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TOP 5 COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS
THAT NEED TO HIT THE BIG SCREEN
ASAP AND IDEAL CASTING CHOICES BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO
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COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
5. Zatanna - Francia Raisa
Overshadowed by the likes of most Justice Leaguers, Zatanna is a major badass in her own right. She’s known as the most powerful sorcerer in the DC universe. The illusionist turned super hero has quite literally a magical set of skills and with her connections to household names like Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash etc... Working her into the DC universe is more likely a question of when, not if. Francia is an ideal candidate for the part not only because she’s talented and looks the part, but two years ago she donated a kidney to her friend (Selena Gomez) and granted she didn’t do it with magic, it’s still pretty heroic.
4. Gambit - Channing Tatum
On the verge of production several times the origin story of Gambit remains a film that has sadly gone unproduced. Channing Tatum has expressed plenty of interest in playing the mutant thief so right now the ball is in Disney’s hands. One thing’s obvious, the Marvel Universe has plenty of room for another super hero crime thriller. You don’t think so? Go check the box office numbers.
DC COMICS , MARVEL COMICS , CELEBRITY PORTRAITS SUPPLIED BY IMDB
3. Transmetropolitan - Mos Def Spider Jerusalem’s one goal in life is to fight the corruption and abuse of power brought on by the president(s). If that doesn’t fit in with today’s society, nothing does. It might take a little more of a gamble on the studio’s side which means unfortunately we’ll likely never see it, but keep your fingers crossed. Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) is a black man unlike the comic book version of Spider, but all the better. A rapper/ actor/activist like Mos Def is exactly the type of guy we can get behind as he fights corruption in ways we can’t help but occasionally fantasize about.
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2. Emma Frost - Blake Lively
From super-villain to X-men mainstay Emma Frost has been through the ringer and yet still hasn’t gotten the screen time she deserves. January Jones did a fine job portraying her in “X-Men: First Class” and if she’s on board I’m sure she’d do a great job as a lead, but for my money Blake Lively is the one to play the part. Box Office success would be nothing new to Blake Lively and while she wasn’t to blame for the Green Lantern’s shortcomings, I’d love to see her make it up to the comic book universe.
CCM Podst AD
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DC COMICS , MARVEL COMICS , CELEBRITY PORTRAITS SUPPLIED BY IMDB
Lets be honest, “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer” was not a good a movie. It was pretty bad actually, but the Silver Surfer character is the last one to blame. It’s hard to connect with a super hero sometimes, but one that surfs through the universe feeling all alone and undesired is as relatable as it gets. Hollywood did Josh Hartnett pretty dirty after he turned down back to back super hero roles a little over a decade ago, so maybe he wouldn’t even consider, BUT he should. A Silver Surfer origin story starring him is a home run waiting to be smashed. c
DC COMICS , MARVEL COMICS , CELEBRITY PORTRAITS SUPPLIED BY IMDB
1. Silver Surfer - Josh Hartnett
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From Toys to Collectibles BY PHUONG PHAM
STAR WARS / MATTTEL / HASBRO INC.
Owning toys of our favorite characters and TV shows used to be something reserved for kids. Film studios would think of the marketing potential of selling toys to kids but somewhere along the way that seems to have shifted. In recent years, adults seem to have more of an interest in what was previously referred to as “toys.” Somewhere along the way they became things that were less about play and more about investing; much like vintage cars or art. Probably the first big geeky toy craze came in the form of the 1977 original Star Wars action figures. When Star Wars first debuted no one foresaw what a pop culture phenomenon it would be. People were mesmerized by the special effects, the lore, etc. This was especially true for the toy manufacturers. The toy manufacturer, Kenner was so blindsided by the popularity of the Star Wars action figures that they sent out empty boxes that acted like a rain check for when the items did arrive. The landscape of “toys” today is very different. For one thing, some of the toys we had as children are now worth a lot of money. As stated above, Star Wars toys tend to be part of the conversation when discussing vintage toys that have appreciated in value. Other toys from our youth that have increased significantly in value are Barbies. For instance, the original Barbie that debuted in the 50’s sold for $27,450 (in mint condition.) There are also Barbies very limited edition Barbies that sold for exorbitant amounts of money, most notably the Stefano Canturi Barbie which is the most expensive Barbie that has ever been sold.
What made the Stefano Canturi Barbie special was not only was it designed specifically to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation but it also features white and pink diamonds. The estimated value of the diamonds on the Barbie were around $300,000 with the doll eventually selling for $302,500 at auction. But for those with a smaller budget, collector’s editions of Barbies also fetch a somewhat hefty price tag with special editions such as the annual Holiday Barbie and other themed Barbies ranging from $30-60 up to $100 or more.
card games have become a profitable collectible. Gone are the days of action figures when we now have companies like Hot Toys and Kotobukiya providing hyper-realistic “maquettes.” But one thing remains true: there will always be collectors. c
The idea that these items are an investment is certainly not an exaggeration. One very literal example of this is the creation of the website mtgstocks.com. This website tracks the value of any number of Magic: The Gathering cards so that collectors and Magic players can sell their cards at peak pricing. It’s true that even now March 2020 |
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Still in the holiday mindset? then light up your fireplace, grab some cocoa, and check out these
Christmas Movies YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE CHRISTMAS MOVIES BY PHUONG PHAM
w
hen we think of unconventional Christmas movies we often think of the classic Bruce Willis flick, Die Hard. However, Christmas-based American cinema has evolved so much since Nakatomi Tower was taken over by Hans Gruber. Not to discredit Die Hard but today, we have so many other choices on Christmas morning other than watching John McClane crawl through heating vents.
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a very clever satire of the noir detective film. Not only that, but this was one of the first major leading roles for Iron Man star, Robert Downey Jr. that put him back on the map and more than likely paved the way for him to become everyone’s favorite genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist following his troubled past. The film follows Harry Lockhart, a thief who is mistaken for an actor meant to “shave a couple million off Colin Farrell’s price tag,” and how he stumbles into the murder of a Hollywood socialite. In addition to Downey, the film also has some other heavy-hitting co-stars in the way of Val Kilmer who plays brash gay detective and Michelle Monaghan as a struggling, aspiring actress.
Iron Man 3 (2013) Whoever thought that a Marvel superhero movie could be a Christmas movie? And in keeping with the pattern of Shane Black recurring themes as evidenced in the above example, Iron Man 3 takes place on Christmas (note the comicallysized stuffed bunny that Tony gets Pepper as a Christmas gift.) It’s difficult to picture a comic book movie as a Christmas movie and this may be one of the few that fits the bill. The story is a bit of a retelling of the Industrial Revolution graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Steve Kurth. Tony Stark is on the run as the Mandarin has threatened his livelihood. He must depend solely on himself and his ingenuity to defend himself. However, the film does take some creative license and does not follow the source material, precisely. The twist ending regarding the Mandarin received mixed reviews from fans but certainly, it was something that was not out of place in a Shane Black film.
Trading Places (1983) When one thinks of Christmas films, the word “comedy” hardly comes to mind. However, this movie is an absolutely brilliant comedy that shows off Eddie Murphy at his prime as a comedian and Jamie Lee Curtis a few years after having found fame in Halloween. The classic follows the story of two millionaires, Randolph and Mortimer Duke, as they have a wager (a whole $1) that a colleague of theirs, Louis Winthorpe III (played by Dan Aykroyd) would not be successful were it not for his environment. They decide to test their theory of nature vs. nurture to the extreme: they arrange for him to lose his job and his girlfriend, leaving Winthorpe to his own devices. In contrast, Billy Ray Valentine, a con man on the street, is given all of Winthorpe’s resources to see if he would thrive with Winthorpe’s opportunities. This whole ordeal takes place around Christmas time; made apparent by a particularly memorable scene in which Dan Aykroyd crashes his former company’s holiday Christmas party, stuffing ham into his pockets, and trying to eat it later during a lonely bus ride.
MARVEL / THE PRINCESS BRIDE LTD. / PARAMOUNT PICTURES / WARNER BROTHERS
The Princess Bride (1987) It may come as a surprise to many that The Princess Bride is actually a Christmas movie. The Princess Bride is one of those films that satisfies so many genres: fantasy, action-adventure, romantic comedy, etc. In fact, because it had fit so many criteria, the studio wasn’t sure how to market it and audiences weren’t sure what to make of it. But over time, the film grew to be a cult classic and many people began to realize how brilliant it was. Though to be perfectly honest it’s hard to not expect a well-executed film from Rob Reiner, the same writer/director who gave us This is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally… The Princess Bride follows the tale of Princess Buttercup and her “farm boy,” Westley as they both encounter obstacles, new friends, new enemies, and that true love conquers all. It was also a standout acting role for Andre the Giant who would play the lovable giant mercenary, Fezzik. We all know the story of The Princess Bride and have likely seen the film numerous times but what exactly makes it a Christmas movie? Prior to Peter Falk regaling this tale of love and swashbuckling adventure, he tells grandson, Fred Savage that he has a gift for him. Before reading the William Goldman story to Savage, he tears open the gift wrap encasing the book. Additionally, when we see Savage sick in bed, snow can be seen outside his window and in the background of his room is a crudely-made Santa Claus that seems to have been crafted out of construction paper. These little details in Savage’s room hint that this story takes place during Christmas. This revelation gives us one more reason to be able to watch this classic tale. c March 2020 |
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What new films to be
excited for in 2020 A new year means a new batch of movies for film geeks like us to get excited for. Here’s a list of 10 pop corn flicks we’re hoping will live up to the hype.
10. dolittle What do kids love more than animals? Iron Man (a.k.a. Robert Downey Jr.). Mix them together and you get an adventurous tale that at the very least is sure to be a box office smash.
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9. A QUIET PLACE: PART 2 It’s hard to imagine a sequel with John Krasinski’s characterdead, but since he’s returning as writer/director and Emily Blunt is back to lead the cast we might be in for another hit.
MARVEL STUDIOS / DISNEY / BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS / UNIVERSAL PICTURES / PARAMOUNT PICTURES
BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO
8. MULAN If you were a kid in the 90’s you probably didn’t see many girls kick butt on screen, but that made Mulan that much more special. A live action remake was only a matter of time.
Haven’t gotten enough Michael Myers Yet? Good, cause he isn’t going away anytime soon. So long as the dynamic duo of Danny McBride & David Gordon Green are running the show fans should have faith knowing the franchise is in good hands.
7. Bad Boys for Life
3. Godzilla vs King Kong
A long awaited sequel many of us have been asking for, but few thought we’d get. If the script is even just decent we can expect these bad boys (Will Smith & Martin Lawrence) to deliver.
6. Venom 2
If you know who Carnage is you’re probably already pretty excited for this one, but if not be prepared to see one of the best super-villains ever created.
MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT / SONY PICTURES RELEASING / LEGENDARY PICTURES
4. Halloween Kills
Two larger than life monsters are set to meet again and given how far special effects have come in the last 58 years maybe they can change the game for sci-fi monster movies a second time.
2. Black Widow So long as Scarlett Johansson is on screen kicking ass, kids, parents and everyone in between will be watching. With all the men out of her way expect to see a side to the Black Widow that has yet to be explored.
5. The New Mutants
1. Morbius
The release has been delayed roughly 10,000 times, but if it finally makes it to theaters as planned (This April) its use of psychological Horror is just what the X-Men franchise needs to get us invested in the next crop of mutants.
He might have been hated as the Joker, but like Ryan Reynolds before him Jared Leto has found a super hero that he fits to the T. The scientist turned vampire is sure to deliver the type of gritty super hero film we’ve all grown to love.
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LONG LIVE THE KING BY GALAXY
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ARROW / BERLANTI PRODUCTIONS / DC ENTERTAINMENT / WARNER BROS. TELEVISION
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
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Oliver Queen / Green Arrow PORTRAYED BY Stephen Amell
Oliver Jonas Queen is a billionaire playboy who returns home to Starling City later named Star City, after being apparently stranded on a desert island for five years and presumed dead. On his return, he embarks on a secret double life as a masked vigilante known as ‘The Hood’ to fight crime and corruption with his weapon of choice the bow and arrow. Later his vigilante persona becomes known as the ‘Green Arrow’.
Laurel Lance / Black Canary (Earth-1) PORTRAYED BY Katie Cassidy
John Diggle / Spartan PORTRAYED BY David Ramsey
John Thomas Diggle is a decorated former United States Army Special Forces soldier, honorably discharged with the rank of master sergeant, an ordained minister, and Oliver’s best friend and partner. While John Diggle was originally a character created for the show, his popularity led to a character of the same name modeled after Ramsey’s appearance to be created for the Green Arrow comics.
Dinah Laurel Lance is an assistant district attorney and Oliver Queen’s ex-girlfriend. She later becomes a vigilante known as Black Canary.
Tommy Merlyn PORTRAYED BY Colin Donnell
Thomas “Tommy” Merlyn is Oliver Queen’s best friend and Malcolm Merlyn’s son. Tommy is a spoiled playboy. He is Thea Queen’s paternal half-brother. Tommy is killed rescuing Laurel from a collapsing building. No need to be sad, Tommy’s doppelgängers from other Earths make appearances throughout the series.
TheA Queen / Speedy PORTRAYED BY willa Holland
Thea Dearden Queen is the daughter of Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn, though both Malcolm and Thea were unaware of their relation to each other until season two, and the younger half-sister to Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn. She goes on to become a vigilante known as Speedy. Corto Maltese, are Easter egg connections to Mia Dearden, one of Green Arrow’s sidekicks in the comics. 22 |
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Mia Smoak / Blackstar / Green Arrow PORTRAYED BY Katherine McNamara
Mia Smoak / Blackstar is the daughter of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak, born in 2019. Raised in secrecy away from Star City in Bloomfield, a neighborhood for former A.R.G.U.S. and DIA agents, she grew up without her father. Mia is an accomplished fighter due to being trained by Nyssa al Ghul throughout her childhood and into adulthood. After learning that her mother is still secretly operating as a vigilante, Mia runs away from home and goes to Star City, taking on the alias Blackstar. Blackstar is a cagefighter and is open about her resentment of vigilantes.
Dinah Drake / Black Canary PORTRAYED BY Juliana Harkavy
Dinah Drake is a detective, formerly of the Central City Police Department. She went undercover in a drug ring with the alias “Tina Boland”, only for her partner to be murdered after they were both revealed to be cops. After the particle accelerator explosion, she receives the ability to produce sonic waves with her scream and hunts down the leader of the drug ring to get revenge for her partner’s death. Oliver and his team seek to recruit Drake as a candidate to succeed Laurel Lance as Black Canary. Roy Harper / Arsenal PORTRAYED BY Colton Haynes
Malcolm Merlyn / Dark Archer PORTRAYED BY John Barrowman
Roy William Harper Jr. is a former street criminal, Thea’s boyfriend and a supporter of the Arrow. Harper appears many times throughout the series, always ready for battle and to lend a hand. In the final season Roy is recruited by Diggle to make a stand against the “Crisis.”
Malcolm Merlyn born Arthur King, is a wealthy businessman, a member and for a short period leader of the League of Assassins, the father of Tommy and Thea and one of the main antagonists of the series.
Curtis Holt / Mister Terrific PORTRAYED BY Echo Kellum
Felicity Smoak / Overwatch PORTRAYED BY Emily Bett Rickards
ARROW / BERLANTI PRODUCTIONS / DC ENTERTAINMENT / WARNER BROS. TELEVISION
Felicity Megan Smoak is an I.T. expert, partner and later wife of Oliver Queen. Felicity is a MIT graduate with a master’s degree in cyber security and computer sciences. Felicity’s character originally appeared as a one-episode guest. She plays a significant role in the series. Mar Novu / The Monitor PORTRAYED BY LaMonica Garrett
Mar Novu, known as The Monitor is a Multiversal being testing different Earths in the multiverse in preparation for an impending “crisis”. During the Elseworlds crossover, the Monitor makes a deal with Oliver, helping him save Barry Allen and Kara Zor-El in exchange for Oliver’s help during the crisis. In the season seven finale, the Monitor comes to collect Oliver, while also revealing he will die in the crisis.
Curtis Holt is a technological savant, inventor, and bronze-medal-winning Olympic decathlete, who works with Felicity at Palmer Technologies. While in the field, Curtis adopts a costume similar to his comic counterpart, including his ‘Fair Play’ jacket and T-shaped mask. He alternates between field work and tech support depending on the crisis. Lyla Michaels / Harbinger PORTRAYED BY AUDREY MARIE ANDERSON
Lyla Michaels is the director of A.R.G.U.S. and the wife of John Diggle. Lyla was rescued from certain doom by the Monitor and assumed the identity of “Harbinger” a person that foretells the coming in the Arrowverse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Rene Ramirez / Wild Dog PORTRAYED BY Rick Gonzalez
Rene Ramirez is a vigilante in Star City whose reckless and arrogant actions prompt the Green Arrow to guide him. His vigilante attire consists of normal clothes, with a hockey mask to hide his identity; the red dog image on the shirt of his uniform, leads to his gaining the moniker of “Wild Dog”. Already trained as a soldier, Rene receives additional training from Oliver and becomes a skilled combatant.
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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG / PARAMOUNT PICTURES / SEGA SAMMY GROUP
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MARVEL STUDIOS / DISNEY / SONY PICTURES
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DC COMICS / DISNEY / WARNER BROS / SONY PICTURES / MARVEL STUDIOS
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JUST WANTS TO HAVE FUN BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
Major spoilers ahead for movies you probably should’ve already seen a really long time ago, you lazy nerds. 28 |
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COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
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Robert Downey Jr. (RDJ) would be the first person to tell you that his career has been one helluva rollercoaster. He’d also be the first to tell you that he’s really f*%&in’ cool. And ya know what? He’s not wrong. Having starred in over 70 films in a 35-year time-frame, he’s been nominated for an Oscar twice (being only one of two people ever to be nominated in a comedic role), an SNL cast member (not featured cast member or host, a full-fledged cast member) in 1985, and he played a superhero in a metal suit a couple of times here and there, I guess. Okay, I downplayed that last one. He is the God damn Godfather of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having portrayed Tony Stark/Iron Man in over 10 films and made every grown-ass man in all of Geekdom cry like a little baby at the end of Endgame (oh, shut up, you cried. We all cried!) Yes, RDJ has had one kick-ass journey, and he’s fully aware that he’s left his Mark (Iron Man suit joke) on the world as Tony Stark. I mean, the guy spent the last 12 years playing the character for God’s sake, which means there is an entire generation of people (Marvel’s target audience) that only knows him as Iron Man! Think about that! He played a character longer than most soap opera actors do! But now? Now it is time for RDJ to move on. For him to go to greener acting pastures. So, what do you do after you’ve been portraying the same character for over a generation and made a mountain of money doing it? Go have some f*%#ing fun, man! Which is exactly what it looks like he’s doing in his latest film, Dolittle. 30 |
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The man, the myth, the legend. RDJ.
Based on the 1967 film of the same name (sorry Eddie Murphy), Dolittle follows Dr. John Dolittle, a wacky physician who can talk to animals who must help an ill Queen Victoria by traveling to a mysterious island to find the cure with the help of his furry friends Written and directed by the guy who wrote Traffic and Syriana (not a joke), produced by Downey and his wife Susan, and starring the voice talents of every God damn actor under the sun (including John Cena playing a polar bear who wears a hat, you’re welcome) this film weirdly seems like a lot of fun. Which, again, is exactly what RDJ is
going for. And I’m not the biggest fan of the CGI-heavy family films, but this looks to be quite the epic adventure and a smart move for RDJ and team.
“THIS FILM LOOKS LIKE IT
ALLOWS RDJ in films: to do everything he likes doing
be silly, get dirty, get some solid
acting moments in there, do some action sequences,
and look
cool as sh*t
while doing all of it!”
PORTRAIT BY PLATON (LEFT) , MARVEL STUDIOS / IRON MAN (RIGHT)
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
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DOLITTLE / TEAM DOWNEY / ROTH FILMS / PERFECT WORLD PICTURES
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And, honestly, who cares what we think? The guy can do what he wants! I’m just glad the first choice he made after being beholden to contracts and secrecy for over 10 years was to do whatever the hell he wanted. This film looks like it allows RDJ to do everything he likes doing in films: be silly, get dirty, get some solid acting moments in, do some action sequences, and look cool as sh*t while doing all of it! And guess what? A quick IMDb search shows that his next film is a comedy starring him, Benicio Del Toro, Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven, and Jamie Foxx who also wrote and directed the film. And I’m here for it! God, I hope RDJ continues doing whatever the hell he wants ‘cause it seems to be hitting the bullseye so far. You do you, RDJ!
“God, I hope
RDJ continues doing
whatever
THE HELL he wants cause it seems to be hitting
the bullseye so far.”
So, the fact is, Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t need to take roles for money, he doesn’t need to beg for a role he wants, and believe it or not, he certainly doesn’t need this or any article to help boost his reputation. He’s paid his dues, shown the world what he can do, and he just so happened to spearhead an entire film franchise into $23 Billion in global revenue in the process. The guy may have had a few fumbles along the way, but it looks as though he’s gearing up for some solid 3-pointers and have fun doing it, because RDJ can do whatever the hell he wants to. So, what does RDJ want to do? Did you not just read this whole god damn article?! He wants to have fun! Jesus. Go see Dolittle. c March 2020 |
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ENJOY THE GEEK-AISSANCE BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
Now, this is not a “back in my day” rant, because for the most part, “my day” was the beginning of the Geek-aissance. I just wanted to 34 |
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bring attention to the fact that we are currently living in the Golden Age of all geekdom and that things used to be a real sh*t show for people who enjoyed a good superhero, so let’s maybe take that in every once in a while. I’m not gonna go into the history of when things changed in comics and culture because that could be its own article (note to self) that requires a lot of research (never mind) and I’m just here to gently remind you all…don’t take this time for granted. Bask in this incredible time of geeks reigning supreme. If back in the late 80s/early 90s geeks were allowed to build a remote city in a Wakanda-like fashion, I think it would look very similar to the world we live in today with comics, toys, anime, and more all getting the love they deserve! I’m sure they would’ve liked more flying cars than we have now, but I think they’d get over it. Probably the trickiest thing about all this now is, those bullies
from all the way back in the first paragraph? They’re not 80s teenmovie jocks anymore, they’re other geeks. Bullying people for liking or not liking certain things within the culture! Again, that’s another article entirely (dammit) but can we as a collective just take a step back for a second? Seriously. Put down this magazine and look around you. Uh-huh, that’s it. Now, be thankful! The world we as geeks did not think would ever happen, has happened! Adaptations of our favorite characters being brought to screens of all sizes all the God damn time! We couldn’t be more lucky! So, please, be kind to each other, people, and live in the geek-moment! And the next time you talk to someone who was a fan of comic books well before you were born, you salute that sonuva b*tch. Why? Because without them dealing with all the BS they had to endure for enjoying what they love, we’d never have the beautiful world of geekdom we all take for granted today. c MARVEL
Imagine, if you will, that you’re back in school, ready to get your knowledge on, and you’re rockin’ a brand-new T-shirt, backpack, or sickass trapper keeper with your favorite comic book character or super hero on it. Pretty cool, right? Then, all of a sudden, some big meany-head makes fun of you for it. Not because of their opinion of said character, (though, until Jason Mamoa came along, no one was safe from Aquaman jokes) they make fun of you for the mere fact you’re sporting a comic book character at all. Now, I ask you… what kinda uncivilized caveman society would allow someone to be made fun of for a comic book-themed anything these days?! Well, the reality is, that was exactly our world not so long ago. That’s right, Martha, clutch them pearls.
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A Fan of FanFic BY VANESSA BELLEW
I wrote my first fanfic in the year 2000. I was 14. I didn’t know it was called fanfic at the time, of course. I just knew that I was obsessed with the X-Men movie that had recently come out and that I wanted to live in that world. So my friend and I wrote ourselves into it. It was bad. 36 |
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I would go on to write and read plenty more fanfiction in my teens and early 20s. I read only Harry Potter fics, some of them so good that I still think about them to this day. I wrote anything that struck my fancy, from a series about an American Hogwarts called Katmeers to the next generation of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I always included a self-insert character and those self-insert characters would always go through the same kinds of trauma I was steadfastly repressing in my real life. Not that I realized it then.
DRAGON AGE / BIOWARE / ELECTRONIC ARTS
The first in a three-part series about fanfiction. The next segment will be about the history of fanfiction.
I outgrew fanfiction around the same time that the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows bookended my childhood. I had a life to live, adult things to do, and my own original works to write. Fanfiction was fine, I thought, for teens and undergrads and people who like to write but went into non-creative fields. I knew from experience that some fanfiction was just as good as or better than published works, but I looked down on the community as a whole. A lot of them, after all, were self-insert fantasies without much thought to plot or character development or even a sense of faithfulness to the source material. I had been a stickler for those things even when I was writing my own self-insert fantasies, but I was beyond that now. I was going to be a professional writer -- a novelist -- and I didn’t have time to waste on filling out someone else’s world for free. Or so I thought. The first fanfic I ever shared outside my friend group was in early 2015. I had just turned 29. I was several years into writing my first novel (which I have since finished). It was a painstaking process full of meaningful worldbuilding and brutal emotional honesty. It was difficult and solitary and entirely without validation. It was an act comprised solely of discipline and will. The deadlines I gave myself for a finished first draft slipped out of my grasp again and again. It was during this period that I discovered a video game series called Dragon Age. I blasted through Origins and Dragon Age 2. I felt strongly for the characters and the storylines, but no more than any other great science fiction or fantasy universe. Then I played Dragon
Age: Inquisition. I became obsessed. I told a friend of mine who had also played that I was jonesing for more of a particular romantic pairing. They sent me links to a few stories on Archive of Our Own (AO3), and while those stories were lovely and did scratch the itch, I didn’t actually find the depictions of the character in question to be in line with their in-game actions. So I started writing my own. Now at this point, I was not done with my novel, but even with a completed first draft, my actual book that I had worked on for years did not surpass 170,000 words. For reference, that’s about the same size as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and slightly shorter than Dune. Within a year, I had written nearly 470,000 words of Dragon Age fanfiction. That’s somewhere between A Storm of Swords and Infinite Jest. I wrote constantly. I had a job at the time that required me to walk around Times Square for five hours a day and I would churn out chapter after chapter of fanfiction on my smartphone while hustling my way in front of taxis and between tourists. I would finish one novel-length fic and then immediately begin the next part. My melodramatic post-game series contains everything from dick jokes to in-depth explorations of what it’s really like to deal with the fall-out of childhood trauma. Yes. It even contains what the fanfiction community calls “smut”. When I finally ran out of steam in early 2017 and returned to my original work, everything had changed. After all, I had effectively written multiple finished novels by then. I had reread them each several
times. I could see with newfound clarity what worked and what didn’t. The ineffective habits I’d picked up over a lifetime of writing without thought to an audience were suddenly obvious to me. I had matured drastically as a writer before I ever finished my first real book. Why is it that typing up the fruits of my imagination based on someone else’s intellectual property was so fast, fun, and appealing? Why did my own work take me years of gruelling discipline while fanfiction based on a video game felt like play? Obviously a big part of it is inspiration. When someone else’s hard work has captured my attention, I fall back into that pretending I did when I was growing up. I’m driven by a sense of urgency that is compounded beautifully by the fact that there is absolutely nothing at stake. E.L. James may have made millions from rebranding her fanfiction, but that’s not likely to happen to me, no matter how popular I become in my niche pocket of the internet. As long as I don’t mind 1) potentially being discovered by people I know in real life (I tell them anyway) and 2) being occasionally insulted by a stranger online (I’ll survive), there’s no world in which making and releasing this labor of obsessive love in a less-than-perfect state is at all impactful on my life or career. The worst thing that can happen is that someone I’ll never meet gets grumpy that one of the characters did something they don’t like, in which case my answer is always the same: This story is free. If you don’t like it, write your own. March 2020 |
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It’s so much easier to write hundreds of thousands of words when you rarely have to invent anything new, when you don’t have to stop every few paragraphs and do a deep-dive into your notes or internet research to make sure you’re being consistent. The Dragon Age universe is a masterpiece of epic proportions, created over a decade by entire teams of artists from multiple mediums. There are constructed languages and intricate geography and full histories for each country, ethnic group, and tradition. The world already feels deep and real. The characters in the games are written and edited and acted and brought to life before I, a fanfiction author, ever try to recreate them. I can hear their voices in my head when I’m writing new dialogue for them. I know them well enough to make educated guesses about what they would and wouldn’t do in any given situation. The vast majority of the work is done for me. I’m left with a beautiful sandbox where the castles are already made and all I have to do is write the fun parts: the love scenes and the banter and the catharsis. I don’t even have to worry if a choice I want to make in my writing is the strongest for the plot or 38 |
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I also don’t have to take time to explain the world as I write because of that aforementioned built-in audience. If you’re reading this particular pocket of Dragon Age: Inquisition fanfiction, chances are you’ve played at least one of the games, so you already get it when I doubledown on the rules of magic and what I mean when I reference obscure parts of the various religious beliefs and when my characters make layered political jokes about the rulers of their native countries. If I make up a sex position and name it after something else that exists in this world, you’ll probably think it’s as funny as I do. It lets me write as easily and with as much clever nuance as I could if my setting were the real world. This makes my writing better and it lets me concentrate on the relationships and the plot...which also makes my writing better. More than that, though, the built-in audience gives me feedback and validation. As a social experiment, write nearly two hundred thousand words of fiction and then try to get anyone -- literally anyone -- to read it and tell you what they think. If they aren’t sleeping with you, the likelihood that they’ll agree and follow through is slim to nil. Within hours of my first posts on Archive of Our Own, total strangers were commenting with their thoughts and reactions. By the end of my fanfiction year, I had a corkboard in my room completely covered in the fan art (some of it erotic) drawn by people I’d never met of my Dragon Age story and the original characters I’d added to it.
DRAGON AGE / BIOWARE / ELECTRONIC ARTS
Fanfiction also comes with some major benefits that simply do not exist for more original work, especially if you’re trying to create your own world. Which of those benefits you feel most depends on what you lack in your writing life. For me, writing my novel lacked two distinct things: ease and a willing audience.
characters. When there’s no pressure for the art to be Artwith-a-capital-A, I can make whatever decisions turn me on.
Not all of this feedback was validation. Some of it was constructive feedback, all of which I considered. Some of it was knee-jerk reactions to the complicated, flawed ways I write characters dealing with trauma. A few of them were your common or garden variety troll comments. But for an unpublished writer who’d spent the previous five years never sure whether or not the novel she was writing was even mediocre in quality, the outpouring of support and encouragement was life-changing. I returned to my novel with newfound knowledge about how to write and confidence in myself as an author. I finished the first draft at the end of 2017 and turned my attention to editing and revising. Sometimes I still get comments on my fanfiction from people who are just discovering it. They help me keep going when the effort to complete my original work feels like an endless grind. I look at my porny fan art when I need a reminder that I can make things that excite people’s imaginations and inspire them to make art too. Every so often I go back through and reread my whole fanfiction canon. Some of it hasn’t aged well. Most of it is beautiful, hilarious, and heartbreaking. It’s how I know I can do well. It’s how I know I can do better.
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
Not too long after completing my first draft, I met a young, accomplished woman with several published and popular science fiction novels. She very kindly talked to me over drinks about how to write queries to submit a manuscript to literary agents, which is a possible first step to finding a publisher. She asked me about my book and at some point I admitted with mild embarrassment to having taken a year off of my own work to crank out an absurdly large cache of video game fanfic. “Oh no, don’t worry,” she said seriously, “I write an astounding amount of fanfiction under a pseudonym. Honestly, most novelists I know secretly write fanfic.” It turns out a lot of professional writers have been known to and still do practice their craft on the playground of fanfiction, the same way actors work on scenes and monologues to get better at acting and painters sometimes copy the masterpieces to learn the techniques. The fanfiction community isn’t just for career writers, though. Anyone can upload their writing to sites like Archive of Our Own and have the experience I’ve enjoyed. The fanfiction community is, for better or for worse, not subject to any real gatekeeping. It is a great democratizer of prose. If you do decide to take the risk to post your writing and someone doesn’t like what you’ve done, just remind them of the central tenant of fanfic: This story is free. If you don’t like it, write your own. c
Dragon Age: Lead them or fall. March 2020 |
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Obscurity Spotlight:
Krypto a.k.a Superdog
A column in which we highlight, for better or for worse, a comic character you may not know and give a brief history of why that is and who the hell they are. BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
The concept of super pets started booming in the late 50s/early 60s when comics began to take a nose dive and writers needed to spice things up a bit. So, their natural response was, “Hey, you know that superhero people like? Let’s give them a pet-friend with the same God-damn powers! That’ll get the readers going! Noyce!” And ya know what? It kinda worked. People went bonkers for all the different super-pets being brought into the fold (comic pun) as it brought companionship to the beloved superheroes as well as being some of the first instances of sidekicks within the pages. The most popular of these sidekicks was Krypto the Super Dog. A dog of generic pedigree and Kryptonian powers, Krypto soared 40 |
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onto the pages in 1955 as a sidekick to Superboy. Originally having been the family dog back on Krypton, JorEl used Krypto as a test subject on his rocket prototype, proving the Krypton’s animal testing laws were bullshit and needed an update. When the rocket went off course Jor-El kinda just shrugged, I guess and figured he’d just shove his kid in another one? Years later, Krypto’s rocket landed on Earth right when Superboy needed a dog friend. Krypto flew, had super strength, bark/talked to Superboy like Lassie, and even had his own secret identity as “Skip”. What a time to be alive. During the Silver and Bronze age of comics, Krypto spent most of
his time romping through space and hanging out with the Kents. But when the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline happened in 1985, Superman’s story was severely rewritten, eliminating all other Kryptonian survivors, including our Super-pup, in order to make Superman truly “the last son of Krypton”. So, basically what happened was, some writers saw this poor comic-pooch romping and relaxing and said, “end that dog.” Hey, I’m not happy about it, either, but don’t worry, the Kryptonian K9 made his way back to the pages, eventually, being kept with other characters whom will no-doubt make this column, such as: Bibbo Bibbowski, Rex Leech, and a bunch
of other characters who don’t even have their own Wikipedia page. The third, and most known version of Krypto was almost identical to the original. The only difference this time around was, he wasn’t super smart and couldn’t communicate with Superman a la Lassie. Now, Krypto was a normal dog who did normal things like claw at the door when he wanted out or bite people he felt threatened by. Only difference was, he had God-like powers, so the door was instantly splinters and the bad guys he bit were mauled and hospitalized. Superman thanked the goodest super boi by locking him away in the Fortress of Solitude and letting a robot take care of him. Nice one, Kal-El. Reeeaaal nice. After this, there are countless bits of media in which Krypto pops up from time to time, though these days it’s mostly in animated movies and little kids’ TV shows. Which, in my opinion, is the easy road to take with the character. I know that film and TV frown upon the violence of animals, which is totally understandable, so showing Krypto fully in action would be a difficult task to take on, but holy hell, how cool would it be to have a few live action “Oh, shit!” moments from Krypto? Laser-beaming cars to ash, flying through buildings, literally giving no dog-shits. Let’s give Krypto a reverse John Wick plot where his human or Superman gets hurt or killed and he’s gotta go wreck some shit, Superdog style. Hey, there’d be a helluva lot less gun violence in these movies, so that’s a plus. Any and all screenwriter’s wanting that idea, I’ll sell it to you for cheap.
DC COMICS
And now, let us turn on Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” for a list of all the super-pets who bit the dust over the years thanks to meany-head writers rewriting them into oblivion: Streaky the Super Cat, Ace the Bat
Hound, Comet the Super Horse, Beppo the Super Monkey, and, of course, Proty II, a shape shifting pile of what looks like mashed potatoes who, in the comics, eventually becomes a photographer? (I swear to Christ I am not making this up.) Best Appearance: Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Best Moment: Krypto chases a new-to-Earth Supergirl through the Fortress of Solitude and into the middle of a debate where Batman growls at Superman that he doesn’t trust Supergirl. The scene ends with Batman siding with Krypto for not trusting her and I’ve never wanted a dog to be the next Robin more. Worst Appearance: Justice League Action Worst Moment: Plastic Man lets Krypto out to go to the bathroom, ready to clean up the dog-mess with a hand turned into a pooper-scooper. Oh, but no need, because after Krypto’s entire body shakes, indicating that he has done his business (my condolences to the poor bastard who had to actually animate that) Krypto lasers his poop to shit-dust! Is the business-burning actually shown on screen, you ask? No. But it’s implied. Oh, it’s implied. Random Fact: Batman thinks Krypto’s mere existence is hilarious and never misses an opportunity to poke fun at Krypto when he and Superman don’t see eye to eye. I don’t know if I love that Batman uses Krypto as a way to roast Superman or if I find it upsetting that Batman’s only attempt at humor is to insult a dog. c March 2020 |
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“Imaginary Worlds” - A Nerdier NPR BY VANESSA BELLEW
It’s a show about the imaginary worlds we love -- “how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.” To understand the appeal and greatness of this podcast, you first have to know a few things about its writer, creator, and host, Eric Molinsky. Originally from Baltimore, Molinksy moved across the country for college to study animation at CalArts. He graduated in 1999 and was hired by Nickelodeon, working on such infamous fare as The Rugrats as a storyboard artist. By the early 2000s, he realized he wanted something a little different, so he moved back across the country and began interning for Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC New York Public Radio. Now, he works as a freelance radio 42 |
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producer and reporter for the likes of Studio 360, NPR, and Marketplace. His work has even been featured on the venerable Roman Mars podcast 99% Invisible. Like us, Eric Molinsky is a big ol’ nerd. Some of the stories he most wanted to pursue and produce for public radio -- such as deep dives into Jack Kirby or Philip K. Dick -were too niche for NPR. So in 2014, he launched a podcast. “Imaginary Worlds” is released bi-weekly, and each episode is a half-hour or so of quality, factfueled, interview-deepened insight into the nerdy things you love, but from angles you may never have considered. Molinsky uses that familiar public radio-style journalism to probe the inky depths of the science fiction and fantasy genres, looking for something that surprises him. With his entire back catalog now available for consumption, getting started can feel
a little daunting. I recommend starting with his pilot -- “Origin Stories” -- and then skipping around to any topic that interests you. A few standout episodes include “Episode 70: The Book of Dune”, which explores how Frank Herbert’s fascination with Islam influenced his iconic universe, “Episode 117: Sidekicks Part 2: Tonto and Kato”, about those infamously stereotyped sidekicks of color and the real men who played them, and the deeply personal exploration of Kurt Vonnegut and World War II in “Episode 113: Slaughterhouse at Fifty”. Molinsky also regularly dedicates several episodes in a row to understanding the significance and influence of nerdom’s biggest universes, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, DC, Marvel, and Star Trek. Oh, and if you live in the New York City area, Eric Molinsky occasionally teaches a great course on creating your own podcast at the NYU School for Professional Studies. c
IMAGINARY WORLDS PODCAST
The tagline for the “Imaginary Worlds” podcast sells it best.
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WHAT NOW? After the success of Breaking Bad’s “El Camino” what other TV show would fans love to see make a comeback?
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THE JETSONS / HANNA-BARBERA PRODUCTIONS , DEXTER / HBO / CBS , THAT 70’S SHOW / THE CARSEY-WERNER COMPAN
BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
3. The Jetsons I don’t think a ton of people are out there petitioning for the return of the Jetsons, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be pretty cool to see todays version. One of the best things about futuristic TV shows & movies isn’t that we’re literally seeing what the world will one day be like. Better than that. It allows our imaginations run wild with all of the possibilities the future could bring, ones that would otherwise never even cross our minds. The more time passes the more fun it is to see how far off they really were. The Jetson’s haven’t been seen since 1990. A ton has changed for us, but I want to know what’s changed for America’s favorite space age family.
2. That 70’s Show (That 90’s show) Prior to parting with the show before it’s final season Topher Grace said in an interview that his plan was to take ten years off, make some movies, then come back for That 90’s show. Was he joking? Of course, but man I wish he wasn’t. Sitcoms are a dying breed and while the shows been off since 2006 it still remains one of the goto shows to watch on Netflix. In large part that should be credited to the allstar cast that would be nearly impossible to recreate. (That 80’s Show... Seriously?) Get out of here with that. We want to know what Eric, Donna, Hyde, Kelso, Jackie and Fez are up to in the 90’s not some random group of actors thrown together in an attempt to recapture lightening in a bottle. It’s not an easy thing to do, but if the creators were able to capture the nostalgia of the late 90’s (When the original show started airing) the same way they did the 70’s it could be the best sitcom on TV in no time. With the flourishing careers they’ve gone on to build it would take a ton of effort for their schedules to line up, but anything’s possible if they wanted it bad enough. Maybe they’ve already put those characters behind them, but every time I watch them get stoned in Forman’s basement I get curious what they’re up to 15 years later.
1. dexter
We don’t just want, we NEED a Dexter comeback. At least a limited series. A change in show-runners and writers along with a formula they bled dry caused things to go south. The rise of Breaking Bad gave Dexter a rival show to constantly be compared to. At the end of the day Dexter lasted 8 seasons for one key reason and we all know it. Michael. C. Hall. He’s fighting it out with James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) to see who’s the greatest casting choice in the history of modern television. We tuned in 96 times to find out what fate had in store for the serial killing Batman... Just to go out as a LUMBERJACK!? Are kidding me? You’re better than that Showtime. If deep down Hall put the character behind him, burned the kill suit and moved on, then we should respect that. But if he’s on board it’s literally SHOWTIME. Sadly Deborah Morgan is buried at see, but as long as Dexter’s roaming the forest with a chainsaw, fans will be wanting Dexter out of the woods and back on our screens.
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STAR WARS / DISNEY / LUCASFILM
Darkness rises and light to meet it.
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
ATTACK OF THE FANS BY MICHAEL BERNARDI
I am a Star Wars fan. As such, I can attest to the fact that being a Star Wars fan is hard. It’s not as hard as being discriminated against, or experiencing inequality, or not having the “high ground.” Those things are objectively terrible. They lead to suffering. Being a Star Wars fan is hard because I love it. Star Wars brings me joy—and joy is terrifying. Joy can turn to sorrow. Love can make you vulnerable. Sand gets everywhere. There in the silent blackness of the screen, an
ethereal blue sentence appears. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....” It hangs there for a moment. For a Star Wars fan, that moment is sacred. It holds so much imagination, excitement, anticipation, awe, and reverence for what is to come that we are forced to take a breath—to center ourselves—before the orchestra bursts to life and the star wars begin. We must live in the moment while being mindful of the future. That moment is the closest any of us will come to being a Jedi. March 2020 |
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They hate Jar Jar Binks and Rose Tico, but they also hate Ahmed Best and Kelly Marie Tran. Some of them laughed when they heard Ahmed say in an interview that he considered suicide in the wake of the reactions to his performance as Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace. At least a few were pleased when Kelly said she had no choice but to leave Twitter due to all of the harassment she received following her turn as Rose in The Last Jedi. I figure one or two who have read this article now hate me for putting a “(wo)” before “man” in my earlier cutesy reference. How do you help an Emperor Palpatine? How do you hold force lightening in your hand? Yoda only knows. Knows only Yoda? Knows Yoda only? One of those. 48 |
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The rest of the noxious fanatics are Darth Vader. They are not deserving of sympathy—after all, regardless of the tragic nature of Vader’s fall, he was still a committed demonic murder-machine for almost 25 years—but there is still good in them. It hasn’t been driven from them fully. They are, at least, deserving of empathy. Like Vader, they turned to the dark side because of love. In this case, their love of Star Wars. The same love as mine. Love makes it tough to stay on the light side of the force. Anakin couldn’t manage it. He loved his mother but couldn’t save her when her situation was bad. He loved Padme and their unborn children (well, according to what they knew, “child”—apparently for all the technology in The Republic, pregnant Galactic Senators can’t get a sonogram to see if they’re having twins) so he chose a dark path to prevent a worse fate. Ben Solo embraced being Kylo Ren because he loved his Uncle Luke and was devastated by Luke’s momentary betrayal. Kylo’s disappointment in his own internal struggle has led to an infatuated love for the Darth Vader version of his grandfather. Even Luke barely made it through without turning. Frankly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he did. A terrifying masked, mechanical man clad in all black with a Mufasa voice cuts off my hand, tells me he’s my dad, then, instead of apologizing, offers me work. Later on, I’m fighting him in front of his boss and he tells me my sister is his new favorite kid. And I’m supposed to resist the urge to kill him in spite of having the power (the force) and the permission (Palpatine)
STAR WARS / DISNEY / LUCASFILM
For some, however, that moment begins a journey to the dark side. It transforms them from fans into fanatics. Their zeal turns to zealotry. More machine now than (wo) man, they are twisted and evil. Posting toxic commentary online, they eviscerate the films and filmmakers, disparage and dismiss thoughtful, good-faith discussion, and demean and dehumanize the actors with hateful, villainous rhetoric ranging from the racist and sexist to the obscene and violent. Sadly, some zealots and fanatics are irredeemable. They are Emperor Palpatine. They embrace the dark side because they think it makes them powerful. The hate flows through them just...because. They hate that the main protagonist, Rey, is female. They hate that Finn is not white. They hate that Luke is world-weary and that he died. They hate that The Force Awakens is too similar. They hate that The Last Jedi is too different. They hate a second Death Star. They hate Ewoks.
to do otherwise? These characters show us that when things are bad or disappointing, we are susceptible to the dark side. And the harsh truth is that Star Wars is fantastic at being bad or disappointing. I still roll my eyes every time I watch the yellow scroll of Ep.I read, “Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.” The first line of the first episode is a convoluted mess that is almost impossible for kids under the age of 16 to understand (the kids Lucas has said his movies are technically meant for). Then we are introduced to the amazing Darth Maul, but he is underutilized and cut in half. Jar Jar Binks—enough said. An uncomfortable, bordering on creepy, romance in Ep.II. Dialogue seemingly written by a middle school drama club. An uneven relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin through all three prequels (Anakin is like a brother, but Obi-Wan is like a father? Does the average of the two make them cousins who are roommates?). Yoda’s hand slips off a platform, so his fight with the Emperor is over for some reason the Jedi Grand Master can’t jump back up. Anakin can’t just step off his droid onto the lava bank; rather, he has to risk his limbs by doing a sweet flip over Obi-Wan. Ewoks. The First Order had to do a huge (Death) Starkiller base. The Canto Bight scene is too long. I wish I saw The Last Jedi Luke do a ton of sick, powerful force stuff. I am bothered by all that and more. The thing is, I’m an apologist for what I love. So are the Jedi. We are both capable of excusing even the gravest transgressions especially when there is a
redemption or an overall positive outcome. Vader killed innocent children and terrorized the galaxy, but he throws ONE emperor down an open shaft and five minutes later he’s a smiling ghost in the goodguy lineup standing next to someone he murdered two movies ago. The politics of the opening crawl of The Phantom Menace are annoying, but it’s a smart, logical way to set up Palpatine’s path to forming the Empire. Darth Maul’s death is a letdown, but his mere creation is cool and other creative forces brought him back for other amazing, fulfilling character arcs. Jar Jar Binks is grating, but he’s critical to Palpatine’s gaining of (emergency) power; therefore, his presence has purpose. Anakin and Padme’s romance storyline and its development aren’t great, but we can’t get to Vader without it. The dialogue is heinous, but I didn’t show up for the dialogue. Obi-Wan and Anakin could have a clearer, deeper relationship, yet I still feel the pain of their conflict. Maybe after Yoda’s fall his disadvantage to the Emperor was greater than I understood. Anakin on Mustafar simply lets the dark side amp him up the way he lets his skills amp him up to fight Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Both times it ends poorly for Anakin and his limbs. The Ewoks are tedious, but they represent the life and connections of the force which is a factor that Palpatine couldn’t foresee through the dark side. It’s key to his defeat. Starkiller is similar to the Death Star, but it isn’t the same. World-ending weapons may get destroyed, but they never stop being useful. Canto Bight goes on too long, but it helps to get Finn to commit himself to the Resistance. Luke’s characterization.
Rey (portrayed by Daisy Ridley) will face her destiny in The Rise of Skywalker.
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Let the battle begin.
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STAR WARS / DISNEY / LUCASFILM
was surprising, different, and real. He did his best, he was met with failure, he retreated to prevent him causing more harm. The movies are only ever a snapshot of the larger epic. In that snapshot, we see Luke at his low point so he can use his power to make the greatest sacrifice in order to continue the greater story. I’m ok with that. It’s not all about him. It’s not all about any of us. I’m sure many of the toxic members of Star Wars fandom wish that they could just wish their feelings away. You can’t. You can only manage them. Even if you’ve turned to the dark side, it’s never too late to come back. It’s not impossible to change. Every fan has the capacity to love and hate Star Wars. Darth Vader exists in us all. Choose to be Anakin. And isn’t he the truest, most relatable choice? A little whiny, occasionally uncomfortable, with bad dialogue, a big heart, and the best intentions. There will always be a light side and a dark side to loving Star Wars. The movies themselves represent a struggle for balance. The Sith get their revenge, but the Jedi returns. The clones attack and the Empire strikes back. It begins with a phantom menace which is quelled by the arrival of a new hope, an awakening of the force, and the ultimate rise of Skywalker. Let us fans seek a similar balance. We’ve spent a whole movie, a whole trilogy, an entire trilogy of trilogies, on a journey that has always begun with a deep breath as the quiet, blue words transported us away. Now we can hear the music starting to swell. The final screen wipe is coming. John Williams’s last few notes lengthen like the starlight stretching out as we are thrust into hyperspace, back to our galaxy far, far away. May the force be with us. Always. c
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THE MANDALORIAN / STAR WARS / LUCASFILM LTD / DISNEY
THIS IS THE WAY
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
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MANDO (Din Djarin)
PORTRAYED BY Pedro Pascal
a lone gunfighter and bounty hunter who is sometimes referred to as “Mando”. He is a “foundling” who was rescued at a young age by Mandalorians.
THE CHILD (BABY YODA) a member of the same unnamed species as Yoda with similar Force abilities. The Child is a toddler at age 50. A bounty is offered for his return by “the Client.” He is found and protected by the Mandalorian while being targeted by other bounty hunters.
Kuiil
voiced BY nick nolte
Carasynthia “Cara” Dune PORTRAYED BY Gina Carano
a former rebel shock trooper turned mercenary from Alderaan who fought in the civil war for the Rebel Alliance.
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THE MANDALORIAN / STAR WARS / LUCASFILM LTD / DISNEY
A moisture farmer who lives in the valley where the child has been hidden. He takes a liking to the Mandalorian and agrees to help him navigate his planet, whether that means learning how to ride a blurrg or negotiating with jawas.
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
IG-11
VOICED BY Taika Waititi
a bounty hunting droid who processes conversations in a precise and literal manner. After attempting to kill “the Child” as its bounty, and being stopped by Djarin, IG-11 is re-programmed by Kuiil to protect the toddler.
Moff Gideon PORTRAYED BY Giancarlo Esposito
a former officer of the Imperial Security Bureau, the Empire’s secret police, whose life changed after the Rebels destroyed the second Death Star.
Greef Karga
PORTRAYED BY Carl Weathers
The Mandalorian’s pseudo-boss — he is in charge of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. He distributes bounty assignments and chooses the Mandalorian to retrieve the “child,” and there’s probably a reason for that. Sometime before the Fall of the Galactic Empire, Greef was a disgraced magistrate.
The Armorer PORTRAYED BY Emily Swallow
Another Mandalorian, she takes the baskar and fits it into a shoulder plate for our hero’s armor. She also promises to sponsor foundlings with whatever scraps she has left. It appears that the two of them are friends, but they’re very stiff and formal with one another. March 2020 |
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JOKER STAIRS
an Overnight Celebrity BY MICHAEL BERNARDI
Success can have its downsides. For the staircase in Joker, the downside might be sudden, overwhelming fame. The staircase connecting Shakespeare and Anderson Avenues in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx in NYC has been roundly praised for its performance in the film, even garnering Oscar buzz—a first for a staircase in a comic book movie— but its newfound notoriety has neighbors’ reactions ranging from concerned to upset. “There’s too many people around here now,” said debt-oppressed Millennial and current Bronx resident, Sonya Rodriguez. “People are coming around looking for the staircase. We love having a big star from our neighborhood, but we worry about how things will change.” Ms. Rodriguez’s worries appear valid. As we spoke, there were several tourists crowded on the staircase posing with it for selfies and group photographs. More than one person described themselves as an “influencer.” They prevented local residents from even getting close especially when blocking the staircase in an effort to recreate its iconic scene in which the Joker descends it as he dances in full Joker costume and makeup. “That’s disrespectful,” said elderly onlooker and professional shoosh-er, Edith Green. “That staircase studied dance professionally for twelve years—even auditioned for Alvin Ailey. All Phoenix’s choreography was inspired by the stairs. It ain’t a prop 56 |
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or a background. These fans gotta respect that.” The film has broken earnings records and won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. It also stars Joaquin Phoenix in the title role and a non-digitally-de-aged Robert DeNiro, and yet it’s the previously unknown staircase that has won the hearts of fans. A nearby fan explained why, for him, that was so. “I haven’t been this excited for a photo since my Tinder shoot with a tranquilized tiger,” said Anthony Edington, a finance major and connoisseur of toxic masculinity. “When Arthur comes down these stairs in the movie, he is fully Joker. He is no longer a victim. As a healthy, straight, white, Christian male of relative affluence, I could relate to that. This staircase gave me that moment.” While the staircase’s big break has undoubtedly been Joker, one local didn’t like that the staircase was being described as achieving “sudden fame.” Small business owner and across-the-street conversationalist Tyler Percy says the community has always known the staircase and its talent. “Ya’ll should be ashamed for taking this long to notice,” he huffed. “It’s been takin’ voice and acting classes for a long time—even auditioned for Hamilton.” Other performers knew the staircase too. Vincent Palpadino, an aspiring actor and part-time eye roller, knew the staircase from acting class. “I’m not up here for the fan…thing, though. I’m, uh, actually just up here to see a friend whose emotional support bird is sick.” Regardless of when people knew, everyone knows the staircase now. Despite the community hullabaloo and the instant recognition by strangers, here’s hoping it stays on the upside of success. c
WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES / DC FILMS / DC COMICS / JOKER
Bronx, NY
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
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BY PHUONG PHAM
The cosplay community seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year: a hobby that was once seen as niche is becoming more accessible and less exclusionary. As a result there is more diversity in the cosplay community than ever which has led to some incredibly creative costumes. Most likely the first and most common expression of gender diversity in the cosplay community is the “gender bent” cosplay. This takes the form of a character who is normally male or female and sees them reimagined as the opposite gender. Many may ask why this takes place? If fiction provides us with plenty of characters of different genders, why cross the streams? As it happens, it may be verry possible that an individual identifies more with a character of a different gender. This is particularly common in the science-fiction and comic book genres. All too often, women are portrayed in an oversexualized manner in comic books and not as competent to their male counterparts in science-fiction. 58 |
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male counterparts in science-fiction. As a result, women tend to prefer to represent characters who are more interesting and with more unique and favorable characteristics. This is why we tend to see a lot of genderbent Starlords and Malcolm Reynolds. A big concern which plagues the cosplay community is the absence of diversity in intellectual properties. Cosplayers of color tend to be limited to very few choices when looking for characters to cosplay. As a result, many of these cosplayers refuse to be restricted to just a few choices and continue to portray the characters that inspire them most. For example, Ellimirror on Instagram (Facebook page Lipstick on your Cosplay) is known for her Peggy Carter cosplays and being of filipino descent has certainly not slowed her down. Her love of strong women and vintage fashion shines through. Another issue in the cosplay community is that there are certain demographics that are either
underrepresented or not represented at all. One cosplayer who is defying norms in the cosplay community is Mandy Pursley of Be the Spark Cosplay. Pursley’s interpretation of Disney’s Cinderella is an interesting case. Disney princesses are seen as “perfect” and “flawless beings.” This can be damaging to young girls who do not see any similarities between themselves and the idealized animated characters. Therefore, Pursley took an interesting route and worked with friends to create a “glass” arm in her cosplay of Cinderella to show a demographic in cosplay that is far too often overlooked: amputees. Pursley’s cosplay of Cinderella went viral and even landed her a guest spot on The Kelly Clarkson Show! While accuracy and authenticity is something we all strive for in the cosplay community, the novelty in something unique will always stand out. c
VICE (LEFT)
Diversity in the Cosplay Community
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BRIAN VOLK-WEISS / NETFLIX / THE TOYS THAT MADE US / THE NACELLE COMPANY , HE-MAN , TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES , STAR WARS / DISNEY , BARBIE / MATTEL , GI-JOE / HASBRO
A CONVERSATION WITH
CREATOR OF THE HIT NETFLIX SERIES BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
If you take a quick peak at Brian Volk Weiss’s Wikipedia page, you’ll be floored with the number of projects he has directed and/or produced in his career. Not least of which is a staggering amount of comedy specials by some of the world’s top comedians. But it’s one of Brian’s most recent projects that has made him very popular and even well known within Geekdom, and that is the Netflix documentary series in which he created, produced, and often directs, The Toys That Made Us. I sat down for a quick call with Brian to geek out about all things toys and more. We quickly jumped into how the show came to be. “I was at a Borders Books like, eight, nine years ago, and for whatever reason, I was trying to get some information on where the Transformers toys come from, and there was not a single book in the whole store about it! So, I looked around and there were no books about any toy besides the Star Wars figures. Even Barbie, there was just nothing about it.
I always thought that was really weird. I mean, everybody knew these brands, almost everybody played with at least one of them, so, I thought, why doesn’t anyone do a show?” of them, so, I thought, why doesn’t anyone do a show?”
Did you always have a fascination with toys or did that start after the idea came to you? BVW: I’ve always loved toys
and I played with toys longer than most people probably do. And very early on in college I started collecting. So, one answer is, yes, I was always into toys. But another answer is, I think when the show got greenlit, I had about five or six hundred individual pieces in my collection and now it’s getting on two thousand only a little more than two years later. As an example, and people are always surprised to hear this, I was never into He-Man. Now? I have a gigantic shelf full of He-man! So, that’s what the show did.
I found that when I started mentioning that I liked Batman, people just made me “the Batman guy”. Do you find everyone making you “the toy guy”? The day it was announced that Toys R’ Us was coming back, though I’d argue that isn’t necessarily true, I got at least fifteen to twenty percent of my Facebook friends and my Instagram followers forwarding me the article. So, that does happen. But I love it! It just means people thinking good thoughts.
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Do you have a process for choosing the different brands in the different seasons?
BVW: Yeah. Basically, the gist
Are there any newer toys and brands from more recent generations that you would like the show to cover or planning on covering?
BVW: I would love to do an
episode that basically talks about how revolutionary McFarlane Toys was at the time and still is, by the way. And then show how that directly led to NECA, which directly led to Super7. And there’s this really cool, highly creative community out there of these very high end, beautiful toys and I would love to do an episode about that.
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What is one thing you wish everyone knew about toys?
BVW: Ya know, one thing I
tried to do with the show, and in some episodes it’s a bigger deal than others, but it’s kinda in every episode, I really want people to appreciate the risk involved with these companies doing what they do. For every Star Wars, there are probably over 499 Dunes. LJN made this Dune line that bankrupted the company! But LJN thought about Dune, the way Kenner thought about Star Wars. It just turned out that Kenner was right and LJN was wrong. So, that’s what I want people to appreciate. The delicate nature of success for these toy companies, combined with you can’t take it for granted that G.I Joe would work and something else wouldn’t. That’s what we’re trying to get people to understand in a very subtle way.
Are those toys, the ones like Dune that didn’t “make it”, are they now more collectible because there didn’t work?
BVW: It’s all based on someone is
willing to pay for something. Now, there are hundreds of Star Wars figures. Over a thousand, actually, if you include all the lines. There are some that are worth $2 and one that just sold for $100,000 a couple of weeks ago. But Dune, there are no figures worth $2. Like, everything from that line is worth something. And it’s a pretty big line! I mean, there are a lot of lines like that. I have an almost complete collection of the 1998 Lost in Space movie. And all that, including the vehicles, is worth a lot! And they must have lost a fortune on that.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE / HE-MAN / MATTEL (LEFT)
of it is, I have this idea of a Mount Rushmore of toys in my head and when we’re considering a line, the question is, “is there at least one character from this line that could be in a Mount Rushmore of toys?” Like, my wife, who knows nothing about Transformers, she still can recognize Optimus Prime, she still knows who Bumblebee is. So, I really want a toy to have one character like that. The next thing is, is there a good story? ‘Cause sometimes there’s a successful toy and it’s like, “Hey! It’s a big success!” There are no turns, no nothing. So, we want a really good story. The last thing is, all the toys we do are at least what I would call a “two generation toy”. You have parents and kids who can watch it together and like it. But some of the toys are three generations, some are four generations. We really don’t want to have just one generation as an episode.
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In your opinion, what is the Holy Grail of all toys?
on him in the first episode, but it was cut for time.
BVW: Well, they’ve got all the
BVW: Vlix. He’s a Star Wars
You had the new spin-off series The Movies That Made Us recently premiere on Netflix. What made you choose those four films first? (Ghost Busters, Home Alone, Die Hard, Dirty Dancing)
Exactly. Let’s get it in there. Or maybe Valentine’s Day? I don’t know, just any way we can watch it not only on Halloween. We’re already too busy watching Hocus Pocus anyway.
BVW: We knew we were coming
BVW: -Laughs-
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out around the holidays, so we wanted there to be a holiday vibe, so that definitely explains Home Alone and that definitely explains, in my opinion, Die Hard. But Dirty Dancing for me was always a holiday movie because the group of friends I grew up with were always watching either Star Wars or Dirty Dancing around the holidays. And then with Ghost Busters, it was just the perfect movie. It’s humor, action, and it’s generational. So, for better or worse, that’s how I did it. I wish Ghost Busters had at least one Christmas scene so we could loop it in and always watch it on Christmas.
And what is your favorite decade if you had to choose?
BVW: Oh, the 80s. For sure. Yeah, I figured that was the answer, I just wanted you to say it.
BVW: Yeah, definitely the 80s.
Season 1 of The Movies That Made Us as well as season 3 of The Toys That Made Us is now on Netflix!
BRIAN VOLK-WEISS / NETFLIX / THE TOYS THAT MADE US / THE NACELLE COMPANY (LEFT)
character from the Droids line. I didn’t even know he existed until the show got greenlit and we started the research process. There was the droids cartoon and he was one of the characters in the second season, but Hasbro had already paid for the mold when the show was cancelled, and the molds are about $50,000 a piece, so just to make some money back, the show hadn’t been cancelled in Brazil yet, so they sent the molds to Brazil to some company and when Lucas Film found out, they’d only sold about a thousand of them before they were all destroyed because they weren’t supposed to be out there. I became obsessed with him. I could’ve bought one two and a half years ago for about $40,000. They’re now going from $80-$100,000. I regret not buying one when I could, but it’s my fault because I keep talking about this guy, so it’s driven up the price! I mean, I’ve seen broken, beaten up, the heads glued back on versions that are worth ten grand. We had a whole section on
foam. Kinda looks like snow.
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COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
By Galaxy
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Daryl Dixon PORTRAYED BY Norman Reedus
Daryl is Merle’s younger brother. A Southern redneck with a tough background, Daryl is a survivalist. At first he held hostility towards the Atlanta group, but with the passage of time, he quickly becomes one of Rick’s closest confidantes and a leader within the group. Daryl is a skilled hunter and a former recruiter for Alexandria. Daryl is Rick’s best friend, right-hand man and one of the most beloved people. He’s the man anyone can count on.
Glenn Rhee PORTRAYED BY Steven Yeun
Rick Grimes PORTRAYED BY Andrew Lincoln
Glenn is a former pizza delivery boy from Atlanta who knows every shortcut in Atlanta. Glenn saves Rick’s life at the beginning of the outbreak and helps him find his wife Lori and son Carl. As time goes by, Glenn becomes a very important member of the group as well as a supply courier in his experience of knowing the streets. He meets Maggie; the two fall in love and marry. Together, they manage to pass many hard tests.
Rick is a former sheriff’s deputy from King County in Atlanta, Georgia and in our hearts always will be the main protagonist of the series. He is often described as smart, just, and a good friend, but with his own set of flaws. He is the former leader of the rebuilt Alexandria and ready for anything throughout the series. Rick’s son was Carl, now deceased and daughter is Judith. He was the romantic partner of Michonne.
Michonne is a katana-wielding warrior, absolute badass and Rick’s former romantic partner. She is also adoptive mother to Judith and mother to her and Rick’s child. She is ultra reliable and respected by all.
Maggie Greene PORTRAYED BY Lauren Cohan
Maggie is Glenn’s widow, a mother figure to Enid and the former leader of the Hilltop. She is mother to her and Glenn’s child, Hershel. She is at odds with Rick over sparing the life of Negan, the former leader of the Saviors.
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Carol Peletier PORTRAYED BY Melissa McBride
Carol was once a meek housewife turned powerhouse. She is a survivor who has overcome several traumas and is a skilled and ingenious fighter. She is also ex-wife to Ezekiel. Carol’s arc has been described as a “hero’s journey” having made many difficult decisions in order to survive.
THE WALKING DEAD / AMC STUDIOS / VALHALLA ENTERTAINMENT / IDIOT BOX PRODUCTIONS
Michonne PORTRAYED BY Danai Gurira
Rosita Espinosa PORTRAYED BY Christian Serratos
Rosita is a pragmatic member of the group who is mother to her and Siddiq’s child. She is also in a relationship with Gabriel.
Eugene Porter PORTRAYED BY Josh McDermitt
Father Gabriel Stokes PORTRAYED BY Seth Gilliam
Eugene is an intelligent survivor who has overcome his fear of walkers. He has been on both sides of the fence but was instrumental in defeating the Saviors and won back the group’s trust. He also fell deeply in love with Rosita.
Gabriel is a priest and head of the council of Alexandria who has reconciled his beliefs with what needs to be done to survive. He is in a relationship with Rosita.
King Ezekiel PORTRAYED BY Khary Payton
Aaron PORTRAYED BY Ross Marquand
Like Carol, Ezekiel is still recovering from the loss of their son. Ezekiel wasn’t given much time to grieve, as he had to watch the Kingdom fall in the end of season 9. While the Kingdom itself has been destroyed, the people of the Kingdom live on, which could give Ezekiel a reason to keep fighting.
Aaron is a former recruiter from Alexandria who lost his boyfriend Eric during the war and his arm in an accident. He now raises his adoptive daughter, Gracie.
Negan PORTRAYED BY Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Negan is the reformed former leader of the Saviors who was until recently incarcerated at Alexandria for many years. He formed a parental bond with Michonne’s adoptive daughter, Judith. Negan is a total badass.
Alpha PORTRAYED BY Samantha Morton
Alpha is the leader of the Whisperers, a mysterious group of survivors who wear the skins of walkers to mask their presence and the main antagonist of the current season.
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A Review of the Pilot of Season 3 of The Adventure Zone BY VANESSA BELLEW
For die-hard fans of “The Adventure Zone”, a McElroy Family product that is part Actual Play podcast, part family game night, and part collaborative storytelling, “The Adventure Zone: Graduation” marks a distinct change from its first two seasons. That’s right, TAZ fans: Season 3 has a new Game Master. This season’s story is designed and run by the sometimes criminally underused middlest brother Travis “Scraps” McElroy. Some facts about your boy Travis: he has the beard and the heart of a lion, which only makes it better when he rocks eyeliner, nail polish, and purple hair. He will gleefully be your joke punching bag forever, as long as he knows you love him. The last two seasons have been run with great success by the sweet baby brother and 30 Under 30 Media Luminary Griffin “Ditto” McElroy, so it’s quite a risk handing off the mantle to anyone else. This reviewer, at least, was hoping hard for Travis to pull this off, which is why I am so relieved to announce that this is by far the most solid season pilot “The Adventure Zone” has ever had. This is understandable, of course, because the first season’s pilot was never meant to be a pilot -- it was supposed to be a bonus episode for donors to that year’s MaxFun Drive. Griffin cribbed a one-shot plot from Wizards of the Coast with no intention of building a 70 |
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THE ADVENTURE ZONE / MAXIMUM FUN
TAZ Graduates:
larger story, but the McElroy brothers and the McElroy father had such a good time and the fandom enjoyed it so much that it went on to become an epic 69-episode arc (nice). This means that the series pilot (and therefore the Season 1 pilot) is a lot of fumbling through Dungeons & Dragons rules and talking about characters without anyone taking anything too seriously. The Season 2 campaign had been tested out in an earlier 5-episode mini-arc between seasons, so the season pilot was a return to an earlier set of circumstances and characters and not a true pilot at all. In a way, Season 3’s pilot, released on Halloween 2019, is the first real season opener in “The Adventure Zone” history. The McElroys mention a few times that this season has been in the works for at least 6 months, and you can absolutely tell. The world is rich and layered. The NPCs are carefully considered, their voices distinct, their personalities discernable. It’s a quirky medieval fantasy world in which heroes and villains are hired by local governments to fight each other (within a bureaucratically determined budget) to bring acclaim and tourism and excitement to the populace. All heroes and villains must be accredited by the Hero Oversight Guild (or H.O.G., a classic McElroy goof). If they break too many rules,
they’re labeled as Evil and barred from working professionally except as teachers for the next generation. The action takes place at the Annex, an afterthought addition to Heironymous Wiggenstaff’s School for Heroism and Villainy, where the sidekicks and henchmen are trained. The college-aged PCs are ripe for hilarity and heart-felt shenanigans. Griffin plays Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, recently transferred from Clyde Nite’s Night Knight School after he developed magical powers and could no longer be a knight. He’s a fancyboy half-elf already set up to make a regular fool of himself for our entertainment, who thinks he was placed in the sidekicks program by mistake. Clint plays Argonaut “Argo” Keene, a water genasi with a handlebar mustache who is described as both roguish and a rogue. We haven’t learned much about him yet, but he’s a welcome foil to high-status Fitzroy and Justin’s mysterious addition. Justin, as usual, has managed to craft the most hilarious and most touching character in his seemingly effortless way. This time his PC is a firbolg with no name, but who the other two characters have currently nicknamed “Bud”. His voice is low and gravelly with an accent that verges on Eastern European. He’s a creature of few words and those words have so far been either funny or affecting. It’s not the first time they’ve all played masculine-identifying characters and it won’t be the last, but something about their interactions in the first episode of the arc tells me I won’t mind. It’s not perfect, but making things is hard, especially for the first time. Travis’ tracking -- that is, the reading of his opening narration -- isn’t quite up to par
with Griffin’s, but Griffin’s had years at the helm now as master storyteller. As GM, Travis leads his brothers and his dad through the world with a carefullyorchestrated ease. It occasionally feels a little domineering, but as the McElroys have discussed in their “The The Adventure Zone Zone” episodes, that’s sometimes necessary to make a cohesive narrative. This isn’t a true Actual Play podcast and the strong hand the GMs get to take makes that clear. The episode revolves around the first day at this collegiate-style program, including meeting their new roommates (the three PCs are housed together), getting the hang of the school rules and dynamics, meeting older students (and a latenight hazing), and an orientation luncheon. There are plenty of nods to Harry Potter because how could you avoid it? Fitzroy and “Bud” each get their moments to really shine, but so far we haven’t heard more than a few cursory things from Argo. It’s mostly Travis who comes out on top this time, having full-on arguments and interactions between NPCs without a hitch and so clearly that I was never confused about which character was saying what. It’s a skill a lot of Game Masters shy away from and one that could easily become overwhelming, but if Travis manages to use his power responsibly, this promises to be a remarkably immersive campaign. I’m not the only one who thinks so: Justin, Griffin, and Clint sound genuinely impressed and excited to play with him in this space. So what does your middlest brother have in store for his family and his listeners in the months to come? I have some ideas, but I’d much rather trust Travis to take me on a buckwild ride. To Travis McElroy, I say: great job! I’m rooting for you. c March 2020 |
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introducing
“The rec room” BY VANESSA BELLEW
(It’s us. We’re your coolest friend.) There’s an endless supply of pizza, cookies, and 2-liter soda, and on weekend nights, this is where we inevitably gather to hang out, watch the latest VHS releases, and talk about life late into the night. We don’t have to be cool here and that’s what makes us so cool. This is The Rec Room. Our magazine’s section for every72 |
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thing we’re into, all the things we love, anything we think you would dig too. Here, every conversation begins,
“Okay, but have you seen--” “Lately I’ve been really into--” “Wait, what do you mean you haven’t heard of--” So pour yourself some slightly flat A&W and open up your mind for all our hottest writer recommendations. And please don’t wipe your Cheetoh hands on the couch, ok. c
DAMIEN JAMES WEBB (LEFT)
Imagine it’s the late 1980s, even if you weren’t alive yet. We’re in the basement of your coolest friend’s parents’ house. There’s a foosball table, some bean bag chairs, the latest video game systems, and, of course, a folding card table that’s just right for playing Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a couch too. It’s seen better days, but don’t worry because your friend’s parents run a tight ship and there are no mystery stains on this off-color upholstery.
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Caped Crusader or Masked Madman?
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COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
the cave
BATSH*T: A Look at Batman’s Mental State
DC COMICS / BATMAN / WARNER BROTHERS STUDIOS
BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN Batman: Caped Crusader, world’s greatest detective, and the only person we as a society have been cool with training child soldiers. He’s a multifaceted hero with endless stories diving into various parts of his damaged soul, but something I’ve noticed we don’t ever really talk about is the psychology of the guy. His mental health, in particular. Now, just to be clear, Batman is my absolute favorite of all superheroes and
I am aware that he is beloved by millions, but holy hell does this guy need a God damn therapist. The dude has some serious deep-rooted mental and emotional issues and it’s a miracle he’s fighting for good instead of sitting on top of Gotham’s smoky rubble. He is who he is (and who we love) because of his mental state and what he became because of it, but I really think that trauma is something we should talk about more often. March 2020 |
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Now, before I go any further, I want to say that if you’re looking for an in-depth and clinical look at Batman’s psychology, you should check out Dr. Robin S. Rosenberg’s book What’s the Matter with Batman (yes, that is a real book. And no, I didn’t read it because I’ve got a deadline, people.) You can find some incredible excerpts online in which she makes some very compelling arguments. However, if you’re looking for a nerdy, halfinformed, comedic take on the whole thing, well then, I say come on in, Bat-friends! Here’s something we all know: a young Bruce Wayne witnessed his parents being murdered. Worst of all (and this has never actually been confirmed) I’m pretty sure he just, like, sat with their bodies for a very long time. Now, I’m no psychologist, but that has got to fuck you up, right? I mean, I, as an adult, feel shaken when I see someone yell at my coffeeshop barista for giving them the wrong drink, not to mention watching your parents being gunned down in an alleyway as a child! We know there was an emotional and mental void created within him that he filled by promising to stop all crime in Gotham, right? We know he then went off and spent his teenage and young adult life in the Himalayas and other impossible to reach places learning how to break a man’s wrist forty-seven ways and how to do that impossible disappearing thing that pisses everyone off. But we, as a collective fanbase, all know that something snapped inside Bruce Wayne that day, but we never really talk about that. We’re only ever focused on what came after. Everyone overlooks how mentally torturous it would’ve been to train to the physical limits it 76 |
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would take to become Batman, not to mention the physical and mental drive it would take to maintain it as he got older! Some would say you’d have to be somewhat mentally unstable to push your body that hard for so long. Who says that? Why, the people who do it, of course! You ever watch any of those CrossFit documentaries on Netflix? These athletes push themselves to such physical extremes it makes me sore just thinking about it. Over the course of these documentaries, many of these athletes admit that you’d have to have something a little wrong with you to find the joy from this level of exertion. Uh. Yeah! No shit! Flipping 700lb tires in a 110-degree garage 100 times in a row isn’t exactly the portrait of sanity, people! Now, can you imagine doing that every God damn day as just a warmup so you can
keep up the physical endurance to support 150lb Bat-armor as you flip through the air while avoiding getting shot in the face?! Yeah, sounds insane doesn’t it?! I think what no one ever addresses in the Batman comics and/or films that I think is tied directly to the psychological break within Bruce Wayne is that, if he really wanted to eradicate crime from the streets of Gotham, he could. He’s smart enough. This is the guy who figured out how to stop the entire Justice League and you’re telling me he can’t figure out how to clean up the city streets? Even Rudy Giuliani figured that out! I bet if any of Batman’s allies said to him, “Yo, Bruce, I crunched some numbers and found that if you donated X-amount of millions into education while using your political resources
DC COMICS / BATMAN / WARNER BROTHERS STUDIOS
COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
to push strict weapon laws and prison reform, you’d cut the Gotham crime rate in half in less than 10-15 years! While as Batman, if you punched these people in the mouth and sent them off to Arkham or Blackgate while you did all that as Bruce Wayne, your job would be done, mah dude! You could retire in no time!” But he wouldn’t do it. Because I don’t think he really wants to. I think that a part of his psychological break is that he craves the fight. He doesn’t really want to stop. He self-medicates on the process of stopping crime, not the actual stopping of it. If I were to be so bold, I would tie this to the reason why he doesn’t just kill The Joker. He needs him. He needs that little piece of chaos in his life to keep him moving forward, to keep giving him that sense of purpose, to give him his medicine. And I don’t think Bruce Wayne would ever give that up. That’s a part of his break from reality. So, what do we do when the only real person who can eradicate all of crime in Gotham could actually be the reason it still exists after so many years in the vigilante game? I don’t freakin’ know, I’m just a nerd who thought this article was a good idea and needed a good ending line. Leave me alone. c March 2020 |
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HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE NOSTALGIA?
that new Maserati to fill a void created during your childhood? -Record scratch- …Who hurt you?
Whether it be an old show from your childhood getting a new season/revamp, a new movie added to your favorite film franchise, or some childhood pop-culture reference turned into a film (probably starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), the basis of all story-telling these days is nostalgia. And I totally get why. We as a society eat that sh*t up. Nothing feels better than hearing your favorite theme music again or hearing beloved characters spouting out dialogue for the first time in years. Goes right to the heart cockles! But sometimes I can’t help but wonder if we actually enjoy these nostalgia-based projects or if it’s just the idea of them we enjoy? In my experience, these projects are kinda like ordering an entire pizza to yourself: Sure, it’s a great idea and you’re excited when it arrives, but by the end you usually feel disappointed and wonder if it was even worth the attempt. And if the TV show/movie was really bad, you’ll probably be constipated, too.
And listen, I think we as a collective fandom are fully aware that most of the nostalgia-projects coming out are based on one thing: They make money. Lots of it. As we speak, there are boardrooms filled with executives who don’t even know what a Poke’-man is budgeting out one hundred and fifty million dollars for another film. In another boardroom, another set of execs are pricing out various islands to bribe Michael Bay with to get him to do another Transformers movie. Nerdom as we know it has been hijacked by studios who cash-in on our childhood and warm fuzzy feelings in order to stuff their pockets. No need for a good creative reason ‘cause it’s gonna make dough. Yeah, it sucks and I feel icky about it, too. But the good news is, as time goes on, nerds who have been given power in the biz have started to rise through the ranks to become their own powerhouses, helping to create some of the best nerd material currently out today. So, in a perfect world, we’ll have nerds who only want the best for all nerd-kind and who have some solid reasons for tapping into the nostalgia-factor who will be running the studios in no time! Here’s to hoping at that point they won’t be sick of doing nerd stuff and want to make something really exciting, like more period dramas starring Kiera Knightly.
Now, I don’t have a problem with nostalgia-based projects. I think there are a lot of films and TV shows that could use a revamp and/or new adventure. But I think if you’re going to resurrect or recreate something from the past, the first thing the creators need to do is have a cometo-Zod moment and ask themselves, truthfully, “Why?” If they can come up with a really solid answer, then, hey, why the hell not, right? I’ll bite. You wanna revive a show because it never got a proper ending like Firefly or Samurai Jack? You create that proper ending, friend! Feel like you just have to add to the story you finished in order to properly round it out like El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story? Round that ‘sum bitch out, ya beautiful nerds! Wanna add to an existing property because the studios will pay you millions of dollars and you just gotta have
And look, as far as having a good reason to jump back into your creative property, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have created a world loved by millions and having to know when to call it. When to let go. Because there will no doubt come a time when that character and/or world will pop into your head and you’ll wonder, “what if? What if I go back, just one more time?” And you’ll start to feel yourself reaching out towards it, wanting to take hold again out of your own nostalgia. But, unless you have a solid reason why, unless you can’t justify a creative reason to revisit that world, I ask you to please remember the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Sean Connery holds onto Harrison Ford as he desperately reaches for the Holy Grail and Sean Connery whispers, “Indiana? Let it go.”
BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
Nostalgia. noun. 1: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past. 2: The basis of every god damn movie or TV show out these days. Origin: Greek.
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COMIC CON MAGAZINE N°1
Yeah, the fans are Sean Connery here, you’re welcome, nerds. And to all the creators out there, (who are probably not reading this) please know that we as a collective fandom know and understand that your character and story mean as much to you as it does to us and perhaps you will have a solid reason why you should bring that character/ world back. But please, even if you do, consider the words of Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Speaking of, for the love of Christ, can we stop making more Jurassic Park movies, please? Please?! Please. c
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Krypton Core Change with reader comments
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n explosive report has just been released by the United Krypton Inter-House Panel on Core Change (IPCC). According to the report, Krypton has just 12 amzets, or until roughly 10010, to get core change under control before it leads to catastrophic and irreversible consequences for the planet. The IPCC makes it clear that if core density is not increased at least 50% by the amzet 10010, Krypton will not be able to steady its orbit and the planet itself will continue to destabilize. Kryptonquakes will destroy cities. Volcanic eruptions will be triggered. Ocean levels will drastically rise and fall. Millions of people will be displaced and homeless. Millions more will die. The report states the main culprit is core mining. Core mining has been central to Kryptonian energy production since the end of interstellar resourcing. Materials retrieved from in and around the core have helped power our cities,
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fuel our transportation, and grow our crops. Core mining combined with the harnessing of Krypton’s geothermal activity is the reason we have been able to sustain ourselves without having to venture back to the stars. The report from the Inter-House Panel on Core Change alleges that the “aggressive removal of materials from Krypton’s core” is unsustainable. Jor-El, of House El, was the lead scientist on the IPCC report. He is well known as the host of his popular television science series, Starscape, and his frequent late-night talk show appearances. El, looking serious and stern, did not mince words when he gave a statement outside the Fortress of the Ruling Council. “The facts are clear. The science is indisputable. Krypton’s core is destabilizing and it is doing so at a far faster rate than we anticipated; furthermore, there is no doubt that core change is Kryptonian made.
To say otherwise is to be, at best, willfully ignorant and, at worst, criminally negligent. We are facing an existential crisis. Our world is at stake. We need to act NOW.” The report explains several core change issues in detail. According to their findings, the core is losing density so rapidly that it has made the planet “soft.” It is causing the planet to contract and expand as it spins. At night, as we face away from Rao, the surface cools and contracts. During the day, as we face Rao, the surface warms and expands. This daily “squeeze and relax” treats the planet like a stress ball; as a result, the crust of Krypton—dormant and unmoving for eons—has reactivated. Just below our feet, the planet’s surface has once again fractured into plate tectonics. The first seismic activity in over a million amzet was recorded in 9974; a series of tremors near Kandor. Now, we are experiencing frequent kryptonquakes. This past amzet was
DC COMICS / SUPERMAN
BY MICHAEL BERNARDI
recorded in 9974; a series of tremors near Kandor. Now, we are experiencing frequent kryptonquakes. This past amzet was the shakiest on record. “It isn’t just the frequency of these kryptonquakes,” warned Jor-El, “they’re getting more severe.” The report states the reason for that is gravity. As Krypton loses mass from its core, its orbit is pulled closer to Rao. Our red star’s gravity is too weak to make a sudden, drastic change to the planet’s orbit, but as we edge closer, the daytime temperatures increase and the drop to nighttime temperatures becomes more dramatic. Our soft, stress-ball Krypton is squeezed and released more and more violently. “Eventually, our planet will be squeezed and released with so much force that it will explode,” said El. here’s no predicting what kind of T impact the IPCC report will have on the Ruling Council. The head of the council is Mor-On, a controversial figure who frequently traffics in anti-science rhetoric and conspiracy theories and won the seat in 9996. He has staked his popularity on the economic growth of core mining. Earlier this year, Mor-On made an inflammatory and dismissive statement about Core Change. “A lot of people are saying this Core Change stuff is a hoax,” said More-On. “No Kryptonquakes that I’ve felt. No shaking. I haven’t lost my balance once; in fact, I’ve never lost my balance, even as a kid. Nobody is more balanced than me—so if I lost it, you’d know, folks. Maybe you should talk to the people on Vathlo Island about Core Change. Maybe some of the criminal Vathlos are starting this hoax. They’re liars and criminals and some, I assume, are good people.” No statements from the Ruling Council as of the time of this article.
Comment Section Leave your comment below KrypKeeper69
SportTeamFreak
this that stupid lib-tard “kare for krypton” crap. core miners wil stomp on all you triggered snowflakes
Stupid propaganda. Read Ben-Sha’s book and he makes you understand how these highly qualified scientists with a wealth of experience who are only motivated by proven facts, empirical data, and an ethical and moral imperative to ensure the healthy survival of our species are ACTUALLY part of an impossibly elaborate conspiracy to take your cheeseburgers. Our burgers are the only thing facing an existential threat!!!
Mor-On 10000! keep krypton gr8t!! StarPOWerful*73* Thank you for this report, United Houses!! Oh my god! Wake up people!! KrypKeeper69 replying to StarPOWerful*73* such a lib! are you gonna cry your liberal tears? so obviously a girl lib to. you sound like one of those annoying exes that always tries to ‘change” your man StarPOWerful*73* replying to KrypKeeper69 Which part of me caring if our planet explodes is liberal or conservative? You are on this planet, aren’t you? You would die too, no? Also, I’m gay. I figured the easiest way to change my man was switching to women. I might reconsider, though. You sound like a real catch. Tell me, and be honest, stud, how many girls have you asked out and then called them a “slut” when they laughed and said no? Sorry you’re mad at the ladies, KuckKeeper00, but don’t take it out on Krypton. KrypKeeper69 replying to StarPOWerful*73* Wut?? f*k u!!!
Go with your gut! Facts shouldn’t change your feelings I’ve been spreading the TRUTH in gym locker rooms and at holiday get-togethers! followTHEleader321 Q-Anon lives!!!! Un1nformedClich3s Stop the arguing!! Both sides need to just listen!!! Like, I think I heard someone say that one side is doing everything in bad faith and just wants to block and/or eliminate anything the other side does to try and fix the problem no matter how clearly logical and inherently good, but, like, COME ON! Just listen!!! SoSta-CeeTBH replying to Un1nformedClich3s Seriously!! LockThemUpppp What about Jor-El’s emails?????? March 2020 |
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featuring
Madeleine Kennedy The badass boss lady of film and television you will soon come to know. BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN
W
hen I was first told I was going to interview Madeleine Kennedy, the creator, writer, director, and star of the upcoming television fantasy series We Were Tomorrow, my brain went immediately to all the typical BS questions typically see in all the other magazines that bore you to death. What ended up transpiring, however, was an hour-long in-depth discussion about the very real struggles of being a female creator in the film and television industry, how important it is to have good people around you, and what it takes to truly follow your dreams and how to do it with integrity. I will say that, even if this article were five times longer, it still wouldn’t cover all of the amazing topics discussed, but I will do my part to capture the essence of the amazing conversation that transpired. After some formal pleasantries and apologies for time zone confusion (Madeleine was calling from her native Sydney, Australia and I was freezing my ass off in New York City and math is hard), I told Madeleine my background as an actor/playwright and my desire to pull back the shiny veil of an industry that usually avoids showing the process and hard work it takes to make the end result everyone comes to know and (hopefully) love. We wasted no time diving into what it is Madeleine loves about the creative world of film and television and what she hopes every up and coming artist jumping into this industry could engrain into their souls. “One thing I wish every person knew coming into this business is: You. Are. Enough.’ Those are the 3 words actors, writers, directors, and producers need to hear. ‘You. Are. Enough.’ We’re in an industry where we’re fighting to create 82 |
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something that is very opinion based. It’s very much up to what the world thinks and is a very judged arena in terms of the end product, where other jobs like lawyers or doctors aren’t really up against the opinion of the people to decide whether or not they’re good enough. In our industry, we create something and basically bare our soul to the world and go, ‘please don’t destroy me.’” -laughs- “It’s quite a vulnerable experience! And quite an emotionally revealing one because you’re putting everything on the table and hoping that the response is positive.”
“ In our industry, we create something and basically bear our soul to the world and go, ‘please don’t destroy me.’ “ We went on to discuss how going into the artistic process, no matter what it’s for, film and television, comic books, painting, writing, whatever…your drive and work-ethic is what separates you from the rest of the artists around you. “I truly wish when I was seventeen, eighteen, someone said to me, ‘you are going to knock on multiple doors and if those doors open, you need to stick your foot in and then you have to push.’ And that push is where it really separates those who really want it and those who really like the idea of our industry. Because that ‘pushing’ is your late nights, your unpaid hours, your months and years of work on one thing, bleeding for your craft, and you have to sacrifice so much that I think the sacrifice is something most people don’t realize because when we get to the end with a
product, we’re all so happy and euphoric about it, we’ve forgotten all the sacrifices it took to get there. So, we tend to see the polished product, the happy people, and the red carpets. But the lead-up has sacrifice and that’s the point where it’s encouraging. Because if you can endure the sacrifice and still love it? You’re on the right path and you’re doing what you should be doing.” We discussed the very heavy culture shift with the Me Too movement and other waves of change within the film and television industry over the last few years, and Madeleine was very open about her experiences. “I think it’s important to note that in this industry, the people from an older time, there’s still an old mindset around that ‘you’re young and you’re a woman.’ But what I find encouraging is that the millennials and the generations following that are coming into this industry don’t have that mindset. Misogyny is not engrained in the Millennials anymore. It’s not. Which is encouraging because I know the future of this industry is going to be a lot more of an equal representation of the world through ethnicity, race, culture, and gender.” I told her that it’s great to hear that happening over in LA because, as a writer in the film and theater world over in NYC, I also see that change happening and it’s encouraging to hear that the industry as a whole is changing, because we don’t have time for that shit any more. “No, we don’t. It’s all about whether or not you’ve got a story and if you’ve got an idea, it shouldn’t matter about your physical appearance, your geography, anything. It should be your idea. If you’ve got the skills to make it, let’s do it! And that is what I believe the industry is moving towards. It’s a slow process, but I’m so proud to be in that kind of wave of a generation that are all about changing it.”
As our conversation came to a close, I realized that everything Madeleine was saying wasn’t just for people in the film and television industry or even artists in general, it was bigger than that. It was for every young person who has any kind of dream. Period. And right when this started to dawn on me, Madeleine dropped this inspirational bomb on me: “If I could try and give something to someone somewhere out in the world as a piece of advice; keep the integrity of your work. Keep the integrity of your craft. However you do that: acting, producing, writing, directing, or anything, treat everybody with equal respect. I think that fortitude is a really scary thing and takes a while to grow, but if you can keep that fortitude and stand strong with who you are and who you want to be, what you want to create, who you want to create it with, you will be unstoppable.” I couldn’t agree more, Madeleine. I couldn’t agree more. c
“ It’s all about if you’ve got a story and if you’ve got an idea, it shouldn’t matter about your physical appearance, your geography, anything. It should be your idea. If you’ve got the skills to make it, let’s do it! “ March 2020 |
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