Two years ago Big Dunc presented the unprecedented LOTR/Star Wars bracket during the month of March and beyond.This year for March Madness, Big Dunc will be unveiling the Comic Book Super Hero/Super Villain Tear Down the House Bracket.
Yes, 65 Super Heroes and Super Villains from the Comic Book world will be pitted against each other in NCAA like tournament, with the winner being crowned the ultimate comic book character.
The comic book tournament selection committee has been meeting for months to determine the field of participants.Criteria the selection committee looked at included the overall body of work, likability, popularity, fighting ability, win-loss record, and experience.
A few other notes: No God or God-like entities were allowed in the tournament
No eternals or beings older than the universe were allowed in the tournament
Origin of universe (DC or Marvel) was not a factor in the seeding process, so members from the same team could potential face each other in the first round
Fan voting will not begin until the Elite Eight at the earliest
I'm going to have to start out by saying that the Olympics are tight. I enjoyed them much more than I thought I would. I think once every four years is the perfect time for them. That way they are unique, but you still kind of remember what happened last time. Also, being in mid/late February was perfect. It fits into the sports doldrums time where nothing is really going on except for regular season pro and college basketball.
A few thoughts:
On the medal counts, I'm as happy to see the US winning as anyone else, but I think it takes a bit more of a look than just saying the US dominated and Canada dominated as far as gold medals go. A lot of the US's medals were in sports that are new and we pretty much invented. Even short track speedskating is pretty new. Freestyle skiing (moguls, aerials): USA – 4 medals/ Canada 3 and 2 golds Short Track: USA – 6 medals/ Canada 5 and two golds Snowboard: USA 5 medals/ Canada 3 and two golds Over 1/3 of our medals came in these newer sports, so it is clear that the USA and Canada are taking advantage of sports they pretty much invented, and these 37 medals and 14 golds don't really show the dominance that they do on the surface.
- I really enjoyed hockey. I think a lot of it has to do with all the soccer I watch, but all the games I watched were supremely entertaining. I was actually upset when the US lost and super hype when they tied it up in the last 25 seconds. But, America Jr. came out on top. Man.
- Skiing is an interesting sport. How can you be the best in the world and be dq'd in half your events?
- Short track speedskating is also weird, but in a good way. It seems half the time that skaters aren't really trying until the last three laps, and I won't even get started on the fun chaos that is the relays.
- Apparently fat people can be Olympic athletes.
- I don't know much about sports that are judged – figure skating, diving, gymnastics – but it was clear that Shaun White was by far the best snowboarder out there. Dude is tight.
- Women's hockey and women's snowboarding – boring
- Ski-cross was much less exciting than I expected
- Lots of people talk about Lindsey Vonn and Gretchen Bleiler being hot, but, for me, the Canadian ice dancer Tessa Virtue is #1
- I like to pretend that I would be great at ski-jumping or luge or something because I never tried it
- Despite my enthusiasm for the Olympics, I don't think I'll start following hockey or skiing. I think I'll just wait for 4 years
We live in a great age for being a dork, geek, nerd, weirdo, or whatever you want to title someone who is less than cool.
It's definitely a great time to acknowledge and claim your dorkiness.Be loud.Be proud.It's ok to be different and not fit in.It's obvious, as you can see from this blog that I'm an advocate of this dorkdom. But, I must warn you that these things move in cycles.By the time that you are confident enough with yourself to not hide your dorkiness, it may no longer be the case that geek is chic.
Let's take a closer look at this phenomenon.
1980s –The 80's were a good time for being a geek.Seriously, there were loads of movies about the geeks and nerds overcoming the cool kids – Revenge of the Nerds, The Karate Kid, Meatballs, The Never Ending Story - or the weird kids doing awesome stuff – Goonies, Stand By Me, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters – or the dorky guy getting the girl – Can't Buy Me Love, Loverboy, Pretty in Pink.
You also have the freaks, dorky kids, and jocks coming together in The Breakfast Club and the awesomeness of Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties, Punky Brewster, the kids in Mr. Belvedere (wow), and c'mon the Cosby family is pretty dorky.
All these movies, shows, characters are embraced and some loved and looked up to.
The 80s, though, are far from devoid of coolness – just check out popular music at the time.And, would you rather be Johnny or Daniel, Emilio Estevez or Anthony Michael Hall, Ferris Bueller or Cameron Frye?Cool is still number one, but the weird kids are getting a lot more cred.
Fast forward to the 1990's
Wow, maybe it’s the fact that I grew up in the 90s, but being cool was everything.
I would like to attribute the downfall of the dork genre of the 1980s to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.How cool where they?Shit.They were animated, lived in the sewer, and some weird anthropomorphic turtles, but they were miles cooler than me.Weapons, partying, pizza, saving the world, movies, music- they had it all.
Other coolness of the late 80s/90s – things we aspired to be like:
Kids would adorn all their possessions with New Kids on the Block pins.
Top Gun
Quentin Tarentino movies
Die Hard – just a regular cab driver, sure.
Bill and Ted – they were idiots, but that didn't matter.
Tim Burton Batman movies
And even seemingly dorky characters like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Harry and Lloyd are cool.
The best examples from the changes of the 80s geek heyday would be the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Saved by the Bell.Here the dorky characters – Carleton and Screech – are superdorks, there to be laughed and shown what not to be.You want to be like Will, Slater, and Zach.They get the girls, get the laughs, and win the games.It's pretty simple.
And I think the high point of this Coolness is also its downfall, which will also be the downfall of 2000s geek culture as you will soon see.I'm talking about Clueless.It was just too cool for normal people.Do people really act like that?
One last thing about the 90s, even movies about dorks like She's All That, are more about the dork becoming cool than the dork being cool.
On to the 2000s – I think the marked difference here is unlike the 80s when dorks and geeks were embraced and underdogs became winners, I think in the 2000s, especially at the end, it is actually cool to be a dork.Geeks are cool. Much of this has to do with new technology and ways of sharing information.You have blogs where it's not just the magazine editors and journalists sharing what is cool, what is in.You have facebook and twitter where one person's opinion is just as important as the next.
The biggest examples of the embracing and celebration of geekdom would have to be Harry Potter, Lost, and Lord of the Rings.It not only allowed, but expected that you follow these things to a level beyond dedication.It's cool to know Harry Potter's home address and the House ghost of Hufflepuff and the name of Desmond's boat and Driveshaft's hit single, and the father of Gimli and the seven sons of Feanor.We have LOTRs trivial pursuit and Harry Potter Scene it.
Another great example of how geek is now chic is Judd Apatow.Freaks and Geeks was a bit too much for people in 2000, but in the second half of the decade, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad (and Michael Cera in general) are loved.
You got movies like Napoleon Dynamite and pretty much any Wes Anderson movie
Look at TV too – full of geeks.The Office, Chuck (more of the 80s brand of geekdom), Arrested Development, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, well at least her friends, quiz shows, heck Glee, a show about a high school glee club won the Golden Globe. The whole premise of The Big Bang Theory is being dorks and being weird.
Even in music it's ok to not be cool.American Idol and youtube has a lot to do with this.Normal people like Kelly Clarkson and straight up nerds like Clay Aiken are adored by all.
It's clear that geeks and dorks and weirdos are loved and embraced.It's ok to be yourself.It's cool to be smart.It’s alright to not fit in, in fact it's cool.
But, don't get too excited fellow people lacking coolness, they trend will soon be changing. The time for geekiness will soon be on its way out.And like Clueless was the apex for the coolness of the 90s, Juno is the apex and downfall for the dorkiness of the 2000s.Lots of people loved Juno.It brought this not fitting in, being different, being a nerd to a much wider number of people.I'm not really one for thinking that once underground stuff gets exposed it is not longer relevant and loses something.I'm more thinking that Juno was just too weird for its one good.It was cute, but really, who talks like that?
It went too far, beyond being cool to being forced and dumb. People like people they identify with, which is why shows like American Idol and reality tv are so popular, but how much will be too much? Soon there will be a reaction to this geeky coolness.Watch out.
Oh, and I'm writing this because I'm going to stick out the dorky wave as long as I can and have some real dorky brackets coming up in March, not as dorky as the LOTR/Star Wars bracket, but what can be that utterly dorky?
I'll give you a break from Lost and a break from lots of reading to present to you the Best Fantastic Four Covers. Below you will find the best Fantastic Four covers. There are a lot below, but considering there are over 550 issues, I think this was a good amount. Criteria to make the list were coolness, what? or wow! factor, originality, and just anything that makes it stand out over the others. I would like you to vote for your three favorites and then I'll create a poll from your favorites to find the best ever Fantastic Four Cover. Enjoy!
Fantastic Four #7 - Great inclusion of the Wanted poster here, cool how that is the readers only view of the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four # 8 - It's clear that Jack Kirby is still figuring out the best ways to illustrate these characters, but the concepts and placements are awesome.
Fantastic Four #16 - Great Dr. Doom/FF in peril cover. I also like the magnifying glass showing us Ant-Man
Fantastic Four #61 - This may not be as epic as many FF covers, but the Sandman holding everyone is pretty dang cool.
Fantastic Four #92 - Great mingling of text, sensationalism , and art. You can feel the Thing's sadness in the poster pic and his anger in tearing it off.
Fantastic Four #112 - Thing vs Hulk on all black, -nuff said indeed
Fantastic Four #120 - This cover recalls old horror movies and old comics for that matter with its caption, but the art is a great introduction to the new herald of Galactus
Fantastic Four #191 - I really enjoy media and posters references in comic covers (see 7 and 92). This is a great example
Fantastic Four #213 - Part of a wild story arc where Ben, Sue, and Reed were hit with a Skrull aging ray at the same time fighting off The Sphinx, Galactus, and his new herald Terrax.
Fantastic Four #232 - This is the first issue of John Byrne's epic FF run (232-293) and the first of many of his covers you'll see on this countdown. Playing of the oft used idea of the FF being pawns.
Fantastic Four #249 - The caption says it all. The FF are getting dominated like never really seen before.
Fantastic Four #257 - Awesome Galactus/Death Cover here, works really well with Galactus pondering his fate and place in the galaxy in this issue.
Fantastic Four #258 - Nice "breaking the 4th wall" here by Dr. and his reflection in his glove is awesome too. (interesting mirror of 92) The Fantastic Four actually not appear in this issue at all.
Fantastic Four #262 - Nice cover with Reed on trial and a myriad of Fantastic Four friends and foes in the background.
Fantastic Four #276 - I really like the black and white cover here. The villain here is unknown, but you can see the effects she has on Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. The best part are the eyes of the witch. Fantastic Four #280 - Any cover with crucifixion will naturally be pretty cool. (see Uncanny X-Men 251) This is the beginning of a great story arc where we finally see the Invisible Girl change into the Invisible Woman.
Fantastic Four #395 - Pretty simple cover here, the back story is that in issue 374, Wolverine cut the Thing pretty badly with his claws. Fantastic Four vol 3 # 26 - This is definitely a cover that will make you stop and pick it up to see what is really going on. Dr. Doom in an FF uniform with Sue looking on longingly? What?
Fantastic Four vol 3 #44 - The whole faces in the background is a comic cover convention used often, so I am more of a fan of the depiction of captured Annihilus. Great use of color, something that couldn't have been done just a few years earlier.
Fantastic Four vol 3 #67 - Bomb-ass Dr. Doom cover.
Fantastic Four #500 - Great painted cover here for the anniversary issue. Doesn't Sue like extremely like Michelle Williams from Dawson's Creek and Brokeback Mountain? Fantastic Four #520 - Nice cover here with Johnny Storm as a herald of Galactus There you go. Vote for your top 3!
I'm pretty much ballin' an all accounts- unemployed, live with my sister, I read comic books and Harry Potter, and wake up at 5:30 AM on the weekends to watch English football. Yes! Pretty much anything I have to say is the truth.
