Po(sey) Sessions

Hello Po(sey) Sessions’ readers! My name is Erika and I run a book blog called Jawas Read, Too . I’ve been asked to participate in this month’s Comic Book theme. Being a comic book fan, naturally, I accepted. I still consider myself new to comics, never straying very far from Star Wars or manga, but within the past few years that’s been changing. To celebrate that and help other new comic book readers navigate the complexities of series, publishers, writers, and artists, I decided the best topic for my discussion was Free Comic Book Day! Specifically, I’ve included a mini review of one of the comics I got for free over the weekend. I won’t go into a long account of the history of Free Comic Book Day (the official website does that beautifully). Instead, I want to begin by confessing something: I have never reviewed a comic book. I have never, in fact, reviewed anything that wasn’t a book. I feel a little out of my element. Bear with me while I attempt to make the best of it and ta...

This is a repost of a blog I did about a year ago. I decided to repost it because I wrote this early on in my exposure to comic books and graphic novels and because, as you will read, it features my favorite actor of all time. When I told a friend I was reading Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton , he brought to my attention that it was also a movie and the movie happened to have Nicolas Cage in it. I highly dislike Nicolas Cage and I think my friend likes to bring up his name as much as possible just to annoy me. (why would anyone EVER want to do that? He must have a death wish.) But I actually appreciated it this time. I t has been interesting to read about the movie in which Cage plays the minor role of Smokey Bennett . It was also brought to my attention that Nick Cage isn't Nick Cage at all, but Nicolas Kim Copula. I remember vaguely hearing in the past, since he is the nephew of Francis Ford Copula. Who happen to direct Rumble Fish and The Outsiders. Cag...

Okay, so last time I tried a theme month it didn’t exactly work out as I planned. Did I learn from that experience? Nope I did not, and I am trying it again. I am not exactly sure what I have in mind, which probably isn’t a good plan, but I am going for it anyway. I want to explore all types of comics and other types of comics with speech ballons.  Wikipedia was kind enough to help me out with some definitions. Manga - consist of comics and print cartoons, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. Graphic Novel - a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format. Comic Book - a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book artform) and often including brief descriptive prose. I want to explore what it means to be a hero and the ...

Anaximander: For a society to function successfully perhaps there needs to be a level of empathy that cannot be  corrupted. Examiner: Are you saying a society wracked by plague is preferable to one wracked by indifference? Me: What is the alternative to empathy? Empathy can make one weak but is sympathy acceptable? Or is apathy the best possible option? Mr. X: I am from the school of Rand. Rational self interest is the key to the advancement of a prosperous society,r Me: So….that’s apathy? Mr. X: I think real empathy can make for a peaceful society, but not a prosperous one. Me: But you don’t live your own life apathetically. Mr. X: In so much as I am apathetic to the plight of anyone but myself? I guess so… I believe by pursuing our own interests we are pursuing the interest of society as a whole.The interests  and plights of others only matter in so much as it affects me. I strive to make other people happy because it makes me happy; I don’t feel thei...

Megan, you disappeared off the face of the Earth and abandoned James Dashner and all of your loyal readers. What happened? Well, faithful audience, I am not entirely sure what happened to me, but I blame Mr. X and maybe you should too. It seems like every spring or pre-spring time speeds up for me and I move through the world in slow motion. I get nothing done but the world races around without me. Days pass, then weeks pass, and it is months later and I am still sitting on the spot on the couch. It isn’t like I completely abandoned my life, but I definitely did not accomplish everything I wanted to for James Dashner month.  See after I asked my social life to calm down, well it kind of listened and I guess I wasn’t prepared for that so I started feeling really bored and set out to find my social life again.  I really want to thank all the great contributors to James Dashner Month. They really help the illusion that James Dashner is worthwhile in some way. I hope he...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled science fiction fare for something quite different. Something so momentous and so amazing it has been several years in the making.  Well, in all honesty, I am really just mixing metaphors for my own amusement.  Today I am bringing you into the world of my favorite author of all time.  I never really passionately held a strong belief in the writing talent of a single author until I read my first novel by Pat Conroy and became instantly enamored. It was as I was pouring through the open ing pages of Beach Music that I discovered in a single book all the things I loved about the English language and all the ways I wanted it to be used. Mr. Conroy writes these sweeping epics of family drama and love and loss in a way that makes my heart sing with the pure joy of reading the words. When I first read Beach Music I was feeling a little blue and looking for something to lift my spirits.  Beach Music is not a light romance like I was...

The Maze Runner by its title alone puts the maze as motif in the forefront. There are three kinds of mazes: the labyrinth, the maze and the tour puzzle. James Dashner's maze has elements of all three. The Labyrinth : The labyrinth has its roots in the Cretan myth of King Minos and the Minotaur. Daedelus built the labyrinth to hold the minotaur. He was kept in the center of the structure where he couldn't escape. Anyone who entered the structure ran the risk of being killed by the Minotaur. A true labyrinth has one path that starts on the outside and ends in the center. Here we get our first pieces of the The Maze Runner : The teens arrive in the center of the maze. They live there in an area they call the Glade. Although they can explore the maze, at night they must return to the center. While there are dangers in the maze itself at night (Grievers and the moving walls), by being housed in the center of it all, they are symbolically minotaurs. These teens are in so...