h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Where do great superheroes and evil masterminds of villians learn their trade? Certainly, bashing around with shields, war-cries and tax-evation have produced a few worthy subjects of talk, but the credit falls mostly to the shining past, whether it was of dire tragedy, happiness or boredom.

You depart from the Hall, in front of a pair of ebony doors that swung impressively. Creak. The hinges had not been oiled well, despite the recent construction of the Library.

The mahogony tables are lined with stools, awaiting the avid readers to languish in the exulberent richness of literature, at their leisure. As you walk past them, the candles flicker in their spots on the panels and shelves. All the parchments had been fireproofed, as well as thief-protected.

The Library is full of every imaginable on the Hero/Villian-ship. Odysseus is commended, Beowulf praised by Scops and minstrels, and the Ancient Mariner tells his tale to anyone who looks suspicious, or overtly hastely... Last time he pulled out of the magical wall mirror a White Rabbit and almost started a bloodshed in Watership Down, but that is another story. A region south of Ender and Bean from Orson Scott Card's science-fiction series, lay Merlin from T.A. Barron's Lost Years and of course Arthur Penndragon of T. H. White's Sword in the Stone, though if you are careful, you might see the Once and Future King further along, enticing those who enjoyed Gawain and the Green Knight. Speaking of Wizards, Ged will journey to the ends of Earthsea before doing deeds, exercising his powers, without heeding the consquences. Once burnt, twice shy, the ancients say.

Not all came with warnings though. MacBeth did not signal to Duncan his mal-intent. Dearest Fitzchivalry Farseer and Beloved of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man - not to mention the lovely Malta and her Aunt Althea in the Liveship Triology, Enjolras, Marius, Jean Val Jean of Hugo's romantic Les Miserables fought their joyeux revolutions, with those came changes, such that Shadow in American Gods by Neil Gaiman came to realise, the more he knew of Wednesday, or Odin.

For those shape-shifters that floated from Rowling's Harry Potter, they discovered the dangers of being an unknown/unwary animagus when turned into a vermint by Franz Kafka one morning out of bed. The various slew of heroes in Shaara's novels, of men who made terrible decisions and men who didn't finding no difference in war. Or Elie Wiesel's horrors revealed when Night fell and the Dawn broke. Yes, it makes one almost forgive young Dorian and the influential Lord Henry of Wilde's story. That government is a masked criminal too, in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Ah, me, that desperate want of vengeance in Cornwall's the Last Kingdom, depicting Alfred's faltering reign.

Even the anti-heroes are reveled in the tomes. Who was Grendal in Beowulf, that John Gardner portrays so vividly? Ah, how can one forget Captain Yossarian (Yo-Yo) in the surreal Catch-22, where Milo Mindbinder and his enterprise pokes fun at capitalism, as the Champlain fumbles about in Something Happened, perhaps public enemy number 1 due to the substances he secretes?

So, to explore the Congo with Ross's diaries, to journey across space with Hal [the friendly computer since 2001], and onwards with sneezing the Martians out of our territory. You may enjoy and for you late-night/early-risers, and . No or are allowed and you may be fined if you doodle on the Wheel of Time books. Some extra/old volumes are for sale, especially those written by Hemmingway. Caveat Emptor!

Forgive me, O league patrons Notice I had not mentioned Tolkien?

thank you for that introduction elwyn. nice library!

*takes and a and sits down in a comfy chair to read*

[softly]: Thanks, *sips her *
We should each introduce ourselves a bit by revealing our favourites (heroes/anti-heroes/villians) from history, books, comics, real life politics, reality television, anything!
*watches Galigan avidly, Hawk-like*
So, got anyone you like to add to the booklist?

eh? stop looking at me like that.

*becomes invisible*

now look what you did! that always happens when i get nervous.

*reappears*

ok, my favourite comic/television/movie here is spiderman because he is the ultimate in cool comebacks (mainly in the tv series). as for history, i think FDR was quite good despite the new deal not really doing much, i think hitler was an absolute , books, i like the His Dark Materials trilogy very much and all the characters, real life politics etc. dunno really. i am not very informed in such matters. reality tv, hate them all.

*wanders in to look up something about catwoman*

evening all.

*picks up a book and flicks through the pages*



*goes to sit in the corner and read with a cup of *

hmm, a thought *why don't we put links to all the comic booky type entries on h2g2 in here*

What did I come in here for?

Oh yes.

*morphs into a copy of Aquaman for a quick forty winks, knowing that NOONE will pick him up*

*reads frood's thoughts*

wow, i didn't know i could do that!

that's an interesting idea but there's need to be lots of links and it would be weird in a thread. how about a new entry specifically for those sort of entries? a link could be posted in here and the other links would be on that page. what say you?

I say, let someone else do it coz I'm lazy, but a good idea

and stop reading my mind, I haven't tidied in there for ages and it's filthy.

actually scrap that ides cos there is a link section at the bottom of the main page. you could still post links in here though.

The ultimate in comic book heroes is Batman and I'll tell you for why. Barring the 1960s camp version (though you can watch it for humour) Batman has always been one of the most psychologically deep of comic book characters and whats more, being a DC character he isn't suffering from cancer (like the majority of Marvel characters) that gives him ultra special powers so he has a lot more chance to be flawed and if you've ever read a classic tragedy then you'll know that all great characters are inherently flawed.

Also, particularly the Dark Knight series of the 1980s, it is a dark and brooding comic which I've always found to be more complex than bright and happy characters. It means that when you get a character based on these happy traits, such as The Joker, Ventriloquist etc., they become inherently twisted and perverse, probing at the heart of happiness.

Furthermore, though he is a good character his methods are turning fear on those who prey on the fearful, making him a questionable character as well. From what I've heard of the comic books they often make him similar in some ways to the villain, particularly The Joker as he became his arch-nemesis after Ra's Al-Ghul didn't take off, nice to see him in Batman Begins though.

I have found that there is more humanity to batman, unlike other comics where it is always justice over evil, batman has explored revenge and the essence driving the hero besides simple justice.

I honestly didn't think I'd like the new Batman Begins movie, The only other one I've seen is the pants Batman and Robin which really put me off all things Batman for ages. I loved the new one.

My favorite characters are (for DC) Green Lantern and (for Marvel) Daredevil and Wolverine. I started out as a Marvel Fangirl and in doing so I missed the chance to read some really great stories. These days I judge comics more by whats in them rather than who made them. I still head for the Marvel section at comic stores first but I'm not going to ignore anything in any section.

I also absolutely adore Hellboy and the Sin City books, but seeing as they aren't being counted as Superhero books I'll not say too much.

Ooo Good taste. Hellboy is ace

I'm a Marvel lad really, and enjoy Spidey and the X-Men. Always have, always will. I also like Daredevil, Iron Man and a little Punisher.

When it comes to DC, I'm not such a fan, as I think the DC Universe is a little 'out there'. But I rather like Batman, who doesn't really? I also enjoy Catwoman, Martian ManHunter, the Flash, the Green Lantern and some of the older more obscure heroes like Black Canary, Wildcat, the Atom and Dr Fate.

Then there's Dark Horse, where I love Hellboy, enjoy host, Madman, Grendel and Concrete.

I've had a hand in a lot of the superhero entries about h2g2 and am probably going to add some more as time goes on.

Looking forward to the upcoming movies though, superhero wise, that is Iron Man, Ghostrider, Hellboy 2 and Spidey 3!!

I also partake of Alan Moore (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell)

However, I also like what Vertigo has to offer in The Sandman (of course!) and Swamp Thing.

i confess to being a Marvel fan too, although i like Batman. Batman Begins is good i thought but the ones before that were getting steadily worse with Batman and Robin being one of the stupidest films i have seen ever (still it's not bad on a drunken saturday night)

i like the movies, especially X-men 1 and 2 (2 more) and the Spider-man movies. spidey has to be my facourite comic book hero, although most of the ones you just mentioned Frood i haven't even heard of so maybe i'd like them just as much.

Its widely recognised that Joey Schumacher (the director behind Batman Forever with Val Kilmer and B&R with George Clooney - the dark, brooding and psychologically scarred double-life leading billionare, hmmm) desecrated the name of Batman, which is why in the new one they've completely re-made the canon of the films, rather than try and make good a dying franchise.

There is debate over the first two, Batman and B: Returns, directed by Tim Burton. Personally I think they are two great films, but some still don't think they were true enough to the comic book; certainly these films are a moot point but if you want to see another good Batman film as well as the new one go for these two, never Schumacher's.

I know quite a lot of comic book characters and rough things about them, but I've never read a comic book save the first episode of SpiderMan, I wish I could get my hands on Batman: Dark Knight but I don't have that much money and I think I'd have to go to Forbidden Planet to get 'em. So sadly I can't be totally conclusive with my preferences of comic books.

Has anyone read Frank Miller's Batman stories (I can not remember if it's Batman: Year One or The Dark Knight Returns or something along those lines)

I love his run on Daredevil and I adore his Sin City stuff, but the Batman one is the one I'm having trouble finding (probably because I can't remeber it's name )

I've read Year One and The Dark Knight Returns (which incidentally has links to Batman Begins, check out the Batmobile )

Both great, I like what Miller has done with the Bat. I like his Sin City too, but not keen on what he did with DareDevil (I really don't like Elektra).

If you like what Miller has done with Batman though, check out Loeb and Sale's works. Nice stuff.

Oh and make sure you read Azzarello's 'Broken City'. Pure Class.

I've read all the great books,again and again. It is so much fun reading playboy isn't it!

I just finished reading Eldest by Christopher Paulini. I thought it was pretty good, anybody else read it yet?
Nerd42

Wow I read Eragon a while ago, loved that