Happy Birthday, Arizona!

Darkpaio says, "Happy Birthday, Arizona!"

If you love living in Arizona, the fact that Arizona's statehood anniversary is shared with Valentine's Day is the perfect coincidence for you!  While I hope to keep my updates weekly only, I couldn't let today pass without acknowledgement, so here's an abbreviated version of my new newsletter format, just to say, here's to you, Grand Canyon State!

Cool Cosplay

I get to see a lot of cool cosplay at the cons I attend, and rather than post endless slideshows of fat Batmen, I like to feature one great costume at a time, ideally revealing the wearer's creativity, originality, and, most importantly to me, practicality.  So, to celebrate Arizona's birthday, here's a nod to its Wild West roots with a Cowboy Green Lantern from last month's Amazing Arizona Comic Con!

Coming Soon . . .

Amazing Arizona Comics Quarterly is still in the works, with a story that takes place on this very day, starring our very state's first governor, who is entombed in Papago Park -- to rise in the instance his beloved land faces a crisis!  Behold, the GovernMummy!

Speed Cameron's California Adventure, chapter 3: Annotations

Tomorrow marks the end of Speed Cameron's California Adventure, so in the meantime here are some notes that annotate the third, penultimate chapter.

Page 1: When DC Comics announced that Green Lantern, a.k.a. Alan Scott, was gay, the topic was a high trender on Twitter.  (See here.)

Page 3: In the midst of the Supreme Court's deliberations over SB1070, San Francisco stood by the grassroots boycott of Arizona.  Here, Affirmative Action stands with their city.  (See the Huffington Post article here.)

Page 4: According to superhero historian Bob Leeper, Juan Hit Wonder is known to utter one hit wonder song titles before every attack.  A list of references can be found here.

KaraokeFanboy Radio, Episode 5

In this special episode of KaraokeFanboy Radio, we discuss the importance of marketing through comic books, and the importance of comic books through marketing, all by way of the recent news story that revealed Green Lantern is gay. 

Program Notes: Throughout this episode, I imply that the Alan Scott news story was a deliberate press release from DC Comics, but I'd like to make sure I emphasize that the development was first revealed in an interview, as reported by Comic Book Resources here.  In the context of my argument, I think DC publisher Dan DiDio should've answered the question about the potential for gay superheroes with, "Oh, yeah, absolutely -- so what?"  Listen to my whole perspective to put that in context.  Also, the Before Watchmen commercial can be seen here.

If you have any opinions of either of my major points in this episode, please feel free to comment!  And come back later this week for more Amazing Arizona Comics news and previews!