In 2010, Cartoon Network debuted a new animated series called Adventure Time, and within just a few short years the show became both a pop culture phenomenon and a critical darling. But despite all the admiration, not many works of scholarship have assessed the show through a critical lens. This anthology is an attempt to fill this scholarly oversight and spark a wider conversation about the show's deeper themes. Across 15 scholarly essays, this book's contributors study Adventure Time from a variety of angles, proving just how insightful the series really is. From a consideration of BMO's queer identity to a psychoanalytic reading of Lemongrab and an examination of how anime has impacted the show, the topics explored in this anthology are diverse and unique and are likely to appeal to scholars and fans alike.
Explore the weird, hilarious world of Adventure Time™ with this beautifully illustrated 2-in-1 book based on the hit Cartoon Network series. All-new, gorgeous, hilarious, and grotesque illustrations? Ancient wizard lore, spells, curses, and jokes? Memories and mementos from a cute demon girl’s childhood? Goofball commentary by Finn, Jake, Marceline, and the Ice King? Check, check, check, check please! A treasure for any fan of the series, this magical and mysterious tome takes a deep dive into the world of Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time™. Aspiring heroes and wizards will find invaluable information in The Enchiridion—the ancient book of Ooo—and true fans will learn everything they ever wanted to know about Marceline the Vampire Queen in her Super Secret Scrapbook. From the creative team behind the New York Times–bestselling Adventure Time Encyclopaedia, this in-world compendium of all things Oooian is a humor-, paradox-, and literary contrivance–filled book true to the imagination, innovation, and heart of Adventure Time™.
Adventure Time and Philosophy is a monster-beating, wild ride of philosophical mayhem. The authors have come together to understand and explore one of the deepest and most thoughtful television shows ever to assault human brain waves. Where Adventure Time shows us what the world could be like, this book screws open our cranial lids, mucks about in the mess that is our heads, and attempts to come to some answers about the nature of reality. Adventure Time challenges everything we know about life, meaning, heroism, and even burritos. And it’s time to give the show some serious thought. Adventure Time and Philosophy is a chance to put down your broadsword, put your exhausted monster-slaying feet up, and try to figure out why you spend your time rescuing people in distress and fighting for justice. What is justice anyway? If you don’t happen to have your pocket edition of the Enchiridion on hand, and Billy the Hero *wicked guitar solo* hasn’t been returning your calls, pick up Adventure Time and Philosophy and learn what it means to be a real hero! The authors of the chapters will prove that Adventure Time is much more than a cartoon, it’s a way of life. . . . It’s also the future!-—a post-apocalyptic future 10,000 years after the Great Mushroom War, actually. Who better to have as companions than Finn and Jake when taking on Plato, Nietzsche, and Baudrillard or encountering the Slime Princess, the Ice King, and Marceline the Vampire Queen. In a review of the show in Entertainment Weekly, Darren Franich characterized Adventure Time as a “hybrid sci-fi/fantasy/horror/musical/fairy tale, with echoes of Calvin and Hobbes, Hayao Miyazaki, Final Fantasy, Richard Linklater, Where the Wild Things Are, and the music video you made with your high school garage band.” This book is filled with chapters written by a colorful cast of characters who enlighten us about the profound and life-affirming spiritual subtext and dark comedic elements of an awesomely fantastic show.
Exploring the Land of Ooo: An Unofficial Overview and Production History of Cartoon Network’s "Adventure Time" is a guide through the colorful and exuberant animated television series that initially aired from 2010 to 2018. Created by visionary artist Pendleton Ward, the series was groundbreaking and is credited by many with heralding in a new golden age of animation. Known for its distinct sense of humor, bold aesthetic choices, and memorable characters, Adventure Time has amassed a fan-following of teenagers and young adults in addition to children. Popularly and critically acclaimed, the show netted three Annie awards, eight Emmys, and a coveted Peabody. In this thorough overview, author Paul A. Thomas explores the nuances of Adventure Time’s characters, production history, ancillary media, and vibrant fandom. Based in part on interviews with dozens of the creative individuals who made the show possible, the volume comprises a captivating mix of oral history and primary source analysis. With fresh insight, the book considers the show’s guest-directed episodes, outlines its most famous songs, and explores how its characters were created and cast. Written for fans and scholars alike, Exploring the Land of Ooo ensures that, when it comes to Adventure Time, the fun truly will never end.
This collection features examinations of popular culture, including manga, music, film, cosplay, and literature, among other topics. Using interdisciplinary sources and analyses, this collection adds to the global discussion and relevancy of Japanese popular culture. This collection serves to highlight the work of multidisciplinary scholars who offer fresh perspectives of ongoing cross-cultural and cyclical influences that are commonly found between the US and Japan. Notably, this collection considers the relationships that have influenced Japanese popular culture, and how this has, in turn, influenced the Western world.
One of the masterpieces of the written world. A must-read. Illustrated with doodles Complete and Unabridged Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain. Commonly named among the Great American Novels.The novel's preeminence derives from its wonderfully imaginative re-creation of boyhood adventures along the Mississippi River, its inspired characterization, the author's remarkable ear for dialogue, and the book's understated development of serious underlying themes: "natural" man versus "civilized" society, the evils of slavery, the innate value and dignity of human beings, and other topics. Most of all, Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful story, filled with high adventure and unforgettable characters. It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
What happens when the classroom and the fantastic meet? When lessons cover spells and potions alongside science and language arts? Through fantastic school stories--fiction involving the intersection of fantasy and school--the cycle of lessons, homework, exams, and graduation becomes new again, inviting us to consider what schools are teaching, who can be a student, and how knowledge is developed. Introducing a new framework for analyzing texts in the fantastic school story subgenre, this book examines texts including the Harry Potter series, Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy, Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle, along with works by Jane Yolen, Nnedi Okorafor, and Tracy Deonn. This holistic framework combines the methods of fantasy literature scholarship, the focus of school story analyses, and an awareness of hidden lessons taught alongside official subjects, allowing for nuanced examinations of topics such as standardized testing, apprenticeships, and access to education.
The second novel in a bewitching series "brimming with charm and charisma" that will make "fans of Outlander rejoice!" (Woman's World Magazine) New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston’s The Little Shop of Found Things was called “a page-turner that will no doubt leave readers eager for future series installments” (Publishers Weekly). Now, Brackston returns to the Found Things series with its sequel, Secrets of the Chocolate House. After her adventures in the seventeenth century, Xanthe does her best to settle back into the rhythm of life in Marlborough. She tells herself she must forget about Samuel and leave him in the past where he belongs. With the help of her new friends, she does her best to move on, focusing instead on the success of her and Flora’s antique shop. But there are still things waiting to be found, still injustices needing to be put right, still voices whispering to Xanthe from long ago about secrets wanting to be shared. While looking for new stock for the shop, Xanthe hears the song of a copper chocolate pot. Soon after, she has an upsetting vision of Samuel in great danger, compelling her to make another journey to the past. This time she'll meet her most dangerous adversary. This time her ability to travel to the past will be tested. This time she will discover her true destiny. Will that destiny allow her to return home? And will she be able to save Samuel when his own fate seems to be sealed?
“Dragonworld goes far beyond the flashy pyrotechnics of contemporary fantasy and fantasy illustration. Joe Zucker is a superlative and original illustrator, and he reveals a rare and astonishing gift for infusing a richness of character into his pictures, which do justice to Byron Preiss's and Michael Reaves's compelling story.” —Maurice Sendak “Until now, there have been only two real grandmasters of modern epic fantasy—J.R.R. Tolkien and Ann McCaffrey. With the team of Preiss and Reaves, there are three, and may they write and write and write.” —United Press International Somewhere beyond the northern mists lies a land where dreams live and dragons are real. This is the tale of the twilight of the dragons, of two nations plunged into war by a tragic misunderstanding, of a shy dreamer's incredible voyage of peace to a long-forgotten land where nightmares are born. A magnificent creation, a sweeping epic of high fantasy set in a richly imagined world, vividly brought to life with over eighty pages of stunning illustrations by Joseph Zucker.
