Guardians of the Galaxy – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Thu, 02 Dec 2021 16:38:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Guardians of the Galaxy – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Guardians of the Galaxy – Nerds on Earth false episodic Guardians of the Galaxy – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Guardians of the Galaxy – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ What New Character Might Be Introduced in the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special? https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/12/new-character-guardians-of-the-galaxy-holiday-special/ Thu, 09 Dec 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=37545

James Gunn confirmed he'll be introducing one of his favorite Marvel characters in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday special. But which character?

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James Gunn set off Nerds on Earth’s speculometer when he dropped this tasty morsel:

So, who might this most greatest of all Marvel characters be, if it isn’t Santa himself, an Omega-level mutant, or Adam Warlock, who is already cast and confirmed to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3? Well, below are 7 guesses.

#7 Pip the Troll

Maybe Gunn wasn’t aware that Pip the Troll would be introduced in a 2021 post-credits scene. If so, maybe Pip the Troll was the character that Gunn was referring to. A troll isn’t exactly an elf, but it’s pretty not at all close to one of Santa’s helpers and would be perfect for a zany holiday special.

Pip the Troll, of course, is a Marvel character that goes way back and has strong ties to Adam Warlock, who is already confirmed to appear in GotG 3, so maybe Gunn’s thinking is the special will give Pip some more screen in anticipation of the movie.

#6 Howard the Duck

Maybe Gunn as a different interpretation of the word “introducing,” as Howard the Duck has already had a cameo in GotG. But maybe Gunn simply meant he would be receiving more screen time in the Holiday Special. It’s not implausible.

Howard the Duck has already had an ill-fated 80s movie made about him. Maybe Gunn wants start with that cameo and rehabilitate the character with the upcoming special. Lea Thompson was not available for comment.

#5 Cosmo

Cosmo the Spacedog is Marvel’s finest work and I’ll defend that opinion to the death. Cosmo is a telepathic Soviet dog who became the chief of security at Knowhere, the space station created inside the severed head of a decapitated Celestial, before he eventually became a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Read that above sentence again and try to tell me James Gunn wouldn’t get excited about that.

Cosmo has also appeared in a cameo in GotG, but just like Pip the Troll and Howard the Duck, maybe Gunn simply meant that the Holiday Special would be a place where the character got significant screen time.

#4 Impossible Man

OK, this is a character that hasn’t appeared in a MCU cameo, nor have there even been rumors about his possible inclusion in the MCU. I just wanted to prove to you that I can pull wild guesses out of thin air like proper Internet commentary is contractually obligated to do.

Impossible Man goes back to Fantastic Four #11, then made occasional appearances during what would have been James Gunn’s formative comic book reading years. Impossible Man is a Poppupian from the planet Poppup and has shapeshifting abilities and that description alone is evidence that Impossible Man is a bit of a farcical character.

But James Gunn has a penchant for farcical characters, so the madcap nature of Impossible Man might be exactly what Gunn has in mind for a holiday special. Besides, Impossible Man has ties to Adam Warlock, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, so his inclusion could be a case of laying down some stepping stones for the introduction of those characters.

#3 Darkhawk

Darkhawk gets his powers from a cosmic amulet with an entire Null Space mythos surrounding it. Does the MCU need more mythos-type worldbuilding after Eternals. Definitely not. And it would seem weird that James Gunn would introduce a whole new mythos in GotG 3 when Adam Warlock and all his backstory will already chew up screen time in that movie.

But Darkhawk has a lot of street-level history as well, and it makes perfect sense that Darkhawk could be introduced with a very streamlined story that doesn’t try to go into anything beyond “a magic amulet gives him his powers.”

#2 Bug

Bug would be an excellent member of the GotG after Marvel’s excellent Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest storylines that have already influenced James Gunn so heavily.

The problem with Bug is the lawyers.

Bug was first introduced in 1979 in the vastly underrated Micronauts comic. The problem is the comic was licensed from the Japanese toy line Takara that has now shifted ownership so many times that it’s not worth it to try and even summarize it here.

But the character Marvel created didn’t look much like the toy, so Marvel was able to keep ownership of the character even though they lost ownership to all other Micronauts decades ago. So, that’s why Bug was able to appear in the Annihilation comics, whereas there is no way in heck any other Micronauts characters could be used by Marvel now.

So, even though Bug is a cool character, do you think Marvel wants to risk even a whiff of a legal ownership challenge?

#1 Nova

Nova with Cosmo the Spacedog.

Of all the characters on this list, only Nova could plausibly make a claim to be one of the greatest MCU characters of all time, as Gunn’s Tweet indicated.

The Nova Corps were already introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1, so why wouldn’t Gunn want to introduce the most famous Nova Corpsman, Richard Rider? Nova was also a huge part of that Annihilation run that clearly has influenced Gunn and Kevin Fiege has hinted at Nova’s inclusion in the MCU, so let’s get this thing done!

I, for one, would be positively giddy at the inclusion of Nova in the MCU. If it comes in a holiday special, even better.

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Characters You Should Know: Who are Marvel’s Ravagers? https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/05/characters-you-should-know-who-are-marvels-ravagers/ Fri, 22 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=30915

Stallone's Ravagers are teased in a post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and will feature in a Disney+ show. But who are they?

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 featured Yondu’s crew of Ravagers, but cameos in a post credits scene teased even more.

The post credits scene was 1 of 5 such scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In it we see Sylvester Stallone, who played Stakar Ogord, a Ravager leader. He met with a group of fellow Ravager captains that included a CGI Krugarr, Michelle Yeoh as Aleta Ogord, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, Miley Cyrus as Mainframe and my personal favorite, Michael Rosenbaum as Martinex.

The “old team” had gotten together for Yondu’s funeral, but now, having reassembled, they want to stick together. “Let’s go steal some sh!†,” says Stallone.

Stallone’s Stakar, Krugarr, Charlie-27, Aleta Ogord, Mainframe (peeking up from the bottom), and Martinex (L to R).

For long-time Marvel fans, this was perhaps the gem of all the Easter eggs in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. For the more casual fan, you may not have realized who any of these characters were or, for that matter, why they might matter. 

Most of the characters in this sequence share a common ancestry: They were all members of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team in the comic books. In Marvel history, the Guardians have had various permutations – and the Peter Quill-fronted team that provides the film’s main inspiration only debuted in the 2000s.

The 00s Guardians reveal that served as the inspiration for the team seen in the movies. Gamora, Rocket, Star-Lord, Adam Warlock, Drax, and Phyla-vell (L to R).

From the ’60s through the ’90s, the Guardians were a superteam from Marvel’s far-future. And I would never say they were “boring,” because their adventures involved crazy far-out space adventures and ultimately trended into weird time travel flimflammery. But they were definitely a little more square: Each of them the last member of their race, fighting for good, and generally not stealing sh!†, unlike the Stallone counterparts.

It’s a nifty way to honor the Guardians’ history but also reboot it. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these characters are old rogues – Ravagers – a crew of expendables contrasted with fast and furious youngsters like Star-Lord and Gamora.

James Gunn told BuzzFeed that Miley Cyrus could factor into the 3rd Guardians film. Presumably, if Miley’s in, Sly’s in. Now the Ravagers have been rumored for a Disney+ spinoff show – as covered in Nerds on Earth’s PUNCHLIST – so this group just got real interesting.

The OG GoTGs are Today’s Ravagers

The original Guardians of the Galaxy from the comics of yesteryear. Charlie-27, Starhawk, ???, Yondu, Martinex (L to R)

So for all you expecting 800 words on Taserface, you will need to look elsewhere. We’re going to go deeper into the original Guardians of the Galaxy team.

These post-credit Ravagers represent that iteration of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team, with some major changes. First of all, did you know that Yondu was originally a member of this Guardians of the Galaxy team? 

That’s right. 

However, Yondu was already occupying a spot in the MCU so he was taken off of this team. Gunn did a good job of bridging the gap with the interaction between Stallone’s Stakar and Yondu on Contraxia while leaving the Iron Lotus. In many ways it gave significance to Yondu’s funeral as well as this group of Ravagers. While Yondu is gone, Gunn might have a contingency plan with the character portrayed by his very own real life brother. If you recall, Kraglin—played by Sean Gunn—received Yondu’s Yaka arrow at the end of Guardians Vol. 2. So perhaps he could join this other group of Ravagers. Only time will tell. 

Of course they couldn’t spend a lot of time fleshing out the entire group in Vol. 2, but rest assured there is plenty to work with for another appearance in Vol. 3 and their own show rumored show on Disney+.

Among this set of Ravager captains we have:

  • Ving Rhames’s Charlie-27, the muscle. Born on Jupiter, Charlie-27 is part of a race of genetically modified miners. He is also a military and tactical genius.
  • Michael Rosenbaum’s Martinex T’naga, a Plutonian who’s skin is covered in crystal shards to protect against harsh environments.
  • Then we have Mainframe, who was voiced by the uncredited Miley Cyrus. Mainframe is a bit of an outsider who, in comic lore, is an alternate time line replacement of Vision, who was also tasked with protecting Captain America’s shield. (Mainframe seems to be replacing the absent Vance Astro, another original Guardians character who has also wielded Cap’s shield in future timelines.)

There was also a magic-using, non-speaking character in the group: Kruggar, who is far more connected to Dr. Strange in the comics. Interestingly, with Mainframe and Kruggar, Gunn has a lot of ways to tie in other source material much like Taika Waititi did with Thor: Ragnorok and the Planet Hulk run of comics.  

Starhawk

A key mystery of the teased Ravager team will be Gunn’s usage of Stallone’s Stakar Ogord and Michelle Yeoh’s Aleta Ogord. The Ogords are step-siblings in the comics who have a bit extra going on. These two eventually combine to form a super entity, Starhawk. In this form they take turns as the figure Starhawk, each bringing their own set of powers to the table when in the driver’s seat.

If Gunn chooses, he could also tie in the golden skinned Ayesha to their story, who is their mother in the comics, but that might be a stretch. Likewise a stretch might be Starhawk’s association with Kang, a villain who could be the eventual big bad of the MCU’s Phase 4.

Either way, Gunn has plenty of source material to work with, which gives him plenty of directions to take this rag tag group of obscure characters. Regardless, more Ravagers in the MCU would be great, particularly the rumored Disney+ plot that will apparently focus on the Ravagers attempting to save an as-yet-unnamed planet from being taken over by a Kree invasion.

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The Punchlist: This Week’s News for Nerds https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/05/the-punchlist-this-weeks-news-for-nerds-3/ Wed, 13 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=30847

Welcome to THE PUNCHLIST where Nerds on Earth rounds up this week's news.

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Welcome to this week’s PUNCHLIST, where we round up the biggest news in nerd culture. It might be from the MCU, board gaming, D&D, and more. But whatever the news is this week, you can bet it will eventually separate you from your money.

7. Star Wars: Boba Fett to Feature in The Mandalorian Season 2

Even though his emergence from the Sarlacc Pit has been rendered non-canonical, it appears that Boba Fett survived after all and will play a role in The Mandalorian‘s second season. Rumor has it he’ll play an even bigger role in Season 3…

+ More here: Boba Fett Confirmed in The Mandalorian Season 2

6. Katee Sackhoff Reprises Bo-Katan Kryze in The Mandalorian

Katee Sackhoff, the voice actor behind the Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan in the animated Clone Wars and Rebels series, has been cast as the live action version of the same character and is expected in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. With Rosario Dawson set to bring Ahsoka Tano to life and coupled with the Boba Fett news above, there’s even more to be excited about concerning The Mandalorian‘s second season!

+ More here: Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze

5. Catch a First Look at the Netflix’s The Old Guard

Charlize Theron stars in The Old Guard, a Netflix produced adaptation of Greg Rucka’s comic of the same name about a group of immortal soldiers whose inability to die starts earning them some unwanted attention.

Back when we dabbled in video content, we covered the first issue of the comic on Youtube. Plus we love pretty much everything Rucka touches! It is due out on July 10.

+ More here: The Old Guard Teaser Trailer and Photos

4. Comic Con Will Now Be An “At Home” Experience

The world’s largest pop-culture convention is pivoting to an online model after announcing a cancellation in response to COVID-19. Dates and other details have not yet been announced. Does “badges for all” mean it will be a free streaming event? Will some of it come behind a pay wall? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

+ More here: Comic Con at Home

3. MCU: Nova is Set to Make His Debut

Rumors about Nova’s introduction to the MCU have been flying around since the Guardians of the Galaxy found themselves in a pitched battle alongside the Nova Corps against Ronan the Accuser on Xandar in 2014. Six years later, and production is underway – though a Phase 4 berth seems unlikely.

+ More here: Nova Movie in Development

2. Hamilton is Coming to Theaters and Disney+

Writer and director Lin-Manuel Miranda announced on Twitter that his smash hit Broadway show Hamilton will hit Disney+ on July 3, 2021 and theaters on October 15, 2021. The footage used was shot during the musical’s tenure at the famous Richard Rodgers Theatre.

+ More here: Hamilton to Stream on Disney+, Hit Theaters

1. The Ravagers Will Feature in GoTG Vol. 3 and Own Series

Stallone’s band of Ravagers featured in a post-credits scene to Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 are due to appear in the threequel and are reportedly set to headline their own Disney+ series.

The crew includes (from left to right below) Stakar Ogord, Krugarr, Charlie-27 (in the yellow), Aleta Ogord, Mainframe (the robot head at the bottom), and Martinex. If you don’t know who those characters are, you’re not alone! We’re working on a post to address just that, so stay tuned!

+ More here: The Ravagers


Check back next Wednesday for more news for nerds. Better yet, scroll down just a few more inches and sign up for our newsletter, The Cable.

Or you can watch us discuss this week’s news!

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The Thanos Imperative: An Out of this World Overview of 5 Glorious Years of Marvel Cosmic Comics https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/04/thanos-imperative/ Thu, 23 Apr 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=29518

The Thanos Imperative is some of the best Marvel Comics cosmic content out there. We provide a primer on the event, plus detail all that leads up to it.

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The Thanos Imperative is a 6 issue mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2010. I love it and want to tell you about it, but to do that, I’ll need to take you back in time to 2006, plus take you on a journey across the entire Marvel Universe.

The journey to The Thanos Imperative begins with Annihilation, the gloriously entertaining Marvel cosmic crossover that was written primarily by Keith Giffen but had writing contributions from the tag team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who went by DNA.

I did a full reading order for Annihilation, so I’ll point you there if you want an issue-by-issue look. Let’s just sum up here:

Marvel’s Annihilation

Annihilation was a 6-issue miniseries published in 2006 that sprawled into a 30 issue behemoth with the inclusion of several accompanying 4-issue minis that featured solo supporting characters.

The core 6-issue is EXCELLENT. The plot goes thusly: A wave of Annihilus’ minions invade the Marvel 616 from the Negative Zone, a realm that traces its origins back to Stan the Man. Nova forms an army to oppose the Annihilation Wave, an army that includes Drax, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, the Heralds of Galactus, and Peter “Star-Lord” Quill.

As if that isn’t enough, the story includes Thanos. It’s *ahem* cosmic in scope.

As I mentioned, that’s just the 6-issue core miniseries, so take that deep dive if you want to know which of the 4-issue solo character series are skippable. Just don’t skip the Nova mini, nor Nova (vol 4), the ongoing series that spins out of it. Fans of the New Warriors will recognize Richard Rider, but this is him all grown up and serving in the Nova Corps. That is where the writing team DNA cuts their teeth on Marvel cosmic titles and hoo-boy are you in for an exciting journey across the galaxy at light space!

Marvel’s Annihilation: Conquest

I’ve seen a thousand movies where a botoxxed action hero jumps out of a speeding car onto the hood of another speeding car while shouting “Take the wheel!” toward the passenger seat. Marvel had aspirations to reestablish their cosmic characters and they shouted at Abnett and Lanning to take the wheel, promoting them from writing the Nova series to driving the rocket ship that was Annihilation: Conquest.

Marvel again published a 6-issue miniseries that was supported by several 4-issue character-driven miniseries. Here is a deep dive that goes through each series.

The Phalanx are the primary enemy of Annihilation: Conquest, as they use the confusion of the Annihilation Wave to take control of the Kree army through their techno-organic virus. The swift and sweeping invasion by the techno-organic Phalanx leaves a war-weary galaxy reeling. The same heroes from the Annihilation are present, but they are overwhelmed, sidelined, or simply suffering post trauma.

Worse, the universe itself is impacted. Back-to-back wars damaged the fabric of the universe, threatening to open up a tear that Star-Lord calls “The Fault.”

As a lead in to The Thanos Imperative, definitely read the core 6-issue Annihilation: Conquest (2007) plus the Nova regular series, both written by DNA. Annihilation: Conquest Starlord #1-4 by Keith Giffen is also excellent and leads to a monthly Guardians of the Galaxy (vol 2) series that is a must read.

Unless you are a completionist, skip the rest and let’s set our thrusters toward The Thanos Imperative.

Marvel’s War of Kings

Nova was reestablished as a cosmic force and the Guardians of the Galaxy had been successfully reimagined and would soon appear in the MCU. But Marvel wanted to shoehorn in the X-Men.

Although I attempted a deep dive, the reading order for War of Kings is an absolute mess. You can read the core 6-issue story written by DNA but it doesn’t bring much to The Thanos Imperative other than let a reader know that the Inhumans and Shi’ar are now engaged in cosmic affairs.

Do keep up with the Nova solo series and the Guardians of the Galaxy monthly title however, as they are incredible as well as critical to your enjoyment of what’s to come.

Marvel’s Realm of Kings

Just keep up with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy unless you really want the full scope of Realm of Kings, as the Inhumans and Imperial Guard series don’t add much.

Here’s what you need to know: The events of War of Kings was finally too much for the Fault, meaning a giant time-space tear has been created. Our heroes learn that the Fault leads to another universe described as the Cancerverse.

The Thanos Imperative

I realize it’s frustrating to go 600 words only to just now properly get to The Thanos Imperative. But the excellent Nova monthly series ends its run at issue 36, which is a tie-in directly to The Thanos Imperative. Guardians of the Galaxy does likewise at issue 25.

The two primary protagonists in The Thanos Imperative are Nova and Star-Lord, so those two series provide incredible context for the events to come. Simply reading those – plus the core Annihilation series, if you wish – are not quite required reading but they are close. Besides, both series are incredible.

Now: The Thanos Imperative. It is again a 6-issue miniseries, but this has very little tie-in issues, only Thanos Imperative: Ignition and Thanos Imperative: Devastation.

The first issue opens with a flashback on Nova and Star-Lord that goes back to Annihilation. If you’ve read DNA’s Marvel cosmic all the way through to this point, the payoff is incredible. You’ve journeyed with these characters and you will be fully invested in The Thanos Imperative.

Imagine an alternate universe where the entity Death has died, so life runs rampant, spreading like a cancer. But also imagine that life has been corrupted by Cthulhu-like influences. That’s the Cancerverse and the previous wars have allowed it an entry into the Marvel 616 universe.

Cosmic beings like Galactus must make a stand at the Fault to prevent beings from the Cancerverse from pouring in. And in an interesting reimanging of the classic Death of Captain Marvel, there are dark avatars of Earth’s Greatest Heroes trying to push into the Marvel Universe as well.

But who despises life more than Thanos, so Star-Lord makes a devil’s pact.

The Thanos Imperative is EXCELLENT. It is among the most entertaining comic books I have ever read. Standing alone, it is exciting, energetic, action-packed, and engaging. If you read it on the heels of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy it picks up an extra layer of character depth that is among the best in comics.

DNA did a masterful job in rebooting the cosmic corner of Marvel Comics. If he wasn’t before, Nova will become one of your favorite characters and the mythos of the Nova Corps shines.

The Guardians of the Galaxy were established as a critical part of Marvel and the character work that was began here was further on the big screen as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I half hope you didn’t absorb a word of this article and you only skimmed the headline, which inspired you to give all of this era of Marvel cosmic a read. It’s so good, I’d love for more comic book fans to discover it as unspoiled as possible. I hope I whetted your appetite.

You can get The Thanos Imperative here. The whole enchilada is available via Marvel Unlimited or you can scan through my previous deep dive articles to find the appropriate trades in print. For now, I’ll point you to Nova and the Guardians:

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Marvel Cosmic Reading Order: A Primer on the Annihilation: Conquest Event https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/10/marvel-cosmic-reading-order-a-primer-on-the-annihilation-conquest-event/ Mon, 21 Oct 2019 12:00:40 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=27014

Earth Nerd Clave provides a reading order and SKIP or READ recommendations for the cosmic Annihilation: Conquest Marvel comics events.

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Before the Guardians of the Galaxy movie became a world-wide hit in 2014, casual fans likely didn’t realize that Marvel Comics contained an entire catalog of amazing space-based characters.

Sure, casual fans understood that Thor didn’t grow up in Spider-Man’s friendly neighborhood, but most had their minds blown by the likes of Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

Indeed, Marvel Comics has long told stories about cosmic characters rivaled perhaps only by the Star Wars franchise. So, this article (and one that preceded it) will take you issue-by-issue through an amazing Marvel cosmic storyline, which featured the stories and characters that came to life in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The big cosmic event that earned Marvel cosmic acclaim was Annihilation. Operating on the fringe of Marvel Comics, Annihilation wasn’t a huge seller at release. But great word of mouth brought in an audience. So there was of course a sequel.

Here’s the reading order for the Marvel Annihilation: Conquest event:

  • Annihilation Saga #1 (2007) (This is a recap of Annihilation.)
  • Nova Vol. 4 #1-3
  • Annihilation: Conquest Prologue #1 (2007)
  • Annihilation: Conquest Starlord #1-4 (2007)
  • Annihilation: Conquest Quasar #1-4 (2007)
  • Annihilation: Conquest Wraith #1-4 (2007)
  • Nova Vol. 4 #4-7
  • Annihilation: Conquest #1-6 (2008)
  • Nova Vol. 4 #8-12, Annual 1 (2008)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 #1- (2008)

The above is over 30 comic books and you’ve undoubtedly noticed the same pattern of Annihilation: A bunch of 4-issue miniseries converged into a 6-part core event comic.

Alas, the issues are hard to track down. Marvel cosmic was flying under the radar at the time, so the 4-issue series had low print runs and poor sales. Normally, you may be able to find comics like this in dollar bins, but positive word of mouth meant popularity later soared, so good luck curating them issue by issue now.

Marvel did print the entire event in two paperback volumes – Annihilation: Conquest Book 1 and Annihilation: Conquest Book 2 – but a (pricy) deluxe hardcover omnibus exists and it also collects Nova.

A reader’s best bet is Marvel Unlimited, where a monthly fee allows you to read tens of thousands of back issues, including, of course, the entire Annihilation: Conquest cosmic event plus Nova and the excellent Guardians of the Galaxy that followed.

Annihilation: Conquest Reading Order

Nova Vol. 4 #1-3

Written by Abnett and Lanning, the 4th volume of the Nova solo series is a must read for a variety of reasons, the first of which is because it is excellent.

These three issues are also an arguably critical tie-in to the events that are occurring on Earth. Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest take place during the events of Civil War. While the Annihilation wave was ravaging space, a hero vs. hero conflict was ravaging the superhero community. Think how the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and Captain America: Civil War were happening at roughly the same time in the MCU.

These issues are also a wonderful call back for fans of the New Warriors. They are a painful reminder of how Nova’s old team sparked the Civil War and how Nova had always struggled with his relationship with his father. A lot happens in three issues.

Finally, Nova Vol. 4 #1-3 is an excellent lead-in to Annihilation: Conquest. While not critical, it serves as a nice grounding in between to epic, sweeping cosmic events.

My recommendation: Read it.

Annihilation: Conquest Prologue

This single issue sets the stage for the event to come and provides an introduction to most of the major characters.

Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the architects of Annihilation: Conquest, it weighs in at 40+ pages, I think, and none are wasted.

Many Most of the characters from Annihilation are back but their positioning is radically changed. Plus, there are many brand new players in Annihilation: Conquest, including the big bad, which I will not spoil.

All I can say is a hero gets no rest. This prologue issue reminds us of that and sets the stage for the awesomeness that is to come.

My recommendation: Read it.

Annihilation: Conquest Star-Lord

I mentioned that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DNA) were taking over from Keith Giffen, who was the primary architect of Annihilation. But Giffen still had a role in the follow-up event as the writer of the Star-Lord miniseries.

Fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie will love this 4-parter. To be clear, the characters don’t perfectly match how they appear in the movies, but seeing how they differ on the pages of the comic is part of the fun. Groot speaks!

Of the many miniseries that lead up to the 6-part event, Annihilation: Conquest, Star-Lord is one of the most integral and also the most enjoyable. It’s super high energy and action-packed. And snarky.

My recommendation: Read it!

Annihilation: Conquest Quasar

It’s not that the Quasar miniseries is bad, it’s that it’s a mopey love story. And when it isn’t a mopey love story, it’s a mopey story about Quasar having confidence in herself.

So not my cup of tea, as I prefer space robots and punching and ‘splody bits and stuff.

Yet…Quasar does have a dragon in it, which is awesome and the overall quest of the tale does have pretty integral ties to the upcoming Annihilation: Conquest main event, although not critically so.

Eh, I can go either way on this.

My recommendation: Read it?

Annihilation: Conquest Wraith

Long-time comic book fans likely won’t even remember Wraith. In fact, Marvel has created several entirely unrelated characters each with the name Wraith and not a one of them is of any significance.

The miniseries was an attempt to write the Annihilation: Conquest story through his perspective, giving him his own mission that conveniently dovetails with several of the characters from the previous event. It’s weird and will leave you with a strong feeling of “Why?” and “Who cares?

Skip it and just roll with Wraith and those others randomly showing up in the main event.

My recommendation: Skip it.

Nova 4-7

These 4 issues break with the pattern of a series of 4-issue miniseries because Nova had his own solo title at this point, but these issues are critical.

They are also excellent.

Again written by DNA, they continue the strong reappearance of Nova that we grew to love in the previous event but set things up for him to play a critical role in Annihilation: Conquest.

Or do they? I don’t want to spoil the exact nature of Nova’s participation in Conquest, nor who he teams up with / against. But suffice it to say that new locales and characters are introduced. It’s action-packed and incredibly well done.

My recommendation: Read it!

Annihilation: Conquest #1-6

The Prologue reveals that the Phalanx are the primary enemy after they use the devastation of the wake of the Annihilation Wave to take control of the Kree army through their tech-organic virus.

The swift and sweeping invasion by the techno-organic Phalanx leaves all resistance flat-footed. Although many of the same heroes from the Annihilation event are present, they are overwhelmed, sidelined, or simply thwarted outright.

New heroes must arrive and previous heroes must regroup. Readers are introduced to entirely new worlds and contexts. The plot races.

It’s exciting and engaging. It’s *ahem* cosmic in scope. It’s action-packed and filled with twists and turns. The big bad is introduced only to get even bigger and badder. The stakes are high, yet readers really get to dive in close with many of characters.

As amazing as Annihilation was, this sequel is even better, if you can believe it.

My recommendation: Read it. Obviously.

Nova 8-9

While Annihilation set the stage for the sequel, Conquest set the stage for the characters to shine in wholly different ways.

One of these was the emergence of Richard Rider Nova in his own solo series. While issues 4-7 are integral to the Conquest storyline and issues 1-3 are a great set-up, you will not want to stop there.

Issue 8 takes Nova on a mission to a brand-new destination that you’ll fully recognize from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. And issue 9 is a horror tale that is simultaneously delightful.

Honestly, the Nova series by DNA (and the series I’ll tell you about next) exemplify why we read comics. Exciting characters, exciting stories, wonderful dialogue.

My recommendation: Read it!

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

Between Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, readers were introduced to the characters that they grew to love from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. But those characters were first brought together in Volume 2 of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DNA).

  • Star-Lord: CHECK
  • Gamora: CHECK
  • Drax: CHECK
  • Mantis: CHECK
  • Rocket: CHECK
  • Groot: CHECK

Oh, and a few other characters thrown in for good measure. There are several reasons why this comic series is so beloved, the most obvious of which is because it’s excellent.

My recommendation: Read it!

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The Death of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Greatly Exaggerated https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/08/upcoming-marvel-cinematic-universe-is-great/ Mon, 19 Aug 2019 12:00:42 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=25148

Word on social media is that the upcoming slate of Marvel movies looks meh. Nerds on Earth explains why this won't be the case.

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Remember the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)? Seemed like everyone used to watch those movies. But now? Nope.

According to the commentators on our Nerds on Earth Facebook page–all three of them coincidentally named Matt–the upcoming Phase 4 announcements for the MCU like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Thor: Love and Thunder are decidedly ‘meh.’

It seems like the MCU might die any day now, in fact.

Yes, after… [pretends to check calendar]… 11 years, the fad is finally dying. Absolutely no one is watching Marvel movies anymore. In fact, rumor has it that “tons” of people now think that future Marvel movies sound ‘meh.’*

Now, remember that no one has weighed these Matts who are less than thrilled about Phase 4 of the MCU, so it is possible that, combined, they do weigh “tons.” Yet it is unknown if these are metric or imperial tons.

How do they know the movies will be bad despite the fact that the movies only exist in the future? The Matts just “know.” Just as we do not know the total combined weight of these Matts, we also do not know how many Bothans died to get Nerds on Earth this information.

I’m teasing of course. I hold no ill will toward three strangers on Facebook who just happen to have an opinion that runs counter to my love and enthusiasm for upcoming projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, when I interacted with them on Facebook, one of the Matts had a good sense of humor about it.

But I do want to make two points: First, social media has created an odd environment for processing information, has it not?

Somewhere Nate Silver is suddenly feeling intense anger, as these Facebook commenters have the statistic rigor of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew working without Beaker.

You can’t take the knee-jerk opinions of three guys named Matt off of Facebook and declare them meaningful. You’re not controlling for anything. “We surveyed people outside of the Knollwood Mall food court about the long-lasting impact of global currency manipulation and compared those opinions to a survey done last year by my buddy Matt outside the Holiday station on Lake and Lydale and, well, people have really soured on the Marvel Cinematic Universe!”

The only constant here is the gullibility (or culpability) of the nerd culture press. If the Matts were interested in meaningful results, they would have looked deeply into my heart to see what was true. But they clearly didn’t. Which leads me to conclude that the point of this exercise was less science than it was simply grumpy nerds.

Which brings me to my second point. So, we know that social media serves to spread poorly considered opinions that often coalesce into deep-seated narratives in the human psyche, but what is objectively true about the MCU? Well, the MCU is the most successful movie franchise of all time.

I’ve written before that in terms of measurable data like box office receipts and aggregate reviews, the MCU is the GOAT. And that was before the 94% fresh Avengers: Endgame became the highest earning movie of all time and Spider-Man: Far from Home returned an audience score of 95% fresh.

So, data tells us that not only is the MCU not slowing down, it’s still picking up steam 11 years in. Sorry, Matts. Why is this? Well, let me slice into my sternum and expose my heart.

Kevin Fiege and company have proven that they are Omega level at creating moments that are the reason we go to movies. “I can do this all day,” “On your left,” “Language.”

I could go on and on, but I bet you have your favorite Marvel moments. There is nothing like the communal experience of a packed theater. And the MCU has given us that plus moments that have oozed out of the theaters to create a cummunal language.

The MCU still creates “Woo-hoo! moments, even in our deeply cynical age. Nearly every MCU film generates laughs, cheers, and tears, sometimes even in the same sequence. Listen, if you didn’t feel something deeply when Cap called Mjolnir, then I worry about your soul.

The MCU consistently produces moments that make your eyes well up with tears of joy. And, good God, our world needs that right now.

I realize the Eternals movie is generating the most ‘meh.’ [Again, here are all 10 announced upcoming MCU projects in case you need a refresher.] The Matts are predicting it will be the first MCU flop, citing unknown characters and a wild, out-there cosmic tone that won’t pull in an audience the same way a Tony Stark would.

But I recall that exact conversation around Guardians of the Galaxy and look how that turned out. With Kevin Fiege remaining at the helm, my guess is the Eternals will endeavor to generate the same laughs, cheers, and tears that the other 22 movies have, meaning it will do just fine at the box office and audiences will grow to love the characters.

I sure hope so. Sure, whatever goes up must come down. Eventually. I just hope it’s a long time from now. Because enjoying a MCU movie with my 11-year-old daughter is an indescribable delight. She laughs out loud, her eyes fill with delight, and we talk for hours afterward where I tell her about the old comics.

Despite what the Matts think, I want more and more and more of that.

* Note: Substitute Star Wars or D&D or whatever it is you enjoy. The tl;dr is for you to ignore the Matts. Enjoy what you enjoy.

Click here to read a more in depth survey of that Marvel has planned in Phase 4.

Click here to take a deep dive into what is planned on the Disney+ platform.

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All Superhero Movies Should Be PG-13 https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/02/superhero-movies-pg-13/ Thu, 07 Feb 2019 13:00:47 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=21680

Before we turned the comments off at Nerds on Earth, we’d get some real doozies. While most were to the effect of “ur dum,” I do recall one clearly. A gentleman was furious that we gave the first Guardians of the Galaxy film a glowing review. His reason? It was a garbage movie because the […]

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Before we turned the comments off at Nerds on Earth, we’d get some real doozies. While most were to the effect of “ur dum,” I do recall one clearly. A gentleman was furious that we gave the first Guardians of the Galaxy film a glowing review. His reason? It was a garbage movie because the physics of the starships didn’t make sense to him. 

In fact, hating on the “realism” of superhero movies is an online cottage industry. “Hey, I never went to film school and I’m unaware of anything in life that pleases me…time to start streaming!” 

I tease, but the reality is that a lot of nerds take their genre films really really reeeeeallly seriously. They can treat a single scene of a Marvel movie as a matter of life and death when it’s really a matter of life and a slightly less convenient life. 

Listen, I don’t want to shame anyone, I just want to remind everyone that it’s OK for us nerds to calm the sweet-lovin’-heck down. They are only movies. Our mantra should be: It’s just a story, maybe I should just relax. And you know who realizes that? Kids.

Here is a passage from the excellent book Supergods by Grant Morrison. This from page 56:

I tend to believe the reverse is true: that it’s adults who have the most trouble separating fact from fiction. A child knows that real crabs on the beach do not sing or talk like cartoon crabs like The Little Mermaid. A child can accept all all kinds of weird-looking creatures and bizarre occurrences in a story because a child understands the stories have different rules that allow for pretty much anything to happen.

Adults, on the other hand, struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it’s not real.

Whew, that’s a lot to take in, but as usual, Grant Morrison expresses it wonderfully. To project that unto our Guardians of the Galaxy example, a kid knows the physics of GotG don’t need to make a lick sense because it’s a fictional story. Us grown-a@@ nerds? Well, we leave Internet comments demanding how

I’ve written about this before in relation to D&D and the Satanic Panic of the 80s. While adults were clutching their pearls, frantic that Satan was in the next room, I was an 8-year-old kid who knew full well that orcs weren’t real, I just liked rolling a d20 . 

Frame Theory” is how we can make sense of this. Developed by Erving “Magic” Goffman, a Canadian-American sociologist, frame theory is a model of social organization that explains how individuals conceptualize, structure, and perceive the world around them.

To illustrate the concept of the frame, Goffman obviously used the example of a picture frame. A person uses the picture frame (which represents structure) to hold together his picture (which represents the experiences in his life).

Let’s talk quickly about how this relates to D&D, then we’ll talk again about Guardians of the Galaxy.

  1. The “frame” of fantasy. This frame is imagining your character as an elf or what have you, plus includes the roleplaying aspects of the characters. If you are sufficiently engrossed, you can imagine yourself in a fantasy world.
  2. A second frame would be the rules of the game itself, rolling that d20 and stuff.
  3. The final frame of meaning is the commonsense reality of our lives, this example being folks sitting around a kitchen table with paper, pencils, and books in front of them.

D&D players are easily able to move fluidly between the frames, never once confusing fantasy with reality. An example:

“Lay down your weapon, orc, and we’ll allow you to live this day! I rolled a 14 plus 3 for my modifier, giving me a 17 for my intimidate check. Hey, can somebody pass me those Doritos?”

Sentences like the above are commonplace around the D&D table. And a group of players knows instantly which frame everyone is referring to at any given moment, the above example illustrating this. “Lay down your weapons, orc” (frame of fantasy), “I rolled a 14” (frame of the game), and “pass me those Doritos” (frame of MSGs) is clearly evident. Not a single D&D player would confuse fantasy for reality and believe that the buddy next to you is a ferocious orc who is munching on delicious MSG-laden tortilla chips.

In fact, the term “metagaming” arose for those times when players may attempt to act on information they know but their character likely would not. A player saying, “Hey, stop metagaming!”, is illustrative that another player is purposefully mixing frames 1 and 2. But there is no mental confusion there. The meta gaming player is simply trying to get a leg up in the game.

Now, let’s apply this to Guardians of the Galaxy.

  1. The “frame” of fiction. This frame is imagining the superheroes on the screen and all their implausible powers and abilities along with that. If you are sufficiently engrossed, you can suspend disbelief and flow along with the story. 
  2. A second frame would be the rules of cinema itself. If the cuts, sound, acting, CGI, etc. sufficiently engross you, then you are able to even more deeply suspend disbelief and flow along with the story. 
  3. The final frame of meaning is the commonsense reality of our lives, this example being that buttered popcorn is nice at the cinema and websites like Nerds on Earth exist to allow us to nerd out about wonderful movies like Guardians of the Galaxy. 

My daughters play with Barbies and I promise you that they’d be the first astounded if a Barbie would come to life and start talking to them. They get this stuff. And when us grown-a@@ nerds see it written out for us, we see it’s patently obvious. Yet, as we’ve pushed for more an more “realism” in our superhero films, we’ve also given rise to more and more “um, actuallys” that inadvertently overlay frame 1 and 3. 

So, what’s the answer? Sufficiency. You don’t want the audience to see the seams of the fantasy world you built. You don’t want to be sloppy, in other words. You want it to be sufficient for the audience to suspend disbelief. 

Sufficiency means the world is logical enough to imagine for the purposes of the immediate story. That, and it has direction, meaning it moves audiences along in the story quickly enough that they don’t have time or the interest to question starship physics or story-telling choices, at least until the story is done and you’ve pushed them out of the cinema and back out into sunshine, squinting yet smiling.

So, what is typically sufficient? PG-13. A PG-13 movie provides sufficient realism without needing the grim grit grittiness or paramilitary porn of an R-rated superhero film. Is it a perfect baseline for all situations? No. But you get what I’m saying. 

The point is that a PG-13 rating ensures that more kids can be in the audience. And as Grant Morrison said well, superhero stories lose something vital when kids are excluded from the audience.

Kids know that raccoons don’t talk, so they don’t get worked up about the caliber of the weapon the raccoon is wielding. And if we do? Well, remember the mantra: It’s just a story, maybe I should just relax.

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7 Potential Guardians of the Galaxy https://nerdsonearth.com/2018/12/7-potential-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ Mon, 24 Dec 2018 13:00:15 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=13273

Assuming that Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 hasn't been obliterated by a Thanos snap, they'll want to add at least one new character to the team. We offer up 7 potential new members.

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With James Gunn off the movie and Kevin Fiege being tight-lipped about Phase 4 of the MCU, details feel a little up in the cosmos with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Yet, although we can only speculate about who it will be, we can bet on at least one new character added to the team.

Adam Warlock was teased in the post-credits sequence of GotG 2 and it’s thought his Magus persona will serve as the villain, so he’s off our list. Similarly, the original 31st century Starhawk team was already teased via Sylvester Stallone and that seems like a rival faction, rather than full-fledged team member.

Angela would be interesting, but she’s perhaps best used in association with Thor. Phyla-Vell is a quantum bander, but not the best known. We’re cutting down the list. So, who is left?

7 Potential Guardians of the Galaxy

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Cosmo

The cosmic telepathic pooch has already been teased in cameos. Perhaps it’s time he joins the team.

To catch us up, Cosmo is a telepathic Soviet dog who served as the security chief of the space station Knowhere. Created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning during their epic run on the Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmo became a member of the team.

No, like…Cosmo is a telepathic dog that wears a space suit. I feel like I needed to say that again. A former test animal of the Soviet space program, Cosmo was launched into Earth’s orbit as part of an experiment but he drifted off into space where he was mutated by cosmic rays. Drifting to Knowhere, he met Nova.

Read the above lines one more time and tell me you don’t want to see that character in GotG 3, interacting with Rocket and Groot.

Darkhawk

We talk about Darkhawk a lot in our Nerds on Earth Slack channel and no one is a bigger fan that Nerds on Earth writer Brandon. I asked him to tell you why Darkhawk should join the Guardians of the Galaxy:

“Darkhawk shouldn’t be in the new Guardians of the Galaxy because he has spent the better part of the last two years as a quirky internet joke gone wrong. Darkhawk actually has a solid connection to Marvel’s cosmic side for the last decade. He made appearances in Nova during Secret Invasion, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, and Infinity Countdown. It’s definitely time for a brighter spotlight.”

That didn’t go as expected.

Moondragon

Moondragon is a telepath and telekinetic, master martial artist, and geneticist. Moondragon’s most notable physical characteristic is her shaved head, and she is known for achieving excellence in virtually every area of human accomplishment by pushing herself to the very peak of human performance.

Sadly, pretty much most of Moondragon’s story has been co-opted in some way by current Guardians of the Galaxy. Mantis has mind powers, so it’s unlikely you’d want another character on screen where it was difficult to exhibit what they do. Gamora is already the martial artist of the group. And Mantis has sort of stood in for the relationship that Mooondragon and Drax had in the comics. The shaved head is even covered by Nebula.

Still, she’s a notable character in the comics, so it would be great to see her on the big screen.

Quasar

Several heroes have used the name Quasar, so I should note that I’m talking about Wendall Vaughn, the first to use the name and the person who had the mantel the longest.

Quasar’s powers come from the pair of Quantum Bands that are permanently affixed to the wrists. The Quantum Bands are linked to their wearer’s nervous system and grant very powerful energy manipulation, even as far as absorbing and redirecting cosmic energy.

The bands were originally created by a Celestial named Eon to be worn by his designated Protector of the Universe. But the origin could easily be adjusted so that they were created long ago by Kurt Russell and have simply been worn as jewelry by Goldie Hawn before Wendall Vaughn took them up. Or something.

Bug

In the comics, Bug was originally a member of the Micronauts only to later join the second incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Bug can cling to walls and has exceptional agility. He has extraordinary sight, with enhanced peripheral vision gained by wearing his helmet. His antennae enable enhanced communication and sensory awareness. Bug fought alongside the Guardians as they attempted to stop the Shi’ar-Kree interstellar conflict.

But the interesting thing about seeing him on the big screen would be how his association with the Micronauts could potentially be a tie-in with Ant-Man and the Quantum realm.

Nova

While there have been many Novas, there is only one Richard Rider, the one true Nova as far as I’m concerned. While the character goes back even further than his 70s solo series A Man Called Nova, the character was really tattooed onto nerds’ hearts when he became a member of the New Warriors.

Nova gets his powers from an energy source called the Nova Force, which all Nova Corps members wield. The Nova Force gives Rider various powers including flight, enhanced strength, speed, and durability, as well as the power to absorb energy directed against him to then release it back. Nova’s uniform also affords him boosts, such as damage resistance and the ability to survive in outer space.

Nova’s inclusion in the Nova Corps provides an excellent tie to Carol Danvers, making Nova a likely candidate to appear in the upcoming Captain Marvel movie. Then it is just a small step to the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Jack of Hearts

While Jack of Hearts is a deep cut, but there is an actually an Easter egg in the movies that allows for a plausible entry for him: the planet Contraxia. Seen in GotG 2, Contraxia was the planet where Yondu and his Ravagers visit a brothel. That planet is the birthplace of spacefaring Avenger Jack of Hearts.

Jack of Hearts’ powers are as a result of “Zero Fluid” combined with the alien genes from his Contraxian mother. He has superhuman stamina and durability, plus the ability to generate “zero energy” within his body and project it as force or heat.

The left half of Jack of Hearts’ body has turned purplish-black from direct exposure to “Zero Fluid” and his left eye has an opaque white membrane that is an aspect of his half-Contraxian genetics. While he’d be a deep cut, he’d be an interesting new member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

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Nerds on Earth is a Website for Nerds Who L-O-V-E Stuff https://nerdsonearth.com/2018/08/nerds-on-earth-is-a-website-for-nerds-who-l-o-v-e-stuff/ Thu, 23 Aug 2018 12:00:31 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=19255

Nerds are so mother-table-flipping miserable all the time. We share a few words on why Nerds on Earth is an enthusiastic website.

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It’s the best time to be a nerd. It’s like my seven-year-old self put on my red orange puffy vest and traveled to a time when there are a 100 hours of superheros on a big screen, new visits are being made to the Star Wars galaxy, the Avengers have been assembled then snapped out of existence. Again, it’s an unbelievable time to be a nerd.

Yet a 3 second visit to Twitter would make you think we’re all living in a pocket dimension ruled by an alien race with goatees who force us to live of the meager scraps of King of Queens reruns. Some nerds are just darned angry.

We have nerdy things we never could have dreamed of, yet you’d think that our evil goateed overlords have shredded our comics, sabotaged all our RPG books, and stolen our Netflix password. Everything is awesome, yet many nerds are still unhappy, and taking every opportunity to complain and deconstruct the awesomeness.

I call it the griposecond, and it’s the impossibly short amount of time between a new genre gift is bestowed upon us and the time it takes for us nerds to start to gripe about it. The griposecond is an impossibly small unit of time, smaller even than the nanosecond, the yoctosecond, and the nerdosecond.

Seriously, I assure you that somewhere out there in the world of the Internet is someone struggling to think of the pettiest possible complaint. To be clear, we should not turn off our critical minds, just mindlessly consuming whatever is thrown at us. But I think we can all agree that a lot of nerds have simply gotten into the habit of complaining first, enjoying second.

Nerds on Earth is an Enthusiast Website

Nerds on Earth is an enthusiast website. Despite the rantings of Twitter, we’re not going to give a Marvel movie a review of 3.1 out of 10 unless it featured a cameo from Jar Jar Binks and two Kardashian sisters. The way I figure it, my 7-year-old self could never have imagined a Thor movie with the metal Walt Simonson visuals of Thor: Ragnarok to flash in front of me on a big screen. The fact that it would feature Jeff Goldblum to boot warrants a floor of at least a 7.0, and depending upon the use of Led Zeppelin music, it only goes UP from there.

So we try to limit our hot takes and try not to let the hot takes of others get too under our skin. And we don’t get too grandiose about our opinions most of the time. Because, um, actually, we write about nerdy stuff, after all. Ain’t nobody getting a PhD in nerd culture here.

It’s all about simple pleasures. Everyone has them. For some, it’s wishing the Patriots to lose. For others, it is stopping the gas pump on a round dollar amount. For us, it’s telling people about the nerdy things we love. So why gripe? Pleasure yourself. (That came out wrong. I’m really embarrassed by that sentence, dear readers. I’m also quite pleased with myself.)

Does all Nerd Content Get a Free Pass?

Does that mean that Nerds on Earth is never critical or highlight things we don’t like? Not at all! We still obviously point out things we don’t like and even our most complimentary reviews might be laced with sarcasm and snark. Sure, we’re enthusiastic, but we’re not uncritical. With that in mind, did you see Iron Fist? Woof. That was NOT Marvel on Netflix’s best work.

But the simple fact is this: We WANT to LIKE this stuff. We’re nerds and we’re thrilled about the simple existence of the 600 new board games released at GenCon, so our first instinct is to enjoy the heck out of them.

Rocket_Raccoon_Portrait_ArtThe old journalism adage is “if it bleeds, it leads,” meaning, of course, that a negatively written post or highlighting a piece of bad news will draw more attention, because humans. And we see this all the time on the Internet. As nerdy interlocutors have followed this line of thinking it has brought us to a place where us nerds can eat our own young, picking at the smallest of small nits.

You know what? The physics of Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t make a lick of sense but there was a Raccoon in space, which is awesome. And sometimes being awesome is simply enough.

And if it just takes you a hot second to start to gripe? Well, what are you gonna do, call the nerd police on us? Bad news, Buck-o, we are the nerd police and we’re letting ourselves off with a warning.

Charlotte Armstrong explained that a nerd is “just someone who is really passionate about something.” I think you could substitute the word enthusiastic for passionate, so yes, we’re an enthusiast site. We’ll probably round up on our reviews and will lead with the things we loved about a movie, and not first look for things to deconstruct.

It’s an unbelievable time to be a nerd. I say we should find pleasure in that.

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A Video Introduction to Rocket #1 (2017) https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/05/video-introduction-rocket-1-2017/ Fri, 26 May 2017 12:00:11 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=13303 rocket #1 cover

We give you a fast first impression of Rocket #1 in four minutes or less!

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rocket #1 cover

Rocket #1

Grab it here from Comixology or search for your local comic shop using this handy dandy comic shop locator!

Writer: Al Ewing

Artists:  Adam Gorham

Release Date: May 10, 2017

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