Monthly Archive: April 2015

Will IDW’s New Jem Comic Cause Tweeks Civil War?

It’s not like we don’t fight — because we do, all sisters do — but we usually don’t have any problems with our pop culture picks. We like a lot of the same things most of the time.  But Jem seems to start a lot of arguments.  Maddy absolutely adores Jem, while Anya does not.  So, even though reviewing the new Jem comic from IDW risks a potential Tweeks Civil War, we did it anyway. So, yeah, you might sense a little friction in this week’s review — but actually, surprisingly, Jem and the Holograms Issue 1 written by Kelly Thompson was universally Tweeks Approved! 

Dennis O’Neil: This Shall Not Change!

I guess I should put some kind of SPOILER WARNING right here, up front. Isn’t that a rule?

So Arrow has made a devil’s deal with Ras Al Ghul and, in exchange for his sister’s life, agreed to become one of Ras’s League of Assassins. What next? I’ll be watching the CW on Wednesday night to find out, but in your time zone, that was yesterday.

The storyline is based on one that appeared in Batman some years ago. Adapting a Batman plot to the Arrow really isn’t much of a stretch – the characters, though impressive, are both thoroughly human and operate pretty much on the same scale. (I’m tempted to call it “mythic” but that might be edging toward pomposity so let’s settle for “primordial” and get on with it. Or is “primordial more pompous than mythic?)

The Arrow creative folk are basing their drama on the old Batman continuity to which I contributed, but they’re taking the basic ideas further and in the process making improvements. As I was watching the show I wondered if those improvements occurred to me, way back when.  Almost certainly not. Why? Well, uh…maybe because they break, or broke, some of the rules of superhero writing. And where, exactly, did I learn these rules? Were they written down, maybe on the walls of the publishing office? Given to me as part of a “welcome aboard” package? Or did some paternal executive, kindly eyes twinkling behind rimless glasses, take me aside and explain the facts of life to the new kid?

Nope, nope, and nope.

My best guess is, I intuited them, or figured them out, from the comic books I’d read. This, obviously, was how things were done. I’m not talking about sex or violence – we knew those had to be approached gingerly because of the times we were living in and that was no problem; I didn’t, and don’t, yearn to splash hormones and blood across the pages of comics. (The mandate, as always, is if the elements in question don’t serve the narrative, they probably don’t belong in the story.) No, the kind of unwritten taboo we’re discussing might have been broached if I’d had my masked vigilante reveal his real identity to the world, or had him ally with the villain, as Arrow apparently did last week.

Would rebellious li’l ol’ me have gotten away with such transgressions? Hard to say. Might have depended on who I was working for. Editors have their individual foibles. And there seemed to be no one way of reading and interpreting the Comics Code, the industry’s self-censoring tsar which was, presumably, the real rule setter. But nothing in the Code’s protocol mentioned double identities (though there was, if memory serves, a provision that dictated that the bad guys had to be in custody by story’s end.

(I did get away with depriving Green Arrow of his fortune and sending both the original Batwoman and Black Canary’s husband, Larry Lance, to their eternal rewards. Maybe nobody noticed.)

I guess the overarching commandment was: This Shall Not Change.

Some form of that is probably still The Commandment, but the enforcement is much more generous.

Alas, there was no rule, written or unwritten, that guarantees a great story every time out. There still isn’t. If I’m wrong about that, somebody please let me know.

Michael Davis: The Cosmic Cube Revised: The Perfect Storm

This was originally written for ComicMix. The perfect storm of self doubt (Me??) my paranoid thoughts (yeah, that one fits) prompted me to send it to Bleeding Cool instead.

ComicMix has an article of mine sitting in its cue that’s been sitting there for weeks.

No doubt because of another perfect storm fueled by Murphy’s Law. Just one of those things I’m sure was no one’s fault.

When I saw it still wasn’t up today, my willingness to be THIS forthcoming evaporating like the last vapors of a meth pipe I pulled the trigger and sent it to Bleeding Cool instead of a kick ass article on Brotherman that will have to wait until next week.

As is my policy I don’t duplicate the same article for BC and CM but if something’s important enough to me I want it t be seen on both sites so I’ll go back and add or edit things accordingly.

I don’t see why this isn’t a common practice (is it?) attitudes and points of view change with the wind and if writers are honest and are given the chance why not go back in and write what the hours or days have brought since the original piece was written.

If by chance you’ve read this on Bleeding Cool, it’s the same article with added insight and perspective. I hope you give it a read also.

This story begins with me sitting on the floor of my bedroom. How long ago is really to chilling even for me to write so y’all will just have to use your imagination. After enduring yet another night of uncontrollable pain, fueled by severe insomnia, migraines and painful memories, I was convinced putting a bullet my head was the only way to stop the agony.

Not wanting to give up hope I started to pray. That will come as a surprise to many but I’m trying to get closer to God. Yeah, freaks me out also.

After praying for the usual, deliver me from etc, etc, I prayed for a Cosmic Cube.

Clearly I was desperate.

The Red Skull wielding the Cosmic Cube: Tales of Suspense #80 (Aug. 1966). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For those reading this not aware of what a Cosmic Cube, is allow me to enlighten you. Captain America first encountered the Cube when fighting the Red Skull back in the good old Lee and Kirby (Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) days of the sixties.

You’re seen the cube, it’s the shiny, energy box thing in the Avengers and other Marvel movies. That’s a Cosmic Cube, although they call it some other silly ass name.

What does it do? Simple, the Cube can make anything real.

Yep, desperate.

When you’re in the kind of pain I was in it makes perfect sense to pray for something you know doesn’t exist but I wasn’t doing that. It does exist. I know, because I have one, or I did.

All I needed was a minute, hell, less than a minute with the cube and all would be right in my world. Throughout the day, no cube materialized. Nah no cube, I did however, have a gun.

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Glenn Hauman: Hugo Awards, No Awards, and Network Effects

hugo_sm-2797641In the current contretemps over the Hugo Awards (including coverage from, among many others, Slate, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Daily Dot, i09, Breitbart,  the National Review, and us) and now that voting for the Hugo Awards are now open, the question has come up about voting for “No Award” over various nominees, whether it should be done, and whether it would be an unprecedented event.

The answer to the last part is: No, it’s not unprecedented. “No Award” has won categories before, most recently in 1977 when no award was given for Best Dramatic Presentation.

And ironically, that’s really a shame. Because it turns out there was a really great science fiction movie that year that showed us where we were heading. I’m not talking about any of that year’s actual Hugo nominees– Carrie, Logan’s Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth, or Futureworld.

No, I’m talking about Network.

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Molly Jackson: 1984 in 2015

I’ve been spending time reading a lot of blogs lately. Reading the comments section on any website is always a dubious and risky venture. People are so willing to put anything out into the Internet without any regard for who might see it. It seems that most people believe there is anonymity in a username.

We are in a very different age of computers. Now, anything said by anyone can be heard around the world instantly. And yes, I know you’ve heard that a million times over. So, why does it seem like people keep forgetting that everything is accessible to everyone?

The police aren’t the only ones who need to be aware of everyone with a smartphone watching them. Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner “joking” about Black Widow in an interview last week; did they really forget once more that this was worldwide? Yes. Yes they did. Just like Marvel forgot that those Iceman pages could be outed before the issue went on sale, or that Disney’s industry-only Avengers toy list wasn’t going to be rehashed on the web.

We are watching the world figure out how to exist in a place where we are all constantly under watch, even if we don’t realize it. These celebrities and companies need to remember that they are being “Big Brothered” all of the time. It’s not fair either. People always want a chance to relax and be themselves.

Us regular people would do well to remember that too. Every time we put a piece of ourselves on the web, there is a chance that it will be seen around the world. I’ve written things quoted in Malaysia (which is a trippy experience) and I’m small fry. Others have been quoted from Twitter on late night TV. And those crappy, derogatory comments on the Internet might just come back to bite you back.

Gone are the days of complaining to your friends about something a celebrity said or what a comic did. Now, we can all complain together worldwide. Complaining comes with a cost now. You can be a target too now. And always remember, the Big Brother Internet is always watching.

 

Mike Gold: Saturday Matinee Superhero Horror

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when superhero movies were kiddie fodder and proud of it.

Yes, I know. The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens this Friday (which is really Thursday night; Hollywood exists in a different time/space continuum). Everybody’s stoked to see it; well, everybody but ComicMix’s own Martha Thomases, who has already seen the movie. That’s just about the, what, twelve thousandth superhero movie to open in the past decade? I’m not complaining, as these days most of these movies – dare I say it? – are more entertaining than their source material. However, I’m not here to praise this crop of superhero movies for being adult-accessible. I’m here to wax nostalgic about the first time I saw a superhero movie in a real, honest-to-Crom movie theater. Or theatre, for those who drift towards the pretentious.

Let’s go back to late July, 1966. I was at the palatial Uptown Theater on the mid-north side of Chicago. I wasn’t quite 16, so I was old enough to know better. By this time the glow of the Batman television phenomenon had faded for my friends, even those who were comics fans. But I was a hard-core comics fan, and I wanted to see the movie as nature intended: at an old-fashioned Saturday matinee.

For those of you who are too young to have experienced such a thing, the purpose of the old-fashioned Saturday matinee was to serve as a baby sitter. Mothers dropped off their precious darlings at the theater so they could get some much-needed quiet time with their friends. The kids would sit in the darkened theater and watch four hours of cartoons and Three Stooges shorts, or, perhaps, a “real” movie that was accessible to children.

A “real” movie like Batman.

Peculiarly, the good folks at the Uptown Theater decided to schedule a double-feature, and the opening flick was Paul Newman’s Harper.  I love that movie, but I was a bit surprised to see it at a Saturday matinee. Even in those days, I thought Harper was a bit too violent for kids who were already gifted at hurling Jujubes at their peers. The most violent parts were at the end, or, for these purposes, right before the beginning of Batman.

Clearly, many kids were traumatized. During those final scenes damn near each and every one of them was silent. Think about that: a couple thousand unsupervised kids between the ages of maybe 8 and 12, staring wide-eyed at a movie that would make Fredric Wertham shit his pants. It put the kiddies in the perfect mood for the upcoming campy cape caper.

Kids are a resilient lot, and as Adam West and Burt Ward were doing their opening tribute to the cover of Batman volume 1 number 9, the tykes had shed all thoughts of bloodied movie superstars and settled into the moment for which they’d been waiting. The teevee show already had grown a bit tiresome for a guy as old and sophisticated as I, but I loved watching Frank Gorshin and Burgess Meredith work. Thanks to the kiddies, I quickly got caught up in the spirit of the film and had a great time. So great, in fact, that I still enjoy that movie.

Will I have a similar experience when I see The Avengers: Age of Ultron? Maybe. I hope so. Given the nature of the previous Marvel Studios movies, I think there’s a pretty good chance.

Call me a starry-eyed optimist (although others may laugh at you), but that’s why I’m going to see this movie. Hey, it worked with Guardians of the Galaxy. I’ll be with friends, including my daughter, so I’m bringing my own environment to the multiplex.

Sadly, Frank Gorshin is no longer with us. He lived nearby and I ran into him a few times at local restaurants. But just imagine what a hoot it would have been had he been in the theater next to us.

 

I have every reason to expect a great time at The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Let’s see what happens.

 

Mix March Madness 2015 Webcomics Tournament Elite Eight!

It’s Round 5, starring the Elite Eight of ComicMix’s April Armageddon 2015 Webcomic Tournament. Driving forces in webcomics standing toe to toe, going head to head. Being pitted against each other, fans standing together voting for their favorite until there is just one winner. Who will it be?

Stand Still. Stay Silent, The Property of Hate, and Shotgun Shuffle having an excellent show from their fans this week, But every survivor has chance at the brass ring. All they need is your vote.

Speaking of votes…give yourself a round of applause for the strong support for The Hero Initiative, with donations totaling $81.00 in round 4.

The Elite Eight will narrow the field yet again, So vote soon and vote often… and tell your friends. Polls close 12 midnight, April 30th EDT!

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Box Office Democracy: It Follows

Much like the slow moving menace that stalks its protagonists, It Follows had a slow, steady walk to being a cult horror hit. The kind of movie, if recent surprise successes in the genre are any indication, could lead to a rush of imitators looking to get a piece of quick horror cash. It Follows is refreshing in how different it is than the mainstream of the genre these days but it is also so arrestingly scary that it easily ranks among the least comfortable movie going experiences I’ve ever had. It’s also maddeningly opaque with how it dispenses exposition or even meaning to the events of the film.

Horror films in recent years have fallen in to a predictable pattern and I don’t just mean they’re overwhelmingly about demonic possession hitting young families. The way they choose to scare you always feels like the same jump scare. The music shifts to a faster tempo and the camera movements get slower and then something comes out of nowhere and is accompanied by a big string hit on the soundtrack. It’s effective but it’s boring and worse than that it’s obvious. I know nothing of consequence will happen in a movie like Annabelle until the last 10 minutes. It Follows has a different, more of a throwback, style of generating tension. They still kick the score in to high gear, they might even do it more but the tension comes from static shots, from first person perspectives of some flowers or the morning sky. Most of the time nothing happens and it doesn’t matter; I’m still zipping up my hoodie and looking at the ground. It gives all of the effect with none of the cheapness that comes with a cheap thrill for a child’s toy falling out of a closet. It feels more earned even if it might not actually be.

I hate when movies hold my hand too much, when they keep telling me things that would be so easy to show me. It Follows certainly doesn’t tell when it could show but also doesn’t tell when it refuses to show. There’s a very brief explanation of the rules for the monster in this film and then we never get any more information. We never get any why or any how. We’re just given a menace that slowly walks toward its victim and then kills them in a nondescript way that leaves a terribly mangled corpse. Then at the climax that stops and we get a suddenly much more clever whatever it is capable of evading the trap that our heroes have set with no indication that the trap would be successful. When the film ends, as all horror movies do, by teasing us with the possibility that the danger is still out there it isn’t the least bit surprising because I had no sense that this thing could be defeated as easily as they dispatch it in the previous scene. I was plenty scared in the moment but it’s the kind of movie that unravels as you pull at the threads in the hours and days that follow.

I want more horror movies to be like It Follows but I know that even by wishing that I am destroying the chances it will ever happen. Horror is so reactive I’m sure there have been dozens of conversations in Hollywood over the past month or so about how to capture this lightning in a bottle and get three movies just like it out by this time next year. None of them will get it right though, they’ll take the wrong things. Maybe one studio will think the secret is teenagers, or the speed of the ghost, or the techno-throwback music. The way studios saw Paranormal Activity and thought everyone wanted a bunch of found footage movies. What I want more of is the earnestness and the experimentation and even the flailing attempts at finding an underlying philosophy that give It Follows its charms. Oh well, see you all back here next year for a harsh review of Stuff Will Eventually Get You.

Emily S. Whitten: Geek Chic Spring Shopping

captain-america-3487888Three years ago right around this time, I was lamenting the fact that there was a sad, sad lack of comics and genre fashion merchandise geared towards women. At the time, my experience was that the available clothing for women to purchase and wear was mostly t-shirts, only some of which were actually fitted for or geared towards women. And accessories of the sort women might be interested in, like jewelry or handbags or less manly wallets, were mostly available only via Etsy or through other fan enterprises.

Generally speaking, what was available via licensed merchandisers was also lacking in the style, flair, subtlety, or imagination that I’d have really liked to see in female comics fashion. Despite being a fan of the comfort of a cute tee shirt, there are times when I’d prefer to be able to let fly the flag of my geek pride with a little more style – like when I’m running from one end of San Diego Comic Con to the other and can’t manage a full costume, but would love to wear a cute dress instead of throwing on the same old tee and jeans combo. Or when I’m heading in to work and want to jazz things up a bit with a subtly geeky accessory.

Fortunately for me and all the other geek women out there who might feel the same way, things have changed since 2012. Companies like Ashley Eckstein’s Her Universe began appearing and paving the way by coming out with clothing more flattering and fitting for women and establishing a high profile at conventions. Companies like We Love Fine and Superhero Stuff really caught on to the fact that “if you make it, they will buy” when it comes to women and cute geek clothes. 2014 in particular saw an uptick in more exciting geek fashions becoming available for women, starting in February with geek-inspired runway fashions (and companies like Cozday Clothing), and going into the fall with several companies such as Black Milk Clothing and Living Dead Clothing coming out with themed lines.

As spring rolled around this year and I started looking for a few new items for my geek and con wardrobe, I felt anew that the female geek fashion wasteland of 2012 has happily been replaced by a growing garden of options for the discerning geek gal. From shirts, skirts, dresses, pants, and tights to jewelry, bags, and scarves, to pieces that could be incorporated into actual costumes for cons, there are a lot of cool options out there right now.

Given that these options are still sort of scattered around, I thought I’d provide you with some favorites I’ve found – some of which I actually own, and some of which are on my wish list.

So check these out, and flaunt your geek fashion for the world!

Hot Topic, which back in the day (yea, these many years ago when I was a teen) used to be mostly kind of goth and punk, has in recent years been adding and adding to its pop culture collections. It now has entire lines of merchandise themed around superheroes, genre TV shows like Supernatural, and more. A couple of recent favorites that I own are the Batman Harley Quinn Dress, the Harley Quinn Infinity Scarf (which I am totally wearing at work today), and the Harley Quinn perfume (are we sensing a theme, here?). And as of this morning, they’ve also got a new Marvel Her Universe line available for pre-order. (You can also shop directly for some of the Her Universe clothing on their website.) They’ve got a ton of fun accessories, too, like this Alice in Wonderland purse, this TARDIS hinge wallet, this Supernatural watch, and this Orphan Black code ring. And of course, Sherlock and Watson cord bracelets for all you shippers out there.

Although some of it appears sold out at the moment (noooo!!!!!), We Love Fine has been carrying some cool-looking geek chic lately. A couple of things I had my eye on were the Companion Cube Fit and Flare Dress, the Kawaii Avengers Sleeveless Top, and the Ms. Marvel Tank. The Balloonicorn Pattern Top is also just plain adorable, and I kind of crave it despite the fact that I haven’t played Team Fortress and usually don’t wear things I’m not an actual fan of on principle (but I did see clips of the in-game Balloonicorn in action online and it amused me greatly, so there’s that).

The aforementioned Black Milk Clothing has some pretty cool stuff, from the looks of it. I covet their dress collection, including the Riddler Skater Dress, the Game of Thrones Win or Die Dress, the Marauders’ Map Dress, and the Harley Quinn Skater Dress. The GOT Rhaegal Dragon Egg Skirt is also pretty sweet.

Speaking of Australian companies, Living Dead Clothing has a super-cute Captain America swimsuit and Cap shield dress, and an Iron Man Skater that could actually be worn as a costume piece. It’s also all over our favorite webslinger’s fashion choices with a Chibi Spider-Man Skater Skirt, a Radioactive Crop Top, and this Secret Identity Skater Skirt that is subtle enough in its geekiness to wear just about anywhere. They’ve also got a mishmash of stuff in their Crypt section, including a Guardians of the Galaxy dress and a Dancing Groot dress (what whaaat!).

Thinkgeek is a regular stop on my online geek shopping route. I’ve got their Tolkien Silk Wrap Bracelet, leetle tiny Batman earrings, and Health Bar Yoga  along with their cute Firefly Kaylee-Inspired Messenger Bag and Portal Companion Cube Messenger Bag. And I wouldn’t say no to their GOT All Men Must Die Ladies’ Long Sleeve Tee, their Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix necklace, or their TMNT Ladies’ Raglan. Plus, they have a rewards system that’s actually worth signing up for. Hooray, free stuff!

Even with all the fun alternatives, sometimes nothing beats a good ladies’ tee. I like to go to places like Quantum Mechanix for those. I’ve got the women’s versions of their Firefly Fighting Elves tee, their Firefly Blue Sun tee, and their Warehouse 13 Farnsworth tee; and I am now coveting their Firefly Independents tee. Quantum Mechanix also has fun stuff like this Firefly Leaf on the Wind keychain/pendant and Jayne Cobb leather wrist strap .

TeeTurtle is another great place for cute, comfy, well-fitting geek tees for ladies (they’re my favorite for a consistently comfortable and well-fitting tee). They have infinite adorable choices (and a lot of fun fandom mashups), but I particularly love my Rebels of the Galaxy, Honest Mistake, Floating Through Space, Codominance Panda, Totodoll, Adorable Monstrosity, and Fire Mage tees.

SuperHeroStuff also has a ton of tees, but I’ve currently got my eye on their Rogue costume dress, and also think their PJs are super cute.

And…whew, I think I’m about shopped out. Now it’s your turn!

And until next time, Servo Lectio!

 

Ed Catto: Leading…by Getting Out of the Way

Back in business school I learned that there are many different styles of leadership. A good leader has several different styles at his or her fingertips and employs them based on the particular situations at hand. But this week I’d like to focus on two people who lead in a manner that’s generally not easily recognized. They lead, and in doing so contribute to their community and help build character by getting out of the way.

lcvexakvtdnzsrzmjnaokfd8pq1y2clwbwliasjxree-7047873Brave New World Comics is a California based store run by two engaging and effervescent women named Portlyn Polston and Autumn Glading. Like most comic shop owners, they are energetic entrepreneurs who work hard to keep their customers happy, attract new shoppers and have a little fun along the way. One thing that sets them apart is their commitment to fanning the flames of geek-focusd interest in women and girls. But as you’ll see, it’s much more than that.

At their comic store, they don’t have a “Girl’s Section.” When I asked, they laughed at me and explained how absurd it would be to create some sort of cordoned off area, painted pink, with girly things for sale. In fact, they couldn’t even come up with specific product that would be ‘more appropriate for girls.’ Instead, their strategy is to create a clean, well-lit, open space were everyone feels comfortable. Then they just let consumers find what they want. Oh sure, they offer suggestions and guidance, but that’s based on the individual. In fact, they joke that their favorite thing to sell is the last thing they sold. “We don’t have an agenda,” says Portlyn. “Girls can read anything.”

joc4xyebo8tnv9wqwecmgjzudvwxp42fbqil21afkpe-1355640In addition to running the store, they plan some very creative activities. Geek Girls Night is a quarterly get-together designed to encourage women of all ages to fly their Geek Flag. And there aren’t a lot of rules or guidelines about what constitutes a geek passion. It can be comics or Doctor Who or steampunk or Alice-in-Wonderland. The explained that one girl attended who only liked Michael Jackson. But she was deep into it. The group chewed on that for a bit, nodded, and then agreed, “That’s fine.”

These events often include a trivia contest and a panel. And at the panels, given the spirit of the events, the questions are entirely freewheeling. Several groups attend, including, but not limited to, cosplay groups, writing groups and girls doing-live-action video games. I’m still not sure what that means. Furthermore, Autumn and Portlyn devilishly boast they are “really good” at getting vendors and publishers to contribute “good stuff.”

geek-girl-society-logo-png-4254893Their Geek Girls Society is kind of like the Girl Scouts for only the coolest and nerdiest girls. It’s an after school program designed for girls 8 to 16, and is meant to be a place where can girls can enjoy their own geeky pursuits and be exposed to the geeky passions of others. Respect is the watchword here. The organization’s mantra stresses that whatever you like is great, and whatever anybody else likes is great too.

The ‘mean girl’ phenomenon isn’t limited to girls in middle school. It often starts earlier and lasts way too long into adulthood. And one could argue that it’s not only about girls, either. At the Geek Girls Society, their foundational thinking is one of respect and non-judgmentalism. Is that a real word? If not, it should be soon, as it’s imbedded into the DNA of this outstanding group. Autumn explained, “We teach them that you don’t have to hate. Every event is about respecting.”

autumn-and-portlyn-3168323Portlyn and Autumn talked about their personal passions, and how when they were younger, they were unaware that other young girls liked the geeky things they did. There was no internet when back then, so they struggled to like what they liked, and keep liking it. They wanted to combat the unfortunate natural way of things, as young girls grow up and then eschew the things they like for fear that their peers or society will label them or look down upon them. That’s where the Geek Girl Society comes in – a place where girls can enjoy their passions, and keep on enjoying them.

New York Times columnist Nickolas Kristof often talks about how the best way to end poverty, especially in regions of extreme economic distress, is to give a girl a book and teach a girl to read. In the local environs of Brave New World Comics, it’s not that dire, but they are applying many of the same principles to helping girls build positive self-esteem and contributing their community.

brave-new-world-storefront-8453111How far comic shops have come. Back in the 70’s, so many of those early comic shops seemed to be just one-step above the local head shop in the retail pecking order, resolutely shaking a metaphorical fist at their local communities screaming, “Leave us alone! This is our thing and we don’t want anything to do with the establishment!” Now we have stores like this one, where two women make a living selling stuff, and satisfy a sense of purpose by not only contributing to the local community, but leading. They’re helping others fly by giving them a little bit of runway. More proof of the incredible influence of Geek Culture and the local comic shop.

For more on Brave New World and the Geek Girls Society, please visit their site.