Comicmaniacs Magaazine by Musings of a Blerd

December 4 -10

2011

Episode 1

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Now Free To Travel the Geek Universe

Comicmaniacs Episode No. 8 December 2011 Editor & Publisher: Talisha A. Harrison Published By: Talisha A. Harrison P.O. Box 520392 Longwood, FL 32752 Printed by: Talisha Harrison Editor: Talisha Harrison Design: Talisha Harrison Cover Photo: Photograph courtesy Talisha Harrison Comcimaniacs is a weekly online magazine for people who are traveling throughout the geek universe. ÂŠ Talisha Harrison 2011 Printed in the USA, all rights reserved. Comicmaniacs welcomes comments from our readers. Please send comments to: Email: taliadina@gmail.com

Table of Contents

4 From the Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Desk 6 The Comicmaniac Five 9 Comicmaniac of the Week 10 Character Spotlight 13 Hot Topic 14 Classic Comic Review 16 Special Feature 17 Webpick 19 Podcast Pick 20 Comicmaniac Art

From the Editor’s Desk Geekspace. The final frontier, where women, girls, men, and boys journey. Some have traveled long and hard and are pros and can write the Traveler’s guide to the Geek Universe. Others have enough knowledge and feel comfortable journeying alone, while still others are novices and tenderfoots and don’t even know where to begin but crave the adventure. I am such a person-a novice in the Nerd Universe (by the way, what’s the difference between a nerd and a geek anyway?). I know a few things but not everything. I’m no android who downloads and then uploads geek/nerd info into my hardrive or brain as we humans call it. But so what who cares? I love comics and other geeky stuff and that’s all that I need to qualify to write about such things. But before you board Comicmaniacs Tours, let me give you a little background on who I am and how I came to enjoy comics and other nerdy things. Where to begin…well as an infant my parents sent me into outer space as my home planet of Pluto selfdestructed. I was adopted by cityfolks who were traveling through the countryside. At the age of ten I discovered that I had telekinetic powers and I was sent to a school for gifted youngesters where I grew up fast learning how to deal with people who feared what they didn’t understand. I also bonded with my fellow schoolmates and we formed a team and save the world numerous times-I even went back into space and stayed a while on Mars bounty hunting with some interesting folks-one who was a green afroed Asian man who practiced the martial arts style that Bruce Lee made famous. After a few months of that I came back home traveled into the past and met a white hair boy in a red male kimono and his friends. Then I came back to be reunited with my fuzzy elf-man and we married and spent our honeymoon on a beautiful planet that was not only self-aware but also a superhero defending his sector with this powerful green ring… Sucka! Actually this how it really began for me: I was introduced to comics when after attempting to ice skate and successfully landing on my butt, I decided to watch a group of kids play the classic X-men arcade game during a summer camp. I grew up watching 80’s and 90’s animated programs such as Thundercats (Ho!), G.I. Joe, Transformers, Rainbow Bright, Jem, My Little Pony, He-man, Johnny Quest, Batman the animated series, X-men the animated series, Spider-Man, Hulk, and many others. I also fell in love with not only anime but also the Japanese culture at large after watching Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. Now for my writing credentials. I’ve been writing stories, songs, and poems since I could pick up a pen. So far I’ve written over 500 poems. In 2006 with the help of my professor I published my first poetry book at my state college’s print shop entitled The Unconscious of an Ethiopian Princess Volume One College Days of Future Past. I’m also the editor, creator, and only staff member of Kehila Magazine an online magazine for Jews of Color. I’ve written my first comic book story for Womanthology which is slated to come out in January and I wrote a one page story for the Womanthology Holiday PDF which 4

From the Editor’s Desk will be coming out soon to all the backers of the project. Currently I’m working on creating my own comic books and you can check out my blog on Tumblr entitled The Diary of a Novice Comic Book Writer. As I said earlier, I don’t know everything about these geeky, nerdy subjects but I’m willing to learn and as I learn and you share and vice-versa, we’ll enjoy this journey across space and time. Alright enough of the pleasantries! You want to know what this magazine is and will be about right? Well it’s a weekly online magazine for all those people who are journeying through the geek universe. In here every week I’ll give you the Comicmaniac Five-this list features my top five news picks. Next up is the Comicmaniac of the week and for the first episode it’s It’sJustSomeRandomGuy! In Nightcrawler’s this week’s character spotlight. He’s my favorite comic book character and you’ll learn more about him and the petition Kitty Pop created to get him out of the grave and back on the pages of the X-men books. Hot Topic is about women in comics. I’ll give you a Classic Comic Review because well everyone else gives you a review on present day books. In Special Feature I’ll go in detail about Comicmaniacs. I also give you this week’s Podcast Pick and Webpick and finally some Comicmaniac Art by yours truly (I’m also a novice artist). Well I think I’ve covered everything and if you have any thoughts or suggestions please let me know. If you want to contribute to the magazine, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook pages email me at taliadina@gmail.com. I can’t pay you so if you don’t mind volunteering contact me. I hope you enjoy this episode and I’ll catch ya on the flip side. End captian’s log, Captian Tali Adina Comicmaniacs Enterprise.

The C omicmaniac Five I’m counting it down, from number five to number one here’s this week’s comicmaniac five… #5. Womanthology’s Holiday PDF

If you were one of the 2001 people who backed the project on kickstarter this is for you! As you wait for the all color three hundred page anthology (coming in January you can and the sketchbook (which is being shipped off this week). I’m personally writing a one page comic book story for the pdf and I’m very excited for this and I hope you all enjoy it! #4. Director Patty Jenkins no longer directing Thor 2 The reason? “Creative differences.” Eeesh, I hate when this happens! Jenkins is known for directing Charlize Theron (who earned an Oscar for her performance) and Christina Ricci the critically acclaimed Monster. She’s also directed the pilot for AMC’s The Killing. She would have been the first female director of a Marvel Studios film. Jenkins told The Hollywood Reporter “I have had a great time working at Marvel. We parted on very good terms and I look forward to working with them again.” 6

The Comicmaniac Five This was an sudden move since Jenkins actively working on the film. This is the second director to leave Thor 2. Kenneth Branagh who directed Thor also left the film citing “creative differences”. Marvel is said to want to work with Jenkins again in the future and the studio is searching for a new director and the vacancy is expected to to filled quickly. #3. Gail Simone will no longer be writing Firestorm. Bleeding Cool annoucned it (several months ago) Gail tweeted it and DC confirmed it. Gail Simone’s run on The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men has come to an end after issue seven. The reason it appears to be over editorial conflicts on the book. After followers were questioning whether or not she made the decision she took to Twitter and let it be known that it was her decision to leave. Writer Joe Harris will pick up where Simone left off joining co-writer Ethan Van Sciver on the book. Simone will continue to write Batgirl. This is another creative shake up on DC’s 52. Recently it was announced that George Perez will be leaving the writing duties of Superman. #2 Bendis saying goodbye to The Avengers in 2012 He’s the person who’s written The Avengers the longest and in 2012, he’s saying goodbye to the team. But have no fear dear Marvel fans, Bendis will still be at Marvel and announced via his Facebook pagewhich goes to his Twitter-that he had recently signed a new contract with the company. He dissassembled the team then reassembled them and then added the likes of Spider-Man, Wolverine, most recently Storm to the team. He’s also geared up co-write the big Marvel event coming in 2012 which is-

The Comicmaniac Five #1 The Avengers vs. X-men in 2012

Announced as the biggest event in Marvel comics history, we have the two biggest teams in the Marvel universe fighting each other to the bitter end in a twelve part series. Whether or not it’s the biggest thing, this will be interesting considering that some of the X-men have been or presently are Avengers (Beast, Wolverine, & Storm). We also have two siblings on the Avenger side who just happen to be mutants-Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch. What will this epic fight revolve around? Well we’ve seen some teasers from NYC Comic-Con 2011 with the “It’s coming” poster which has the Phoenix ensignia in the background. If all of this makes for an interesting adventure then just think how much more this storyline’s gonna be due to writers –five in all-involved in this event -- Brian Bendis, Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman and Ed Brubaker; and the artists-Frank Cho, John Romita, Jr., Olivier Coipel and Adam Kubert- all contributing to it.

Comicmaniac of the Week Each week, I’ll spotlight a lady geek(s) or gentleman geek(s) orbiting in geek space and this week’s geek is :

It’s Just Some RandomGuy You’ve probally watched his hiliarious videos on YouTube where he has spoofed the “Hi I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” with his “Hi I’m a DC and I’m a Marvel” using action figures. He’s branched out writing his own scripts for these plastic actors and created his own Random Universe. RandomGuy has also done commercials featuring our fave action figures for Chicago Comic-Con and NYCC. After what felt like a long hiatus for his fans, on Thanksgiving RandomGuy gave us a new video featuring your old time favorite characters and a few new ones. Every week on Tuesdays evenings at 10pm eastern time, he has a liveshow on blogtv (http://www.blogtv.com/people/ItsJustSomeRandomGuyAndGal) where he chats with his RandomFans. Check out his RandomSite: http://www.itsjustsomerandomfansite.com/, his RandomStore on Zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com/gifts?ch=itsjustsomerandomguy . Follow him on Twitter at his new handle @RandomGuyAtHome and catch up on his videos on his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy.

Character Spotlight We all have a character or a few characters that got us enjoying comic books and mine was Nightcrawler. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my favorite X-men and favorite comic book character and last year after reading that he was killed during the Messiah Second Coming storyline in the X-men books, I wrote a blog about what he meant to me. Take a gander: Nightcrawler: My Favorite X-men A few months ago in the X-men Messiah Second Coming comic series, we lost a hero. No, it wasn't Captain America or Wolverine. It was Nightcrawler. He was the bluish, elf-like and devilish looking mutant and member of the Marvel Comics superhero team the X-men. Now, he might not be as well-known as Spiderman or as popular as Wolverine. But he was my favorite X-men and he was one of my favorite superheroes of all time. When I found out that he had passed, I was so upset. Yeah I know that he isn't real but he was an important part of my life-He was the reason that I even got into comics. It all started when my sis and I were away on a field trip during summer camp. I had just given up on ice skating after falling on my butt a couple of times, and I decide to head to the arcade to watch my friends play video games. As I was approaching them, a video game that some other kids were playing caught my eye. There six characters-one had on a tight blue costume with a visor on his eyes and from it came an optic blast. Another was a female character who wor a black costume with a black cape. She could make a tornado and she also had a dagger. Another character was a man who's costume was metallic and it covered his entire body with a red thingy covering some of his body. There was a woman who had on a costume that I believe was blue and her power was some type of dazzling light. Another character had on a brown outfit and on his head was a brown mask that had wingtips on the top. From his nuckles came three sharp metal claws on each hand. Finally, there was the character that caught my eye-he was blue and he reminded me of an elf and a demon at the same time. His power was teleportation. This was Nightcrawler. I watched the kids play this game for a while and then when they were done I watched the video game trailer. The game was called the X-men. I had no idea who or what was the X-men, and I wanted to learn more. Later on, I went to a grocery store with my mom. As we passed by the area where the magazines were located, I saw the comic books. I ran up to the shelf and my eyes scanned the rows-hoping to catch a glimpse of the X-men-and then I found it.

Character Spotlight There were a whole bunch of comic book titles-from Uncanny X-men to Cable. There were also other comics that didn't have to do with the X-men too. But my eyes were only fixed on the X-men titles. Carefully, looking at the covers, I was trying to find the characters that had caught my eye only a few days ago…Then I found it! The comic was called X-men Classic. As I was reading it, I felt as though I had entered another world that I had to leave when it was time to go to the car. Even though comic books didn’t cost a lot it was something that I had to do without since there were more important things that needed to be purchased with my mom’s money such as food. So every time I went to the grocery store, I would run to the magazine shelves, pick up copies of the Xmen comics and read them. I did this until one day when I ran to the magazine shelf, the comics were nowhere to found. This was a minor setback. I would then discover the X-men, Spiderman, and many other cartoons. I remember on Saturday mornings when my mom had to work we would go with her and we would watch the cartoons on the TV at the office. That’s how I came to enjoy comics. And I still do. I might not know everything there is to know about comics but I know that I love them. Nightcrawler is just a cool dude. He’s more than the bluish elfish demon outside. A few years ago, I had to write a poem for my college creative writing class describing a person. I wrote two peoms-one about Nightcrawler and one about his sister Rouge. I shared the Rouge poem with the class. So for the first time, I will share the Nightcrawler poem (Copyright 2002). I hope you enjoy it. Bamf! The smell of brimstone fills the air. The smoke clears… Out of the shadows, he appears. Elf-like ears, curly indigo hair, Yellow eyes, hind legs and pointy tail… His appearance to some is quite devilish, But they don’t know… The kindness he shares, The laughter he brings, And the interest he launches… They don’t know he’s An angel in disguise… 11

Character Spotlight On the Comicmaniacs Facebook page, one of the administrators Kitty Pop started a petition to get Kurt resurrected and back on the pages. We do know that Nightcrawler will be joining Uncanny X-force-but it’s not the Earth-616 version it’s the Age of Apocalyspe Nightcrawler. That’s fine and dandy, but give me my Earth-616 please! How are they going to bring back Sabretooth (who’s had his head cut off by Wolverine twice-the first when he was killed by Logan’s Murmaursa blade and then again in hell) but not Kurt? You can also write letters to Marvel and hopefully we can get the fuzzy blue elf back!

Hot Topic

Women in Comics So over the past few months there’s been a lot of discussion about Women in Comics-whether it’s how women characters are protrayed in comics, why there aren’t as many women in the industry, and why still a lot of folks believe that women aren’t into comics. Many of these issues were debated all over geek space. So now it’s your turn comicmaniacs, what are your opinions about women in comics? Here are a few topics to get you started on the Comicmaniacs Tumblr Forum (http://comicmaniacs.tumblr.com/Fourm).      

The way Women characters are drawn Batgirl at SDCC Sexual Harrassment at Conventions Is there a market in comics for women Do Women read comics?

The recent cancellation of women-led books at Marvel-Ghostrider and X-23

Classic Comic Review Why am I reviewing older comics? Well because I’m still sorta new at this and I’m trying to catch up on reading the ones that I wasn’t able to read growing up. Also there are many people out there who are either new to comics or are seasoned pros who may want to revisit some of the older stuff. In fact these comics never get old. Besides, there are many people out there who are reviewing the new comics. So without further ado, I give you this week’s Classic Comic Review… Young Justice #1 “Young, Just Us” September 1998 DC Comics Writer: Peter David Penciller: Todd Nauck Inker: Lary Stucker Colors: Jason Wright Letters: Ken Lopez Editor: Eddie Berganza I’ve been enjoying the new Young Justice cartoon that airs on Cartoon Network and I was able to get free copies of all the original Young Justice comics to read via my comic reader (I use Comical there are others that you can download for free). As I’ve said before I grew up watching DC animation and not really reading any DC comics (I’ve read bits and pieces of the Superman story when he was killed by Doomsday and then various versions of him appeared). If you’ve seen or heard of the cartoon series you can see that it has it’s own continuity and doesn’t follow the comic book as far as the storylines go (there is also a new Young Justice comic that’s based on the series). I thought the first issue was good. I’m not a fan of how Robin, Impulse (not Kid Flash) and Superboy are drawn.

Classic C omic Review So the story is about the trio becoming their own team which a reporter names them Young Justice. They discover an alien cycle that’s been unearthed at a dig site near by. Robin activates the cycle and the cycle takes off with the boys into the air. In this story Red Tornado makes an appearance and he sums up how I feel about the team as I read this first issue (you want the answer you’ll have to read the issue!). Another thing I didn’t like and which didn’t make any sense was how the lead archaeologist after touching the alien cycle transforms into an evil huge breasted villianess who falls face down because her boobs are too big….yeah it wasn’t funny to me. In conclusion this book was meh. Well I’ll continue to read this series and in the future you’ll get another classic comic review about Young Justice. In the meantime, I’ll be back next week with another classic comic.

Special Feature

The Comicmaniac’s Guide to Comicmaniacs! Why did I start Comicmaniacs? I love comics and though I don’t know everything about them I wanted to create a place where everyone could come and participate and give their twocents about all things nerdy. So here’s your guide to Comcimaniacs. Comicmaniacs Tumblr Right now, this is the mainframe for Comicmaniacs. Here you can submit your pics, fanfics, or whatever else that’s nerd related. I also reblog other comic related blogs and posting links and pics of news throughout the nerd universe. Comicmaniacs Facebook Titled Marvel Please Bring Nightcrawler Back (Comicmaniacs), this page is dedicated to Comicmaniacs but also to my favorite X-men Nightcrawler. It’s connected to Twitter and to my Tumblr. Comicmaniacs Twitter @Comicmanics Comicmaniacs Forum On the tumblr page, there’s a forum to discuss and debate (in a respectful manner) all things geeky and even non geeky. Please take note that any racist, misoygnist, homophobic, and any other discriminatory remarks will not be tolerated. Comicmaniacs Store on Zazzle.com I recently created the store and there are a few products to choose from! I’m still working on ideas for the products. Visit http://www.zazzle.com/comicmaniacs. Coming soon: Comicmanaics Live Show on Talkshoe.com In January I hope to officially launch the Comicmaniacs Live Show on Talkshoe.com. It will aired at 10pm eastern every other Saturday night. Not only can you listen live you can join the chat and even call in using your phone or your computer (you have to download TalkShoePro which is free and doesn’t take space on your pc)! I’ll be talking about comic news and other topics while also playing music. So I hope that you will join the show!

Webpick I’ve got two this week for you all to check out, and here we go! Geektress (www.Geektress.com) This is wonderful site for women nerds/geeks throughout the universe. This is part of their mission statement on their website: “Geektress is a website aimed at science fiction / fantasy / comic-book loving nerds everywhere. It's a news, reviews, and opinions blog written exclusively by women. We've been around, blogging and podcasting, since 2007. “

You can follow Geektress on Twitter @Geektress, like their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Geektress, subscribe to their blog feed, subscribe to them on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Geektress/dp/B0045Y278K/, listen to their Podcast on itunes, check them out on Google+, and of course visit their website! They also do wonderful charity drive projects such as Comics Care Packages-where every other month they collect gently used comics and paperback books, and they pick a military unit at random serving overseas to send them to. They also try to send other items like snacks and toiletries. Big Kids Big News

(http://www.bkbn.net/)

Another great site in the geek universe, this is where you can celebrate your nerdum in a big way! Created by a group of friends (ShartimusPrime, SeanLong among them) who shared their love of comics and action figures among other things, here you can discuss with other big kids comics, movie news, action figures, and many other nerdy things. You can also enter to win a lot of great prizes. Check out their podcasts, follow them on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Podcast Pick In geek space there are many podcasts to listen to and here are two that I think you will enjoy during your travels.

3 Chicks Review Comics Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three chicks reviewing comics, discussing hot topics and even interviewing folks in the nerd universe. Hosted by Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass and Kelly Thompson from She Has No Head! (And originally Maddy (When Fangirls Attack)). Tune in every other Monday on CSBG or get episodes on iTunes. Crazy Sexy Geeks Hosted by Alan Kistler (@ZizzlerKistler) and Jill Pantoozi (@TheNerdyBird) They talk about geek stuff and geek dating!

Comicmaniac Art Each week I will feature artwork from Comicmaniacs around the universe. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a pro or a beginner, you could young or old, the only requirement is that the art must be yours and yours alone! Also if you want your fellow Comicmaniacs to view more of your creations (especially if you’re taking comissions) them know how they can contact you! Now I’m not seasoned pro, I’m learning how to draw and so for the first Comicmaniac Art page, I bring you two of my creations. I decided to try and draw Batman and Wonder Women and here’s how they turned out: The two Batman I drew are from two of the DVD covers from Batman The Animated Series. This one on the right is Volume Two. The (on the left) is from Volume Four.

Comicmaniac Art Here’s my Wonder Woman. It’s from the picture of Adams Hughes’ cover of Wonder Woman #152 that I saw in the book entitled Comics Above Ground:

End And there you have it! We’ve come to the end of this episode and I hope that you enjoyed your journey through geekspace. To continue the conversation aobut any of the topics discussed or if you want to start your own discussion please visit the fourm on the Comicmaniac website. Stayed tuned, next week I’ll be back with another episode of Comicmaniacs. Once again I’m Tali Adina, thank you for traveling with me. Come back next week there will be new things to discuss and I’ll catch you on the flip side. Enjoy your travels in geekspace! See you later Space Geeks!