And another year of pop culture geekery comes to a close. I've enjoyed watching some really good movies and shows, playing some great video games, reading some awesome books and comics, and travelling around the UK on nerdy days out at various Comic/Geek Cons and events this year, meeting people from some of my favourite movies, games and books, plus some of the finest comic creators and alternative poster artists!
Highlights from 2018 include meeting one of my favourite authors, Andrzej Sapkowski - author of 'The Witcher' series, at a geek con in London; attending a screening of 'Star Wars' with a live orchestra at the Arena Birmingham; as well as attending the opening of Matt Ferguson's art exhibition in Leeds and the Thought Bubble Comic Festival there too, my favourite Geek Con of the year.
It's also been 7 years to the day since the beginnings of this nerdy blog began with a blog post way back on this day in 2011. The Geeky Nerfherder has come a long way since then too, but always with the aim of showcasing cool art and the artists that make them.
On my social media profiles, where I sometimes post bonus content, such as the #OnThisDay feature where I post some of my favourite films, books, comics that were first released or published on a particular date, I continue to gain new followers through Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Ello and more, with the number of followers somehow now numbering in the thousands! WOW! Thank you so much for following me on there. It's always gratifying to know that people are also enjoying the cool art I'm posting and hopefully discovering new artists along the way as well. So if you’re not already following, here are the links to my social media profiles:
on Twitter (@GeekyNerfherder)
on Instagram (@geekynerfherder)
on Tumblr (GeekyNerfherder)
on Pinterest
on YouTube
on Google Plus
on Ello (@geekynerfherder)
on Goodreads
on Flickr (GeekyNerfherder)
Stores:
on Threadless (GeekyNerfherder)
on Red Bubble (GeekyNerfherder)
on Society6 (GeekyNerfherder)
On the blog, I'm still featuring the latest poster releases and highlighting some of the pop culture inspired and new contemporary art shows too. I've also been continuing my 'Artist Spotlight' series, where I showcase some of my favourite artists, as well as my #ArtOfTheDay series, where I post a random piece of pop culture artwork from the Geeky Nerfherder archives. I'm also trying to add more reviews of the books and movies I read and watch over the year.
As well as the video project on my YouTube channel of the Geek Cons I go to, another side project I've been slowly progressing with is with writing a story I've had in my head for a while. Hugely inspired by the science fiction and fantasy genres (not very surprisingly), I'm fairly happy with how it's going so far, especially with the world building and the lore of the world. There's still a long way to go yet, but it's been fun to dip into my imagination and get creative in some way, whenever I can.
As always, a big thanks to everyone I've met throughout my travels at the Geek Cons I've been to this year, and to everyone that drops by the blog and/or follows me through the various social networks I post to. I hope that you continue to enjoy my posts of cool art and pop culture geekery.
You can also help support the blog by using these Affiliate Links when shopping online:
And so, it's that time of year once again, where everybody lists all their favourites from the year, and here are mine:
The year in movies kicked off with a bang, with 'Black Panther' in February, and followed by a couple of movies that were only released on Netflix here in the UK, 'Annihilation' and 'Mute', before the biggest film of the year dropped, 'Avengers: Infinity War'. Although 'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' topped it for me as best comic book movie.
Here's a few of my favourite movies, in no particular order, that I got to see this year.
Comics:
Another great year of enjoying some great comics titles. Lots from some of my favourite publishers like Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Vertigo Comics, Boom Studios, Dynamite Comics, IDW Publishing and Aspen Comics, as I prefer my comics without supers, capes and spandex. Thanks to my local comics shop, Spa Town Comics / Comics Connections for keeping me supplied with my subs list too.
My top titles, in no particular order, for 2018 were . . .
 |
| 'Isola' (Image Comics) by Brendan Fletcher (w) & Karl Kerschl (a) & Msassyk (c) |
 |
| 'Coda' (Boom! Studios) by Si Spurrier (w) & Matias Bergara (a) |
 |
| 'The Sandman Universe: The Dreaming' (DC/Vertigo Comics) by Simon Spurrier (w) & Bilquis Evely (a) Mat Lopes (c) |
 |
| 'The Wicked + The Divine' (Image Comics) by Kieron Gillen (w) & Jamie McKelvie (a) & Matt Wilson (c) |
 |
| 'Star Wars: Doctor Aphra' (Marvel Comics) by Si Spurrier (w) & various (a/c) |
 |
| 'Saga' (Image Comics) by Brian K Vaughan (w) & Fiona Staples (a) |
 |
| 'Barbarella' (Dynamite Comics) by Mike Carey (w) & Kenan Yarar (a) & Mohan (c) |
 |
| 'Sword Of Ages' (IDW Publishing) by Gabriel Rodriguez (w/a) & Lovern Kindzierski (c) |
 |
| 'Monstress' (Image Comics) by Marjorie Liu (w) & Sana Takeda (a) |
 |
| 'Rose' (Image Comics) by Meredith Finch (w) & Ig Guara (a) |
Art / Illustration:
Another year passes and another that was full of gorgeous art, whether it was pop culture inspired art or new contemporary art. Way too many fantastic ones to even consider singling out just one, so here are just a few of my favourites (in no particular order and only really the tip of a very large iceberg of awesome art) from 2018.
 |
| by John Keaveney |
 |
| by Chris Thornley (Raid71) |
 |
| by Matthew Peak |
 |
| by Pete Ware (17th & Oak) |
 |
| by Rory Kurtz |
 |
| by Matt Ferguson |
 |
| by Joshua Middleton |
 |
| by Yuko Shimizu |
 |
| by Chie Yoshii |
 |
| by Richey Beckett |
 |
| by Rhys Cooper |
If you're new to the blog, each weekend I post a selection of art from two artists, one on a Saturday and another on a Sunday, in my 'Artist Spotlight' series. I don't just restrict to pop culture art like alternative movie posters, book and comic art, I feature artists that have also caught my eye in the fields of new contemporary art, conceptual art and illustration, established artists and new up and coming artists. Researching and delving more into the work of these artists has been a joy, and as I'm working through the alphabet, currently only at the letter J, there's still plenty more to come!
At the start of each day (UK time at least) I post a random piece of art every day in my #ArtOfTheDay series on my blog and across my social network pages. Picked from the Geeky Nerfherder archives - it could be anything from the realms of pop culture to fantasy art, book or comic covers, contemporary or concept art or something that has caught my eye recently. Something a bit different to begin every day.
At the end of every year, the #BestNine posts start popping up on Instagram. Nine of the most liked posts that you've posted over the course of the year along with total number of likes and number of posts, all in one handy image. You can go here to get yours to post on your IG feed. And so here's mine.
Books:
I managed to get through quite a few good books and audiobooks this year, once again surpassing my GoodReads 2018 Reading Challenge target of 50 books, with more than a few months to go in the process!
My favourite book of the year is 'Circe' by Madeline Miller, the story of Circe from Greek mythology and of Homer's Odyssey fame. Go here for my review. And I especially love the audiobook edition, narrated by Perdita Weeks. The perfect narrator for this book!
Here's a few of my favourite books that I've read or listened to this past year, some new and some old.
 |
| 'Circe' by Madeline Miller |
 |
| 'Red Sister' by Mark Lawrence |
 |
| 'All Systems Red' by Martha Wells |
 |
| 'The Black Tides Of Heaven' by JY Yang |
 |
| 'Heroes' by Stephen Fry |
 |
| 'Season Of Storms' by Andrzej Sapkowski |
 |
| 'Skyward' by Brandon Sanderson |
 |
| 'The Poppy War' by RF Kuang |
 |
| 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve |
 |
| 'His Dark Materials Trilogy' by Philip Pullman |
 |
| 'The Book Of Dust: La Belle Sauvage' by Philip Pullman |
I like my games as I like my movies, books and comics; with engaging characters, in depth world building, and a compelling narrative that keeps me playing, wanting to explore the vast worlds and follow the story until the end, as well as of course good gameplay. And so I'm a big fan of RPG's (Role Playing Games) instead of just shooters or sports games.
As such there are only two games that top my gaming list for this year, 'God Of War' and 'Assassin's Creed Odyssey'. Of course it helps that I have an interest in ancient myths and legends, and both of these games definitely tick that box, with characters and a narrative that drink from the well of Norse and Greek mythologies.
Soundtracks:
My favourite soundtrack from 2018 has been 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', composed by John Powell. The film may not have been critically received, but I love the soundtrack. For me, it harkens back to the swashbuckling era of films featuring pirates and outlaws, which is very apt for 'Solo'. It's also reminiscent of the original 'Star Wars' movie too.
***
So there you have it, a list of some of my favourites from 2018. Thanks again to everyone who drops by the blog, and follows me on social media, making 'The Geeky Nerfherder' a lot of fun to curate! Here's to more of the same in 2019!
And to finish, here's a playlist of the videos from my annual video project that I've put together from my photos of the various Geek Cons I've been to this year, featuring visits to Geek Cons in Birmingham, London, Leeds, Leamington Spa (my local), Stratford and more, and getting the opportunity to meet some of the stars from some of my favourite movies, TV shows and video games plus artists and creators of my favourite comics, books and poster prints too.
No comments:
Post a Comment