I should start by saying that I'm not a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's books. That's not to say I think they are bad books, but the writing style is too dry and formal for my tastes. I read The Hobbit in Junior High for a reading class I was in, and re-enacted Bilbo's slaying of the giant spider in my book report presentation to the class. But I soon moved on to Terry Brooks, then later Terry Goodkind and Brent Weeks, and have never been able to force feed The Lord Of The Rings books to myself. Today I remember more about presenting that book report than I do about the book itself. That said, I'm a huge fan of the fantasy genre, which owes much of its existence to Tolkien. I also loved the Peter Jackson Lord Of The Rings movies. So when I heard that he would be back in the saddle to direct a movie based on The Hobbit, I was more than interested.

Review by Comikate This is a review one of DC’s New 52 comics that I don’t hear very much about – because it’s a pity if you don’t try it out just because you’ve never heard people talk about it. Fair warning though, my review contains some mild spoilers, since its main point is to encourage you to start reading it from issue 13 – that is why I will summarize the main story of the first twelve issues for you so that you don’t have to buy and read them all yourself. I will then share some likes and dislikes, tell you whether you should buy, borrow or ignore this comic, and finally, give you my quality and relevance scores.

For many, a big part of the Christmas season is spending time with extended family. Family gatherings with food and games are fairly common, but these aren't exactly the best opportunities to get your geek on. Most non-geek adults don't enjoy playing games with complex rules, preferring light "party games" instead. And there are also kids to think about, as large family gatherings tend to be littered with them and you may be called upon to help keep them busy. Is there any hope for geeking out in times like these? I can think of at least two games to help get you started. The first is "Ultimate Werewolf" (or in newer editions, "The Werewolves Of Miller's Hollow"),  a conversation-based party game that plays anywhere from 5-68 people. (Yep, 68!) One person serves as the moderator and a kind of storyteller. (This should be you the first game or two with family.) The moderator gives each other player a card which they keep secret...