Once Upon a Geek

Welcome to ONCE UPON A GEEK’s part of the Crisis on Earth-Blog: The DC Challenge! ONCE UPON A GEEK is a blog that focuses on a variety of geeky topics, including: comic books, Doctor Who, Star Wars, role-playing, 80’s TV shows, and science fiction in general. If this is your first time here, welcome aboard! If you’re a regular, I think you’ll enjoy this crossover event.

Today and throughout the next few weeks on comic book-themed blogs across the internet, DC Comics characters are being spotlighted in a series of challenges. In my case I’ll be representing Doctor Fate, one of my all-time favorite superheroes. Your DC Challenge, if you choose to accept it, involves visiting each of these various blogs and tackling their particular challenge.

The objective of these challenges is to go from blog to blog until you reach the goal-page featuring a lush scan from an obscure George Pérez pin-up of every major character involved in this crossover event. We all hope you enjoy this online scavenger hunt, and the new comic blogs you’ll be exposed to! Many thanks go out to mastermind Frank Lee Delano (of the blogs: Idol-Head of Diabolu, Justice League Detroit, and …nurgh…) for coordinating this massive effort! Way to go, Frank!

Your ONCE UPON A GEEK challenge is the crossword puzzle below. I couldn’t embed the crossword puzzle itself, so you’ll have to click the image to be taken to the interactive puzzle.  Each question in the puzzle relates to either Doctor Fate, a character participating in this crossover, or other well-known DC characters. Just a heads-up, I removed any spaces or hyphens from the answers. For example “Captain Amazing” would simply be “CaptainAmazing”; or “Locust-Man” would simply be “LocastMan”. Once you’ve finished the challenge, follow Doctor Fate’s mission beneath the puzzle. Have fun!

Hope you enjoyed the crossword puzzle!  Now you’ll have to work your way through Doctor Fate’s mission and a few of the blogs below if you want to reach the goal-page featuring an obscure George Pérez pin-up of every major character in this crossover.  Some of these blogs are participating in the crossover today, others will be in the coming weeks.  Visit them now, visit them later, visit them often!

1986

Inza Nelson sat on an antique couch, working a personalized other-dimensional crossword puzzle, within her invisible tower home in Salem, Massachusetts. Many wives find themselves “widowed” by their husbands’ obsessions with sports, gambling or what have you.  You could say Inza was a sorcery widow, as the unnaturally youthful woman had been since meeting her husband-to-be in the 1940s. It was then that Kent Nelson began his career as the crusading mage Doctor Fate, serving the cause of Order alone, and later as a member of the Justice Society of America. In the years since, Kent has become withdrawn from humanity and increasingly isolated in his studies, leaving poor Inza to her own devices.

Or not. Dr. Fate strode into the room, his features almost entirely obscured by his mantle of power, the gleaming Helm of Nabu. “Take cover,” he demanded, “I’m expecting uninvited guests.” Just then, otherworldly luminescence filled the room, followed by the material forms of three strangers.

The first looked like a derelict, with his unshaven face and long, unkempt black hair, streaked with crimson. He scowled, “I remember you two, even if you were withered old prunes when we met.” This menacing fellow, with a red ankh tattooed over his right eye, drew a golden blade on Dr. Fate. “I took that helmet of yours, and turned it into something useful. I was supposed to be the balance between Order and Chaos, but everything turned rotten, and I’ll end up with my own blade stuck between my ribs.”

The second figure exactly like Dr. Fate, but his tone was less haughty. “We took on your duties, and it will destroy us, body and soul. They warned us. We will stop you from cursing us.”

The third figure was also strikingly similar to Kent, but less poised, and with a costume bearing an ancient Egyptian motif. “I am Hawkman’s son. Why couldn’t I just defend the skies? Why did magic rot away my life, killing me, taking my lover’s mind and my son’s soul? Why couldn’t you do your own job?”

If Dr. Fate found any of this disturbing, he showed no sign of it. “I can sense the touch of Nabu in each of you, but you are not in a time of your own, and you each forget your place. Not a single one of you will carry the weight of my responsibilities for a fraction of my length of servitude. One day, you may each claim my place as Fate, but for now, begone.” With that, Dr. Fate dismissed these future inheritors of his mantle, seemingly with all the effort of an afterthought.

Inza rushed to the being who was both her husband, and something else entirely. She wondered who these Fates were, and what their appearance meant. “They were representatives of a possible future, manipulated into adulterating our present, and they are not alone. All across the Earth, these agents of a grim tomorrow haunt other superhumans. They do not belong, and I will see to their removal.”

With that, Dr. Fate exited his tower, leaving Inza to fret and displaced super-heroes to dread his pursuit.

Follow Dr. Fate’s mission through these blogs…

• The Aquaman Shrine
• The Atom: Tiny Titan
• Hawkman/Hawkwoman at Being Carter Hall
• Metal Men at Comics Make Me Happy
• Flash at Crimson Lightning
• Green Arrow at Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
• Black Lightning and Unknown Soldier at El Jacone’s Comic Book Bunker
• Firestorm Fan
• Black Canary at Girls Gone Geek and Wonder Woman at Girls Gone Geek
• I Am The Phantom Stranger
• Martian Manhunter at The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• Elongated Man and Zatanna at Justice League Detroit
• Captain Comet at …nurgh…
• Doctor Fate at Once Upon a Geek
• He-Man and Battle Cat at Pretty, Fizzy Paradise
• Mister Miracle at random picture day
• Adam Strange at Reilly2040’s Blog
• Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
• Sgt. Rock at when is evil cool?
• Batgirl at The Anti-Didio League of America
• Plastic Man at The Continuity Blog
• General support from Toyriffic

If you enjoy blog crossovers, then you may want to check out the previous comic blog crossovers we’ve done. The first major Crisis on Earth-Blog celebrated the gorgeous George Pérez/Alex Ross painting from the Crisis on Infinite Earths 1998 hardcover. The next blog crossover was a celebration of the Super Powers Collection’s 25th Anniversary.

I want to send a huge THANKS to Tommy from the Bat-Blog!  He was kind enough to give my other blog, FIRESTORM FAN, a shout-out last week.  That was super-cool of him!

If you’ve never checked out the Bat-Blog, you should swing by and take a look.  Tommy does a phenomenal job covering all things Batman.  Considering the scope of the Bat-universe and the surrounding merchandise, it’s an enormous task. I’m consistently impressed at how much he’s able to cover. Additionally, it’s one of the most visited comic book blogs on the net.  Well worth your time.

So be sure to swing by and check out his blog every day.  Same Bat-Blog, same Bat-URL.  … Sorry, I just had to do that.

You should be reading Girls Gone Geek, a new blog that bills itself as “Cheeky, Geeky, and Anatomically Correct”.  A couple friends of mine, Vanessa G. and E. Peterman have put their brilliant and geeky minds together to create this new blog.  Their aim is to provide geek commentary, from a woman’s point of view.  So far they’ve got posts regarding Wonder Woman movies and underwear, Vixen’s poor choices in costumes, and Twilight.  There will be a lot more in the near future.  Believe me, both these ladies are highly-intelligent, highly-opinionated (in a good way), and highly-geeky.  Rest assured this blog will not disappoint.  You can also check out their Twitter feed for more content.

Now quit wasting your time here and go read Girls Gone Geek!  How many times do I have to tell you.  Geez!  Some people never listen. … Seriously, dude, you’re still here?  You know, you’ve got a real problem following direction.

The Helmet of Nabu informs me that you’re wrong, mere mortal.  How about you check out some of the other blogs participating in this crossover instead.

You’ll have to work your way through a few of these challenges if you want to reach the goal-page featuring a lush scan from an obscure George Pérez pin-up featuring every major character involved in this crossover event.  Some of these blogs are participating in the crossover today, others will be in the coming weeks. Visit them now, visit them later, visit them often!

The Aquaman Shrine
The Atom: Tiny Titan
Bat-Blog : Batman Fan
Being Carter Hall
The Continuity Blog
Comics Make Me HappyCrimson Lightning
Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
El Jacone’s Comic Book Bunker
Firestorm Fan
Fortress of Baileytude
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Butt’s FOREVER!
I Am The Phantom Stranger
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Justice League Detroit
Love Dat Joker
…nurgh…
Once Upon a Geek
Pretty, Fizzy Paradise
random picture day
Reilly2040’s Blog
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Toyriffic
when is evil cool?

A big THANK YOU to the readers of this blog!  I sincerely appreciate that you take time out of your day to read my ramblings.   I want to make it convenient for you to keep up with ONCE UPON A GEEK.  Therefore, I’ve recently added a couple more ways to get the posts.   Even if you already have a reliable way of getting ONCE UPON A GEEK content, by choosing to “Follow” the blog it helps show your support and spread the word. Your support is always appreciated.

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Identify yourself as a “Follower” on the site

On the ONCE UPON A GEEK site, look in the right-hand sidebar towards the bottom and you’ll see an option to “Follow” with Google Friend Connect.  You may use a pre-existing account from Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID to “Follow”.  By choosing to “Follow”, it will list you amongst the followers of ONCE UPON A GEEK.  If you are a Google user, it will also allow you to read ONCE UPON A GEEK content in Blogger under “Blogs I’m Following”.  If you have previously chosen to “Follow” ONCE UPON A GEEK in Blogger (as I know some of you have), I ask that you please click “Follow” on the site.  For some reason, it won’t display people that have already chosen to follow.

I would recommend the “Follow” feature to anyone wishing to show their support of the site, or to anyone who keeps up with blogs through Blogger (a really handy way to keep up with several different blogs).

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I would recommend the NetworkedBlogs feature to anyone that is a frequent Facebook user, or to anyone who has a Facebook account and wishes to show their support of the site.

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RSS

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I hope at least one of these ways provides you with a convenient way to get this content.  Thanks for reading and thank you for your support!

Kids Read Comics! A very true statement, however, not as many kids are reading comics today as were when we grew up.  Ask yourself, do you encourage kids in your life (your children, nephews, nieces, friend’s kids, neighbors, etc) to read comics?  If the answer is no, then you may want to start thinking about it.

Comics grew up with us, which has kept us collecting.  However, many of the publishers have left kids comics behind in order to chase our disposable income.  This always bothered me when I worked in a comic book store.  It was rare for little kids to come in and shop.  When they did, there really weren’t many comics for them to choose from besides the Archie books.  Thankfully in recent years several publishers have made an effort to bring the fun of comics back to children.  DC and Marvel both have lines of books targeted at kids again, along with lots of other publishers.

There is a really cool event in June that focuses on bring the love of comics to kids.  KIDS READ COMICS! is being held in Chelsea, Michigan (near Detroit and Ann Arbor) on June 12 & 13.  This sounds like a truly fantastic and worthwhile event.  Here is the description from their website, www.kidsreadcomics.org:

Kids love comics. Kids want comics. Kids read comics.

Comics have held a huge appeal for kids and teens since the first Sunday funnies were introduced over a hundred years ago, and they still do today. From kid adventurers to superheroes to cartoon animals, and from humor to westerns to fantasy and more, comics have presented a wide range of stories to capture the imagination.

But changing times (and lots of social, economic and technological factors we won’t go into here) have led to a smaller American comic book industry that tends to focus on an older audience. Comics have grown up, which is great! But that doesn’t have to mean that young readers get left behind. Kids still love comics and want to read them. The key is to get the right comics in their hands.

That was the thinking that prompted a librarian, a cartoonist, a comic book writer and a comic shop owner to put together the Midwest’s first comic book convention for kids and teens, and to found KidsReadComics.org. We want to bring comics back to the kids who love them. And we believe that most kids will love them once they get hold of the kind of comics that were once a staple of every kid’s life. Updated for the twenty-first century, of course!

There are huge, untapped possibilities for comics, and we’re here to help make those possibilities real. Our first step is the Kids Read Comics Convention, a totally free event with the goal of spreading the joy and excitement of comics (and manga and anime and cartoons) through:

• hands-on workshops
• panels and presentations for kids, families, and educators
• a chance for kids to meet and chat with comics and animation professionals
• the opportunity for kids to have their own art portfolios reviewed

I really wish I could go to this event.  If you are anywhere near Chelsea, Michigan, I implore you to bring some kids to this event.  Kids really are the future of the comic book industry; after all, we’re not going to be able to afford these things forever.

I’ve been encouraging my nine year old step-son to read comics for a few years now.  Since then he’s really learned to love reading!  So many kids dread reading because they only know the books that are assigned in school.  They spend their time watching TV or playing video games, rather than reading.  By giving comic books to a child, they learn to love reading the adventure for themselves.

Remember, Kids Read Comics!

From Alert Nerd Press:

My Scott and Jean: The Master List

It all started with a simple phrase: “That’s my Scott and Jean.”

Said phrase was uttered by friend-of-Alert-Nerd Dan Faust on that bastion of 140-character social networking, Twitter. And said phrase means, essentially, “That is my geek sacred cow, the one topic I cannot discuss rationally because it makes me too insane/angry/scary-eyed.”

We had a thought: why not challenge a bunch of nerdbloggers to reveal their Scott and Jeans/geek sacred cows for all the world to see? It will either be incredibly fun or result in a bunch of smashed laptops!

Why Scott and Jean as the term’s namesake? Well, given the history and drama behind their coupling, they seem to provoke a good degree of, ahem, passion in a lot of people. Including Sarah.

This is a brilliant idea!  My thanks to EDP of ‘I Don’t Read My Blog Either’ for sending this my way.

I personally have two Geek Sacred Cows.  Two topics that I cannot discuss rationally because it makes me too insane/angry/scary-eyed.  Both are characters that came back to life that should have remained dead.

Barry Allen

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and

Jason Todd

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There you have it.  Now move along.  I can feel myself starting to spaz out.  Seriously, you should run.

I’m a Mountain Dew addict.  If you’re a geek, then it’s quite possible that you are too.  It just tastes so friggin’ good.  And the mega-jolt of caffeine is perfect for those late night gaming sessions, web surfing, comic book reading … or really just about anything.  I tried swearing off the stuff for a while, but I failed miserably.

One of the things I like about Mountain Dew is that they understand their consumers.  Mountain Dew has embraced the geek community for years and supports projects that we are interested in.  For example, back in 1999 Pepsi did a series of special cans in conjunction with the release of Star Wars: Episode I.  You may not have liked that particular movie, but to be fair none of us really knew what to expect before it came out.  1999 was one of the years I tried to quit Mountain Dew, but the Star Wars cans brought me back to this sweet, sweet nectar.  After all, who wouldn’t want to drink Mountain Dew out of a Darth Maul can.  Awesome!

Then in 2007 there was a Mountain Dew bot in the movie Transformers.  Again, you may not have liked the film, but Mountain Dew was making an effort to work within our geek culture.

While geeks represent just one segment of Mountain Dew consumers, we are an important part.  We’re fairly loyal and we drink massive quantities. Personally, I think roleplaying companies (tabletop and video game) should try and work out sponsorship arrangements with Mountain Dew.  It would be a win-win for everyone involved.  Anybody remember the old Dead Alewives “Dungeons and Dragons” audio skit?

While looking for pictures of the Pepsi/Mountain Dew Star Wars cans, I came across this next adorable image.  I think this helps demonstrate the strong connection between geek culture and Mountain Dew.

I just heard there is a new ‘Dew hitting stores this month called Mountain Dew Voltage.  Yay for more ‘Dew!  I didn’t realize this, but Mountain Dew held an election (cleverly called the DEWmocracy election) that allowed fans to select the new flavor.  Over a quarter million people voted!  Props to my democratically-minded Dew-brethren!

According to their web site, the new Mountain Dew Voltage is charged with raspberry citrus flavor and ginseng.  You can win all kinds of prizes in Mountain Dew’s online sweepstakes.  Visit the Mountain Dew Voltage web site by clicking here.  Check your grocery stores for this new ‘Dew!  I know I will!

You can now find ONCE UPON A GEEK on Twitter.

Clearly I was brainwashed this week by listening to all those presentations about social networking.  If you asked me a week ago, I would have said I thought Twitter was pointless.  After hearing a presentation on how to use Twitter productively, I’m willing to give it a try.

What helped to finally convince me was the following list.  Here are the Five Stages of Twitter Acceptance:

I was SO living in #1 until a few days ago.  Now I’m going to make my best effort to jump right to #5.  In keeping with the spirit of this list, I’ll do my best to ensure my Twitter posts (a.k.a. tweets) contain useful information or are truly microblogs.  Any tweets I write will not simply be a reproduction of what I post here; it will be new material.

If you are interested, you may “follow” me on Twitter or read my tweets in the right-hand sidebar here on ONCE UPON A GEEK.  I’ve installed a widget that displays my five most recent tweets.

If you already use Twitter, please feel free to drop me a note there.  If not, it may be worth checking out this up-and-coming service.

Dear ONCE UPON A GEEK reader,

First, thank you for reading my blog.  I sincerely appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read what I have to say about our geeky world.  I mean that.

Second, while at a conference this week I’ve been hearing lots about social networking and how businesses can create online communities.  Then it occurred to me that we’ve developed our own little community here at ONCE UPON A GEEK.  Since most readers are lurkers and we receive very few comments, you may be surprised to hear that in the last month ONCE UPON A GEEK has had over 30,000 unique visitors.  Wow!  Admittedly, many of those are people being directed to specific older posts (like the Halloween Costumes or the Star Trek pictures).  However, there is a consistent daily readership numbering in the hundreds here at ONCE UPON A GEEK.  You may not have realized it, but you’re in good company.

Today I’d like to ask each of you reading this to leave a comment saying hello.  Yes, I’m talking to you.  Take this opportunity to promote yourself, your web sites, blogs, interests, or just say HOWDY.  We truly are a community of geeks, so we should get to know each other better.  This is not a scam or a campaign of some sort.  I would genuinely like to hear from the readers, and give all of you a chance to get to know each other.

If you’ve never left a comment before, it’s really easy.  Either you’ll see the comment/reply information to fill out below, or just click the word “comments” in the bottom right-hand corner of this post.  Then type in your contact information and leave a comment.  If this is your first time commenting, it will come to me for moderation, I’ll approve it, and then it will appear on the site.  If you are worried about providing your e-mail address, don’t sweat it.  First, your e-mail address won’t appear with the comment.  Second, if you do provide your e-mail address rest assured that I will never use the e-mails supplied from comments for any marketing purposes.  No worries there.  Third, if you are really concerned, just put in a fake e-mail address; it doesn’t bother me.

My goal is simply to provide a networking opportunity for all of us.

Thanks again for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

The Irredeemable Shag