Wagner Books

The way the art and story of this novel combine to form a uniquely immersive and powerful story is amazing. This book is symbolica and provocative. The images in it will stay with you long after you're done reading.

Having read Wagner's most recent Batman entries (Monster Men and Mad Monk, highly recommended!), I was anxious to get my hands on anything else this guy had done, specifically anything involving Batman. I was finally able to track down the out of print Faces, which was previously printed as three issues in Legends of the Dark Knight. While this is my least favorite Batman story he's created, I still found it worth the long search.

Faces deals with Two-Face and his attempts to create a "deformity nation" on a secluded island. Wagner's version of Two-Face looks great, while his Batman is not quite as polished as he has been more recently, he still looks good as does the rest of the artwork. Wagner's style looks very much like an old film noir in color with his excellent use of shadows and his covers are always pleasing to the eye.

There are some good secondary characters in here as well that we get to know but don't make appearances beyond this trade. I usually prefer a longer more in depth character study (The Long Halloween is a personal favorite) but Wagner is smart by restraining himself and not going off in too many directions. He does in 3 issues what might take other skilled writers 6 issues to do.

If you're a Two-Face fan it's worth checking out, however I still prefer TLH as the definitive Two-Face tale, and I also prefer the previously mentioned Wagner Bat books.

this story is basically about two-face wanting to start a nation for deformed people. bleh.

heros: batman, alfred, Jim gordan.

villans: two-face.

Batman: Faces, is Matt Wagner's first attempt at a Batman story, and it is a decent one, however it lacks the punch of say The Dark Knight Returns, or The Long Halloween, however, Wagner's stunning artwork is what helps Batman: Faces remain in the mind of the reader, long after the book is finished. If you enjoy either Grendel of Batman, and are looking for something to read, pick this up, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Peace.

If you've found yourself wondering why church has lost its luster, C. Peter Wagner's Changing Church, will shed some light on this dilemma. Examining the Church and noting "the postmodern aversion to brand loyalty" or the "old wineskin" of traditional denominational structures, Wagner challenges readers to examine the "new wineskin" known as the Second Apostolic Age.
A Church Growth Professor at Fuller Seminary for over 33 years, holding three earned doctorates, two from Fuller and one from Princeton, Wagner speaks with simplicity and clarity detailing the dilemma the Church finds herself in-in layman friendly terms. Citing pastors, churches and apostles from around the globe, Wagner's case is solid. When encountering terms like "spirit of religion," "oneness theology," "TULIP," "apostles," "spiritual warfare," and "trinity," suspend judgment in order to fully examine the breadth of Wagner's argument.
By embracing a "lighter doctrinal load," "equipping the saints for ministry," embracing "Wesleyan holiness" and holding others "mutually accountable," the church can move into the postmodern era and fulfill her God-given role. Crossing denominational lines and ordaining anointed leaders, not necessarily seminary-trained leaders (scholars) are essential to the Second Apostolic Age. The Church functioning as a body of believers at long last is Wagner's hopeful message ripe with promise.
Wagner shares his personal paradigm shifts, offering biblical references to move readers gently through his argument point by point. Wagner is a true scholar, able to convey a vast amount of information in a concise (180 pages) and unintimidating way. If you can get beyond the buzzwords mentioned above, this book will challenge you to examine your view of the Church, personal holiness, and the coming apostolic revolution. An excellent book for intercessors, laymen, pastors, and students. Thoroughly indexed, it can be a valuable addition to any library. I highly recommend this book. Written by Suzanne Rae Deshchidn for www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

This book proves beyond any shadow of doubt that C. Peter Wagner and his miriad of followers, "prophets" and "apostles", are indeed teaching and promoting the heresy of the New Order of the Latter Rain. If you are a true bibilical Christian please be aware that this stuff is the Apostasy that Jesus Christ and the Apostles (not these "apostles") predicted would take place long ago. We are commanded by Jesus Christ to reject those who teach things that corrupt the core doctrines of the Faith. Christ and the Apostles warned us many times to stay away from false teachers and false prophets. You need to decide whether to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, or obey these people. Remember that those who say they love the Lord prove that love by obeying His commands. Rom. 16:17 "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE WHICH YE HAVVE LEARNED; and avoid them."

This was a strange experience -- as a student at Fuller Theological Seminary I picked up a book at the Fuller Bookstore written by a former Fuller professor, which contains a chapter explaining exactly why seminaries are irrelevant and useless -- and I loved every word of it!

Make no mistake, there is something in this book for almost everyone to hate. Over the last decade or so, virtually every Pharisee and self-appointed heresy hunter on the Internet has taken shots at Peter Wagner, so my guess is that Wagner decided that he's lost that part of his potential audience anyway. So, Wagner embraces Open Theism, Latter Rain Restorationism, and the prophetic/apostolic movements; he holds out an olive branch to "Oneness" Pentecostals; and he exposes "TULIP" Calvinism as the false doctrine that it is.

Is this a divisive book? Oddly enough, no. Of course there will be some that reject Wagner just as they have rejected him before, but this is a call to the Body of Christ to put aside the things that have divided us -- denominationalism, ridiculously heavy doctrinal statements, and everything else that is the teaching of man -- and actually become what Jesus asked us to become: not intimidated Christians cowering in a holy bunker waiting for the Rapture, but Christians who will seek forcefully to advance the Kingdom of God, make disciples of all nations, and storm hell's strongholds with the promise that the gates of hell will not stand against us.

I applaud Prof. Wagner for his courage in writing this book. I have studied Latter Rain theology for most of the last ten years. It is Biblical theology that is miscalled a "heresy" because one denomination, the Assemblies of God, rejected it 50 years ago. Jesus warned us about the problem of new wine and wineskins. When the Latter Rain wine hit the Church 50 years ago it just about burst the A/G wineskin, but that certainly doesn't mean that there is something wrong with the wine. After all, Wesley was all but thrown out of the Church of England, and "heretic" was one of the nicer things Martin Luther was called when he started pouring the new wine of the Reformation. If the Lord tarries, I confidently predict that 100 years from now Peter Wagner (and his mentor, John Wimber) will be mentioned in the same breath as Luther and Wesley.

I for one did read the book. While I am not a fan of C. Peter Wagner or his books, I do want to write a review that is based on the book and not my personal feelings toward Wagner. I do take exception with the reviewer who feels that Wagner will be ranked with the likes of John Wesley or Martin Luther in 100 years but that is beside the point. Only Jesus should be honored at all (1 Timothy 6:16).

The book deals with the charismatic emphasis on the third wave and more specifically the apostle/prophet movement begun by Wagner, John Wimber, Bob Jones, and Bill Hamon. The book essentially outlines Wagner's desire and his personal eye-witness to the changes he sees coming (and have come) from the third wave movement and these above mentioned teachers. In many ways, Wagner writes with a positive view toward the future and he believes that God is preparing His church for a mighty world-wide revival.

The problems with this book are many. For one, Wagner, while a theologically trained man, seems to take exception with theology (see chapter 8). He sees theology as more of a hinderance to a move of God than a plus. He believes the walls of doctrine need to fall down and bring together Catholics, Evangelicals, Liturgical Protestants, and of course Pentecostals and Charismatics. The problem with this view is that it ignores the call to hold to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 4:15; Titus 2:1) and ignores defending the historic Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15-16; Jude 3-4). Theology is vital to the Church (John 8:31-32; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Galatians 3:1-5).

Secondly, the book has the feel of the whole emerging church idea. Wagner is willing (and seems delighted) to let go of sound teaching for whatever causes the church to grow. Whether it be the Open God views of Clark Pinnock or Oneness Pentecostals or Catholics. The point for Wagner (and sadly many other charismatics) is experience is the key. Experience in Christ and the Spirit is the ultimate unity binder. Of course, this is not biblical (1 Cor. 1:10-17; 3:10-17; James 2:14-26; 1 John 2:3-6).

Finally, the book follows suit with many other church growth gurus and fails to offer a biblical pattern for church growth. Wagner highlights text that benefit his chapters but fails to exegete the passages. In the end the reader is left chasing experience and embracing whatever it takes to get my church to grow with little thought of "is this biblical?". Charles Spurgeon rightly noted, "The church that is most loved by the world is surely that which is most abhored by God."

This book is actually quite useful. It gives you some real important tips on copyright and licensing that are INDISPENCEABLE. While it is laking somewhat in terms of how-to-draw, this is still a pretty good book

Leave the word "Idiot's" out of the title, and you'll have a clearer idea of what this book is about. Let me make one thing clear... this is NOT a beginner's "how to draw" book. This book assumes that you already know how to draw, and offers you guidelines on how to apply that skill to cartooning. The authors give a much too brief overview of the origins and history of cartooning (with a few minor errors), and discuss the basics of cartoon construction: expression, perspective, composition, and gag writing. They also briefly review the various forms of cartooning, and what special talents and knowledge each one requires: gag panels, comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons, greeting cards, animation, and computer graphics. There's an entire chapter devoted to manga, the Japanese style of cartooning that's currently popular in the US. Plus, a helpful bibliography, glossary, and lots of tips on how to get your work published.

My one complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I was distracted by the authors' repeated use of the word "media" as a singular noun rather than plural... but that's the proofreader in me.

For an art book, it's surprisingly heavy on text and light on illustrations... but that's not a drawback in this case. This is not a book for beginners, but if you're an aspiring cartoonist in need of direction and encouragement, then I can't think of a better book for you.

This book looks at everything from a history of cartoons to marketing your own work in modern media. The book discusses composition, perspective, styles, techniques... of course it does not go into any of these in any depth. That would be for other works or classes. But this will give anyone a good overview of the business and I consider it a valuable resource.

If your idea of getting ahead in cartooning is being able to draw in the most basic manner, while listening to the authors address you like some high school drop out with ADA, then this book is for you. First of all, this guy is a lousy cartoonist and it's almost exclusively his work that is presented. Secondly, the book goes long on history and short on current stuff. I suppose this is because the early stuff was in the public domain and the cheap-assed publishers were more interested in saving a buck, than doing a real cartoonist book. Do yourself a favor, don't buy this piece of crap.

This is a typical Osprey book - a primer to a niche subject. In this case, the coverage is nigh perfect. The text states that there is not much written on the Picts because not much is known about them. Thus there is a lot of cross-referencing to Celtic and other sources just to get an idea about the Picts.
The illustrations are terrible. There is a great divide beween text and illustrations. The Picts disavowed the use of armour to flaunt their courage and loved to fight naked to show off their tattoos. The illustrations all depict clothed and armoured Picts. The line drawings hint at the missed opportunity to depict some truly magnificent paintings based on the abstract animal motifs.

As with all of osprey's Men-at-Arms books, this one is well written and jam packed with useful information. The only problem I see is the art work. Every Osprey book I've read so far has amazing illustrations. This one however seems as though it was thown to a random staff member who likes to draw. The illustrations seem much more like japanese anime than anything else. It doesnt seem like any of the images were taken seriously and it was hard for me to take them seriously seeing as I felt like I was watching an episode of Pokeman. This aside, its still a great booklet and I highly recommend it.

This is a typical Osprey book. A great introduction to a specific topic. It has many color illustrations and maps. Not many books written about the Picts. This is a good introduction to the style of warfare in Great Britain toward the end of the Roman Empire. I like these books because they give you a general background and then suggestions for further reading. The book is only 64 pages so it will only take an afternoon to read it. Very little detail, but enough info to get you started and give you the ability to talk about the subject. The following is an "About This Book" quote from the Osprey website which is not included on the Amazon.com site. It is helpful. "First mentioned by name in AD 297, the Picts inhabited Northern Britain from the end of the 3rd century AD to the 9th. They rose to power in the devastation following Emperor Septimus Severus's repression of the Caledonians in AD 208, and dominated Northern Britain for over 500 years, before vanishing mysteriously. The Picts represent a high point of Celtic civilisation, remaining free and unconquered beyond the borders of the Roman world, and rising to become the first barbarians to form a recognisable 'nation'. This title takes a detailed look at their origins, and examines Pictish heroic and warrior society, covering education and training, appearance and equipment, the status of women, and the experience of battle."

A fine book. The author uses a combination of Roman historians, Welsh and Gaelic mythology, and archaeology to paint a believable picture of the fearsome warrior culture today called 'Picts'. He examines their origins as a people, the origin of their name (it may well be a tribal name in their own tongue, rather than from Latin 'painted'), and their history with the late Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Gaels, the Norse, and the Scots who finally assimilated them. The text also details the daily life of the noble warrior, the warband on campaign, and the philosophies by which the Celtic warrior in general lived. What little is known of Pictish armor, costume, weaponry, and battle tactics is also detailed. The plates, by Wayne Reynolds are excellent and do a fine job of supporting the text.
Plate A shows a Caledonian warrior at the time of Septimius Severus' Scottish campaigns of the beginning of the 3rd Century. The Caledonians are often said to be the same as the Picts, but appear to have been a Brythonic-speaking people (similar to the southern Britons) that were assimilated by the Picts
Plate B shows characters from Irish myth recreated as Pictish warriors. These are Chulainn and Scathach training at the latter's School of War, while other champions and students look on.
Plate C shows a Pictish boat, like they may have used to carry out piratical raids
Plate D shows a Pictish raid on Hadrian's wall in the 4th Century AD. Several heavily tattooed Picts are shown in combat with Romano-British soldiers. Some of the Celts are also shown fighting naked in the traditional manner, and one is using a lasso to pull a defender off the wall.
Plate E shows different Pictish weapons, swords, bucklers, axes, and a spear.
Plate F gives us two warriors of the later Pictish period, a noble horse-warrior in scale armor, and a common warrior with a pike and buckler. The illustrator illustrated most of his Picts, even the later ones, with swirling tatooes on at least their lower legs.
Plate G shows the 'Law of the Innocents'; a Pictish warrior-woman was killed in battle with Northumbrians, and upon the sight of her child sobbing at her breast, the mother of the Abbot of Iona forced him to pass a law in which women were forbidden from going to war-a custom that had been very common in northern Britain.
Plate H shows Pictish pikemen in combat with the horsemen of Strathclyde, while some Pictish horse-warriors ride around the left flank throwing spears at the enemy.
Both the text and plates in this book are highly detailed and exciting, and are highly recommended for anyone interested in this fierce warrior society.

Great book for learning about regression. Easy and very clear instructions for regressions. Be sure to read very carefully the part about not allowing a person to get too emotional during a regression. I've been very successful with regressions using this book as a step-by-step guide. It definately works. Warning! Do not substitute stairs for tunnel in regression technique!

Xena and Gabrielle are being literally crucified at the start of this volume. Hell has been trying to seduce Xena into being a conquering warlord again, through the agency of Callisto.

Xena tries to resist, but the torture and seeing Gabrielle being executed in the same manner get to her, and she seems to fail.

Hell sends her on a mission to corrupt Thor, but the Thunder God is a little more than Hell can handle.

I actually read all of the Xena stories and found this one to be fun like the others

This graphic novel is split into three parts, the first two are excellent, the third doesn't seem to fit. The artwork is excellent and we get to see Xena at her evil best. It was fairly enjoyable, but not the best.

I just bought this graphic novel and boy I was really pleased. I think the story was great and the artwork was absolutely fantastic. I would suggest to any die-hard Xena Fan to buy this graphic novel. I give 5 stars!

Feminist writers have a well-deserved reputation for attempting to lie with statistics, and this book, written in 1893, helped to set the pattern.

Gage was the originator of the assertion that an amazing 9,000,000 women perished at the hands of evil Christian witch hunters over the last 500 years. The actual number is around 50,000, some were also accused of other crimes, and many of them were men.

Due to its extreme nature, this book soon went out of print, but was revived by a feminist publishing house in the 1970s. Mary Daly, the radical ex-Boston College professor, accused those who let this book go out of print of committing "mind-rape" against women.

Gage was an early feminist, and this is her polemic, written in 1893, showing how religion, the law, and male-dominated custom oppressed/s women. She is fierce in her criticisms--and stony cold. Reading it is like being whipped with a stick. Perhaps this is a good thing overall, but I found her approach way too heavy handed.

Woman Church and State by Matilda Joslyn Gage and edited by Sally Roesch Wagner. isbn 1-880589-27-3 -- order from: Sky Carrier Press, p o box 2135 Aberdeen SD 57402 $20.00 plus 4.95 for shipping I DIDNT KNOW HOW ELSE TO LET AMAZON KNOW WHERE TO FIND THIS BOOK THANKS

Originally published in 1893, this book is back in print for the first time in 30 years. It is a major feminist work of the Nineteenth Century that identifies the sources of women's oppression as the church and its offspring, the state.

With Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage was one of the three principle U.S. suffragists. Alarmed by the conservative religious movement of the time that tried to amend the Constitution to declare the U.S. a Christian state, Gage wrote this book to articulate her views that christianity was the oppressor of women.

In the first chapter called The Matriarchate, the author tells of the rights women had in pagan pre-christian times. She talks of the Mother-rule, that preceded Patriarchy. She then shows that christianity from its beginning has worked to undermine women's rights.

The following seven chapters outline the oppression of women in the west and its sources in first the church, and later in the state that developed its ruling principles from canon law. These chapters deal with Celibacy, Canon Law, Marquette (a term that Gage uses for jus primae noctis, the right of lords to the sexual favors of their peasant women), Witchcraft, Wives, Polygamy, and Work. These chapters are filled with examples from history as well as the contemporary 19th century. The documented examples of women's oppression at the hands of ministers of the church and the law in this section are an impressive collection that makes this book a valuable source for feminist herstory.

In the last two chapters, Gage looks at the church of her day and shows that it is still bogged down in the same dogma of women's oppression. She predicts a great revolution which will liberate women and give them equal rights with men in both religion and society. I am sure the women's movement of the 1970s with its emphasis on women's spirituality would have convinced her that she was right.

I found this book to be an excellent introduction to XML and the XTeam, as the book calls it, but in reading it I realized that the book is only just an introduction to a much broader world. I think that it is perfect for beginners, and does a good job of steering you in all the directions you can go with future studies.

Some things to consider...although the author does not assume you have any previous knowledge in Web development, I don't think it would be possible to comfortably pick up on XML without knowing HTML and XHTML and the CSS knowledge that you should have when learning XSLT. As far as covering XSLT, you should definitely buy another book for that because XSLT mastery is beyond the scope of the book.

It is well-written and flows good. The way the book is written is so that you don't have to flip when using it as a reference. So, if you read it cover-to-cover, information repeats itself. If you do have experience with Web languages you might feel like you are getting too much information, but it is worth reading through to find those lesser known bits and pieces of info. The author is thorough with the material he decides to cover, enough so that you can intuitively plan your own code rather than simply emulate examples. Overall, I would say the book has definitely given me a great appreciation for XML, and I want to take it to new levels.

Before reading the book, I was knowing nothing about XML, but after reading a few chapters, I got familiar with the technology.
The book is good for XML first timers, also if you know a little bit about it, but it's not enough if you need to be professional.

Though the book covers material quickly and lucidly, the editing is very sloppy and key details are omitted. For example, in discussing using the ID datatype for attributes in DTDs, it omits a key detail: a number isn't an XML name, and to get around this, prepend an _. The example given even shows a useage that won't work! The O'Reilly book of a classmate included this. Elsewhere the text discusses examples that aren't in the book and seem left over from a previous edition, and reading the text is distracting for the grammatical errors.

In general it appears that the book was thrown together in a big hurry, which is a shame, as it's a very likeable book and would be great if the information was correct.

The author's have done an outstanding job in writing the book. I found that even the mundane details were covered in the right place and with a little humor. The coverage starts out very simple, so many people won't use the beginning chapters extensively. However, as the book progresses, the coverage becomes more technical and I think that most people will find the authors have covered most of the XML details that any developer will need. The authors also discuss some of the details that other books leave out, such as the default namespaces. Little bits of information like this make the difference between a book that merely teaches and one that really helps. This book has something for everyone. Novices will get the most out of the book, but even advanced readers will receive some benefit. The thing I like the best is that the book is arranged as a quick reference--something that makes it especially useful when you're trying to complete a project and need to know some detail you've forgotten.

I had to get this book for a college course, and i will be keeping it for a refference guide. This is a great book, and really goes into depth on the fundimentals of building an outstanding e-business from the ground up. If you are serious about starting a buisness, than buy this book!

This is a terrific book, particularly if you are someone who is not familiar with all of the ins and outs of e-commerce. It is thorough, it is well written and it gives the novice a great overview about all of the different areas of e-commerce, which changes, daily.

I am using it in an introduction college course in e-commerce and marketing communication and it is a great supplement to the other books that I am using. Not everyone comes to learning about this subject with a good understanding of business in general and Napier and company do a great job of knitting that into the mix while teaching you about the key e-commerce concepts.

I read a litany of e-commece textbooks before choosing this one, literally a dozen or more --- this one won the contest.

There are two things that make this book unusable in any classroom. First, this book is an exercise in plagiarism.
Almost nothing is cited; apparently, the authors feel that
they only need to cite sources if they pull specifics,
and then sporadically. A list of sources at the back of
the chapter is not enough.

Second, the report example in chapter four is atrocious.
I would not accept anything so non-standard as this from my
students. Like the book itself, it is a study in plagiarism;

nothing in the report is cited (see the executive summary
on page 121, specifically, "The market for wilderness
adventure travel is growing at 15% annually." Where did
this information come from?)

If these authors are in any way representative, it's no
wonder copyright issues are so hotly contested today. They
apparently feel that they can include material from other
sources and give no credit. Shame.

This book is full of great information for sure. Wagner knows his material and conveys it very well to the reader. As another reviewer mentioned however the amount of typos in this book is astounding and gets a bit annoying page after page.

this is good book, made from articles from Budo International mag. Manny color pictures in good postures but less techniques that I would like to be in there. Jim Wagner is the real deal, he was everything(soldier,corrections,LEO, federal agent) so anybody interested in self protection or DT for LEO and military could and will find something usefull in this book.

This book is comprised on magazine articles written by Jim Wagner and published in Budo International magazine. Wagner is a world-famous instructor of reality-based self defence. In fact, he coined the term "reality-based".

As already stated, the book is comprised on articles published previously in a magazine. Each of the articles comprises one chapter in the book, and the topics vary a great deal from ground fighting to fencing with a rifle, and everything in between. Because the topics vary this much, I found some of them very valuable, while others were of no interest to me. Sadly, the articles have not been edited at all, to a point of printing the preview of the article that was written by the editor of the magazine as a part of the chapter, or Wagner stating that he will return to the subject in future issues of the magazine. There is lots of repetition also, that could have been edited off when transferring the text from a series of magazine articles to a book format.

The production values of the book are high, as the book is printed on a high-quality paper with lots of photographs, and the book is full colour through. Sadly, there are lots of typos and although there are lots of pictures and picture serials presenting self defence techniques, some of them are used as page-fillers and have nothing to do with the issue being handled. Also, I feel that the chapters could have been arranged in a different order for a more consistent outcome.

Although Wagner does not present many techniques in the book and concentrates more on principles, you can get lots of ideas for organizing your own training. Although, had the book been edited fully when transferred to book format, the outcome would have been much better.