#throwback to when i first watched the anime and just referred to other scott as “that yassified boyfriend”

[5577v]

wallace and other scott redraw with their fucking croissant

[darkestwolfx]

Up from the Depths P.1 - Re-Review #32

Now, just to stick my personal opinion in here... we’re about to get to two of my all time favourite episodes. The amount of references to Jeff, and the purpose for IR - there’s just golden moments everywhere you look. So let’s have a look at some of them.

“What is it, John?”

“You’re gonna’ want to see this.”

“The TV-21! No, it can’t be...”

Well, it is (or we wouldn’t have an episode)!

“Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s the TV-21!”

“Is anyone gonna’ clue me in here?”

“It’s the TV-21!”

“That is not helping!”

Don’t worry, Alan, I’ll try and catch you up. But that just serves as another well-placed reminder of all the things Alan (and Kayo) is too young to remember about IR.

The fact Jeff etched his name onto the ship does not surprise me. It goes towards showing how proud he was of it, and completely fits in with everything we are told about him by Grandma (once again, wonderfully well placed comments).

Now, the TV-21, is given to us as “the first Thunderbird”, the fastest ship (at the moment), and Jeff’s pride and joy. There’s a nice little reference to Jeff’s previous careers as well, with the fact they’ve added the ‘Colonel’. Nice touch.

But of course, of all the places to crash land, it had to be in the Mariana’s Trench. I mean, there is a reason why it’s “the world’s last unmapped ocean”, according to the crew. It’s a pretty dangerous place. If you want to read about it, feel free, National Geographic have some incredibly interesting articles on what they theorise could be down there based on their limited exploration. But what we do know, is that it’s actually a very hostile seascape, and that the marine life which inhabits it seems to have evolved drastically to cope. I think that if we are ever able to understand it, we will know a lot more towards global warming and the mutations of animals. But I hate swimming. Water’s not my area. I prefer to research land mammals and leave my colleagues with the wet-weather adventures.

Anyhow, I think it’s totally awesome that Virgil was playing the piano and that Scott was sat at Jeff’s desk in the opening for this episode too. It’s always nice to see little throwbacks to this very human family.

So let’s discuss the origins of TV-21 for a moment. Before it was a Thunderbird, it was a comic series! And it’s original name was ‘TV Century 21′ which was eventually shortened to TV21. It had various mergers, which featured additions to the name, but TV21 stuck for the majority of issues. It was a weekly comic published by City Magazines, beginning around 1965. It’s content was... drum roll... the sci-fi TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s company: Century 21 Productions - thus where the comics name originated from, the TV being added to clarify where the material was coming from and hopefully encourage people to watch and read both in tandem.

The comic often had newspaper front pages, dedicated to the fictional news stories of the multiple Anderson worlds, e.g. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray.

Some really well known artists of the time worked on the comics, which only serves to increase their value. In our current day, the original ‘TV Century 21′ editions (Issues 1 - 154) are really hard to find, and so they sell/auction for incredibly high prices when one can be found - like much of the Anderson’s work which made it’s way into print. It does also mean that the first half of this great comic series is practically lost to the world.

Which is a big shame, because it was in many of these first issues (with their print time colliding with the original air slot of ‘Thunderbirds’) featured many episode-story related additions. For instance;

The supposed capture of ‘The Hood’ - which might have gone someway to explaining his disappearance during Series 2 of the show.

An addition to the US Army’s story line from ‘Pit of Peril’.

An addition to the events of ‘Sun Probe’, as well as an in-depth story on Thunderbird Three investigating the connection between the sun and natural disasters (better known now as global warming). My dad still has his copy of this edition, and I have no plans on selling it. It’s ironic that it features the only story line relevant to my current career. Hey, maybe there is such a thing as fate over coincidence (as ‘Doctor Who’ does suggest).

A special story for Thunderbirds Two and Four, upon which it is rumoured that the opening rescue of the ‘Thunderbirds’ (2004 film) was based upon. I personally think this was one of the best stories for the pair, and I’m disappointed it never appeared in an episode (as such). There were also rumours that this story was an expansion of the TOS episode ‘Atlantic Inferno’, but those were never confirmed and all suggestions ever made pointed towards it being a completely separate idea. There are interesting similarities in places though, so it’s worth consideration.

An expansion to Thunderbird Two’s ‘disappearance’, after the events of ��Terror in New York City’, which covered the rumours spiraling during the time Thunderbird Two was out of operation, and some of the missions which were undertaken during said time.

And one of the few Fireflash related stories to feature outside of the TOS TV episodes. It was also one of the comic editions which fans come to know as ‘Thunderbirds meets Doctor Who’. At the time, both shows were scoring some of the highest viewings, and so I suppose these crossover editions only made sense. Many of the early editions featured such crossovers, including 2 other issues which I’ve posted above.

When we actually get to 2065, there’s going to be a bit of confusion over dates - the comics (set still in the futurist time - ever encroaching for us) were released on the corresponding dates, but with the year still set a hundred forward, e.g. 1965 was 2065, but the 13th March was the 13th March.

Right, enough of my geek-worthy knowledge on comics, and back to the episode. I mean, look at Scott’s face. He’s definitely had enough of my comic-based ramblings.

“Begging your forgiveness, Your Mongrel-ship.” 

I think the fact that Parker serves Sherbet tea (with one sugar) it’s just classic.

“I believe ‘wild goose chase’ were the words they used.”

“Well, as it happens, Parker loves a good chase. Parker, bring the car around would you? That’s right Sherbet. ‘On the double’.”

“hOn the double, hit his. Taking horders from ha mut, never though hI’d see the day.”

He does it anyway though - dedication right there,

Well now, time to visit the ocean. Did anyone else think the Deep Ocean Surveyor looked a bit... wrong? I had bad feelings about that thing from the start.

“This ship sure is a weird looking thing.”

Yeah, thanks for the back up there Gordon. Should have kept a closer eye on that one, although I do completely understand why they got so distracted and don’t blame them for it.

I love how Scott - Mr in command and always right - turns straight towards the TV-21 as soon as he knows they’re no injuries to worry about and that the DOS is all okay. Wasn’t he the one saying there was a rescue to prioritise only minutes ago?

“Gordon, what about the TV-21? Have they found part of the wreck?”

“Stand by, Scott, I’ll take a closer look. Just gotta’ clear some debris. It’s not just part of the wreck, it’s the whole thing!”

That is actually quite surprising! You know, something surviving like that. Good craftsmanship is all I can say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvltZMDOK5g

I can’t describe this scene any better than the scene itself, so I’m just gonna’ leave it there for you to re-watch at your own leisure. The faces are pictures!

“Why’s everyone making such a big deal about a wrecked plane? I don’t even remember it!”

“The TV-21 was Dad’s baby. The first ever super Mach-20 ship. It was the prototype to Thunderbird One. Dad invested everything into, but The Hood sabotaged it in flight. Dad had to abandon the plane somewhere over the Maraina Trench rather than let The Hood get his hands on it. I remember it broke Dad’s heart. I always thought it was smashed and lost in the deep.”

And there we have a link to that Hood-Jeff backstory (which the writer’s then conveniently shoved into a like ten-fifteen second explanation of ‘I am a bad guy because’, but hey, we’re not quite there yet!) that kinda gets forgotten.

“Cor!”

“I believe the word you’re looking for is Bingo. Well done Bertie.”

“Very smart of you to track that signal John.”

“We got lucky.”

You don’t have to be so modest you know John.

“It seems The Hood may be up to his old tricks.”

“I’ve seen engineering like this before. It’s the work of The Mechanic.”

“Oh no! That’s The Mechanic’s ship! Thunderbird Four, get out of there!”

“Too late.”

Yeah... it might have been good to notice that a little bit sooner.

Now, someone has some serious anger issues! I mean, I now he wants them out of the way (and later on that’s he’s being controlled), but that was seriously uncalled for!

“You better come up with something fast. Thunderbird Four’s hull integrity is failing. You’re getting crushed!”

Thanks Virgil, we can see that, unfortunately. This is another of those moments where - even though I know how it ends - I have a little panic.

“Hull integrity at 28%. Gordon what are you doing?”

“The airlock’s jammed. I can’t get the door open.”

“Then make a new door! But do it fast, you don’t have long. Hull at 7%. Gordon, get out now! Thunderbird Four is offline.”

“What happened?”

“Thunderbird Four's been rendered in operative.”

“Gordon!”

“I’m here. I’m okay. But Thunderbird Four’s a little... ur... beat up.”

This is a little like that moment in ‘EOS’, where I think our collective hearts stopped.

I know Gordon left the sub to try and free it, but it was actually a good thing that he did, else he probably would have been crushed, which wouldn't have been good. He was caught a little in the blast anyway, so I’m surprised he was a well-able to continue as he was.

But back to those serious anger issues - The Mechanic, you need to learn that once you have damaged someone’s ship past the piloting level, you don’t need to then snap it in two - that is just downright mean, not to mention unnecessary!

Poor Thunderbird Four. I seriously thought at the time that it wasn’t going to be recoverable. Look at Gordon’s poor little face.

The determination to get the TV-21 back as well was just wonderful.

“Not possible, only Thunderbird Four can survive the pressure. We need to come up with something extraordinary and fast.”

“We can use the TV-21!”

“It’s been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for years. Do you think it will still work?”

“Absolutely. I build things to last.”

“Gordon, we need you to get on board the TV-21.”

“I always wanted to fly Dad’s plane.”

Of course he did.

Now this was a sight to behold. Look at him!

“I can’t believe we used to wear these things.”

This was such a lovely little throw back moment.

“You could try the Jeff Tracy fix. After all, it is Dad’s plane.”

“FAB. This is TV-21. We have lift off.”

And hell did that work!

Rescue count: 35

I mean, let’s just momentarily forget that this part ends with The Mechanic making a grand come back and stealing it.

“To The Mechanic, let me tell you who you’re dealing with. We’re International Rescue; you can’t push us around, you cant tell us what to do, and you absolutely, positively can’t take our stuff!”

“No, let me tell you who you’re dealing with. I’m The Mechanic. I take what I want, from who I want, whenever I want it.”

Yeah... shivers.

Let’s just remember Gordon’s great moment getting to pilot it.

“So tell me, what is it like flying Dad’s plane?”

“It was awesome.”

See, that’s a nicer ending.

[annstage]

Interview s Devin K. Grayson

Stává se vám, že při čtení komiksu byste se rádi autora na něco zeptali? Šance jsou, že si sednete a najdete společnou řeč. Jak jinak, když jsme nakonec všichni fanoušci. Dostaly jsme možnost vyzpovídat Devin K. Grayson, autorku mnohá komiksů, které určitě znáte a máte rádi. V krátkém rozhovoru, který nám ochotně poskytla se dozvíte více o tom, jak si zachovává přehled v časových linkách během psaní nebo, co si myslí o zobrazování skupinových menšin v pop kultuře. Rozhovor jsme nechaly v původním anglickém jazyce.

CZ: Devin se ke komiksům dostala po zhlédnutí animovaného Batmana, který na začátku 90. let běžel v televizi. Následně se v komiksovém obchodě začala více zajímat o svého jmenovce Dicka Graysona, známého též jako Nightwinga. Práci pro DC dostala po ustavičném volání a zasílání svých děl. Potom už následoval zájem o psaní o členech Batman rodiny, o Nightwingovi a je autorkou dalších již světově známých titulů. Devin je otevřeně bisexuálkou.

Mezi její nejznámější tituly patří Nightwing, Gotham Knights, Vampirella, Nightwing - Huntress, JLA/Titans, User, The Titans a další

EN: Devin got to comics after watching Batman: The Animated Series in early 90s. Following that event she went to explore to her local comics store to find more about Dick Grayson who she shares the last name with. After bombarding DC company and calling them to see her works, she finally got the position of a writer for this huge publisher. She enjoys writing about the Batman family, Nightwing and many other notable characters in comics. Devin is also openly bisexual.

Her notable works include: Nightwing, Gotham Knights, Vampirella, Nightwing - Huntress, JLA/Titans, User, The Titans and more

Timelines. What was your way of dealing with confusing comics continuity? And especially within the Bat-verse? I hope this isn’t disappointing, but to honest I no longer follow DC continuity at all.  In the past I’ve compared leaving a comic series to breaking up with a lover; you hope they’re doing well, but you don’t really feel the need to check up on the details of their continued existence without you. ;-p When I was actively working in Gotham, though, I relied on a combination of extensive background reading, informal updates from friends (about what they were reading) and colleagues (about what they were writing), and sheer force of will. By sheer force of will I mean that to write in the Batman universe -or in any established fictional realm, really -you need to have a clear vision of the world and the characters moving through it. And that means that if you have to, you ignore anything that doesn’t fit into your vision. My preferred method of working on franchise characters is to do what I like to call a deep dive. Before I start writing, I read everything about them I can get my hands on, including academic analysis and summaries. Inevitably, I’ll find something that grabs me - with Batman it was his relationship with the first Robin, the idea that he was as driven and dark and scary as he was, but was also raising a kid. For the Doctor Strange novel I wrote, I started completely cold (I’d never read a Doctor Strange comic when I first got the assignment) but the first thing that grabbed me was the death of his sister. The few times I’ve worked with Superman I spent a lot of time thinking about how he was raised as a farmer. Whatever it is, I let it carry me further into the character’s world and/or psyche and I try to explore facets of it as I write about them. At that point, I’m pulling on previous continuity, but I’m also creating my own, new continuity. Comic readers tend to favor really tight continuity, but you have to remember that you get that at a cost. Every creator comes to the table with their own ideas about the characters and their own references and their own stories, and the more you make them toe the line, the less you’re making use of their uniqueness.  When I started working for the Bat-office, there were several different Bat-books, each with a slightly different take. Batman was for superhero stories, Detective was more mystery/noir , Legends featured contained stories that could fall anywhere in the history of Gotham, Chronicles was more of an anthology and testing ground for newer talent, and when I started Gotham Knights, my explicit intent was to have it highlight the relationships in the primary Bat-family.  To some extent, those books all existed in unique fictional universes, until we deliberately brought them together for crossover events. I mention this because I worry that superhero comics have a tendency to become overly homogenized when everyone has to adhere to a strict continuity.  No matter how great any given writer is, do we really want ALL the comics coming out of any given publisher to feature his language, ideas and storylines? The stories you hear about Batman - all of them - are legends.  Some may be spot on, some may be less than true, but the great thing about fiction is that, unlike reality, it isn’t actually necessary or useful for all of us to agree on what happened. Alternate takes are welcome, which is one of the reasons I’ve always championed fanfic. tl;dr: I learn it. And then I ignore it. ;-p

Can you remember writing some scene or part of a story and being beyond excited of how it is turning out to be? Do you usually anticipate reader’s reactions for something particular that you wrote? Okay, two separate questions here. First: yes, absolutely. A secret about writers is that behind closed doors, most of us suspect we’re talentless frauds and that at any minute someone is going to notice that we’re literally just making stuff up. But at the same time, most of us have a few moments every week, or a few lines in every project, where we stop, grin, and think, “damn, I’m good.” I am probably not supposed to share that secret, and I apologize to my colleagues for doing so, but the thing is…writing is magic. You can study all the craft of it, learn all the structure and all the tools (as you should) and still, there’s a point where you feel like you’re just listening and writing down a story that is coming to you from somewhere else. And when it’s good, it’s such an amazing feeling. It leaves you a little bit in awe. Specifically, the two things I remember are 1) having to stop and catch my breath the first time I wrote the word “Batmobile” in a script I was getting paid for and 2) the first time I saw the art come in for USER, and characters that had previously existed only in my head had suddenly been brought to life by John Bolton and Sean Phillips. Those were both very exciting moments. As for anticipating the reaction of readers; no, I don’t do that. I don’t even really think about the readers when I’m writing beyond, perhaps, the artist (who I want to keep engaged) or editor (who I want to keep happy). I think it would be a little paralyzing - not to mention futile - to try to guess how people will react. You don’t even really know who’s reading it, honestly, which is one of the reasons why it’s really nice to meet readers at conventions. But I’ve always suspected that the best writing comes from writing to and for one specific person - usually a colleague or loved one.

What would you tell to those saying comics are not a real or serious literature and shame it readers for needing to “have pictures to understand the plot”? Unfortunately it is still a case of misunderstanding. Well, first of all, I try to make a distinction between superhero comics, the publishing subgenre, and comics, the medium. Superhero comics are not, if we’re being honest, always serious literature. But comics as a medium is an amazingly complex and diverse form of story-telling that supports everything from newspaper comic strips to literary fiction graphic novels. It’s particularly remarkable for being the most collaborative form of story creation and story consumption available, relying on multiple creators for its inception and relying on readers to actively simulate time, motion and sometimes even events out of the spaces between panels. The best book I’ve ever read on the topic - and one that could make even a hardcore cynic reevaluate their understanding of what “comics” is - is Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. There are also so many amazing graphic novels out there, from Spiegelman’s Maus to Chabouté’s Alone. Unless it’s not comics they have an issue with so much as superheroes, in which case you can talk to them about contemporary mythology and the power of allegorical story-telling. You’re right, though, that it’s a very misunderstood corner of publishing. I don’t often have people try to tell me it’s not literature, but I can’t count the number of people who have learned what I do for a living and assumed I have a lot of material I can share with their child. The idea that comics are for kids is a throwback to 1950s American marketing. As I’m sure you and your followers know, comics haven’t really been for kids in over five decades. I still haven’t shown my ten-year-old my Batman or Nightwing work and don’t plan to for some time. The last thing I’ll say on the subject is that sometimes people have to be taught how to read the art in a comic. I think people unfamiliar with comics assume that the pictures in the panels are just literal representations of the words, which is rarely the case. Comic fans are actually quite accomplished readers who know how to invest in long stories, detect subtle tensions between artistic and linguistic storytelling, actively participate in moving narratives forward and, of course, engage with huge, complex fictional universes.

Do you feel like there is not enough representation of bisexual heroes/superheroes in comics and pop-culture? We know Diana Prince is bisexual and she never got a canonical girlfriend. Yes, I agree. The LGBTQA population, as a whole, is grossly underrepresented, along with non-heteronormative relationships and non-gender binary individuals. Just this morning, actually, I was told I couldn’t go forward with a storyline exploring a canonically confirmed asexual character joining an asexual support group, because the publisher wanted to play “that angle” down. As someone who is openly bisexual, this distresses me, but not half so much as the appalling underrepresentation of people of color and women, especially considering that both groups each make up more than half the population. As the recent phenomenal success of both the Wonder Woman and Black Panther movies demonstrate, the world is more than ready to embrace corrections to these imbalances, but the people (oh, who am I kidding? Read: white men) who run the engines of pop culture - not to mention literary culture, history, and advertising - are incredibly averse to change. It’s so, so important to see yourself reflected in your own culture, but the presence and participation of women and people of color, not to mention bisexuals, is so deeply biased it’s difficult to fully comprehend the multiple levels of exclusion. It’s hard for me to even talk about this these days because I don’t know where to start. The relentless use of female characters to stimulate growth in male characters? The complete absence of female internal lives in so much of literature? How about just pure invisibility? I remember watching TV one evening and noticing - all at once and with a shock that I’d never seen it before - what I call the gender ratio. The world, according to movies and television shows, consists of one female for every three males. There are exceptions to this, but watch how often it’s true. And of course, it’s even worse for people of color, who tend to appear at about a one to nine white people ratio. Now walk outside. Is that what you see? Of course not, not even close! But we’re so used to the culture we’ve been fed that we hardly notice anything’s amiss when we look at entire fictional landscapes almost wholly devoid of women and POC. What do you think that does to our psyches? To our sense of fitting in in the world? To our sense of, and compassion for, one another? The dearth of bisexual superheroes strikes me as a wasted opportunity to explore organic and complex ranges in human sexuality - great story-fodder, that! - and I hope it changes. But not all superhero stories have to deal with the sex lives of the characters. Every single one of them, though, has to confront both the gender and race of the characters portrayed, and holy f--- do we have a long way to go there.

We were delighted to see the #VisibleWoman going around Twitter earlier this year. Did it prove itself to be useful? What you do you think about this way of using social media to make a statement and make it work? This plays directly into what I was just talking about. It’s so weird to think about, but we are so often literally invisible - in fiction especially, but in the real world, too. As a writer, I spend a lot of time summoning and then editing the default story ideas that come from my subconscious, and once I began to be aware of the issues we’ve been discussing, I was dismayed by how deeply all of that background misogyny had lodged itself - it’s an issue I’m still exploring and excavating today. I grew up hearing people say that women were important and should be treated fairly, but I saw so few of them. They were absent or scarce in most movies and TV shows, whittled down to a small subgroup in literary fiction writing, hard to find in the music world, almost never part of political news or history lessons…I can’t even imagine how different my internal world would be if I’d been exposed to a more balanced cultural tally. So, yes - I do think the hashtag was useful, both as a marketing tool (my single tagged tweet garnered me over three hundred new followers and is now pinned to the top of my account) and as a huge, warm searchlight picking accomplished females out of the crowd. Just being reminded that there are women working in comics and games and STEM and business and politics is enormously helpful. Having a platform available to connect with and support them is that much more powerful. I do have concerns about social media, some quite grave. But #VisibleWoman stands as an example of best possible usage.

And finally, do you keep in touch with your high school or college teachers who taught you English or Writing? Do you think they know you have became a successful author and would they be proud of you? Great question! My answer is multi-tiered because those people - mentors - change and evolve over time. So the short answer is no, I’m not still in touch with any of my high school or college teachers and I doubt they’ve kept track of me. I went to three different high schools and so didn’t form strong attachments to many teachers - the one exception was a Social Living teacher at Berkeley High, Nancy Rubin, who I did stay in touch with for many years after I graduated. She didn’t teach me to write - though she did encourage us all to keep daily journals, which can be a gateway drug to compulsive writing - but she was that special teacher who saw all her students as individuals and honestly cared about our opinions and our struggles and our lives. I was actually still in touch with her when she published her first book - Ask Me if I Care, Voices from an American High School - and I was very proud of her! I’m sure she’d enjoy hearing about my crazy career, but she was proud of all of us, even then, just for being. I didn’t make a strong connection with my college writing teacher, the novelist Mona Simpson, but was crazy about my post-collegiate writing instructor, the novelist Brian Bouldrey, who was still part of my life when I first broke into comics and was enormously tickled by it. Now that you’ve got me thinking about him again, I think I’ll try to track him down again and send him a copy of my Doctor Strange novel. xD In comics, I have three main mentors and I’m still in touch with all of them and know that they’re proud of and happy for me. Overall, the professional comics community is very supportive and full of hard-working people who care about the medium, the characters, the readers, and each other. Thank  you for these great questions and for you interest in my work!

Thank you, Devin! It was a pleasure and we are grateful for your amazing and detailed answers, and of course for your time :)

Rozhovor původně publikovaný na blogu Comics Holky

[comicsholky-blog]

Interview s Devin K. Grayson

Stává se vám, že při čtení komiksu byste se rádi autora na něco zeptali? Šance jsou, že si sednete a najdete společnou řeč. Jak jinak, když jsme nakonec všichni fanoušci. Dostaly jsme možnost vyzpovídat Devin K. Grayson, autorku mnohá komiksů, které určitě znáte a máte rádi. V krátkém rozhovoru, který nám ochotně poskytla se dozvíte více o tom, jak si zachovává přehled v časových linkách během psaní nebo, co si myslí o zobrazování skupinových menšin v pop kultuře. Rozhovor jsme nechaly v původním anglickém jazyce.

CZ: Devin se ke komiksům dostala po zhlédnutí animovaného Batmana, který na začátku 90. let běžel v televizi. Následně se v komiksovém obchodě začala více zajímat o svého jmenovce Dicka Graysona, známého též jako Nightwinga. Práci pro DC dostala po ustavičném volání a zasílání svých děl. Potom už následoval zájem o psaní o členech Batman rodiny, o Nightwingovi a je autorkou dalších již světově známých titulů. Devin je otevřeně bisexuálkou.

Mezi její nejznámější tituly patří Nightwing, Gotham Knights, Vampirella, Nightwing - Huntress, JLA/Titans, User, The Titans a další

EN: Devin got to comics after watching Batman: The Animated Series in early 90s. Following that event she went to explore to her local comics store to find more about Dick Grayson who she shares the last name with. After bombarding DC company and calling them to see her works, she finally got the position of a writer for this huge publisher. She enjoys writing about the Batman family, Nightwing and many other notable characters in comics. Devin is also openly bisexual.

Her notable works include: Nightwing, Gotham Knights, Vampirella, Nightwing - Huntress, JLA/Titans, User, The Titans and more

Timelines. What was your way of dealing with confusing comics continuity? And especially within the Bat-verse?  I hope this isn’t disappointing, but to honest I no longer follow DC continuity at all.  In the past I’ve compared leaving a comic series to breaking up with a lover; you hope they’re doing well, but you don’t really feel the need to check up on the details of their continued existence without you. ;-p When I was actively working in Gotham, though, I relied on a combination of extensive background reading, informal updates from friends (about what they were reading) and colleagues (about what they were writing), and sheer force of will. By sheer force of will I mean that to write in the Batman universe -or in any established fictional realm, really -you need to have a clear vision of the world and the characters moving through it. And that means that if you have to, you ignore anything that doesn’t fit into your vision. My preferred method of working on franchise characters is to do what I like to call a deep dive. Before I start writing, I read everything about them I can get my hands on, including academic analysis and summaries. Inevitably, I’ll find something that grabs me - with Batman it was his relationship with the first Robin, the idea that he was as driven and dark and scary as he was, but was also raising a kid. For the Doctor Strange novel I wrote, I started completely cold (I’d never read a Doctor Strange comic when I first got the assignment) but the first thing that grabbed me was the death of his sister. The few times I’ve worked with Superman I spent a lot of time thinking about how he was raised as a farmer. Whatever it is, I let it carry me further into the character’s world and/or psyche and I try to explore facets of it as I write about them. At that point, I’m pulling on previous continuity, but I’m also creating my own, new continuity. Comic readers tend to favor really tight continuity, but you have to remember that you get that at a cost. Every creator comes to the table with their own ideas about the characters and their own references and their own stories, and the more you make them toe the line, the less you’re making use of their uniqueness.  When I started working for the Bat-office, there were several different Bat-books, each with a slightly different take. Batman was for superhero stories, Detective was more mystery/noir , Legends featured contained stories that could fall anywhere in the history of Gotham, Chronicles was more of an anthology and testing ground for newer talent, and when I started Gotham Knights, my explicit intent was to have it highlight the relationships in the primary Bat-family.  To some extent, those books all existed in unique fictional universes, until we deliberately brought them together for crossover events. I mention this because I worry that superhero comics have a tendency to become overly homogenized when everyone has to adhere to a strict continuity.  No matter how great any given writer is, do we really want ALL the comics coming out of any given publisher to feature his language, ideas and storylines? The stories you hear about Batman - all of them - are legends.  Some may be spot on, some may be less than true, but the great thing about fiction is that, unlike reality, it isn’t actually necessary or useful for all of us to agree on what happened. Alternate takes are welcome, which is one of the reasons I’ve always championed fanfic. tl;dr: I learn it. And then I ignore it. ;-p

Can you remember writing some scene or part of a story and being beyond excited of how it is turning out to be? Do you usually anticipate reader’s reactions for something particular that you wrote? Okay, two separate questions here. First: yes, absolutely. A secret about writers is that behind closed doors, most of us suspect we’re talentless frauds and that at any minute someone is going to notice that we’re literally just making stuff up. But at the same time, most of us have a few moments every week, or a few lines in every project, where we stop, grin, and think, “damn, I’m good.” I am probably not supposed to share that secret, and I apologize to my colleagues for doing so, but the thing is…writing is magic. You can study all the craft of it, learn all the structure and all the tools (as you should) and still, there’s a point where you feel like you’re just listening and writing down a story that is coming to you from somewhere else. And when it’s good, it’s such an amazing feeling. It leaves you a little bit in awe. Specifically, the two things I remember are 1) having to stop and catch my breath the first time I wrote the word “Batmobile” in a script I was getting paid for and 2) the first time I saw the art come in for USER, and characters that had previously existed only in my head had suddenly been brought to life by John Bolton and Sean Phillips. Those were both very exciting moments. As for anticipating the reaction of readers; no, I don’t do that. I don’t even really think about the readers when I’m writing beyond, perhaps, the artist (who I want to keep engaged) or editor (who I want to keep happy). I think it would be a little paralyzing - not to mention futile - to try to guess how people will react. You don’t even really know who’s reading it, honestly, which is one of the reasons why it’s really nice to meet readers at conventions. But I’ve always suspected that the best writing comes from writing to and for one specific person - usually a colleague or loved one.

What would you tell to those saying comics are not a real or serious literature and shame it readers for needing to “have pictures to understand the plot”? Unfortunately it is still a case of misunderstanding. Well, first of all, I try to make a distinction between superhero comics, the publishing subgenre, and comics, the medium. Superhero comics are not, if we’re being honest, always serious literature. But comics as a medium is an amazingly complex and diverse form of story-telling that supports everything from newspaper comic strips to literary fiction graphic novels. It’s particularly remarkable for being the most collaborative form of story creation and story consumption available, relying on multiple creators for its inception and relying on readers to actively simulate time, motion and sometimes even events out of the spaces between panels. The best book I’ve ever read on the topic - and one that could make even a hardcore cynic reevaluate their understanding of what “comics” is - is Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. There are also so many amazing graphic novels out there, from Spiegelman’s Maus to Chabouté’s Alone. Unless it’s not comics they have an issue with so much as superheroes, in which case you can talk to them about contemporary mythology and the power of allegorical story-telling. You’re right, though, that it’s a very misunderstood corner of publishing. I don’t often have people try to tell me it’s not literature, but I can’t count the number of people who have learned what I do for a living and assumed I have a lot of material I can share with their child. The idea that comics are for kids is a throwback to 1950s American marketing. As I’m sure you and your followers know, comics haven’t really been for kids in over five decades. I still haven’t shown my ten-year-old my Batman or Nightwing work and don’t plan to for some time. The last thing I’ll say on the subject is that sometimes people have to be taught how to read the art in a comic. I think people unfamiliar with comics assume that the pictures in the panels are just literal representations of the words, which is rarely the case. Comic fans are actually quite accomplished readers who know how to invest in long stories, detect subtle tensions between artistic and linguistic storytelling, actively participate in moving narratives forward and, of course, engage with huge, complex fictional universes.

Do you feel like there is not enough representation of bisexual heroes/superheroes in comics and pop-culture? We know Diana Prince is bisexual and she never got a canonical girlfriend. Yes, I agree. The LGBTQA population, as a whole, is grossly underrepresented, along with non-heteronormative relationships and non-gender binary individuals. Just this morning, actually, I was told I couldn’t go forward with a storyline exploring a canonically confirmed asexual character joining an asexual support group, because the publisher wanted to play “that angle” down. As someone who is openly bisexual, this distresses me, but not half so much as the appalling underrepresentation of people of color and women, especially considering that both groups each make up more than half the population. As the recent phenomenal success of both the Wonder Woman and Black Panther movies demonstrate, the world is more than ready to embrace corrections to these imbalances, but the people (oh, who am I kidding? Read: white men) who run the engines of pop culture - not to mention literary culture, history, and advertising - are incredibly averse to change. It’s so, so important to see yourself reflected in your own culture, but the presence and participation of women and people of color, not to mention bisexuals, is so deeply biased it’s difficult to fully comprehend the multiple levels of exclusion. It’s hard for me to even talk about this these days because I don’t know where to start. The relentless use of female characters to stimulate growth in male characters? The complete absence of female internal lives in so much of literature? How about just pure invisibility? I remember watching TV one evening and noticing - all at once and with a shock that I’d never seen it before - what I call the gender ratio. The world, according to movies and television shows, consists of one female for every three males. There are exceptions to this, but watch how often it’s true. And of course, it’s even worse for people of color, who tend to appear at about a one to nine white people ratio. Now walk outside. Is that what you see? Of course not, not even close! But we’re so used to the culture we’ve been fed that we hardly notice anything’s amiss when we look at entire fictional landscapes almost wholly devoid of women and POC. What do you think that does to our psyches? To our sense of fitting in in the world? To our sense of, and compassion for, one another? The dearth of bisexual superheroes strikes me as a wasted opportunity to explore organic and complex ranges in human sexuality - great story-fodder, that! - and I hope it changes. But not all superhero stories have to deal with the sex lives of the characters. Every single one of them, though, has to confront both the gender and race of the characters portrayed, and holy f--- do we have a long way to go there.

We were delighted to see the #VisibleWoman going around Twitter earlier this year. Did it prove itself to be useful? What you do you think about this way of using social media to make a statement and make it work? This plays directly into what I was just talking about. It’s so weird to think about, but we are so often literally invisible - in fiction especially, but in the real world, too. As a writer, I spend a lot of time summoning and then editing the default story ideas that come from my subconscious, and once I began to be aware of the issues we’ve been discussing, I was dismayed by how deeply all of that background misogyny had lodged itself - it’s an issue I’m still exploring and excavating today. I grew up hearing people say that women were important and should be treated fairly, but I saw so few of them. They were absent or scarce in most movies and TV shows, whittled down to a small subgroup in literary fiction writing, hard to find in the music world, almost never part of political news or history lessons…I can’t even imagine how different my internal world would be if I’d been exposed to a more balanced cultural tally. So, yes - I do think the hashtag was useful, both as a marketing tool (my single tagged tweet garnered me over three hundred new followers and is now pinned to the top of my account) and as a huge, warm searchlight picking accomplished females out of the crowd. Just being reminded that there are women working in comics and games and STEM and business and politics is enormously helpful. Having a platform available to connect with and support them is that much more powerful. I do have concerns about social media, some quite grave. But #VisibleWoman stands as an example of best possible usage.

And finally, do you keep in touch with your high school or college teachers who taught you English or Writing? Do you think they know you have became a successful author and would they be proud of you? Great question! My answer is multi-tiered because those people - mentors - change and evolve over time. So the short answer is no, I’m not still in touch with any of my high school or college teachers and I doubt they’ve kept track of me. I went to three different high schools and so didn’t form strong attachments to many teachers - the one exception was a Social Living teacher at Berkeley High, Nancy Rubin, who I did stay in touch with for many years after I graduated. She didn’t teach me to write - though she did encourage us all to keep daily journals, which can be a gateway drug to compulsive writing - but she was that special teacher who saw all her students as individuals and honestly cared about our opinions and our struggles and our lives. I was actually still in touch with her when she published her first book - Ask Me if I Care, Voices from an American High School - and I was very proud of her! I’m sure she’d enjoy hearing about my crazy career, but she was proud of all of us, even then, just for being. I didn’t make a strong connection with my college writing teacher, the novelist Mona Simpson, but was crazy about my post-collegiate writing instructor, the novelist Brian Bouldrey, who was still part of my life when I first broke into comics and was enormously tickled by it. Now that you’ve got me thinking about him again, I think I’ll try to track him down again and send him a copy of my Doctor Strange novel. xD In comics, I have three main mentors and I’m still in touch with all of them and know that they’re proud of and happy for me. Overall, the professional comics community is very supportive and full of hard-working people who care about the medium, the characters, the readers, and each other. Thank  you for these great questions and for you interest in my work!

Thank you, Devin! It was a pleasure and we are grateful for your amazing and detailed answers, and of course for your time :)

A i my velice děkujeme a doufáme, že jste si interview užili stejně jako my!

- Kara

[cbilluminati]

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came.

That’s a really awesome reference that you should Google. No, don’t worry about it, I’ll drop a Youtube link. It’s time for yet another edition of Top o’ the Lot (or TotL pronounced “TOTAL” by the kids), Outright Geekery’s weekly listicle. This week’s countdown examines all the great bars, taverns, clubs, and dives from my favorite TV shows, movies, comics, and more. While Cheers may not have made the list, nothing beats that song. So, without further ado, we hit all (or most) major forms of media, make it a double, and everybody sing along, with Outright Geekery’s Top o’ the Lot: 15 Fictional Watering Holes.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mi0r0LpXo%5B/embedyt%5D

Honorable Mention: The One from Every RPG Ever

Including video games, table top games, and the occasional board game. You know the one: Where there’s always someone selling the exact stuff you need for the upcoming journey, the bartender is burly (probably a bastard), the bar maidens are hot and ready (and probably rogues), and (in too many cases) there always seems to be an NPC or PC ready for a team up.

This one is ridiculous in almost every single case. It’s cheap storytelling, hinges primarily on nostalgia, and none of that matters at all. Seeing the local Inn in video games like World of Warcraft or Elder Scrolls is often such a terrific feeling. It denotes discovery and familiarity in brilliant ways. But there’s way too many, so it gets a Honorable Mention.

15. The Bar with No Name

Ok, try to keep up. In the Marvel Comics Universe there is this bar…or maybe it’s a series of bars, where the badguys meet up for planning world domination, cementing their criminal networks, or celebrating good times (Kang’s birthday party was a true rager), and they do this in a place known only as The Bar with No Name.

This is the one that should be getting an Honorable Mention. What a cheap way around getting some bad guys talking. But it’s throwback, it’s subtle and dark, and some really cool things have started in these Bars with No Names…or whatever. And it’s comics. Comics get a pass.

14. Kadie’s Club Pecos

This is the bar from Sin City. A lot of things happened there. Dwight and Ava meetup, The Long Bad Night, Nancy’s Last Dance. What an amazing way to tell a story, and what a terrific scene.

Only hits this low on the list because so many others are just better. It should be on here, but 14 is as high is it’s getting. The dance is really good though…but NSFW.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yUWO2PFVF4%5B/embedyt%5D

13. Gaston’s Tavern

What a lovely little town. Too bad the only bar is run by this douchebag. But there’s no denying that Gaston’s Bar from Beauty and the Beast is THE happening place in that provincial little town. Everyone loves the owner too.

Gaston is the man, and he knows it. Why shouldn’t he run his very own tavern? But it’s that song! Although, a good tune can only carry you so far. And he’s such a jerk. Calm down, dude! Grab a drink, go lift some weights, and get with one of those other honeys. I mean, you own a bar. He should just move on.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJTqmpBnI0%5B/embedyt%5D

12. The Bada Bing

The Bada Bing is the fictional strip club owned by Silvio Dante, second hand to crime boss Tony Soprano, and it was a crazy place. Topless girls, alcohol, and gangsters 24 hours a day. The back room was a gentleman’s club, where New Jersey’s finest criminals ate sandwiches, played poker, and counted money.

The Bing makes the list because it was just a cool place. The setting worked to help define the backdrop of this series, and it was one of my favorites. I picture myself walking in, spreading around the cash to all the fine “ladies” dancing, and being invited to the back room for a late night poker game, which inevitably leads to Outright Geekery becoming a front for the mob, my wife’s fingers being cut off as a warning, and me ultimately floating in the Hudson River. Worth it!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonfT9ITxhk%5B/embedyt%5D

11. Swerve’s

In IDW Publishing’s Transformers titles, there’s a story about a group of ragtag Cybertronians – loners, castoffs, shut-ins, socially inept etc. – who decide to leave Cybertron and search the galaxy for the fabled Knights of Cybertron. Things have not gone well. Despite that, however, one standout of this series in the context of this list is Swerve’s Bar. Swerve is a wise-cracking smartass of a guy, but he’s just looking to have a good time. And Swerve’s Bar is THE place to go on the spaceship The Lost Light should you have the need for some Energon Ale.

While Swerve’s doesn’t break into the top 10 o’ this Lot simply because it’s such a vague and relatively unknown bar, it makes the list overall because I just love these robots, their stories, and their relationships so damned much. I know, these are plastic toys from the 1980s. But their real to me.

10. Quark’s

Although it’s not the coolest bar from the Star Trek universe, Quark’s is easily the one that looks more like your traditional western frontier saloon, which is what Deep Space Nine was going for. Set right off the main hub in the promenade, Quark’s offered food, drink, fellowship, but most importantly it offered gambling and holosuites.

Having hookers and gaming was a real departure for the series as the Federation tended to frown on such things, but it added a sense of realism to the fell of the entire series. Real frontier stuff, unrestrained by the laws of the Federation. And the cast of regulars, including the ever-silent Morn, were fantastic additions. A great place that deserve to break the Top 10 in a list with so many great entries.

9. Club Rockit

Club Rockit was an actual, real-life place that writer Bryan Lee O’ Malley used to model the fictional punk rock venue in the wildly successful and fun Scott Pilgrim series of comics. It was described as cramped, ugly, and terrible by its creator, but we loved it for a lone reason: Sex Bob-Omb played there!

If you have a club in a comic book and there’s a cool band that plays there it’s going to be an awesome place. The club shows up in every instance of this license including comics, movies, and video games, and really just goes to show you how damned popular this series is. Sequel? I sure hope so!

8. The Leaky Cauldron

Founded by Daisy Dodderidge in 1500 to serve as a doorway between the non-magic Muggle World and the Wizarding World, The Leaky Cauldron is a pub and inn from the Harry Potter Universe. It was one of the first introductions readers and viewers had at what the new magical world we were stepping into truly had to offer.

Whimsy filled both the book and movie scenes that introduced The Leaky Cauldron, and it only got better from there. Beyond that, however, The Leaky Cauldron was a portal of sorts from the real to the imagined, a mainstay in scores of fantasy titles. Subtle and fun, it was a great anchor early on in the series and just neat in its own right.

7. The Prancing Pony

Another one from both famous books and popular movies, The Prancing Pony is in the village of Bree in Middle-Earth from The Lord of the Rings series of novels and films. This is where Frodo and his group meet up with the Ranger Strider in what became one of the most amazing adventures of all time.

More occurs at this inn and bar than just the meeting of Frodo and Strider, but it’s the most famous by far, and this meeting represents a ramp up in the adventure of the story. And it’s a terrific moment. Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf meet up here at one point, as well, but it’s just not mentioned as much. While the Honorable Mention spot in this Lot may be a stereotype, this is the inn that created it.

6. Moe’s Tavern

When you visit Springfield there’s only one place where the Everyman goes after a long, hard day of running the nuclear power plant. Moe’s Tavern. The cold Duff on tap, terrific music, fun regulars, and, of course, Moe, our lovable bartender. There may not be a more well known bar on this list.

A lot of people know about Moe’s because so many people have been forced to watch so many seasons of The Simpsons. I guess it deserves it – I haven’t watched since season 5 or 6 – but Moe’s is still very worthy of making this list.

5. The Hellfire Club

I’m not really quite sure if this entry even qualifies, as the Hellfire Club is more of a group of people than a building where people drink, but I don’t care. The perennial X-Men villain, the Hellfire Club is a fictional society bent on obtaining power, but they do often have an actual club.

Sometimes a bar isn’t about the where, but the who. The place is terrific, but The Hellfire Club is really made up of really interesting – and often very evil – characters. And those cool Chess piece nicknames? So cool!

4. The Iceberg Lounge

Barely missing the Top 3 is the relatively new aspect of DC Comics Gotham City, Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge. The iceberg shaped nightclub, conveniently located in Gotham Harbor, acts as a legitimate business front for the Penguin’s criminal dealings, and also works as a place for Batman to use his makeup kit.

My favorite parts of the Iceberg Lounge are when Batman disguises himself as a criminal, goes to the lounge incognito, all in an attempt to overhear some underworld information that may help him solve the next crime. And it’s just really cool to see it floating there on Gotham’s Skyline.

3. The Ink & Paint Club

Yes, breaking into the Top 3 is the nightclub run by cartoons from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Ink & Paint Club. In a world where toons are real, this nightclub takes the best parts of that animated world, puts them to wrok, and provides quality entertainment as well as superb nightclub services.

Opening on the Duck vs Duck piano duel, Jessica’s solo in the middle, and ending on that gorilla of a bouncer, the Ink & Paint Club not only left an impression on anyone who watched this movie, but it made viewers want to go there for a Saturday night of drinking, dancing, and drawing.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv24TJ8iXcs%5B/embedyt%5D

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy5THitqPBw%5B/embedyt%5D

2. Mos Eisley Cantina

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

But, man, they play such good music! Like many things in the Star Wars Universe, less was more when it came to this Outer Rim bar on the mudball that is Tatooine. Is was rightfully a dangerous place. Who goes to Tatooine if they aren’t in trouble and laying low? That’s a recipe for smugglers, pirates, and, yes, nerf-herders.

Again, less was more here. Lucas understood that an audience will fill in their own gaps, and usually an audience will fill it with better stuff than a writer ever could. So many alien races with absolutely no explanation whatsoever about who or what they are. It was perfect. Oh, and that house band is the best in the galaxy.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbYF6XpTYE%5B/embedyt%5D

1. 10 Forward

Wait! They put a bar in a Federation Starship? Yes, they did, and it was awesome! Deck 10 in the forward section of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D was just that: A bar. A place where weary Starfleet officers could relax, eat, fellowship, drink, listen to music, and otherwise have an awesome time. It was weird for a while. There’s a bar on a Federation starship? But it ended up working so well for so man reasons.

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The primary reason was the bartender, Guinan, played by acting legend Whoopi Goldberg. But all of the little things fell right into place over a very short period of time to make 10 Forward one of the most popular place in the entire galaxy. Sometimes there’s a hostage situation, some days it’s a birthday party. Other days there’s a funeral wake, yet others there’s an emergency baby delivery (thanks, Worf!), and still others see the entire crew trying to beat each other to a pulp. Business as usual on the Flagship of the Federation.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWaguilvSrY%5B/embedyt%5D

See a mistake? Disagree with the choices? Let us know!

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TotL – 15 Fictional Watering Holes

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came. That’s a really awesome reference that you should Google.

TotL – 15 Fictional Watering Holes Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. That's a really awesome reference that you should Google.

[outright-geekery]

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they’re always glad you came.

That’s a really awesome reference that you should Google. No, don’t worry about it, I’ll drop a Youtube link. It’s time for yet another edition of Top o’ the Lot (or TotL pronounced “TOTAL” by the kids), Outright Geekery’s weekly listicle. This week’s countdown examines all the great bars, taverns, clubs, and dives from my favorite TV shows, movies, comics, and more. While Cheers may not have made the list, nothing beats that song. So, without further ado, we hit all (or most) major forms of media, make it a double, and everybody sing along, with Outright Geekery’s Top o’ the Lot: 15 Fictional Watering Holes.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mi0r0LpXo%5B/embedyt%5D

Honorable Mention: The One from Every RPG Ever

Including video games, table top games, and the occasional board game. You know the one: Where there’s always someone selling the exact stuff you need for the upcoming journey, the bartender is burly (probably a bastard), the bar maidens are hot and ready (and probably rogues), and (in too many cases) there always seems to be an NPC or PC ready for a team up.

This one is ridiculous in almost every single case. It’s cheap storytelling, hinges primarily on nostalgia, and none of that matters at all. Seeing the local Inn in video games like World of Warcraft or Elder Scrolls is often such a terrific feeling. It denotes discovery and familiarity in brilliant ways. But there’s way too many, so it gets a Honorable Mention.

15. The Bar with No Name

Ok, try to keep up. In the Marvel Comics Universe there is this bar…or maybe it’s a series of bars, where the badguys meet up for planning world domination, cementing their criminal networks, or celebrating good times (Kang’s birthday party was a true rager), and they do this in a place known only as The Bar with No Name.

This is the one that should be getting an Honorable Mention. What a cheap way around getting some bad guys talking. But it’s throwback, it’s subtle and dark, and some really cool things have started in these Bars with No Names…or whatever. And it’s comics. Comics get a pass.

14. Kadie’s Club Pecos

This is the bar from Sin City. A lot of things happened there. Dwight and Ava meetup, The Long Bad Night, Nancy’s Last Dance. What an amazing way to tell a story, and what a terrific scene.

Only hits this low on the list because so many others are just better. It should be on here, but 14 is as high is it’s getting. The dance is really good though…but NSFW.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yUWO2PFVF4%5B/embedyt%5D

13. Gaston’s Tavern

What a lovely little town. Too bad the only bar is run by this douchebag. But there’s no denying that Gaston’s Bar from Beauty and the Beast is THE happening place in that provincial little town. Everyone loves the owner too.

Gaston is the man, and he knows it. Why shouldn’t he run his very own tavern? But it’s that song! Although, a good tune can only carry you so far. And he’s such a jerk. Calm down, dude! Grab a drink, go lift some weights, and get with one of those other honeys. I mean, you own a bar. He should just move on.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJTqmpBnI0%5B/embedyt%5D

12. The Bada Bing

The Bada Bing is the fictional strip club owned by Silvio Dante, second hand to crime boss Tony Soprano, and it was a crazy place. Topless girls, alcohol, and gangsters 24 hours a day. The back room was a gentleman’s club, where New Jersey’s finest criminals ate sandwiches, played poker, and counted money.

The Bing makes the list because it was just a cool place. The setting worked to help define the backdrop of this series, and it was one of my favorites. I picture myself walking in, spreading around the cash to all the fine “ladies” dancing, and being invited to the back room for a late night poker game, which inevitably leads to Outright Geekery becoming a front for the mob, my wife’s fingers being cut off as a warning, and me ultimately floating in the Hudson River. Worth it!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonfT9ITxhk%5B/embedyt%5D

11. Swerve’s

In IDW Publishing’s Transformers titles, there’s a story about a group of ragtag Cybertronians – loners, castoffs, shut-ins, socially inept etc. – who decide to leave Cybertron and search the galaxy for the fabled Knights of Cybertron. Things have not gone well. Despite that, however, one standout of this series in the context of this list is Swerve’s Bar. Swerve is a wise-cracking smartass of a guy, but he’s just looking to have a good time. And Swerve’s Bar is THE place to go on the spaceship The Lost Light should you have the need for some Energon Ale.

While Swerve’s doesn’t break into the top 10 o’ this Lot simply because it’s such a vague and relatively unknown bar, it makes the list overall because I just love these robots, their stories, and their relationships so damned much. I know, these are plastic toys from the 1980s. But their real to me.

10. Quark’s

Although it’s not the coolest bar from the Star Trek universe, Quark’s is easily the one that looks more like your traditional western frontier saloon, which is what Deep Space Nine was going for. Set right off the main hub in the promenade, Quark’s offered food, drink, fellowship, but most importantly it offered gambling and holosuites.

Having hookers and gaming was a real departure for the series as the Federation tended to frown on such things, but it added a sense of realism to the fell of the entire series. Real frontier stuff, unrestrained by the laws of the Federation. And the cast of regulars, including the ever-silent Morn, were fantastic additions. A great place that deserve to break the Top 10 in a list with so many great entries.

9. Club Rockit

Club Rockit was an actual, real-life place that writer Bryan Lee O’ Malley used to model the fictional punk rock venue in the wildly successful and fun Scott Pilgrim series of comics. It was described as cramped, ugly, and terrible by its creator, but we loved it for a lone reason: Sex Bob-Omb played there!

If you have a club in a comic book and there’s a cool band that plays there it’s going to be an awesome place. The club shows up in every instance of this license including comics, movies, and video games, and really just goes to show you how damned popular this series is. Sequel? I sure hope so!

8. The Leaky Cauldron

Founded by Daisy Dodderidge in 1500 to serve as a doorway between the non-magic Muggle World and the Wizarding World, The Leaky Cauldron is a pub and inn from the Harry Potter Universe. It was one of the first introductions readers and viewers had at what the new magical world we were stepping into truly had to offer.

Whimsy filled both the book and movie scenes that introduced The Leaky Cauldron, and it only got better from there. Beyond that, however, The Leaky Cauldron was a portal of sorts from the real to the imagined, a mainstay in scores of fantasy titles. Subtle and fun, it was a great anchor early on in the series and just neat in its own right.

7. The Prancing Pony

Another one from both famous books and popular movies, The Prancing Pony is in the village of Bree in Middle-Earth from The Lord of the Rings series of novels and films. This is where Frodo and his group meet up with the Ranger Strider in what became one of the most amazing adventures of all time.

More occurs at this inn and bar than just the meeting of Frodo and Strider, but it’s the most famous by far, and this meeting represents a ramp up in the adventure of the story. And it’s a terrific moment. Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf meet up here at one point, as well, but it’s just not mentioned as much. While the Honorable Mention spot in this Lot may be a stereotype, this is the inn that created it.

6. Moe’s Tavern

When you visit Springfield there’s only one place where the Everyman goes after a long, hard day of running the nuclear power plant. Moe’s Tavern. The cold Duff on tap, terrific music, fun regulars, and, of course, Moe, our lovable bartender. There may not be a more well known bar on this list.

A lot of people know about Moe’s because so many people have been forced to watch so many seasons of The Simpsons. I guess it deserves it – I haven’t watched since season 5 or 6 – but Moe’s is still very worthy of making this list.

5. The Hellfire Club

I’m not really quite sure if this entry even qualifies, as the Hellfire Club is more of a group of people than a building where people drink, but I don’t care. The perennial X-Men villain, the Hellfire Club is a fictional society bent on obtaining power, but they do often have an actual club.

Sometimes a bar isn’t about the where, but the who. The place is terrific, but The Hellfire Club is really made up of really interesting – and often very evil – characters. And those cool Chess piece nicknames? So cool!

4. The Iceberg Lounge

Barely missing the Top 3 is the relatively new aspect of DC Comics Gotham City, Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge. The iceberg shaped nightclub, conveniently located in Gotham Harbor, acts as a legitimate business front for the Penguin’s criminal dealings, and also works as a place for Batman to use his makeup kit.

My favorite parts of the Iceberg Lounge are when Batman disguises himself as a criminal, goes to the lounge incognito, all in an attempt to overhear some underworld information that may help him solve the next crime. And it’s just really cool to see it floating there on Gotham’s Skyline.

3. The Ink & Paint Club

Yes, breaking into the Top 3 is the nightclub run by cartoons from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Ink & Paint Club. In a world where toons are real, this nightclub takes the best parts of that animated world, puts them to wrok, and provides quality entertainment as well as superb nightclub services.

Opening on the Duck vs Duck piano duel, Jessica’s solo in the middle, and ending on that gorilla of a bouncer, the Ink & Paint Club not only left an impression on anyone who watched this movie, but it made viewers want to go there for a Saturday night of drinking, dancing, and drawing.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv24TJ8iXcs%5B/embedyt%5D

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy5THitqPBw%5B/embedyt%5D

2. Mos Eisley Cantina

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

But, man, they play such good music! Like many things in the Star Wars Universe, less was more when it came to this Outer Rim bar on the mudball that is Tatooine. Is was rightfully a dangerous place. Who goes to Tatooine if they aren’t in trouble and laying low? That’s a recipe for smugglers, pirates, and, yes, nerf-herders.

Again, less was more here. Lucas understood that an audience will fill in their own gaps, and usually an audience will fill it with better stuff than a writer ever could. So many alien races with absolutely no explanation whatsoever about who or what they are. It was perfect. Oh, and that house band is the best in the galaxy.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbYF6XpTYE%5B/embedyt%5D

1. 10 Forward

Wait! They put a bar in a Federation Starship? Yes, they did, and it was awesome! Deck 10 in the forward section of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D was just that: A bar. A place where weary Starfleet officers could relax, eat, fellowship, drink, listen to music, and otherwise have an awesome time. It was weird for a while. There’s a bar on a Federation starship? But it ended up working so well for so man reasons.

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The primary reason was the bartender, Guinan, played by acting legend Whoopi Goldberg. But all of the little things fell right into place over a very short period of time to make 10 Forward one of the most popular place in the entire galaxy. Sometimes there’s a hostage situation, some days it’s a birthday party. Other days there’s a funeral wake, yet others there’s an emergency baby delivery (thanks, Worf!), and still others see the entire crew trying to beat each other to a pulp. Business as usual on the Flagship of the Federation.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWaguilvSrY%5B/embedyt%5D

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TotL – 15 Fictional Watering Holes Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. That's a really awesome reference that you should Google.