Doctor Who Season 8

The next season of Doctor Who is coming up soon so I'd like to take a moment to talk about the things I'd like to see or not see in season 8. This will be the first season with the new Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, following his reboot of regenerations during the last Christmas special. I'm curious to see how they work in the fact the Mr Capaldi has played not one but two prominent roles in previous seasons of Doctor Who and Torchwood, I hope the explanation is more than just "plot device". Maybe his new regens are all based off of people he has seen and made an impact on him during his previous incarnations? But knowing Moffat it'll be contrite and over the top.

I'd like to see NO MORE COMPANIONS IN LOVE WITH THE DOCTOR!!! Seriously. It's been done to death and then some. If I have to watch one more episode of some young pretty girl flirt and moon over the Doctor I will be sick. I swear every companion in the reboot, except for Donna, has been in love with the Doctor at one point or another. So I want to see friendship, companionship, maybe some father/child sort of dynamic. But for heavens sake no more crushes please!

Lets bring back more classic Who baddies, as much as I love the Daleks and Cybermen I'm a bit bored with them right now. I want to see how a modern production would re-imagine all of those awesome old monsters. Or do something brand new! Let the writers write, not regurgitate plot lines that have been done to death. No more Cult of Skarro, Cybermen from another dimension or timeline, or the Doctor vs the Universe please.

And let's get off planet Earth for a bit, or at least away from the UK. Show us brilliantly colored alien worlds, cultures so different from our own that it blows our minds and inspires a whole new generation to write. I want dark worlds and bright worlds and worlds that have been so long dead not even the Doctor remembers who they were. He's a bloody time and space traveler, get away from modern day London for once!

What do you want from this season? What are your hopes or fears?

Comic Book Review: Ms Marvel #1

I like new characters, they're easier to get into than someone who has 60+ years of back history you need to learn in order to really understand the character (not to say I don't like well established characters as well, Batman is my favorite character ever). Marvel introduced a new series in February titled Ms Marvel, which revolves around the like of Kamala Khan and her newly acquired super powers. Now for the veteran comic book readers out there you are probably saying "Hey, Ms Marvel isn't a new character!", and you'd be right. Ms Marvel was the old moniker Carol Danvers used before she took on the title of Captain Marvel. Passing down or claiming a no longer used name is a common practice in the comic book world (how many Robin's have there been now?) and is a way for writers to introduce a new character without having to start at absolute square one.

Kamala Khan is a first generation Pakistani American teenage Muslim girl who suddenly finds herself with superpowers and chooses to emulate her idol Captain Marvel (another great series I'll have to talk about later) and become a superhero. There are only two issues out right now, but to give you an idea as to how well they are selling Marvel have already ordered a second printing of issue #1. The first issue introduces Kamala, a 16 year old girl who is nerdy and charming and trying to find a balance between her religion/family and being a teenage girl in America. I haven't been 16 in a while, but I found her incredibly relatable in her geekiness and social awkwardness. She's personable and funny in her sassiness, while not being to over the top.

While the second issue was a bit slow for my taste, the series is off to a great start and really shows us the internal struggle many heroes face as they first start out. Kamala seems to slowly be coming to terms with both her new found powers and what that can mean for her life now. Add in some family issues and she's got a lot of things to juggle. I'm looking forward to the next issue, hopefully the pacing picks up just a little bit but keeps the emotional connection with the readers.

The Do's and Don'ts of Meeting Your Hero

Con season is in full swing and chances are you've already squealed and danced around when you realized your favorite celeb/writer/artist will be there. Once the excitement passes and you start planning what you're going to say/get signed take a minute to read this nice little lists of do's and don'ts when meeting your idol.

DO remember that they are a human being too, and deserve all the respect and whatnot that comes with being a person. That means DON'T ask them questions or for a picture/signature in inappropriate places or situations (like the bathroom, while their eating, at their god damn house you crazy stalker).

DO let them know that you like their work, people like hearing that their hard work has paid off. Please DON'T list the 999 thing you don't like about their work though, that's just rude. How would you feel if someone listed all the things they hate about something you poured your heart and soul into?

DO check ahead and see what the signing/picture rules are for the event. Some places limit the number of items you can bring or require that you purchase them at the event. Typically pictures with celebs will cost money, with the more famous being the most expensive. DON'T take advantage of the "no limit" rule and bring a giant fracking box full of comics to have signed. If you absolutely must have all 237 issues of Captain Whatever signed then break it up and ask a friend (or 4) to help out. Be courteous of the other fans also wanting something signed as well as the signers time.

Horror in Doctor Who

The second half of season 7 of Doctor Who is finally on HULU Plus (go ahead, run off to watch them all, I'll wait patiently for you to return) so I've been marathoning them with my hubby. The last episode we watched was Hide, which I had really been looking forward to. I'm a huge fan of the horror genre, despite them giving me nightmares. So the idea of a scary Doctor Who episode was almost more than I could take! And the episode delivered....until the last 5 minutes retconned all of the scariness and made it some weird trans-dimensional love story. Seriously, they took this amazingly creepy monster and made it some lovesick alien just trying to get to it's mate.

I didn't grow up with what we now refer to as Classic Doctor Who, but I've read story after story about people watching it from behind the couch. How scary the Daleks were, or the nightmares the Cybermen use to give them. New Who (the rebooted series, so 9th Doctor forward) just doesn't deliver on the scare factor. Or when it does they go back and make it all OK and full of rainbows and sunshine and happy faces. What happened to that darker element? Nobody is hiding behind a couch anymore, hell I let my toddler watch it with me. There are still emotionally heartbreaking episodes (Doomsday still makes me cry like a baby, and don't even ask me about Donna unless you have 4 hours and a box of Kleenex), and plenty of hilarious ones, but the horror genre is sadly missing.

Is there a scary episode that still makes you dive under the covers no matter how many times you've seen it?

Pull Boxes at Comic Stores

I have a box at my local comic book store (Things From Another World for those who are curious) and it is probably my favorite thing about having a great shop close to me. First, I am guaranteed to have the issues I subscribe to there and waiting for me to come and pick them up. Certain comics sell out quick or may not have reprints available, so having that safety net in case I can't get in right away is great. I try to go in about every other week, but I have a toddler and a life so sometimes I only get in once every three weeks. There is no way I'd get a copy of Sex Criminals or Hawkeye three weeks after they've come up, and I'd seriously cry if I missed an issue.

Second, having a box earns me a discount. I get 10% off of my purchases there just for having a box, and while 10% of one comic isn't a lot it does add up after a while. I have 6 comics and a volume on my current pull list (though one of those is sadly ending and the volume will only come out once every six months or so), so any sort of discount is great for me. That just means extra money to spend on more comics later. Oh and 10% off a volume of The Walking Dead is pretty sweet guys, I'm not going to pass that up.

Third, having a subscription to certain comics helps to guarantee that they keep going. If a comic isn't getting a lot of orders the publisher may cancel it, which would suck if it happens to be a comic you really enjoy. I've had a preorder for the new Ms Marvel series for months now for that very reason, I want to show my support and hopefully show the publisher that there is interest in this series. Same with Pretty Deadly, which is my current favorite series.

Hopefully you have a subscription box at your favorite comic store, either online or in a physical location. Are there any perks to having a subscription box that I missed?

The Problem With Female Superhero Costumes

I like comic books quite a bit, they combine excellent storytelling with typically great artwork which makes them a win-win for me. The problem is that almost every time I open up a comic book I'm blasted in the face with a female character in the most sexualized and ridiculous costumes I've ever seen outside of a superhero spoof porno. Leather thongs and crime fighting just don't go together, and vacu-sealed catsuits are just plain silly. There are whole websites out there devoted to showcasing just how gross and ridiculous these outfits can get, my personal favorite is Eshergirls.tumblr.com. A quick Google search of "overly sexual female superheroes" will yield you over 3 MILLION search results, so this is something a lot of people are talking about.
And why are so many people talking about it? Because women are tired of being objectified, even while saving the world we can't seem to catch a break. Now I like to look sexy from time to time, but bringing criminals to justice isn't the time to be showcasing my breasts or really any part of my body for that matter. Look at Superman, Flash, Batman, Green Lantern, Cyclops, Magneto, or Spiderman. All male characters, and almost completely covered. None of them are showing off thin and very long legs, no backless unitards, no strapless bathing suits, and absolutely no boob windows. In face most of them have high collared shirts, long sleeves WITH elbow length gloves, some form of mask, and full pants. Now look at Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Zatanna, Emma Frost, and Powergirl. Most are pants free, all are wearing some form of what looks like a swimsuit, most have high heeled shoes or boots, no masks, and there's even a boob window! Now Emma's character gets just a tiny bit of slack since she can turn invulnerable to damage and has been known to use her "womanly charms" to get what she wants, which is a subject for another posting. But Black Canary and Zatanna aren't invulnerable, they could really use some armor or at the very least some pants covering their legs!
The current percentage of comic book readers who identify as female is somewhere around 25% last time I checked, which is significantly less than the percentage of gamers who identify as women (45% according to the Entertainment Software Association) and I would bet money that the constant and unnecessary objectification of female characters  accounts for a large reason of why women either get out of comics or won't read them in the first place. And this is a huge problem. What the comic book industry is basically telling women is that they don't want our money when they refuse to address this problem. And that bothers me, a lot. I want women to read comic books, hell I want everybody to read comic books, comic books are awesome!
I have seen some process over the last year, such as the Marvel comic Captain Marvel, whose main character no longer sports a swimsuit and is in a non-vacu-sealed body suit following the revamp lead by Kelly Sue DeConnick, or a not as overtly sexualized Black Widow following her popularity in the Marvel movies that have come out over the last few years. A character can be sexy without being sexualized, as both of these characters showcase. I hope each year we see a little bit more practicality and a little less "drawn for the male gaze" when it comes to female superheroes.

How to Make a Hand Painted Superhero Shirt

I attended Rose CIty Comic Con in 2013, which was my first foray into cosplay. Since I’m not a pro at sewing I picked an easier costume to make. One that wouldn’t be expensive to make or very time consuming since I have toddler as well. I finally settled on making a 1950’s Batman costume, consisting of a poodle skirt, petticoat, utility belt, and a shirt. In this series of posts I will explain just how I made my costume and how you can use these steps to make one yourself in whatever design you like. Today I will start with the simplest part, the shirt.

I already had a black t-shirt to use so I didn’t have to go out and buy one, but plain colored shirts are available almost anywhere. My personal preference is to buy them at Joann Fabrics since they are typically cheapest there and I always have a 40% off coupon for there. Just make sure you wash the shirt before hand. Cut a piece of cardboard (or buy one already sized for your t-shirt, many craft stores carry them) the correct size to place inside your shirt and tape the sleeves back and out of the way. Double check that everything is straight before you proceed any further, I’d hate for you to do all of this work only to end up with a wonky design.

Find the design you want to place on your shirt, choose something simple like a silhouette (I used the bat symbol for mine, the Flash’s lightning bolt or the Green Lantern’s symbol are also great and easy designs) and something that uses only one color. You can do a complex one with several colors if you want, but that’s a little more involved than this tutorial will be getting. Cut the design out and trace it onto your shirt. Because my shirt was black, I used white chalk, but if you have a light colored shirt you should use a washable fabric pencil, which are available at most fabric stores.

You need fabric paint in order to paint on fabric, any brand will work, I used some by Tulip that I already had. For my bat symbol I layered my colors to get a good solid coverage. I started with yellow, then laid a non-metallic gold over that, then finally a metallic gold was laid down. Give each layer plenty of time to dry so you don’t smudge your work. If you make a mistake use a wet q-tip to quickly wipe away the excess paint, but depending on the color of your shirt you may have some staining so go slowly and carefully. Once you’ve finished the final layer let it dry for at least a few hours, I let mine sit overnight.

Now this is the most important part, you need to set the paint so it won’t crack and come off when you wash it. This is achieved several different ways, but my personal favorite (and also the easiest) is to heat set it with an iron. Some people suggest ironing straight over the painted section, but I always worry about melting the paint or burning it so I highly recommend using a thin towel or piece of cloth over the painted area to protect it. Alternatively you could turn the shirt inside out and iron on the wrong side of the fabric. All you do is set your iron to medium/hot with NO steam and iron over it for 3-5 minutes, being careful to keep the iron moving so you don’t burn your fabric.

And voila! You have a custom t-shirt for half the price of buying it online, perfect for whatever event you need it for. While setting it makes it machine washable, I recommend against running it through the dryer to prolong the life of your item. I actually hand wash and then lay flat to dry my Batman shirt just to insure that it stays looking nice for a very long time. In the event it does become damaged just use your leftover paint to correct the damage and reheat set it.

Stay tuned for part two in the series, how to make a Batman poodle skirt.