Cosplay Friday: Afro Samurai

Full disclosure: I've never made it all the way through Afro Samurai. Started it, but never finished it. While it seemed alright, it wasn't my cup of tea. That might have been different if the film was live action and Little Wren here was the star.

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for September 30, 2016

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the articles, books, comics, movies, videos, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

This time around, I have a favorite maxi-series back on the reading pile, a so-so superhero sequel, the latest in a 20 plus book series and more!

F.O.R.C.E. Files 7: Zenith

Like much of her team, Zenith is a character with a long history before and after the one chapter of the ongoing series she leads. Her history ties closely to that of Powerhouse and Legend, but she has her own unique path, the secrets of which will become apparent as her tale is told in F.O.R.C.E. 7.

She's also somewhat unique in my first round of characters as she doesn't have an obvious analog to a superhero stereotype. I can't say I did that with any particular purpose though: Zenith is a character that's floated around my skull since I was thirteen. The concept of living light is fascinating to me, as it opens a ton of unique features and abilities. I have distinct memories of the early 90s iteration of Living Laser as he became a literal living laser and the use of his abilities under the writing of John Byrne, Len Kaminski and Mark Gruenwald are really the only outside influences I can muster when it comes to Zenith and her power set.

The main tale of F.O.R.C.E. 7: Zenith takes Zenith, Doc Tesla and the other female members of the team into Pashtunistan, a Middle Eastern dictatorship. As revealed in the final pages of the last chapter, a group of militant extremists named the Femazons attacked the oppressive regime and literally incapacitated every male in a society where all women are treated as second class citizens. This creates an interesting conundrum for our heroines: who is the lesser evil between the standing government and the Femazon conquerors?

As the first full year of F.O.R.C.E. races to a close in the next month and a half, this chapter also reveals a major plot point that comes to play starting with the next chapter. While an excellent standalone tale, it is also a key plot point in the ongoing saga of the team.

F.O.R.C.E. 7: Zenith is now available for 99 cents at Amazon.

Top 10 action figures overseeing my writing

I have an incredibly tiny desk space in the corner of the bedroom where about 90% of my writing gets done. It isn't the ideal writing spot, but it is an effective area to work. But sometimes I need inspiration or just a bit of a distraction from the regular grind of trying to figure out the next plot point of my current story. And that's where the handy shelf of action figures behind my desk comes in handy.

As part of this week's Pop Culture League, I'm going to take a look at my ten favorite toys on those shelves. And since my current at home camera sucks, I'll use handy stock or review photos for my convenience!

Honorable Mention: WWE Figures

I don't buy many wrestling toys, but a few have a treasured place on my shelves. My currently unopened Samoa Joe will certainly join these four shortly. (Images all from Ringside Collectibles if you didn't figure that out.)


10. Otho

I've seen a lot more love for the Four Horsemen's Mythic Legions line than I've actually felt for the figures. They are pretty solid overall, but I can't help but feel the line is overly expansive without enough variety. Still, I see a few gems in the line and Otho here is one of them.

Image credit: Four Horsemen.

Great Art: A-Force by Thony Silas

While I am not necessarily the biggest fan of Marvel's current line up of titles, I cannot complain about this great art print by the talented Thony Silas featuring various members of the Secret Wars team A-Force. It's gorgeous work from a great talent.

Aliens Among Us! (Pop Culture League)

I have long been fascinated by the concept of alien invaders. Not necessarily in the full scale invasion sense of Independence Day or War of the Worlds. But in the more insidious sense. Aliens living among us, secretly plotting to take control. Creatures that want to rule us, or destroy us, or steal our resources. Maybe, they're secretly benevolent beings, just trying to find a way home.

These kind of stories always fascinate me. Whether its Starman or V, I love the concept of the secret alien that mixes among us.

Heck, I edited an entire anthology of stories in that vein. I even gave it the most simple title I could about the conceit: Aliens Among Us.

I greatly enjoyed assembling the book and stories for Aliens Among Us, as it brought creatures from space to a variety of genres of fiction, with stories inspired by 70s exploitation cinema and westerns among others. I originally planned my own story for the book, but decided as great tale after great tale trickled in to let the works of authors like David Boop, Melvin Hadley and Margaret Karmazin speak for themselves.

While the book definitely has some design sensibilities from a person with five less years of experience than I do now, the contents of the anthology remain some of my favorites of anything I have assembled in a Metahuman Press collection.

But I still have more than one story of aliens among us bouncing around the house of ideas I call my brain. Perhaps someday I will bring a second volume of the series to the world, and this time, my own ideas could slowly work their way into the fabrics of human society.

This post is a challenge from the Pop Culture League, a collection of fascinating posts revolving around one unifying topic every week. Check out some of the other features this week such as Alexis' Universe's rundown of some alien invasion action figures, Mr. Smith's breakdown of the two usual results of alien first contact in fiction, or 20 Years Before the Year 2000 as it looks at the Men in Black franchise. Plus a whole bunch of other great posts at this week's challenge.   

Great Art: Spider-Man vs. The Circus of Crime by Fred Hembeck

I can think of few conceits of comics I love quite as much as the Circus of Crime. It is such a weird comic idea, one used to perfection by Marvel for years. The unit has evolved over the years (check out the late 90s Joe Casey-written Deathlok for an example), but they will always remain a unique favorite of mine, much like the art of Fred Hembeck.

Different Kinds of Super: Moana

Image Credit: Disney's Moana on Facebook.

One of the reasons I dubbed this page Super Powered Fiction is because I wanted to differentiate myself from what's often called "superhero fiction". I think the term superhero is limited, as it immediately draws to mind costumed adventurers in some kind of pseudo-modern setting. But for hundreds of years, stories of super powered beings have floated through every form of entertainment ever. Once in a while, I like to spotlight a piece with a clearly super powered being, even if it doesn't fall into the traditional idea of a superhero.

Disney's latest animated feature definitely fills that category. With a young female lead that is "friends" with the ocean and a super-strong demigod as the leads, the film looks to tell a unique tale with two heroes that must use their abilities to save the day. How is that not a piece of super powered fiction?

Check out the full trailer for the film below:


I'm definitely excited for this one when it releases at the end of November. What do you think of Disney's latest animated feature?

Cosplay Friday: Chun Li

Vanessa Wedge brings the week to a close with her Street Fighter Alpha Chun Li cosplay. Simply amazing work!

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for September 16, 2016

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the articles, books, comics, movies, videos, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

Pulpsploitation: On writing Airboy

This article was originally posted on the official Pulpsploitation site.

All three of these characters will play a
part in future Airboy stories.

Why Airboy?

He certainly isn’t a character that went without a revival in the 1980s. Chuck Dixon and Tim Truman created a rather amazing series at Eclipse (now being collected by IDW) with art by the likes of Stan Woch, Ben Dunn, Ron Randall and Tom Lyle.

Flying Dutchman will be the first other Air Fighter to
make an appearance in the new book.

But that series didn’t tell the story of the original Airboy. Instead it focused on Davy Nelson Jr., the son of the original character and his interaction with a mix of the original Air Fighters and new “ripped from the headlines” adventures. Despite being written by well known Republican writer Chuck Dixon, it was even famous for being the anti-Reagan comic. But while it offered great stories, it wasn’t the take on Airboy I wanted to see.

I wanted to go back to the original, I wanted to make him a fish out of water and I wanted to update the Air Fighters in a very different way.

In my initial short story, Misery and the Airtomb play their part in the first story, but they are really a subplot as Airboy finds himself young and alive again in the early 1980s. He’s immediately thrust into a plot to stop the massive super-weapon that nearly killed him once before.

The tale will hopefully kickoff a new series of adventures starring the high-flying adventurer beginning in 2017.

Pulpsploitation is now available at Amazon.

Work-in-progress Wednesday: September 2016

And look, Metahuman Press got itself a new logo
over the weekend! Woohoo!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I've been busy with the day job, which will only get busier in the next couple weeks. Because of this, most of my time has been devoted to editing. I have been prepping the last few chapters of F.O.R.C.E. while also trying to wrap up another anthology in the wings. I'm hoping to have both out in the next to two months, and those will wrap my releases for the year 2016.

Work is continuing on Walking Shadows as always. I am working towards the end of Book Three now. Most likely that end will bring a hiatus for the serial, but that hiatus might also come with the debut of a new weekly serial in 2017, though I'm not going to share details on that quite yet.

Plans for the next few weeks are to wrap the current edits, write the final chapter of F.O.R.C.E. before it gets a name change (more on that in November) and hopefully wrap the last few pages of that current Walking Shadows volume. Of course with 50 hour work weeks ahead of me for the next month, we will see if I can actually succeed in making that happen.

Time is never a strong commodity around these parts!

Wish me luck!

Great Art: Valkyrie by Bruce Timm

I have to be honest. I've written a lot of public domain characters I want to work on. Whether it be Living Legends, the Pulp Obscura series from Pro Se Press or random short stories like "The Rise of Rulah". I have even started my own take on Hillman Comics' Air Fighters with my Airboy short story in Pulpsploitation.

But I still haven't got to Valkyrie yet. She's near the top of the list of characters I have plans for in the extended Quadrant Universe, but you probably won't see any sign of her until at least late 2017. But for now enjoy this great picture of her battling Misery (a character that does makes a brief appearance in the aforementioned story) by the always amazing Bruce Timm, of DC Animated Universe fame.

Kickstart the Week 44: The Mighty Protectors

The name may be different, but the site makes no secret that The Mighty Protectors is the new name for the third edition of Villains and Vigilantes, one of the first two superhero role playing games ever made. Back in the early days of pen and paper RPGs, it was the game anyone that wanted to play superheroes wanted to play. And while it would eventually be supplanted by Champions and the first Marvel and DC games, it still holds a special place in many gamers' hearts.


Original creator Jeff Dee is back with the new edition and it looks to add a bit of old school gaming back into superheroes, complete with d20s, random character generation and all those things you remember from games of the 80s and 90s.

If any of that intrigues you, make sure to give it a look at Kickstarter.

Cosplay Friday: Miss America Chavez

As we head into a somber fifteenth anniversary weekend, Cosplay Friday brings a little bit of patriotism with a cosplay of Marvel's latest incarnation of Miss America.

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for September 9, 2016

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

F.O.R.C.E. Files 6: Pointblank

The new chapter of F.O.R.C.E. which is now available focuses on the past of Legend. But it isn't like the previous chapters of the book. This time Legend sits at death's door, put there by the metahuman assassin known as Pointblank.

Pointblank makes his first full appearance in this chapter as the team goes after the would-be assassin of their leader. But with his meta-enhanced strength and speed, along with a preternatural aim, he may be more than a match for an entire unit of F.O.R.C.E. members. Though I briefly mentioned him in yesterday's Best Character Ever, Pointblank is an important villain in the Quadrant Universe. While he isn't the most powerful nor the most manipulative, he is one of the most successful assassins and agents in the criminal set. His exploits are legendary over a thirty year career, which make him a threat the team take very seriously.

"Death Watch" also looks at the origins of Legend, including the dark secrets of his creation. As Inch and Cyber fight to keep him alive, the past portions of the story reveal the continued legacy of the infamous King family, already on full display in the first two volumes of Lightweight.

Chapter six of F.O.R.C.E. is now available on Amazon.

Best Character Ever 23: Deathstroke

Deathstroke's modern costume by Tony Daniel.

I don't know where exactly I first fell in love with Deathstroke. I started to follow the Titans off and on around 1989 with Secret Origins Annual 3 as my first major exposure to the team. I only rarely picked up issues at that time as eleven year old Nick had limited access to comic shops where New Titans and later Deathstroke were exclusively sold at.

But I knew I was intrigued by Slade Wilson. Just as Nightwing quickly became a favorite DC hero, Deathstroke became my favorite anti-hero. A combination of a traditional Marvel hero and a roguish assassin in the men's adventure vein mixed with a bit of megalomania, he was an intriguing character built around a personal code of honor. He intrigued me as a villain who wasn't quite a villain, but was far from being a hero, especially as he spun off into his own series.

Great Art: Starfire by Tom Grummett

I have been thinking a lot about the Teen Titans of late. I am not quite sure why. I am sure edits on F.O.R.C.E. have definitely influenced me. That series has its own alien out of place in the form of Ophidian, but he is a far cry from the always amazing Starfire.

This image is by one of the most prolific artists of the New Teen Titans / New Titans, Tom Grummett. Though he's probably known better now for Superboy and Robin, he had a fifty+ issue run on the book back in the late 80s, plus a few more fill-ins during the Geoff Johns era. This mock Starfire cover makes me wish he would draw a few more issues.

Cosplay Friday: Ratohnhaketon

Cosplayer Crystal brings this impressive gender swapped cosplay of the Assassin’s Creed character. We use it to ring in an extended Labor Day weekend. Character owned by Ubisoft.

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for September 2, 2016

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

Jigsaw takes the lead in "The Fight to Survive"!

The last few weeks have all been about the feral warriors of the Quadrant Universe. The Ferret took the lead in last week's new F.O.R.C.E. release. This week, Jigsaw takes the lead of the fifth story in the ongoing saga of Quadrant, as the first volume of that series hits its penultimate beat.

The brothers' ongoing quest to reveal the history of their creation brings them under attack from the hidden forces after them for months. Unfortunately it leaves three of the brothers captured with only the blade-wielding Jigsaw free. With the aid of his old ally Emma, he must free his friends and stop the villains that are behind his very creation! 

Quadrant 5: The Fight to Survive is now available at Amazon. Pick up a copy of it and the entire Quadrant saga today!