CAMDEN — Sunday marked the beginning of the last season of Game of Thrones. I’m sure your Facebook feed was inundated with posts about dragons, Jon Snow and white walkers. After nine years the HBO show turned cultural phenomenon is coming to an end.
Likewise, Avengers: Endgame is heading towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s denouement, at least this phase of it, as Captain American and crew head into battle against Thanos, who destroyed literally half of all life in the universe at the end of the last film.
And last but not least, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker is looking to bring some finality the Star Wars universe. Which, despite spin offs and the surety that Disney will never really close out a galaxy far far away, looks to finish up the tale of the Skywalker family at the very least.
All in all, it’s a pretty good time to be a nerd. It’s also a very bittersweet time, as no doubt these stories will feature the deaths of many beloved characters before it’s all said and done. Not to mention the loss of icons like Carrie Fisher and Stan Lee in the real world.
While Star Wars has been a major part of geek culture since the 70’s, Game of Thrones and the Marvel movies have only been churning along for a decade or so.
When I grew in the 80’s and 90’s, HBO series had extremely low budgets and showcased such fare as Tales from the Crypt and late night comedies. Superhero movies were not the blockbuster spectacles they were today and you were lucky if they were even watchable, much less faithful to the comic books.
A big budget fantasy series involving dragons, battles and a cast featuring amazing actors was unheard of. Now Game of Thrones has HBO figuratively swimming a pile of money like Scrooge McDuck. Every network wants to feature the “next Game of Thrones” to satiate the appetites of the masses.
Now Hollywood churns out superhero movies at a head-spinning pace, and even the most obscure characters have a shot at hitting the silver screen.
While it’s easy to succumb to the naysayers that seem to gain more enjoyment out of deriding what they claim to love, it’s a golden age for geek culture. I’ll admit, I’m more jaded than most people, but even I’m excited for the rest of 2019.
At their very core, all these stories are about hope in dark times. Jedi fight the Sith. Humans fight Winter. Superheroes fight supervillains. They are tales of conflict, where good prevails over evil. They show that even against seemingly overwhelming odds, there will be good people willing to take up a fight.