masterghandalf

Embers

By Vathara

Alternate Title: The Legend of Zuko or In Place of an Avatar You Shall Have a Fire Prince, And All Shall Love Him And Despair
SPORKER: MasterGhandalf

SUMMARY

While on the run in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko and Iroh rediscover a long-lost firebending technique – fire healing. Thus Zuko will find himself set on a journey that will challenge his perceptions of who he is and what fire as an element is capable of in ways that will put him on a very different path compared to that of his canonical self. At the same time, it will turn out that almost everything everyone thought they knew about the Fire Nation, the true history of the Avatarverse, and what’s actually at stake in the Hundred-Year War is at best woefully incomplete and often completely wrong, as the author does not hesitate to share her opinions about the plot, characters and setting of the original show at very great length, while adding lots and lots of new characters and worldbuilding of her own. The result is either, depending on who you ask, a brilliant piece of literature that shines a completely new light on the original show while deepening the setting and characters and raising legitimately compelling ideas and moral issues… or a bloated mess that wears its biases on its sleeves, flaunts research that mostly just serves to prop up the things that the author wanted to talk about already, and ends up being more of an insult than a tribute to the original show and its characters and contains some disturbingly pro-imperialist views. Which take is more accurate? Let’s take a journey together and find out!

( ”Introduction” )

( Table of Contents )

Batman: Odyssey

By Neal Adams

Alternate Title: Sing of the Storm-Tossed Bat, O Muse or Even The Author Admits He Can’t Tell You What This One’s About, So How Can I Be Expected To?
SPORKER: MasterGhandalf

SUMMARY

In the 2000s, a celebrated comic book creator made his return to Batman, a character he was once considered responsible for reinvigorating. Initially met with much rejoicing from the fandom, the mood turned sour when the actual limited series was delivered and proved to be a poorly written, confusing, barely coherent tale that seemed to be less about Batman, and more about the author’s various hangups. The ensuing series would go down in history as an object of mockery, epitomizing so-bad-it’s-good, and serving as a profound illustration of how even once beloved creators sometimes go completely off the rails. No, we’re not talking about Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin today. This is the other unhinged Batman limited series from a once beloved creator: Neal Adams’ Batman: Odyssey. And it is a trip, in more ways than one.



( Introduction )

( Table of Contents )

Elminster in Myth Drannor

By Ed Greenwood

Alternate Title: Elminster in the City of Fanservice or A Game of Elves
SPORKER: MasterGhandalf

SUMMARY

Having overthrown the Magelords who ruled his homeland of Athalantar, Elminster has been sent by Mystra on a new mission – travel to the elven kingdom of Cormanthor, there to study the elves’ magic, and eventually to fulfil some unexplained role the goddess intends for him. When he gets there… well, we will get to that plot, eventually. But in the meantime, there’s going to be a whole, whole lot Greenwood’s loving descriptions of scantily clad elves and Elminster thwarting constant assassination attempts, and by the end we’ll probably all be so heartily sick of Cormanthor we’ll be wondering why anyone even wants to save it in the first place. Also, the appropriateness of the book’s title is… debatable. All of this and more awaits in the second installment of the Elminster Trilogy, if you dare…



( Introduction )

( Table of Contents )