Between the Panels

Living in our modern North American context, the word “ refuge ” isn’t a word we have to think about too terribly often. This is quite unique, historically speaking, as the idea of having a shelter from the dangers of the world is ubiquitous throughout history and culture. You don’t even have to go back far to the nuclear paranoia of the mid to late 20th century and the concept of a fallout shelter being a much more common notion to people’s minds. It’s almost comical to think about the fact that the term “safe space”, a reference to a place where you can be free from ridicule, is about the closest we tend to come in day to day conversation.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to mock the idea of safe spaces. Despite my more conservative doctrinal leanings, I’m not so removed from my millennial nature that I will start tossing around their term “snowflake” to the denigration of my peers. My intent today is quite the contrary, in fact. A need for safety and shelter is universal a...

Those who know me know that Destiny is hands down my favourite video game. I’ve been playing since Destiny 1, and jumped into the second one shortly after its release. I could give you many reasons why it’s my favourite, but right now I’m going to focus on one. In the Destiny games, there are several different varieties of enemies you face. In the first instalment you’re introduced to several of them, but it wasn’t until the later on in the second game that we find our perspective challenged. At different points, we find ourselves having to work together with two of our eldest enemies; the Cabal and the Eliksni . Both of these enemies have taken much from us, and us from them. However when we find ourselves fighting enemies we cannot stop alone, teaming up is our only option. Both the Cabal and Eliksni only came to our world because they were fleeing something else. Fear and misunderstanding are powerful enemies, and they caused us to quickly decide that these beings were enemies as w...

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...

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...

It’s hard for anyone to deny the impact that the groundbreaking series,   Attack on Titan , has had on the anime fandom. And rightly so! It’s easily one of the most compelling shows on television. For over a decade it kept fans rabidly theorizing and desperately waiting for the next episode to drop. The show doesn’t shy away from lofty questions and challenging ideas, to the point that a lot of it would be impossible to cover in a quick little nerdy blog post. So instead, I’m going to think a little broader. A little bigger. I’m talking about giants . The premise of the show is that the last remnants of humanity try to survive behind huge walls keeping out the hoards of giant man-eating beings (“ titans ”) until one day when they break through. Reflecting about facing down giants, any church kid’s brain is likely to go one to place in particular: David and Goliath .  There’s some debate as to just how big Goliath was, but it is traditionally held that he was “six cubits and a ...

We look up to our heroes, right? That's what we are supposed to do; I mean that's what they are there for isn't it? They are the ones that are supposed to be the gleaming example of how we can conquer over the dark times in our life. Heroes are supposed to be the ones that challenge us in our core to level up past what we are facing. Wow, start off on a positive note why don't ya; am I right? But, I think there is something to be ask here on what happens to us when our heroes fail? What happens to our core when we have someone that we look up to that lets us down or does something that breaks our faith in them? Really, it's devastating.... You're whole world feels like it is shook and you can feel directionless. The game  Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League hits this idea further, when you play as a villain and you are needing to take down heroes (Batman, Superman, The Flash, etc.) because they have been corrupted and are destroying the world. Like, that...

Lately there have been a large number of animes that have been featuring their main characters reincarnating into new and strange things.  A couple that have caught my eye and my time have been Black Summoner and A Faraway Paladin, but let's focus on Black Summoner . Our main character has no memory of his past life (typical), but has chosen previously that he is going to be a mage with certain skill sets. As you can imagine he maxed out some of his skills that pertain to magic or special knowledge, while along the way has to retrain his other skills in life. What's really cool is seeing this character make lots of progress and the joy that he gets out of this chosen path that he laid out before himself.  This character even has a spiritual companion that helps guide him along his journey and discuss next step strategies for personal growth.  He seems very refreshed and has more of a drive about him in whatever missions he takes along his journey to get stronger . Imagine...

A man in a red suit, a large antlered beast, the sound of sleigh bells ringing on a snowy night, and a raised crossbow loaded for battle?!?! That’s right crew; you are not reading a typo there. Earlier this month DC Comics published a comic series ( Silent Knight ) featuring our big man in red, a.k.a.  Santa Clause (though he prefers to be called Chris Kringle ) showing up in a way that would get our D&D nerds amped for an impromptu session. One of the best parts of this series was the different heroes’ reactions to the reality that Chris was not a holly jolly guy, but an epic, battle-worn warrior. Turns out that Chris doesn’t just deliver presents to boys and girls, but fights off the things that go bump in the night for the sake of the world’s safety.   Reading through this series made Santa interesting for me.  Like I would look at pictures of Santa throughout Christmas and would automatically translate those images to Chris from the comics. We have a bit of a ha...

I am bracing myself for some retaliation after making this comment and I ask for your forgiveness, but I have not watched Dragon Ball .... Don't worry, I expect that there will be torches and pitch forks assembling by my home sometime either today or tomorrow depending how far you are from Belleville. Something that most people are aware of in Dragon Ball is the immense power that their characters have (particularly the main character Goku ).  Within nerd culture, there is a phrase that comes up from time to time "Oh...they're going Super Saiyan !" when someone is going at something really hard, almost without limits.  When people go "Saiyan" or "Super Saiyan" they glow with what looks like fire around them which is actually their spiritual energy .  This became such a popular image within anime that other shows adapted it for their use ( Bleach being one of my favourite examples with Ichigo ). While watching these Super Saiyan moments, it's ...

What kind of lantern are you ? Kind of a weird question to ponder on isn't it. You might respond back with "Well what's the purpose of the lantern? What do you mean by using the word 'lantern'?" These are valid responses/questions to bring up, but I pose this question in processing what Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16 , " You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house . In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." Not going to lie, this makes me think of Kilowag (a Green Lantern member and mentor), teaching Hal Jordan on how to be a GL ( Green Lantern ) and how to use his ring. Hal joined something that he had no idea what he was doing: how do you fight with light? Jesus is doing the same thing.  In other parts of ...

The Armour of God (found in Ephesians 6:14-17 ) is a well known passage of scripture that most Christians could quote off the top of their heads.  However, it can lose meaning if we don't dive deeper on why Paul likely gave certain attributes of the armour pieces (truth, peace, faith, etc.) that he did. So to help in drawing that deeper connection and importance of these principles to their armour pieces, we are going to take the armour and make it NERDY STYLE!!!! Buckle up! First is the belt of truth ( Ephesians 6:14 ).  This might seem like a boring piece, but it is really the foundation of it all.  Without the belt there would be no way for a soldier (in the Roman army) to be able to carry their sword.  The belt would often hold the breast plate intact as well.  A belt was not just something to hold up your pants, but would give you peace of mind as you were moving forward in the fight: that you were equipped and ready. Batman's belt is the best example of t...

Don’t you wish you could have everything in life organized in priority and immediacy? Admittedly, this is one thing that I think video games/role-playing games does well.  Typically, when you are pausing after finishing a big quest or are in the break of the story; you are brought to your quest menu .  The quest menu is so helpful not just seeing what you have accomplished (getting that pat on the back), but seeing whether it is a main plot task or a side quest.  Along with that, there are sometimes promptings of events that you can jump into immediately to find impressive loot or a level up for your character. However, if you didn’t have this menu to navigate through or prioritize what quests you are taking, you might just aimlessly go around not making as much progress. It helps to be organized and to be able to go into the game with a plan and an intentional goal for your character to grow in their journey. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Jesus actually has something that ...

Gamers, particularly ones who like to play RPG s ( Role Playing Games ), know that there is a legitimate struggle between focusing on the main story and wanting to do side quests/missions . Everyone gets the game for the main story and works toward its conclusion. Though, side quests are sometimes more fun than focusing on the main story, especially when you are struggling at a certain points. Take me for example. I love the Batman Arkham series games and have played through 3/4 of them in their completion.  However, in Batman: Arkham Knight , I have been getting distracted with side quests that I have left the main story for now years (this is in part because of not gaming by myself lately).  Part of it was the struggle of fighting major bosses, but also there have been some fun side quests with other characters that I love to interact with.  This is all to say that completing side quests and focusing on them for a while is not bad; they are part of getting things done ...

If you have been following Star Wars content since 2019, you have likely heard of the series The Mandalorian . Some people have mixed reviews on the latest content, but I want to get into what has become The Mandalorian's most iconic line " This is the way ". Within the series, you find out that the Mandalorians were a group of people who had been eradicated by the Empire for their precious metals to make weapons and use for currency.  One of the things that added to the Mandalorian culture was their strict adherence to certain rules, which acted as a pathway for them in all that they did.  This path would often be affirmed with other Mandalorians in the uttering "This is the way". Part of these tenants was not removing your helmet, devotion to family and the Mandalorian race, as well as being prepared as one global warrior clan.  The Way was something that was taught at birth and driven to the very identity of your being. The most notable marking of a Mandalor...

Han and Chewie .  Arguably one, if not, the most iconic duos in cinematic history.  These "scruffy looking nerf herders" are always side-by-side, hip deep in troubles of their own making. Whether it's smuggling goods, or flying in a barrage of enemy TIE fighters; these two have each others backs.  As a nerd it makes collecting a bit of a nightmare when you can find that awesome Han Solo figure, but you know you can't just have Han without his first mate/co-pilot Chewie.  Even the show Chuck , demonstrates this through the parting of two friends; one taking the Han Solo figure and the other Chewie. These two friends felt it was just wrong to separate the two figures, like it felt wrong to part as friends. Han and Chewie have seen good times and bad, but they always had each other.  I remember the biggest gut punch was when Han Solo died in episode seven, but an even bigger hit was hearing Chewie's lamenting cry and rage poor out at the loss of his friend.  ...

Rebellion: it has such a negative connotation to it doesn't it?  When I think of the word "rebellion" I immediately get a vibe of misfits that are causing a ruckus.  Rebellion though in it's true form, more often than not is about pushing back against something, usually a misjustice.  When you hear "rebel" as a nerd, you might get the image of Han Solo, Princess Leah, or the Rogue Squadrons of Star Fighters! In those films and stories, to be a rebel was important in fighting against the darkness of the Empire and the Dark Side itself.  Being a Rebel was making a clear stand that something needs to change that the oppression happening must be stopped. This is why Empire Strikes Back is one of the most popular Star Wars films for most fans.  There is a clear vantage point that the Rebels are a small group and the Empire is a genuine threat to their very existence: the Empire cannot win. One of my favourite lines from Star Wars: Rogue One was from the main char...

A series that came out last year and was an enjoyable read has been  DC VS Vampires.   It was great for a couple of reasons.  First is that the DC Universe is working through the situation of a vampire empire being established and taking over the world (very interesting/intense). Second is that Green Arrow is one of the main people pushing the fight against the vampires (repping the Emerald Archer fanbase hard here!) Honestly though, what I have enjoyed the most out of this series is the  impending fear of being unsure of who has been bitten and turned; are there people on your side that you can truly trust?   This series has made me question every character at some point and the plot twist to see who was the head vampire really threw me in for a loop (trust me, you are going to want to read this series). What it reminded me of was Jesus' warning about wolves in sheep's clothing in  Matthew 7:15  "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as har...

Nerd is not a title to be feared anymore these days.  In fact to some, it is a badge of honour; even a level that is worth achieving.  I am personally proud to be called a nerd. That's right you can say it to my face and I won't cry; I might even give a heroic stance after you say it! But there are certain things that make a nerd, well... a nerd.  A major thing that sets them apart is there intense passion for their interest.  To a nerd, their interest is something that they are not simply enamoured by, it is the focus of their energy and free time.  Go to a comic convention and see how some of these nerds will wait in lines for hours dressed in costume for their fandom!  With such passion, these nerds at times can't help but go on rants on details to share what they are invested in to help you potentially get interested in it too.  If you have a nerd that does this, please take it as a compliment, as they are trying to invite you into their passion ...

November has been a bit of a hard month for the nerd community with the passing of two iconic, childhood heroes. First with the passing of Kevin Conroy ; the voice actor of Batman in numerous animated shows, games, and a live performance as Old Bruce in a TV series.  Second and most recently Jason David Frank ; most well known for his character " Tommy " in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show and the icon for the Power Rangers franchise.  These two deaths were certainly not just a blow to my childhood (rushing to watch Batman: The Animated Series or learning karate from Tommy in his instructional video), but have been a blow to the nerd community with several tribute posts and videos on social media. However, it was not just the roles that they played that left an impact on their fans, but their actual heart to be an encouragement to their fan base. Even amidst their collogues, there is this sense of great loss for the world at large as these people were a source of ent...