The Geeky Nerfherder 8th Anniversary & My 2019 Favourites
2019, the year that was. Another year of
watching some really good movies and TV shows, playing some great video
games, reading some awesome books and comics, as well as travelling around the
UK on nerdy days out at various Comic/Geek Cons and events this year,
and getting to meet actors from some of my favourite movies and games, plus
some of the finest authors, comic creators and alternative poster artists!
Highlights from 2019 include meeting authors of some of my favourite books: Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (aka James SA Corey) - authors of 'The Expanse' series, Zen Cho (The True Queen), Samantha Shannon (Priory Of The Orange Tree, The Bone Season), Tamsyn Muir (Gideon The Ninth), Tasha Suri (Empire Of Sand, Realm Of Ash) and Ian Livingstone & Steve Steve Jackson (Fighting Fantasy gamebooks), as well as meeting lots of the creators behind some of my favourite comics (way too many mention) at the various geek cons I went to around the UK, especially at the Thought Bubble Comic Festival in Harrogate;
plus attending a screening of 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' with a live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall; as well as attending the 'Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds' concert, also at the Royal Albert Hall.
It's also a Happy Birthday to The Geeky Nerfherder, as it's been 8 years to the day since 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 the aim is always showcasing awe-inspiring art, whether it's poster art, comic art or art from the latest new contemporary exhibitions, and the artists that make them.
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, continue to gain new followers, with the number of followers now numbering in the thousands! WOW! Thank you so much!! It's always great to know that people are also enjoying the artworks I'm posting and hopefully discovering new artists along the way as well. But if you’re not already following, here are the links to my social media profiles:
I'm still featuring the latest poster releases and highlighting some of the pop culture inspired and new contemporary art
shows on the blog, continuing my 'Artist Spotlight' series, as well as my #ArtOfTheDay series. 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, I have also been tinkering away on another side project; writing a story I've had in my head for a while. It's no surprise that I'm hugely inspired by science fiction and fantasy, and the story I'm building is definitely taking inspiration from those genres. I'm fairly happy with how it's slowly progressing 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 the year at the Geek Cons I've been to; from the familiar and to the new faces, and of course to everyone that drops by the blog and/or follows me through the various socials 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:
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Movies:
The year in movies kicked off with 'Glass' in January, and ended with 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' in December, and in between there were quite a few movies that I really enjoyed, including a special screening of 'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back' with live orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall in London.
Here's a few of the new movies, in no particular order, that I enjoyed this year.
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TV:
2019 saw a few new adaptations of books and comics come to the small screen, such as 'Good Omens', 'His Dark Materials', 'Watchmen', 'The Boys' and 'The Witcher', plus a new series of 'The Expanse' as well as the first ever live action 'Star Wars' TV show, 'The Mandalorian'. With 'Game Of Thrones' ending (more of a splutter and stumble across the finish line than an epic end to an epic series in my opinion), networks and streaming companies are looking for the next big adaptation to ignite on TV. As I've been getting more into my books this year, I'm looking forward to seeing which books and comics make the transition from the page to the screen.
Here are a few of the shows, in no particular order, that I enjoyed this year.
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Books:
I managed to read quite a few good books and audiobooks this year, once again surpassing my target of 50 books in the GoodReads 2019 Reading Challenge, with more than a few months to go in the process! I also got caught up with a few books that had been lingering on the TBR for a while (still have lots more on the (ever expanding) TBR list too), as well as some that I had been looking forward to reading, and some that I added due to the positive buzz I was hearing from on the various social networks, plus a few re-reads of favourites too.
Over the course of the year I discovered a few new authors and series that I'll now be keeping a watch out for in the future too. Unfortunately I am a bit behind with some of my reviews, but will try to post them soon
Here's a list of the books that I read / listened to throughout the year.
Unfortunately, some of my favourites have now completed their runs. 'The Wicked + The Divine', 'Star Wars: Doctor Aphra', 'Papergirls', 'Coda' and 'Rose' all came to an end this year, and all were a joy to read. But there are a few new series rising up and taking their place on my comics Pull List, like 'Folklords', 'Undiscovered Country' and 'The Last God', that have only just begun and have had only a couple or so issues out, at the time of writing, but so far, I'm liking what I've read!
Thanks to my local comics shop, Collectors Assemble for keeping me supplied with my subs list too.
My top titles, in no particular order, for 2019 were . . .
'The Wicked + The Divine' (Image Comics)
'Star Wars: Doctor Aphra' (Marvel Comics)
'Monstress' (Image Comics)
'Isola' (Image Comics)
'Die' (Image Comics)
'Once & Future' (Boom! Studios)
'Invisible Kingdom' (Berger Books / Dark Horse Comics)
'Sonata' (Shadowline / Image Comics)
'Little Bird' (Image Comics)
'Coda' (Boom! Studios)
'Fairlady' (Image Comics)
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Art / Illustration:
Another year passes and another that was full of gorgeous art, with way too many fantastic pieces of artwork to even consider singling out just one, no matter the field, whether it's a new print release, an art exhibition, or new book or comic cover art.
Here are just a few of my favourites (in no particular order and only really represents the tip of a very
large iceberg of awesome art) from 2019.
Variant cover art by Justine Frany for the comic 'Die' issue #1
Variant cover art by Ann Dittmann for the comic 'Die' issue #10
Cover art by Kai Carpenter for the comic 'The Sandman Universe: Books Of Magic' issue #5
Cover art by Tiffany Turrill for the comic 'The Sandman Universe: The Dreaming' issue #8
Cover art by Bastien Lecouffe Deharme for the novel 'Holy Sister' by Mark Lawrence
Cover art by Kerby Rosanes for the novel 'Darkdawn' by Jay Kristoff
Cover art by Yuko Shimizu for the novella 'The Ascent To Godhood' by JY Yang
Cover art by Ivan Belikov for the novel 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree' by Samantha Shannon
'She's Got It Where it Counts' by Mark Englert (Regular Edition)
'Star Wars Saga: The Empire Strikes Back' by John Guydo (Regular Edition)
'Wonder Woman: Rebirth' by John Keaveney
'Who Framed Roger rabbit' by Rockin' Jelly Bean
'Captain Marvel' by Doaly
'Creature From The Black Lagoon' by Timothy Pittides (Variant Edition)
'Jurassic Park' by Matt Ferguson (Quad Variant Edition)
'Growth Spiral' by Seb McKinnon from the 'Ravnica Allegiance' Magic: The Gathering expansion set
'Commence The Endgame' by Noah Bradley from the 'War Of The Spark Magic: The Gathering expansion set
'Vivien's Arkbow' by Zack Stella from the 'War Of The Spark' Magic: The Gathering expansion set
'Trapped in the Tower' by Howard Lyon from the 'War Of Throne Of Edlraine' Magic: The Gathering expansion set
'Irencrag Feat' by Yongjae Choi from the 'War Of Throne Of Edlraine' Magic: The Gathering expansion set
'In A Fog' by Sarah Joncas
'The Vessel Rose Up From Wonder' by Jason Mowry
'Chilled Blood' by Syd Bee
'Nyx' by Kaysha Siemens
'Daughters Of Dusk' by SoulCraft
'Red Dragon' by Chie Yoshii
'Neon Crescent' by Allison Reimold
'Blue Sun' by Nadezda
'Coelus' by Leilani Bustamante
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, featuring artists that have caught my
eye in the fields of new contemporary art, conceptual art and
illustration, as well as in pop culture, whether they are established artists or new up and coming artists.
Researching and delving more into the work of these artists has been an absolute pleasure, 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.
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Gaming:
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 as such, I'm a
big fan of RPG's (Role Playing Games) instead of just shooters or sports
games.
I haven't played too many new games this year, as I've mostly continued with 'Assassin's Creed: Odyssey' and its season pass of expanded DLC content. That was until 'Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order' arrived.
I really enjoyed playing this. It felt really similar to games like 'Uncharted', 'Tomb Raider', 'Prince Of Persia', and even my all time favourite video game franchise; the 'Mass Effect' series - a single player, narrative driven, 3rd person action adventure game, with puzzles to solve, some good NPCs to interact with, and a protagonist that develops over the course of the game - and I love those type of games. The story was really good, as it seemed to draw from the established lore of the Star Wars universe, as well as adding to it as well, with gameplay that was challenging at times; combat play needing to be more strategic rather than just ploughing through enemies hacking and slashing with the lightsaber or Force powers, plus some of the puzzles to solve actually made you think. A worthy addition to any video game library, and I hope that they continue the story.
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So
there you have it, a list of some of my favourites from 2019. 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 2020!
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, Harrogate, Leamington Spa (my local), Telford 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.
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