The Lord of the Avengers

One of the great things about being a geek is that it is very easy to draw parallels between our various interests. Having said that there is quite a bit of buzz about two upcoming films. The first is The Avengers and the other is The Hobbit.

Having said that we here at Comic Addicts got to thinking how many similarities there were between the characters of The Avengers and the well known group from The Fellowship of the Ring. It's was actually quite stunning. In fact, we gave the Fellowship an Avenger identity based on the personality they matched best. Here is what we came up with:

Gandalf is Nick Fury. Why? Gandalf hand picked his team and brought them together for a specific mission. He knew the skills of each and ever member. Ultimately everyone in the Fellowship follow Gandalf's lead.

Frodo is Captain America. Why? He's a small town kid who desperately wants to do good. He wants to make a difference and get a taste of adventure. He's niave and inexperienced, but possess a heart bigger than his size. He is also willing to sacrifice himself for the overall good of the team. He even becomes a point of inspiration as the journey goes on.

New Year, New Read

It's always good to start off the year with something new. Something that caught your eye and you figured you'd take a chance on. Or perhaps you're looking for something new to read to kick off the new year. Well, here at Comic Addicts we've found something new and we're going to share it with you.

Back on November 12 at the Coast City Comic Con in Portland, Maine we got talking to a couple of interesting chaps who are completely into cryptozoology. Their names are Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau. These two created The Perhapanauts. After talking to them and their love of cryptozoology (the study of mythical and folklore creatures such as Big Foot, Mermaids, and Mothmen to name a few) they suggested we check out their book. Which of course we bought the graphic novel Dark Days after getting them to sign it.

If you're a fan of Hellboy, you'll enjoy The Perhapanauts. It's about a secret government agency BEDLAM aka The Bureau of Extra-Dimensional Liabilities And Management. These folks look for rips in the space time dimensional fabric that could allow something to come through that shouldn't. They then asses the situation and correct it as they detain whatever it was that got through the rip.

Of course it's the characters that really make the story. In the case of The Perhapanauts it's the Blue Team. The Blue Team contains quite the cast of characters. There is Arisa the Blue Team leader who is a powerful psychic. Then there's MG who is a slider which means he can slide between dimensions. There is also Molly who is a ghost. Those are the "normal" ones for the most part.

Then there is Choopie and Big. Choopie is a chupacabra and Big is a Big Foot. Both Choopie and Big were put through an evolution ray to make them smarter. Big now is very much like Hank McCoy in that he's the smartest member of the team as well as its strongest member. Choopie acts like a 12 year old boy. He refers to vampires as, "blood suckin' freaks" when in fact being a chupacabra he is a blood sucker himself.Every now and then a couple of characters from the Red Team pop their heads in. Peter Hammerskold is a former Marine and leader of the Red Team. He has little to no tolerance for Arisa and the creatures that make up her team, but he desperately wants to be Blue Team leader. There is also Karl who is a mothman who lends a hand, er, wing from time to time.

The group dynamic works extremely well and the characters have a family feel about their relationship with one another. Of course Choopie is the trouble maker with his, "mess you up gun" and so is the one who needs the most supervision. Arisa and Big are the two that hold everything together and keeps everyone focused. Like any family they don't get along perfectly, but they are able to work out their differences rather quickly.

So if you're looking for something that has a Hellboy/X-Files feel The Perhapanauts is for you. The storylines make it a quick and enjoyable read as well as putting an interesting spin on those classic urban legends and folklore tales. Craig's artwork is a style that falls between the gothic and classic sci-fi. Which means it fits the characters and the story perfectly.

For more information about Todd and Craig's Perhapanauts visit their website:

http://perhapanauts.com/

November Brings Memories and Tribute to the Men of The Incredible Hulk

It's time once again to pay tribute to those who have contributed to geek culture. November brings us two memorable dates for two men who, ironically enough, made their contribution in the same way. They both brought a beloved Marvel character from the comic book pages into the real world. Today we salute Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno who played David Banner and The Hulk in The Incredible Hulk television series.

Bill Bixby brought to life the scientist who's bad side you did not want to see. Bixby's big contribution to geek culture was The Incredible Hulk, but he also made a couple other contributions as well. Bixby was also in the sci-fi sitcom My Favorite Martian with Ray Walston. It was a very I Dream of Jeanie basis only the genie was a martian. Then there was The Magician who used his magic tricks to get people out of trouble.

Coast City Comic Con

The Coast City Comic Con kicked off officially Friday night with a nerd rave featuring DJ Pony Farm and Waranimal. There was even a costume contest. The main part of the show took place on Saturday at the Eastland Park Hotel on High Street in Portland, Maine. The doors opened at 10 AM for the geek fun to commence.


Comic Addicts was there to check on the fun going on. There was a lot to take in. Game Geeks were there with tables set up for RPG games as well as (of course!) selling gaming supplies. Speaking of games, there were tournaments for Super Mario 3 and Marvel vs Capcom 3. There were also screenings at the Space Gallery for Deadly Spawning and Captured Ghosts.

There were also some awesome guests like Ray Dillion who has worked on Brightest Day, GI Joe, and Transformers as well as several others. Renae De Liz who is currently working on Anne Rice's Servant of Bones, but has also done The Last Unicorn with writer husband Ray Dillion. Rob Fitz was on hand as an expert on B-movies and to show off his creation, God of Vampires. There were several cool guests to meet and check out their work which you can get a list of from the Coast City Comic Con web page.

Unlocking Locke & Key

It's October and that means it's time to get spooky. There is a demand for horror comics and yet there doesn't seem to be that many of them around. So what is a comic geek to do when they want a good scare? Luckily that's why we're here, to help out fellow comic addicts with dilemmas such as this. If you're looking for a good spooky read we recommend Locke & Key by Joe Hill.

Locke & Key is a series about a family named Locke. The father gets killed right in the beginning forcing his wife and three kids to move back to the old family homestead. Once there the youngest, Bode, starts to discover these keys that do fantastical things. His two older siblings, Tyler and Kinsey, also know about the keys, but they keep mom in the dark. Mom has become an alcoholic since her husband was killed and has one bad leg from when she was ravaged by the same perps.