It's hard to pinpoint what set off the chain of events that led me to be one of PinkKyptonite's humbled new writers, but my unhealthy fixation with comics probably has its roots in my childhood obsession with art.
Sketching and painting had always been my passions as a kid. At the tender age of seven, I drew my first comic starring myself and my younger cousin, practicing my cursive in those oh-so-tricky speech bubbles. In it, my prolific drawing had given me ultra-flexible arms, and my cousin's soccer prodigy had granted him super-powered legs. And we were from Jupiter. So the army of Teletubbies we fought in that issue didn't stand a chance.
My name is Klarion, and I grew up in a town with no comics shop.
It's true. I was born and raised in a highly rural area in the American southeast. It was a mixed blessing, I assure you: on the one hand, endless woods to explore as a child; on the other, rednecks with guns. We take the good with the bad in all things and looking back time has sanded down enough corners that I don't really regret a life without cable television. My point is, as a child my access to comics was limited to a half-dozen titles kept in rotation on the bottom of the spinning magazine rack at a gas station across the valley.
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!
Greetings, I'm Il Palazzo, and I'll be your resident manga expert. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Who the hell is Il Palazzo, and what's all this crazy manga talk?" It's true, Pink Kryptonite has always been dedicated to Americomics, but I believe people should be fans of all types of books-with-pictures. Think you can't get into manga? Think again. Check out the top five reasons you should branch out after the jump.
And finally, last but not least (but certainly more mean-looking), we have Mr. Jerusalem who has an excellent pulse on all things that involve webcomics.
Born to mortal parents in the depths of icy north, deep in the darkest days of winter, Mr. Jerusalem rose form his humble beginnings, mostly due to what people refer to as "The Noodle Incident". His powers include: Super word mangling abilities; his pet cat Chesterfield McGovern III who ignores his every command; an encyclopedic knowledge of webcomics and the useless crap associated; and flight. Bi-sexual, sleepy, and a godless Canadian Bastard; Mr. Jerusalem spends his days stocking movies for people who hate him, his nights spent perusing all the comics he can get his scrawny fingers on. Truly, he is a testament to the power of the post-modern man.
Welcome, welcome! Please take your shoes off before stepping into the PK Lair hidden deep beneath Gaygamer Castle...it's not a cleanliness thing, I just have a foot fetish...what? TMI?
Number three on our list is Rogue Fan! He brings his many years of comic book expertise and his love for, well Rogue.
As a comic fan for longer than he cares to admit, Rogue Fan has a vast encyclopedia of knowledge in his brain about most things comics. Having grown up on superhero comics like the Avengers, X-Men, and Legion of Superheroes, Rogue Fan has developed a taste for a variety of comics including some of the more independent titles like Noble Causes, Walking Dead, Dynamo 5, Everybody's Dead, Invincible, and Echo. When not doing his day job or writing about comics, Rogue Fan can usually be found at Whatever, his favorite neighborhood comic store, where he can geek out with fellow comic fans every other week for their regular chat night, which strangely enough has been mistaken for a seance once or twice. Oh, and in case it isn't obvious, Rogue Fan is a huge fan of the X-Man Rogue.
Welcome aboard! Please don't use the company credit card to buy your Rogue cosplay costume!
For our second writer reveal, we have Elf Girl, who has volunteered to staff the PK Comic Book Store (a fictional place that represents an actual comic store, capice?).
Elf Girl has been a geek for as long as she can remember. From watching Willow and Star Trek: TNG when she was an elfling, to playing video games and reading way too many comics for her own good as an adult, Elf Girl is firmly entrenched as a geek. Even her work life is geeky, working on freelance flats for comics during the day, working at a comic shop at night, and reviewing video games for a small site, you'd think she'd be sick of it by now. Instead, she decided to take on some writing duties for PK. [Editor's note: If she gets sick of it, it's her own damn fault, we warned her.] When not being a total geek, she likes to bike around Mad Town, work on her photography, graphic designs, and garden with her longtime girlfriend.
Welcome aboard! You can find the PK Comic Book Store in the lower levels of Gaygamer Castle. Elf Girl is there to attend to any of your comic book questions and needs.
If you have a question about comic book store etiquette or just want to know more about what actually goes on in a comic store, please send us your questions. You can email us here. Please add "A Question For Elf GIrl" on the subject line.
We here at PK love our comics. We're also aware that a large majority of you love manga. Here to bring you the best of both worlds is Il Palazzo!
For several years, Il Palazzo was the leader of the secret organization known as ACROSS, but after several failed attempts at cleansing this rotten world, he finally decided to call it quits. He relocated to the US and started a small career as a professional blogger. Unfortunately, no one seemed to care about his opinions on the corruption of our planet (and when asked exactly how it was corrupt, he would always decline to comment). So, he moved on again, this time to Pink Kryptonite, where he will discuss the deep-seated corruption of today's manga (and maybe some Americomics too).
Wow. When we asked if anybody wanted to be a writer for PK, we didn't realize that we would get so many submissions! There were a lot of great writers in the bunch, and if you didn't make it this round, don't worry, we do have your submissions archived should the need ever arise again.
Tomorrow (I am writing this Sunday night), you'll see a brand new team of writers. We will be joined by four new staff members that will be revealed throughout the day.
For now, check out the all new PK staff in all of their comic book avatar glory (well, except for Sgt. Sausagepants, but we borrowed him from Gaygamer, so all is forgiven).
Finally, a big thank you to you folks, the readers! Thanks for making our readership grow everyday and for making us a part of your internet browsing experience!
We mentioned that we're looking for a few good writers last week, and we've received quite a few e-mails from interested folks.
We're still reviewing submissions and the final decisions will be made next week, which means you still have time to shoot me an e-mail if you are interested.
Please remember these guidelines when applying:
Must be able to commit to a weekly schedule (don't worry, it's pretty lenient).
Must be willing to interview comic industry folks.
Must be interested and capable of maintaining regular features.
Be sure to include relevant writing samples (a sample review of a comic book for example)
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]...
