You guys may recall I was a bit cranky about Northstar and his lack of lovin' about a year and a half ago. In fact, at the time, I issued a challenge to Marvel to get him a kiss by June 2009 or I would declare him not really gay.
I have not forgotten about this.
However, when the X-men moved to San Francisco this year, we were teased with the existence of what looked to be Northstar's boyfriend (and manager), so I delayed judgment until we could see more.
Since then, Northstar hasn't had a lot of major appearances, as there have been about a thousand major crossover events in the Marvel universe in the last six months, and each one tends to disrupt the normal storyline for most books, including the many X-books. So I waited.
Our patience seems to have been rewarded! Artist Tim Fish revealed on his blog that his upcoming story in Nation X #2 (which comes out in Jan.) is a story about Northstar, and will feature Kyle, his boyfriend in an 8-page story. I'm not sure if an actual kiss is in it, but it's implied that there is some lovin' going on. Check out some sketches of Northstar, Kyle, and Aurora below, and we'll keep you up to date when we get closer to Jan.
Those oh-so-crazy goth girls of the video game world are infiltrating California's Meltdown Comics and you're invited! The Suicide Girls will be signing and hanging out at Meltdown Comics on December 11th and the best state with a pacific Ocean coastline's biggest comic shop wants you there!
Why am I posting this, you may ask? Well, for one, Meltdown Comics is a great store I was lucky enough to visit last time I was out in L.A. for work. Also, while the Suicide Girls aren't necessarily comics-centric, they represent a minority within a very, VERY white male dominated genre. Regardless of your feelings towards the SG's themselves, they've carved out a fair sized niche in an industry that doesn't take too well "their kind."
If you want to show your support, hit the jump for the full press release including times, locations and all that jazz.
If you're familiar with anime, you may be familiar with the name Jamie McGonnigal. If not, you may more then likely know some of these titles: Jungle Emperor Leo, Weiss Kreuz, World of Narue, One Piece, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, or even Viva Pinata. Jamie's dubbed them all. An award-winning voice actor, Jamie has done work in anime, video games, and even the occasional American cartoon. He also happens to be gay. I pulled up an e-chair and sat down with Jamie, getting a nice inside look at the industry. Jamie also shared some juicy tidbits about Kizuna, one of the first yaoi (or gay-themed anime for those not in the know) to be dubbed in the states. Read on for the full interview.
Today I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. This week is a thing I wrote last year after I worked a shift at the comic shop on Halloween as Spider-Girl. I was going to wait until Halloween to do it, then realized I probably would be writing what happens this Halloween then.
Tale #11 ~ The Amazing Spider-Girl
I love Halloween; when else do you get to dress up like something cool and not be (completely) mocked? Last year, I worked out most things, such as getting hospital booties from a co-worker to keep my feet from getting dirty (the costume doesn't have any padding or protection for the feet. It's all the same cloth), working out a hair net (My hair is long and hard to get into the mask alone) and finding a pin to hold the neck together more so I don't look like I have a massively bulky neck. :P
I went to the store out of costume and put it on in the bathroom. I can see why the Spider-people leave the costume on underneath. It takes way too long to put it on. :P After struggling with my hair and the makeshift nylon hair net and zipping the costume up over all of that, I was out in the main part of the store after 5 minutes, mask and all.
I usually wear fairly tight fitting clothing every day, at least in summer. I didn't think the Spider-Girl costume would really feel all that different on me; it didn't in the comfort of my own home. I should have guessed that being in something that is essentially a second skin in a comic store would feel totally different. I felt naked, yet clothed. It's an odd feeling and for the first half hour or so I wasn't really sure what to do with myself.
Today I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. On with the stories.
Tale #9 ~ The Truthsayer Strikes Back
It's so incredibly irritating how often people in the store (female and male), will ask me questions, get an answer, then later ask Bill or Jake the same question and get the same answer. It's annoying, though sometimes amusing. In this case it was amusing because if the guy had just listened to me, he would have saved $6.
It was near the end of the day, and I was doing inventory. Which of late isn't anything new. Inventory in this context, is defined as a level of retail hell that lasts forever. This man walks in and kind of looks around a bit. He's kind of a jittery personality, like he's had too much coffee or a cola or something. He comes to the desk and asks if the Wizard we have out is the latest. I tell him it is. He asks for an opened copy. Lucky for him, we actually had one.
Today I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. On with the stories.
Tale #7 ~ Return of the Living Geek Girl
One thing I like about Jake's Saturdays is that he often catches up on work in the back room while I spend most of the day in the main part by myself. This means the customers have to ask me questions rather than going to whichever of the guys happens to be there. And it's really nice to be the one person they go to, even if it is just every other Saturday.
This past Saturday a man was in with his son. The man had been into comics when he was younger and was now looking to get his kids into comics as well. Obviously, quite a bit had changed since he read comics, so I got to fill him in on quite a bit. Including stuff in relation to the Comics Code Authority, The Seduction of the Innocent, and current rating system on some major publishers (or lack thereof. I'm looking at you, DC). While explaining it, another man, about the same age as the first tuned into the conversation and during a pause, commented "Wow...you really know your stuff!" and asked me a question (to which he knew the answer) about the whole Harry Osborne drug addiction story that was asked for by the anti-drug part of the government and rejected by the CCA part. I answered it and he was more surprised.
And our second new writer is none other than Jaffa!
What the hell does Jaffa mean? Good question...I'll let him introduce himself.
Jaffa may or may not be either an alien symbiote, or a delicious Euro snack-- which is odd as he's neither from space nor Europe. More importantly, he's an aspiring comic artist who takes an academic approach to the world of comics-- he uses terms like 'mood' and 'tone' when talking about indie rags, and says 'moar pl0x' to webcomics. He once had aspirations to take over the world, but when seeing how much competition there was decided to head the counter-movement. You're welcome to join. We have cake (maybe).
See? It's so simple, really.
Anyway, Jaffa will be helping us out with his art and webcomic skills, so keep an eye out for his stuff!
It's time to once again introduce you to one of our new writers! Dr. Lexicon will be our resident horror comic book expert and he will spend most of his time at the PK Lair creeping us the hell out.
Awesome!
Dr. Lexicon's origin is steeped in urban legend. Some say his parents were Wal-Mart cultists. Others claim he is a spectre from the deadlands and can be summoned by turning around 100 times while drinking a mocha latte in front of a comic store. While he doesn't deny these stories, Lexicon blames his horror obsession on his brother and the video for "Thriller." Students claim to see him haunting campus and teaching classes on pop culture and horror fiction. As his own cult following continues to grow, Dr. Lexicon's motives are unknown at this time. Getting his writing published has only increased his dark powers. What we do know is that he is addicted to comics, an addiction that began almost 20 years ago. A Marvel Zombie at the time, Lexicon only read Avengers West Coast and X-Men. Eventually, he discovered DC Comics. The addiction intensified from there. These days he reads horror comics to feed his undead hunger, but he still has a weakness for superheroes, especially Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, and The Legion.
There you have it!
Stay tuned for more blood and guts...and the introduction of our second brand spanking new writer!
Back in June, for Pride month, I issued a challenge to Marvel. Get Northstar kissed. Why? Because it's been 16 years since he came out, and we've yet to see him kiss, hug, or show physical affection of any kind to another man. As part of that article, I mentioned a current storyline in Ultimate X-Men, in which it appeared Ultimate Northstar had died. The debate shifted, from Northstar's love life, to his dying (again).
Well, the story arc in question just wrapped up last week, and while they are a bit worse for wear, Ultimate Northstar and Colossus are both alive and recovering. Now that it's over, Ultimate X-Men Writer Aron Coleite graciously took some time to talk to us about the book, the characters, gay icons in comics, and more.
Today, and weekly from now (until I think of a tip, actually) on I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. On with the stories.
Tale #6 ~ The Secret Admirer
I'm going to be kind of vague with this one. Mainly because I don't know who this guy is, and I'm pretty sure it was not meant to be threatening in any way. Well, that's assuming that it's not the creepy guy that I originally thought it might be.
I got into work a few months ago and Jake came up to me and said "Meg, I have something to show you." in this slightly foreboding tone. I thought "what, did I frak up the bank deposit last night?" Jake opens up his email and clicks on a link. This link is to a page that's in a "men seeking women" section. I won't say exactly what it says (trying to maintain a small level of anonymity here), but it's pretty clear the guy is talking about me. And that he has a crush on me.
Today, and weekly from now (until I think of a tip, actually) on I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. On with the stories.
Tale #3 ~ Spider-Man has Boobs?
No, this wasn't a quote. Not quite anyway. A couple came into the store looking for comics for their son (they said as much :P ). Their son was apparently fairly young as they went right to the children's area to look at the comics there. At one point, the man picks up one of the small trades of Spider-Girl and says out loud "Spider-Girl?"
"She's the daughter of Spider-Man, in an alternate future. It's pretty well done and would be great for kids as well as adults", I said. He looked at me incredulously. I explained further that it was done in a style similar to late silver age/early modern age in that while there is some angst, the story is overall very light; much different from the current Spidey books.
Still looking incredulous, he said "I don't know, I don't think I can accept a Spider-Man with boobs."
It was my turn to look incredulous. "Well, she's not Spider-Man. She's a different person with different troubles. She's more popular in school, she still has snarky comments in battle, but she's a different person."
"Yeah, I don't think so." He said, then bought a trade of the Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man.
I don't know what exactly he had a problem with. I don't know if it seemed like a marketing thing to get more people to read the comic, or if he really had a problem with female characters taking up the mantle of a male predecessor. I do wonder if there was a comic called "Spider-Boy, the Son of Spider-Man" if he would have had the same issue with it (if he had an issue with perceived marketing) or if he would have thought it was a great idea. Had it been my own store, I might have asked him. As it wasn't, I didn't, so I guess I will never know. Still, it was moderately irritating at the least.
A day late and a slightly different set up this time around. Today, and weekly from now (until I think of a tip, actually) on I will regale you with tales of the dark and mysterious comic shop; strange tales to chill your bones, scare little kids and...
Ah, frak it. On with the stories.
Tale #1 ~ Night of the Living Geek Girl
A semi-regular came into the shop, he doesn't buy a whole lot that I've seen, some DC's, an occasional Marvel, and mainly Hulk's. He'd apparently had a stressful day and was unwinding by talking to Bill (and by being in the store, me as well :P) I would get a few things in about things going on in comics, but he mainly talked to Bill, or talked at Bill anyway. As things went on, I got more and more in edgewise about things, sometimes Bill was unsure of details, sometimes, I just knew more than Bill did on a storyline.
We ended up getting on the subject of Green Lantern, and he was apparently somewhat confused on the whole thing (that there are so many centered around Earth). Bill told him about the history of the Earth GL's, I chimed in that Kyle Rayner became Ion after Hal Jordan came back, and he asked about Hal. I'd just read the whole Parallax story with Hal's return as GL, so I explained some of it.
He stopped me and said "I don't mean to sound sexist or anything..." Which you immediately know he's going to say something that's at least moderately sexist. It's the same when you hear someone say "I'm not a racist, but..." You just know the next thing out of their mouth will be racist in some fashion.
Northstar's Boyfriend Coming In January!
You guys may recall I was a bit cranky about Northstar and his lack of lovin' about a year and a half ago. In fact, at the time, I issued a challenge to Marvel to get him a kiss by June 2009 or I would declare him not really gay. I have not forgotten about this. However, when the X-men moved to San Francisco this year, we were teased with the existence of what looked to be Northstar's boyfriend (and manager), so I delayed judgment until we could see more. Since then, Northstar hasn't had a lot of major appearances, as there have been about a thousand major crossover events in the Marvel universe in the last six months, and each one tends to disrupt the normal storyline for most books, including the many X-books. So I waited. Our patience seems to have been rewarded! Artist Tim Fish revealed on his blog that his upcoming story in Nation X #2 (which comes out in Jan.) is a story about Northstar, and will feature Kyle, his boyfriend in an 8-page story. I'm not sure if an actual kiss is in it, but it's implied that there is some lovin' going on. Check out some sketches of Northstar, Kyle, and Aurora below, and we'll keep you up to date when we get closer to Jan. NATION X #2 1/6/10 [TimFishWorks]...
