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by Abbie Willans Skottie Young’s unique art is one of the most recognizable styles in comics today. He’s developed a devoted fan base through his original stories and the comedic variant covers he draws for Marvel comic books. Young is so popular that some of his original sketches can cost more than $2,000. So when Ambrosia Grady took a piece of artwork that was possibly Young’s to his signing at Aw Yeah Comics in Muncie Saturday afternoon, she was excited. “He’s my favorite,” she said of Young. “I saw a cover with his cutesy baby characters, and fell in love with it. He’s the only person I follow in comics.” It turns out that the artwork was a very early sketch of Young’s, and he gladly signed it for her. The artist’s appearance at the comic shop attracted fans from all over. “My fiance started collecting his covers and she’s actually picked up several series after he’d done the cover because he’d gotten her interested,” said Shane Miller. He came from Plainfield to get most of his fiance’s collection signed as a surprise for her. Byte sat down with Young to discuss his art, as well as his new series “I Hate Fairyland.” _____________________________________________________________________________ Byte: How did you come up with the idea for your art style? Young: It developed over time. Like anything, just years and years of drawing and eventually your influences start to fall off and how you draw, kind of, happens. Early in my career, and this happens with a lot of artists, you’re very conscious of trying to draw in a style, but how you draw when you’re not trying is really what your style is. Byte: Was it influenced by anything? Did any particular person inspire your art? Young: There’s tons. Sam Keith, Bill Watterson, Dr. Seuss; there’s countless names and artists over the years. There’s probably little bits and pieces of all those creators somewhere in my work. Newer artists that come along still inspire me today, like Katie Rice, James Harrion. It’s good to keep things growing and not just stop on the ones that are past. Byte: Did you start out as a comic artist? How did you begin this career? Young: I always drew, and I always wanted to draw comics. It was really just a matter of me showing my portfolio at a convention once, and somebody finding it - right place, right time. I fell in at Marvel in 2001 and I’ve been there ever since. Byte: Have you ever faced criticism for your art style? Young: Oh yeah, for sure. Good first half of my career was very much people telling me that. I heard the term “too cartoony” a lot over the years. We were definitely in the part of the business that was very photo realistic at the time, with Brian Hitch and The Ultimates and that kind of stuff. People in American mainstream comics didn’t take to it, they thought it was manga or kid stuff. Definitely a struggle at the beginning but eventually everybody kind of came around and now it seems to be very much the opposite. They seem to enjoy all kinds of artwork. Byte: Did you feel like you personally had to combat that and fight for your style, or had publishers and editors started backing you up by that point? Young: I’d been with Marvel for almost 15 years so there were definitely people at Marvel who were kind of champions of mine. All the retailers and readers out there might not have been the loudest, but they were still there and I had a little rabid, cult fan base and that has grown. It was really just a matter of me sticking to my guns and hoping that the industry came around at some point. Byte: Where did you come up with the idea for I Hate Fairyland? Young: That came from me having a child. The story’s about a 37-year-old trapped inside of a child’s body and living in a world of kid make believe. That feels a lot like my life. I’m a 37-year-old who lives in a house that’s covered in colorful kid toys, rattles, bouncy seats, and shows like Yo Gabba Gabba are on repeat, which I love, but you’ve seen one episode 55 times. I love Dr. Seuss but I’ve read Cat in the Hat 300 times. I’d escape that and go to work, where I’m drawing Wizard of Oz, and little baby Marvel figures. I thought, ‘I am this giant adult male trapped inside of a little kid world.’ I thought that was funny, and then I started thinking about Alice in Wonderland and Sarah from The Labyrinth, and how annoying it would be to go to those worlds as an adult because I’m kind of going through that now. I cannot stand Caillou. What would I do to him if you gave me a big battle axe and sent me to his world? I thought it was fun to explore that material in a whimsical way. Byte: What’s been your most difficult project? Young: Everything in the first six years of my career was difficult because I was learning how to draw comics. The Human Torch was one of my early miniseries, it was kind of all over the map, and every issue looked a little different. Not only learning how to draw, but teaching myself to be disciplined enough to sit down at a table and draw every day like it’s a job and not just a hobby. Since 2008 when I started developing art work for Oz, I’ve had a pretty good grip as far as control and picking what I want to do that fits me. I really haven’t faced a big challenge as far as it being hard. Everything’s been fun. The only challenge is trying to do my best. Byte: You were saying how much you draw the baby Marvel characters and Wizard of Oz. Do you ever get bored with that kind of thing? Young: No. I get to do comic strips with Marvel characters. I get to do my version of Calvin and Hobbes and Farside, but with Marvel. I don’t think I can get tired of that. I get to do it exactly my way. I don’t even have to turn in cover sketches. I just turn in finished covers and they go to print, because I’ve worked with the company long enough that I know what I can and can’t do. Byte: Do you prefer drawing for a script you’re given, or writing your own script? Young: I prefer writing my own. Writing and drawing my own stuff is the perfect world for me. I also enjoy writing for other artists, but sitting in a room with blank pieces of paper and at the end of the day, it’s filled with a story that came from my brain and I didn’t have to run it by anybody else, that’s a good day. Byte: What’s the cover that you’re most proud of? Young: It’s an old one. It’s the first one that I started doing my comedy stuff with. Spiderman 611 – Spiderman dressed up in Cable’s gear and Deadpool’s looking at him like, ‘You look nice!’ It was the first time I asked if they minded if I did funny covers and that kind of opened the gate. Byte: What inspires those? Does it take you a long time to come up with the cover ideas? Young: It really depends on the idea or the character. You have characters that are just easy because there’s a lot of funny stuff about them, or what they’re going to do in the book. Sometimes I like to say, ‘Stop taking it so seriously’ because we often do that with comics. I did a Drax cover a few weeks ago and that was tough. I couldn’t find anything funny about Drax and that ended up being what was funny about him, and I made that joke. It took me a few days to come to that conclusion. Some of them are accidental. One time I did a Thanos cover and turned in such a loose sketch that someone asked, “Is that a death balloon?” and it wasn’t, but I was like, “Yup! It is!” and that ended up being the funniest part. Byte: What’s something you know now that you wish you would’ve known at the start of your career? Young: I wish I would’ve known to study writing more, early on. I would go around and talk to colleges, I used to only focus on telling up-and-coming artists to work on their sketchbooks and now the number one tip I give to artists is to study writing. Get better at writing alongside getting better at art because there’s nothing better than controlling and owning all your stuff, but also because it’s definitely becoming a writer’s world and you need to know how to get a complete story. Byte: So it’s easier to draw when you’re writing your own story? Young: Yeah, I’m only going to do what I draw best. I’m going to write exactly what I’m good at and not write what I don’t like drawing. You’re not going to see a lot of skyscrapers in books that I write. I also don’t have to try to interpret what the writer’s thinking, I already know it. Byte: Do you have a favorite character to draw? Least favorite? Young: My own, yeah, Gert. As far as Marvel goes, I like drawing little Cyclops a lot, just that massive visor, I don’t know why. You could probably ask me that each month and I’d give a different answer. I don’t like drawing Iron Man. The little version of him is fine but the adult costume of him is the worst. My style is like melted butter, there’s no straight lines, and he’s a machine. So everything is about being exact, so that’s a character that…we’re like oil and water. Byte: How many projects do you work on at a time? Young: I do about one cover a week. I write Rocket and Groot, and I write and draw Fairyland. So right now – write and draw one book, write a book, and two million covers. Byte: Anything else you’d like to add? Young: Just check out Fairyland. First arc is five issues and the next arc starts after that! ______________________________________________________________________________ You can contact Young and browse his art at his website, skottieyoung.com.
by Abbie Willans Among the many clubs and organizations at Ball State, few are so often discussed or misunderstood as the Anthropomorphic Art Society – more widely known as the “furries”. While some fans argue about what exactly makes someone a furry, a popular definition is that a furry is anyone who enjoys anthropomorphic art. In this case, the word anthropomorphic can be used to mean a creature or object which has human-like features, such as the ability to walk and talk. Probably the most well-known activity furries participate in is dressing up in a sort of costume, or a “fursuit”. These are often handmade and commissioned to look like specific characters. The biggest difference between a fursuit and a mascot or other costume is that they are original designs, usually modeled after a person’s “fursona”. The Anthropomorphic Art Society’s president, Stephen Vogel, described fursonas as “…people making a character that represents themselves, with an animal they associate with.” While Simba from The Lion King or Meowth from Pokemon are anthropomorphic, they’re not considered furries. “It’s aspects of yourself that you would like or that you would like to have, in the form of a character that you find aesthetically pleasing,” Vogel said. “A lot of people in the community aren’t very outgoing, but they are when they’re in a fursuit. You don’t have to be yourself, you can be who you want to be without judgment.” A Google study from 2011 suggested that there are between 1.4 to 2.8 million furries worldwide, and those numbers have likely grown since then. However, monetary costs are a major barrier for many furries, as a used suit can be several hundred dollars and a brand new one can be more than $2,000. Additionally, they can be very hot on the inside and hard to move and see with. Ball State student Kevin McMinn, who is featured in the header image of this article, described it as feeling like you’re inside an oven. Most fur suiters wear Under Armour or some sort of second layer to keep from getting sweaty. He is one of the few people in Ball State’s club to own his own suit. He frequently wears his fursona, Helix, to Late Nite and other events. Many suiters choose to have handlers with them, to keep themselves and others safe. The suits are extremely hard to see out of, making it difficult for suiters to watch what others are doing. This is especially true in large crowds, or at furry conventions. Midwest FurFest and Anthrocon are two of the biggest furry conventions, and they have huge impacts on the cities that host them. Nearly every furry convention chooses a charity to support, usually something that benefits animals. They can normally raise several thousand dollars in just two or three days. Megaplex Con in Orlando raised more than $42,000 for the C.A.R.E. Foundation, which rescues wild animals. Anthrocon, the world’s largest furry convention held in Pittsburgh, gave almost $36,000 to the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society in 2015. This year Chicago’s Midwest Furfest is donating to Save-A-Vet, an organization which helps save military and law enforcement animals from euthanasia. Former Ball State student and furry fan, Benjamin Stohler, has attended many conventions and was one of the first members of AAS. “Absolute creative freedom is by far the biggest incentive to join [the fandom]. Everything that you see furries create is original artwork, and there are plenty of examples. If it's traditional art, written stories, music compositions, performed art; we've got it covered,” Stohler said. Stohler also noted however that the creativity of the community is often overshadowed by misconceptions people have of them. According to a study by [adjective][species], most people in the furry fandom are male and identify somewhere on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. This connection, along with misleading media coverage, has led to a serious stigma surrounding the fandom. Vogel stated that while there is a sexual aspect to the fandom for some people, they are very much in the minority. “What gets people’s views is weird stuff, so they like to find the weirdest people in our community. I’ve only seen a few positive published video of us by journalists, and one of them was part plant. We’re like, what? No one’s part plant!” he said. Most fursonas are mammals; frequently carnivores like cats or dogs. The most common misconception is that fursuits are some kind of fetish. “There are people who will say stuff to us, and it’s not always nice. Most people are kind of intimidated. They think we’re all about sex in fursuits. If you want to have sex in the fursuit, you might as well being having sex in a sofa on the sun,” Vogel said. “We do not want that to be our face – BSU or any of the furries. There’s that aspect in any fandom that you get into. We aren’t about that. The media likes to take those negative stigmas and blow them up, and it hurts our community,” Vogel continued. A furry was even featured on the popular daytime show, Dr. Phil. It was not presented in a positive light, shown alongside a woman who tried to breastfeed her pets and a man who tried to live as a dog. Dr. Phil mistakenly compared fur suits to sports mascots. “It's the misconceptions that are carried over from other groups that causes the negativity [from other groups]. We're only weird because the general public don't know what we're about, and we're too small to have a larger voice,” Stohler said. “We are a community that supports each other, and that doesn’t show a lot because of the negativity in the media, and the only way that comes through is our charity,” Vogel said. The Ball State Anthropomorphic Art Society was started in 2009 by Shawna Gardner, then a freshman. She left temporarily the next year because of grades, when a few others took over. “We didn't really recruit members that year, but we went to furry conventions in Chicago, Novi, and downtown Indy; we got involved in the Ball State community; and we got our name heard. Now, we've snowballed and became this massive group. In retrospect, I can't believe how large AAS has become,” Stohler said. “We will not ever negatively judge a person's art style, opinion, or sexual orientation without constructive criticism; because we're all quirky and different in our own individual ways. The furry community is about being yourself, being creative, and being honest. It's awesome.” The Anthropomorphic Art Society meets in the Student Center on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. For more information, email aas@bsu.edu or go to their Facebook page.
by Abbie Willans A scientist with godlike powers. An epic rap battle. A god making deals instead of giving out miracles for free. A young woman discovering love in the spirit world. A devout Catholic man becoming a shape-shifting cannibal. These aren't upcoming movies or best-selling novels. They're the products of Ball State students exploring the use of religion in comic books. Religious Studies professor Jeff Brackett came up with the idea for this immersive learning course more than a year ago. Formally titled ‘Representing Religion in Comics’, it combines creative writing, art, and religious studies. Brackett said he wanted to encourage students “to take charge of their own education and decide what’s important to them.” He believes there are common misconceptions that comic classes focus only on superheroes, and that comics are just for children. “I think that graphic narratives are more challenging to read than straight forward prose,” he said. The students write, draw, ink, letter, and color their individual graphic novels and will be collected in an e-book at the end of the semester. Senior Shelby Baker’s comic will be a memoir portraying how her life might have been if her mother had not had a miscarriage. “Writing the end, I had pain in my chest just thinking about it, because it has to do with my parents dying,” she said. Sophomore Josh Dudley is creating a comic that focuses on reincarnation and superheroes. “People automatically judge things that they don’t understand and they condemn them. I just want people to realize that everybody is different and accept that,” he said. Junior Tyrece Love’s comic is about a rap battle and a struggle with faith. “I wanted to provide the rap scene so that people can understand that it’s not all negative and there’s some positivity there. It’s just displayed differently than rock or country,” he said. Despite the fact that art is a main component of comics, only two of the students are actually art majors. While everyone else is learning how to draw and ink, Alyssa Reese has already been planning on being an animated film director to combine her love of storytelling and drawing. But because of this class, she is considering a career in comics. Her graphic novel involves Native American culture and feminism. “This course has opened a door that I wasn’t expecting to be opened,” she said. In addition to their comics, the students are writing research papers on topics of their choosing that incorporate comics and religion. Most immersive learning courses have a business partner in the community. This course was paired with Aw Yeah Comics. Not only are the store owners a great source of information on comics but they’ve been working with students to bring professional comic creators to Muncie. Aw Yeah Comics hosts public comic signings with these professionals and allows students to learn from people who have experienced success in comic publishing. Among the guests so far are Charles Soule, author of She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine, and Letter 44; Mark Waid, co-owner of Aw Yeah Comics and author of Kingdom Come, Superman: Birthright, Daredevil, and Irredeemable; and most recently, Amy Chu, author of Sensation Comics presents: Wonder Woman. Chu was impressed when she heard the students’ pitches for their stories. “It was nice to see such a range of ideas and breadth of creativity,” she said. She will be at Indianapolis Comic Con this weekend, as will the entire ‘Representing Religion in Comics’ class. They will be holding a panel Sunday at 1 p.m. in Room 143 to discuss their individual comics, the creative process of comics, and to share their learning experiences. In addition to being at Comic Con, the students will have several presentations at the Ball State Student Symposium on March 31. The final showcase for ‘Representing Religion in Comics’ will be held on April 22 at the Kitselman Center, where all of the students’ works will be displayed.
by Abbie Willans Among Harvard business school graduates are Mitt Romney, Tyra Banks…and now a comic book writer for DC and Vertigo. While many people choose their careers in high school or college, Amy Chu feels she has “done everything”. Since graduating with a Harvard business degree in 1999, she has been involved in publishing, bio technologies, interior design, and events management. When a friend approached her about starting a comics company, she had planned to handle the business side of it while her friend would do the writing. But when her friend was offered the chance to direct a movie, Chu decided to learn more about the creative process of comic and started writing her own. She took several classes and taught herself almost every aspect that goes into producing a comic. Her friends and family were initialy confused by her career switch, saying they had no idea she was interested in comics. “I didn’t know I was into comics either!” she said. Chu began her comic career by self publishing. Her first book was called Saving Abby, a short story about a taxi driver. Some of her other original work includes The VIP Room and Girls Night Out. “Self publishing is essentially being an entrepreneur, so everything I learned up until now suddenly becomes very helpful,” she said. “Networking and pitching in any industry is remarkably the same, whether it's comics or biotech. Seriously.” She is relatively new to writing comics professionally, but she recently wrote a Wonder Woman story in Sensation Comics by DC. She has been hired to write a short story about Lady Pink, one of the first female graffiti artists. Chu has been asked to pitch ideas for Poison Ivy and the main Wonder Woman title. She was nervous about these because one big mistake in the comic industry can ruin a writer’s career. She would very much like to write a story for Deadpool after some of her classmates laughed at the idea. “I didn’t want to write for My Little Pony because once I do that, I’m going to be writing My Little Pony forever,” she said. Chu prefers to write about darker, gorier subjects. She mentions she has a harder time writing female characters than males, but isn’t opposed to it. “If you tell me I can’t do something, I will do it,” she said. Regarding breaking into the industry, Chu had a few pointers for new writers. She emphasized the importance of being nice to everyone. She has made connections with big names in comics because she paid attention to everyone instead of just the people who were already famous. Not having been an avid comic fan her entire life, she had no idea who some of the people were when she met them at conventions. Without realizing it at the time, Chu had a conversation with Mike Marts, Batman editor and the person responsible for 70% of all revenue at DC. She says it really helps for writers and artists to put themselves out there, make their work available online, and be strategic when it comes to appearing at events. It can be expensive, so she only goes to conventions that editors will be attending. Some of her favorites include Emerald City and Baltimore Comic Con. Chu also advises that new writers not expect to be published in a year, but five or even ten years. She recommends writing short stories, three to eight pages, and starting with those instead of long, complicated stories. She printed hers out to sell and hand to editors because the shorter something is the more likely people are to read it. With so many things out there already, people have limited attention spans. She stressed having exciting “page turners” - that is, making the last panel of the page intriguing enough for the reader to turn the page to find out what happens next. “You’re tricking the reader into continuing your story,” she said. She explained that comics have rhythm similar to music, and that varied panels and page design can make a comic interesting. Chu writes for her artists whenever she can, to play to their strengths and enable them to draw what they enjoy. She frequently starts with the ending of a story first, then follows with the beginning and the middle, because people have a tendency to start at the beginning and then lose their passion and focus. This allows her work to be more concise, which she regularly stresses the importance of. Chu believes her background helped her in the industry because she was used to pitching ideas and networking. “It’s a lot better than writing Powerpoints!,” she said. Chu will be at several upcoming conventions where fans can buy her books and meet her, including C2E2 and Indianapolis Comic Con.
by Abbie Willans One of the rising stars in the comic industry, Charles Soule, visited Ball State this weekend. He discussed his work at the Kitselman Center on Friday with students in the Religion and Comics immersive learning course and signed books at Aw Yeah Comics (formerly Alter Ego Comics) the following day. Soule says that the majority of comments and criticisms he receives are about Death of Wolverine, one of his more recent works. He was somewhat nervous about how the fans would react to his book, given the amount of prominent authors who have also written for Wolverine (including Jason Aaron who visited Muncie last October). He knew that the element of surprise would not be that Wolverine died, but in the way he died. Soule wanted to do justice to the popular character. “Comic readers are very difficult to please. You have to write for yourself,” said Soule. He told the class that some fans were upset he killed Wolverine at all, despite the fact that Marvel made that decision and simply gave him the opportunity to write how it happened. “When you make the leap from doing an indie book to a character that has been around for a while that’s owned by Marvel or DC, it’s like you’re in the major leagues. You can really nail it and have a lifetime career or tank it and never get a second shot,” he said. Death of Wolverine is far from being Soule’s first work. He recently finished writing 12 issues of She-Hulk. It’s one of the few titular female superheroes in comics with a loyal fan base, many of whom were distraught to find out the series was ending. “I have a daughter and I really wanted to give her something that she could read,” Soule stated. This sentiment seems to be shared by a number of parents on Twitter; there is even a live tweeting event going on right now for Soule’s run on She-Hulk, using #12DaysofSheHulk. It will last twelve days and ends when the final issue of the series is released on February 18. “It’s important that books like this continue to be made. I’m very proud of [She-Hulk],” Soule said. In the series, She-Hulk is a lawyer who uses her wits just as much as her fists to help her clients and save the day. She breaks typical gender stereotypes in comic books by being independent and confident in her appearance without being hypersexualized. “She doesn’t need fellas to tell her that she’s cool,” he said. “She knows she’s cool.” Soule is currently writing Inhuman, a story about seemingly normal humans who develop superpowers after being exposed to an alien mist. Marvel is set to release a film about them in 2019. He has also written for DC Comics, including characters such as Swamp Thing,Superman and Wonder Woman. Soule started out writing his own stories, one of which is being turned into a television show. Letter 44 is a science fiction story in which the new president of the United States learns there are aliens in space and a team is sent out to learn more about them. It’s set to appear on SyFy, but no premiere date has been announced. According to Comics Alliance, the first episode of the show will be written and directed by Jonathan Mostow. While giving advice to some aspiring comic book writers, he said to shorten things as much as possible. “If you can’t do it in two sentences, you can’t do it in three pages, either,” he said. In the opening page of She-Hulk, the “jade giantess” says that “No one is only one thing.” Readers can see this portrayed in nearly all of Soule’s characters and stories, and in the writer himself. Before he wrote comics, Soule wrote two novels that were never published. He started out as a musician but decided to become a lawyer after attending Columbia University. He still practices law whenever he isn’t writing comics and his lawyer experiences inspire many of the stories in She-Hulk. “To become a professional in any creative medium is very difficult. You need to really want it and be really good,” he said. It took almost ten years before any of Soule’s writings were published, but he feels that all his hard work was worth it. Readers can buy his work on Comixology or can pick up physical copies at Aw Yeah Comics, where Soule’s books are 50% off if you buy one at full price. Additionally, feel free to visit his website or send him a message on Twitter to ask him questions about his work.
by Abbie Willans In the update sent out from their Twitter account, Marvel blamed Hydra when the first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was leaked Wednesday, much earlier than anticipated. Needless to say, the internet exploded. After the leak, Marvel officially released the video on YouTube. It’s earned over 34 million views in four days. While only a little over two minutes long, the trailer is packed with hints if viewers are paying attention. It features the main six Avengers from the first film, as well as two never before seen newcomers: twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.It’s been rumored that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver start out on Ultron’s side in the movie, which is supported when he appears to break them out of what could be Baron Wolfgang von Strucker’s castle where they were imprisoned. According to screenrant.com, Baron von Strucker, a World War Two veteran involved with Hydra, will be played by Thomas Kretschmann. Though the movie has familiar faces, they have been through a lot since fans saw them last. Hawkeye has a new costume which more closely resembles the original one from the comic books, which was inspired by Robin Hood. Despite the fact that Tony Stark seemed to have scrapped his suits in Iron Man 3 and removed the arc reactor from his chest, he is seen in the new Hulkbuster suit, battling with the “green rage monster” himself.Black Widow is pulling stunts as per usual like driving motorcycles out of moving jets, and the Hulk’s alter ego, Bruce Banner, looks like he’s seen better days. Similarly, Thor is seen without his hammer in much if the trailer, which could be a nod toward where the comics are currently, with the god of thunder deemed unworthy of his weapon. Captain America’s shield, on the other hand, is shown to be broken into pieces. The only place to get it repaired with rare vibranium metal is Wakanda, the invented African kingdom Black Panther rules over.This and a facial shot of Andy Serkis, are causing fans to wonder if Black Panther will be making an appearance. Andy Serkis, most widely known for his role as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, is the subject of much speculation: is he Ultron’s motion capture actor, or could he be Ulysses Klaw? The shot of his face looks very similar to the bearded comic book version of Klaw.Additionally, it looks as though James Rhodes, Iron Patriot from the Iron Man films, and Agent Maria Hill of Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be showing up in the film.An unidentified woman is shown with them and the other Avengers, and many are wondering if she could be Dr. Jane Foster, Thor’s lover. The thing that really has a lot of people talking is the haunting rendition of “I’ve Got No Strings” from Pinocchio playing in the background throughout the trailer. Ultron’s history and powers are not going to mirror those from the original comics, but he will still be a robot, one that was meant to be controlled and obviously has different ideas. He begins the trailer by calling the Avengers puppets, ending it by giving the chilling declaration: “But now I’m free. There are no strings on me.” What do you think of the new trailer? Will you be seeing the movie in theaters in May? Keep checking Byte for more news on Avengers: Age of Ultron.
By Abbie WillansMost people don’t usually watch The View to find out about comics, but that was where Marvel chose to announce that the new Thor would be a woman. This news garnered a wide range of reactions, from outrage to euphoria.Seemingly endless comments flooded the internet, and some chose to write to the author himself. Jason Aaron has been writing comics for nearly a decade, and he’s been writing Thor for two years. Despite this, many fans believed he and Marvel were doing this just to create controversy and make money.Some of those fan letters were published in the first issue featuring a female Thor. In response to one man saying he was “considering leaving comics forever,” Aaron responded: “Well, you can dismiss it as an ‘obvious gimmick’ if you like, but as the guy who came up with the idea and who crafted the story, I clearly see it as something quite a bit different.” Jason Aaron signing copies of his comics.Photo by Abbie Willans Fortunately, local fans were much more enthusiastic about the changes in Marvel, as Aaron found out when he came to Alter Ego Comics in downtown Muncie on Saturday to promote the new Thor and sign his other comics for fans. The building was packed with people waiting in line, and owners Christy Blanch and Jason Pierce were thrilled. Blanch, a published comic writer herself, is friends with Aaron. “I’m so proud of him for writing this,” she said. Quinn Hurley, a former intern at Alter Ego, said he trusts Marvel to do this project. “I think this is the greatest thing ever. I was elated when I found out,” he said. Since only the first issue has been released, not much is known about the new Thor. The old Thor, or the “Odinson,” has been deemed unworthy to wield his famous hammer, Mjolnir. In his stead, someone new picks it up, thus gaining the powers of the god of thunder . Both characters will be in the comics, and will meet in later issues, but they each have their own separate story lines. “It’s not like Batman and Robin,” Aaron said.Many people were initially confused by this. The Odinson is not changing his gender or disappearing. Aaron is exploring his character in a whole new way by showing the challenges of worthiness and being a god, something that hasn’t been done to this extent before. So why does the new Thor have to be a woman? “It was just the story I wanted to tell,” Aaron said. “If you look at the supporting cast that’s built up around Thor, most of those supporting characters are female. So, when I knew I wanted to get Thor to the point where he couldn’t pick up his hammer and open the door for somebody else to come along, it seemed natural to have that be a lady. Of course, that change wasn’t made for the sake of making it; we still had to know who was that person that was going to pick up that hammer. What was her story? That’s the thing I am most excited about.”The new Thor’s costume design looks remarkably similar to the Odinson’s. “We wanted her to look like Thor, not Thor’s back up dancer,” Aaron said.They wanted her to look like the powerful Viking goddess that she is. Thor originated in Norse mythology, and it shows.Aaron was not pressured into this change by Marvel; in fact, he brought the new story to them. “Yes, I am for us doing more books with female characters, just like how I’d love to see more female readers and writers doing those books,” Aaron said. “It’s not like I set out to make this change for the sake of making the change without having the story. If I was doing it for the sake of doing it, the story would be very hollow.”Female comic readers are not a new concept: according to The Atlantic magazine, a Market Research Company Study from 1944 found that 95 percent of boys and 91 percent of girls between ages 6 and 11 read comics. The Atlantic also mentions a Facebook study based on “likes” done by comics blogger and political consultant Brett Schenker that found 41 to 47 percent of fans were female. Ball State’s Comic Book Club President William Long has been surprised by the comic fan base. “They seem to be easily upset by minor changes, which is frustrating,” he said. “I think that Lady Thor was a great change and a push forward to have more women as strong superhero figures. Other changes happening are also chances to push forward more diversity. Comics should be able to both reflect the world around us and present a better world that we could live in.”Wherever the new lady Thor takes us, it’s certainly proved worthy of great attention from fans and critics alike.Header by Jessica Kuhnle and Jake LeonardImage: Marvel
By Abbie WillansThe field of communication, information, and media has long been a male-dominated world, but some folks at Ball State’s Digital Corps are hopeful that soon it no longer will be. Seniors Jordan Johnson and Rachel Scott both work on graphic design and illustrations for the Digital Corps. Digital Corps is a paid program at Ball State that works with actual clients to create video games, applications, programs, videos, and other things that involve emerging technology. They believe that the work they do is judged on their ability and not on their appearance.“As a person in the arts, traditionally we're taught how men shaped the world and the artistic movements through history, rarely shown any woman who had made an impact,” Johnson said. “Coming into college with a desire to make art my lifestyle, I did feel like I had to ‘prove’ that I was as capable as any of the other students, if not more so.” Scott hopes to design characters and concept art for film and television, but is afraid that she won’t be taken seriously if she designs too many feminine characters, something she has actually been told before.“I'm concerned that the correlation between girl characters or feminine scenes or drawings and the fact that I am a girl might keep some studios from being interested in me,” Scott added. “I like to think that the fact that I am a girl wouldn't be a deciding factor in and of itself, but it makes me feel like I need to be more careful about what I draw and what I show people.” While most criticism that Johnson received about her career choice was centered on a lack of understanding for how an artist makes a living, Scott was questioned for not becoming a traditional painter or even an art teacher.Director of Content and Collaboration Brandon Smith said that when hiring new students, he wants them to be excited about technology and learning more about their field. The difference in pay is based on their level of experience: apprentice, specialist, and master.“It doesn’t matter what you look like, what your gender or sexuality is or where you’re from, if you’re passionate about this, that’s what we’re looking for. That’s great.” Smith said.Smith noticed that the number of females in Digital Corps has grown over the past few years. Of the 13 new applicants who joined this semester, seven of them were female. How does this compare to the job market for women in technology today? According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, only 1.5 percent of all open source software developers are female.NCWIT also showed that women in technology quit at a higher percentage than in other science fields. What could be the reasoning behind this?Apprentice developer Jessica Lohse, who works on applications and coding, has noticed in some of her classes that there are lowered expectations for female students. “Professors almost always ask the girls if they need help first, even when there might be some guys who are actually struggling more. If there were 10 girls in the program, the teachers only expect maybe one or two to stick around until graduation,” she stated.Lohse first got into computer science when she was younger. Her grandfather taught computer classes and he encouraged her to pursue her talents as a career. She does not think she would have considered it as a serious option if not for her grandfather’s guidance. She also believes that there would be more people, girls especially, who would be interested in computers if they were directed toward it at an early age. The NCWIT noted that 56 percent of high school students having taken no computer courses were girls.This is not something that would only be beneficial to women, however. NCWIT discovered that of more than 100 teams at 21 companies, teams with balanced genders were more experimental and more efficient. This could be good news for Digital Corps since more than half their new recruits are females. Could this mean Ball State is ahead of the curve in the industry, or could this be pointing towards a more equal field in the future?All three students agree that while there may be a stigma towards women in the industry, the influence is not nearly as bad as it used to be. Smith hopes that it won’t be a problem by the time his 3-year-old daughter enters the work force, “If she comes home and tells me she wants to be a computer programmer, great!”
By Abbie WillansWith the enormous success of the Avengers in 2012 and the highly anticipated Superman v Batman coming out in 2016, some people are wondering why there aren't more crossovers of superheroes in television and movies. The biggest challenge for crossovers of course, is obtaining the rights to use the characters.DC has gotten a lot of attention recently over the amount of shows it has on the small screen or coming soon: Gotham, Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Constantine, and a rumored Titans movie among them. With the exception of Arrow and Flash, it is unlikely that any of these shows will have anything to do with each other. One reason for this is content. Gotham takes place before Bruce Wayne became Batman, while Titans will feature Batman’s former sidekick, Robin, who has taken the name Nightwing.Because DC’s characters are owned by different entities and shown on multiple networks, their stories are unlikely to merge. Supergirl is to become a CBS drama, TNT will be home to Titans, Gotham is on Fox, Constantine is coming to NBC, and Arrow and Flash are on CW, airing a day apart.Arrow and Flash are the only two so far that have confirmed crossovers planned, a two hour special event after the eighth episode of both shows. While there was a small nod to Arrow in Monday’s episode of Gotham by showing the Queen Consolidated logo in a shot of the city, it doesn’t seem to mean there will be major crossing over of characters or plot lines.The thing to remember is that Warner Brothers owns DC Comics, but that’s not their only major source of income. With projects like the Harry Potter prequel, the Hobbit films, and standalone hits like Gravity, they are not reliant upon their superhero movies. Disney, on the other hand, would be hit very hard if the Avengers movies stopped smashing box office records because they don’t have as many live action projects to fall back on that would appeal to wide audiences.Disney has already ran into a few snags regarding their rights to superheroes. Before they were bought out, Marvel sold the rights to many of its characters. Sony currently owns Spider-man and Fox is not about to let go of the X-Men. Things got complicated when the character Quicksilver was announced to be in both X-Men: Apocalypse and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Quicksilver and his sister Scarlet Witch fall into a strange licensing gray area. Quicksilver will be played by Evan Peters in Apocalypse and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Age of Ultron.DC hasn't encountered this problem as much as Marvel has because Warner Brothers has the rights to most of its big name superheroes. Marvel did not start out as a film company, whereas Warner Brothers did, so they would not have benefited from selling their rights to characters. However, they don’t seem interested in copying the way Disney has combined so much of its Marvel universe and churns out superhero genre films several times a year. While superhero films are great for selling merchandise, something Disney excels at, Warner Brothers’ strength in live action movies doesn't solely rest with their superhero properties.But having so many networks playing shows with DC characters leaves them open to doing different things with them, without affecting the others. “It’s a separate universe than film so that the filmmakers can tell the story that’s best for film, while we explore something different in a different corner of the DC universe.” DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns said, according to screenrant.com. If people like Gotham but not Arrow or Titans, they don’t have to worry about the shows being merged or having to watch one series to understand the other.“We are creating a Justice League on TV for us…the Justice League elements of it are very present on our shows already,” Arrow’s Stephen Amell said, according to Comic Book Resources. Even if people aren’t impressed with the Justice League and accompanying movies in cinemas, they can still get a similar experience on television.Will DC’s approach to superhero universes turn out to be successful? That’s up to audiences to decide. As they wait for big upcoming events in theater, fans can explore the evolving DC universe as they please. Graphic by Meghan DuffyImage: DC Comics, A Young Samaritan