X-Shirts: Female Mutant Inspired Fashions
Do you know how difficult it’s been to find an attractive, properly fitting ladies shirt with one of the X-Womenz emblazoned across the chest? Well, it’s been damn difficult. This may shock some of you but Storm, Phoenix and Rogue just aren’t the most popular Marvel faces affixed to an item of clothing.
This also goes hand in hand with another rant/beef I have: even though Rogue is much-beloved by fangirls (this fangirl at least) there is not a single mass-produced costume inspired by her character. Any Rogue costumes and wigs have to be custom made. Which SUCKS if you want to dress up but can’t sew your own.
It’s only been recently that the Storm and Phoenix pre-fabricated costumes have appeared for purchase through major retailers (in varying degrees of skankitude).
PHOENIX:
Weird mix of old school costume and original Phoenix. With just a dash of sleaze.
STORM:
I really adore the head piece to this costume. And all the silver. It pretty much rocks 100%.
I love the Storm version, but wonder about cosplay race-bending.
Is it appropriate for a white person to cosplay as a comic book character of color? According to this blog post, no. And for all intents and purposes, I tend to agree.
So then, would it be weird for me to wear a shirt with Storm on it? Unfortunately there is no guide post on the internet for that particular question (THE NET HAS FAILED ME!)…so I’m gonna also go with “no.” And use a similar set of logic: there are enough white female X-Characters with whom I can identify. If anyone wants to argue I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Anywho – the whole point of this post was to highlight the trend of using the X-Ladies (the BEST ones, sans White Queen) on more clothing attire. And jazzing them up a bit, so it’s not the old Jim Lee 90s version or the throwbacks to the original crew either.
Halloween Hinjinks: The Walking Dead and Music Playlist
Halloween weekend was chock full of hijinks – and the topper of the weekend was The Walking Dead television premier at the Baghdad Theatre in Portland, Oregon. 600+ Zombie fans crammed into the ornate location for a costume contest, raffle and unveiling of the episode. This is the first time I’ve watched television with hundreds of people, so it was actually quite thrilling to listen to the roar of chatter during the commercials. We were warned about talking during the episode, so when the show started – the theater became quiet enough that you could hear the rustling of people in the first few bottom rows from the upper levels of the balcony.
The costumes were pretty fantastic. We missed getting pictures of Chairface (The Tick) but there were dozens of other people who really dressed for the occasion.
Check out the pictures we snapped here, as well as some from our Halloween party:
Another highlight of the weekend was getting to air out the massive playlist of Halloween-y songs I’d been preparing all throughout October. It ended up being about six hours long (three hours of ambient, three hours of dance).
The Top 20 Tracks from each are listed here.
Phoenix Tattoo: Session Four
Went in for the fourth session of the Phoenix Tattoo with London Bellman. He worked today on the shoulder blade – the area we’ve dubbed the Supernova. We decided that some purple shading would work well and I’m so elated with how much it’s softened the upper section. I wasn’t quite sure how well a hard line would work against my skin and with the whole flow of the tattoo itself, so this is a good compromise.
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- Before
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- After #1
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- After #2
Afterwards we stopped by the Yarn Garden (Local Yarn Store – LYS) to pick up some Lamb’s Pride Bulky for the Jayne hats. Unfortunately – they didn’t have yellow or orange, but I picked up the red and settled on some Cascade 128 Superwash chunky. So the next phase is to knit up the hat with the new supplies and figure out where to go from there.
The tattoo is really coming together and entering the final stages of completion. Now, if you look at it straight on, it seems done. But there’s still the inside portion to finish up, which will probably be at least another two sessions. The next one will occur on November 13th, 2010.
LINK LOVE:
Comic Book Tattoos at San Diego Comic Con International 2010
It’s two weeks until SDCCI 2010 and I have a favor to ask all of you.
One of my missions at Comic Con is to connect with as many people as possible with comic book tattoos. I would love to get your tattoo story, where you got it, how many sessions, what it means to you and would love to snap a picture.
The ultimate goal is to create and host a website that is a depository for all the awesome comic book tattoos out there. A safe haven where nerds with ink can come to share their tattoos and meet like minded folks.
As a comic book tattooed person, it’s fun to connect with others and learn about their experiences and share some awesome art inspired by something we’re passionate about. Comic book conventions have been that space for me – where I know most people will recognize and appreciate my tattoo in all it’s nerdy glory.
So – I’d like to give back some of that love and recognize and appreciate all of YOUR nerdy tattoos in their splendiferous loveliness.
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AN EXAMPLE: BRIEF
Name: Mindy Crouchley, 27
Tattoo: Jean Grey as Phoenix 3/4 Sleeve
Inked At: Imperial Tattoo AND Atomic Arts Studio in Portland, Oregon
Hours: 17 (so far)
Inspiration/Story: Reading the Phoenix: End Song comic book, struggling to complete my undergraduate education, Jean Grey as a strong female character, the mythology of the phoenix bird
Other Tattoos: Goldfish and Crossbones, Ohm Symbol
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AN EXAMPLE: Expanded
Mindy Crouchley is 27 year old woman in the middle of getting her Jean Grey as Phoenix Tattoo 3/4 sleeve completed at the Atomic Art Tattoo Studio in Portland, Oregon.
The inspiration behind the sleeve was reading the Phoenix: End Song graphic novel and falling in love with the Jean Grey character for the first time, after having read X-Men Comic books for almost 15 years.
The beauty of the female form, the strength of Jean Grey and the mythology of the phoenix tattoo were all the elements she wanted to put together in one powerful image.
The first two sessions took place almost three years ago at Imperial Tattoo in NW Portland and the result was awesome…but Mindy felt it needed more.
She undertook a medical study at OHSU to get the needed funds to add a space background including the Earth, a spiral galaxy and Saturn. She estimates that there are two more three hour sessions left until the final product emerges. She has already been to three three-hour sessions at Atomic, adding to that the 8 hours the original image took. Over 17 hours of inking so far!
She has two other tattoos – a goldfish and crossbones and an ohm symbol. But like every addict, she has plans for more.
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You can send in pictures and info or arrange to meet at Comic Con. I’ll be available here (leave a comment), on Twitter at TinyHeroes, or you can contact me by email at Mindy@Tinyheroes.net.
Videos are also welcome!
My goal is to have the site up and running within two weeks after SDCC. Thanks for putting the word out there.
Phoenix Tattoo: Session Three
No videos this time – but here’s a recap anyway. Told London Bellman at Atomic Arts Tattoo Studio that we probably wouldn’t be back for three months (indeed, my next appointment is September 11th) – and wanted to clean it up enough to show it off at the San Diego Comic Con.
He understood – and finished up filling in the space on the left side of The Phoenix, as well as some flame outlining. He also did more cleaning up of Jean Grey’s anatomy with black shading.
Here’s a few pics ranging from before any inking to the end of three hour appointment. Click on the image to scroll through them!
Phoenix Tattoo: Session One
Outlining - that's the easy part. Now insert color.
Went in and spent three hours at Atomic Art Tattoo Studio on the 3/4 Phoenix sleeve tattoo. The plan is to add stars, planets and even a spiral-freaking-galaxy. I met with London Bellman previously (as you’ll recall from this entry) and we finally set up an appointment for today.
Since we’d had a good conversation, and I trusted London with his amazing artistic ability – I didn’t really need to hem and haw over the work before we got started. He shaved my arm, laid out the design and started lining everything in. I mean, everything. The earth, saturn, the spiral galaxy and all the stars. Then he colored in the earth, which is on my elbow and was quite painful. I’d had a bit of tattooing in that spot, but nothing like this grinding right into the bone.
All of this took up our scheduled three hours so I paid the man and took off, wearing a ridiculous white bandage that limits arm movement and makes it looks more like a serious injury than it really is. The outlining is small and simple – it will heal in no time. The earth hurts much worse, especially since it’s on the flex of the arm.
Looking forward to our follow-up appointment in two weeks. That’s when the real pain will happen. Until then – enjoy a fun video I put together.
X-Men Tattoos
In checking my WordPress stats, I see a common search term coming up over and over again. So, in recognition of people searching for X-Men Tattoos (a really arduous process requiring some patience)…I’m posting this here blog filled with pretty pictures and links to their origins. Hopefully it will be a helpful compilation!
Tattoo 1: X-Symbol
Tattoo 2: Rogue
Tattoo 3: Phoenix/Jean-Grey
Tattoo 4: Gambit and Rogue
Tattoo 5: Wolverine
The Second Wave: X-Books
The entire gaggle of X-Books (we’re collecting 4 of them) consisted of 13 issues, and some were fairly slow going due to a lack of interest on my part. So, without further ado, here goes:
Of course, we all know a few of the main reasons this book was making it in the box. It was penned by “the man” Mr. Whedon, and it revolved around everyone’s favorite lovable band of Merry Mutants. Two great flavors that certainly tasted great together…while they lasted.
*Cue dramatic music*
Warren Ellis now helms this book, bringing with him an artist, Simone Bianchi who seems hell bent on making everyone and everything look like a Halloween Super Store exploded on the pages. He’s not all that bad really…but his art is spooky and all the characters look like malicious goblins or demonic war-lords. It’s definitely a change from the clean and shiney inks of John Cassady.
As for Ellis, I can’t say he and I have much history, or will in the future. His book is much too technical and wordy to suit my X-Men desires.
And that’s fine, right? There are many other X-Books to choose from. No harm, no foul.
After the Messiah Complex tore the team asunder (and annihilated the X-Mansion for the billionth time), it only seemed appropriate that the team members should take a hiatus. Xavier was dead, the mansion destroyed, the dream hanging in tattered shreds.
So, let’s all pick up and move to San Francisco.
Eh, what? Does anyone else remember how bad of an idea that is? Similar plot-lines wherein the X-Team alters locations never end well. And come on – San Francisco? Let’s take the comic allegory and decorate it with political trappings please. Be sure to mention HYBRIDS! I don’t know about this Ed Brubaker character.
*sigh* As if all this wasn’t bad enough – Rogue and Gambit are MIA (remember them, two of your more popular characters??) and Emma Frost is doing her best Jean Grey impersonation to everyone’s discomfort. She sticks out like a sore thumb that the X-Editors are intent on jabbing in the eye of every reader who thinks Jean Grey should return from the dead and kick the holy telepathic shit out of her.
But Emma’s on every other page – with smarmy retorts and her boobies jostling up out of her top. Always so classy, Ms. Frost.
It would seem that the X-Creators forget she’s only ever worked as a minor character and only when given some sort of purpose. Otherwise, she’s like a venereal disease infested peacock preening and pretending to fill the shoes of the most powerful mutant in the Universe. Puh-thetic.
Cyclops is back as the leader (AS ALWAYS). Could anyone be less enthused?
Nyquil Dreams, Super Heroes, and War
Have been mixing in my crazed brain lately. So – just for fun, I decided to google the search terms “Nyquil Dreams” to see what I would come up with. Apparently, I am not alone in my weird dream adventures as of late.
There’s a whole world of weird out there.
Guest starring so far has been: Barack Obama, Trip Weisman, and Harry Potter. OK, the HP I can understand – I read like 7 books devoted to this kid. BUT – Barack Obama? Come on! Who dreams about freakin’ Presidential Candidates? And Trip – yeah, he’s a character I made up. He’s a character in the movie we’re filming. That’s REALLY weird.
But last night – last night was the clincher. It starred not one, not two, not EVEN three – but at least 5 comic book characters. List-worthy perhaps? Me-thinks so!
1. Hellboy
2. Colossus
3. Wolverine
4. Cannonball
5. Jean Grey
And these characters – rather than being stand-alones, were actually interacting with one another. Hellboy and Colossus were not initially fighting each other – they were fighting some common enemy. Then something happened (as it often does in dreams) and these crazy heat-seeking missiles were being deployed by Colossus and at Hellboy. Maybe Colossus was being mind-controlled by the enemy? No matter – then they began fighting.
Hellboy’s pretty tough – and for some reason he was able to sustain the blast of these several small-ish missiles. Finally it came to a face-to-face show-down. Colossus slammed Hellboy up against a wall and freaking blasted him with hundreds of missiles.
And in dream logic – that seemed to do the trick. Colossus was freed – and reverted to his non-metal self. Hellboy can withstand fire-power (being a minion of hell) and it was a weird happy ending.
The next dream phase occurred with Wolverine starring (yet again) in his own comic – but this time, instead of leading or being a part of a team – he was the team himself. The psyches of both Cannonball and Jean Grey (along with their powers) – were loaded into Wolverine. He was being deployed to Iraq. I saw the cover issue very clearly – it was entitled “X-Men: Revisions.” For some reason – I was REALLY clamoring for this comic.
The writer – it turns out – was an Iraqi war veteran who had served three tours in Iraq, and wanted to tell the story of what was happening over there using comic books as some sort of allegory.
In the dream – this was destined to be a top-selling issue.
OK – I know where some of this is coming from – I recently started reading “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” and the last bit I was reading before drifting off to sleep – Joe Kavalier was sketching comic-books wherein the protagonist is fighting a one-man war against Hitler. Post Nyquil shot I was thinking – wow, wouldn’t it be nice if modern Wars could be so clean cut? I know this is an overly optimistic view of what World War II was – because it was actually a really devastating war for Europe and for the soldiers fighting in it. But compared to the last two or three wars America has led – WWII was like Mom and Apple Pie.
In 2008 – sending a superhero off to fight the current war this country is embroiled in – what would that comic look like? What would the hero DO?
On another random whim – I googled “Wolverine fighting Nazis” just to see if that had been done before. And it has. But apparently in better taste than I would think…
Oh and Cap fought the Germans too…
I might type more on this later, but comics pretty much have their root in war propaganda – allowing kids and whomever else to get a taste of the action that was happening over seas, if they themselves couldn’t play an active role in it. Superman, Wonder Woman – some of the biggies saw their rise to fame propelled by battling the evil Germans and communists.
I’ve known this for awhile…but am just starting to make the connections to present day ideas. It would be hard to argue that Civil War had anything to do with relating Superheroes to the war we are currently fighting. That had more to do with the atmosphere of fear pervasive around the country.
Civil War also had/has LOADS to do with the freedom of information, and secret congressional meetings, and transparency in government (more on that later).
If anyone CAN point me in the direction of Superheroes and comics that are dealing with the Iraq war – I would be interested in checking them out. If only to satisfy my own curiousity, piqued, oddly enough – by a Nyquil Dream.
Much Love, Mindy C
Dan
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