that renders him eternally young, resistant to almost every form of harm, and capable of amazing feats of strength.

He’s also the most hated enemy of Roosevelt Pythagoras, which puts him at the center of the conflict that unfolds as that supervillain is released from prison.

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Meddling Heroes: Roosevelt Pythagoras

On By Charlie BrooksIn FictionLeave a comment

Every day, my captors wake me up, strip me naked, and check for microchips in my brain.

Roosevelt Pythagoras: entrepreneur, inventor, supergenius, villain. The man credited with shrinking the entire state of Delaware and breaking up the League of Liberty has sat in a prison cell for five years, waiting and scheming.

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Those Blasted Superfriends: Evil is as Evil Does

On By Charlie BrooksIn Comics, FilmLeave a comment

I first saw “Sirena, Empress of Evil” as an adult with an adult’s sensibilities. “Evil is as Evil Does,” however, is a Green Lantern episode of Superfriends that I watched and liked as a kid.

What I remember from watching this as a kid: being super excited to finally see Green Lantern get a solo adventure, seeing him face off against another energy-slinging villain named Evil Star, and being generally jazzed about the short but sweet battle between the two foes.

What did I get upon re-watching this as an adult? Read on to find out.

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The Double-Oh Agent

On By Charlie BrooksIn Film2 Comments

In books and film, the James Bond series is one of the most popular and enduring franchises ever. Bond has appeared in dozens of novels and short stories, over twenty feature films, several television series, and countless spoofs. The franchise is a testament to two things: that escapism will always sell, and that moviegoers love things they’ve seen a million times before.

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