EMP Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Film Festival Call For Entries!

 

courtesy EMP Museum and DaBooth.org

  The Icons of Science Fiction Exhibition just opened. Now EMP Museum is looking for the future filmmakers who might one day inspire an addition to this amazing collection.

  EMP Museum is now accepting entries for the 8th Annual 2013 Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival (SFFSFF).  EMP and the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), encourages the submission of original science fiction and fantasy short films. The festival will accept animated or live-action submissions in science fiction (futuristic stories, space adventure, technological speculation, social experiments, utopia and dystopia), and fantasy (sword and sorcery, folklore, urban fantasy, magic, mythic adventure). Note: The festival will not accept horror submissions.  A hand-selected jury comprised of science fiction professionals in film, television, and literature will select 20 films to be screened in Seattle in early 2013.  The jury will also award a Grand Prize, Second Place, Third Place, and the Douglas Trumbull Award for Best Special Effects.  SFFSFF viewers will cast their vote to determine the winner of the Audience Favorite Award. In order to qualify, submitted films must have been completed after January 2008, and must not exceed fifteen minutes.  

Photo by DaBooth.org courtesy EMP Museum

ENTRY DETAILS All submissions are processed online through Without a Box:  www.withoutabox.com/login/4608 For additional rules and regulations, visit www.empmuseum.org/filmfestival.

  Good luck! As you can see from my photo at the Icons of Science Fiction Opening Night party I’m ready to make the move to film – I’m just saying. Here’s my post on the Icons of Science Fiction.

By Editor

Spandex Are More Than Gay Heroes

Spandex Fast and Hard by Martin Eden courtesy TitanBooks.com

  This week X-Men (and Alpha Flight) fans celebrate Northstar’s wedding to his boyfriend in Astonishing X-Men #51. Northstar and the newly outed Alan Scott/Green Lantern of Earth 2 aren’t the only gay heroes on comic book pages. Direct from England – Spandex is an all-gay team that might give you a new reason to wave those rainbow flags at Pride festivals this weekend.

  With a title like Spandex: Fast and Hard I thought this book might be campy fun but I was surprised how much I would care about these over the top heroes and heroines.

  Liberty, Prowler, Glitter, Indigo, Butch, Mr. Muscles and Diva are an all-gay superhero team based in Brighton, England that fight giant lesbians, pink ninjas, and a psychic alien while struggling with complicated love lives. 

  Take Peter David’s clever mix of adventure, inter team romance and satiric humor in X-Factor then shower it with glitter, more sex, turn up the camp and you have Spandex. These scantily clad heroes are great fun but the more I read the more I felt for them.

 

from Spandex by Martin Eden courtesy Titan Books.

  Chapter One Attack of the 50 Foot Lesbian introduces the team as they race into action taking on an angry giant stomping through Brighton. The titanic lesbian is a big threat but there’s an even bigger conspiracy behind her rampage. The Justice League has the Injustice League. Spandex has their own team of enemies. Martin Eden plants a particular sinister yet sexy seed that could lead to a heartbreak and betrayal in the future for one member of the team.

  Chapter Two Pink Ninjas takes the team around the world to Japan after a ninja thief’s brazen robbery of the Queen. The adventure leads to a battle with an army of pink ninjas. the addition of a new member and forces to team to face a painful past.

  Chapter Three…If You Were The Last Person On Earth was my favorite. The heroes awake to a conquered world. A psychic vampire is turning everyone into zombies (not the mindless eating kind) and sucking the color…all the colors of rainbow seems an appropriate choice of words…out of the world. This final chapter is a parable of coping with how everyday life can take an emotional toll and drain the life out of you.

Spandex! created by Martin Eden courtesy Titan Books

 Creator Martin Eden made me laugh, think and relate. I enjoyed these sexy and fun adventures with the campy but complicated heroes of Spandex. Straight or gay doesn’t matter – this is an entertaining superhero comic.

  Spandex: Fast and Hard by Martin Eden is from TitanBooks.com. Here’s a link to an interview with Eden if you’d like to learn about how he created the team.

Warning: This book has nudity, sex, foul language and really revealing costumes. This book is not for the easily offended.

Note: I was approached by the publisher to see if I would take a read and offer my thoughts if sent a preview copy. I was not paid to review this book.

By Editor

Star Trek September with Redshirts, Borg, Romulans and Doctor Who

Star Trek #13 courtesy IDW Publishing

  “You make me feel like I’m living in a Star Trek dream!” The September solicitations from IDW Publishing are sure to engage Trek fans. Everyone knows the joke about the wearing red means you’ll soon be dead. Mike Johnson, Stephen Molnar and Tim Bradstreet create a special tale just for the Redshirts…and those who love them. Star Trek #13 is a new stand-alone story of life on the Enterprise told through the eyes of a redshirt.

  This Redshirt’s Tale joins the previously announced Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hive limited series by veteran Trek writer/producer Brannon Braga. A future where the Borg control the galaxy the only hope is Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. But how can Picard save the day when Locutus rules this dark future?

  Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2Chapter 5 arrives this month too. The Borg and Cybermen are united and attacking the Federation. Can the Time Lord convince Captain Picard to make the right choice? The first 4 chapters of the 8 part story are collected in a volume available this month.

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 courtesy IDW Publishing

Star Trek Romulans Treasury Edition by John Byrne (Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four) features three classic Trek stories featuring the Romulan Empire.

By Editor

Avengers Vs X-Men Detour Into Sinister World

Uncanny X-Men #14 courtesy Marvel

  The Phoenix Five are remaking the Earth into a peaceful paradise safe for mutant and man…unless you’re an Avenger. Mister Sinister has created his own world under the Earth…and he’s ready welcome Cyclops.

  Kieron Gillen gives us a strange detour from the main action of the Avengers vs X-Men conflict in Uncanny X-Men #14. Mister Sinister was obsessed with genetics of the mutant race for years. Sinister is his own race now. Gillen has definitely created his own brilliant take on the old school bad guy. He’s no longer a mad scientist but a mad narcissist. Could we call him an ego-sexual?

  Dustin Weaver is a perfect choice to craft this bizarre fairy tale world. Weaver created the historical science fantasy world of the Eternal City in SHIELD with Jonathan Hickman. The artist gives us a haunting new underworld in Sinister’s image and populated by variations of the classic X-Men villain. The faded palette used by colorist Jim Charalampidis is an excellent choice for this Victorian era underworld.

  Sinister has manipulated Scott Summers for decades. Nathaniel Essex knows the Phoenix-empowered Cyclops will eventually come to burn him away. Sinister has an army of surprises for his old enemy. I eagerly await the showdown.

By Editor

Winter Soldier Satisfies Your Bond, Black Widow Hunger

Winter Soldier #7 courtesy Marvel

  Miss Black Widow (Scarlet Johannson) from Marvel’s The Avengers already? Can’t wait for the return of Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall? Join the gritty spy adventure of Winter Soldier.

  The Captain America sidekick spent years as a brainwashed assassin for the KGB as The Winter Soldier. The first arc was action packed as Bucky Barnes and Black Widow raced across the Marvel underworld chasing thawed out super assassins and teamed up with Doctor Doom. These sexy superspies are damaged souls. This latest chapter keeps a tight pace but still reveals what’s under the surface and driving Bucky and Natasha’s drive for redemption.

  Ed Brubaker teams up with his acclaimed Daredevil artist Michael Lark for the second arc: Broken Arrow. Bucky and Natasha are on the trail of a killer trained by Bucky. This hunt gets personal when the killer kidnaps a scientist tied to Black Widow’s tragic past. On the big screen Natasha is an Avenger hoping to erase the red. In this latest chapter you see how she earned her Black Widow name. The action in issue #7 never lets up until the shocker ending.

  If you want a super hero comic with a dark spy tone then accept the mission: read Winter Soldier!

By Editor

Northstar’s Wedding Inspires Comic Book Store Ceremony for X-Men Fans

Now this is true love and true comic book love…

    Northstar’s wedding inspired a real New York couple to tie the knot in a famous comic book store. X-Men fans Scott Everhart and Jason Welker were selected from more than 50 applicants to get married in New York City’s Midtown Comics in honor of Astonishing X-Men #51 which features the wedding of Northstar to his boyfriend Kyle. The photo from the Midtown Comics Tumblr site.

Marvel Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso said the plans for Northstar were inspired by New York’s legislation of marriage equality. Congrats and good luck Scott and Jason.

Thanks to Towleroad.

By Editor

“Oh My” George Takei Meets Kevin Keller in Archie Comics

 

Kevin Keller #6 courtesy Archie Comics

  A Star Trek living legend will boldly go…to Riverdale. George Takei will guest star in Kevin Keller #6 from Archie Comics this Fall according to BuzzFeed.

  Cartoonist Dan Parent pitched the idea to Takei at a recent comic book convention so Riverdale’s most famous gay resident could meet his hero. Takei came out in 2005, married his long-time partner Brad Altman in 2008 and has been a champion for marraige equality and fighting bullying and homophobia.

  Before Marvel married an X-Man and DC made a Green Lantern gay, Archie Comics was nominated for a GLAAD media award for creating Kevin Keller. The first openly gay character in Riverdale now has his own series and made mainstream headlines for the gay dream wedding issue.

 Thanks to Robot 6 of Comic Book Resources.

  I was very lucky to meet George Takei and his partner at this year’s Emerald City Comicon. I chose the U.S.S. Excelsior photo to be autographed!

By Editor

Avengers vs X-Men: Jailhouse Rock

New Avengers #28 courtesy Marvel.com

  Marvel’s new preview for New Avengers #28 gives away the fate of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the aftermath of Avengers Vs. X-Men #5 so I want to give this warning:

 

WARNING

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

SERIOUSLY

 

HERE IT COMES

 

 

  The Phoenix Five (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik and Namor hosting the cosmic entity) are tracking down the Avengers and putting them behind bars. New Avengers #28 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato shows the fate of Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Hawkeye. Can these Avengers stage a prison break and if they get out

New Avengers #28 courtesy Marvel.com

  Warpath is seen on guard duty to a very unhappy Luke Cage, Spider-Woman looks whipped after what looks like an interogation by one of the Stepford Cuckoos in these preview art by Mike Deodato. New Avengers #28 arrives July 18th.

New Avengers #28 courtesy Marvel.com

By Editor