2009/July - GAMERS Newspaper

FREE Vol 3 Issue 7 * Gaming Articles, Monthly Editorials & Remarkable Stories

July 09

STAN LEE COMES TO PITTSBURGH! Pittsburgh Comicon Press Release

STAN LEE, The Man Behind Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and so much more is coming to the PITTSBURGH COMICON. It's been 12 years since Stan last graced us with his presence in the Burgh and we couldn't be more excited if we tried. We'll be christening our new locale (the Monroeville Convention Center) in style with 5 hours of STAN LEE. Stan will be signing from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm on SATURDAY ONLY. Signatures will be $40.00 In an attempt to control the line, we are collecting the signing fee in advance. (both online and at the show itself) Your fee will get you a ticket.

1 ticket = 1 signature. We'll call a range of ticket numbers to get in line, when that group works its way through the line we'll call the next group of ticket holders. If you want to be assured of your Stan Lee signature, we suggest you buy your signature tickets early. They are available online (see link on Main Page) We are also selling a Stan Lee package, that includes a three day pass, (which allows you into the show 30 minutes early), a Stan Lee signature, and as a

bonus, a signed Program Book by Mr. Lee. The cost of the Stan Lee package is $90 and it is also available online.

We are looking forward to having Stan Lee back at the Pittsburgh Comicon.

Stan Lee, the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics, is known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry.

Hundreds of legendary characters, including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The XMen, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Thor and Dr. Strange, all grew out of his fertile imagination. It was in the early 1960s that Lee ushered in what has come to be known as The Marvel Age of Comics, creating major new Super Heroes while breathing life and style into such old favorites as Captain America, The Human Torch and The Sub Mariner. During his first 25 years at Marvel, as editor, art director and head writer, Lee

scripted no fewer than two and as many as five complete comic books per week. His prodigious output may comprise the largest body of published work by any single writer. Additionally, he wrote newspaper features, radio and television scripts and screenplays. By the time he was named publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972, Lee's comics were the nation's biggest sellers.

In 1977, he brought the Spider-Man character to newspapers in the form of a syndicated strip.

This seven-days -a-week feature, which he has written and edited since its inception, is the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips, appearing in more than 500 newspapers worldwide.

In 1981, Marvel launched an animation studio on the West Coast and Lee moved to Los Angeles to become creative head of Marvel's cinematic adventures. He began to transform his Spider -Man and Hulk creations into Saturday morning television and paved the way for Marvel's entry into live-action feature films. Lee served as

Celebrating Over 1 Year in Publication

Executive Producer for the worldwide blockbusters Spider-Man I, II & III, The X-Men I, II, III, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four I & II, Daredevil, XMen Origins:Wolverine, The Incredible Hulk and others.

His television credits include serving as Co-Producer and Creator of Stripperella on the Spike Cable Channel and as Executive Producer on N i c k Fu r y A ge n t of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Incredible Hulk, Generation X, SpiderMan and X-Men. He is also the developer of the sci-fi reality hit, Who Wants to Be a Superhero. Lee has written more than a dozen bestselling books, including The Origins of Marvel Comics, The Best of the Worst, The Silver Surfer, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, The Alien Factor, Bring on the Bad Guys, Riftworld, The Superhero Women and his recent biography Excelsior!

The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. Stan currently serves as the Founder, Chairman and CCO of POW Entertainment an advanced media and entertainment company. The company is behind projects for Animated and Live Action Feature Films; Live Action, Reality and Animation for TV as well as publishing, multimedia, stage and internet projects. You can visit the POW website at: www.powentertainment.com

Publisher: Jack Stewart - jrstewart@ogopublications.com Editor in Chief: Ben Chronister - chronwriter@gmail.com Photography staff:

Krissy P - KrizieJ@yahoo.com Writers: Victoria Vesey Stephanie Mallasch And others as credited.

OGO Publications P.O. Box 2224 Columbus, Ohio 43216 1-877-646-0010

http://www.ogopublications.com Contribution Support: The Soldiery –See Ad in Back www.icv2.com - Industry News! www.gamerscircle.net - Industry News Gamingreport.com Submissions & Advertising Services/Info: press@ogopublications.com Printers: Capitol Square Printing 59 East Gay St Columbus, OH 43215 (614) 221-2850

The History of the Elf Myths Victoria Vesey OGO Publications Writer

The legends of elves are rumored to have begun in Norse mythology and spread down to the Germanic tribes of Northern Europe. The Norse seemed to have believed that the elves were powerful and beautiful beings of human size, and capable of breeding with humans. The stories surrounding many of their great heroes of legend were surrounded by the blending of human and elven blood.

These legends spread throughout northern Europe, being found in Scandinavian legend, and then on through Iceland and Germany, then brought to England by the Anglo-Saxons.

Many modern and popular works of literature related to the legends of elves can be traced back to these original tales. The start of this theme in modern literature is of course Tolkien, a legendary figure himself. His work in the translation of many Norse and Old English works made him very familiar with these great legends, and it is easy to see their influence in his works, The Lord of the Rings trilogy; From the language used by its peoples to the fact that Gandalf is the name of the last king of the line of half-elves in Norse

legend Tolkien’s work brought elves to the forefront of many other popular books and games, especially in the Dungeons and Dragons series, where elves are often given greater physical prowess and magical skill than the human characters. References to elves can be found in almost any fantasy work, from the Drows (dark elves) and Elves of the Forgotten Realms to J.K. Rowling, another household name in modern literature, and her “house-elves”. There are stories of half-elves, dark elves, wood elves, small elves, tall elves, things related to elves, such as brownies and fairies, and many others too numerous to mention, that have kept the legends alive and growing throughout the spread of Western culture.

There are even sporadic references to elves in Greek, Roman, and Egyptian histories, showing that the spread of the legends of the elves was not limited to just the northern areas. It seems that even more than most other popular creatures of legend; the elves were able to survive in an even more intact form to the original legends, even while spreading over a greater territory.

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Vampire Legends Victoria Vesey OGO Publications Writer

Vampires are mythological undead who survive by drinking the blood of the living and were said to visit loved ones and haunt areas they inhabited while alive. Early belief in vampires has been attributed to uncertainty regarding decomposition of the body and the mysteries of death. The modern view of the vampire is based on the representation within Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The legends of vampires, like many other mythic figures, have existed for millennia and they range through cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks to the Romans. However, despite the similarities and occurrences of vampire-like crea-

tures in all these ancient civilizations, the folklore for what we call the vampire today originates from early 18th century Southeastern Europe, when the folklore was finally recorded. Generally vampires are said to come from the spirits of witches or suicide victims or are able to be created by evil spirits possessing a corpse or being bitten by a vampire. Like the era of witch hunts, at one point fear of vampires became so excessive that there were public executions of so-called vampires.

There are a massive number of descriptions of vampires from each tradition. But in European legends they were reported as bloated and dark, attributed to the blood drinking. Transylvanian vampires were gaunt and

pale with long fingernails, Bulgarian vampires had only one nostril, and Bavarian vampires slept with thumbs crossed and one eye open. Moravian vampires only attacked while naked, and those of Albanian folklore wore high-heeled shoes. As the vampires legends traveled throughout the globe the legends changed with them: Mexican vampires had a bare skull instead of a head, Brazilian vampires had furry feet and vampires from the Rocky Mountains only sucked blood with their noses and from the victim's ears. Works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the influences of bloodthirsty figures throughout history such as Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad Tepes helped to develop the legends to the mod-

ern stereotype.

Some mundane or sacred items were said to be able to ward off vampires such as garlic or holy water. But the items vary from region to region.

For instance, some legends say that branches of wild rose or hawthorn can ward off vampires; mustards seeds are another remedy. Vampires are also said to be unable to cross sacred ground or running water. Vampires are commonly said to be unable to enter a house unless invited by the owner. Driving a stake through the heart in order to “deflate” the bloated vampire, or simply beheading it are the two most common methods said to kill a vampire.

leans, or Joan of Arc, where people suspected of magic are killed.

In this time period, Sekai has a mysterious green stone that is part of her chest. She meets the evil but handsome Machiavello, who has a matching red stone.

He is behind the schemes of Sir Gilles, who is obsessed with Sekai because he thinks she’s the reincarnation of his beloved Maiden of Orleans. Machiavello is fixated on Sekai. He keeps trying to seduce her in order to make their abilities one so he can control the full power of The Book of S&M. At first glance, this manga looks very promising if you’re into the magical girl genre.

The art is reminiscent of sailor moon, and some of the character styles remind me of old school anime, like Macross, or the first Mobile Suit Gundam.

The story is very intriguing, and the seduction scenes are

quite steamy. The manga does fall short in the fact that it isn’t finished.

The first volume ends, and you immediately want to move to the second one to see what happens. So you read the second one and it leaves you completely unsatisfied. While the Joan of Arc storyline is completed, the second volume introduces new plot twists for the overall arc of The Book of S&M that are never answered.

It’s like watching a promising new show, only to have it be cancelled after the first five episodes.In all, this would be a very easy manga to not put on your reading list…in fact: just don’t. If you are insistent on reading it for yourself, you can really only buy them on a bookstore website like Amazon or Borders. This manga was released awhile ago, so most bookstores will not carry it in stock.

Does the World Exist for Me? Stefanie Mallasch OGO Publications Writer

A lot of people have heard of Revolutionary Girl Utena.

They’ve either read the manga, or seen the anime. The creator, Chiho Saito, has released dozens of manga series. With the success of Utena, does that make all of her series worth while? For the purpose of this article, let’s take a look at one of her earlier works: The World Exists for Me, also known as The World of S&M (yes, you read that right).

Chiho Saito’s debuted in 1982 with her work The Sword and the Mademoiselle. She now has a total of thirty manga series under her belt. She is a member of the Be-Papas manga artist collective. She received the Shogakukan Manga Award in the shojo category for her manga Kanon. With all this under her belt, it’s surprising

that you might be somewhat less than satisfied with one of her works. Yet, that is the case with The World Exists for Me. This manga starts off with a fairy tale that goes as such: Once upon a time, the devil had a single source of power.

It was called The Book of S&M. Without knowing what it was, a young man stole it one day.

He cut it into strips and made two dolls from them. The girl was named S and the boy was named M. Because of this, the power of the book (and the devil, consequently) was separated between the two dolls.

Now we go to tell the story of Sekai, who is on a trip to France. She gets rescued from a train accident by the mysterious boy, Sovieul, and the doll S. Now she is not only lost in a foreign country, but she’s lost in time as well. Sekai and Sovieul are transported by S to the time of the Maiden of Or-

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Classifieds Section Pending Classified Categories Help Wanted Ohio Gamers Organization, a Non Profit Organization, is looking to fill the following positions: Public Relations Volunteer Coordinator Programs Manager Office Assistants Inventory Control Convention Assistants Game Masters Business Writers And More Do you have what it takes?

Email info@ohiogamers.org

Volunteering OGO Publications is looking to hire for the following positions for its growing newspaper GAMERS.: Advertising Sales Newspaper Editor Graphic Designer Writers Photographers Sales positions do pay commission on all ad sales!

Please Call (877)OGO-0010 Or email press@ohiogamers.org To apply today!

Volunteers need for staffing Neovention Convention.

Will receive free badge for working at least 8 hours of the convention. Visit Neovention.org or email volunteers@neovention.org for more details. Gamemasters are also needed. Preregistration is now open. Visit Neovention.org for more!

For advertising in our classifieds section, send questions/ads to press@ohiogamers.org Prices Are: $.03 per regular letters $.05 per bold or italic letters Email us for special rates.

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