In a town full of rumors, theirs is the hottest . . . Nicholas Knight has a dark, dangerous appeal that attracts Ali Charbonneau like a moth to a flame. There is an undeniable attraction between them, even though he is doing his level best to ignore it. To complicate matters further, Ali resembles Nicholas’s dead fiancée, stirring up the past and provoking many unanswered questions. Almost everyone in town believes he murdered the woman he claims to have loved. And Nicholas isn’t sure he didn’t . . .
If you can imagine it fully, completely, down to the last grain of sand, then it will become. That is the magic in imagication. The Imagicators tells of a world imagined so completely, down to the last grain of sand, that it became. Now, eighty years after a girl from our world first imagicated the world of Windemere, Windemere is crumbling. The King and Queen have separated, and the civil war rages between their forces. This chaos mirrors the turmoil in the lives of Spenser and Elaine, two youngsters from our world who are drawn into Windemere to uncover the cause of the rift, vanquish the usurper who thrives on the anarchy, and restore the balance. To do so, Spenser and Elaine must discover their own power to imagicate.
In The Secret Origins of Comics Studies, today’s leading comics scholars turn back a page to reveal the founding figures dedicated to understanding comics art. Edited by comics scholars Matthew J. Smith and Randy Duncan, this collection provides an in-depth study of the individuals and institutions that have created and shaped the field of Comics Studies over the past 75 years. From Coulton Waugh to Wolfgang Fuchs, these influential historians, educators, and theorists produced the foundational work and built the institutions that inspired the recent surge in scholarly work in this dynamic, interdisciplinary field. Sometimes scorned, often underappreciated, these visionaries established a path followed by subsequent generations of scholars in literary studies, communication, art history, the social sciences, and more. Giving not only credit where credit is due, this volume both offers an authoritative account of the history of Comics Studies and also helps move the field forward by being a valuable resource for creating graduate student reading lists and the first stop for anyone writing a comics-related literature review.
While much of the scholarship on superhero narratives has focused on the heroes themselves, Batman’s Villains and Villainesses: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Arkham’s Souls takes into view the depiction of the villains and their lives, arguing that they often function as proxies for larger societal and philosophical themes. Approaching Gotham’s villains from a number of disciplinary backgrounds, the essays in this collection highlight how the villains’ multifaceted backgrounds, experiences, motivations, and behaviors allow for in-depth character analysis across varying levels of social life. Through investigating their cultural and scholarly relevance across the humanities and social sciences, the volume encourages both thoughtful reflection on the relationship between individuals and their social contexts and the use of villains (inside and outside of Gotham) as subjects of pedagogical and scholarly inquiry.
In the year 2017, a devastating terrorist attack on San Diego causes the Second American Civil War. Various rebel forces form, and the government passes the Espionage Act, which allows for powers that reach beyond the Constitution. President Meryl Montessori does her best to keep DC stable, but when a body is found in her bed, along with a coded message, things go haywire. The president hires an eclectic team of six men and women to help solve the senseless murder and break the threatening code. Team members range from stovepipe hatwearing science advisor Dr. Frank N. Stein to beautiful NYPD Officer Rachel Rothberg, who, though a savvy and daring police officer, can never bring herself to lie to her mother. Everyone is a suspect, including the director of the FBI. The team investigates a bizarre path that leads everywhere from the war zones of America to the gravesite of George Orwell. Soon, they find themselves on the Mount of Megiddo, where Armageddon is prophesized to begin. But despite the dire circumstances, things are not what they seem.
The indispensable source guide to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels—the perfect gift for Harry Potter fans! What was the model for The Order of the Phoenix? Where do those names come from? What is the real-life legend behind Voldemort’s Dark Mark? Could Snape’s potions actually work? J.K. Rowling’s young heroic wizard, Harry Potter, lives in a world populated by dragons, centaurs, trolls, giants—and a three-headed dog named Fluffy—among other creatures from ancient myths and legends. Discover the astonishing origins of supernatural beasts, clues to hidden meanings in names, and amazing facts about real-life wizards and magic spells. From Alchemists to Unicorns, Basilisks to Veela, this fascinating compendium brings another dimension to Harry’s adventures—from The Sorcerer’s Stone to The Deathly Hallows. This book was not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed or endorsed by J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any other individual or entity associated with the HARRY POTTER books or movie.
The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to provide one go-to reference for the study of the most popular and iconic villains in American popular culture. Since the 1980s, pop culture has focused on what makes a villain a villain. The Joker, Darth Vader, and Hannibal Lecter have all been placed under the microscope to get to the origins of their villainy. Additionally, such bad guys as Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows have emphasized the desire for redemption—in even the darkest of villains. Various incarnations of Lucifer/Satan have even gone so far as to explore the very foundations of what we consider "evil." The American Villain: Encyclopedia of Bad Guys in Comics, Film, and Television seeks to collect all of those stories into one comprehensive volume. The volume opens with essays about villains in popular culture, followed by 100 A–Z entries on the most notorious bad guys in film, comics, and more. Sidebars highlight ancillary points of interest, such as authors, creators, and tropes that illuminate the motives of various villains. A glossary of key terms and a bibliography provide students with resources to continue their study of what makes the "baddest" among us so bad.
The image of the meditating yogi has become a near-universal symbol for transcendent perfection used to market everything from perfume and jewelry to luxury resorts and sports cars, and popular culture has readily absorbed it along similar lines. Yet the religious traditions grounding such images are often readily abandoned or caricatured beyond recognition, or so it would seem. The essays contained in The Assimilation of Yogic Religions through Pop Culture explore the references to yogis and their native cultures of India, Tibet, and China as they are found in the stories of many famous icons of popular culture, from Batman, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, and others. In doing so, the authors challenge the reader to look deeper into the seemingly superficial appropriation of the image of the yogi and Asian religious themes found in all manner of comic books, novels, television, movies, and theater and to carefully examine how they are being represented and what exactly is being said.
Give your brain a workout with perplexing puzzles and games Solving brain teasers is a fun and effective way to exercise your mental acuity at any age. This book is filled with 120 mind-bending puzzles and riddles that boost your brainpower and provide hours of stimulating entertainment. What sets this book apart from other puzzle books for adults: It's not just for adults—Explore challenging brain games that adults, teens, and preteens will enjoy solving. Progressive difficulty—Warm up with some easier exercises, and then dive into brain puzzles that grow more complex as you progress. A variety of challenges—Solve an engaging mix of logic puzzles, ciphers, sequences, anagrams, crosswords, word chains, train puzzles, and more. Fascinating trivia—Discover intriguing factoids sprinkled throughout the book. For example, did you know that the longest palindromic word in English comes from the author James Joyce? Flex your mind muscles and have a blast with Super Tricky Brain Teasers.
This compilation of essential information on 100 superheroes from comic book issues, various print and online references, and scholarly analyses provides readers all of the relevant material on superheroes in one place. The American Superhero: Encyclopedia of Caped Crusaders in History covers the history of superheroes and superheroines in America from approximately 1938–2010 in an intentionally inclusive manner. The book features a chronology of important dates in superhero history, five thematic essays covering the overall history of superheroes, and 100 A–Z entries on various superheroes. Complementing the entries are sidebars of important figures or events and a glossary of terms in superhero research. Designed for anyone beginning to research superheroes and superheroines, The American Superhero contains a wide variety of facts, figures, and features about caped crusaders and shows their importance in American history. Further, it collects and verifies information that otherwise would require hours of looking through multiple books and websites to find.
