After the sugar high that was the release of the rebooted Justice League, Cody Walker and I discuss our thoughts on DC’s New 52 line of titles.  This was recorded just after I got back from Comic-Con, so expect a lot of first-hand comic-con news that we all pretty much know already now.

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So yesterday was my first day at Comic-Con.  I saw a ton of cool stuff and I’m going to try to condense it as much as possible.  I’m just gonna do a bullet point of what I saw, and later on I’ll attach a podcast of Ty Whitman and myself talking about what we saw in more detail.

• The Hobbit movies look really good. I swung by theonering.net panel yesterday because it was before another panel I wanted to see, but I was glad I was there.  We got to see pictures from both of The Hobbit films and learn more about production.  Basically, I learned things that real Lord of the Rings fans knew about for months now, but it made me pretty excited for the new movie.
• Dragon Age:  Redemption is going to be awesome. It was a joy to see Felicia Day in person again, but more importantly, it was amazing to see a trailer for her new web series based in the world of Dragon Age.  Her characters is going to be a lot of fun, kick ass and flirty, while the big bad is going to be a Qunari mage.  And the villains make-up looks really good.  The web series have come a long way and this show is going to be a testament of that.
• DC Comics:  The New 52. I went to two panels yesterday about DC’s relaunch yesterday, one general panel and one specifically about the Batman comics.  A few stand-outs:  Teen Titans looks really different, but I think I still want to check it out.  Demon Knights looks like it will be a lot of fun for anyone that loves fantasy adventure, there’s even going to be a new disabled character!  Stormwatch is also going to be amazing.  It has a huge cast, Midnighter and Apollo are still gay (obviously) and Martian Manhunter joins the team.  Stormwatch has always been around and is annoyed that these “caped crusaders” are joining the game.  Captain Atom is looking more and more like Mr. Manhattan, the art for the inner pages is almost uncanny.  I appreciate the they’re taking his character a different direction, I just hope this is the right one.  Justice League International looks pretty fun, Booster Gold is the leader and Lady Godiva will be the newest member.  David Finch’s The Dark Knight is getting a writer.  Finally, a legit story to compliment his art.  Catwoman is apparently going to be a stripper, or at least that’s what the inner art looks like, but what’s wrong with that.  Speaking of stripper, Red Hood and the Outlaws looks like it’s shaping into a pretty good comic.  I’m really excited to see this team interact, even if we can see the outline of Jason Todd’s penis.  The art for Batgirl is going to be incredible, even though I’m still on the fence about Barbara being out of the chair, it’ll be nice to see her fly again.
• Spike and Mike has some awesome animated shorts. If you guys like animated shorts, check out Spike and Mike.  It was super fun, especially check out “Pixels.”
• Is Dr. Horrible the New Rocky Horror? I checked out a screening of Dr. Horrible and they passed out a pamphlet of things to scream at the screen.  It was a ton of fun.

More to come later.

O.K. Kids, although I probably should have give this more fanfare, in about 14 hours, I will be boarding a plane to San Diego for this year’s Comic-Con International.  This is the biggest geek mecha there is and I’m going to be in the middle of it.  I’ll be writing articles here about the most exciting things I learn and see there, but for the latest info, be sure to follow me on Twitter, @terrybartley.  Check this site often for updates, they’ll be exciting news to come!

Tomorrow I’ll be running my first race of the year.  I’m running the Short 5k at Barboursville Park.  This actually shouldn’t be that hard for me, for those of you that aren’t metrically inclined, a 5k is just over three miles.  For those of you paying attention to my marathon training schedule, you’ll recall that three miles is what I run for just about all of my short runs, at least twice a week.  So I do regularly run three miles, but I don’t regularly run three mile races.

Which brings me to why I’m really excited for tomorrow.  I’m going to be running this like a race.  The difference between a race and training is that I will be pushing myself to my breaking point.  I’ll be walking as little as humanly possible and try to figure out the fastest speed I can maintain for the entire distance.

I don’t have a ton of goals for this race.  Primarily, I want to beat my last time of 37 minutes.  I’m not sure what to expect, I’ve never really ran a race like a race before, so this should be interesting.  I just hope I can walk afterwards.  Expect a post-race wrap up article sometime tomorrow.

And the adventure of our rag-tag group of NPCs try to figure out who killed the calculator.  Our NPCs get further fleshed out by our players while they solve the mystery.

Be sure to check out Rachel Henderson’s awesome set pieces again!

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As I discussed in previous posts, I took an unplanned two week hiatus from writing at The Booster Pack.  I was hesitant to write my first “Fitness Friday” post because when I stopped writing, I also stopped running.  When I stop running, I stopped trying to eat healthy.  In short, when I stop writing, I stop being the person that I want to be.

With that said, what inspiried me to start writing again was the latest comic book film, Green Lantern.  As previouly stated, I enjoyed the movie, but what inspiried me was the concept of what a Green Lantern is.  Green Lanterns are chosen because of their willpower.  Willpower is what makes the rings work, as well as what makes them incredible super heroes.

Then I saw another movie on Starz that pushed this message a little further, Julie and Julia.  A strange movie to inspire willpower, but in this movie about a blogger, charmingly played by future Lois Lane, Amy Adams, starts a project to cook her way through Julia Child’s now iconic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Throughout the film, Julie faces personal struggles that come along with trying to do something that seems impossible, that you’re trying to share with the world.

I started a project very similar to this a little over year ago called To Train For a Marathon.  When I started this, around the beginning of last year, the goal was to run a marathon by the end of the year.   Obviously the deadline for that goal has come and gone, but I’ve not given up hope.  My modified goal is to finish the Marshall University Marathon in Huntington, WV on November, 6th.

This time it is going to happen.  I’m not going to try to eat healthy, run a marathon and lose weight.  I’m going to lose weight.  I’m not trying to get healthy, I’m defeating being overweight, with pure willpower.  I’ve pick back up with my marathon training, I’ve downloaded the Noom app to my droid phone to log my meals and runs and I’ve registed to the Short 5K in Barboursville, WV a week from tomorrow.

I’m doing this and that’s all there is to it.  If  Abin Sur ever does crash land on Earth, I’m making damn sure I’ll be the one that gets the ring.  That is of course, unless any other overweight geeks want to join me, I’d love the competition.

This week J. K. Rowling revealed Pottermore.  She teased us with a site logo and a barren twitter feed for about a month, but this week she actually told us what it was going to be.

Above you can see the official video from Pottermore and even if you’re not a fan, I recommend watching it, it’s super artsy and fun.  However, even if you’ve watched it, you’ll notice that you have to read between the lines to figure out what Pottermore is going to be exactly.

All that talk about how the “most important” addition being “you,” obviously doesn’t really tell us anything.  What I think it really means is that Pottermore is primarily going to be a social networking site for Harry Potter fans.  This sounds a little lackluster, but I’ve got two anecdotes that can make it seem a little more fun.

After I first got obsessed with the Harry Potter book series, before any of the movies came out, I was a member of a Yahoo Group about roleplaying in the Harry Potter universe.  Looking back, I’m pretty sure this was my first foray in the world of roleplaying.  With that said, I really loved it.  This was the first place I made friends online because we shared this one interest so strongly, now that I think about it as a roleplayer, we shared two interests, but I didn’t really look at it that way when I was younger.  We were just Harry Potter fans exploring our fandom.  I’m pretty excited about the idea of a place just for us.

Secondly, I know all about sites that are more or less glorified fan clubs.  I was a Pioneer member of McFly’s Super City.  This was an interesting concept that I’m hoping won’t be too far off what Pottermore is.  McFly Super City is basically a pipeline to McFly, for their fans to get immediate access to everything they do.  It is like their Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, UStream, official band website and so much more all in one place.  It was also a place for fellow McFly fans to mingle, which as an American fan of a very British band, was fun for me, that is of course, before I realized that everyone else there were teenage girls.  But anyway, I love the idea of McFly Super City, I just can’t afford another monthly subscription, especially one dedicated to a specific band.

However, Pottermore is free.  Not only is Pottermore a place for Harry Potter fans to mingle for free, but there is implied additional content.  Rowling said she was going to reveal information that she’s been hoarding for years.  If any of you have ever watched any t.v. specials about Rowling, you’d of seen some of the papers she has about the world of Harry Potter.  She has way more mapped out in this world then any of us would need to know, but the thing is, I really want to know.  I’m excited about the notion of learning all the things she’s had locked away since the release of the first book.

Which leads me to my final point on the subject.  I think it’s exciting that we are getting to experience a fantasy novel series, with a site fully implementing the internet, while the author is still alive and relatively young.  There is no way we could have gotten this much one-on-one connection with authors like J. R. R. Tolkien or C. S. Lewis.  There is no possible way of knowing the kind of things that were in their heads that they didn’t want to put in the books.  With Harry Potter, we can do that.  Rowling may have said that she’s never writing another Harry Potter book, but that doesn’t mean she can’t help us understand them better.

Hardcore Harry Potter fans should immediately head over to pottermore.com and register your email to be notified when it’s ready.  Hang onto your brooms kids, this ride’s just beginning.

This past Friday, the state of New York passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage.  But of course, you probably know this already.  I can’t express how excited it makes me to know that one of the most populated and influential states in the United States have extended the right of marriage to all of it’s citizens.

This is exciting not just because of the obvious reasons, but also because it wouldn’t have happened without the support of some key republican NY states senators.  I’ve read some of the most hopeful quotes while learning more about this bill.

As someone that comes from a Christian background, I’m no stranger to the homophobic vibe you get from most every social conservative.  It’s almost like you feel like you’re a pariah for not believing the way they believe.  The truth is, the Bible is a complex document that can be interpreted any number of ways and it is up to every Christian to figure out what it means for them.  I’m glad to hear that at least a few NY republicans are coming to realize this.

I found one of my favorite quotes from 64-year-old Senator Roy McDonald.  He said in an interview to the Huffington Post, “You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing.  You might not like that.  You might be very cynical about that.  Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think.  I’m trying to do the right thing.“

I love that he has gotten to the point where he is tired of the politics of it all.  I completely understand this, because human rights shouldn’t be about politics at all.  Human rights shouldn’t be about whether you’re conservative or liberal, they should be about whether you’re a person that cares about your fellow man, or you don’t.  I feel that is more or less what Senator McDonald was saying.

I was able to find a quote at christianpost.com from Senator Stephen Saland in which he talks about having a hard time coming to terms with his support of this bill.  He acknowledged he knew he’d be disappointing people, but “I know my vote is a vote of conscience and I’m certainly at peace with my vote.”  That sounds a lot to me like the way many gays feel when they are coming to terms with who they are.  They feel like by being gay, they are letting people down.  I’m glad that Senator Saland is now able to understand at least a tiny bit of what that feels like and that he is able to go against his party to extend rights to all.

I’d also like to point to Senator Mark Grisanti.  He grew up with a catholic upbringing, but as a lawyer, couldn’t come up with any legitimate legal reason to not pass this bill into law.  Rather then quoting him, his entire speech is posted below via youtube.

Overall, I’m glad that some republicans are recognizing that not all liberal social issues go against family values.  I’m aware that this really is just another battle won in the war towards equality, but it’s a big step.  We all need to do our part in helping to extend marriage rights to the entire country.  Write to your Congressman and tell them you’d like them to support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, that is the next step in extending federal marriage rights to same-sex couples.  You can write your US House Reps here or your US Senators here.  Equality is in our grasps, we only have to reach for it!

In this edition of Quest for Fame, we have all our roleplaying regulars, but we don’t play our usual Quest for Fame characters.  We are in the same universe, but this time we’re playing NPC we’ve encountered throughout the game.  This was Chase’s attempt to bring the ridiculous-ness of Gamma World to D&D, you’ll obviously have to listen to the podcast to find out, but I think he was pretty successful.

The cast of characters for this adventure include Carlos the homeless entrepreneur, acclaimed writer A. Goblin, The Town Crier, Kianna’s zombie dog pile, and Lucy the ghost of a little girl.  Be sure to check out the picture below, or at boosterpack.org if you see this in a podcatcher, of Rachel’s awesome set pieces.

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Now that the summer movie season is just about at the mid-way point, I feel it’s time to take a look at the comic book based movies that have already been released.  Typically, I’d want to wait until the end of the summer to do this, but this summer is really comic book heavy!

First up, Thor

Thor was the first big movie of the summer.  I was excited out the gate, primarily because the trailers all looked really good, but also a part of me just wanted it to be amazing to show that racist.  Lucky for me, even though I had high expectations for Thor, it absolutely lived up to them.

Admittedly, a movie with the premise Norse gods come to Earth to fight a civil war sounds a little strange, but somehow the movie makers are able to balance the world of Asgard with the fish out of water story that is Thor on Earth.  The cast was great, although I hadn’t heard of Chris Hemsworth before Thor, he was perfect for the part.  Even though Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wasn’t quite the character I remembered from the comics, Portman made her fit in this universe and feel like someone that is so much more the Thor’s girlfriend.  And surprisingly, I wasn’t even a little offended at Idris Elba’s performance as Heimdall.

Next, X-Men:  First Class

I had my reservations about this movie.  Just watching the trailer there were things I wasn’t sure about.  I think the biggest hurdle I had to jump over to get on board with this movie is that it is not part of the continuity of the previous X-Men movies.  Honestly, it’s a relief that X-Men 3 has been written out of existence, but it wasn’t very apparent that’s what was happening from the promotion.

With that said, X-Men:  First Class was great.  It was fun to see Xavier and Magneto before they became the best frenemies we all know so well.  Even though not everything was true to the comic, the character changes they did make I gladly accepted.  Mystique growing up with Xavier was a welcome twist on the story, it provided an explanation for her to be on the “good” side without compromising her character.  It was nice to see Havok, even though he is supposed to be Scott Summers younger brother.  Beast was also portrayed nicely, it was nice to see that the movie also used science for his transformation.  As a fan of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, finally seeing Emma Frost in a movie was also very exciting.  On top of all the established characters, the new mutants meshed very nicely into the story.

The story was well executed.  It was very much equal parts fun and serious.  Kevin Bacon’s portrayal of Sebastian Shaw provided a good foil for the main cast.  While the story was compelling on it’s own, it also had just enough breathing room for a few good awesome super power showdowns.

Lastly, Green Lantern

I know you’ve all heard really bad things about Green Lantern.  I’m sure plenty of you won’t want to see it because of those things.  Here’s a tip, hold onto that feeling, believe it is going to be bad and something incredible will happen. . . . you’ll really like Green Lantern.

I went into this movie with the lowest of expectations.  I hated the look of the CG costume, it was just baffling to me that you’d cast one of the most ripped guys in Hollywood, one of the few men that could pull off tight, green spandex, and CG his entire body.  I’m not a huge Hal Jordan fan, never really have been.  Kyle Rayner has always been my Green Lantern, so to say I wasn’t excited about this movie is an understatement.

With that said, I really wanted to like this movie.  Even though I saw the Rotten Tomatoes rating in the lower twenties, I wanted there to be a good Green Lantern movie.  And even though you’re going to hear some people say the contrary, I think DC pulled it off.  I liked the story of the hero overcoming his own fears.  I liked the parallels between Hal Jordan and Hector Hammond.  Heck, I even liked Blake Lively as Carol Ferris (which BTW, was there anyone not imagining her in the Star Sapphire costume?  If you aren’t a huge GL fan and aren’t sure what I’m talking about, check the picture below).

I believe most people went into this movie expecting something incredible and got a pretty normal feeling superhero origin story, complete with exposition and insecurities.  People wanted the next The Dark Knight and they got The Incredibles, what they forgot was that The Incredibles is still pretty good.  I seriously think that a year from now when all these reviewers rewatch this movie, remembering how “awful” it was, they’re going to really enjoy it.  Comic fans, do me a favor and don’t write this movie off because of what the critics are saying, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll like it.