Interview - Miriam Calleja Shaw

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You have recently published a book called COVID-19and the Virus that Shook the World . It provides a sobering look at virus infections and pandemics, with particular emphasis on the COVID-19 strain. Presently, the cases have diminished in Europe but the spread has moved elsewhere. However, how safe is ‘safe’ at the moment? With the way things are evolving with the ’new’ coronavirus, it’s very difficult to answer this question. The WHO just last weekend warned that the worst may be yet to come. We are certainly witnessing an atrocious amount of deaths and illness in the US. We don’t yet know with certainty which factors are affecting the progression of the pandemic. Indeed we don’t even know about all the symptoms that appear with COVID-19 infection. The relative ‘safety’ is different for everyone, depending on the state of their immunity and certain other factors. For a person with average health who isn’t too old, the danger of getting severely ill may be low – but we need to
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Top 5 Marvel Characters

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Full disclosure: I'm more of a DC kind of guy when it comes to superhero comics. I was raised with a generous literary dollop of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. The only exceptions were Conan the Barbarian and one particular Black Panther title which I was obsessed with but which for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called. Therefore, in compiling a TOP 5 MARVEL CHARACTERS list, I entrusted my friend Teodor Reljic with the task. Here it is: 

 #5 Ghost Rider
There's something like a sense of the 'All American Gothic' to Ghost Rider - Washington Irving by way of Monte Hellman. Like the Punisher, he's one of those characters who embodies cinematic iconography so readily that re-converting them into cinema has nearly always resulted in stillborn disaster. But he's helluva a lot of fun on page, and I'm getting a craving for a Ghost Rider story as I type!
#4 Thor
Everybody loves modern myths, and one can argue that all superhero stories are just updates on the classic mythological heroes of old. But nothing beats actually lifting a demigod from Norse myth lock stock and barrel and placing him in the centre of an already colourful and densely populated modern pantheon. Always adventure and sometimes epic-ready, Thor tends to be consistently fun to dip into, even for a lapsed superhero fan like myself.
 #3 Doctor Strange
When I do revisit Marvel's realm these days -- which is rare beyond perfunctory trips to the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- I prefer to hang around the weirder fringes of their many realms, and the Doctor Strange corner is the obvious area to park that inclination. The recent(ish) Jason Aaron/Chris Bachalo run was a treat.
#2 Spider-Man
The latest film adaptations, fun as they are, made Peter Parker/Spider-Man more of a techbro serf when in fact he is one of the very first properly 'working class heroes' of the superhero canon. Infinitely relateable to teenagers everywhere, he had me caught in his web well and good during those crucial and often awkwardly painful years.
#1 Venom
A best friend's older brother ("So often the way...") lent me the collected volume of the iconic (and for the slobbering personage under discussion, inaugural) David Micheline/ToddMcFarlane Spider-Man vs Venom run and it was love at first grossed-out sight. Unlike many superhero stories, in Venom I see a fulfillment of their Cronenbergian potential: a frightening bearing out of bodily metamorphosis pushed out of control, and made all the more striking by McFarlane's unforgettably sinewy, spindly and refreshingly dangerous (italics) pencil work.

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You can borrow these and other Marvel titles from the Malta Libraries ebook service. If you don't have a library card you can apply for one from HERE. For more information about their ebook service, click HERE.

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Teodor Reljic is a freelance writer with a vast experience in journalism, feature writing and content writing. He is also a screenwriter, having adapted Clare Azzopardi's short story 'Camilla' into a short feature film and is currently working on the big screen adaptation of Alex Vella Gera's Is-Sriep reġgħu saru velenużi. Both of these features are backed by The National Book Council. Teodor is also the author of Two, published by Merlin Publishers. For more information, you can pop over to his site HERE.

  

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