This week marks the one year anniversary of the Comic Roundup, so how am I going to celebrate? By reviewing some comic books, of course! This week I look at the first issue of the new Defenders series, the Deadpool MAX Christmas Special and the first issue of the new Voltron title.

The Defenders #1
By Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson

When I first started reading comics, one of the first books I got into was The Defenders. The book had a unique blend of superheroes and just plain weirdness that appealed to me and still does. While there have been many attempts to revive the book over the years, none seemed Continue Reading…

Toy Story taught me that whenever no one is looking, children’s toys come alive. That thought is terrifying, just like the weeping angel statues in Doctor Who. I’ll have to recruit my friends to take shifts staring at my old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. Don’t you dare call them dolls.

Some say this is an irrational fear and the only way to conquer such a fear is to face it head on. There’s no better place to be surrounded by old toys with questionable pasts than the Antique Toy Convention in Philadelphia. I’m going to overcome this one way or another!

The Antique Toy Convention shared the same space as the Pennsy Flea Market. When I initially walked in, I was thrown off by the Michael Jackson impersonator dancing by the CDs. True story. I eventually found the Antique Toy Convention tucked away in the corner of the flea market and after paying my $5 ticket I knew I was in the right place.

Bins of random action figures sat under tables laden with glass cases full of match box cars. Every vendor’s table reminded me of my old toy boxes. I did my best to respectfully rummage through their wares and not dump out entire bins onto the floor like a 7 year old at their friend’s house looking for a cool toy. It was tough.

Since there were plenty of people there to keep an eye out, I wasn’t too worried about toys scurrying around the displays or hitching a ride in my bag in order to make their way to their previous owner. In fact, I was reminiscing the good times I had with toys. I swear that some of my old toys my mom threw out ended up at this place. I wanted to buy all of my old toys back and show my mom in defiance. I’m too old for toys, you say? Ha!

The convention allowed me to peer into the world of people passionate about collecting toys. I overheard a story of one man’s quest for Mars Attacks trading cards that paralleled the quest for the Holy Grail. Overhearing conversations about the best way to showcase a toy collection in their home showed me there are toy geeks out there who are serious about these objects meant for children.

Toys are not alive, but they bring imagination to life. They won’t run around having adventures on their own, unless you want them to.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Sorry Geeks, but Karabots are not cybernetic robots named Kara programmed to destroy.

The Karabots Junior Fellows Program is an initiative from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (you know, the Mütter Museum) that aims “to provide practical assistance, mentoring, and academic and social support to a select group of Philadelphia high school students from communities under-represented in current healthcare professions.”

At this month’s Science on Tap, you can meet Jacqui Bowman, the Director or the Karabots program. She’ll be talking about the program and how they “use the world-famous Mütter Museum and Historical Medical library to inspire and encourage Philadelphia teens.”

Should be a good time, as is every Science on Tap. Come learn something.

Science on Tap @ National Mechanics
Monday, December 12th at 6 pm

National Mechanics
22 South 3rd Street Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 701-4883
www.nationalmechanics.com

Contest Closed! Thanks for playing.

Assassin’s Creed. I absolutely adore this video game series, and when Ubisoft released the outstanding Lineage mini-series, I was psyched. Live action Assassin’s Creed? Hells yeah. You can watch the full thing for free on YouTube, or if you’d like to scope it out on the big screen in HD… you could pick it up on DVD or Blu-ray.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage serves as the prequel to Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood and Revelations. In the story we’re introduced Giovanni Auditore… Ezio’s father. Hunted in the midst of a conspiracy (a popular trope in the Assassin’s Creed series), he’s forced to fight for his life as he tries to expose a dark secret held by some of the most powerful families in Italy.

This is a pretty easy Blu-ray to talk about, considering the entire short film runs a little over half an hour. What you’re really paying for here is the amazing digital transfer (it looks gorgeous) and a number of short featurettes, including some making-of clips and developer diaries. All in all, with the series and the features, you’re looking at about an hour of content here.

On DVD, Assassin’s Creed: Lineage goes for a cheap $10, on Blu-ray, about $12 . The cheap price point, the solid story, and decent mini features, make this a great purchase for that mad Assassin’s Creed fan in your life, or even for yourself. It’s definitely worth the buy if you’re a diehard fan.

Now, for those crazy fans still reading, I’ve got THREE copies of Assassin’s Creed: Lineage on Blu-ray to giveaway. Just leave a comment about your favorite Assassin’s Creed character for a chance to win. I’ll email winners sometime next week.

Requiescat in pace…

Local game developer Cipher Prime, award winning creators of the games Auditorium and Pulse, have recently released an updated version of their addictive music/puzzle game called Fractal. Featuring colorful graphics, cool music, various play modes, and deceptively simple gameplay, Fractal will keep you hooked for hours.

Fractal’s main campaign starts you of creating “blooms”, which is when you connect a group of similarly colored pieces called fractals to create a giant hexagon cluster on the board. For every bloom you create, you also are rewarded with music. The more blooms you take off the board, the more music you hear within the level.

The catch is that you only have  a certain amount of fractals to put on the board while also trying to achieve a certain amount of points per level. As you move through the campaign, the difficulty certainly ramps up. Multiple colored fractals pop up on the board, suddenly making the player have to be aware that the upcoming fractal might destroy an attempted bloom combo.

While playing Fractal I was reminded of the game Lumines, but while that game had a style of gameplay very reminiscent of the classic puzzler Tetris, Fractal feels like it’s own thing. It has its own style  and pace. The campaign doesn’t have you trying to complete a level within a certain timeframe, nor does it suddenly ramp up the speed of gameplay. It all comes down to the player. How the player decides to interact with the level determines the tension and complexity of each level. Needless to say you can discover multiple ways of creating blooms within a level which certainly ups the replay value of the game. Continue Reading…

Over the course of the past couple of years, so-called “Vault” books have showcased the histories of everything from Star Wars to Marvel Comics. What makes these massive coffee table tomes unique is that they include removable material that is the closest thing the publishing world can get to DVD and Blu-ray special features. (Usually these items include reproductions of vintage collectibles, movie posters, crew paraphernalia and other drool-worthy goodies). This holiday season sees the release of two new of these types of releases, and if you are a fan of either the Alien franchise or your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man they are utterly invaluable.

First up, Ian Nathan’s Alien Vault accurately bills itself as “the definitive story of the making of the film,” and for anyone who has ever experienced the terror of Ridely Scott’s masterpiece (that’s right, I’m saying it’s better than Blade Runner), it is a perfect organism full of new insights. As someone who has poured over plenty of books about the flick over the years, I was thrilled to find that opening this vault introduced me to tons of unfamiliar stories about Alien’s production.

Spanning from the movie’s initial conceptualization to its release, it chronicles the inside story behind the sci-fi epic through interviews with the film’s key players. (The sequels and spin-off novels are giving a passing mention mainly to contextualize the saga as a whole…so hopefully we will get an Aliens Vault book someday). Arguably the most fascinating thing about the book is its Chip Kidd-esque design that highlighted by rare and previously unseen photographs — including unused poster prototypes and a terrific picture of the man inside the creature costume, Bolaji Badejo. As for the enclosed items, they feature everything from a replica H.R.

Giger painting of the Space Jockey to a sticker of the Nostromo crew patch design and a mini Japanese Alien movie poster that is just begging for you to frame it. To badly paraphrase the film’s tagline, in your home everyone can hear you scream with delight at how great the Alien Vault is. Okay, that was a really inexcusable joke to make. Seriously though, check it out.

When writing The Spider-Man Vault (published by Philly’s Running Press imprint) authors Peter A. David and Robert Greenberger had their work cut out for them. You see, much of Spidey’s history has already been covered in exhaustive detail in works like Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe, Lee Daniels’ Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics and the similar The Marvel Vault. Naturally there was bound to be some overlap between this and in those books, but thanks to David and Greenberger’s breezy writing at no point does the material here feel repetitive.

Because the wallcrawler’s complex history is condensed into 190 pages, this book is more of a fun pop culture overview than anything else. The only real sticking point I had with this is that it didn’t spend enough time on Spidey’s TV and film excursions — especially the trippy 1960s cartoon and the insane Japanese live-action TV show from the late 1970s. This small nitpick aside, The Spider-Man Vault more than lives up to its promise of being a “museum in a book” thanks to removable ephemera like reproduction art and trading cards.

On a personal note, I feel obligated to mention that this book actually elicited a squeal of delight from me by including a picture of the ultra-rare “Spider-Man: Old and New” poster that I haven’t seen since I took it off the wall of my childhood bedroom in 1988. That nostalgic trip back in time single-handedly won me over. The fact that the rest of the book is equally great was just a bonus really. Thwip!

Alien Vault by Ian Nathan
$35. Voyageur Press

The Spider-Man Vault by Peter A. David and Robert Greenberger
$49.99. Running Press

No no, not that kind of flashdance (what a feeling!). I’m talking about the impromptu kind, from the era when flashmobs didn’t mean you were going to get beaten up on South Street.

Some dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet popped into the Comcast Center and surprised folks watching their Holiday Spectacular with a short performance in their lobby. Love it.

Thanks to J.T. for the tip!

Photo by Michael S. Zolomij

Illustrator Scott Derby has charmed the heart of TeeFury.com fans with his old school tattoo inspired T-shirt designs, so much so that his most recent design was featured on G4 TV’s segment about cult t-shirts! But he charmed me years ago as a patron of my old comic book shop, Comics and More at King of Prussia mall.

His superhero portraits (Chris Giarusso-esque “mini” portraits) have also been a mainstay of the comic scene here in Philadelphia. Geekadelphia sat down with this hometown hero to get the full story on his love of illustration, comics, and Olde City.

When did you start illustrating? Is it your full time job?

Scott Derby: I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon or pencil, and pursued a fine arts degree in college, which led to adding media communications and technology as a second degree. I started off doing graphic design right out of college, but I always had more of a focus on the illustration aspect of design. Illustration and graphic design is my full-time gig, as well as my hobby and passion (that also happens to throw a little bit of coin into my pockets)…

What are your geek obsessions?

Scott Derby: I geek out mostly to comics and toys, followed by movies and TV, with games being a distant 3rd. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy video games, I just have such limited time to enjoy my already unlimited hobbies…

I hear ya man. So much awesome, so little time. What’s currently in your comics buy pile?

Scott Derby: I’m in a little bit of a transition period lately, comics-wise. Having been primarily
a DC fanatic for most of my 30+ years of reading comics, the recent DCnU revamp has left me feeling a bit unsure and discouraged, choosing to wait until certain specific titles are compiled into trade paperbacks. In fact, most of my comic reading has transitioned to trade paperbacks, due to both lack of funds and being unable to get to the comic shop on a regular basis.

Do I lose geek cred for that, reading trades instead of monthlies? With that being said, Walking Dead and Invincible are still at the top of my reading list. I am looking forward to trades of a few of the DCnU titles, such as Justice League, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, Action Comics, Swamp Thing and Animal Man. I may even take a few chances with titles like Batwing and Stormwatch. I also find myself intrigued enough to get back into the Marvel Universe with some of the newly revamped X-men titles such as Wolverine and the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men.

Name some of your fave places in Philly.

Scott Derby: Brave New Worlds comics for all of your pop culture needs (Brian is the man…),
Sugar Mom’s (Bowman and Chad; old friends and great bartenders) in Olde City, For dining; Vietnam in Chinatown, Pod in University city, and Buddakan on Chestnut are a few of many great places to visit in the city of Brotherly Love… Alma de Cuba is another great place to eat…

Love Brave New Worlds and Sugar Mom’s as well! What projects do you have coming up?

Scott Derby: As far as upcoming projects; things are starting to wind down right now with the holidays coming up. Just exhibited in a Bill Murray tribute show with Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, as well as had my 6th t-shirt design offered on Teefury.com. I’ve got a few side projects to finish up, such as a tattoo design and a few commissions then back to the drawing board for more group shows with G1988 in 2012, and hopefully some more shirt designs with Teefury.

I need constant stimulation. Any down time in stimulus leaves me antsy and fidgety. I’m the guy who checks email on his phone while stopped red lights, the guy who needs the TV on for background noise. Imagine my restlessness when I use the microwave. Time passes so much slower when I’m hungry and I can see a countdown of the time until I can house some Hungry Man frozen dinner. Good thing some University of Pennsylvania students created the μWave (pronounced micro-wave, mu-wave, or u-wave), a device that helps ease my hunger pangs by distracting me with Youtube videos.

The μWave is a combination of an Internet enabled tablet and microwave. When a user inputs a cook time, the μWave finds and plays a Youtube video the same length as the cook time. Brainchild of UPenn students, the device won first place in the PennApps hackathon securing the students $2,500 and the chance to present their hack to Google NYC.

The μWave is the classic “why didn’t I think of that” hack that solves a problem I never knew I had. By just knowing the μWave exists, I find myself more impatient than usual when I warm up day old pizza. Suddenly, I wish there was a Youtube video playing at work while I nuked instant oatmeal. It would make the office microwave line less awkward and I wouldn’t have to fish for topics to talk about. Waiting for the microwave timer to tick down is more painfully boring than ever.

Using established familiar technology means it is easier for the hack to gain consumer adoption. There’s no new cutting edge hardware with the μWave. There’s no new complex software to learn since nearly mostly everyone can figure out how to use a microwave. The incredible insight comes from the alleviating the minor distress of waiting for something to heat up. That small downtime is replaced by having Youtube entertainment beamed into my eyes while my popcorn is beamed with 2.5 gigahertz waves. The future is now! Continue Reading…

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Gone are the days when the mark of a writer could be weighed in the stacks of thoughtful letters typed and shipped off (and then saved by the recipients for decades). But for those who still think an e-card just doesn’t cut it, there comes a movement with a more vintage aesthetic. In bars and coffeehouses across the country and closer to home dedicated typists are ditching their laptops in favor of Underwoods, Coronas and Remingtons.

This Saturday, local businessman Michael McGettigan will host the second annual Son of a Type-In, a jam session for manual typewriters and those who love them. From 1-4:30 p.m. Dec. 10, typers will gather at Bridgewater’s Pub inside 30th Street Station to share in a mutual love of manual writing, clack out some personal letters (in snail-mail form, obviously) and have a beer while swooning over the collection of analog machines.

Using an acoustic guitar affects what music is being played; same with a manual typewriter, writes McGettigan, owner of Trophy Bike Garage in Northern Liberties. Hand typing produces output that appears permanent and polished, yet fallible. It creates an actual artifact that can be immediately examined, mailed, filed, given away or crumpled in a ball and arced into a trash basket.

This weekend, unplug for a while and show the world that typewriters are following vinyl records out of the grave. A
speed typing competition comes with a sweet prize: your own manual typewriter. If you’d rather take it slow, McGettigan will supply stationary, stamps and envelopes to write your own holiday greetings (or love letters).

The event is all-ages (children should be accompanied by an adult) and free if you bring your own manual typewriter and/or a stamped envelope. There will be a limited selection of typewriters to use, if you don’t have your own; just RSVP to phillytyper@gmail.com to save your space. For more info, visit PhillyTyper.com.

Although he still hasn’t quite recaptured his 1970s popularity, Bigfoot has experienced a bit of a comeback in recent years thanks to everything from beef jerky ads to low-budget Lance Henriksen films. Perhaps no other medium has welcomed him back with open, not nearly as hairy arms more than comics. The past decade has seen the nutritiously elusive beast grace works written by the likes of Steve Niles, Pascal Girard and Graham Roumieu. Sadly, this Sasquatch renaissance has yet to impact the City of Brotherly Love in any tangible way. But that’s all about to change thanks to Chris McDonnell.

A co-founder of the Meathaus comics collective, member of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society and instructor at the University of the Arts, McDonnell has just released Sasquatch’s Big Hairy Drawing Book. Billing itself as “120 pages of dynamic drawing diversions,” the book offers up plenty of terrific doodling opportunities. McDonnell’s imagery is best decribed as a mutated combination of Al Jaffee and Basil Wolverton whimsy with plenty of Yo Gabba Gabba!-style joy thrown in. (Which isn’t surprising given that he has contributed animation to the trippy show). Through drawing monsters and completing half-formed comics and jokes, the book allows readers to free their inner cartoonist — resulting in a joyous experience for kids of all ages.

I recently had the opportunity to ask McDonnell about the release. Continue Reading…

Le Fits: Which one is Ben? *shrug*

Take a break from your busy workweek with Nerd Nite Philadelphia on December 7th. Nerd Nite is a chance for Nerds to come together and listen to presentations, cavort among the Nerds, and drink some quality beers. Nerd Nite will take place at Frankford Hall (the corner of Frankford and Girard). Doors open at $7:30 pm.

Nerd Nite will be presenting three different lectures from Brett Cohen, Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian, and Scott Beibin. These presentations will discuss free will, bone histology and dinosaur biology, and Quantum Transdimensional survival. How’s that for interesting topics? There will also be music by Ben Reisman of Le Fits, with food and drink specials: $6 for a beer and a pretzel, and $8 for a beer and a sausage.

Cover is $5, and there is plenty of seating at Frankford Hall! Make sure you get there and put on your learning caps!