Issue 6, July 2014

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Issue 6, July 2014

Editor Talk

When I first started the pulp, I was sure I’d be spending my

months curating my own content. Editing my own articles.

I’m aware of how difficult it can be to gather intelligent,

reliable, and talented contributors, and I’m amazed that

we’ve had so many wonderful ones thus far. I’m relieved that

this project didn’t just turn into another blog for myself

because other people always have much more interesting

things to say.

That being said, everyone is off enjoying their summer

holidays, so we have a smaller issue for you this week. You

can probably skim through it in the time it takes to wait for a

bag of mini donuts at K-Days, or read your favourite articles

while waiting in the ticket line-up at Taste of Edmonton.

We might be light, but we’re never mediocre. This month,

we’re taking on Neal Adams’ theory of continental drift, the

public opinion of Punisher: War Zone, and warring gods of

antiquity. We’ll teach you the dos and don’ts of steampunk

fashion and you might even learn a little bit about Slurm.

We’ve also pinched a bunch of photos from Animethon, to

ramp you up for the nearing event. Have you chosen your

cosplay yet?

Cheryl Editor-in-Chief

thepulppress.com

Cover and back cover photo courtesy of Benjamin Sim

Photography, Animethon, and ASAPA.

The People of the Hour!

Cheryl Cottrell-Smith, Editor-in-Chief

Writer, editor, lover of words, and proponent of the Oxford Comma. Loves comics, Lionhead’s Fable, red wine, and cats. @CottrellSmithC

Matt Bowes, Lit + Film Columnist

Self-proclaimed cultural commentator/arbiter of good taste. Enjoys movies/books, and writes about them at thisnerdinglife.com. @matt_bowes

Teresa Simmons, Fashion Columnist

Fashion writer and blogger at Simmons On Style. She can’t live without little black dresses, seafood, holidays, Indie music, and lip gloss. @simmonsonstyle

Russ Dobler, Editorial Contributor

Known as "Dog" to friends and weirdos; wannabe scientist; beer lover. Blogs at thoughtfulconduit.com/whatdoesthismean.

magazine

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Issue 6, July 2014

CONTENTS

comics + graphic novels

11 The Fantastic, Impossible

World of Neal Adams – Russ

Dobler

20 Costa adds depth to

Hickman's vision in 'God is

Dead' – Cheryl Cottrell-

Smith

nerd culture

24 Animethon turns 21—

kanpai! – Cheryl Cottrell-

Smith

lit + film

8 Eight revisionist fairy tales

and why you should love

them – Cheryl Cottrell-

Smith

16 For Your Reconsideration:

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

– Matt Bowes

fashion + cosplay

13 How to wear: Steampunk

Fashion – Teresa Simmons

musings

4 Our Fictional Future: Food –

Matt Bowes

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Issue 6, July 2014

As the future approaches like a runaway train, one of the more pressing issues facing our

species is how we plan to feed our ever-growing population. Rob Rhinehart, a software engineer from the United States,

thinks he has a solution: Soylent is an “open-source” nutritional drink which can be used as a complete food replacement

system. The raw materials for Soylent are purchased in bulk from the website, and Kickstarter backers received their

first shipments this May. All you really need to do is add water, but as the “source code” for basic human nutrition is

now available, many enterprising food futurists have begun tweaking the recipe for themselves. The name for the system

comes from Harry Harrison’s 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! which was adapted into the paranoia-

inducing Charlton Heston film Soylent Green in 1973. As this is a case where reality is literally stranger than the fiction that inspired it, we here at the pulp thought we’d

introduce you to some more unorthodox approaches to food from pop culture. While The Matrix brought us discussion

of what flavours will mean once robots are in charge, and Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer is revolting viewers with what

its underclass is forced to subsist on, here’s a few deeper cuts. Who knows, maybe some of these ideas might make it

on to your plate in the near future.

Our Fictional

Future:

Written by Matt Bowes | Images courtesy of Matt Groening,

apaladinincitadel.blogspot.com, dualpixels.com, and cargocollective.com

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Issue 6, July 2014

Slurm and Bachelor Chow

Futurama, Matt Groening’s chronicle of the year 3000 and beyond, appears to finally have met its end after numerous resurrections, but over the years it’s given us at least two hilarious future foodstuffs. Slurm is a radioactively-green soft drink much beloved by Philip J. Fry, the cryogenically-frozen main character of the series. In the episode “Fry and the Slurm Factory,” Fry and friends feature in many Willy Wonka-inspired gags before the truth of how they make the delicious concoction is revealed: the secret, and only, ingredient in Slurm is actually the secretions by a giant alien Slurm Queen! Fry is horrified by the revelation, but then he takes another sip of the highly addictive beverage, warm from the process. Futurama also features the prominent placement of a hilarious meal replacement called Bachelor Chow, which essentially beat Soylent to the punch by about ten years. On the show it basically looks like dog food for lazy humans, but the wonderful YouTube channel Feast of Fiction makes it seem like more chocolatey breakfast cereal. (Bachelor Chow is also the name of a popular Soylent recipe as well.)

The Space Merchants

This novel by Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth was originally serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction under the name “Gravy Planet,” and hit store shelves in 1953. If you’re a fan of Mad Men and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I would definitely recommend this novel, as it deserves to be much more well-known. The Space Merchants deftly satirizes the duplicitous worlds of advertising and big business, and extrapolates upon how they might continue to be used to pacify people. Mitch Courtenay is a hotshot copywriter working at an ad agency in the overpopulated Earth of the near future. He gets his big break when he’s tasked with putting together a new campaign to get colonists to move to Venus, soft-pedalling the arduous terraforming operations needed to sustain life, of course. Soon he gets mixed up in a madcap series of adventures leading him to question the hyper-capitalist society that grants him his privileged status.

The book is especially prescient in its use of language, as it marks one of the first instances of the word “muzak” in pop culture, and it also pioneered the term “R&D”. It also features something called “Chicken Little,” which our horrified protagonist finds out is a gigantic vat-grown organism fed by algae scum. Slices of the giant, pulsating mass are sheared off by workers, and sent to fast food joints all across the planet. Yum!

The Space Merchants deftly satirizes the duplicitous worlds of

advertising and big business, and extrapolates upon how they might

continue to be used to pacify people.

“

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Issue 6, July 2014

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee The Oddworld video games were some of the most well-loved and critically acclaimed on the original Playstation and Xbox systems, devilishly hard platformers that valued careful thought, planning and logic over twitchiness and speed. There’s also a speech system in the games, revolutionary for their time, which allows the main characters to talk to other creatures onscreen and get them to help you with puzzles. Abe starts the first game of the series working at RuptureFarms, a gigantic meat processing plant where his people, the Mudokons, are enslaved by the money-grubbing Glukkons. RuptureFarms is running out of products to sell, as Meech Munchies have gone extinct, and Paramite Pies and Scrab Cakes are not appetizing enough to make up for it. When buffing the floor outside an office, Abe wanders into earshot of a board meeting and finds the Mudokons to be next on the menu as the upcoming “New n’ Tasty”! He then sets out to brave the industrial hellscape that is the factory and break out his fellow Mudokons in the process, dodging traps and guards along the way. The game is full of dark humour and over the top violence, and has a surprising amount to say about our industrial food production system and the plight of working people across the world. This was further expanded upon with the sequel to Oddysee, Abe’s Exoddus, where the Mudokons who did not escape the first time are further endangered as their tears and bones are used in the production of a new product, Soulstorm Brew.

Oryx and Crake

Darren Aronofsky, director of Noah, The Wrestler and the massively-underloved The Fountain, plans to make his next project an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy for HBO. This series of books by the preeminent Canadian author of the fantastic features numerous instances of weird food, as it takes place in the remnants of a world where genetic engineering has gone mad. The titular Oryx and Crake have become unto gods to the genetically scrambled remnants of humanity, and we get their story related to us via Snowman, the sole unmodified human on the planet. Among the many nefarious uses of genesplicing pre-apocalypse are ChickieNobs, chickens engineered to have no head, wings or feathers and instead featuring multiple breasts (logical extensions of The Space Merchants’ Chicken Little). There’s also Pigoons, which are half-pig-half-human and originally bred to create transplantable organs for humans, but it’s also joked about that they’re on the menu as pies. As with her most famous book The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s depiction of the future seems on the outset to be ridiculous, impossible even, but keep an eye on the news, as every day we’re getting closer to her strange future.

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Issue 6, July 2014

Eight revisionist fairy tales and

why you should love them

I recently went to see Wicked: The Musical at the Jubilee Theatre and, despite a great performance and amazing vocals, I couldn’t help but be a little

disappointed. The musical must and should leave out many elements of Gregory Maguire’s original novel, but it’s these elements that made the book so powerful for me—that really led me to buy-in to Maguire’s vision for a revisioned fantasy story.

Which, in turn, made me think about the adaptation of fairy and fantasy tales. I adore reading books like Wicked, or Maguire’s Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, or Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and I used to think that they were brilliant adaptations of The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, respectively. And yes, they are adaptations in every sense of the word. Reworkings. Modernizations (in some cases).

What I’ve come to realize, though, is that fairy tales and fantasy are so pervasive throughout our culture that, for many, an adaptation is just one in a string of cultural revisions throughout history. A great fairy tale or fantasy story never has just one adaptation: each reworking changes depending on the cultural whims of the writer.

For example, L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. It was adapted as a film many times, with the most popular being the 1939 version starring Judy Garland. While the books were for children, the 1939 adaptation tended to be a sugar-coated revision of the book, hence the cult following that came from 1985’s Return to Oz. This film was darker (imagine Dorothy hooked up to an electrical machine at a mental institution) and, as fans will attest, much more faithful to Baum’s original series.

In 1995, Maguire wrote Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a revisionist account of what Oz was like before Dorothy. As the title suggests, it looks directly into the life of Elphaba (whose name is made from L. Frank Baum’s initials) and her growth into the “Wicked” Witch of the West. Wicked is followed by Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz (combined: The Wicked Years)—all of which deal very much in Oz politics, ethics, repression, and conformity.

In 2003, Wicked: The Musical premiered at the

Oz (combined: The Wicked Years)—all of which deal very much in Oz politics, ethics, repression, and conformity.

In 2003, Wicked: The Musical premiered at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City and has since become so popular that it’s still on tour today, 11 years later. It, too, has changed with the times. Even the ending from Maguire’s novel has been changed in the musical.

We see it in pop culture everywhere we turn: the modern fairy tale. The adapted fantasy story. From NBC’s Grimm, to the Snow White and the Huntsman film, through to high fantasy books inspired by Tolkien, and everything else under the sun. There’s something titillating about taking a traditional story and making it new again; if done well, the revision can sometimes surpass the original (i.e. Robert Carlyle’s chillingly omnipresent representation of Rumpelstiltskin in ABC’s Once Upon a Time). And, sometimes, revisionist fantasy can fail. Cough. Twilight.

(Of course, there’s also the far more cynical view that all literature ever is just a rewrite of things that have been written before, but we don’t need to dwell on the idea of writers as the masters of paraphrase.)

Below are a list of my favourite revisionist novels, short stories, television shows, and comics for your reading and viewing pleasure, but please note that this is far from a comprehensive (or, to be honest, diverse) list. You might notice that it’s a little Maguire/Gaiman-heavy—in my opinion, they're the masters of the genre, but there are hundreds of other revisionist fairy tale collections and novels out there. Which one is your favourite?

Written by Cheryl Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy of

Gregory Maguire, Disney, ABC, Dave McKean, and BBC Two

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Issue 6, July 2014

Fables - Bill Willingham (graphic novel)

Fables is a comic book series centred on a large group of fairy tale characters who have been uprooted from their Homelands by the

invasion of the “Adversary” and have come to live in our world. A thrice-divorced prince charming, a secret agent Rapunzel, and a

bestiality-pursuing Goldilocks are all characters in this openly-realistic account of Fables and their attempt to live normal lives in a

world with very little magic.

Wicked Years - Gregory Maguire (novel series)

Four novels comprise the Wicked Years series, all of which cover a

land of Oz as we’ve never seen it before. From the childhood of Elphaba, the “Wicked” Witch of the West, to the social oppression of

talking Animals, through to the trials and tribulations of Elphaba’s son and granddaughter, Maguire covers as many ambiguous political and

ethical issues as possible. Fans of Wicked: The Musical might be surprised at just how dark and queer this version of Oz can be.

Troll Bridge (from Smoke and Mirrors) - Neil Gaiman (short

story)

Smoke and Mirrors is one of the best collection of Gaiman’s work and all of the stories have an edge to them akin to many of his longer

pieces. This story, in my opinion, has much more meaning that the original, with an extremely interesting look at life, death, and growing

old. Is the troll an enemy, or is he the old friend that everyone meets when it’s their time?

Snow, Glass, Apples (from Smoke and Mirrors) - Neil Gaiman

(short story)

Told through the eyes of a fearful stepmother, this short story details

the birth and growth of an unnatural, frightening child with vampiric

tendencies and a blatant, freakish sexuality. There are a lot of moving pieces to this story, but it’s worth a read for fans of the genre. And

of Gaiman.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire (novel)

Maguire, proving himself one of the kings of revisionist fairy tales,

offers up one of my all-time favourite novels with this reworking of Cinderella. Told through the eyes of mute Ruth, it details her family’s

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire (novel)

Maguire, proving himself one of the kings of revisionist fairy tales,

offers up one of my all-time favourite novels with this reworking of Cinderella. Told through the eyes of mute Ruth, it details her family’s

struggle against poverty in the Netherlands during (we can assume) the Renaissance, her mother’s marriage to a trader, and Ruth’s, her

sister Iris’, and her stepsister Clara’s dealings with society as a haphazard trio of awkward young women. Introduce a painter of the

grotesque, his effeminate apprentice, and a rapey prince, and you’ve got yourself a revisionist story that lingers well after the last page.

Snow, Glass, Apples (from Smoke and Mirrors) - Neil Gaiman

(short story) Told through the eyes of a fearful stepmother, this short story details

the birth and growth of an unnatural, frightening child with vampiric

tendencies and a blatant, freakish sexuality. There are a lot of moving pieces to this story, but it’s worth a read for fans of the genre. And

of Gaiman.

Mirror, Mirror - Gregory Maguire (novel)

Again, Maguire knocks it out of the park with a revisionist retelling of Snow White, where the heroine (Bianca) is under threat from the

beautiful Lucrezia Borgia and her lusty brother, Cesare. The dwarfs

are not cartoonish in this version, but rather compared quite often to rocks and boulders—they move slowly, but are much more grotto,

nome, and—indeed—dwarf-like than Disney’s version. The mirror, fashioned out of mercury, is a wonderful addition to the tale, and its

connection to Lucrezia’s hallucinations explains everything away.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (novel)

This novel, which is also a comic book and a TV series because Gaiman

has his hands in many pots, comes to the top of every search engine the second you even think the term “revisionist fairy tale.” It

originally began as a BBC Two miniseries before Gaiman adapted it to the book and graphic novel form. There’s “London Below,” a

Wonderland-esque version of the city rife with weird and wonderful markets, a family with the ability to open things (any things), angels,

rat-speakers, and lusty, vampire-style, blood-sucking women. It’s a smorgasbord of the magical and fantastical, held together with

Gaiman’s trademark matter-of-fact writing style.

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Issue 6, July 2014

Once Upon a Time – ABC (television show)

An all-star cast fills out this revisionist look at fairy tale characters that casts a similar shadow to the Fables comic books. It’s always

interesting to imagine what fairy tale characters would do if placed in our world, especially without their memories, and this show ties in

some magnificent acting with a number of beautifully incestuous

story arcs. Both Robert Carlyle and Lana Parrilla made this a must-watch for me.

Mirror, Mirror - Gregory Maguire (novel)

Again, Maguire knocks it out of the park with a revisionist retelling of

Snow White, where the heroine (Bianca) is under threat from the

beautiful Lucrezia Borgia and her lusty brother, Cesare. The dwarfs are not cartoonish in this version, but rather compared quite often

to rocks and boulders—they move slowly, but are much more grotto, nome, and—indeed—dwarf-like than Disney’s version. The mirror,

fashioned out of mercury, is a wonderful addition to the tale, and its connection to Lucrezia’s hallucinations explains everything away.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (novel)

This novel, which is also a comic book and a TV series because Gaiman has his hands in many pots, comes to the top of every search engine

the second you even think the term “revisionist fairy tale.” It originally began as a BBC Two miniseries before Gaiman adapted it to

the book and graphic novel form. There’s “London Below,” a Wonderland-esque version of the city rife with weird and wonderful

markets, a family with the ability to open things (any things), angels, rat-speakers, and lusty, vampire-style, blood-sucking women. It’s a

smorgasbord of the magical and fantastical, held together with

Gaiman’s trademark matter-of-fact writing style.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (novel)

This novel, which is also a comic book and a TV series because Gaiman has his hands in many pots, comes to the top of every search engine

the second you even think the term “revisionist fairy tale.” It

originally began as a BBC Two miniseries before Gaiman adapted it to the book and graphic novel form. There’s “London Below,” a

Wonderland-esque version of the city rife with weird and wonderful markets, a family with the ability to open things (any things), angels,

rat-speakers, and lusty, vampire-style, blood-sucking women. It’s a smorgasbord of the magical and fantastical, held together with

Gaiman’s trademark matter-of-fact writing style.

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Issue 6, July 2014

If you’re a regular reader of the pulp,

at least one thing can be deduced about you.

Whether practicing lightsaber techniques in

Churchill Square, proudly cosplaying at the Calgary

Expo or simply hunkering down with a good comic

book, we all share in common the gift of great

imagination. That ability to slip the surly bonds of

reality and travel to fanciful places through literature,

film and our own creativity.

That’s something to celebrate! As more and more

dorks self-identify, nerd culture has finally clawed its way

to social legitimacy. From Dungeons and Dragons players

being accused of Satanism, to “Game of Thrones” ruling

cable television, the culture has caught up to the idea that

thinking outside the box is desirable and not demonic.

Even before that equilibrium was achieved, the vast

imaginations of some science fiction writers had

surpassed fantasy and found ways to influence our real

world. Isaac Asimov, perhaps best known for his stories

addressing how people would interact with intelligent

machines, was actually the first person to use the term

“robotics.” When not penning such legendary works

as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke was a futurist

of great prescience, credited with some of the early ideas

on global telecommunications and positioning systems.

Of course, not all fantasy can jive as well with

observed reality. Indeed, that’s often part of the appeal.

Sometimes it’s nice to leave behind curmudgeonly

restrictions in favour of a world where mutated humans

can soar above the skyscrapers and blast force beams from

their eyes, in defiance of Newton’s third law of motion.

But a problem can arise when the more outlandish of those

ideas are pushed as genuine, especially when they

But a problem can arise when the more outlandish of those

ideas are pushed as genuine, especially when they

contradict well-supported science.

Neal Adams began drawing comics in 1960 and is

often lauded as helping to solidify the modern

appearances of such legendary heroes as the Green Arrow,

Batman and Superman. In the ‘90s, he was inducted into

both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the

Harvey Awards’ Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. A timeless

juggernaut, Adams still works today, recently turning in a

variant cover for Zenescope Entertainment’s Grimm

Fairy Tales #100. None of that qualifies him to talk about

science.

Yet Adams is out there, trying mightily to convince

anyone who will listen of the widespread geologic

conspiracy that keeps the lid on the real truth that the Earth

is ever expanding in size. That’s a pretty cool idea,

perfectly fit for far out realms where mole men inhabit

hollow planets and lava monsters occasionally rise from

the depths to terrorize humanity. But it doesn’t match up

to what we see here on Earth Prime.

Geologist Donald Prothero perhaps summarized most

concisely the case against an “expanding earth” in an

article from Vol. 18 No. 1 of “Skeptic” magazine,

although, as he points out, the most damning evidence

could be recited by many college freshmen.

Adams’ main reason for believing the idea seems to

be the observation that the edges all the continents kinda

sorta look like they fit together—so they must have done

so when the Earth was smaller.

Despite that, bedrock types don’t match along the

coastlines he claims were once connected. Adams insists

that subduction—the process of one tectonic plate diving

beneath another—doesn’t occur, despite the consistent

discovery of particular suites of rocks near subduction

The Fantastic, Impossible World of

Neal Adams Written by Russ Dobler | Images courtesy of Neal Adams

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Issue 6, July 2014

beneath another—doesn’t occur, despite the consistent discovery of

particular suites of rocks near subduction zones that could only have come

from deep within the Earth. Prothero points out that remote sensing satellite

technology, sensitive enough to measure the erosion of mountain ranges, has

yet to detect this planetary inflation.

Here’s where Adams could use some instruction from the type of person

he’s dealt with, likely begrudgingly, his whole career: an editor. In comics,

it’s the editor’s job, amongst other things, to make sure a story is internally

consistent and that it makes sense in the given context. Comic creators

sometimes bemoan the editor as a stifler of “artistic freedom” but,

unfortunately for Adams, he can’t just pack up and head to another publisher

if he doesn’t like how Mother Nature the editor is hacking up his ideas. If

she says it don’t add up, it

don’t add up.

Adams isn’t the first

person she’s hammered on

this topic. Alfred Wegener

noticed the coastline “fit”

over a hundred years ago,

prompting him to propose

his “continental drift”

hypothesis, that the giant

land masses pushed their way through oceanic crust as they migrated

across the globe. Nature threw the idea back in his face, reminding

Wegener the oceanic crust is denser than the land and wouldn’t permit

such a thing.

Time and again, proponents of what became the plate tectonic

theory were sent back to the drawing board for more evidence.

Matching fossils and rock types from the coasts of South America and

Africa weren’t enough. Similar alignments of magnetic minerals in

transoceanic samples weren’t enough. For 50 years, the world’s

geoscientists tried to satisfy their harsh taskmaster, until finally she

acquiesced when plate boundaries were found to be delineated by

seismic activity, and a mechanism for motion was identified.

Imagination is undoubtedly important when trying to conceive the

heretofore inconceivable, but unbounded imagination can give us some

pretty crazy and unsupportable beliefs. Or even worse, Space Punisher.

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Issue 6, July 2014

Steampunk

Fashion Fashion

How to wear:

Fashion

Written by Teresa Simmons | Images

courtesy of viona-art.com and

artofsteampunk.blogspot.com

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Issue 6, July 2014

Steampunk fashion. Have you heard whispers of this style before in your travels? To the average ears, it might sound like punk rock, heavy metal, chains, studs and spikes (ouch). But steampunk fashion is quite the opposite. It’s brass, chrome, gears, mechanical gadgets, and watch fobs. Think Victorian era, the 19th century, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne. All of these things are the foundation of steampunk fashion.

Embellished corsets, petticoats and full skirts— steampunk is style reminiscent of the Victorian period. Be prepared to squeeze yourself into a silky satin corset (it would help if you skipped a meal or two that day) and call a friend over to help you “lace up.” Corsets, petticoats and full skirts are the epitome of femininity, so don’t be shy. Play up your womanliness and flounce around in full-skirted glory. Be coquettish. If you want to add some steampunk edge to your lady-like, frilly look, don a pair of 19th century style pilot goggles.

Steampunk fashion is also Edwardian hats and gloves. A steampunk fashionable woman always wears gloves to complete her look. The more ornate, decadent and old world your accessories are, the better they will fit in with your steampunk style. What you need are feathers (and lots of them), crystal beads and netted veils to decorate your elaborate hat. You should also wear this said hat with an air of Victorian-era hauteur, poise and grace. You also need gloves to go with your overstated hat. Your gloves should have pearls, sultry black lace and corseted wristlets to properly greet any potential courters that may come your way. If you want to spice things up, wear fingerless gloves. Remember to paint those nails black.

High, leather, lace-up boots is steampunk fashion at its finest. A higher heeled boot is the perfect addition to your full skirt and petticoat. Choose a pair of lace-up boots that says old fashioned and refined vintage. To create an original, true-to-life steampunk look with your lace-up boots, it’s best to go for a pair that is gently worn and gilded. Your boots don’t need to be too high in length. Ideally, they should hit right around your knees or a couple of inches higher for the right Victorian-esque effect.

Other steampunk fashion paraphernalia also include parasols, top hats, leather flight helmets, pocket watches and mechanical-like jewelry. With steampunk fashion, you can be bold, wacky, wildly creative, mysterious, and adventurous. Don’t be afraid to mix and match different textures, patterns and fabrics. And feel free to flaunt your steampunk style outside the boundaries of steampunk, cosplay and anime conventions. I dare you.

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Issue 6, July 2014

For Your Reconsideration:

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Written by Matt Bowes | Images courtesy of Lionsgate, Marvel,

and punisher75.deviantart.com

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Issue 6, July 2014

Editor’s Note: Since this article went to press, Marvel made the announcement that the

next Thor will be a woman. While this does much to challenge the notions of gender in

superhero fiction, there’s still a lot of work to be done in creating an equal playing field

for both genders. There’s a great article on the announcement in Time Magazine, which

you can read here.

There’s been a necessary conversation lately in

online film and comic circles about the lack of female

representation in superhero movies. The argument goes

that seeing as how studios are banking on cape films as a

big part of their bottom line for the immediate future,

and women make up half of the potential viewing

audience, it stands to reason that there should be more

female-led superhero films, right?

There’s a wealth of great characters and stories to choose

from, and the success of franchises like The Hunger Games and

Twilight show that women-led fantasy films can rake in the

dough hand over fist if given a chance. It’s ridiculous, frankly,

that a Wonder Woman movie is taking so long to put together,

or that the execrable Supergirl, Elektra and Catwoman are some

of the only examples of superheroines headlining their own

dough hand over fist if given a chance. It’s ridiculous, frankly,

that a Wonder Woman movie is taking so long to put together,

or that the execrable Supergirl, Elektra and Catwoman are some

of the only examples of superheroines headlining their own

films. The upcoming Sharon Carter and Jessica Jones series on

the small screen are a good start, sure, but where’s a Enter the

Dragon-esque Daughters of the Dragon film, a Birds of Prey

outing in the style of Charlie’s Angels, a pre-Avengers

adventure from the Black Widow’s KGB days, a Catherine

Hardwicke-style interpretation of Runaways, or a space-faring

Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel? Those are just off the top of

my head! Still, looking back on the last few decades of comic

book adaptations to film, there’s an even bigger gap, I think:

while the lack of female characters on the screen is egregious,

it doesn’t even begin to touch the lack of female creators in the

director’s chair.

When I was working with my partner, fellow pulp

contributor Erin Fraser, on our comic book adaptation film

series, Graphic Content, at the Metro Cinema, one of the first

things we did was make a list of pretty much every film that

would fit within our purview. We could only find four comic

book movies directed by a woman, and two of those were

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Issue 6, July 2014

series, Graphic Content, at the Metro Cinema, one of the

first things we did was make a list of pretty much every film

that would fit within our purview. We could only find four

comic book movies directed by a woman, and two of those were

actually adaptations of the artist’s own indie comix work,

Marjane Satrapi’s excellent Persepolis (2007) and Chicken with

Plums (2011). Apart from Rachel Talalay’s adaptation of

Tank Girl, which we showed in our series’ final year, there’s

only one other superhero-style flick helmed by a woman.

Luckily, it kicks serious ass: Punisher: War Zone, directed by

Lexi Alexander. War Zone demolishes any sexist claim that

women can’t direct action and over-the-top violence as well as

any man. For my money, not only is War Zone flat-out better

than a lot of higher-profile comic book adaptations, it

understands the character of the Punisher far better than

either of his previous incarnations onscreen. It’s funny as hell,

features a great cast, and has a visual flair that makes it unique

among the often bland colour schemes and uninspired

direction of superhero movies. All in all, the film does a great

job of reflecting, but not slavishly imitating, its source

material: writer Garth Ennis’ legendary run on Marvel’s

Punisher MAX from the mid-2000s.

The narrative is simple and satisfying. The Punisher (Ray

Stevenson), true to his M.O., attacks a gathering of mobsters

at the local don’s mansion, including among them a capo on

the rise named Billy “The Beaut” Russo (Dominic West). Billy

escapes to his base down at the docks, where the Punisher

proceeds to throw him in an extremely dangerous glass-

smashing machine, which messes up his previously handsome

face and turns him into the even more deranged Jigsaw. When

an undercover FBI agent gets killed in the midst of these

events, the Punisher finds himself on the wrong side of the law

and the Mob, with the action culminating in a gigantic

firefight at the Brad Street Hotel.

Among the features I love best about the film is its lack of

set up. Frank Castle, the Punisher, is an easy guy to explain:

the Mob killed his family, he kills the Mob. Unlike many

superhero films which spend the entire first movie on

background, War Zone spends maybe two minutes total

set up. Frank Castle, the Punisher, is an easy guy to explain:

the Mob killed his family, he kills the Mob. Unlike many

superhero films which spend the entire first movie on

background, War Zone spends maybe two minutes total

explaining its hero’s origin, preferring instead to show him in

action.

And the action totally lives up to any expectations the

previous films might have led audiences to expect. Heads are

exploded, limbs severed from bodies, and thousands of shell

casings litter the floor by the film’s end. Two of my favourite

kills are played entirely for laughs, which I think is really

Punisher: War Zone’s secret weapon. In the first, one thug,

(who incidentally actually has kind of a nice relationship with

his father, as they’re Jigsaw’s co-lieutenants…but whatever)

enjoys snorting cocaine, at least until the Punisher punches

him right through his undoubtedly deviated septum, that is.

The other scene, perhaps the best known in the film, features

some parkour jerks that Jigsaw hires for odd jobs. Remember

that in 2008 Punisher: War Zone was being made as the

parkour craze was arriving in high-profile movies like Casino

Royale (2006) and video games like Assassin’s Creed (2007), so

it was ripe for satire. One of these parkour thugs, who call

themselves an “urban flow” gang because even they’re

ashamed of the technical term, is in the middle of an

undoubtedly difficult flip between the roofs of two buildings

when the Punisher hits him with a heat-seeking missile.

Laughter ensues.

The humour of the film serves to undercut the super-

seriousness of the Punisher character, which is necessary to

keep the story moving and engaging and not overly depressing,

like the Thomas Jane outing often was. Not even the Punisher

is immune to the slightly jaunting feeling at some points:

Stevenson’s tightly-controlled and endearing approach to the

character hints at a life perpetually fuelled by gallows humour

and MREs. On the other hand, Dominic West’s Jigsaw

dominates every scene he’s in with comic set pieces and over-

the-top speeches that recall Jack Nicholson as the Joker. It’s

all a nice counterpoint to the straightforward grim and gritty

world of the Christopher Nolan Batman films and Man of Steel,

a kind of cartoon version of the street-level Marvel Universe.

Alexander finds a happy medium between the dull,

“realistic” visual aesthetic of Christopher Nolan and the

“

For my money, not only is War Zone

flat-out better than a lot of higher-profile

comic book adaptations, it understands the

character of the Punisher far better than

either of his previous incarnations onscreen.

Two of my favourite kills are played

entirely for laughs, which I think is really

Punisher: War Zone’s secret weapon. “

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Issue 6, July 2014

world of the Christopher Nolan Batman films and

Man of Steel, a kind of cartoon version of the street-

level Marvel Universe.

Alexander finds a happy medium between the

dull, “realistic” visual aesthetic of Christopher Nolan

and the slavish ink-on-paper devotion of Robert

Rodriguez’ Sin City. Her scenes are lit with a

nauseating palette of yellows, pinks and greens,

reminding me of Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy in their

visual pizzazz but also suggesting sickness and decay.

The action is shot close-up, and only occasionally uses

the frenetic editing style of the Bourne films, which

now seems like the Hollywood standard. The final

gunfight at the Brad Street Hotel (named for iconic

Punisher cover artist Tim Bradstreet), where the

Punisher takes on three gangs recruited by Jigsaw in

another funny scene moments earlier, is well-paced

and again includes funny moments in between violent

ones. To me, this tension between macabre jokes and

over-the-top carnage, between gun fetishism and the

fact that the Punisher lives in the sewer and his only

real furniture is a chair for brooding in—this is what

nails the character. While he might have started off as

a knock-off of Charles Bronson’s character in Death

Wish, he also exists in the Marvel Universe, a

ridiculous place which has found him brought back

from the dead first as an angel and then as a

Frankenstein. Punisher: War Zone understands all

that a “comic” film can imply and never gets too

bogged down in anything approaching reality.

Lexi Alexander made an appearance on the

popular bad movie podcast How Did This Get Made

back in 2011, and in a change from the regular format

of the show she talked about the making of Punisher:

War Zone, a film which the hosts and guests all really

enjoyed. The episode is definitely worth a listen, but

the gist of it is that the failure of the film at the box

office essentially shuttered her career, which is a damn

shame. Comic book movies need more Lexi

Alexanders, more directors who are able to give us a

different approach to superhero films. While

Punisher: War Zone does not do any great favours for

the cause of seeing superheroines onscreen, it

definitely proves that there’s female talent offscreen

that deserves to be recognized.

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Issue 6, July 2014

Costa adds depth to Hickman's vision

in 'God is Dead' [SPOILERS]

Written by Cheryl Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy of Di Amorim,

Juan Frigeri, German Erramouspe, Omar Francia, and Avatar Press

God is Dead is a new comic book series headed by writer Jonathan Hickman and run through Avatar Press. The main premise revolves around an all-out war between the gods of antiquity: Norse, Egyptian, Hindu, Greek, and more, with the Christian trinity noticeably absent (at first).

At the midst of this strife are a number of humans whose stories intertwine with the battle between each god as they work to either support or destroy certain deities.

It’s a fairly simple plotline but, if I’m going to review the God is Dead comics fairly, I have to split them up into several story arcs to account for the shift in writers and artists. Initially, Jonathan Hickman started this project with Mike Costa as a co-writer and Di Amorim as the artist. The original intention was to create a 6-comic inclusive story arc, which they did, starting publication in September 2013. Hickman then bowed out and Costa continued on—as of July 17th, 2014, the comics were up to #15. Mike Costa has single-handedly been churning out the stories since #7, supported with artwork by Juan Frigeri, German Erramouspe, and—most recently—Omar Francia.

Since I haven't yet read #13 onwards, this review will focus on the original Hickman story arc and the first installment of Costa's vision in issues #7-12.

Hickman’s pet project The series begins with a visit to Vatican City from Zeus himself, who's unhappy with

the way that men now worship, and whose mood is made worse by Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, a painting that celebrates man’s closeness to god. Zeus, an Olympian with an unforgiving temper, doesn’t want love. He wants true worship and obedience. And thus begin the violent sacrifices, the growth of the righteous-pious, and millions of humans running for their lives from both gods and worshippers.

Hickman’s first story arc undertakes a daunting task: all of the gods are fighting to become the only one and, as we all know, there are a heck of a lot of gods. They get whittled away throughout the series, but it’s an interesting (and fairly accurate) look at cultural representations of god throughout the world. It’s a good reminder of the sheer extent and variety of world religions and their influence on society, both in the past and in the present day. There are plenty of gods we know and have learned about, but there are just as many who have dropped away from common knowledge. It would be educational, if not for the bloodshed and sheer violence.

Hickman's God is Dead is pure entertainment. Which group of deities will win? Can there be only one? The gore isn’t astounding, but it runs throughout the entire series.

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Issue 6, July 2014

educational, if not for the bloodshed and sheer violence. Hickman's God is Dead is pure entertainment. Which group of deities will win? Can

there be only one? The gore isn’t astounding, but it runs throughout the entire series. When gods fight to the death, things gets bloody real fast. Humans, rather than dying as a by-product of these fights, often find themselves the targets. By the end of the first comic, it already begins to look hopeless for mankind—will there be any humans left after the gods have obliterated the earth in their epic battle?

We learn that a small group of renegade humans have gone underground in a resistance to the war of the gods. Of course, they all happen to be either scientists or “security consultants,” which means that they can analyze blood samples from dead gods while also utilizing their extensive training with weaponry and piloting planes. It definitely makes things easier for Hickman if he has skilled characters able to wander around and examine the gods at will. Too easy.

The first arc is primarily the climax of a story, with barely any introduction and no aftermath. It’s fighting, pure and simple. The artwork is detailed and the speech, though often cheesy, is amusing. Hickman’s God is Dead is basically the same thing as sitting down to a movie two-thirds in, watching the action, and then leaving before the final wrap-up scenes. It’s quick, bloody, and full of great fight scenes. If you don’t require any deeper substance than that, then this comic is for you.

Mike Costa takes over [SPOILERS]

God is dead. God remains

dead. And we have killed him.

How shall we comfort

ourselves, the murderers of all

murderers? What was holiest

and mightiest of all that the

world has yet owned has bled

to death under our knives: who

will wipe this blood off us?

What water is there for us to

clean ourselves? What festivals

of atonement, what sacred

games shall we have to invent?

Is not the greatness of this

deed too great for us? Must we

ourselves not become gods

simply to appear worthy of it?

- Friedrich Nietzsche

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Issue 6, July 2014

Mike Costa takes over At the end of the first arc, only one god remains and the ending of

the war doesn’t seem so hopeless. There’s love. Potential. And then Mike Costa swoops in with the second story arc, showing

the sheer degradation of a world focused only on one thing: celebrating and worshipping a god who doesn’t want to do anything other than sit back and be loved. How depressing. How lazy.

As with many post-apocalyptic stories, the aftermath of a gigantic war shows mankind resembling cockroaches, rallying and somehow surviving in a world ravaged by divine forces. There are those who love the new god (priestesses and missionaries), those who do what they need to live a normal life (the majority of people), and those who are never satisfied (the renegades). There’s a new batch of renegade humans in this arc (because the first batch did SO well) and, as before, they’re intent on destroying this one remaining god.

What I liked about the second arc was Costa’s introduction of different dimensions, in which humans could travel to other worlds to investigate where the gods came from and where they might escape them.

Because of that, however, there’s a tongue-in-cheek scene in which two humans use a “transport device based on vibrations and

investigate where the gods came from and where they might escape them.

Because of that, however, there’s a tongue-in-cheek scene in which two humans use a “transport device based on vibrations and resonances” to “access higher planes and visit God himself.” The science of this device eludes me, but it does lead the humans to a great throne occupied by the “final authority.” Unfortunately, half of the final authority’s head has been blown off and the human responds in kind with the statement, “Oh fuck. God is dead.”

While I liked this scene, I had difficulty with the introduction of a final authority so far into the story. We spend the entire first arc watching all of the gods from antiquity get wasted—Zeus, India’s Trimurti, Nahautl of Egypt, and all of the rest—and then we’re supposed to say ‘Hey, there’s a god above all of these gods: the Christian God. Where is he?” before finding out that he’s dead, too. This stream of thought is a much too heavily Westernized (and Christian) view of how religions rank over others, and it doesn’t jive with the first arc and the giant divine war. Why bring this god in now only to pronounce him dead? Why do none of the other gods mention him before this?

One thing Costa does bring to the table, though, is added depth. Rather than streamlining the story like Hickman, he adds in parallel storylines to give a greater view of what’s happening in the world besides the new god and humans trying to bring her down. I really enjoyed

As with many post-apocalyptic

stories, the aftermath of a

gigantic war shows mankind

resembling cockroaches,

rallying and somehow surviving

in a world ravaged by divine

forces.

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Issue 6, July 2014

One thing Costa does bring to the table, though, is added depth. Rather than streamlining the story like Hickman, he adds in parallel storylines to give a greater view of what’s happening in the world besides the new god and humans trying to bring her down. I really enjoyed the Sex and Death subplot, featuring Eros, Thanatos, and a slew of ancient tricksters. Costa did a great job of incorporating these lesser gods into the story; in fact, they become a significant part of the resistance towards the ruling god by the end of the arc. And, of course, the fighting continues.

[BIG FAT SPOILER] One of the strongest

elements of Costa's story is the aftermath of the second divine war. Humans have run throughout the God is Dead storyline in a number of ways—as worshippers, as part of the resistance—and the final revelation of the second arc (in destroying this final god) is the realization that they've brought about their own destruction. That mankind has destroyed its own world in an effort to save it. Of course, it isn't the end, since the comics continue, but it's a brilliant statement on the idea that mankind shouldn't be tinkering with things it doesn't understand. That we shouldn't attempt to destroy everything that threatens us because it might one day come back to bite us in the ass. As the ravaged, destitute world withers around the remaining humans, they realize that their asses have indeed been bitten. It's hauntingly painful to see.

The story continues after the end of the second divine battle when a new deity swoops in—one who had been absent from everything until now—and we’re left to wonder: where will it end? Are humans bound to be ruled by a god forever, or will they ever be free from their tyranny?

There’s a new batch of renegade

humans in this arc (because the

first batch did SO well) and, as

before, they’re intent on

destroying this one remaining god.

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Issue 6, July 2014

Photographer: Benjamin Sim Graphics Editor: Vivid Vision Mascot Nishi: Stahli Cosplay Mascot Misaki: VIvid Vision Lighting assistant: Randy Gee

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Issue 6, July 2014

Animethon

turns 21—kanpai!

Written by Cheryl Cottrell-Smith | Images courtesy of Benjamin

Sim Photography, Animethon 21, ASAPA, and Vicky Lau

For those about to cosplay, Animethon 21 is just around the corner. The 21st annual anime-themed festival will be held at its usual stomping grounds of MacEwan University from August 8th to 10th, 2014.

This year’s featured guests include a double

performance by bands Antic Café (An Café) and Magistina Saga on Saturday, August 9th. Voice actresses Satsuki Yukino and Cristina Vee, among others, will also be in attendance.

As always, there will be a number of vendors and artists exhibiting at the event, offering anything from works of art to your favourite anime plushies. Attendees can participate in board and card games or visit the Microsoft room for some gaming time. Animethon will also feature live panels on a number of topics, industry guests, and more.

Edmonton’s annual anime appreciation event was founded in 1994 by the Banzai Anime Klub of Alberta (BAKA—which, incidentally, means ‘idiot’ in Japanese, and was likely an inside joke for club members) and has since changed hands in order to be represented by the non-profit organization, the Alberta Society for Asian Popular Arts (ASAPA).

The event, as those who’ve attended it will know, takes over MacEwan completely with cosplay, artwork, and gaming. There will also be an Anime Music Video Contest, a Cosplay Contest, a dance, and many more events to take part in over the weekend. Costumes, as

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Issue 6, July 2014

takes over MacEwan completely with cosplay, artwork, and gaming. There will also be an Anime Music Video Contest, a Cosplay Contest, a dance, and many more events to take part in over the weekend. Costumes, as always, are welcome but not mandatory.

“If you were fortunate to catch a peek at our entry in the K-Days parade, you will have seen some examples of costumes that some of our attendees [wear],” says Bryan Kennedy, Animethon Chair.

“They can be very colourful and creative; many of them are hand-made.”

Cosplay or not, there’s plenty to see and do for fans of the genre. Animethon is currently working with 91.7 The Bounce, Sonic 102.9, and City TV to give away VIP passes, so stay tuned to each of those for a chance to win tickets. You can also purchase your passes at the door.

The event is all ages, with free admission for children under 12 (and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian).

For more details and to see the full line-up, you can visit their website at animethon.org.

Photographer: Benjamin Sim Graphics Editor: Vivid Vision Mascot Nishi: Stahli Cosplay Mascot Misaki: VIvid Vision Lighting assistant: Randy Gee

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Issue 6, July 2014

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