16 Years and still going

 

In November 2009, I started my first blog which was originally titled Zanziber's Point of View. This was originally going to be an outlet for my writing by reviews for trade paperbacks and graphic novels. In those days, I wasn't aware that I could schedule when my reviews were actually published, so there were days that I would post multiple reviews in a single day. I'm so happy when I finally learned to be able to schedule by reviews to publish on a weekly basis.

A few years later, I wanted an outlet for one of my other long time passions; role playing games. In 2012 I began RPG4EVR which was for all my gaming content. Originally, it was meant to be an outlet for my life in role playing, but slowly opened up to include reviews.

About a year later, my dog Zipper died and I published the #PrednisoneKills blog. I published this out of a place of loss and anger and I wanted to make sure that people would be made aware of the dangers of Prednisone and ignorant/negligent veterinarians. While I felt the need to create this content, I didn't feel the same level of passion as I did for my other blogs.

Over the years, I continued to feel burn-out from writing and I lost my creativity several times. I stopped maintaining a regular weekly schedule and would write and schedule reviews occasionally when the mood hit me and the time felt right. I would also add another level to my Point of View blog by writing about my experiences at comic con events such as Rose City Comic Con and Emerald City Comic Con.

At the end of 2023, I felt the need for some kind of change and that came in the form of combining my passion blogs under a single banner. This is when I brought them together under the banner of The Nat 20, and here we are today.

I've also expanded things including Magic the Gathering decklists and recommendations of YouTube channels. I'm keeping myself open for new possibilities. I'm looking forward to the next several years being incredible and I welcome everyone to stay tuned to see where we go.

Rat Queens: Sisters, Warriors, Queens

 Title: Rat Queens: Sisters, Warriors, Queens

Price: $7.99

Publisher/Year: Image, 2020

Artist: Roc Upchurch

Writer: Kurtis J. Wiebe

Rating: 4.5/5

The story starts so lovely as one of the Rat Queens makes her way to meet another Rat Queen. It is forty years later and things have changed.

Lady Violet Blackforge looks amazing for her age and plans to meet Miss Braga and a few others. Betty shows up next her personality has not changed at all. High Priestess Delilah aka Dee and her son are on their way as well. Things have certainly changed over forty years. Ms.Hannah Vizari is the last to arrive. Then lastly Braga comes out. The Rat Queens are all here.

Now we look back as one Rat Queen needs help with her family and the others all band together. Violet, Hannah, Betty, and Dee.

The Meldhammer Clan’s house is beautifully illustrated. What goes on inside is quite unexpected. Violet is here to help her brother Barrie if he needs it. Something is going on in this town and is not nice. Hannah and Dee begin checking it out. This all leads to one huge battle and Violet and Hannah are opposed to each other.

The updates that are added to the story fit in perfectly. Suppose you loved the Rat Queens before you will even more after reading this.

At this forty-year reunion, Hannah listens as the others each fill in what has happened to them since they last parted and they have all grown and blossomed into beautiful women who should be proud of what they have become. This is written and drawn so emotionally.

This final issue of the Rat Queens could not have been done any better. Violet, Hannah, Dee, and Betty the Queens are so special.

Washington State Toy Show - My Experiences

 

October 18, 2025

Washington State Toy Show – Vancouver

at the Clark County Event Center

17402 NE Delfel Rd

Ridgefield, WA 98642

I've gone to this same show a few times now, and always had a great time. I always leave with some great additions to my collection, spend more than I may have ought to, but still had some money in my wallet from what I hard originally budgeted.

This time was different. For this event I was helping my friend while he was a vendor for the show. This was his first time vending for his new 3D printing business - SpiderWeb3D.

As you can tell, we had a variety of 3D printed items ranging from dice towers to chess sets. The dragon eggs were the biggest sellers and each contained some dice and some mini figures (not Legos) inside. The first event was successful, and we are looking forward to coming back for the next one in Spring.

But of course I wasn't at this event just to help my friend sell his wares. The whole reason I started coming was to increase the size of my action figure collection. I had a relatively small list of things that I was actively looking for, but that didn't stop me from picking up a few things that I thought would make nice additions.

Since I was born in the 70's and grew up in the 80's, I have a nostalgic feel for 3.75" action figures. I still remember going to Payless and K-Mart (and later Toys R Us) with a grip of cash I earned to buy some of the latest and greatest G.I. Joe and Star Wars action figures. Had I known then what I know now, I would have bought 2 of everything and kept 1 unopened.

Growing up in the 80's also meant that I was a fan of the Transformers. I never really had a collection of my own, but there were some that I really liked. Soundwave, Shockwave and Megatron were some of my favorites. When I started seeing these Yolopark model kits on the Weekly Rewind on the Robo Don't Know YouTube channel, I took notice and really wanted to start adding them to my collection. As fate would have it, I found a few at a local Hot Topic, so I decided to get it. It was Bumblebee and after that I wanted more. Thankfully, I was able to find someone who had Megatron. I know they have Soundwave and I missed picking him up at Hot Topic. The hunt continues!

For anyone who hasn't been to one of these events, the layout is very nice and the aisles give enough room to be able to wander around without bumping into people too often. I appreciate this as most other events that I seem to attend have a more crowded feel. That's not to say that there wasn't a large amount of people who attended throughout the days, I just mean to say that I like the setup for the amount of people attending. The biggest reason I stopped actively going to Emerald City Comic Con is because the last time I went it felt too crowded. I haven't been back since they opened the new convention center. I hope that may change for 2026.

As luck would have it, I decided to take a few photos around the event before they started letting people in for the day.

As I mentioned, I enjoyed this event and I am looking forward to coming back. By next time, I should have a larger list of things I'm looking for.

The Boys Omnibus Volume 1

Title: The Boys Omnibus Volume 1 

ISBN: 9781524108595

Price: $29.99

Publisher/Year: Dynamite, 2020

Artist: Darick Robertson & Peter Snejbjerg

Writer: Garth Ennis

Rating: 4.5/5

In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone’s got to make sure the “supes” don’t get out of line. And someone will! Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother’s Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female are The Boys: A CIA-backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth – superpower! Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them – sometimes – need to be taken out of the picture. That’s when you call in The Boys! After the opening story arc introducing Hughie to the team (issues 1-6), Dark avenger Tek-Knight and his ex-partner Swingwing are in trouble (issues 7-14). Big trouble. One has lost control of his terrifyingly overactive sex-drive, and the other might just be a murderer. It’s up to Hughie and Butcher to work out which is which, in Get Some. Then, in Glorious Five-Year Plan, The Boys travel to Russia – where their corporate opponents are working with the mob, in a super-conspiracy that threatens to spiral lethally out of control. Good thing our heroes have Love Sausage on their side. 

Like so many people out there, I am a fan of Amazon Prime’s The Boys though I have never once picked up the comic it was based on.  

The comic tells a different (though similar) story, following the CIA operatives known as The Boys. There is less tension between the crew, focusing on their work rather than their personal lives and any conflict that may arise from their differences (at least with this first omnibus). This sort of makes the characters seem flat and one-dimensional which can leave the reader who’s familiar with the show wanting more. I will hold off on judging the character development until later in the series as I get the feeling the larger picture has yet to be revealed. 

It was fun seeing certain scenes and details that were lifted for television series – that whole thing with Tek Knight? Holy fucking shit! I thought that was just Seth Rogen influencing the show he helps produce.  

The artwork skirts the series’ grittiness and graphic nature while not feeling toned-down by comparison. (In other words, much like the series, do not read this at work.) 

I’ve heard some complaints and suggestion to stay away from the comic books; however, it was still a fun read and do recommend it to fans of the Amazon Prime series.  

Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt

Title: Amazing Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt

ISBN: 9780785134503

Price: $14.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2022

Artist: Mike Zeck

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis

Rating: 4.5/5

As a wide-eyed youngster taking his first steps into the wide world of comic books, I somehow managed to avoid all the twee, wholesome superhero stories lining the shelves of my local comic shop in the late ’80s and instead found myself picking up J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s Kraven’s Last Hunt Spider-Man arc.  And with my only real American comic experience prior to that being Secret Wars (also drawn by Zeck, coincidentally enough), it’s safe to say that my per-pubescent mind was completely and utterly blown from the first page to the last.

For those of you who don’t know, the story sees Kraven the Hunter planning one last great hunt for himself by not only taking down but actually supplanting Spider-Man, proving that he’s more than equal to his long-time adversary by actually donning the mask himself.  He shoots and drugs Spider-Man before burying him alive and single-handedly taking down long-standing and incredibly dangerous Spidey foe Vermin, seemingly proving his claim to be true.

Peter returns, Kraven surrenders without a fight, Vermin nearly kills Peter, Kraven actually saves his enemy but then takes his own life, feeling that his work is finally done.  Oh, and then Spidey cleans up the Vermin mess himself.  It’s a poetic arc filled with emotion and gravitas, and feels far deeper and more nuanced than a lot of the ‘punch the bad guy, save the girl’ Spider-Man stories I’ve read since. What’s doubly impressive about this story is the fact that is succeeds in spite of Spider-Man himself – for the most part, at least – almost feeling like a supporting character.  And while Peter’s personal arc undoubtedly provides the beating heart of the series, it can’t be overstated just how bold a decision it was to keep Spidey in a goddamn grave for the bulk of the early part of this story, or just how well that decision ultimately paid off.

DeMatteis makes some equally bold decisions with his narration and storyline choices, from the subtle tweaking of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” into “The Spyder”, to the frequent blood, cannibalism and death that punctuates the story.  This is a darker, edgier Spider-Man story, and DeMatteis has the characters narrate their own scenes beautifully, from the single-minded determination of Kraven to the claustrophobic, terror-fueled doubt of Peter to the feral, animalistic instincts of Vermin.

What’s also impressive is that, unlike a lot of other 80s comics, Kraven’s Last Hunt still holds up incredibly well.  Zeck and inker Bob McLeod’s artwork is slick and polished even by today’s standards, and DeMatteis’ writing is some of the absolute best from that era. And, while a lot of other “classic” stories suffer from the diminishing returns of rose-tinted nostalgia, Kraven’s Last Hunt still feels fresh and exciting almost thirty years later.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the artwork in this arc was perhaps the first thing that really opened my eyes to just how amazing comics could be.  Between this and Marvel’s Secret Wars, Mike Zeck basically illustrated my childhood, but as much as I love his art on the character-heavy Jim Shooter event, his work alongside McLeod here feels like Zeck taking things to a whole new level.

There are so many memorable pages and moments here, from Kraven’s flash of elation as he buries his greatest prey, to the gradual accumulation of spiders on Peter’s grave, to the iconic scene where Spidey is forced to dig himself out of that very same grave, emerging in a dramatic splash page as lightning erupts in the background.

The artwork here is truly stunning in a lot of different ways, from Kraven’s almost hallucinogenic preparations to the classic Spidey action shenanigans to the almost Eerie Comics-esque sequences featuring Vermin.  Zeck’s layouts are superb, mixing simple panel structures with more thought-provoking and unconventional pages, giving the book a unique aesthetic that really sets itself apart from a lot of other books of the era.  McLeod’s inks are light enough to let Zeck’s mastery shine through, but skillful enough to stamp his own unique mark on the proceedings, managing to different sequences of the story their own unique visual styles.

   

MtG Decklist - Giada, Font of Hope

When I first started to play Magic the Gathering, there were no formats or limitations on how to construct your decks. There were a couple of interesting ideas on playstyles and deck constructions techniques back in the days of magazines such as Scrye and InQuest Gamer. My favorite was a chess themed deck build where there were strict limitations on how to build your decks and how each card/piece could be used. I wish I could find the rules for that online, but every time I try a search, I keep getting Commander decklists with chess themes.

I recently arrived at the fact that my playgroup typically now plays more Commander format than just normal Magic the Gathering. With that in mind, I decided to take my 60 card Angels deck as the beginnings of a full fledged Commander deck.

I obviously had to remove all the duplicated cards and the Mox Pearl, and I also removed the unnecessary lands; Karoo and Ancient Den. I think I only added those lands to the original deck for some extra flavor. I don't remember if they ever got played then I used the 60 card deck, but as I take a look at them now, I don't see any reason for them in there at all.

One of my next deck ideas will be to create a Demon version to be the dark opposite of this deck. I will make sure to post the decklist when it's complete.

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances

Title: Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances

ISBN: 9781302918002

Price: $15.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2024

Artist: Pat Olliffee, Andrea Di Vito

Writer: Timothy Zahn, Jody Hauser

Rating: 3/5

When Timothy Zahn, author of perhaps the most important Star Wars Expanded Universe arc of all time, writes a new title featuring his iconic villain, it’s going to get some attention. When the novel was released in 2018, it received generally positive reviews from fans and critics, so its adaptation to the comic format boded well. Like most of these reworkings, the Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances graphic novel sufficiently captures the main thrust of the storyline, accompanied with some very beautiful artwork, but feels like an abbreviated summary of the book with a questionable end point.

The story unfolds during the Empire’s rule, following Grand Admiral Thrawn as he embarks on a mission alongside the Dark Lord of the Sith in both the past and Imperial Age. Plot wise, it jumps between a past encounter where Thrawn and Anakin Skywalker’s teamed up to search for Padmé Amidala with the Imperial portion forcing the two to face a powerful new enemy, testing their strength and forcing them to confront their past partnership. This is an interesting way to situate Thrawn as a pivotal figure in both the prequels, as well as the original film era of the Star Wars mythos. 

I would usually be worried to see a four-issue miniseries with two authors, but since one of them is the author of the adapted novel (Timothy Zahn), this shouldn’t be seen as a blemish. Jody Houser does a venerable job translating the novel into a visual format, hitting the right emotional beats and plot points. Thrawn and Vader are given purpose and personal conflict to their team ups, making this a worthwhile addition to canon. 

Unfortunately, the main problem with this trade is its ending. We generally expect to have a complete tale collected in a single trade, or at least a satisfying point to complete an arc, but this book ends on a questionable cliffhanger, making me wonder if Marvel intends to complete this narrative in comic form. That’s unfortunate, because the writing and art from Pat Olliffee and Andrea Di Vito is very strong. 

Not much in the way of supplemental material is provided, which is common for a small TPB, but the variant covers by Leinil Francis Yu and Rahzzah are quite nice. Based on what’s on the page, Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances gets high marks for its strong scripting and artistic design. Where it falters is its hurried conclusion. Hopefully Marvel will remedy this by completing the story in a future miniseries.