November 12, 2007

Comic Book Character, Statue Rally For Ron Paul

You may have wondered what, exactly, the eclectic collection of people cheering for an old doctor were doing on Saturday afternoon outside Independence Hall? Well, silly, it's the Ron Paul Revolution! Or, rather, the Ron Paul RLOVEution or something; I dunno, it was on their signs. Maybe Ron Paul is the hippy candidate. He is for ending the War on Drugs.

Ron Paul is, as you may know, for ending pretty much everything, including the Dept. of Education, UNICEF and the Free Puppies For Sick Children program. He also voted against, I 'unno, Rosa Parks or someone like that getting some Congressional medal, because he votes against all of those frivolous things. Oh, he's also the only Republican candidate smart enough to be against the Iraq War.

Paul also wants to change our currency to the gold standard or something (eh, not quite), which means this is about the closest we've gotten to the historic election of 1896, where William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in the election you never quite understood when you learned it in grade school. Oh! Free Silver! Cross of Gold speech! This is easy to get in 8th grade. (Oh, come on. Being able to go to a bank and deposit whatever and get coins? Guh-wha?)

So that's Ron Paul, I guess. But who were his supporters? Right: Online, they're a band of angry commenters who travel from blog to blog, angrily telling you to support Ron Paul. In person, though? Mainly these people:

So, uhh, the Statue of Liberty and the V for Vendetta guy support Ron Paul. Oh, no wonder he's so popular!

Update: Be sure to read the comments. So far, this is my favorite: "His supporters are real folks that you can't persuade anymore, much to your dismay, you don't matter any longer. We can take care of our own news now, thanks anyway." I look forward to the first edition of the Ron Paul Press!

Philadelphia Freedom [Reason]

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April 09, 2007

American Fighting Men Read American Fighting Books

The American soldier has it tough. Most likely, there are people who hate you wherever you're stationed. There's not enough of the right equipment. Oh, and there's a war going on.

But there is one thing that keeps them upbeat: Comic books. (Or graphic novels, if you wish.) The Courier-Post reports today on a Burlington County comic shop that sells tons of comics to soldiers stationed overseas. It's hard to get American comic books when you're not in America. It's so bad Captain America recently died.

And why do our men and women read so many comics while stationed out of the country?

On a recent day at Ron's, Spc. Brylan Vanartsdalen, a National Guard recruiter, collected issues of Marvel Comics characters like Wolverine, Spider-Man and The Avengers. He's been collecting since he was 5 years old and has thousands of comic books at his Lumberton home, he said.

"It's just the stories, man, it's reading," he said. "It gets my mind off things."

See, it's simple! To get their mind off of fighting, war and evil, they read books about... ah... fighting, war and evil.

Burlco shop gives overseas troops their comic-book fix [Camden Courier-Post]

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June 12, 2006

They're Mad As Hell, And They're Not Going To Take It Anymore

If there's one thing a newspaper that prides itself on not having any opinions can't do, it's piss off the nerds.

Late last year, Metro posted an apology for making fun of the Philadelphia science fiction convention. Well, there was big news recently in the comic book world, and Metro attracted the nerds' ire again.

DC Comics is bringing back Batwoman as a lesbian. But Metro wrote that Batgirl was coming back at a lesbian, a mistake also made in a throwaway joke here. While one could be corrected with a simple comment, the other required a Metro letter to the editor (scan here):

Comic news has glaring mistakes

Regarding "New incarnation of Batgirl: She's a lesbian" (June 6): It seems every time your paper tries to give the public a bit of comic book news, you make glaring mistakes. For example, Storm and Black Panther getting married was referred to as "the first marriage between two prominent African-American characters" in comics. The problem is, Black Panther isn't African-American, he's African. He is the king of the first civilization on the planet, a technologically advanced nation in the heart of Africa called Wakanda, which in facts butts heads with the American government quite frequently.

More recently, your paper published that Batgirl was going to be reinvented as a lesbian. The implications of this change would be tremendous, but it was not Batgirl at all -- it was Batwoman, a little-known character who disappeared in the '70s. I don't care if it's only a slight misrepresentation. It's my paper, and I won't stand for it.

In conclusion, public: Batwoman is a lesbian, and Black Panther is the king of Wakanda.

June 2: Like A Bat Out Of Northeast Philly
Dec. 14, 2005: Breaking: Nerds even nerdier than once thought

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March 28, 2006

Holy Bomb Threat, Batman!

We've all been in a situation where we haven't gotten the job we wanted, the raise we thought we deserved or the promotion we thought we'd get. Most of us can take it in stride, find a new job or however you cope.

But, well, one thing you probably shouldn't do is threaten to blow up the place:

A disgruntled Wal-Mart employee who scrawled a bomb threat on the men's room wall after being passed over for a promotion was sentenced Monday to six to 23 months in the Bucks County prison. [...]

[Kevin] Spear was arrested shortly after the Dec. 28 incident at the Wal-Mart on North West End Boulevard in Quakertown. An employee called police after the message "On Friday, December 30, two bombs will level the store" was found, written in black marker.

Another threat: "Hey Wal-Mart. Wanna start New Year's with a bang?" was also found.

Wow, that's like a comic book bomb threat. "Let's start this party with a bang!" Are you sure this guy isn't secretly Two-Face or The Joker? They better jail him in Arkham Asylum.

Man jailed for Wal-mart bomb threat [Bucks County Courier Times]
Photo by Monochrome

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