Welcome to Lovecraft cover photo source goodreads.com
Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft is the first volume of the Locke and Key series. It is written by Joe Hill with artwork by Gabriel Rodriguez. It is the story of Locke family(Tyler, Bode Kinsey and their mother Nina) as they start a new life after the gruesome murder of their father. They pick up their life and move to the old family house in Lovecraft. The house just happens to be creepy and the doors are important. Also the youngest (Bode) acquires a clearly dangerous new “friend” who lives in a well. Each member deals with the death in his or her way. We also follow his disturbed murderer teen Sam Lesser. The reason behind his death unfolds throughout the six issues as well as some of the mystery behind the house. Welcome to Lovecraft concludes in that near perfect way that connects dots and leaves more questions.
Locke and Key pretty much encapsulates why I love reading comics/graphic novels. There are some books that are difficult to warm up to due to excess of exposition. It’s a little hard to get excited read a book know you have five pages of family blood lines and descriptions of rooms to look forward to before an actual plot emerges. This is not to say that graphic novels can’t fall into this trap but it feels less likely.It is definitely not the case with this book. Locke and Key artwork, crisp dialogue and narration work together to create a very satisfying experience. Things are dark and gory but not overly so.
This would also be a good time to jump in as a reader of this award winning (2009 and 2012 winner of British Fantasy Comic/Graphic Novel and 2011 Einser Award winner for best writer) series. There are five volumes with six issues each. Very reasonable, if one were to ask me. Another selling point? Still not convinced? Well luckily for you, in 2011 a pilot was shot because this incredible series was going to be a TV series. Unfortunately, it was not to be but cross your fingers.
You’d think after several consecutive years of Dragon*Con attendance, I might tire. I might find some things too repetitive or some of the offerings beginning to stale. How can one event hold the interest of 50,000 people for four straight days? Well, then it sounds like you don’t know Dragon*Con.
The annual collective of nerds and geeks (MY PEOPLE, I LOVE YOU!) creates a four day, all day, all night, round the clock festival of of entertainment and intellectual indulgence like none-other. Dragon*Con is a Geektopia of costumes, panels, markets, concerts, and parties that change each year and stay in step with new all-consuming fandoms. Especially since geek became chic (again) thanks to the incredible success of LOTR and more recently, Batman:DNR, and The Avengers (Oh, did I mention Stan Lee attended this year?); more folks than ever are hitting the Atlanta skywalks to join fellow fans in nerdy revelry. So many more folks in fact, Dragon*Con will be expanding into a sixth building–The AmericasMart–for D*C 2013!
This year, I attended the annual parade on Peachtree St. as well as the True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Buffy & Angel, & Reading Rainbow panels! They were all so good, very fun, and each a unique experience. Everyone was in great spirits and this year (as opposed to last year’s Buffy panel) all of the fans were respectful! Check out videos and live tweets below.
If you’re ever in doubt as to what to buy for that nerd in your life, a membership to Dragon*Con will always be a winner!
You may have noticed a picture of J. August Richards & I! We’d been facebook buds for a while and finally got to meet! He was so nice and down to earth. I was incredibly nervous! Our little conversation was definitely the highlight of my weekend. The Buffy & Angel Q&A he co-hosted was really delightful. I truly hope he returns next year, maybe I’ll be less nervous!
I also had chance to meet the impossibly talented Nelsan Ellis. I don’t understand why he isn’t sleeping on a pile of awards every night.
I had been thinking for a while what I would say, but whatever I came up with just totally left my mind. I babbled big time! I flitted from subject to subject: the weekly live threads I hosted on G+, a fellow fan who was really inspired by him, his work on his short film Page 36 and an upcoming portrayal of MLK. Before I was gently ushered away by his assistant I asked him if he knew how to twerk.
In the last episode of the most recent season of True Blood, Lafayette dipped a hip in such a way I just wondered! Nelsan was a good sport, but said he didn’t know what twerking was and then asked me to show him! I was slightly taken aback, but quickly explained I was not blessed with tool-set required to twerk well (noazzatall). My friends maintain he was trying trick me into twerking at Dragon*Con!
What do you get when you mix a police procedural with a graphic novel? If you’re lucky, you get Gotham Central created by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark. The series presents the mixed feelings regarding masked ‘heroes.’ For some reason, until this novel, I never thought they would be pissed at Batman. I had always imagined that maybe they were grateful for his help. At times, my logic is faulty. In fact, what initially kept me interested was the fact that a lot of them blamed Batman for the more creative fatal twist of crime in Gotham despite being run by a Commissioner who was pretty handy with the bat signal. My heart was not completely won, however, until the “Half A Life” storyline featuring my now favorite comic book character, Renee Montoya.
“Half A Life” ran through issues 6-10 and is basically the coming out story of Renee Montoya. She is ‘outed’ at her work place and to her parents before she was ready to tell anyone. It is unclear, in fact if she was ever going to come out. She deals with the expected harsh results from the work place (despite her immediate boss being famous lesbian cop Maggie Sawyer) and the more heartbreaking results from her parents. Oh yea, she’s kidnapped by Two Face who is in love with her during this time but that’s neither here nor there.
Gotham Central begins my fascination with Renee Montoya but not just because they featured a woman of color lesbian cop. It was because the series took the time to go into her problems with anger that eventually escalate throughout the series and result in one awesome cover. See?
Her sexual orientation was not forgotten but it was not the only thing that was ever going on with that character. I followed her story almost immediately throughout 52 which just resulted in me loving her more. I’m an all day sucker for a character who is going through a really hard time and becomes apathetic and drunk. I just love it. They were able to do this (and other great stories in that series i.e. Booster Gold) and still bring her back up without feeling as though we glossed over some bits.
In the end, thanks to great training and after pissing off Black Adam, which can’t really be that hard, Renee Montoya becomes what her original job and department despised…a masked ‘hero.’ She is *dramatic pause* THE QUESTION. She even had time to date and hook up with Kate Kane aka Batwoman. In the early issues of the revamped Batwoman, The Question was given her own storyline. And then…that was it. Besides her picture on a wall in an issue in Batwoman right before she dates aforementioned famous lesbian cop Maggie Sawyer.
Which leads me to THE QUESTION. Is Renee Montoya a victim of this Reboot that DC sells as a great idea? I sincerely hope not. She is great character and there is potential for more story should someone take the time to write it and treat her with the respect that Rucka did. I haven’t given up on hope. I’m pretty sure my “Please Don’t let Lafayette Be The Body in The Car” mental chanting campaign is what kept him around for latter seasons. So…I guess I’ll be using that same hope for a character that I’ve loved for years now. “Please Don’t Renee Montoya be just a picture a wall.” Repeat 3x a day.
“Welcome to Tranquility” is a two volume, 14 issues total comic book series created by Gail Simone and Neil George in 2007. It is the story of a small town populated by World War II era superheroes, super villains and their families. It gives you glimpse of what happens when they age instead of staying forever young as they do in the pages of popular cape stories. Throughout the series, you get family histories and past grudges. I think it’s also interesting that you see the generations of heroes and how the younger ones evolve. They are referred to as the Liberty Snots. It takes place in the Wildstorm Universe and is complete with references to characters. I was not aware of the Wildstorm universe when I read this book and did not feel lost. So, no need to spend hours looking members of The Authority in order to “get” this series. It is filled with, for lack of better terms, colorful and creative characters like Emoticon, a villain who only gets more interesting. Seriously, he wears his LCD screen face all of the time that displays his emotions through….EMOTICONS!
The first six series limited issue is focused on solving the death of one of the local heroes, Mr. Articulate. The sheriff must solve mystery while also dealing with a reporter and her cameraman who just happened to be around when this all went down. As most mysteries go, things are not what they appear and within six issues, Simone’s tendency to go dark happens quickly and will leave fans with a sense of satisfaction. The mixture of humor, action and drama works really well. The second volume, Welcome to Tranquility One Foot in the Grave, has much of the same positive points as the first except the payoff does not have the same impact. It would still be worth reading; however, because it does flesh out stories more.
My favorite part of this series is the town sheriff. She is Sheriff Thomasina “Tommy” Lindo and she is the main character. Her grandfather was a superhero, The Black Glider. This was one of the biggest draws for me because she’s an African-American woman in law enforcement and in the lead. I won’t lie, seeing an African-American not being Fox from Wanted, tends to get me excited. Besides that, however, she also feels like a real character and not a magical flawless wise Negro character that teaches everyone a lesson about something. I am usually nervous when white authors take on the task of writing black characters but I don’t remember cringing once. She doesn’t possess any superpowers, just quick thinking and quirky sayings. I also enjoyed reading storylines with her sister, Seresa Lindo. She gets more interesting the second volume.
So, in conclusion, pretty good idea to read this series. It’s short so there’s no long-term commitment and if you find that you get exhausted from learning the history of well-established characters and multiple universes then this is a nice vacation.
My journey to Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples was slow. The first thing I heard about Saga was the upset of Dave Dorman over the breast feeding on the cover. That link is not safe for work. It showcases Dorman’s cover art work which I guess can be seen as less offensive than breastfeeding if you’re Dave Dorman. I was interested for two minutes and then went back to my life. Months later, I picked up my first issues of previews because Saga’s cover was the cover (and news on Fairest was featured). By the time I bought Saga, I was able to get the first two chapters. I have no regrets and so begins the review.
The issues are labeled Chapters and this is the first lovely aspect of the comic series. I am a person who invests in monthly comic issues because it’s rare that I can wait for them to bound in a trade paper back. There are times I feel as though for 2.99 (3.99 for Ultimate Spiderman) I should get quality and quantity. For the most part, I feel though I’ve read something great but the issues are so thin. Saga does not have this problem. These chapters really feel like a chapter in a book. There is some thickness to them and it’s glorious. This matters to me and it might matter to you. I shall have no problem adding this to my hold list.
However delightful, the thickness is not the only reason I’d recommend you pick up this series. It is the classic star-crossed, Romeo and Juliet type situation of two lovers from warring sides of the universe. I’m sure that’s what Shakespeare would have gone for if he thought of it first. Marko and Alana are on the run with their baby who occasionally narrates for you. Now, that is pretty much enough to catch my interest. This series goes further. In two chapters, the universe of Saga is detailed without too much exposition. There is n The focus isn’t solely on the husband and wife team that shouldn’t be happening. There’s a war hero, a couple of free lancers, a cat that can tell if you’re lying and so much more. I feel as though Vaughn had fun with this new world and whatever weird thing he could have that didn’t suck, went into the book. Also, two words for you: Naked Robots. Just saying.
And the artwork. Fiona Staples did a fantastic job. Everything is sharply drawn and the cover was not offensive. My favorite mixture of gorgeous horror can be found in the character The Stalk. The coloring is fabulous. I just love the way this looks. I am looking forward to reading and just taking in this whole series. So far, Image Comics is winning me.
Wow it’s been awhile since we’ve had one of these. I know, how horrible of me, but that doesn’t mean the action has stopped here.
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You think we’re being racist, my Mom said so many times as I was growing up, when we went round and round about these weird books and movies. I heard an accusation. But what she and my Dad were trying to make me hear was their question: Why do you love a thing that won’t even let you exist within their made up worlds?
- Pam Noles, “Shame” (via Racebending)
The debacle this week surrounding some fans of The Hunger Games made it painfully clear, once again, that geekdom has a major problem with many discussions–or even acknowledgements–of race as part of our day-to-day existences. One would like to think that the new ventures of geek celebrities Felicia Day and Chris Hardwick can, eventually, help with that process.
But the early indications aren’t promising.
Let’s start with Hardwick’s Nerdist YouTube Channel, which he says represents the “full spectrum of Nerdist culture,” even as the clip above showed the most limited of perspectives. The only people of color shown were Asian-American cosplayer Linda Le (who wasn’t even identified) and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. There was also no mention of the channel’s only other contributor of color, Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani.
The second trailer for the channel is even more disappointing:
To recap: there’s 30 white people shown, and maybe only four people of color in that trailer; the cast of “Nerdterns,” composed of interns at Milestone Comics in Los Angeles, did not identify itself. But even counting some of its’ members as POC, that’s four out of 34 total people on camera–an 11 percent staffing rate. In any other industry, the “full spectrum” of Hardwick’s vision would come across as very limited, indeed.
The inclusion of a member of Finnish stunt team The Dudesons as the host of “Weird Sh-t From Japan” points to something just as problematic. With that title, it’s not easy to imagine the show doing anything more than reducing the country that gave us Akira, Akira Kurosawa, Captain Harlock,Cowboy Bebop,Robotech,Macross Plus,Ninja Scroll,Battle Royale,13 Assassins, and the original Godzilla, King of The Monsters, to name just a few examples of works with their own devoted fandoms, to random clips from some “wacky” game show.
And The Dudesons already have their own show on the channel. In the wake of the whitewashing nonsense that derailed film adaptations of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Akira, was the Nerdist creative team really unable to figure out that perhaps a more respectful look at Japanese contributions to pop culture–or at the very least, an Asian-American host–might have been an easier sell to a bigger audience?
Day’s YouTube channel, Geek and Sundry, will also feature at least a few POC, if perhaps only briefly:Mythbusters‘ Grant Imahara appears in the trailer above for Wil Wheaton’s program “Tabletop,” and the inclusion of Day’s webseries The Guild will mean exposure for at least two characters of color. But none of the shows announced so far for her channel are hosted by a person of color.
Which isn’t to say, of course, that either Day or Hardwick are bad people or individually prejudiced. But while it’s good that Hardwick’s channel includes a show featuring Tyson, as well as How To Be Black author Baratunde Thurston appear on Hardwick’s podcast for a discussion that included race, it has to be said: conversations about race, gender, and culture have to take place outside of Special Episodes.
It’s not enough anymore for people of color and members of the LGBT community to be presented as the Special Guests, or the (x) Friends of the Host, or the Supporting Players. There’s more than enough proof online that our experiences as fans are not automatically divorced from our experiences as members of minority groups, and that there’s many of us looking for more safe spaces in which to discuss them. If some geeks of color don’t want to discuss sensitive topics, that’s fine; that doesn’t mean none of us ever should.
Because while it’s all too easy for people to distance themselves from those racist Hunger Games fans, those viewpoints don’t appear out of thin air, either.
When woman-oriented sites like The Mary Sue don’t report on Issa Raegetting assailed by racist tweeters after winning an industry award, that contributes to the problem. When a sci-fi heavy site like IO9 is content to let Jezebel report on the Games controversy, that contributes to the problem. When Marvel Comics would rather publish stories about the umpteenth version of Dark Avengers than about a group of black Avengers, that contributes to the problem. And when only 11 percent of someone’s YouTube channel talent is made up of people who are not white, that contributes to the problem. Unintentional marginalization is still marginalization.
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We are way past the time when Day or Hardwick–or any party wanting to bill itself as a representative of geekdom–can hide behind the explanation that “we couldn’t find anyone” or couldn’t spot content online that might deliver a more inclusive version of geekdom to viewers. Does Hannibal Tabu need to wear Sith t-shirts? What does it say about gaming and that fandom when gamers who aren’t hetero white cis males are made to feel like they should hide their identities? Should the folks at The Border House start podcasting in Klingon to get consideration for a shot in one of these channels?
The near-dogmatic focus on “staying positive”–code for avoiding the topic entirely–does no one any good when it’s just Cheryl Lynn Eaton pointing out that Marvel Comics currently has no black writers while sites like Newsarama and Comic Book Resources keep quiet. That silence, intentional or not, sends the same kind of message to our subcultures as it does to the world at large:
There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner: newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”; we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic. One cumulative effect of this policed language is that when someone dares to point out something as obvious as white privilege, it is seen as unduly provocative. Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer; the effect of this enforced civility is that those voices are falsified or blocked entirely from the discourse.
And as this week has reminded us all, geekdom is not immune from any of those problems. Our various communities have been part of fandoms from the get-go– no matter what industry narratives want to say–and it’s people like Day and Hardwick who became stars outside of the traditional studio structure, who are in a prime position to help circumvent those boundaries and create more truly inclusive visions of geekdom. But that’s never going to be until the people who purport to give us the “full spectrum” of our fandoms start facing up to the realities–and privileges–they’ve been content to sweep under the rug for way too long.
The buzz around “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time” should come as no surprise. Our love of adapting well known stories is hardly anything new. Gregory Maguire has been doing it since at least the mid 1990s. Before Ron Pearlman was making you uneasy as Clay Morrow, he was Beast in the television series “Beauty and The Beast from 1987 to 1990. In fact, most of Disney’s ‘fairy tales’ are adaptions and I know I couldn’t have been the only excited 12 year old watching Brandy as Cinderella. Another stunning example comes from one my favorite graphic novel series “Fables.”
“Fables” follows the ‘real’ lives of our beloved fable/fairy tale characters living in exile from their homelands. They have been living among us in this realm for centuries without our knowledge of their identity. A majority of them live in Fabletown, a town in New York accessible only to Fables. There is also a farm for characters whose presence would be hard to explain to Mundy (non Fables, humans…us) society. This schism in the community becomes a ongoing topic that never quite goes away because even though the farm is pleasant, it still feels like a prison. In fact, a few Fables are sent there as punishment. The series covers popular Fables such as Snow White and lesser known ones such as her sister Rose Red alike.
Due to the subject matter, Willingham has a great deal to work with and so far he has done a great job. He successfully makes what could be an old trick feel new. While the series is definitely humorous, it is not without its darkness. After all, not all fables were singing birds and beautiful princesses. The series starts with not so subtle hints that ‘happily ever after’ isn’t how the lives of Fables usually play out. For instance, there is an arguement between Snow White and Beauty (I love being able to say that) and she brings up the seven dwarfs. Snow White’s reaction clearly indicates that what happened was horrible and not up for discussion. It and other stories are discussed more in 1001 Nights of Snowfall, a prequel. This is just one twist to the stories most people grew up loving. There are some stranger ones, such as the truth about Goldilocks.
Another thing I love about Fables? It doesn’t sit still. Fables, written by Bill Willingham, began in 2002 and is on its 110 issue. During this time, the series has done a few spin offs and specials including two major Cinderella mini series (Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and Cinderella: Fables are Forever) and Jack of Fables which ran for 50 issues ending March 2011. In 2009, Fables released an illustrated novel “Peter & Max: A Fables Novel.” In 2006, the aforementioned prequel “1001 Nights of Snowfall” was released. Fables Vol. 13 is a crossover between Fables and Jack of Fables. Its 100th issue was slim trade paperback with a fun game. What also enhances the series is the great artwork. The main artists listed are: Mark Buckingham, Lan Medina, Craig Hamilton, and Steve Leialoha. The covers are beautiful and the characters are well drawn.
So if you know a fan of shows like Once Upon a Time, Grimm, and books like Wicked I would definitely recommend you show her or him this series. I think those who enjoy Grimms’ Fairy tales and the stories of Hans Christen Anderson would also get a kick out of this. The feeling I had when reading this was something like the feeling I had when I found the original version of The Little Mermaid except better. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but that type of information was more fun as an adult.
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