AvX #5

SPOLIERS, of course.

Not that you didn't know the phoenix was coming. Stark does build a pretty bad ass Transformers looking suit. Not sure what it does, really- Tony's not really sure either. All I know is it's totally not fair- Colossus gets the Juggernaut crystal AND the Phoenix force? Whatever will Cyttorak think?

Good job, Captain America, now all these X-Men are Phoenixed out. I'd say that's a mission failed, sir! ...TO BE CONTINUED!

Comic Shop Tour: St. Mark's Comics

I'm on VACATION from my day job and I'm making it a point to visit my local comic shops (and by local I mean within an hour or two, because I don't have many truly local shops around!) We were in NYC for a science festival on Sunday and when it got rained out, we headed towards the East Village so I could scout out a shop I hadn't been to in years- St. Mark's Comics!

NYC

Not just a clever name, St. Mark's comics is located on St. Mark's place, snuggled between countless tattoo parlors and counter culture clothing stores. It's relatively small in there, so you better feel comfortable cozying up to fellow fanboys and girls if you really want to dig through their nice collection of 50 cent comic boxes! They also had some discount silver age boxes but they were still a bit rich for my blood. St. Mark's has a nice collection of loose vintage figures alongside the new stuff. Let's check out the haul...

The Haul from St. Mark's Comics

I've been rereading Transmetropolitan, so I grabbed the second graphic novel (and promptly finished it that night, leaving me feeling stupid for not grabbing more!) along with a hefty batch from the 50 cent boxes. "A lot of foil covers in there!" one of the workers told me as he saw me sorting through them. Yeah guy, I noticed!

Foil covers, foil covers everywhere

My favorite finds were The Maxx #1 and #2, though I was quickly disappointed at the fact that only one of my friends actually remembered The Maxx at all; Come on people, get on my 90's level! Also, Mike grabbed a great number one- Mr. T and the T Force! I pity the fool that doesn't read Mr. T comics!

You may remember The Maxx from MTV, but it was a comic book first!

Looking directly at Mr. T may be damaging to the eyes!

In your head, you read all of the dialogue in Mr. T's voice. It just happens.

Definitely a rad little spot! Next time I'm in NYC, I'm heading to Midtown Comics. Other shops on my vacation tour include Dragon's Den and Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash!

Zazzle Launch

Welcome to Zazzle, FanFriends! Zazzle is a rad site that lets you upload designs to make custom t-shirts and other cool stuff. The really great thing about Zazzle is that you can customize everything and chose the style of T-Shirt and therefore shop within your price range; so everything starts at under 20 bucks and varies depending on what you want! The shirts are very high quality; we still have some from our MAD Studios Store that are 5 years old or so and still in surprisingly great shape!

Some of the designs are meant to be used with Zazzle's customization tools, meaning you can add images and text to personalize and enhance the design however you want! Right now, the Speech Bubble and Thought Bubble designs are available, meant to be filled in by YOU!

I hope you enjoy these designs and continue to check in as I create more, plus start designs for the other merch Zazzle has, like stickers, pins, skateboards and more. Spread the word and remember to like us on Facebook for a chance to win some free merch!

More on this later...

Fangirl World Pinterest Board

Fangirl World is making it's way around the web! Say hello to the Pinterest board! The images you will find really fall in line with the roots of Fangirl World, meaning it has a focus on fashion, decor and crafts. It's like Martha Stewart gone geek chic!

As I mentioned in the post about our Facebook Launch, all the Fangirl related pages have a slightly different point of view- there would be no point in having all of these websites if they provided the same content!

Speaking of the Fangirl Facebook, we're only 40 or so "Likes" away from our first GEEK GIVEAWAY! Tag and brag, get rad swag! Spread the word and win some stuff!

What other websites might I bombard you with, you ask? I only have plans for two more: A Fangirl Zazzle where I'll have my T-Shirt designs available and soon I will FINALLY have my Etsy together to sell some of my home woven handicrafts.

Enjoy!

Why you've got to love Spider-Man

AvX #4 tids and bits

Hey did you know, the PHOENIX IS COMING?!? Seriously, how many panels of bird fire flying through space can we manage? But Wolverine drinking in a bear skin kinda makes up for it.

Thank YOU, Marvel, for this scene.

It's always Clobbering Time by Thing's clock.

  

Choose your battles, Thor...

Beer gets Wolverine not to kill you. I may have saved your life with this information.

It's that time of the month.

What CAN'T science do?

Catch up on  AvX: 0, 1, 2, 3.

Now on Facebook

You know those Facebook pages that are somewhere between hilarious and annoying, filling your feed with funny/stupid/crazy crap from the depths of the internet?

Well, we're now one of those Facebook pages! Go to www.facebook.com/fangirlworld and "like" us, and you too can get the silliness of the web with a decidedly geeky twist delivered ad nauseum on your FB. The main difference between this site and the Facebook page is that while this site will try to focus on original content, reviews, previews and occasional funny covers and panels I find, the Facebook page will have a lot of comic/cartoon/video game content posted daily that I find around the internet, mostly memes and whatnot.

At 100 likes, I will be giving away a prize to 5 happy fangirls or boys, chosen at random! As we get closer to the goal I will reveal hints about what they will be! I'll keep doing it every 50 likes after that! Yay!

Thanks everyone! I hope you enjoy our Fangirl Facebook Adventures!

The Avengers

Spoilers, Spoilers Everywhere!

Have no fear, mere mortals! I'm here to help you sort through The Avengers reviews and responses! This record breaking bit of AWESOME has most fanpeople reeling with joy. Indeed, Gakwer called it "The Perfect Comic Book Movie":

"This is a full-fledged, huge-hearted plunge into the pop-art world of comic-book euphoria. This is how you do this right. This is probably as good as it can be done." 


After all, it did break all kindsa records! 


"The Avengers" shot past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale. With $441.5 million overseas since last week, "The Avengers" worldwide total climbed to $641.8 million." 

Though later in the Gawker review, the author says

"There's a little bit of Marvel movie continuity business that I'm not enough of a comic-book enthusiast to understand; there's a big reveal of some future villain that made the audience gasp, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be gasping about."

Ah, let me help you out with that!

That would be Thanos, and he's concerned with cosmically kicking ass and pimping out the Infinity Gauntlet.

Luckily, Joss loves him!

" He for me is the most powerful and fascinating Marvel villain. He’s the great grand daddy of the badasses and he’s in love with death and I just think that’s so cute. For me, the greatest Avengers was THE AVENGERS annual that Jim Starlin did followed by THE THING 2 in 1 that contained the death of Adam Warlock. Those were some of the most important texts and I think underrated milestones in Marvel history and Thanos is all over that, so somebody had to be in control and had to be behind Loki’s work and I was like “It’s got to be Thanos.” And they said “Okay” and I’m like “Oh my God!” 


Implications everywhere for the Marvel Universe:

"Based on everything we’ve seen it would appear that Thanos’ quest for the Infinity Gems would fit in nicely here, however all is not as it seems..."

And even though Sam Jackson was bitch slapping critics via Twitter,


"#Avengers fans, NY Times critic AO Scott needs a new job! Let's help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!"


there were a few people who still weren't took happy with The Avengers. The Pentagon, for one,


“We couldn’t reconcile the unreality of this international organization and our place in it,” Phil Strub, the Defense Department’s Hollywood liaison, tells Danger Room. “To whom did S.H.I.E.L.D. answer? Did we work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? We hit that roadblock and decided we couldn’t do anything” with the film."


and some Bollywood stars who said that the scenes in India perpetuate a stereotype of westerners coming to rescue poor foreigners:


"Kolkata has a rich culture and heritage, and a filmmaker should respect that," Bollywood star Rituparna Sengupta, who lives in Kolkata, told the Hindustan Times. "There are two scenes about India, and they only show slums. It could have been done in better taste."

What's Fangirl World's word? This movie is fucking awesome. It's playful and funny, it's exciting and well paced, it's worth the watch. There will always be something to complain about. I'll chose Captain America's suit design (it just looked bulky to me!) and the fact that there are no references to Hank Pym or Wasp (correct me if I'm wrong, of course! I just wanted a little somethinsomethin!) It seems like an awfully hard task to combine all of these heroes, these egos and story lines into one movie, but it was handled nicely and with a lot of humor. See it before the second one comes out!

"Studio execs confirmed on Tuesday that the Marvel superhero film, which opened to a record-breaking $200 million in the US box office, will receive another installment."

Handmade Goodies!

I'm participating in a series of local art shows this summer; here's a quick pick of some of the comic book inspired crafts that I like to make!

AvX #3

 

 

Science of Superheroes! Dr. James Kakalios

It's Wednesday, which means all the new comic books will be making their way into the hands of happy fans everywhere; but did you ever wonder about the science of Superheroes? How much brain damage should Batman have sustained by now anyway? How much energy is Tony Stark producing in that arc reactor? How strong is Spider Man's webbing?

Dr. James Kakalios is a Physics Professor and author of the Physics of Superheroes. I met him at the USA Science and Engineering Festival where he took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about his favorite heroes, the newest Iron Man vs Magneto fight in Avengers vs X-Men, his consulting work on the Amazing Spider-Man movie coming out in July and generally nerded out with me about comic books. Enjoy!

R2-D2 Builders!

I went to Washington D.C. this weekend for The USA Science and Engineering Festival, and it was AWESOME. There were some particularly Fangirlish exhibits and presentations, including the R2-D2 Builders, a community of people all over the world who share information and robots inspired by Star Wars!

I truly love the look of joy on the girl's face as she interacts with R2D2!

While I'm on an Iron Man kick ...

... why not the new Iron Man flavored TV spot for The Avengers ....

Iron Man vs Magneto

Why, Marvel? Iron Man vs. Magneto? Did we miss the part where Iron Man's suit is made out of metal? Are we delusional to recall Magneto throwing, crushing, bending and in all ways manipulating metal all day like a boss? What's the freakin' DEAL?

It's happened before, and I dug up a few panels to see what writers of the past have done. Typically, nothing. They fight a bit in the air. Energy blast here, energy blast there. They tumble to earth and live to fight another day.

 In a panel from AvX #2, the caption claims "Man in a metal suit versus the mutant master of magnetism. If you think this is no contest, then you don't know Tony Stark."

Does this mean something creative and interesting? How could a man in a metal suit best the master of magnetism? If it's not just a clever name and the suit really is made with Iron, it's pretty much *the* most magnetic metal too.

So what if it's not iron, perhaps? Some metals are non magnetic ... but a lead suit probably isn't a good call. Tony has certainly built a bunch of suits for different occasions, so could he have something up his sleeve?

Here's a preview of their fight:

Or, you know, they could throw blue stuff around at each other.

But it gets you thinking; what would it take for Iron Man to beat Magneto?

Catch up on some AvX: 0, 1, 2.

UPDATE: (SPOILER ALERT!)

So it happened something like this:

WHAT?

First of all, I have it on good authority that siphoning magnetic fields from Jupiter is a little hard to believe. (More on that in another soon to come post!)

But fine, fine, it's Tony Stark, he's rich, money can buy unbelievable. But Magneto just kind of ... gets depressed and floats around in space, so Iron Man wins? THAT SUCKS. Fingers crossed for Scarlet Witch Pink Phoenix Powers somewhere along the line.