comics
From Marvel to DC, Geeks explores the popular and independant comic titles in the geek universe.
Pop Culture Guy Episode 7: Unknown Spotlight—Andrea Romano
One of my early videos for my Pop Culture Guy series, this one is about Andrea Romano. She is a well-known voice acting casting director who helped cast some of the most well-known voices in both 1990s and modern animation. The writing below is taken from a project I had to do wherein I had to research the career of any casting director.
By Daniel Brizuela9 years ago in Geeks
X-Men Days of Future Past Review
The history of the X-Men movies has been very turbulent since the first film, X-Men, came out in 2000. The first film was toted as a superhero movie group film finally done right. Hell, back in 2000 superhero movies were mostly considered jokes. You had the classics, the first two Batman movies and the first two Superman films but those had been made throughout the 70s through early 90s. After Batman and Robin came out, the superhero genre was pretty much considered dead. At the time we didn't have any Spider-Man or Avengers films, the closest Marvel had gotten to making good superhero films were the Blade films, which while good, are more ultra-violent action/horror flicks than traditional superhero films. Marvel had tried a couple times before to make movies based on their characters but movies like The Fantastic Four (1994) and Captain America (1990) were pretty awful and didn't do much at the box office.
By Sebastian Howard9 years ago in Geeks
Nightmare: Dr. Strange's First Enemy in the Shadow of Sandman
Nightmare, the likely villain of the Dr. Strange movie sequel, proves that Doc has one of the greatest rogues galleries in comics. I would describe Nightmare to any DC fan as the Joker with the power of Morpheus from Sandman though Nightmare's depiction over the years has been even more jarringly inconsistent than Joker's: at times Nightmare has been essentially the most powerful villain in the Marvel Universe (when he incapacitated Eternity, the embodiment of existence, during a classic Roy Thomas story), but at other times Hulk can beat him to death for some reason. In the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, Spider-Man beats Nightmare by simply not being afraid of him. When I saw that episode, I imagined a thickly sarcastic Benedict Cumberbatch saying, "If only the embodiment of all of existence had realized he could simply not be afraid. If only he had a teenage spider bite victim to teach him how to so simply beat a fellow god."
By F. Simon Grant9 years ago in Geeks
Have You Caught The Riverdale Bug?
If you grew up in the 90’s, surely you remember reading the beloved Archie Comics. The main premise of the comic books revolved around four lovable characters – Betty, Archie, Jughead and Veronica. Throughout the series, these adolescent characters navigate their way through high school and early adulthood.
By Nicole (Nikki) M.9 years ago in Geeks
Scariest Marvel Villains
The Marvel Universe was created in the 1960's by Stan Lee alongside Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. The world of Marvel revolves around the supernatural, and characters who have special powers. In the Marvel comics, there are tons of heroes and villains, and because of this, the developers have had to get creative with the characters' backstories. The violent and eerie nature of the following villains is what caused them to make it on this list. Some of these characters are so messed up they'll keep you awake at night. Caution: may contain spoilers.
By Madeline Basirico9 years ago in Geeks
Battle of The Anime Bad-Asses
Like Fight Club, there are some unspoken rules to being a bad-ass in anime. The first rule of being a bad-ass: A bad-ass does not purposely try to be a bad-ass. A bad-ass is simply a bad-ass. Period. Second: A bad-ass does what he wants, when he wants and how he wants. He follows his own path, lives by his own rules and stands by his own decisions. Third: A bad-ass must have the ability to kick anyone's ass, without as much as breaking a sweat, and still look amazing doing it. Fourth: A bad-ass gets shit done, fearlessly and confidently, and does it in a really cool way. Fifth: A bad-ass NEVER gives up. A bad-ass can take down anyone who crosses him, without even thinking about it. If he has a goal in mind, he won't stop until it's achieved, even while being badly injured, near death or dead.
By Kelly Hawks9 years ago in Geeks
Urthona and Rintrah: The Last Days of Dr. Strange, Vol. 2
Peter B. Gillis, my favorite Dr. Strange writer of the 1980s, debuted two underrated and tragically forgotten alien creatures in the same storyline that brought volume 2 to an end: Rintrah, the green minotaur apprentice, and the great devastating villain Urthona. Rintrah remained essentially just a quirky secondary character for the first few years of volume 3, but Urthona made a more significant first impression that should earn him a place on the top ten Dr. Strange villains of all time (though no one puts him on that list but me). Urthona essentially debuted in issue 79, and his storyline led to the end of volume 2 with issue 81 in 1987. Besides ending a volume, in his first appearance he achieved all of the following: 1) stealing all of Doc's stuff (and Doc, as a neurotic hoarder, loves his stuff [and it's also a major source of his power]); 2) stealing Doc's whole house; 3) torturing Wong (but all Dr. Strange villains torture Wong at some point [it's the one universal truth about Dr. Strange villainry]); 4) hospitalizing Doc (so he has to do the classic Doc-has-to-operate-on-himself-by-possessing-the-surgeon routine [yes, he's done that many times]); 5) and finally forcing him to destroy all his stuff (and Doc loves his stuff) because he has no other choice (many great Dr. Strange stories end with "because he had no other choice"). That's a heckuva a debut for Urthona.
By F. Simon Grant9 years ago in Geeks
Evil Batmen Invade DC Comics' September 2017 Solicitations Just in Time for School
Just as schools and universities get back into session in September, DC Comics will continue to bring their blockbuster stories to life, which will even satisfy the grumpiest professor. Before you start thinking of pop quizzes, bad dorm food, and term papers, GEEKS offers our readers a taste of what is next for your favorite superheroes, villains, and their ever growing universe.
By Jacob Elyachar9 years ago in Geeks
9 Superman Stories Everyone Should Read.
While not as popular as the caped crusader, Batman. Superman is *THE* quintessential superhero. The first, and greatest. Since his creation in 1938, Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent, have become the cornerstone of pop culture, recognised the world over, and has become the hero of many. But when it comes to comics, I find that people are incredibly reluctant to explore the man of steel’s many, many wonderful stories. Some refer to him as the big blue boy scout, others say that he is completely un-relatable, or even boring, but I assure you, that’s not the case. While it is incredibly tempting to scream at you all to dive straight into the DC Rebirth books for Superman, it seems worth gathering an understanding of the character and his universe, before his days as a father, husband, and protector of the world from the town of Hamilton County.
By Mikayla J. Laird9 years ago in Geeks
The Wonder in 'Wonder Woman'
Wonder Woman. A name that holds the provocative power of inspiration and awe. And thankfully the film adaptation with the same branded misnomer was able to evoke that same set of emotional gravitas I'd wished (and believed) the DC Extended Universe had inside it all along. And wow, what a breath of fresh air Wonder Woman was. Like its namesake, the film had an attraction that merited a wonder at how such a refreshing product found its way among the dry hardboiledness of the DCEU. Having all the hallmarks of the heroes' journey, the origin of WW is given believable life via the experienced acting performances of Robin Wright and Chris Pine, with a stream of fresh (and necessary!) blood by Gal Gadot as the titular character and a sans-Snieder directing quality by Patty Jenkins.
By Devon Falls9 years ago in Geeks
First Love
You're a young kid growing up in the loud and gang-infested city of Compton, CA...or in one of the quiet suburbs of New England...a town in rural Japan or a war-torn city in Iraq. One day a friend, or parent, or whoever shows you a comic book. It reads "MARVEL" in big bold white letters on a red background. Or maybe it reads "DC" and is encircled, like a badge, with a black and white color theme. There are numbers (#18, #85, #201...) on the cover page, but you have no idea what they mean. It doesn't matter, you don't care.
By Dre Joseph9 years ago in Geeks
