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There are some people who like comics. There are others who love them. Then, there are those who live and breathe comics. Not as a way to keep copyrights up-to-date for further cinematic use, but who see the comic form as important; as a worthy and necessary part of our collective artistic and cultural life. Professor, […]
For transparency’s sake, it goes without saying that BGN is and has been a fan of Sebastian Jones and the entire crew at Stranger Comics.
We have interviewed him several times, and we are so much of a fan that there is even a BGN exclusive variant for Jones’s Niobe: She is Life #1. Last year in October, we sat down with Sebastian to catch up and to talk about some scuttlebutt out in the comicverse.
Why is your company called Stranger Comics?
Stranger is actually the name of the lead character in The Untamed, the first graphic novel in the fantasy world of Asunda that I have created, with a bunch of amazing guys. Also, I’m a big fan of the old school comics of Strange Tales and the term “strange.” I like it. And I always said I’m a fan of Kurosawa and Sergio Leone movies.
How did your creative team meet? You’ve got Joshua [Cozine], Amandla [Stenberg], and Darrell [May].
I used to run live-action role-playing events. I’ve known Darrell for over 20 years. He used to come back to my live-action role-playing [LARPing] events in Malibu Creek State Park and Topanga Canyon, sneaking past the ranger station at midnight. We had, like, swords and costumes and cosplay. Cosplaying with a game.
So what did you dress up as?
I was usually the games master.
The Dungeon Master?
Dungeon Master. But when I threw down, I was usually an assassin. I like extremes. I’m either an assassin or a paladin, or a wizard, I like the hard-core extreme stuff. That was Darrell. Josh, I met playing Hero Clix in comic shops, and Amandla I met at a kid’s book festival for one of my kids’ books. I ran up to her screaming like a fan. I said, “You’ve got to write Niobe with me. Oh my God. Do you want to see Niobe?” And then she went to one of my readings for my kids’ books, and no one was there apart from her and her mum. I did the reading essentially in that room of [capacity] 300, to just three people. Her and her mom, and another old lady. And she’s like, “Okay, what’s this project about?” And that was where it started.
You mentioned your children’s books. Did you do those before you started with your series The Untamed?
No, I started The Untamed—honestly, the world of Asunda I’ve been creating for 30 years. I started The Untamed, writing it, boy, back in the early 2000s as a film script to adapt, as a comic book with a film-strip kind of narrative. That took a long time. During that time, I started doing kids’ books. That was Garcelle Beauvais and the I Am book series, a celebration of all cultures, how to be brave, how not to give up. Kids’ books, where there was separation and divorce. We did that in 2012, I think when we first released our first kid’s book. I2009 is when we released The Untamed as a single issue, but then we pulled it. Then we came back and went deep into the lab and then came back down to 2015.
So you have a couple of characters that are very, very popular right now. Can you tell us a little bit about Niobe?
Niobe is kind of like the Luke Skywalker of our world. She is, boy, I mean she’s basically the character I poured my soul in. She’s a reflection of my ambitions, my inhibitions, my hope, my wrath, my own journey I guess as a young person. She’s mixed. She’s half black, half white; the most important thing is she’s half-angel, half-demon to reflect the duality within us that we will share. Also, she’s half-elven (half nomadic Galemren [wild elf]) and half-human. But she is that messiah-type character you follow from a very young age, and she grows into our kind of Cleopatra, if you will, of our world.
So you’ve got books where Niobe is life, she is death. What’s next?
The first one is Niobe: She Is Life, to really say she is. She is life. Niobe: She Is Death, when Niobe becomes a bounty hunter hunting down sex traffickers, human traffickers, and slave traders, reflects how young girls get abducted. Actually, that comic officially hits retail stores November 6. And then I’ll have Niobe: She Is Spirit, which combines her faith and fighting. I’ll finish with Niobe: She Is God, where she’ll bind nations against the devil, her father, the Untamed.
Who is Essessa?
Essessa is a Vorkasian Vampire. She is a very tragic figure. She might’ve been a very good person 2,000 years ago, when she fell in love with an ancient elven dude and she wanted to stay with him. She made her own deal with the devil to gain immortality, and he made her a vampire. That’s the very quick version. Then the elven dude spurned her love. He’s like, “Well, I’m not going to be with you now because you’re a vampire and you’re bad news.” She went back to the devil and was like, “I need my mortality back.” And he’s like, “Okay, bring me Niobe.” So in order to gain her love and her soul and humanity back, she has to bring Niobe to the devil.
Do you have this all planned all the way out? Do you know how Niobe’s story ends already?
I would say I have a very good solid framework, but with a lot of room to wiggle and grow. Malcolm X has this amazing quote: “Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” You’re always growing. You can’t condemn a dude. You can’t be so hard on some dudes. You might’ve found some revelation, and then it’s 10 years from now or whatever. If I put myself into that corner as well and my characters into that corner, they might grow and teach me things as I get older, too.
Do you find that your writing tends to take a life of its own?
I do absolutely. I do very good rough outlines, and then I like to give myself creative to freedom.
So, you have a Kickstarter ongoing. How’s it going and what is the next goal?
The Kickstarter is finished. It went very well — we funded in three hours. Our next Kickstarter we think will probably be spring or summer If you guys want to get us stuff, even our Kickstarter stuff, you can actually still get it off our website at strangercomics.com or we always have a Backerkit survey. If you missed the Kickstarter, type in Niobe Returns Kickstarter and Niobe, She Is Death, Niobe Returns Kickstarter. That’ll take you to all of our stuff.
Let’s get into this last thing. So there’s been a lot of discussion on various social media platforms that you guys had sort of piped the HBO connection just to get the price of your books up.
Wow.
Right? What do you have to say to that?
I say that’s hilarious. We went out of our way. You know what? Like I’m going to work 30 years to try to get an HBO deal just so I can increase the value of a few comics I own. I mean, honestly, that’s the most ridiculous crap I have ever heard. Do you know how difficult it is to get an HBO deal? To increase the sales of my comic books? I put my soul into these comics. I’ve bled for them. I pour everything I have into them, and we had multiple offers. We made a deal with HBO. This stuff is not easy. No, it is not to increase the sales of our comic books. I actually do a little bit better with an HBO deal than a few extra comic sales.
Because I know you’ve been telling me to keep it secret for like four years.
Yeah, I know. Well we didn’t have any deals back then.
Right, but you were working on them.
We were working on a lot of deals, and we were very lucky that HBO gave us a fantastic development deal that we announced in March. So, the answer is — no.
Last question. How will the HBO series integrate with the current comic world?
Well, fingers crossed it gets greenlit. I mean, it’s not a definite, but it’s looking very promising. I’m working with the showrunner on HBO’s Insecure named Prentice Penny. He’s my co-writer. They have great executive producers in Mimi DiTrani and David Levine, and it’s all very, very exciting. It’ll integrate fantastically well. I get to be the lucky dude to write it. So, we don’t have to worry about it veering off into other areas.
But you also have to remember, Game of Thrones is adapted from a book. So there’s lots of fat they have to trim. A comic book has 24 pages. In that case, there’s a lot of extra stuff to build around it for an hour. You read a 24-page comic book in 10 to 20 minutes. Do you have an hour show? So we have to build more material. But the good news is I’ve been creating this world for 30 years.
I’m still getting over people thinking I’m trying to hype… That’s hilarious to me. I don’t have time to do that. Like, yeah, I’m going to just spend all my time hyping.
I’m just excited to share the news for our fans who have been supporting us for so many years and seen a struggle to see us grow and flourish, that they’re excited to see us. So yeah, I’m going to let folks know we have an HBO deal.
If you’re interested in obtaining any of the titles in Jones’ world of Asunda you can go to the Stranger Comics Kickstarter page or the Stranger Comics website. If you’re trying to see the kid’s books, check out Amazon. But for the best experience and deals, pick a copy of whatever you’re interested in at a comic con. Sebastian and Darrell are always one for a deal.
E.Angel is an engineer and holds a BS in electrical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. In her spare time, she works at her comic book stores — Brainstorm Comics and Gaming — when she is not writing. She’s a real nerd who loves all things Star Wars and Star Trek and is an avid gamer. E.Angel can be reached at e9of10@gmail.com or on either game platform as Bunnehs Sister.
The post BGN Interview: Sebastian Jones, Stranger than Fiction appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Seven of Nine, one of the Star Trek franchise’s most popular characters, has come back after nearly 20 years away from the screen. Once again played by Jeri Ryan, she appeared at the tail end of episode four of Star Trek: Picard. But her backstory for the past two decades has been revealed further in episode five, titled “Stardust City Rag.” And just like Jean-Luc Picard, the former Borg drone is definitely not the same person she was when last we saw her.
It’s fair to say the Seven of Nine has become a sort of futuristic version of Uma Thurman’s Bride character from Kill Bill. But how did Seven go from the overly blunt ex-Borg to a badass warrior bent on revenge? Turns out, a lot has happened to her since Voyager finally reached Earth.
Spoilers ahead for episode five of Star Trek: Picard!
CBS All Access
Before we get into how Seven has changed and why, we need a brief primer on who she was. Seven of Nine was introduced in the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager in 1997, and remained a main character on the series throughout the rest of its run. She was discovered by the crew of Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, where her full Borg designation was revealed as “Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01.” She was freed from the Borg collective, of which she had been a part since she was a six-year-old child.
It was revealed that Seven was actually human, and not an unknown species assimilated by the Borg. In fact, she was one of the first human beings ever assimilated into the hive mind. Once detached from the collective, she began to explore her humanity under the guidance of Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). In time, she even embraced her original human name: Annika Hansen.
CBS
Towards the later seasons of Voyager, Seven cared for a group of children who were assimilated by the Borg and later freed from the hive. She became like a mother to them, and helped them with their transition towards individuality. Although the Borg children were eventually returned to their original respective races, one of them, a male name Icheb, stayed aboard Voyager with Seven. Towards the end of that series’ run, she dated Commander Chakotay, and there were even hints from a future version of Janeway that the two would eventually get married.
CBS All Access
However, as we discover in Picard, Seven’s life was a lot less blissful that predicted. With the collapse of the Romulan Neutral Zone following the destruction of their home planet, much of the quadrant has fallen into lawlessness. One organization protecting the defenseless was a vigilante group called the Fenris Rangers. Seven of Nine joined these Rangers, and become one of their most infamous and deadly agents.
Sometime during the years between Voyager and Picard, Seven fell under the sway of a woman called Bjayzl. It’s heavily implied the two had a romantic relationship, one which Bjayzl used to her advantage. Bjayzl actually sold Borg implants to the highest bidder on the black market. To Bjayzl, Seven was the ultimate prize, as Seven still had many Borg parts that Bjayzl hoped to extract. But Seven got away from Bjayzl upon discovering the truth. However, Seven had already revealed the location of her ex-Borg surrogate child, Icheb. Bjayzl learned he was a Starfleet officer and where he could be located, and used this knowledge to capture him and remove his Borg implants, very slowly and painfully.
CBS All Access
Seven was eventually able to find and free Icheb, but the damage done to his body was too much. He begged her to kill him and put him out of his misery, which she did. But Seven was now driven by vengeance, and wanted to find the woman responsible for the torture and murder of the man who was like a son to her. Thus began a search for Bjayzl.
When she encountered Admiral Picard on board La Sirena, she traveled with him to the planet Freecloud. There, she offered to help Picard in a ruse to extract a valuable prisoner being held by Bjayzl. She offered to give herself over to Bjayzl in exchange for said prisoner, but of course, it’s all a ploy. Seven meant to finally kill the woman who betrayed her and murdered her child.
CBS All Access
Now ready to take her revenge on the woman who murdered Icheb, Picard talked Seven down from giving in to hatred and feelings of vengeance. Jean-Luc, ever the thoughtful 24th century man of peace, told her that getting payback won’t solve anything or take away her pain. She seemingly agreed with him. But not long after beaming back to Picard’s current ship, she grabbed two phasers and returned to the planet guns blazing and vaporized Bjayzl. Like the Bride in Kill Bill, she ultimately did get her “bloody satisfaction” on the one who irrevocably hurt her. Afterwards, she seemingly returned to her service with the Rangers. But she did give Picard a way to contact her once again should he need her special services, so I doubt this is the last we’ll see of the fan favorite ex-Borg.
This revenge-driven Seven is different from any version we’ve seen of the character before on Voyager. She’s far more in touch with her human feelings, even if those feelings are mostly negative ones. But there is still a glimmer of hope within her. After all, why bother coming to the aid of so many helpless throughout the galaxy if she had not learned to feel compassion as well?
This is why I ultimately see her more as a Kill Bill figure than a regular vigilante. Everything she does is motivated by her instincts as a mother whose child was stolen from her, similar to Uma Thurman’s Bride in Kill Bill. One thing’s for certain: both deadly ladies prove that it’s clearly best to never cross the lioness if you’ve taken one of her cubs.
Featured Image: CBS All Access
The post How STAR TREK: PICARD’S Seven of Nine Channels KILL BILL appeared first on Nerdist.
Mercury via Messenger probe; Wikimedia commons.
It’s here again: that time when you can blame all your problems on a planet sixty million miles away. Yes, friends—Mercury is in retrograde. But what exactly does that, you know, mean?
First off: what is a planetary retrograde? Well, because all the planets have different speeds and orbits, at certain points they all appear to move “backwards” in the sky. When a planet gets closer to us, our different relative speeds create, basically, an optical illusion that they are moving backwards. According to Astrology.com: “retrograde motion is an illusory side-effect of planetary proximity.”
Every planet does this, actually, and various planetary retrogrades affect our horoscopes in different ways. For instance, Venus will go into retrograde in May. Mercury, however, because it is the closest planet to the sun and thus has the shortest orbit, goes into retrograde four times a year when the planet is closest to us. When Mercury speeds past us, it looks like it’s going the wrong way in the sky for a few weeks before it “corrects” itself and that backwards movement it what creates disruption, astrologically speaking.
Okay, so we’ve got what it is but what is that disruption? What does this tiny planet do? Well, the whole idea of astrology is that where celestial bodies are in the sky, how they’re moving and what signs and constellations they’re moving through affect us. Also, how the signs, moon, sun, and planets are positioned in relation to where they were when we were born. (You don’t have to believe in this, of course, but some of us do, and being mean about astrology doesn’t make you look smart, it just makes you mean).
Different planets have different properties and influences, often associated with the gods they are named after. Mercury shares its name with the messenger of the gods, who you may know as Hermes in his Greek version. Mercury, therefore, rules communication. All communication, from speaking and writing to coding and, yes, the internet. Mercury also affects inspiration and intellect. This is why Sailor Mercury was the smartest Sailor Scout!
So when Mercury goes backwards? Hoo boy, can you expect it to mess with everything from your electronics to your group chats to your term papers. It’s a bad time to start new projects, enter into contracts or try to make big plans. It’s a turvy-topsy time for anything that connects us. Also, maybe not great for travel. Mercury retrograde doesn’t make everything crappy, but it does mess with a lot of aspects of our modern life, where communicating is essential and ubiquitous. But it doesn’t affect everything, so, no, you can’t blame general terribleness on Mercury retrograde. But you can find ways to deal with it.
Use Mercury retrograde as a good excuse to back-up your computers, do a virus scan or clean out your browser cache and search history. It’s a bad time for communication so hey, what better excuse to step away from social media and get out there in the yard or take a walk? Don’t start big projects or journeys right now. Mercury retrograde can be a good time to reevaluate projects and plans, and especially since this retrograde Mercury is in the emotional, intuitive signs of Pisces and Aquarius, use that energy to examine your feelings and personal path. It’s not a time to act, but it’s a good time for introspection and thinking of the future.
This period of Mercury retrograde will last until March 9, so keep that in mind, if such things matter to you. If you are curious, look into how Mercury interacts with your own birth chart and what its movements might specifically mean for you because it might not all be bad. In general, astrology is not about telling the future but about being aware of the present and being prepared. Knowing that Mercury is in retrograde and what that means is just another tool to make your life a little easier … or at least, get you ready for when it might get hard.
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