20220530 - Review: Seconds

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Finding better worlds,\ replacing others with shrooms, \ abandoning life.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Seconds

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Enjoyed reading Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Seconds” over the course of a day. April owns the physical copy which is immaculate in publication quality, and we share a bit of a bond over reading Scott Pilgrim together. “Seconds” follows Katie, a chef who helped establish the titular restaurant, who was struggling to get her own restaurant “Lucky’s” off the ground and had resorted to walking around while tripping on red mushrooms that had the ability to remedy any one specific issue within Seconds. Katie was able to see house spirits, like Liz, but she often ignored their demands.

“They change things, Hazel.”

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s writing and art style formed a whimsical setting that tackled challenging and dark adult themes. Katie learned to deal with moving on from a past success that was owned by someone else, with wanting to fast track her next project, with giving up control while allowing others to handle her worries and desires. At its core, “Seconds” is about dealing with one’s problems instead of wishing them away.

“Don’t you want to try?”

Consequences become worse every time Katie takes a mushroom to redo an issue she has with Seconds, where the effects are incurred by the book’s side cast including Seconds waitress Hazel, Katie’s ex-boyfriend Max, Seconds manager Raymond, Lucky’s business partner Arthur, and Katie’s current-fling Andrew, among other background characters, where Katie’s reactions to these effects act as the catalysts for the plot’s constant forward motion.

Other-Katies were abandoning their worlds in the same manner that Katie was changing hers. The witch was, spoiler alert, another house spirit taken from Lucky’s who mirrored Katie’s story; consuming others' worlds in place of their own. Liz and the house spirits symbolize how one must take care of their house, how ignoring one house was unable to substitute another and how using substances of any kind to ignore one’s issues affects those in one’s life.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

... Updated 221015 

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

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Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads, to share what we read with each other: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

Have been looking for other free kindle books to read, ones that are only free for a day or so, so if you have an ebook on Kindle feel free to share them and I'll download!

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

... updated 22 09 05 

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These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection. Stay tuned to HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair, via our emailing list and social media, for mindful meditation haiku / scifaiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories, such as the superhero inspired sci-fi "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited): https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

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April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Where Giants Grow : https://open.spotify.com/track/3EsjL7Fsu8YYBnzxFgYPwB

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Together in Forever Part III is available to read as a digital ebook on Amazon Kindle! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/07/20220726-loves-eclipse-together-in.html

Read on any device at https://read.amazon.com or on your Kindle device/app!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add it to my Goodreads!!
 

...

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads. “Hector Blake” is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: https://haikuprajna.medium.com - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! 

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Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? 

Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html  

If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers!

20220507 - FCBD 2022

 

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#HAIKUPRAJNA -

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Happy Free Comic Book Day! May update this post later with a haiku. Was wishing to find a few others like Bloodborne, but I'm happy nonetheless. Support your LCS!

April and I also picked up this cutie that she named Tomothy.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20220429 - Review: House of M

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Chaos magicians \ decimate reality \ piecing their psyche.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: House of M

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“YOU’VE DESTROYED EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!! AND YOU USED MY NAME TO DO IT!!”

Been reading Brian Michael Bendis’s “New Avengers”, and the “House of M” event completed an arc that took readers through “Avengers: Disassembled” and “Secret War” to set up future storylines like “Secret Invasion” and “AvX”. (Perfect timing with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!)

This limited series had the X-Men crossover with the Avengers to deal with the Maximoff family, and includes all the cinematic style that one expects from Bendis’s Avengers. The heroes wake up to find themselves living different lives. One moment, they were looking for the Scarlet Witch, and the next they had forgotten their old pasts. History had been rewritten. Wolverine was the only one who remembered, so he managed to meet his old allies along with Layla Miller, a mutant child who restored Emma Frost’s memories before restoring everyone else’s. 

I enjoyed the interactions between characters like Spider-man, Doc Strange, Wolverine and Luke Cage. Everyone was given an altered version of their lives to cope with. Though, core members of the New Avengers and the Marvel Universe were sidelined in the main story, including a reimagined Fantastic Four and a retired veteran Captain America. This, however, gave other plots more room to breathe. Some of these stories are visited in tie-ins with good twists, a highlight includes Peter Parker waking up and remembering a shadow life with Gwen and Uncle Ben that he was now forced to live with.

“... No more mutants.”

Wanda Maximoff's tragic story comes to a climax, forcing her to deal with the reality of her children being taken away from her, along with the guilt of abusing her powers. After losing the children she made using Mephisto’s magic, which led to her causing the deaths of the Vision among other Avengers, Charles Xaiver was failing to repair her shattered psyche. Wanda’s reality altering abilities made her mental breakdown all the more dangerous for those she cared about. Professor X and Magneto had found themselves at their wit’s ends. The portrayal of loss and the inability to move on past traumatic heartbreak were the best parts of this event; though, as these deaths are later reversed, the only guilt Wanda would carry would be over the shame of acting out, but these losses nonetheless carry the heroes of the Marvel Universe toward goals of overcoming trauma and abuse. The idea and world of HoM had potential to play around in, but it was over almost as fast as it began.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

...

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads.

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20220408 - Review: Black Cat (2020)

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Borrowing relics. \ Stealing the hearts of the lost. \ Finding destiny.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Black Cat (2020)

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"I've always wanted to fly one of these things!"

Jed MacKay’s Black Cat run has been great so far, and the 2020 series was little exception. (Side note on MacKay, he has credits for TV Ontario programs such as Polka Dot Door and Elliot Moose! What a nostalgic childhood connection.)

The volumes contain tie ins and set-ups for Infinity Stone and Venom events, but that was the reason I stumbled into this run, though, and these stories had made me check out the rest of the writer's work. (Check out my King in Black review! https://medium.com/haikuprajna/haikuprajna-review-king-in-black-ff55857758ec) 

The series managed to retain Felicia's overall character arc and even revisited past traumas related to the events. Highlights included Felicia rehabilitating the wayward while staying true to her character, good use of the Spider-mobile, Doctor Strange and the ghost dog that Spider-Man met, and forms of Agent Anti-venom and Asgardian goddesses. The main issues of this volume continue the mystic mayhem with a deal involving the property of Manhattan before closing into another event, but these stories were enough to interest me in plots I otherwise was uninterested in.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

...updated 20221013 ...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

Banner: The Cannon by Allen W. McLean

Readers can follow HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair via our emailing lists (on Medium, Patreon, LinkedIn and more) for mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry based on book reviews and on previews of metaphysical stories such as "Escape Perennial City" (available on Kindle Unlimited); as a free gift, all readers get an Amazon Kindle ebook short story every week on Free Fridays--selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email to collect them all! https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

Thanks to you, over 500 followers have joined us on Medium! If anyone reading this needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me (and sign up for emails!) and I'll follow you back!

Leave a comment with books you would like to see reviewed and I will add them to my Goodreads!!

Always open to reading book recommendations. Looking forward to adding new friends on Goodreads, to share what we read with each other: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

Have been looking for other free kindle books to read, ones that are only free for a day or so, so if you have an ebook on Kindle feel free to share them and I'll download!

April's latest psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms.

Electric Armchair - Living Ghosts (FULL ALBUM): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/living-ghosts

"Tomothy and the Overseer of the Forest" is available as an eBook through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read right now with Kindle Unlimited! www.haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/tomothy-and-overseer-of-forest.html

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device through one's web browser at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

...(Old)...

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads.

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

The current Project Roadmap has been updated with new sales. The 5W's About Me page has also been updated with the latest book release's bio.

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

20220406 - Review: Moon Knight (2014)

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The crescent protects \ travelers under the night. \ A faithful mission.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Moon Knight (2014)

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“That’s the part I like.”

This six issue Moon Knight run from Warren Ellis focused on jam packed action and stingers that sum up some of Marc's most stylish nights. 

Great examples of visual storytelling, such as the psychedelic dreamscapes of mushroom brainspores, climbing ladders through a page; among other great uses of paneling, the issues feature well placed dialogue where the story tied up the action and explained Marc's missions by the end. 

“People who love me suffer and die. I never want to be loved. That’s why I always win.” 

Marc's fear tactics, threats and actual bodily harm add to his literal “You can’t kill me” attitude. The plot bounced around between fresh settings that manage to tell a tale of personal faith, featuring a vengeful Doctor hiring people to turn Moon Knight by appealing to his multiple personalities, Khonshu turning on Marc, putting to rest a punk gang distrubed by leader’s suicide and ghost fighting relics.

Another example of a writer setting up cool things that are explored through the rest of the series by other creative teams, and I recommend their tpb volumes as well, which continue the plot threads and styled action. As one of my favorite comic characters, I recommend anything Moon Knight.

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on Medium and Goodreads.

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering? Get book previews and mindful meditation haiku \ scifaiku poetry from my metaphysical and magical realism stories (like the sci-fi superhero novel "Escape Perennial City", available on #KindleUnlimited!) sent to your inbox for free Alchemic Wisdom from @electricarmchair and @haikuprajna via the emailing list over here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html 

April's latest psychedelic music, videos, art and poetry available on all streaming platforms: Electric Armchair - Feast of Fools 

https://album.link/y/OLAK5uy_mwn2Kg_wXCjcg4TWf12bBrG0m_unVlZUM

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices, and with Kindle Unlimited; previews and more: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

Every week, you can collect an ebook on Free Fridays! Selection rotates every few weeks; collect them all! "Hector Blake" is also free to read online alongside book reviews and articles: 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/03/20220323-hector-blake-second-edition.html

The current Project Roadmap has been updated with new sales. The 5W's About Me page has also been updated with the latest book release's bio.

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! Thanks to you guys, I've reached 100 followers! #MediumWriter #Medium

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

20220226 - Review: Superman and the Authority

Ultra-Humanite\ a team together by hope,\ the good in people.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Superman and the Authority

Superman and the Authority was a fun, but short-lived, four-issue limited series by Grant Morrison and Mikael Jannín, which was supposed to lead through the 5G DC comics event, according to Morrison's Substack, but instead fed into Future State and Action Comics.

Each issue followed mini stories about the members of Superman's Authority, starting with an aging Super-dad dealing with stresses like Phantom Zone incursions and the guilt of JFK’s assassination, and who has started losing his powers and thus has begun assembling a team to replace them, which is a topic symbolized and explored through enemies like Ultra-Humanite in Solomon Grundy’s body.

"You miss a lot when you only look for the good in people."

Filled with concepts that fans will love, like a Supes versus Brainiac chess shadowboxing of sorts with opposing Authority teams, workouts powering electric treadmill generators, Lois Lane supporting Superman, a sentient datacosmos with wifi consciousness that was "scared" of the people they used as bridges to make trolls and edgelords out of the structural order of matter itself, and a fragment of the source-wall from the bleed; may be almost too self referential with callbacks and allusions to Kandor, Clark and Lois's son, and Kryptonite secrets that are probably all (or were) set ups for other stories.

"We all make mistakes. Every moment's a fresh opportunity to do something you can be proud of! We're still here for you, June!"

This series uses meta humour about forming teams, as well as its entire four issue run, to compose the Authority with Manchester Black, Nat Steel, the Enchantress, Apollo, Midnighter, Lightray and a new OMAC. This was all setup for a story in Action Comics, where this story's merit lies in villains being turned into heroes dealing with their mental issues, in the heroes and their relationships and in trying to make unfortunate situations better.

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page, including my Goodreads Years in Review (add me as a friend!): https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

If anyone reading this has a Medium account and needs followers to stay in the Medium Partner Program, I am asking you to please follow me and I'll follow you back! 

"Fishing for Caribou" ebook is $0.99 from 0228-0307! Previews are available on the Kindle store and Medium, which can be found through the following link, please check it out: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/02/20220212-message-of-wisps-fishing-for.html

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read with Kindle Unlimited:

 https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

For bite-sized insights into this metaphysical magic realism story, including excerpts straight from the book plus more from HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair like free reading promotions on books, please follow us online or subscribe to our free newsletter: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

20220209 - Review: Batman and Robin (2009)

 

Ideas brought to life.\ A new dynamic duo,\ a shared legacy.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Batman and Robin (2009)

"With me, it's all in the timing."

Had started catching up on modern Batman comics, and Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin was part of this backlog; I've read from Final Crisis through Snyder's run into Rebirth, including this series in full, and though this review focuses on issues 1-6 I hope this reflects my views of the rest of Grant's run on the title, too (may write another review later on, but I may just opt for that kind of review in the future, or some other situational approach).

These stories follow Richard Grayson’s tenure as the caped crusader, a sort of Year One for this dynamic duo, where Dick takes on not only his adoptive father's literal legacy, but also the physical embodiment of that legacy in Bruce's son, Damian, with their sibling relationship being core to the series; through solid advice and wholesome banter, the duo are presented as equals rather than mentor and apprentice, as Dick gives positive reinforcement along with critiques in order to win Damian’s respect while, with Alfred’s guidance, teaching each other how to transform the legacy of another into a legend of your own, without coming off as an imitation.

"... I've always known what I'd do if… if anything ever happened to Bruce. I just didn't want to face it. This was my worst, worst nightmare when I was a kid. This is what kept me awake at 3.30am. As long as I was Nightwing I could pretend I'd never have to take over as Batman…" 

Gotham believing Batman and Robin to be dead provided the perfect environment to show the dynamic duo embodying their own legacy by being ideas come to life, where everything from the imagery to the villain’s plots was centred on this metaphysical theme. One example comes in the form of Pyg’s sick character, who schemes to spread an “aerosol narcotic” to spread addiction “like a flu” in order to infect not only an individual’s system, but the whole of Gotham.

"Batman and Robin will never die, Damian."

The philosophy of ideas has a bit to do with immortality, at least in terms of causality or time, so the plotlines with Jason Todd questioning Richard about the ethics of leaving Bruce dead in a world of Lazarus Pits and other resurrection-means were an interesting segue toward stories like The Return of Bruce Wayne and Blackest Night which involve Tim Drake’s search for Bruce, who is believed to be lost in the past; I decided part-way through outlining this to cover Morrison’s run of B&R in this review, so I’ll mention how Volumes 2 and 3 go over arcs with Slade versus Richard, Talia abusing Damian, a dead Batman clone where Batwoman dies, a Joker story, and the perfect transition into (from?) The Return of Bruce Wayne, which sets up Batman Inc, both fantastic stories by Morrison; Volume 4 of Batman and Robin (Vol. 1 or 2009, as the series had another go during New 52) from Paul Cornell, Peter J. Tomasi and Judd Winick is great, too, and highly recommended. 

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

Check out #MyYearInBooks @goodreads to discover the books I read in 2021! Add me as a friend! https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2021/83965332 

"Fishing for Caribou" eBook, paperback and hardcover are available through Amazon Kindle apps and devices; read with Kindle Unlimited: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

For bite-sized insights into this metaphysical magic realism story, including excerpts straight from the book plus more from HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair like free reading promotions on books, please follow us online: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html

"Fishing for Caribou" ebook will be $0.99 from 0211-0218 (Updated: 0228-0307)! Read my project roadmap and learn more about our current promotion dates here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2022/01/20210106-haikuprajna-project-roadmap.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

20210907 - Comic Book Review - King in Black

Inherit darkness,\ despair is symbiotic,\ light the force of life.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: King in Black

"Dylan, isn't your cat a symbiote?"

King in Black caps off the Venom saga by Donny Cates. I am a fan of all the things in this event; I like Cates's writing and have enjoyed seeing his stuff appear in other Marvel books; I enjoy Ryan Stegman's Spider-Man art; even got behind the nihilistic God of all Darkness and EVIL that was Knull and the concept of creator versus Venom-symbiotes (which I am think are all dragons now?); It was cool, in an issue Tony Stark technomancies a dragon and pilots a symbiote Celestial.

"Luckily... That's exactly why I invented Extremis."

But the tie-ins and prequels were much more fun to read, Black Cat's tie-in and even Absolute Carnage were both better examples of the whole symbiote craze of the past few years. Heroes job to Knull while Venom gives a depressive monologue to nobody about how it's all hopeless and that the heroes stand no chance while Knull sweeps them until they Captain Universe the problem away (wait, is this Spider… Geddon? It's a trope at this point.)

"The Enigma Force... Solved."

This story has a lot of heart, the elements are sound, and even the peripheral stories are good but these pieces fail to come together in the main books for King in Black.

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

Add me as a friend on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

"Escape Perennial City" eBook, paperback and hardcover are now available through Amazon and on Kindle apps and devices, read with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099C5LJ6W

More bite-sized insights into this metaphysical superhero novel can be found in the link at the top of the page, including excerpts straight from the book: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/escape-perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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20210822 - Review: "Edge of Spider-Verse"

The idea of webs,/ woven through the multiverse./ Inheritors feast.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: "Edge of Spider-Verse"

"Edge of Spider-verse" is a tie-in to one of Dan Slott's big Spider-Man events. These are five cool stories which unfortunately end too soon because of the event. Some acted as launches for more appearances, but most were just one-shots. My power-ranking of the five stories are as follows:

. "SP//dr" by Gerard Way

. "Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman" by Jason Latour

. "Spider-Man Noir" by David Hine

. "I Walked With a Spider!" by Clay McLeod Chapman

. "Aaron Aikman The Spider-Man" by Dustin Weaver

This book was a gift, and all five were fine stories, but Way's SP//dr stood out to me the most, with Gwen and Noir following close behind; "Walked" was fun, too, and saved itself from last place with its lack of exposition, unlike Aikman.

Source: Edge of Spider-Verse #5

Add me as a friend on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

"Escape Perennial City" eBook, paperback and hardcover are now available through Amazon and on Kindle apps and devices, read with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099C5LJ6W

More bite-sized insights into this metaphysical superhero novel can be found in the link at the top of the page, including excerpts straight from the book: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/escape-perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

For more bite-sized insights from HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair, including free reading promotions on books, please subscribe by email or follow on social media: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html

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20210727 - Review: "Final Crisis"

Embodied ideas\ outraced the death that is life\ "I AM THE NEW GOD"

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: "Final Crisis"

I had read "Final Crisis" earlier in the pandemic as my first stop in a Grant Morrison Batman-binge through to the "Convergence" storyline. In this 2008 comic book event, Morrison explores Plato and Plotinus's theory of ideas to define god-consciousness in the form of the anti-life equation, and through Superheroes as the embodiment of ideas. 

A New God is found dead; superhumans are drafted to fix the mess; Darkseid hijacks the internet, turns humanity into a repeater for anti-life and submits the Earth to wage slavery and an eternal holocaust; heroes like Wonder Woman are possessed by just cognizing anti-life with Darkseid as their hive-mind self. Packed with great moments; the ultimate evil plan was achieved, all ideas and concepts including death, space and time are folded into a singular form, Darkseid, who proclaims "I AM THE NEW GOD"; Superman being the literal "enemy of all existence"; Lasso of truth chained the god of evil, bound his body, reverts everyone without hurting them; age of men as gods; Superman using the miracle machine (which "turns thoughts into things") to wish for the best, for a happy ending.

The good guys win in the end by outracing The All which is Darkseid because "Flash Fact" time stops at lightspeed. "Final Crisis" is a fantastic story that conveys its philosophy well through DC's cast, and closes with Bruce Wayne making Batman an idea to be passed down from paleolithic times into the modern age.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4143035111

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

"Escape Perennial City" eBook, paperback and hardcover are now available through Amazon and on Kindle apps and devices, read with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099C5LJ6W

More bite-sized insights into this Metaphysical Superhero novel can be found in the link at the top of the page, including excerpts straight from the book!

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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20210627 Review - Spider-Man: Identity Crisis [Updated 20220817]

...

Underneath the masks\ Mistaken identities\ The true hero shines

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Spider-Man: Identity Crisis

...

The last trade paperback comic book that I read this month was "Spider-Man: Identity Crisis". The introduction explains that Spider-Man has been framed by Norman Osborn for murder, so Peter takes on four separate hero identities in order to find out which C-list villain is guilty and to clear the Spider-Man name. 

Difficult to rate this tpb because it collects issues from four Spider-Man series (Spider-Man, Sensational, Amazing and Spectacular) with individual stories that are supposed to be happening at the same time, but because of a number different writers (J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Wieringo, Glenn Greenberg, Jeph York, Tom Defalco, Howard Mackie and Todd Dezago) they feel nearly unrelated. I thought that the art was great from pencilers Joe Bennett, John Romita Jr., Mike Wieringo and Luke Ross. Can be a fun read for true fans of the character, as these stories cast a light on what makes Peter Parker able to carry out the individual heroics of his identities--including the webbed red-and-blue. I am currently reading the classic Lee/Ditko ASM now from #1, after having read other events like Maximum Carnage and Venom.

The poems that are based on my Goodreads reviews will be featured in a future edition of The HaikuPrajna Collection. More poems and reviews about what I'm reading can be found through the tags in the sidebar, and on my Goodreads profile (add me as a friend!): https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

"SM-SARA, Poems and Other Stories", the latest HaikuPrajna Collection, is available on Amazon in Paperback and on Kindle Unlimited [UPDATED 20220817: https://www.amazon.ca/SM-SARA-Poems-Stories-HaikuPrajna-Collection-ebook/dp/B08XYK5DCD/ OLD]: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08Y3XFSH5

Information can be found in the link at the top of the page, along with more poetry and stories to read like "Hector Blake"!

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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...

Updated 2022 08 17 

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20210527 Review - "The Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt"

 

Fearful symmetry\ in the forests of the night.\ Immortal hand-eye.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - The Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt

Will be adding more comic trade paperbacks to my reviews, starting with "Kraven's Last Hunt" by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck, which collects six issues across three Spider-Man series ("Amazing", "Web of" and "Spectacular"). 

Literary symbolism plays a key role within the plot; to understand and become his prey, Kraven uses mysticism to consume a representation of whoever he's hunting, which he also uses to consume his prey in fear. Kraven consumes and becomes the idea of the Spider in order to overcome the Spider's fear of being consumed by or being seen as Vermin. In the end, when he has "bested' Peter by proving himself to be the superior Spider, Kraven himself knows he had failed in being a better "Spider-Man", as even Mary-Jane knew right away that he was not Peter. Peter won against Kraven in the same symmetrical way, consuming a superior "Spider", in order to overcome his own mortal terrors.

The poems that are based on my Goodreads reviews will be featured in a future edition of The HaikuPrajna Collection. More poems and reviews about what I'm reading can be found through the tags in the sidebar, and on my Goodreads profile (add me as a friend!): https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

"SM-SARA, Poems and Other Stories", the latest HaikuPrajna Collection, is available on Amazon in Paperback and on Kindle Unlimited:  https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08Y3XFSH5

Information can be found in the link at the top of the page, along with more poetry and stories to read like "Hector Blake"!

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

To read new poems in your inbox, and for more bite-sized insights from HaikuPrajna and Electric Armchair, please subscribe by email or follow on social media!

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