Episode #3
Comicmaniacs
Happy New Year!
Comicmaniacs Episode No. 3 January 2012 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: Pictures courtesy of Google Images Comcimaniacs is a bi-weekly online magazine for people who are traveling throughout the geek universe. Š Talisha Harrison 2012 Printed in the USA, all rights reserved. Comicmaniacs welcomes comments from our readers. Please send comments to: Email: taliadina@gmail.com
Table of Contents From the Editor’s Desk The Comicmaniac Five Web, Podcasts, CDs, & DVD picks Comicmaniac Spotlight: The Ladies of Womanthology Character Spotlight: The Punisher Classic Comic Review: Wonder Woman Odyssey Geek Reads Comicmaniac Art Puzzle Me Geeky Quotes Puzzle Me Answer Key End
From the Editor’s Desk Happy New Year Comicmaniacs! Welcome to 2012-home to the summer Olympics, summer blockbusters, and the end of the world as we know it. This episode is a little late, but have no fear, you have not missed much! Inside this episode, your regulars are back with new things for you to digest. The Comicmaniac Five has my picks for what to look forward to this year in geekspace and the Character Spotlight is The Punisher; the Comicmaniac Spotlight shines on the ladies of Womanthology, while the Classic Comic Review is Wonder Woman Odyssey. I also have some insipiring Geek y Quotes, some excellent Geek Reads, and new Comicmaniac Art, and Puzzle Me. This episode also brings you the newly Web, Podcasts, CDs, & DVD picks section. Well zombie apocalypse and ending of the world aside, I hope you enjoy this episode and have an excellent 2012! Your Captain: Tali Adina.
The Comicmaniac Five It’s a new year and here’s a new comicmaniac five! Here are the top five geeky news items that I’m looking forward to in 2012. We’ ll start at number five: 5. Free Comic Book Day 2012 Brand new Buffy stories from Dark Horse, and Archaia’s free hardcover collection of new stories from some of its best properties ? Oh yeah this year free comic book day is going to be awesome! 4. Movies, movies, movies! There are a lot of awesome films that are coming out this year, most notably the Avengers, and the Dark Knight Rises.
3.Deadpool is gonna die? Oh this is gonna be very interesting..
The Comicmaniac Five
2. The Avengers vs. The X-men 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. 1. Womanthology is released. I’m soo excited for this! All the hard work that all the ladies and young girls put in and finally it will be out for the world to see. And all the proceeds go to charity.
Web, Podcast s, CDs, & DVD Picks During your travels through geek space, you’ll bump into interesting sites on the web, listen to great podcasts and music, or watch some amazing dvds. Each episode I’ll share my picks. Web: Africomics.com Africomics is the black science fiction and comic book portal. It’s an excellent site for black creators and artists out there who are looking for others like themselves to bounce ideas off of, get great information and links, and also to find out what comics are out there being created by black artists. Podcast: Batgirl to Oracle http://batgirltooracle.net/ Description: “Batgirl to Oracle: The Barbara Gordon Podcast is a podcast and site dedicated to Barbara Gordon, the first woman to hold the Batgirl mantle for an extended period of time (1967 – 1985). The goal of BtO is to examine the character's history from her first appearance as Batgirl and continue on through her current tenure as Oracle. Each episode looks at vintage issues of Detective Comics and Batman, and modern issues of Batgirl and Birds of Prey. I also keep track of news involving Batgirl and other members of the Bat-family, and I examine Barbara Gordon's appearances in the media (tv, film, etc.). I have been blessed to be able to interview writer Bryan Q. Miller, and I hope to interview more creators and actors in the future. My goal, most importantly, is to make a fun, entertaining, and thoughtful show that people enjoy and from which they learn.” You can find this podcast on itunes!
Web, Podcasts, CDs, & DVD Picks CD: Suckerpunch the Soundtrack Whether you loved or hated the film, I think you’re gonna enjoy this ablum. Released on March 22, 2011 by WaterTower Music, the album consists of covered songs, performed mainly by the film's stars. Emily Browning sings three songs, and Carla Gugino and Oscar Isaac performs a cover of "Love Is the Drug" as a duet. Recording artists Björk, Skunk Anansie, Emilíana Torrini, Queen, Carla Azar, Alison Mosshart and Yoav also have songs on the soundtrack. DVD: Drunken Master I love martial art films especially ones that feature Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. It’s a great film with a lot of action mixed with comedy from start to finish. There’s a sequel to this film which I haven’t checked out yet but if you enjoyed Legend of the Drunken Master, I think you’re gonna like this film.
Comicmaniac Spotlight Each episode I’ll spotlight a lady geek(s) or gentleman geek(s) orbiting in geek space and this week’s geek is :
The Ladies of Womanthology! That’s right! All of the ladies and young girls who contributed to this awesome project (which is slated to come out this month) congratulations! Over 140 lady persons worked on this 300 page full colored anthology. Some of us wrote stories, others pencilled the artwork, while others inked and colored, and still others edited and put the book together , whiile a few did all of this. A big thank you to Renae De Liz for putting out that tweet and asking for any women who were interested in doing an anthology for charity. A big thank you goes out to Jessica Hickman who kept telling Renae that she oughta do this, another big thank you goes out to every single contributor-young and old, professional to newbie, all of you thank you! A big thank you goes out to the 2001 kickstarter backers! Thank you for having our backs! This book shows that YES! Women read comics. YES Women want to write and draw comics. And if you don’t know now you knooooooooooooowwwwww….
Character Spotlight Frank Castle, anithero, skull on chest, guns.
The Punisher He’s one of my favorite characters in the comic world and I was first introduced to him while watching the Spiderman animated series as a kid in which he guest stars in three episodes-the seventh & eight episodes of season 2 and the eight episode of season four. I read my first Punisher comic when my mom bought my sister the Marvel Legends Punisher action figutre that the Punisher: War Zone #1 comic with it. From there, I’ve watched the 2004 Punisher film and the 2008 Punisher WarZone film-bought of which I thought were very excellent. Last year I was able to finally start collecting Punisher comics and I have a lot of them-not all of them mind you. Currently, I’m reading the new Punisher series which started in August and it’s written by Greg Rucka and . The Punisher was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru. He made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974). For those of you who are new to The Punisher, here’s a few things you ought to know:
Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a gangland execution in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher became a vigilante. He wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry and employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. A war veteran, Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare, and a wide variety of weapons. For a few issues, The Punisher was a black man. More recently, he was killed by Daken, Wolverine’s son during the Dark Reign event and came back as Franken-Castle. Both Nick Fury and Tony Stark have commented on how extraordinarily high his pain tolerance is. He does not take even over-the-counter painkillers, as he feels that their benefit of dulling pain is not worth the side effects of drowsiness and slowed reflexes.
He maintains multiple safehouses and vehicles around the greater Manhattan area as well as multiple forged identities and bank accounts (most of the funds and equipment aiding him in his work being taken from the criminals he hunts).
The Punisher has a Kevlar uniform which protects him from most gunfire, though he can still suffer concussive injury or penetration from sufficient or repeated impacts. The bright white skull in his chest is used both to intimidate his enemies and to lure their fire to the more heavily protected area of his armor. The design was supposedly taken from a Vietcong sniper he fought against during the Vietnam War.
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 episode’s Classic Comic Review…
Wonder Woman Odyssey Volume One Publisher: DC Comics Writers: J. Michael Straczynski, Phil Hester Pencillers: Don Kramer, Eduardo Pansica, Allan Goldman, Daniel HDR Inkers: Micahel Babinski, Jay Leisten, Ruy Jose, Scott Koblish, Wayne Faucher, Eber Ferreira, Marlo Alquiza Colorist: Alex Sinclair Letterer: Travis Lahham Associate Editor: Sean Ryan Editor: Brain Cunningham Covers: Kramer , Babinksi with Sinclair Variant Covers: Alex Garner Wonder Woman Created by William Moulton Marston An exc ellent way to read comics (especially if you’re low on cash), is to head to your local library. That is how I found this book. I have heard of it before and since I’m reading the DC’s New 52 Wonder Woman (which is an excellent, excellent comic!) and I definitely wanted to check this one out. This storyline is it’s own and doesn’t follow any continuity. The plot starts out with Wonder Woman caught between two worlds-the one of her Amazonian past and the one which she presently exists in. Something happened that alter the timeline and the Amazons fell. Their queen-Diana’s mother is dead, and the rest of her people are have been slaughtered or scattered to the four corners of the earth.
Classic Comic Review Diana has been raised hidden from those who continue to stamp out the rest of the Amazons and is a now a young woman who must protect the surviving Amazons, find out what happened in the past to have caused her present existence, and to fight , defeat, and fix it. I enjoyed reading this first volume and I’m looking forward to reading the second volume-the ending definitely left me wanting I to know how this story ends. It’s an excellent and amazing story. The art is beautiful. So next time when you visit your local library find out if they have a collection of comics. You’ll never know what you’ll find!
On the next Episode… The Classic Comic Review will be Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
Geek Reads Comics are an excellent way of learning how to read but there are other books out there traveling through space that you might want to take a look at. Some of these I’ve read or am currently reading while others I have not yet read but want to read. If you have any suggestions please email me at taliadina@gmail.com. Now I think you’re gonna like these geek reads but as kids from an excellent show on PBS used to say “You can’t take my word for it!” Stan Lee And the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon From Girls to Grrlz : A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines by Trina Robbins Comics above Ground: How Sequential Art Affects Mainstream Media by Durwin Talon , Bruce Timm, Bernie Wrightson, & Adam Hughes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Captain America Omnibus Jack Kirby
Womanthology Holiday PDF
Comicmaniac art Each episode I’ll 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) then let themknow how they can contact you! Here’s another artwork of mine, it’s my first drawing of Nightcrawler. This Nightcrawler is from one of the Wolverine & The X-men dvd cover.
Puzzle Me
New Year Y R M Y N B V U G G Q Q I L A
ARTISTS AVENGERS COLORISTS COMICS DARKKNIGHT DEADPOOL FUTURE GEEKS
Z G O O E M F I H W B U O Y U
L D O O V U R O S B F O W U D
L E J L T I S Q S U P R S W Y
G I T U O T E J R D C A B D U
G S R T R H Z S A V O E S K P
W E R I E F T E A X M Y K N C
V U D E J R D N U I I W M M O
O E Q A T U E A A H C E X Z L
R A L U Z I Q R D M S N D X O
A V E N G E R S S C O G U A R
Y G E E K S Z W F E L W Q D I
V C X M T H G I N K K R A D S
U H G X A S T S I T R A U T T
K N K A D O N P N F X L V Z S
GHOSTRIDER GIJOE LETTERERS MOVIES NEWYEAR WOMANTHOLOGY WRITERS XMEN
Geeky Quotes “I have to find another path. Divine my own future. One uniquely mine. Not a page from someone else's book. Not a fate that begins and ends on page one.” --Barbara Gordon (New Earth) “I can see Gotham's future. And without people like you and Pixie Boots and me, this place doesn't have much to look forward to.” --Barbara Gordon (New Earth) “I told my wife Joanie, „I‟m going to quit.‟ But she said: „Why not write it the way you want to write it? If it doesn‟t work, the worst that‟s going to happen is that they‟ll fire you. And you want to quit anyway.‟ I tried having heroes [Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Girl] in love and getting married. And the teenager was a brother [the Human Torch] who didn‟t particularly want to be a superhero. “It was the turning point of my life.” — Marvel mastermind STAN LEE, on the creation of the Fantastic Four a half-century ago
Puzzle Me Answer key
Solution Y + M + + + + + + G + + + L +
+ G + O E + F + H + + + O + +
L + O O V U + O + + + O + + +
+ E J L T I S + + + P R + + +
+ I T U O T E + + D C A + + +
G S R T R H + S A + O E + + +
+ E R I E + T E + + M Y + + C
+ + D E + R D N + + I W + + O
+ E + + T + E + A + C E + + L
R + + + + I + R + M S N + + O
A V E N G E R S S + O + + + R
+ G E E K S + W + + + W + + I
+ + + M T H G I N K K R A D S
(Over,Down,Direction) ARTISTS(14,12,N) AVENGERS(11,1,S) COLORISTS(7,15,E) COMICS(5,11,E) DARKKNIGHT(13,14,N) DEADPOOL(8,7,SW) FUTURE(2,7,NE) GEEKS(12,2,S) GHOSTRIDER(1,10,NE) GIJOE(6,1,SW) LETTERERS(3,1,SE) MOVIES(1,3,SE) NEWYEAR(10,12,W) WOMANTHOLOGY(12,12,NW) WRITERS(12,8,NW) XMEN(14,4,W)
+ + + X + S T S I T R A + + T
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + S
End And once again, we’ve come to the end of an episode and I hope that you enjoyed another journey through geekspace. To continue the conversation aobut any of the subjects written about in this episode or you just want to start your own discussions visit the fourm on the Comicmaniacs Tumblr page. See you later Space Geekladiesand guys…. Visit Comicmaniacs on the Web: Comicmaniacs Tumblr: http://comicmaniacs.tumblr.com/ 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: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marvel-Please-Bring-Back-NightcrawlerComicmaniacs/206827385995234 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: http://comicmaniacs.tumblr.com/Fourm 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 Saturday night’s the night! The Comicmaniacs Live Show on Talkshoe.com will debut this month at 10:30pm eastern 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! Later Space Geekguys and gals!