ATLANTIS, THE OCEAN AND FALLEN KINGDOMS

THINGS TO FIND: Underwater
By Alex Ness
March 30, 2026

I taught a number of courses from 1992 to 1997, and even really enjoyed much of it. But in three separate courses, none of the students had ever heard about the ancient world, nor the myths and legends from the same.  The lost kingdom of Atlantis has always fascinated me, and the thought that the students never had the opportunity to revel in the morality plays, the possible historical existence, and the lessons for the future Atlantis offered, wounded me. In that case that I had been reminded that the modern mind thinks the past is boring, so as a creative writer I must try to give the reader more to appreciate. I've used the past as well as alternative narratives of the past. It has been addressed in many of my works, projects, and p.o.v.

In fact, Tales of Lost Kingdoms is a work illustrated by some wonderful past artists, with poems and essays by myself and Peter Urkowitz, a bright man with some fine talents. The cover was my doing for arranging/designing it, with use of art by Josh Howard, and images from Pixabay. I had asked Josh to do the image as a book was being created 4 years prior to my first book being published. But the publisher refused to pay for the image. As such I traded a very limited book about Ray Harryhausen, and other works for it and Josh said, it is all yours. It is available through me, Peter or Amazon. 

In a way, all of the books shown above are fiction, and speculation. Some shown are better than others explaining the narrative and some are better at storytelling, if not necessarily seriously. However, I definitely believe that there was a model for Atlantis in a historic subject. However, we haven't enough evidence to point to it at this point. Prince Namor of Marvel Comics, and Aquaman of DC Comics both refer to Atlantis as being a sunken kingdom, where the inhabitants breathe in water. Along with Aquarius Mission by Martin Caidin all these fictional works are worth reading, but they aren't addressing the subject from the perspective of a fictional and fantasy outlook. 

KULL by Robert E. Howard

The character Kull, King of Atlantis came from the mind of Robert E. Howard. He wrote of heroes in a lost age of steel, each being a paragon of leadership, power, and ability to fight. Kull is different than Conan, the modern era's preferred character by Howard. But, Kull is more about the cost of leadership, with sorrow and desire to overcome the kingdom's issues. He was not seeking romance, sex, or carnal desires. Unlike Conan, Kull was motivated by elevated ideals. (I like Conan, this is an attempt to compare, not a vote for one character or the other). What I like about Kull specifically, is that it displays the cost of leadership, and in contrast to, say, Elric by Michael Moorcock, that facing the depths of darkness, he isn't one who practices the darkness. Howard's version of Atlantis is thoughtful, and interesting not retreading paths walked upon before.

ALAN DEAN FOSTER: Oshenerth, Cachalot and more...

The people who read science fiction often demand a story to be exotic, complicated, logical and more. People who read fantasy seem to want emotive stories, with action and ideals of living in a world that can be changed, saved, or engaged. Alan Dean Foster often speaks to the aspects of the future with a means of emotional connection.  In Cachalot an ocean planet is used to grant reparations to ocean mammals, for the misuse of them over human history. The concept is similar to demands for racial reparations from invaders, dominant populations to assist the damaged people for what was done. As such, the book plays differently for people. I am moved by it, and I am aware that it is more space fantasy than science fiction. All of the story, which utilizes orcas and humans collaborating to solve a recent trend of disastrous events.

Oshenerth is set within the oceans of another world. Two ocean dwellers, Glint and Chachel find an unconscious being, described as a demon and help save their life. They learn of a massive approaching invasion, leading them to a fight for survival. The world is distinct in  with the ocean life having specific behaviors and sorts of thought. Somewhat similar to how various human species lived on the same planet at the same time... (Neanderthal, Denisovan, Cro-Magnon) Merpeople and other intelligent life forms exist. The Mer people use blue magic and are an analogue for humans in the setting explored.

FANTASY PAINTER JEFFREY JONES Jeffrey Catherine Jones was a painter who Frank Frazetta considered the next great painter. That is high praise. I was able to both interview JCJ, but more importantly, become a friend in time to her. She had a spirit that was more kind than almost any I have encountered, and with her great amount of talent, of skills, that is almost unique. She struggled a great deal with her gender, being transgender and by the time she had surgery, it had been a difficult run. Depression led to more issues. But somehow, she maintained a sense of kindness that I've never truly encountered before.  Her art did not die when she did, but the books are expensive, and rare. I have two of these books and do recommend them for any others to seek and find.

LASTLY

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SNEAK PREVIEW: LOST ON PARADISE

From Alan Dean Foster, a new book, an October 20 release. From Blackstone Publishing.

Author Len Deighton, Master of Thrillers and War has passed

        Author Len Deighton has died

Military Science Fiction author William C. Dietz has died

William C. Dietz: 30 January 1945- 15 March 2026

American author William C. Dietz, who specialized in the genre of military science fiction, has died. He leaves a legacy of work, and fans of his place in the genre and in sci fi overall.  He created works about wars in space, on different planets, earth in the future and wrote in the Halo and the Star Wars universes.

He'll be missed, and condolences to his family and fans.

Change at the Top, And How Exposure to Media led to More Media

CHANGE AND CONTAGION
By Alex Ness
March 9, 2026

MIKE RICHARDSON FIRED AT DARK HORSE COMICS, ENTERTAINMENT

Recent events in the medium of comic books have led to upheaval in staff and leadership at various publishers. Mike Richardson had began the publisher Dark Horse in 1986, and the publisher was sold to bring stability. It was reported that Richardson has been fired by the holding company that owned it since 2022. It stands as a very large event within the last 50 years of American comic books.

It's usually a safe bet when a publisher or EiC is fired sales and poor reception to one's product are the reason. Yet one might wonder if the sexual harassment event of Scott Allie colored the decision. The lingering decision in most ways might not be the whole of the reason to move on from Richardson, but the quality of his writing and personal imprint on the works that Dark Horse created suggests it had to have been more than simple sales, market stagnation, or personality issues between creative partners.

I've asked other minds in the industry about the reasons and they almost all suggested it is sales, but for one. They said, ageism in comics is an enormous trend statistically, but no one dares to bring it up as most don't notice age until it is important to them, at the age they are at the time. I think that influences the decision, but still isn't the sole or most important reason.

Rich Johnston covers the important facts and gives some needed context to the event HERE

FIRST CAME A MOVIE THEN SO MUCH MORE

To plant a seed of creative taste one experiences a new thing, and by the nature of influence, one delves the concept, understands the message, and seeks more. I was a 16 year old male, with 2 similar aged friends and as such, they also possessed similar interests. Here was a movie titled HEAVY METAL, it was suggested to be an anthology of stories, similar to the offerings found at science fiction and fantasy magazine, Heavy. But it was itself born from the magazine Metal Hurlant or literally, Screaming Metal. The movie soundtrack was filled wildly intense appropriate evocative sounds found in the film.

The art of Chris Achilleos was featured on the movie poster, the cover of White Dwarf magazine and more. I began to collect White Dwarf, almost certainly as a result, and it was for its first 100 issues truly worth reading. Along with the familiar images and themes, everything I saw in the film led me to some other destination. In this way it felt more like a contagion because every further move was influenced by the event of seeing such a movie.  

For me, the movie imagery led directly to Moebius and from appreciating his endless imagination, joy, despair and bizarre. Moebius drew with a line that was distinct, not so very photo camera real, as it was perfectly able to cast shade, depict motion, and emotion. His work a decade later on Silver Surfer was one where I first felt the Surfer was the Christ character or at least John the Baptist prophet of the coming God, and it was perfect beneath Moebius's pens and inks. From the kind of stories Moebius exposure led to, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. The influence is clear, it is not an homage so much as saying the universe and characters imprinted themselves on Miyazaki.  

From the song by Blue Oyster Cult Veteran of the Psychic Wars I felt the beat, the pained voice, and epic tone, the lingering wars and heartbeats drowning out the peace we seek. And then sought Rogue Trooper and Starship Troopers. These works added more to my enjoyment of comics, books, movies more than the music.

Women History Month Sun, Mar 1, 2026 – Tue, Mar 31, 2026

In March we celebrate women, here are two real women and a gathering of some great characters in fiction. My life is only possible as a child resulting of rape by the choice of my birth mother to not abort me, and gave me up for adoption.  I don't have a perfect life or past, but I'd have nothing without her courage, and without my adoptive mother's fierce determination to be someone I could never have become without her guidance and love.

Here is a collection of women from the world of comics, heroes and powerful humans. I've often said, and I believe it to be true, my mother, wife, and numerous women friends allowed me to see how powerful women make the world better, and are by no means less than equal to men, but higher on the scale of compassion, endurance, and expression of power. I could never see the point of view in people who ignore, look down upon, or deny women, seeing the excellence of how they lead in the many ways they have led.

LASTLY

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BOOKS, Dragons, Fantasy

FACTS VERSUS FANTASY
By Alex Ness
March 2, 2026

They say that the days of one's life move faster the older that they are. Is that really true? Well, it depends. No doubt, every day has the same number of seconds, minutes and hours. But how it plays upon the mind and perception is truly not so equal. The more days, hours, minutes and seconds that have passed for the individual, the more fleeting they appear. The context for time, also, is an imaginary thing. We create it, it is a construct, for the context and distance from and to an imaginary point in the distance. The older that one is, therefore, the smaller every day is, the more swiftly it passes. And as such, a historian is dealing with thoughts and paradigms that even those who might still be living from when they occurred would not feel them as deeply as in the moment, and for people of that specific time. (Click upon images to enlarge)

Peter Green was a historian, a classicist, and a thinker who not only understood the times in which he considered, he could feel the whims of time more easily than most in similar settings. I mention him because, I am a historian, and also a poet. The moment is a very important time, and those that happened far from now, in time, often lose appeal as more time gathers. My personal outlook has changed many times, due to personal events, trauma, hope, fear, and epiphanies. As such, finding authors who have placed the truth on paper as well as Green did, lead me to further understanding, hope and perspective.

The Greek world was one of the first known people to the modern world, to achieve the heights of democracy, military excellence as a group, and governance that had honor and truth as goals. Peter Green's works bringing the Greeks and Macedonians into conflict, and then jointly invading Persia, demonstrate how the flexible, democratic leadership could take a far smaller force into a conflict, and destroy it. Persia had numbers. It had a level of cultural enlightenment, and honor. But the Greeks view on the world and the changes in human culture that followed it, led the entire planet to perceive humans as equals, neighbors as being connected, and all people have a voice, democratically, spiritually and as a group of people, who by vote become one in response. Xenophon's Anabasis "The Expedition and Return of the 10 Thousand" is the perfect example, and Green's work enables the reader to understand our deepest roots of democracy and democratic expression. Along with Green's outlook, the work he analyzes and shares is as enlightened as the events themselves. For me, that is a way to visit an era, understand an idea, and find new outlooks, without having to invent a time machine.

My reason for sharing the works and suggesting people read them, is that there is a momentum of culture that is going on currently. No matter how we try, we might well be unaware of all the opportunities lost, all the cultural exchanges. Time maturing is important. We all have our talents, and have our deficits. People in my life have experienced a lesser version of me, receiving no kindness, no interest in repair. If someone injured me, they received a harsh word, action or worse insult in return. I think knowing the past leads me to attempting to be better in my own present.

I'm not a believer in the actual existence of real dragons. However, I do believe in real dragons. Huh? Is Ness high? Not this time. You see, there are concepts that are found across the globe. Certain ideas had to have a precedent. Without getting into what else happened, without happening the way we remember it, certain concepts were remembered in the fossils of dinosaurs and whales. Certain evidence, like the teeth of sharks and other reptiles were found on the beach, indicating something enormous once had these teeth in their skull, like dragons.

Dragons were the imagined creature, and fear led to the adding flight, wings, intelligence. The skeletons were proof to the minds of the day, that something enormous walked great canyons, swam oceans, flew across the sky of watching human kingdoms. The remains were so enormous the people had no problem creating great mythos and legends about them.  Therefore, the dragons lived in the imaginations of humans, and as such, people acted according to beliefs. In some art and legends, Dragons represented evil. That they did so didn't make dragons evil, but they surely symbolized an understood concept, that a great evil could be represented in this image.

There are great works featuring dragons in art, in story, in movie, and fairy tales. There are non-fiction examinations of the dragon, from a factual and scientific perspectives. Even with all these selections, There is another great story, involving dragons. The Dragon Slayer is such a story. It suggests from the very beginning that the dragon is an enemy, and the slayer is a hero. But as we know from existence, not everyone drafted to become a hero has heroism rushing through his or her veins. The reason I have begun to consider dragons from a new perspective, is that in the present all dragons have been reappraised in light of modern ideals...

The dragon as the enemy is no longer immediately accepted without further thought. In a world of no black and white ideas, the dragon as an anti-hero is just as valid as any other. As a legend of violent creatures, they stand as the beautiful and huge creatures who deserves to be free in nature. Anything might be done to humans would be due to the humans made by humans. The overall view of dragons and humans have perhaps switched places. There is obviously room enough for all views, so no version of the perception is in need to be the sole version.

As many long time readers know Robert E. Howard and Alan Dean Foster are favorite authors of mine. Both of them even write in the genre of Fantasy and various forms of fiction that some might term Weird Fiction. My point here deals with something people ask me, weekly, if not more often. What does "genre" mean? It isn't a term that implies a lock, there is no warden who sends you to author jail if you violate the boundaries. You should think of genre as a guide to commonly found aspects of story.  

Robert E. Howard focused upon action, violent resolution to problems, and worlds of exotic clothing, foods, riches and events. Slavery is common. But not a positive or negative, a state of being. Alan Dean Foster writes in many forms, including Fantasy, but his works are less violent, less solved through violence, and the warrior of Robert E. Howard's tales would not be able to solve the issues found in Foster's tales. The mind in Foster's tales is as much of the weapon as Howard's steel swords.

Each author brings a different collection of work that counts as Fantasy. They are both of fine quality, but they are truly different. They might not be parked next to each other in Fantasy's parking lot, where cars are parked in order of violence and carefree joy. However, they each contain a level of writing that is highly desirable, and tell stories that can't be found in other genres. I'd certainly suggest readers gather the works of both, as they have never failed to be something I enjoyed reading.

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Winter, Fantasy And Posthumous Cancelations

FANTASY AND FASCISM
By Alex Ness
February 25, 2025

MID WINTER GAMES TO ENJOY

I have fond memories of snow days. Not because I am freakishly a fan of shoveling for days. In one later time, my wife had an unplanned 5 day extended weekend, between fun adults have, we also were able to devote time to enjoying some Super Mario marathons. But in high school I was able to experience some great gaming, when snow struck, since my friends who lived more rural would go to school, but it would be canceled just prior to their arrival. Working their way to my home, they'd show up and we'd have a weather caused impromptu gaming session. It would be longer period of time devoted to RPGing. Or other fun games but even more so, we had time to engage without an upper level time limit, since we'd have shoveled and nothing more was needed.

(Click to enlarge images)

TO USE REAL WORLD SOURCE MATERIAL IN YOUR RPG PLAY

There are people who mock ttRPG players, the games, and the efforts made. But what people do not understand who live outside the games, is that aside from magic and such, the conflicts and problem solving found in RPGs are normal if also unusual. The games allow people to realize an agency in life, able to act without the barriers found in real life.

I didn't follow my life interests of history and international relations to enhance my RPG games. Both of those enhanced the settings I used, my life as a writer, my goals in understanding the world outside of my own. But my games have a distinctive flavor, due to what I've researched, read dozens of books about, and watched in the form of documentaries and various news oriented stories of the adding unto the existing archaeological records.

This isn't meant to make it seem like I am a genius or know more than others. I have friends who have more knowledge without researching than myself, who spent years trying to learn. But I do mean to say, RPGs might not be the highest aspiration of mankind, but they aren't, overall, silly, juvenile, or meaningless. They come from knowledge of the real world. And a game master's ability is only made better with knowledge.

GAME AIDS

I received many emails to my gmail and received many inboxes over at my Facebook page about my recent adjustment to include more RPGs, as well as music. It isn't more difficult, but takes more time to focus on more subjects. There are ways to improve one's game, whatever the game. There are and have been excellent magazines collecting ideas, game event reminiscence and creating community. The same can be said for products that feature collections of specific kinds of game aids meant to deepen ones experience. Scenarios of adventures take the form of works meant to be short immediate boosts, perhaps offered when the DM has not had time to prepare, or, as in the case of the Primal order, the ideas within present a depth that can only otherwise be achieved with research beyond the normal measure.  There are game aids meant to be a supplement to enhance record keeping, and there are new RPGs that offer new outlooks at how gaming might be done if the particular game group might be better served.

A CANCELED RACIST 

M.A.R. Barker taught university levels courses in history, anthropological studies, and religious studies courses. He was a highly skilled and intelligent man. Over the years he developed a game system featuring works inspired by the courses he taught, and became moved by the cultures and the information he shared. The table top RPG EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE was a "culture first" gaming world. It didn't have many participants, but those who entered into it found a great deal more than the typical tropes of the ttRPG world. It was a creative work that seemed to express the joy and areas of interest in the world Barker had taught. If you are trained, being able to work in that field with that training, it requires effort, intellect, and depth of interest to occupy a seat in a department, and an interest by students in that area. Barker did that, and worked until he had enough time in grade to retire.

Teaching a subject that fascinates you, to learn systems of historical advancement, economy and ethnicity, religion and philosophy is a wonderful thing, yes? Well in this case, the credulous outlook of this great admirer of cultural facts and ideas, adapted more than just the naming. He adopted the Anti-Semitic outlook that the region's religious and ideological cultures often held. His creative work dug even further in those kinds of thought. Beneath pseudonyms, he wrote fictional work that held a racist terrorist who spouted the many views that haters of Jews spout. He was canceled by RPG game culture. But, did it then suggest that all his writing was stained by the dark hidden truth of the motives and thoughts of a quiet racist? Knowledge is in itself worth keeping. But the speaker of it, the creator of the paradigms, are not allowed to continue just because they were the first to do so.

Professor Barker passed away in 2012, and by that time few were introduced to the fact that he was not only bright and able to write, but hateful. He died prior to dealing with the new and angry response to his works. His work had quality but as such, it is a shame that his toxic views shared brain space with his gaming world, informed by his academic studies. 

Lastly:

Reviews are generally from hard copy or live performances, but I do consider digital works. However, I have a dislike of the format of digital, as is reflected in the case of my own work, I have given away literally hundreds of ebooks, being a worthless avenue for my artistic work, and not having worth when purchased from Amazon.com. However I would very gladly review CDs, games, books & comics, in any format. Write to my email for directions how to make it happen.

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Childlike or Childish

Fantasy Again Considered
By Alex Ness
February 23, 2026

All Media Forms Allow Fantasy as a Genre

There are forms of entertainment that read or play in a fashion that regenerates a childlike joy. Others that are less high minded, and those are rightly called, childish. One is far better than the other, but the role of entertainment has been found in both traits.  Choose your own, these are childlike and joyous to me.

WACKY RACES

For me, there are some great memories of Saturday morning cartoons, and especially WACKY RACES. They were exciting, funny, and clever in a way that made you interested in the contestants and their contest while racing to win.  I loved most all of the racers, but particularly Peter Perfect. He was a knight in shining armor, in car form. Noble, handsome and good.

Times watching the show made it feel particularly like there were hundreds of episodes. However, it was a one year wonder. How I longed for more episodes then, but there are reasons for everything.  

CONAN and works by ROBERT E. HOWARD

I have never read a disappointing story or epic poem by Robert E. Howard (REH). In fact, while I have zero percent of the talents he had, his willingness to write poetry as well as prose, gave me hope that my brain could create fantasy or adventure in my own poems. He had talent throughout his words, and my literary world expands with any new book released in the name of REH. If that is exaggeration or not, I am uncertain. But I do know for certain that I've not read one failed work in any form by REH. The collection of Cthulhu stories is in ways better than the original author, HP Lovecraft, and moved me to try the works of authors who were invited by Lovecraft to contribute.

Oddly, perhaps, he, Alan Dean Foster and Jack Kirby are the writers who wrote works that allowed me to endure during my worst health issues. They were so good as to have distracted my pain from being perceived, that is, at least for a moment. They allowed me to experience joy in the darkness.

JULIET MARILLIER

Juliette Marillier wrote works that were so smooth, new that throughout the run it felt like an author of substance had arrived in the literary world. Her perspectives felt different than other writers in the world of fantasy, truly child in the innocence shared. In the soothing words, adventure still occurred, and in flavor of the setting, there was a journey we'd taken and didn't want it to end. The answers found in the reader to questions raised by Juliet Marillier allowed comfort, worth, and joy.

FRANK BEDDOR

Frank Beddor was an Olympic athlete, a film producer (There's Something about Mary) and his current creative endeavor is writing the excellent prose series The Looking Glass Wars, and sequential art accompanied in his comic book work Hatter M. His support for 25 years of my labors has been stunning, and the time allowed me to read and digest his writing. The Looking Glass Wars are a new interpretation of the story Alice in Wonderland, and along with all the twists and turns, this work makes the original work better, and the update has so many layers, it is amazing. Perfectly done fantasy.

ALAN DEAN FOSTER

Alan Dean Foster is a near constant mention here when I discuss books, and I do not plan to change that. He is kind, bright, funny, and a genuine soul of depth. The six books shown are mostly fantasy, but also Science Fiction and Science Fantasy. In the two Westerns are amusing mythic and legendary tales. In With Friends Like these Who Needs Enemies, the short stories all provide a heavy impact, both in cleverly plotting, amusing or magical settings, and the path to a greater journey. Cat-A-Lyst is a magnificent tale of the furry creatures who share our world. ADF nails the mysterious beings, and delves into the enigma that a fun, loving, gentle cat may become. All of these works deserve a read, or many reads.

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS buy Kenneth Grahame

I didn't read The Wind in the Willows growing up. But it would have been appropriate to do so. It is a work that greatly captures the world of an innocent child. All of the characters of this story were anthropomorphized, generally chosen from the wilds of the nearby fields. Throughout the chapters of the story, the creatures had humanlike motives and desires, and the main character seeks to freed or exonerated from the charges/accusations that he faces. The story is charming, with light of the beings allowed to make the work less dark as it was fun, gentile and loving.  But if you read deeper in, it is about the advent of commercial industry and the use of farmlands for dumping of industrial waste.

COMIC BOOK MARTIAL ARTIST TALES

For your perusal here are Martial Arts comic book characters that over time I have developed a great fascination for and an appreciation. Jademan was a release from Hong Kong where the comics are colorful and extravagant. It had the bonus credential of being written/translation by Mike Baron. However, while it is fun, and generally well done, it didn't connect with a lot of the readers in the US.

The work Master of Kung Fu, in its day, was fantastic. It has in recent years taken a few hits, due to cultural messages, similar to tropes or stereotypes were less appreciated. The majority of the art by the artist responsible, and sole writer were an amazing team. The work was beautiful, wildly entertaining, and it mixed with a James Bond sort of feel, and great intrigue. Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy were the primary tellers of the stories.

Fist of the North Star, Viz media, is a work that surprised the hell out of me. I had overlooked it on the comic store shelves, due to not being familiar with the title or characters. Upon advice from a German transfer student during my retail work hours, we had a long conversation. We were highly similar in the comics we both regularly read. He said "I admire your taste but if you don't read Fist of the North Star you are missing out." I bought 3 issues, and I was impressed. It is a martial arts duel between Fist of North Star and dozens of enemies. He had power from being born under a certain astronomical sign. Buronson writing, Tetsuo Hara illustrating, this was purely fun. If not a masterpiece, I still loved it, perhaps as a kid loves roller coasters.

Way of the Rat was the first comic book about Martial Arts that I'd read that was original, well written, with great art and completely self contained. Unlike most Marvel works, it was not dependent upon reading any of the rest of offerings from Marvel to appreciate. It came from CrossGen comics and was written and illustrated with excellence. Masterfully written by Chuck Dixon with artist Jeff Johnson.

Richard Dragon was DC Comics best offering in the world of Martial Arts. It was by far better than Karate Kid of 25 years earlier, or the initial series of Richard Dragon. I liked all of the characters and more than just the art was fantastic. Chuck Dixon, also the writer of Way of the Rat, and Young Master (upcoming) was allowed to fully develop the character. However it was abandoned by DC early on, despite it working better than any similar themed work. It was fantastic.  Art by Scott McDaniel.

Hexbreaker was an original Badger graphic novel. It was about how the character Badger gathered participants to the grand secret event. Fought to the death, many fell before Badger faces the final bad guy. Written by Michael Baron, art by artist Bill Reinhold, it was funny, excited and rather exquisite in telling how Badger's life is about to change, for the better.

Young Master was a good story, if not a run, and it was aided in achieving its quality by great writing by Chuck Dixon, with art by Alex Nino, a highly talented artist. The story isn't important, so to speak, but it was really good. There is a feeling in reading it of watching it on a black and white tv, in a great afternoon spent with a friend, cousin or elder. I have read it many times and need a new copy. But it is growingly difficult to find as comic shops rid themselves of less known comics for space for the newest version of something else.

LINKS:

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If you like Cats, go find these books to enjoy.

 

I love my family's cats, Katya, Sophia, and Isabella. Isabella is my son's rogue, she is naughty.
 

Kids' comics, M. Night movie-nite, Games and Books

MEDIA CONSIDERED
By Alex Ness
February 10, 2026

COMICS TO SHARE WITH KIDS OF EVERY AGE

I am relatively often asked if there are kid friendly comics, due to the fact that in the legacy eras of comics, they were the target audience. More than previously, comics are perceived by the medium as being different per book, rather than an entire medium being one age group centered. There are both comics aimed at kids, and individual issues that do the same. As animation is aimed at kids during kids blocks of time on various networks, and broadcast channels, the use of heroes and characters found in comics. But it is not the tail wagging the dog, with animation driving comics, it is a case of the present being different than the past. Art Balthazar, Paul Dini, Matt Feazell and Erik Larsen are people I think of, of the people in comics I know of, who seem the most direct connection with said comics for kids. Dini is well known for his animated works, and comic works, for general audiences and beyond. Ant Boy of Matt Feazell makes adults laugh due to the irony of it and kids because it seems silly fun. Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon is usually mature but in that he celebrates fun adventures of a different type, reasonably often. Art Balthazar's Gman made a room full of adults laugh loudly for 10 minutes when his hero dropped a brain in front of a lawn mower. It is fun to be light hearted and free and easy. Seriousness is more rewarding in terms of audience and money. But childhood is a wonder to return to now and then.

FILMS WATCHED: M. Night Shyamalan SPOILER NOTICE... 
Addressing plot and film endings, concepts dealt with. 

Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady Water, Happening

Because I read a bunch of hateful reviews of M. Night Shyamalan, I chose, when my son was away for a week, to find out if my viewer's mind and heart felt differently. It did but, I am not like most of the other reviewers. Many reviewers are taught in the medium of film what is important, what is necessary, and what elements will reward, and other elements if absent will result in a skewed result. I am simply a fan. I don't deny I have different areas that are related to present reward and absence. 

The Sixth Sense was a story which demonstrated how a gimmick can be expertly used. A character turns out to be dead, and he's been speaking to a dead guy, aka, a ghost. It is a shock, but not one that is false and a cheat.

Unbreakable features one major character from the previous film, and he is made to have super powers, and survives an unsurvivable event. He denies being super powered, but in a way, his powers are related to the origins of his own super villain.

Signs is about the fear of new, or unknown communications. It features a series of messages from space, but are they a hoax or are they real? And when aliens come to earth, they are eventually defeated. It is by a plot turn that is unexpected, and perhaps due to the aliens being sensitive or vulnerable to an illogical event.

The Village is about a deeply repressed village, where outsiders are not welcome. Except, while it looks like 1500 AD Massachusetts/New England and populated by the Pilgrims... but it is isn't that. It was a village built 30 years earlier, and is a modern response to grief. That it is such a reveal was not unexpected, but was unconvincing. It was a case of the reveal being less powerful and more relying upon the director's ability to dictate than naturally occurring.

Lady in the Water features an apartment complex swimming pool, the surroundings, and an out of place water nymph, who seeks to go back to her world. The entire film is about such, but also, how there are beings who try to prevent her from reaching her home. It is personal, beautiful, but asks if we all aren't living in our own narrative, with others preventing our escape.

Lastly, the movie Happening is a disaster film, similar to B movies of the 50s, only instead of aliens, space wars, or with human caused disasters, pandemics, mass suicides, and worse. Humans in the lens view are meant to use dialogue that informs the viewer, rather than speak in ways that sound real. The events are introduced and dealt with in a less than "sincere" fashion. 

The works as a collective have numerous traits... they are well made, they are perfectly acted, and if not taken as a continuum they would probably receive better grades from others. For me, having no real entry due to my limits on time to invest in movies, I had always avoided these because I don't want to spoil the ideas in a clip without eating the whole.  The world too often shares spoilers.

Having now done the whole viewing, I can say that I liked most of the movies, and if I hadn't known that the director/writer/producer M. Night Shyamalan was famous for shock endings, or twisted revelations, I would likely have thought in and of themselves, it was a wow moment. Only in the shadow of the other reviewers ideas and comments do I see how things worked to every movies favor or otherwise. I can say this, I think there were two movies that stood out as having an ending that didn't work as well as others. Signs and the Village were works that asked questions but gave only ok answers. Still, I liked the Village. I liked Signs a good deal less.

As a viewer I became more aware of the things to look for that would let me know what to be ready to experience. And, I should say, I think Shyamalan is a great director. He just happens to be producing his art in an atmosphere of Twitter/IMDB and numerous other immediate response media. His work is not one that is in public when the movie comes out, and then slowly a mass outlook forms. It has made a great deal of money for most of the studios, and surely, you cannot compare his work with B movie directors or people who use big names and special effects to get traffic. In his own way, he utilized his time to make movies with big budgets, with a goal to tell his stories. It isn't really the case that he is hated. His works might receive extreme reactions, but I think, in its own way, that isn't a problem.  

ONE GREAT BOOK AND A GAME  SYSTEM TO ROLE PLAY WILL DEEPEN IT

CACHALOT
BLUE PLANET

Cachalot by Alan Dean Foster is gloriously good. It speaks of an ocean planet, with sparse humans there only to solve issues and keep thieves and whalers from returning to the practice of whaling. This is a planet humans reserved for the ocean mammals who were nearly made extinct. But something has been destroying sites assigned to measure, and maintain the setting. 

Blue Planet came out from Fantasy Flight Games creating a system to role play in the ocean realms. It is a fantasy sci fi work, but, out of all the RPGs, I think it does a better job making playable the unique world. The campaign how to books and unique setting gives many points of entry in the information about mechanics and flavor. Will everyone like it? Most things have fans and non fans, so everyone won't. But it is their loss. When GURPS was allowed to interpret the setting the game system became far better. At least, I'd argue, it was now recognizable as GURPS systems have been applied to a great many worlds/settings, and situations.

It is well known that our surface area upon the planet is nearly fully explored, if not completely so. But our oceans represent a vastly unexplored world. If not a different planet, this setting might be our own planet, if it had not been otherwise stated. 

MUSIC
Ambient, Beautiful music.

HOYO MORIYA 

LINK TO A POEM I RECENTLY POSTED

My entire life had questions, and sorrow, answers and hope. This poem is about my father's redeeming and ending of his life. He chose to help my wife and I recover from two Ectopic pregnancies and paid for our medical search to find a way to have children. We did have our child, but my dad passed before the chance to meet him. That is, my wife's happiness, my personal redemption, would not have happened, without his choice.

https://alexnesspoetry.blogspot.com/2026/01/so-much-left-to-say.html

LINKS:

MY POETRY AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com 
HERE: Poplitiko.Blogspot.Com 
MY PUBLISHED WORKS 

Social Media
https://bsky.app/profile/alexanderness63.bsky.social 
https://x.com/alexnesspoetry

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TOP SHELF NEWS!

 

Top Shelf Land Gigs, Technology-Driven Dystopian Tale from UK Creators Simon Smith and Mark Mosedale In Stores June 16, 2026, Preorder Available Now

LOS ANGELES, CA (February 6, 2026) — A.I. took the work. Gigs replaced jobs. Ordinary people are left to scrape together lives in a world that's no longer built for them. This is Gigs, a new graphic novel from Top Shelf releasing June 16, 2026. With a hard-won blend of biting satire and humanistic passion, two creators from the North of England weave together six divergent chapters into an extraordinary graphic novel. Gigs is both a powerful warning about the oppressive world to come and a defiant celebration of the humanity that will sprout up in the cracks.   "When we started working on Gigs in 2019. We hoped that doing a book about AI taking jobs and necessitating a universal basic income wouldn't become irrelevant in the time we spent making it. It turns out that that was the wrong thing to hope for,” says co-creator Mark Mosedale. “Still, there are all the right things left to hope for and, as Woody Guthrie wrote, you've got to keep the hoping machine running. For me, writing Gigs has been a big part of that."   "When we started Gigs I was reaching for that feeling that great music gives me - hearing Tinseltown in the Rain for the first time, or Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops, or Once In A Lifetime. When this stuff finds you, it's proof that another, better world is possible, and an encouragement to look for it,” says co-creator Si Smith. “Imagining a dystopia is relatively easy, especially right now, and the world that we’ve built in Gigs is quite bleak. But whilst hope and joy and revelation are definitely much harder to create, Mark and I have had a good go at it."

Mark Mosedale, Si Smith

About the Book In a frighteningly near future where Basic Income is supplemented by gig work assigned by “the app”…an octogenarian punk and a lonely young worker seek escape through music. A street artist makes art by night and paints over it by day. A has-been detective chases a case into a forgotten world. A drug runner makes a long, strange delivery. A writer marks her days on a decaying space station she can’t leave. And a refugee asks for help in the last free place.   Gigs will be available wherever books are sold, as a full-color softcover graphic novel (ISBN: 978-1-60309-593-8) as well as a digital edition, on June 16, 2026, for a list price of $24.99. For more information please visit the ​Top Shelf​ web site.   About the Creators Author: Mark Mosedale is a writer from the North of England. He has also been a pot washer; a video game journalist; a dollar-store clerk; an unpaid writer for major national newspapers (once willingly, once without being informed, which seems careless now); a customer-service advisor for a debt management charity; and a paperboy. He once ran 100 miles without puking, but he did it quite slowly. Mosedale lives in Leeds, England, with his wife, kids, and preoccupations. Illustrator:​ Si Smith is a UK-based comic artist and freelance illustrator. He has also worked: as a primary school teacher; in teams programming festival events and venues; on a zero-hours contract invigilating shows at a well-known arts institution; as an exhibition curator; in an art supplies shop; on the panel of an under-the-radar arts funding body. He loves Radiohead and The Slits, and the best gig that he ever saw was RIDE at the Manchester Albert Hall in May 2015. Smith is married with two adult sons, and he currently lives and works in Leeds in the North of England.   About the Publisher Top Shelf Productions has published critically acclaimed and popularly beloved graphic novels since 1997. Celebrating more than a decade as an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf continues to showcase the vanguard of the comics medium, publishing works of literary sophistication, visionary artistry, and personal resonance.