The planet’s headquarters for science fiction and fantasy is here in the Emerald City, Now Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture is honoring some iconic heroes including the mother of Harry Potter, a comic book legend behind this swinging superhero and a video game icon.
(MoPOP) announced the newest inductees into its Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame – just one of the cool exhibits at Seattle’s temple of geek Gods and Goddesses:
J.K. Rowling
Best known for creating the Harry Potter series, this British novelist first had the idea for the boy wizard on a delayed train headed to London’s King’s Cross station.
Rowling mapped out the seven-book series on handwritten notes. The first novel was released in America in 1998 under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The series was turned into a blockbuster eight film franchise.
Rowling published six works connected to her wizarding universe including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Tales of Beedle Bard. She has received five honorary degrees from various institutions including the University of Edinburgh and Harvard University, and has won awards including the Hugo Award and the National Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year.
Stan Lee
You might be thinking – what took them so long!?! Lee is one of the most influential comic book writers of all time and father of the Marvel Universe. Lee co-created Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Hulk and the X-Men.
Stanley Martin Lieber became Stan “The Man” Lee starting his career as an assistant at Timely Comics when he was just seventeen and became the editor soon after, writing every style of comic from romance and westerns to horror.
In 1961, Lee took his wife’s advice and write a comics story to please himself. The Fantastic Four was born and Marvel Comics blasted off. Lee’s creations captured fans’ imaginations through a combination of relatable characters that could be flying or swinging right outside your window.
Lee’s characters and storylines have appeared across all types of media including animated series, video games, television shows, and the long-standing Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans anxiously look for Lee’s cameos in every Marvel film to hit the screen.
Lee’s creations are the inspiration for Marvel A Universe of Heroes was co-created by the MoPop team and is currently on display before going on a tour.
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda™ is an adventure video game series known for its exploration-based gameplay, puzzles, characters, and fantasy setting. Often cited as one of the first “open world” video games, the franchise includes 19 installments. Each game tells an important part of the history of Hyrule, a mythical land created by the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore. Before leaving their new world, the goddesses left behind an object made of three golden triangles known as the TriforceTM. The Triforce grants its owner special powers that echo the goddesses’ three virtues: power, wisdom, and courage.
Many games in the series focus on the Triforce and the characters who possess the individual pieces: the courageous hero Link, the wise princess Zelda, and the powerful dark lord Ganondorf. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka in 1986, the Legend of Zelda game was inspired by Miyamoto’s childhood. The series has won dozens of awards and has been spun off into comic books, novels, and an animated television series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It started as a movie that became a cult classic but the story of vamp killer would not die!
Joss Whedon combined vampire hunting and teen drama to conjure Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon resurrected the idea into a beloved television show following reluctant hero Buffy Summers and her mystical calling as a vampire slayer and demon hunter. Along the way, she meet other high school outcast friends aka the “Scooby Gang,” to fight evil and cope with the angst of growing up.
The television series ran for seven season then creator Joss Whedon continued Buffy’s story where the TV show left off in a series of comic books for Dark Horse Comics. Known as the “Buffyverse” by fans, Buffy’s expanded fictional universe includes the successful television spin-off Angel (1999-2004) and numerous tie-in books, comics, and games.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame exhibition lets visitors explore the lives and legacies of inductees through films, interactive kiosks, and rare artifacts. Final inductees are voted on by the public from a list of nominations submitted by a panel of award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors, artists, editors, publishers, and film professionals.
MoPOP serves as a gateway museum, reaching multi-generational audiences through collections, exhibitions and educational programs, and using interactive technologies.
For tickets and more on the current exhibits visit mopop.org.
By Editor