Reign of the Supermen #275: The Warrior

Source: Anima #9-10 (1994)
Type: TransformationThe Warrior is one of the archetypes running around in the old Anima series, a book that borrowed more from Jung than it did Siegel and Shuster. Superboy appears in a couple of issues, acting as a channel to the Warrior. Normally, the Warrior appears as... well, as a Deathstroke look-alike. And trapped inside Superboy (because of that nasty cloned DNA), our hero becomes older and more eye-patchy.

10 More People Who Are Quite Clearly the Warrior:
1. Nick Fury
2. Rooster Cogburn
3. Dilios
4. General Chang
5. Elle Driver
6. Odin
7. Rochefort
8. Saul Tigh
9. Snake Plissken
10. Many, many pirates!

Drop the Weapon, Son!

Last week, one of my gamers got himself into something of a pickle when he showed up 8 hours early for a midnight showing of Army of Darkness showing at the local cineplex (inaugurating Movie Geek Night). The problem: He came out dressed as Ash, a Halloween costume he'd used before:Between the boom-stick and the chainsaw, someone called 911. 4 police cars showed up and he was told to "Drop. The. WEAPON." To which he answered: "I can't. I would need a flathead screwdriver." The local newspaper covered it HERE.

Fred's crime wasn't that he was packing faux-weapons, or even that he dressed up to go to a movie. His crime was not gauging when to start a line-up for a 15-year-old cult film. A guy dressed up as Ash in a movie line-up, perhaps getting his picture taken next to the poster, that's fandom. Same guy alone on a sidewalk? That's a lone gunman.

The next Movie Geek Night is showing the original Terminator. Someone's gonna get their ass shot, I can feel it...

Ninja Missions

Ever been on a ninja mission and not known what to wear? I've got some tips for you and a couple of beautiful (if slightly loopy) models to showcase them. But first...

What's a ninja mission?
Beyond the obvious assassinations of Japanese land owners, ninja missions are those undertakings that require a modicum of stealth and foolish bravery (of brave foolhardiness) and would verge on the illegal if the cops actually had the manpower to arrest every drunk idiot who's crossed the line.

The most common example of a ninja mission is when you go to the office in the middle of the night to use and abuse the photocopier for your own ends (say, publishing a fanzine or getting pics of your naked ass for wide distribution). That covers the three ninja "S"s: Stealthy, subversive and stupid.

Sometimes, you need to hide your identity. May I suggest a case of beer as your solution? (After all, at the onset of a ninja mission, you may well have an empty one handy.) Here Carolynn models the "head-case" and how its angles help you balance yourself even on the loosest of high wires:

In this case, she's chosen stealth over visibility and only punched out a couple eye holes (they may or may not be in line with her eyes), but you may opt for a better view by making a window the same size as the handholds. Don't be afraid to show your sense of style in your choice of beer.

A couple of my friends went to get midnight snacks at a convenience store wearing head-cases, and believe you me, the clerk had his finger on the alarm button the whole time. Note that it is totally appropriate to do cartwheels, jumps and other acrobatic moves while on a ninja mission, so be sure to have a tight head-case that won't fly off.

Very often, ninja missions are a group undertaking, so you need to coordinate. A professional, coordinated look can be achieved with a simple straw. Here's how:

Here, Gwen is modeling the "straw-mike" while stealing the University Improv Cup from under the tournament organisers' very noses. How? Careful coordination with other team members to make sure she isn't seen. That, and who would argue with someone wearing a mike? You don't argue with the secret service. You don't argue with wedding planners. And you don't argue with ninjas.

I hope these fashion tips have been useful to you, whether you're looking to stock up on paperclips or rescue a friend from his ex in a locked bathroom stall. Remember: Ninja is an attitude.

Fashion Faux Pas: Green Lantern creator Martin Nodell passed away

Yesterday, the golden age Green Lantern's creator died at the age of 91. Martin Nodell isn't really a name you hear a lot, certainly not as often as Jack Kirby or Joe Simon or Siegel & Shuster or Bob Kane, but his contribution to superhero comics was a lasting one.

I heard about it on the radio, on Sam à 16h, a provincial show on the French CBC hosted by none other than my good friend Sam Chiasson, who paid hommage to Nodell by wearing his Green Lantern shirt. Aw sweet... EXCEPT IT'S THE WRONG SHIRT!!! Here's what I know Sam has in his closet (what I do in there is none of your business):

An easy mistake to make, perhaps, but this is the Silver Age Green Lantern's logo. Hal Jordan (the same GL killed by my cat earlier this month) was a sci-fi based Green Lantern who belonged to an intergalactic police force and used his ring to create giant green fans, baseball bats and nail clippers. This guy:

While Nodell's creation did inspire Julius Schwartz et al. during the big Silver Age revamp of the late 50s and early 60s, his Green Lantern was THIS guy:

Alan Scott was a radio broadcaster who hung around with a slapstick taxi driver and used his magic ring pretty much as a flamethrower. I was surprised to find that there's a shirt for him too, and as you can see, the logo is very different:
So while Sam's fashion faux pas isn't quite on par with Green Lantern's own (I mean, that is a pretty outrageous color scheme even for a superhero, and surprisingly low on GREEN), it's still something of a miss. Sammy boy, you have been judged: NOT GEEK ENOUGH!!!!!!

(Which may or may not be a bad thing.)

Just how geek?

In the previous post, Groy said: "I don't think i'm geeky enough for this site. " Well, that may be true. But it did make me think about the degrees of Geek. Is it even a matter of degrees? Or are there just different kinds of geeks, where a gaming geek might not understand the comic geek's language?

Here's an example using two shirts I wear*. If someone recognizes either's reference, then I know they have some degree of geek in them. But what degree? I actually prefer to think of people responding to this shirt as old school:


While those that respond to this one, are new school:

So Groy... All I can say is that looking at your own blog, you're every bit as much a geek as I am... I just went to a lot more schools, is all. That's what happens when your parents move around a lot.

*These shirts and many more available from GeekLabel. Check 'em out. Some of them, even *I* don't understand.