CONvergence 2014 panel audio: Superheroes in our Modern Day Pantheons

This conversation ended up taking quite a few unexpected twists, including a lengthy interjection by a stalwart of the comic books industry that you’ll need to hear if you’re any sort of comics nerd. It was a small room, thankfully, and he was seated in the front, so it should be relatively audible. The panel also took a number of theological turns that I wasn’t expecting, mostly owing to ideological differences between myself and one of the panelists.

Nobody really worships Hercules or Thor as Greek and Norse gods anymore, but don’t despair, because now they’re both members of The Avengers. This panel will explore the commonalities and differences between our ancient and modern pantheons.

Panelists: David Schwartz, Jason Thibeault, Roy T Cook, Jonathan Palmer, Ryan Consell

Sincere apologies for the noise at about 20 mins — I tried to quiet it somewhat, but you may want to be careful with your volume then nonetheless. Ryan Consell dumped half a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper on my phone when he reacted to a comment by one of the other panelists. Luckily, the phone survived, and wasn’t even sticky thanks to it being “diet”. But boy did mopping it up cause a racket on the mic!

[audio:http://cdn1.the-orbit.net/lousycanuck/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/cvg2014-panel2-superheroes_modern_pantheon.mp3]

(or download the Superheroes in our Modern Day Pantheons mp3 – 31.1 megs)

CONvergence 2014 panel audio: Superheroes in our Modern Day Pantheons
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Hugh Jackman for Men vs Hugh Jackman for Women

The Mary Sue points out this probably entirely unintentional juxtaposition of Hugh Jackman magazine covers, illustrating beautifully the fact that idealized comic book males are actually male power fantasies, not designed to be beefcake for women the same way that the comic book ladies are cheesecake for men.
Continue reading “Hugh Jackman for Men vs Hugh Jackman for Women”

Hugh Jackman for Men vs Hugh Jackman for Women

Ashley, Heina and I talking about rape, comics and conventions

Three disparate topics, not exactly light conversation to start off, but we got progressively less ragey at least. It was an interesting conversation tonight on the Ashley F. Miller Show. (The F stands for “Fuckin'”. [No it doesn’t. And you’d know that if you’d watched FtBCon!])

It was a relief to be on a panel I wasn’t running, with people who needed no prompting to set things up appropriately, after having done that all weekend long. Though I think I might be burned out on public appearances for a little bit. Let me restock on spoons for a bit, then we’ll see.

Also: I can’t believe I misattributed the nude revolutionary calendar to Taslima Nasreen. Now both she and Maryam Namazie are going to hate me. 🙁

Ashley, Heina and I talking about rape, comics and conventions

CONvergence – Gods of Geekdom panel audio

I absolutely enjoyed this panel. It was thorough, informative, and hilarious. We discussed gods and god-concepts in various sci fi and fantasy fandoms, including comic books, novels and even video games.

Panelists were Nick Glover, Ryan Consell, Jason Thibeault and Fionnuala Murphy.

[audio:http://cdn1.the-orbit.net/lousycanuck/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/07/cvg2013-skepchickcon-godsofgeekdom.mp3]

cvg2013-skepchickcon-godsofgeekdom.mp3

CONvergence – Gods of Geekdom panel audio

Seelix on how to spot and how to shame fake geeks

Seelix (whom you might know as Emily, the comic book costumer) has had it UP TO HERE (err, imagine me waving my hand animatedly at forehead level) with the scourge of the fandom community, the breed of supposed fan that just sucks all the joy out of being a dyed-in-the-wool fan of science fiction, fantasy and comics: the dreaded Fake Geek.

It’s time to put our collective feet down and put a stop to the mindless worship of these faux-nerds. They ruin everything with their perfect bodies and their skin-tight costumes. They ruin everything with their laughing eyes, hiding the contempt they feel for us, the real nerds. They ruin everything when they reject us when we so kindly show them the attention they were obviously asking for with their skimpy outfits. They ruin everything when they pretend to get angry when we give them a little extra grab while they take a picture with us.

It’s why they do it. They secretly love the attention. They love the groping. They love the constant romantic overtures. They only complain because they think they’re supposed to. After all, they wouldn’t dress sexily if they didn’t want the attention.

And that’s exactly why they do it. It’s obvious. They absolutely love the attention they get when donning skintight spandex and prancing around in front of their adoring sycophants.

I mean, look at these guys. Do you really believe they’re nerds? Come on.

I demand that you read on, so you know how best to identify these fake geeks and nerds who have infiltrated our community to pick up poor socially-awkward nerd girls by putting on spandex costumes and being all hot and shit. Preying on nerdy females’ vulnerabilities by pretending to like and know about the things that they like. Bah! Bet they couldn’t even name all the Green Lanterns.

Though, I think she might just be bitter. I saw her boyfriend at CONvergence and he seems to be one of “them” — bet he doesn’t even really know who Hawkeye is, or his real name (no, his first name is NOT “Agent”!), or what his non-Avengers costume looks like. Next time I see him, I’ll ask him all sorts of uncomfortable questions rather than just taking it on faith that he’s actually a fan. Rassin’ frassin.

Seelix on how to spot and how to shame fake geeks

Happy 1 year anniversary, Escher Girls!

Escher Girls, the Tumblr blog devoted entirely to pointing out comics’ frequent anatomical impossibilities drawn in the name of making women look “sexy” (read: making them look like they have swivel waists and broken backs and are shaped like camels), celebrates its one-year anniversary. Go say Happy Birthday to Ami Angelwings on Twitter. She’s a fellow Canuck, don’tchaknow. Doing our country proud.

DC’s comic character Black Canary, in a very contorted battle stance, once featured on Escher Girls. Added because it happened to still be in my media library.

And don’t miss the Tumblr blog itself, where there’s sure to be birthday celebration boobs-and-butt drawings! (That girl at the link’s name is Liefelda.)

Happy 1 year anniversary, Escher Girls!

Megaman, Liefeld Style

I’m sure you’re wondering where I’ve been this weekend. I built myself a new media server using Serviio so I won’t get caught flat-footed on another NASA live-stream, so I can stream it to my PS3 in the future. My wife and I went to see Brave and Avengers at a real honest-to-goodness drive-in (yes, we still have those here!) on Saturday night. And I’ve also been tinkering with a whole-site backup of Freethought Blogs, trying to run it off my netbook just to see what happens (and to give myself a playground in case I decide to go all mad scientist). Plus, I’ve been on overnights for work for two straight weeks, and look to have two more before getting back to some semblance of normalcy Wednesday or so. Sorry I’ve been absent.

Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz is a comic artist whose work is heavy on Capcom representation. One of those representations apparently includes a piece he drew for a Megaman tribute
Continue reading “Megaman, Liefeld Style”

Megaman, Liefeld Style

Rush Limbaugh as The Penguin explains the Bat-Conspiracy against Romney

You have to admit, Oswald Cobblepot is actually significantly more sane-sounding than this normally. Jimmy Kimmel pretty much picked the perfect clips to show how ridiculous Limbaugh’s accusations are, because the clips of Bane are from an episode that first aired September 10, 1994. If there was a secret plot to make Mitt Romney look stupid and evil, it would have had to hatch eighteen years ago.

This evil villain was even in Batman and Robin, which I’m sure you’ve all scrubbed from your memories for Bane being such an ineffectual villain and for the existence of Bat-nipples. And yet somehow this was a plot against Romney — despite the fact that, when the first trailers for The Dark Knight Rises were showing up, we still thought Newt Fucking Gingrich was going to be Obama’s opponent.

Anyway, it’s ridiculous to say anything in the Batman mythology is politically tilted against Republicans in any way, frankly — it’s one long capitalist power fantasy. It’s Objectivism writ large, where the rich make the rules and personally destroy through physical violence and psychological terrorism any deviance from the script. Not that those fantastic elements don’t make for an entertaining story, mind you. I love the hell out of the Batman mythology, to be perfectly frank, even despite (and in some cases because of) it being so diametrically opposed to many of my own personal ideologies.

(Yes, I’ve heard about the theatre shooting. That’ll be a different post, please and thanks.)

Rush Limbaugh as The Penguin explains the Bat-Conspiracy against Romney

DC announces a prominent superhero will come out of the closet

Bleeding Cool reports:

One question asked at the DC panel today at the Kapow comic convention in London, was about DC co-publisher Dan DiDio’s interview with The Advocate. Specifically over the decision not to change any character’s sexual orientation when relaunching the DC Universe. At the time Dan stated they would introduce new LGBT characters rather than switch orientation, but the question asked why DC would switch race, size, age, all sorts of identifying features, but not orientation.

Surprisingly, Dan stated that they had changed DC’s policy in this regard. And they ae about to reintroduce a previously existing DC character who was previously straight and now will be “one of our most prominent gay characters.”

Continue reading “DC announces a prominent superhero will come out of the closet”

DC announces a prominent superhero will come out of the closet