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There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But this is a beginning.
Excuse me while I do my dance, I’ve been waiting for this day since the first time I picked up Eye of the World, back in the early 90’s. I’ve been patiently re-reading the books, writing about my love of WOT in past articles, and we are finally here. Today is WOT-day, the day Prime Video unleashes what I think will be the best rendering of a high fantasy series ever. Not the best small screen rendering, the best PERIOD.
I think Wheel of Time will supplant Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and make you forget about anything else on the horizon. There are scenes in the Wheel of Time that make Helms Deep look like a day trip to a spa (looking at you Dumai’s Wells) But I get it, you’re skeptical. LOTR was a franchise and Game of Thrones broke your heart, but fear not beloved. I will tell you henceforth 3 reasons why the Wheel of Time series will go down as the GOAT.
1. The Books are Already Finished
Let’s be honest, the biggest problems with Game of Thrones really didn’t pop up until we got to the end of the series. Some of the best parts in the book translated perfectly into the television series. The (yet again) death of Sean Bean, The Red Wedding, Joeffry’s Murder, the Trial by Combat between Floyd Mayweather and Shaquille O’Neil, all great moments. They were great moments because they were lifted, in some cases, word by word from the books.
But it’s not exactly a moment in courage to take the stance that the last few seasons was a bit of a letdown. I’ve seen a lot of online speculation as to why that was, but I think the biggest reason was that the books weren’t done. For season after season the producers of Game of Thrones had a detailed road map to work from. Then all of the sudden in the last few season the wi-fi went out, the signal got lost, there was no books and they found themselves on the part of the map that says, ”HERE BE MONSTERS.” They had no more road map and thus had to rely upon themselves and from all accounts they had an unearned confidence in their own ability to wrap this story up.
Wheel of Time, on the other hand, is done, finished, THE END. There will be no speculation as to how things are supposed to be. The road map is crystal clear. The wi-fi is strong. We aren’t going to have a situation where the author of the books says “yeahhhh their ending was different than mine“. But I know what your asking, what happens is the show runners decide to call an audible and change stuff up at the line of scrimmage. Well, that leads me to point number 2.
2. HARRIET AIN’T HAVING IT
Harriet Popham McDougal Rigney, 1st of her name, Protector of the Realm, Warden of the Wheel, Keeper of the Flame is not here to play games with y’all. And if you don’t know who that is, let me educate you. Harriet Rigney is a Gawd tier editor in the genre. She’s worked on Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Sanderson’s Way of Kings and the legendary Black Company series by the godfather of grimdark himself Glen Cook. She was the editor for the Wheel of Time series and by the way she’s also Robert Jordan’s widow.
For those new to the series, Robert Jordan is the author/Gawd of the Wheel of Time, who passed away right before the series ended. Harriet, has been rightfully protective of his legacy, and I think she will be protective of Robert Jordan in the same way that George R.R. Martin wasn’t protective of himself. Harriet owns the rights of the Wheel of Time, and this was Jordan’s magnum opus. This was his gift to the world. All of the evidence we have tells us she is meticulous with WOT.
After Jordan’s death, she carefully picked Brandon Sanderson who immediately showed why he was a great pick by re-reading the entire series and giving us updates on his thoughts as he went along. Sanderson ended up writing the last 3 books in the series, (using Jordan’s notes), and he did a phenomenal job. So, we don’t have to guess at what Harriet will do. We’ve seen what she’s done, and we already know how much she cares for and values the Wheel of Time. She will not allow cowboys disguised as producers run ragged all over Jordan’s legacy. In the words of Suge Knight, there won’t be any producers, singing, rapping all over the record, and they won’t be quoted in embarrassing tweets saying things like, “I don’t know why George R.R. Martin trusted us with his life’s work.”
3. Diversity
Not the, “Let’s build up a Black character to murder them ruthlessly,” diversity. Not the “You got locked in a vault or thrown off the palace walls,” diversity. Not the scene where 1000 enslaved brown folks, raise you up to the heavens and call you mommy…diversity. This is main character diversity. This is Sal finally got some brothers on the wall diversity. The kind of diversity that pisses off CPAC and makes Tucker Carlson twitch in his sleep.
Mat has always been my favorite, but I’ve always thought Perrin had the better story, was more fleshed out, had to make harder decisions. Tuon is/should/shall be a blockbuster sleeper character that steals every scene she’s in. Lan makes Aragon look like a boy scout, and I’m pretty sure Siuan Sanche is Machiavelli. Then, if you look at the rest of the main casting, people of color everywhere.
We aren’t hastily tucked into a scene, we aren’t background noise, walk-ons and extras. We are: Lan Mandragoran, the last king of Malkier, Nynaeve al’Meara, power ranger and healer extraordinaire, not to mention Loial, Padan Fain, Min, and Egwene. I can’t think of the last fantasy series that had so many high-profile people of color in MAIN roles. These aren’t tokens. They are fully fleshed out characters that have compelling arcs and great stories, and we don’t often get that in high fantasy.
So, in conclusion…there are no endings,
but come on over and give Wheel of Time a chance. I know you’ve been burned before, but this time it’s different. It’s: books finished, brown folks all over the place, you are NOT going to mess with my late husband’s legacy…different. It’s Dumai’s Wells, Bao the Wyld, Stone Dog, Maidens of the Spear…different. It’s Hunters of the Horn, Blood and Bloody ashes, Band of the Red Hand…different. And you are going to love every minute of it. Welcome to the fandom, we got plenty of room, have a seat, grab a snack and tune in to your newest obsession. “Dovie’andi se tovya sagain, time to roll the dice.
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The post 3 Reasons Why ‘Wheel of Time’ Will be Better than ‘Game of Thrones’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
There are neither beginnings or endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But this is a beginning.
Excuse me while I do my dance, I’ve been waiting for this day since the first time I picked up Eye of the World, back in the early 90’s. I’ve been patiently re-reading the books, writing about my love of WOT in past articles, and we are finally here. Today is WOT-day, the day Prime Video unleashes what I think will be the best rendering of a high fantasy series ever. Not the best small screen rendering, the best PERIOD.
I think Wheel of Time will supplant Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and make you forget about anything else on the horizon. There are scenes in the Wheel of Time that make Helms Deep look like a day trip to a spa (looking at you Dumai’s Wells) But I get it, you’re skeptical. LOTR was a franchise and Game of Thrones broke your heart, but fear not beloved. I will tell you henceforth 3 reasons why the Wheel of Time series will go down as the GOAT.
1. The Books are Already Finished
Let’s be honest, the biggest problems with Game of Thrones really didn’t pop up until we got to the end of the series. Some of the best parts in the book translated perfectly into the television series. The (yet again) death of Sean Bean, The Red Wedding, Joeffry’s Murder, the Trial by Combat between Floyd Mayweather and Shaquille O’Neil, all great moments. They were great moments because they were lifted, in some cases, word by word from the books.
But it’s not exactly a moment in courage to take the stance that the last few seasons was a bit of a letdown. I’ve seen a lot of online speculation as to why that was, but I think the biggest reason was that the books weren’t done. For season after season the producers of Game of Thrones had a detailed road map to work from. Then all of the sudden in the last few season the wi-fi went out, the signal got lost, there was no books and they found themselves on the part of the map that says, ”HERE BE MONSTERS.” They had no more road map and thus had to rely upon themselves and from all accounts they had an unearned confidence in their own ability to wrap this story up.
Wheel of Time, on the other hand, is done, finished, THE END. There will be no speculation as to how things are supposed to be. The road map is crystal clear. The wi-fi is strong. We aren’t going to have a situation where the author of the books says “yeahhhh their ending was different than mine“. But I know what your asking, what happens is the show runners decide to call an audible and change stuff up at the line of scrimmage. Well, that leads me to point number 2.
2. HARRIET AIN’T HAVING IT
Harriet Popham McDougal Rigney, 1st of her name, Protector of the Realm, Warden of the Wheel, Keeper of the Flame is not here to play games with y’all. And if you don’t know who that is, let me educate you. Harriet Rigney is a Gawd tier editor in the genre. She’s worked on Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Sanderson’s Way of Kings and the legendary Black Company series by the godfather of grimdark himself Glen Cook. She was the editor for the Wheel of Time series and by the way she’s also Robert Jordan’s widow.
For those new to the series, Robert Jordan is the author/Gawd of the Wheel of Time, who passed away right before the series ended. Harriet, has been rightfully protective of his legacy, and I think she will be protective of Robert Jordan in the same way that George R.R. Martin wasn’t protective of himself. Harriet owns the rights of the Wheel of Time, and this was Jordan’s magnum opus. This was his gift to the world. All of the evidence we have tells us she is meticulous with WOT.
After Jordan’s death, she carefully picked Brandon Sanderson who immediately showed why he was a great pick by re-reading the entire series and giving us updates on his thoughts as he went along. Sanderson ended up writing the last 3 books in the series, (using Jordan’s notes), and he did a phenomenal job. So, we don’t have to guess at what Harriet will do. We’ve seen what she’s done, and we already know how much she cares for and values the Wheel of Time. She will not allow cowboys disguised as producers run ragged all over Jordan’s legacy. In the words of Suge Knight, there won’t be any producers, singing, rapping all over the record, and they won’t be quoted in embarrassing tweets saying things like, “I don’t know why George R.R. Martin trusted us with his life’s work.”
3. Diversity
Not the, “Let’s build up a Black character to murder them ruthlessly,” diversity. Not the “You got locked in a vault or thrown off the palace walls,” diversity. Not the scene where 1000 enslaved brown folks, raise you up to the heavens and call you mommy…diversity. This is main character diversity. This is Sal finally got some brothers on the wall diversity. The kind of diversity that pisses off CPAC and makes Tucker Carlson twitch in his sleep.
Mat has always been my favorite, but I’ve always thought Perrin had the better story, was more fleshed out, had to make harder decisions. Tuon is/should/shall be a blockbuster sleeper character that steals every scene she’s in. Lan makes Aragon look like a boy scout, and I’m pretty sure Siuan Sanche is Machiavelli. Then, if you look at the rest of the main casting, people of color everywhere.
We aren’t hastily tucked into a scene, we aren’t background noise, walk-ons and extras. We are: Lan Mandragoran, the last king of Malkier, Nynaeve al’Meara, power ranger and healer extraordinaire, not to mention Loial, Padan Fain, Min, and Egwene. I can’t think of the last fantasy series that had so many high-profile people of color in MAIN roles. These aren’t tokens. They are fully fleshed out characters that have compelling arcs and great stories, and we don’t often get that in high fantasy.
So, in conclusion…there are no endings,
but come on over and give Wheel of Time a chance. I know you’ve been burned before, but this time it’s different. It’s: books finished, brown folks all over the place, you are NOT going to mess with my late husband’s legacy…different. It’s Dumai’s Wells, Bao the Wyld, Stone Dog, Maidens of the Spear…different. It’s Hunters of the Horn, Blood and Bloody ashes, Band of the Red Hand…different. And you are going to love every minute of it. Welcome to the fandom, we got plenty of room, have a seat, grab a snack and tune in to your newest obsession. “Dovie’andi se tovya sagain, time to roll the dice.
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The post 3 Reasons Why ‘Wheel of Time’ Will be Better than ‘Game of Thrones’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Seriously, y’all…we should really be paying attention to Radiant Black. Image Comics has been making the rounds in the past decade or so, rebranding as a mainstream launching pad for indie titles, many of which have gone on to become new classics or get optioned for movie/tv deals. So, it was really only a matter of time before they wanted to stake their claim again in the superhero genre as it has become a cornerstone in modern day Hollywood.
We’ve seen superheroes team up, inspire and even break the fourth wall a la Bugs Bunny. And for the most part, it’s been a lucrative venture. But it’s time for heroes to start breaking the molds again and subverting the status quo. The Invincible animated series is a pretty good retelling of Robert Kirkman’s epic comic saga, but certain parts are clearly dated and can’t get around the Walking Dead writer’s storytelling flaws. Watchmen’s resurgence on and off screen has been welcome, but the various retcons and time jumps are a reminder that Alan Moore’s work hasn’t all aged well in terms of race and gender politics. All of this isn’t necessarily to imply that Radiant Black has taken the throne as Invincible’s successor in a mere ten issues, but it’s been long enough since a comic of its ilk came along that it deserves to be watched.
In fact, Radiant Black reads more like Invincible‘s descendant, breaking Kirkman’s generational curses, improving upon the predecessor through risky narratives. Instead of the “son improving upon the father” trope, Kyle Higgins rips apart the “chosen one” narrative with his tale of a down on his luck writer discovering a mysterious power source that allows him to access a suit of great, otherworldly power. Now, I’m supposed to explain to you how this guy uses his unique imagination and boundless optimism to master his powers and ascend to greatness, but he gets his ass kicked and ends up comatose. And with the power passing onto his equally unlucky but ambitious-to-a-fault best friend Marshall, our hero (whether we like it or not) discovers that he’s not the only one out there and that his world is about to get bigger than he’d imagined.
Radiant Black takes the “irreverent superhero” genre and delivers a swift, much-needed kick to its nethers with a hero that is hard to like even at his most relatable. And make no mistake, his frustrations are understandable at times. Whereas Mark, the main character in Invincible, starts out searching for his own greatness instead of settling for the shadow of his father’s….Marshall is a Millennial just searching for some sense of purpose and dignity. He’s very aware he’s not living up to his potential, but he’s just as aware of that partially being because of the way the world is. As the story goes on and we learn more about this guy, Higgins (perhaps unknowingly) taps into a frustration shared by many real people left in the pandemic’s wake. And yet, though he isn’t exactly giving us T’Challa levels of virtue, he ultimately seems driven by his need to do right by his friend’s good name when he could be using his newfound secret identity to run up the price of Bitcoin or sell Pop dolls.
The book’s total worth is yet to be seen, but from what we’ve been given to work with in a mere ten issues, it’s setting itself up to be the standard bearer of this generation’s “hero’s burden.” Superhero comics are the modern-day fables and myths of the western world, the funhouse mirror image of what our world would look like guided by unlimited hope and imagination….and so far, Radiant Black is a fable speaking up for its time.
Cover image via comicsbeat.com
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The post Not Even A Year Old, ‘Radiant Black’ Wants to Be the Irreverent Voice of a Generation So Bad appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writers: Stephanie Williams and Vita Ayala / Artists: Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, and Emilio Lopez / DC Comics
Nubia & The Amazons #2 continues to bring the heat to Themyscira!
When some inhabitants of the island doubt the validity of Nubia’s fast rise to Queen, our favorite Amazon has to put it all to rest by showing everyone that she’s got the best hands this side of the Bermuda Triangle, and if anyone wants the smoke, they are more than welcome to come and get some.
Nubia & The Amazons is really about Nubia & The Amazons. I know that sounds silly, but I enjoy that we get to spend time with other characters on Themyscira just as equally as we do with Nubia. This is a book about expansion, and I think just two issues in, it’s doing a really good job of fleshing out the nuances of Amazonian culture, society, and norms.
My favorite part of this issue was without a doubt the Victor’s Circle. It’s another one of the areas/customs of Themysciran life that we are getting a deep lesson on. In issue one, it was The Well of Souls. This time around, it’s the Victor’s Circle.
Basically, the Victor’s Circle is a place that’s known mostly by heresy where Amazons can go to blow off steam or resolve issues by way of physical combat. Someone clown your sandals in front of your crush? Settle it in the Victor’s Circle. Your best friend stole your favorite headband? Settle it in the Victor’s Circle. Basically, it’s where you go to either beat somebody’s ass, or get your ass beat, and then move on from whatever problem there may have been that led you there.
Nubia pays the Victor’s Circle a visit when she hears words of doubt about her rise to Queen. So instead of talking a nice talk to try and convince people of her intent, she walks the walk, going to the Victor’s Circle to prove her worth with her own hands. How can we not stan?
10 Snapped Arms out of 10
Enjoying Nubia & the Amazons? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
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Writer: Kieron Gillen / Artist: Esad Ribic / Marvel Comics
In the wake of their hit movie, it’s only fitting that the Eternals have such a good run in the comics. Kieron Gillen is crafting a thoughtful, fleshed out Dune-esque mythology around these celestial demigods that, were it promoted better, could rival the audacious world building that Jonathan Hickman delivered with his new X-Men direction.
Eternals #7 begins a bold new story arc that sees the lion’s share of Eternals seeking a new way to live, tired of their never-ending conflict with the Deviants. The road to peace is complicated by the potential price for coexistence with their longtime nemesis. Meanwhile, some Eternals seek answers, others seek forgiveness in the human world, others plot and scheme….and then there’s Thanos. In an era of pop culture when the Mad Titan has basically become a household name, Gillen has given this Big Bad a new lease on life within the pages of Eternals. There’s something so refreshingly fun about how Thanos just shows up, stomps any situation into a meaty paste and moves on about his business like he just checked his email.
Gillen’s greatest accomplishment with this book is how he balances a rather large cast of characters without allowing their voices to get lost. Everyone in this book has a distinct sense of personality that makes them distinctive in every scene. This seems like it shouldn’t be such a big deal but not every comic accomplishes this. Meanwhile, Esad Ribic is the glue that really brings these big ideas and dynamic characters together in epic scenes that just wouldn’t work the same without his attention to detail and ability to make every panel interesting in its own way. The color palette and sense of scope in Eternals #7 make all of these characters look and feel as legendary as they deserve.
Bottom Line: Eternals is getting a run that truly reflect their becoming marquee characters thanks to the film. The diverse, distinctive cast of characters and conflicting motivations make for the kind of fleshed out story longtime fans and new readers will drool over.
8.5 Josh Brolin monologues out of 10
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