Der Nerdery

You’ve missed the last comic con in Seattle, and you had really planned on going to it, too. But don’t despair, not only are there other comic cons on the horizon, both near and far, but, in the interim, why not get yourself to a nice, intergalactic UFO con?

You Are Not Alone

2011 MUFON (Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network) of Ohio Summer Conference is a con on the very near horizon, right behind that round saucer-looking thingy in the sky. With a conference title of “50 Years of Abduction Experience – Setting the Record Straight,” people are stampeding to get their plane tickets. It’s a one day conference, July 16, in Ashland, Ohio. This is the con that bills itself “REAL UFOs – the latest UFO videos and news,” featuring Travis Walton, “author of the famous abduction account ‘Fire in the Sky’ made into a blockbuster movie,” and Kathleen Marden, niece of Betty Hill, and author of the bestseller, “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.”

Or if that’s too soon, plan to go to the McMinnville UFO Festival next May, noted as “the second largest UFO Celebration in the Country,” held in an out-of-this-world venue, McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon. Here’s an event that offers the best of both worlds – or of many worlds. It starts off with an Alien UFO Costume Parade, followed by the Alien Pet Costume Contest. Getting those alien creatures to look like earth dogs is no easy task, but the festival participants are pretty successful at it.

The other bonus is that the McMinnville UFO celebration is held in the heart of Oregon’s wine country, so you can tour the many excellent wineries as well. No wonder the aliens landed here.

I-Con, Con You?

But if the UFO scene is too “spacy” for you, how about I-Con (aka: Island Convention) held in March at Stony Brook, New York, on the State University of New York campus. This is an eclectic convention including science fiction authors, Anime and other animation devotees, furry folks, gaming, SCA medieval participants, with various and sundry performances.

The first I-Con was held in 1982 with Gene Roddenberry as a GoH (guest of honor). How do you top that?

Finding Our Furry Friends

And now, for something completely different, how about a furry con? The attendees at a furry con focus on fictional anthropomorphic characters. The first furry convention, ConFurence, was held in California in 1990.

Many attendees at a furry con wear elaborate animal or animal-like costumes, usually of their own construction. Costumers play a major role at a furry con. Like most cons, attendees will find an art show, a masquerade – distinguished from walking through the halls by having a raised stage – discussions of the literature, movies, print and online fare of anthropomorphic stories and characters.

Boo!

And if all of the foregoing is not scary enough for you, why not go to a World Horror Convention? The next one will be held March 29 through April 1, 2012 in Salt Lake City, “At the Mountains of Madness.”

Salt flats for miles, now that’s scary! Here attendees rub elbows with famed horror writers and watch horror films, as well visit the dealer’s room, go to presentations and panels, as is usual for all cons. But horror Con-goers have the added advantage of getting to run about the halls in terrifying zombie, oozing, blood-dripping costuming. Fun will be had by all.

I Want My Comic-Con

But if you’re still pining for a full-on comic con, don’t despair. THE comic con of comic cons, the San Diego Comic-Con International, will be held July 21-24 at the San Diego Convention Center, Petco Park. With an attendance of 130,000 in 2010, it is billed as the fourth largest convention in the world. It’s still but a pale follower of Comiket, held in Tokyo, Japan twice a year in December and August, with an attendance of 520,000 in December 2010.

The San Diego Comic-com was originally all about comic books, but has expanded to include, somewhat logically, animation, anime, manga, horror, webcomics, fantasy novels, the burgeoning popularity of the illustrated novel, as well as the other pop culture components of video games, toys and collectible card games.

Probably the most intriguing aspect of the wealth of cons is that people from all walks of life, with greatly varying belief systems, political stances, cultural underpinnings and gender persuasions come together and play well together. Earthlings, take a clue!

Matthew Warren is a sci-fi fan, wanna-be astronomer and a programmer when not working on Gump Tees and Things Nerds Like.

At 2:17 pm on December 6th, 1992, a new type of bomb exploded over the metropolitan area of Japan…”

If you know what this is from, you know what the new type of bomb was. Afterwards,  World War 3 ensued and Neo-Tokyo had to rebuild itself on a man-made island in the Tokyo Bay.

What I love about Akira is how Katsuhiro Otomo basically pioneered the use of unusual angles and incredibly detailed cityscapes and backgrounds in his manga. Yeah, dude. This was the guy that STARTED that.

In Akira, he constructs a world where political corruption and government inadequacy play a role in the destruction of Tokyo. He also creates a world where children are easily used as pawns in government schemes, no matter the cost. The counter to this threat in the manga is the revolutionary force represented by a girl named Kei and her brother. Their motivations during Volume 1 of the manga are. as of yet, unclear.

Bosozoku gang members Tetsuo Shuma & Shotaro Kaneda get tangled up in Neo-Tokyo’s political corruption when Tetsuo is injured in a motorcycle crash from almost hitting a child that looks like an old man– who also seems to have psychic abilities. This accident somehow awakens psychic abilities in Tetsuo, also, and this peaks the interests of a government organization that is involved somehow with the old-looking child, Takashi.

Compared to the manga, the film was also peak at it’s time of release in 1988. It’s definitely visually stunning. At least, to me! But I live on that hand-drawn, hand-animated stuff. In fact, some have said that Akira was what put anime on the modern-art map, if you will. Otomo used incredibly detailed scenes and unique angles that no one had ever used before in manga or anime.

I thought I was close to the end of the story when reading volume 1 since it follows the movie so well.. but much to my surprise, I found out there actually are FIVE MORE VOLUMES of Akira to go. The movie is DEFINITELY a shortened version of the manga. I can’t imagine what’s in store, and can’t wait to pick up volume 2.. whenever I happen to find it!

I was sitting flipping through channels and landed on Cartoon Network, in which the network was playing movies all day.  So when the next program came on I thought it was another DC comic animated movie.

Let start off by stating, I not a huge fan of DC comics or shows, but have some knowledge ans seen some of the shows.  It wasn’t a movie, but the first episode of “Young Justice”, a new DC comic series that will be on airing in 2011 on Cartoon Network.

The episode starts out with Batman and Robin, Green Arrow and Red Arrow(Speedy), Flash and Kid Flash, and Aquaman and a new hero Aqua Lad heading to the Justice League Headquarter where Robin, Red Arrow, Kid Flash, and Aqua Lad will take the first step to become members of the Justice League.

However Red Arrow becomes quite upset when all they get is membership passes to the Justice League Library and Gym.  He blurts out that he knows about the Justice League Satellite Station and that the Justice League HQ on earth is just for show to the public.  He storms out.  I have a feeling he is going to be a major villian later in the series.

Meanwhile Batman is hailed by Superman and someone else, two different emergencies at the same time, one is a small fire at Project Cadmus that can be handled by the local authorities and the other is more important, so everyone but Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqua Lad leave telling those three to stay put.

The three realize that Red Arrow was partially right and a little upset they were left behind that they decide to go help with the fire.  At the building they see someone go into an elevator which is not suppose to be working in a fire.  They also become aware that the elevator is a specialized high speed elevator in a two story building.

After dropping several stories into a secret xenobiology laboratory(known by the Justice League), they come to find a pod containing a young clone of Superman that was being educated to take down the Justice League.  After freeing the clone, they convince him to join them.  They eventually find the bad guy go to the surface when they have a final show down and get the building to collapse on him.

Afterward the Justice League shows up quite mad, where Aqua Lad, de facto leader of this new team says “accept us or don’t stand in our way”.  Superman comes face to face and his clone (who takes the hero name Superboy) doesn’t know how to handle the situation and flies off.

The four new members are taken to a cave at Mount Justice that were the original headquarters of the Justice League and told they would be trained and take covert missions for the Justice League and the cave was their new headquarters.  Also they met their new team member Miss Martian.

That is where the first episode ended, and from what I saw it was a pretty good story and can’t wait for more episodes in 2011.  They still haven’t introduced the last member of the team Artemis.

This is a hypothetical battle between similar hero’s from rival comic book universes, Marvel and DC. I am putting Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic head to head, to see who would be the theoretical winner in several different situations and scenarios. Who do you think would win in a one on one battle to the death? Who is more powerful? Which character do you like better? After the post please leave a comment with your own theory’s and scenarios. For the purposes of this story we will ignore that they are from different comic book companies.

First lets look over each characters overall abilities and powers.

Mr. Fantastic (Dr. Reed Richards):

Background:
Dr. Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic) has mastered the sciences of electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering, human and alien biology, chemistry and all levels of physics. He has invented time travel and even warped through dimensions. He is the leader of the super hero team known as The Fantastic Four. He once told Spider-Man that he considers his stretching powers to be expendable compared to his intellect.

Super Powers:
Mr. Fantastic was given his abilities while on a space expedition by being exposed to nearly lethal amounts of cosmic radiation. The radiation damaged the ship and returned home. Shortly after he found that he had the powers of elasticity. He could reform and stretch any part of his body at will. In one severe case he was able to increase his body size and mass, similar to the same size and strength of his team mate known as  ”Thing.” Changing into non human forms takes Mr. Fantastic much concentration.

Plastic Man (Patrick “Eel” O’Brian):

Background:
Patrick “Eel” O’Brian (aka Plastic Man) grew up as a orphan on the streets living in a world of crime. As an adult he made a living by working in a burglary ring as a safe cracker.

Super Powers:
During a job gone wrong, Eel O’Brian was shot and was splashed with some mysterious acid. Being abandoned by his gang he passes out in the streets from disorientation from the acid infecting his bullet wound. He later finds himself  in a monastery under the care of a monk. During his stay at the monastery he saw the error of his past criminal behavior and reformed against his old ways. Shortly after, he found that the acid had fused with his blood and gave his body all of the properties of rubber, allowing him to stretch, bounce, and mold himself into any shape, size and even change his mass. There is no known limit to Plastic Man’s shape changing abilities except he can not change color. His powers have even made him stop aging. Batman once said that Plastic Man could most likely survive the blast from a nuclear attack.

Plastic Man vs. Mr. Fantastic: Battle to the Death

Scenario 1 – Plastic Man turns back to his criminal ways
If Plastic Man were to lose his only son, Offspring, in a crime fighting accident. He begins to lose his mind and blames and despises the general public for being weak, selfish and always needing to be rescued. Thus, indirectly putting his family in constant danger. In his psychopathic rage he once again turns against the law and goes on an unforgivable psychopathic Godzilla like killing rampage through the streets of Gotham. Simultaneously… in another dimension, Mr. Fantastic just happened to make a scientific breakthrough and travels through dimensions landing himself in Gotham city in the shadows of the massive Plastic Man engaging in the destruction of Gotham city. Knowing that Plastic Man is indestructible by any known means (According to Wikipedia), would it still be possible for Mr. Fantastic to bring justice to this maniacal Plastic Man?

Plastic Man vs. Mr. Fantastic – Scenario 1 Hypothesis
Since Plastic Man is such a giant size, it will be impossible for Mr. Fantastic to defeat the plastic super foe with his super powers alone. Luckily for Mr. Fantastic his super powers are expendable compared to his intellect and is considered one of the most intelligent superhero’s ever created by any comic book company. Even though Wikipedia states that Plastic Man does not have any weaknesses and that he is completely invulnerable, Mr. Fantastic would certainly know that Wikipedia is not considered an accurate source of information He would also try to further his research by studying as much about his foe and this unfamiliar city. Surely, during his research he would eventually watch several episodes of “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” and realize that Kite Man had already invented a death ray which would destroy anything in its path, which he tested effectively on a sample of Plastic Man’s body. Using his superior intellect Mr. Fantastic would certainly recreate a similar death ray and end Plastic Man’s existance once and for all.

Scenario 2 – Mr. Fantastic receives brain damage and is convinced to join the forces of evil
One day while Mr. Fantastic was experimenting on cosmic radiation, trying to gain a deeper understanding of his power’s origins. When suddenly an accidental explosion sends Mr. Fantastic traveling through dimensions and lands him in Gotham city. Due to the combined effects of the explosion and cosmic radiation, Mr. Fantastic is completely disoriented and can’t remember anything about his past, where he came from or the origins of his powers. Spotting Mr. Fantastic and noticing the similarities to Plastic Man’s super powers, the local villains quickly convince the disoriented super hero that he is indeed one of the villains. With Mr. Fantastic now on their side the villains plan a big heist. During the heist Mr. Fantastic loses control of the situation and unforgivably kills several hostages. Plastic Man arrives on the scene and a epic battle of elasticity begins. Without his superior knowledge and intellect does Mr. Fantastic have a chance to win this battle to the death with Plastic Man?

Plastic Man vs. Mr. Fantastic – Scenario 2 Hypothesis
Since Mr. Fantastic’s super powers only allow him to stretch and reform his mass like elastic, he isn’t by any means invulnerable like Plastic Man is with his powers. Plastic Man truly has no limit to haw large he can get or how far he can stretch or what he can turn into. If he gets blown up into a million pieces he will easily reform into a single piece again. Without his intelligence Mr. Fantastic has no hope of ever defeating Plastic Man.  All that Plastic Man would need to do is slingshot with his arms from the doorway towards Mr. Fantastic and the moment before they collide…Plastic Man turns into a gigantic axe, effectively ending the life of Mr. Fantastic by decapitating his outstretched head.

Video’s and Pictures with Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic:

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

OH  LOOK. MORE SCOTT PILGRIM NONSENSE.
Screw you pal. Actually, it’s vidya game review time. $10 on either your PS3 or your XBL will get you this hum dinger of a game.

Now…why is it special? If you read the comic, you will nerdgasm. That is a given. But are you a River City Ransom/Double Dragon/Final Fight/ TMNT Turtles in Time or Arcade Game fan? Then you will double nerdgasm. Beat people up, collect money, buy stat builders. Repeat. True to the comics, there are references to other video games everywhere in this game.  Evenmoreso, Edgar Wright even shows up in the Hollywood stage to remind you that there’s a movie of the same name.

Nitty gritty: the controls are haphazard, especially the dash. It’s set on a hair trigger, and if you toggle it, you may as well write a novel before you actually hit forward twice (It’s not responsive this way).  Also, the difficulty is exactly like Ye Olde Flog-Them-Propers: cheap. The enemies will corner you, they will spam you with projectiles, and they will be cheap mother lovers. Also, no online play? I’m not butthurt about this option because back in my day (when wearing an onion on your hip was the style) online gaming was reserved for Doom, not arcade games.

The animation is wonderful (Paul Robertson, Google him your damn self), the music (Anamanaguchi, a chiptunes punk band) is authentic, and the multiplayer? Perfect. Also, there are references to Bryan Lee O’Malley’s solo band Kupek, who I also recommend you looking up but be warned: some of his music is sappy boo-hoo.

Why are you still reading this? Go buy this game if you liked what I just babbled about.  Here’s some more nerd reference for you:

Like I said, nerdgasms. 4.6 of 5 healthy Guatemalan Burros.

I figure that I should start writing/posting junk on here.

Scott Pilgrim- a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley- is a nifty little 6 volume graphic novel. It draws inspiration heavily from video games and pop culture. Let me spout out the games it reference: Chrono Trigger, River City Ransom, Space Channel 5, Final Fantasy, Super Mario Bros. 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragon Warrior. Just to name a small, small fraction. Hell, even the title is based on an almost unknown Canadian girl band (Youtube it, son!)  Some have even likened it to our generation’s true love story. If you don’t know what this novel is about, Scott Pilgrim (hero) falls for Ramona Flowers (heroine) and to dater her, he has to fight her seven evil ex-boyfriends.

There’s some sorta movie coming out in less than a month, heavily based on the comics. Who directed it? Edgar Wright. Who is that? You don’t belong here if you don’t know. Apparently, it’s starring Michael Cera, which has the pretentious movie going critics all sorts of butt hurt.

SO WHAT I AM SAYING is read the comics before you go see the movie. They’ll put you back about $12 an issue, but luckily there’s only six and they are worth owning. If I had to rate this with donkeys, this comic series gets 5 of 5 donkeys.