Between the Panels

Batman . I mean, hands down one of the coolest characters ever created. Some would argue he’s the greatest superhero of all time (they are obviously mistaken, Superman is the OG). But if you’ve been reading some of the more recent Batman comics, you’ll know that ol’ Brucie’s not doing so hot these days. It all kinda started when his bride to be, Selina Kyle (better known to some as Catwoman ) left him at the alter. What had, to that point, been something of an upward trend for the Dark Knight suddenly took a hard pivot into the awful and the poor guy has not been able to catch a break since. Now, sure, some of these things have been factors well outside of his control. Like being trapped thousands of miles away while Bane killed Alfred , his belov'd mentor and adoptive father. Or having Penguin fake his own death and framing him for it triggering a robotic failsafe that Batman had, unbeknownst even to himself, designed to stop himself were he ever to violate his own code and go ...

SPOILER ALERT ! If you haven’t had a chance to watch the most recent season of My Hero Academia, but intend to and you don’t want spoilers, you may want to stop reading now. For years there has been suspicion of a traitor within UA. We now know this was, in fact, the case. And the traitor was none other than Mr. Can’t Stop Twinkling himself, Aoyama . To this point little more than a source of awkward comic relief, Aoyama’s betrayal of his fellow classmates hits like an emotional freight train, particularly in understanding all the nuances of what led to it in the first place, which I will not spoil here. But what hits even harder is the immediate love, grace, and forgiveness the rest of Class 1A show their troubled comrade almost instantaneously. Their willingness to move past the betrayal and still embrace him as their comrade and fellow hero is a display so stunning as to almost come off as unrealistic. Who could ever look past such devastating betrayal so quickly and with such pat...

Hey guys! PLo here, and I want to chat a bit about not a bird or plane, but Superman . I will be honest and say that for years I thought Superman was lame. He had all these powers and only one weakness and I just didn’t feel like I could relate to the character. And then came Henry Cavill. I remember the first time I watched Man of Steel . I was instantly sold on the character. Henry played not just Superman, but Clark Kent. And he brought a human side to the character that I had never seen before. I could relate to him, knowing he’s not of this world, but has been sent here for a time and is tasked with making this world a better place with the amazing abilities he has been given. But we aren’t going to be talking about the obvious “not of this world” angle today. No, we’re gonna talk about his name . Throughout the scriptures, time and time again, we see how important names are to God and just how thoughtful He is in how He names His people. He had Sarah name her first born Isaac, wh...

In the grimdark world of the far future, there is only…lore. I, like many others, have been swept up by the splatterific and squelchy good time that is Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 . As is my way with any property I interact with, I can’t content myself with simply enjoying the thing in question but instead will never be satisfied until I’ve hyper fixated my way through a deep dive into the lore. And there are few deeper lore dives across all fandoms as can be found with 40k! From a biblical perspective, this franchise in all of its grimdark, blood-soaked, nightmarish glory, actually has a monumental amount to chew on. From the fascinating exploration of mankind’s compulsion for worship with the Imperium of Man, to its emphasis on brotherhood and loyalty, to its exploration of the horrors of war. But one through line that is incredibly prominent, particularly in the narrative of the Space Marine games, is the idea of heresy. The Imperium of Man is a theocracy, with a deified figure ...

Have you ever struggled with confidence? I mean  really  struggled? Felt like you weren’t good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, brave enough, strong enough? If so, you’re far from alone. I’ve been there too. In fact, I was there recently. Felt like no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I was letting people down. During this time, God brought encouragement to me from a couple of unexpected places. A rock man and a rock band. The rock man Eijiro Kirishima , aka Red Riot , from  My Hero Academia . Kirishima feels he has a super lame quirk. He could harden his body. He then had a chance to step up and save some of his classmates…and he blew it. In the aftermath, he felt his resolve break. Then, he rewatches an old clip from one of his heroes that inspires him to keep fighting. So what if his power was lame? He would make it less lame through hard work. So what if he froze one time? He would fight to never freeze again. Despite continuing to feel inadequate, an...

We recently lost an absolute legend. I don’t know that there’s ever been a more influential TV show in existence than Dragon Ball Z . When news broke of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama ’s passing, social media blew up with fan art, tributes, and heartfelt goodbyes. From his iconic artwork, to his epic storytelling, Toriyama-san blended action, comedy, and drama together for titanic battles with high stakes, and even higher power levels (over 9,000!!!) Throughout Dragon Ball, there’s tons of thought-provoking topics to delve into. Gods, aliens, death and resurrection, spending thirty minutes staring someone down screaming at the top of your lungs. But one thing about the show stands out to me as a poignant example of a principle many of us would find very challenging. Goku is a sometimes over-eager fighter with a heart of gold. As such, he squares off with all manner of colorful, disreputable, and outright malevolent foes. Yet, from the likes of Yamcha, Oolong, and Tien Shinhan, to ...

To Me My X-Men ! Now you may have likely heard this phrase come up fairly frequently over the past month or so as the new series X-Men ‘97 has been coming out. And for me as a 90’s kid who watched the original X-Men series; I'm not gonna lie, I was super amped to be watching this. I was going to be able to finally see my favorite superheroes like Gambit, Wolverine, Rogue, and let's be honest, Nightcrawler! We're desperately hoping for Nightcrawler. It brought back some awesome nostalgic moments to the point where I started rewatching old episodes just so I could feel like I was catching up. As X-Men ‘97 was going to be continuing on where the original X-Men series was ending. Here's the thing though, as we are approaching in X-Men ‘97, there is a sad reality that's hitting all of us nerds. There would be no Professor X, because in the original series Professor X has passed away after an assassination attempt on his life and was unable to make it after much needed m...