When it premiered last year, Raven Gregory’s Fly was a revelation.

Gregory mined his own painful past to create a book that took a hard look at superheroes, addiction and went to places not many other comics would go. He and his amazing artistic partner Eric J had created something very special in Fly and that was precisely why I named it my Best New Book of 2011.

Now after far too long of a wait, the sequel has arrived on store shelves. Fly: The Fall is the second chapter of the story of Eddie, Francis and The Hero and it is every bit as gritty and emotional as the first. Raven Gregory was kind enough to answer a few questions about the new series and where things are headed.

How did it make you feel when Fly got such a positive response from the comic book community?

It was a really great feeling. It means a lot to me that so many people were touched by the story. It came from a very dark and hard time in me and my family’s life so it’s nice to know something good came from it.

Was a sequel always part of the plan?

Originally it was supposed to be an ongoing series but scheduling and deadlines dictated otherwise. But yes, the series was always planned to continue. (more…)

Melody Kramer is a life-long geek. She grew up in South Jersey and made the jump across the Delaware for college, and now calls Philadelphia her home. We recently caught up with Melody to talk about public radio, paper boats, and Twitter.
What makes you a geek?

I spent eight years in marching band, four years on my high school bio team, and six years working in public radio. I once spent 24 hours watching all three Indiana Jones movies, all three Star Wars movies and all of the Lord of the Ring movies. (This was college.) And I was recently nominated for a Geek Award. If that doesn’t solidify my geekiness, I’m not sure what would.

How did you get the gig of Associate Producer at NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross?

I originally started working at NPR through a post-college fellowship called the Kroc Fellowship. It was basically a very intense crash course in public radio. Following the fellowship, I got a gig writing, producing and directing Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s humor show. I lived in Chicago for 2 years…eventually a position opened up at Fresh Air. I grew up here, so it seemed perfect. At Fresh Air, I wrote everything on the website, did all of the social media and wrote some daily on-air stuff for the show. (more…)

Gerry Giovinco and Bill Cucinotta

Rising from the ashes of indie publishing great Comico, CO2 Comics is dedicated to bringing creator-owned works to the masses. Amongst the company’s recent works are Don Lomax’s The Heavy Adventures of Captain Obese, Raine Szramski’s Heaven and the Dead City and Steve Lafler’s Ménage à Bughouse.

Although vastly different, all of these efforts showcase a creative spark unlike anything seen in releases from mainstream publishers.

Recently, Geekadelphia had the opportunity to discuss all things CO2 Comics with Gerry Giovinco who, along with Bill Cucinotta, are the operators of the largely print-on-demand publishing outfit. Here’s what he had to say.

What is the origin of CO2 Comics?

Bill and I first met while attending The Philadelphia College of Art which is now University of the Arts. We created and published a scandalous student newspaper called Duckwork that was primarily focused on comics and campus life. It was through Duckwork that we originally established relationships with several other students who were interested in comics, some of which played significant roles in the development of Comico and CO2 Comics. Joe Williams, Tina Garceau, Mike Leeke, Dave Johnson, Joe Matt and Matt Wagner were all among that circle of students.

Bill and I left PCA early to co-found Comico the Comic Company with Phil and Dennis LaSorda. Comico was a significant independent publisher during the 1980′s producing, originally, black-and-white comics featuring our own stories then later evolved into a full color line that published many creator owned titles as well as licensed product. Neither Bill or I survived the power struggles of the partnership and we both eventually left Comico prior to its bankruptcy. (more…)

Photo by Elizabeth Waugh

I am a huge fan of the Science Channel’s Oddities program and the fascinatingly eccentric mortician, model, and clothing designer Laura Flook.

Most viewers of the show will probably remember her from the episode where she requests the surgical table for a photo shoot. If you haven’t seen Oddities, it’s essentially a reality show about an antiques shop in New York called Obscura that sells strange and bizarre antique curiosities and the clientele that patronizes it.

What folks might not know about Laura is she is actually a native of Central Pennsylvania, has a comic book about her experiences as a mortician and will actually be in town with the Oddities crew hosting Dracula’s Ball tonight.

In anticipation for that she was kind enough to give me an interview about not only her reality TV work but also her many other endeavors as well. I couldn’t think of a better individual to be our Halloween Geek of the Week, enjoy the interview.

How did you come to be on the show Oddities?

Simply put, Ryan Matthews is an old friend of mine. As I understand it, just prior to shooting the first season of Oddities, (Discovery loved the concept of the show so much, I’m told, that they didn’t even require a pilot to be filmed), Evan, Mike and Ryan were interested in involving collectors they were already friends with, before things would presumably become a tad more impersonal.

Folks that watch the show know you have a pretty impressive collection of medical curiosities. Why did you start collecting?

Compared to others, I really do not have a large collection, but I am most pleased with and hold much value in the special items I do own. It was never an intention of mine to collect anything – in quantity…of any sort…ever. In my case, I suppose my personal interests (be it music, films, books, industrial adhesives or antique surgical instruments and the like) simply progress into what I might stand back from at some point and think ‘yeah.. I guess that could be considered a collection.’ Which was exactly what happened with Oddities.

When I was first asked to partake in the show ‘as a collector’, I was really surprised to even be thought of, as I had never before thought of myself to even have a collection of oddities. Everything I own has a story attached to it. I have never deliberately set out to acquire anything in order to add to a number of similar personal effects. It’s actually pretty rare that I purchase anything for myself that I cannot actively utilize in some way or another.

I have most definitely bought and gifted away more curiosities than I have kept for myself. I suppose it’s quite fitting then, that many of the objects in my ‘collection’ have been gifted to me from others, respectfully.

What are some of your favorite pieces currently in your collection?

Ooh.. favorites, that’s tough. I have no answer for that, because it’s just not simple enough to compare everything. My late 19th Century embalming kit is definitely amongst my most treasured of items, but then I must acknowledge my collection of trocars, drain tubes, teeth, and – I am most pleased (and almost a little bit frightened at times) to be the proud owner of a vintage (yet active) full pint bottle of Chloroform.

Screwed be the fellow that tries to break into my apartment while I’m home. I’m heavily armed and not always entirely stable.

(more…)

Running at the Arden Theatre through November 4th, Next to Normal is a rock musical about a family struggling to deal with their matriarch’s bipolar disorder. The show is an emotional tour de force packed with laughs and pathos, as well as plenty of insights on all aspects of mental illness. Part of the success of the Arden’s staging of the show is the stunning video design work of Jorge Cousineau.

Throughout the performance, his imagery comments on the action in subtle and profound ways. As a Barrymore Award winner, a Pew Fellowship recipient and Philadelphia Weekly’s 2011 Theater Artist of the Year, the always in-demand Cousineau divides his time between designing for the Arden and Subcircle, a collaboration with his choreographer wife Niki.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss Next to Normal with Jorge. Here’s what he had to say:

How did you first get started in theater?

I think it had something to do with my mother bringing me backstage as an infant. So while she performing a few small roles, I was being taken care of by other cast members and crew. But the incident I remember is when my next door neighbor who worked as a lighting designer brought me to see Hansel and Gretel.

Once again I entered through the back door and watched it from the follow spot booth, which wasn’t used for that particular production. Later I studied scenic design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, but switched to painting after three years because I actually found it too limiting and predictable. I never quite pulled my foot out of the theater door. After moving to Philadelphia I slowly drifted back into the theater world through connections I made in dance. (more…)

This week, our selected geeks is lifelong Star Wars collector (and local guy) Paul Harrison. Working in the healthcare industry by day, the 38-year-old Bensalem resident devotes a large chunk of his free time to his duties as the News and Features Editor at Jedi Temple Archives, the definitive source of Star Wars collectibles information.

Along with regularly hunting down the latest toys based on George Lucas’ sprawling space saga, he also coordinates reviews and writes about events for the website. His efforts have not gone unnoticed, as he provided the photographs for legendary collector Steve Sansweet’s latest book, Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection.

Geekadelphia recently had a chance to speak with Harrison about his love of that galaxy far, far away, his work on Sansweet’s book and his favorite Philly spots. Here’s what he had to say. (more…)

Jason Tagmire is a prolific local board and video game designer. This loving father, husband, brother, and son hails from over the bridge in New Jersey, where he’s been designing games for several years.

His most recent announcement, that he developed the latest Quarriors expansion, Quest of the Qladiator, is pretty close to one of the coolest things I have ever heard. Did I mention we went to high school together?

Yeah, I know a superstar. I got to interview him and I asked him some questions about his Kickstarted games, as well as what to do to make it big in the tabletop business.

What got you into designing board games?

I have this constant need to create. Whether it’s making a game, writing a story, making music… I just love the idea of having an idea. And then seeing where I can go with it.

Can you tell us a little bit about the first game you designed?

It’s still incomplete, but it was very ambitious. It was a full on trading card game called “Magic Gone Mad” based off of a web series that I made with my brother and brother-in-law. I think we made a full 108 card set, but we only printed a short run of 10 promo cards. Around that time I discovered a print-on-demand / short run playing card company and started to self-publish my own games.

In 2008, I self-published my first game, “Maze Game.” It’s a solitaire card game where a player will try and complete a  maze by twisting and removing cards from the grid layout. It was pretty simple, but it was the game that kicked off this whole adventure. (more…)

Joel Hodgson of MST3K was at New York Comic Con this weekend doing the Nerdist Podcast with Guillermo Del Toro and he took a few minutes from his busy schedule to chat with me about his newest endeavor, How to Have a Job Like Mine, premiering at The Colonial Theater this Friday October 19th.

I asked him a few questions about the event, and if you’re a fan of MST3K you really shouldn’t miss it. You can still pick up tickets here.

So tell me about How to Have a Job Like Mine?

It all starts with me when I am 5 years old and I believe that God is making the movies. I actually believed that God is producing movies. This is based on seeing, the movies that were these kind of epic comedies that were coming out when I was little like Around the World in 80 Days, The Great Race and especially It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

Ultimately it’s a lot of explanations about Mystery Science Theater and how it came together. It’s a very in-depth talk about the creation of the show.

How did the idea of doing a presentation like this come up?

I actually got commissioned by one of the executives at Shout Factory, who said that I should put together a video of my projects other than Mystery Science Theater. When I started thinking about it, I started scanning all these images, photos and things I had saved over the years. It all just sort of started to fall into place as I was putting them into Keynote.

I am still figuring it out. Its all really peculiar, I mean its funny how you actually have to book dates to kind of be ready and then be making as you are getting ready for the show. I have put a moratorium on making slides, I am all done importing it but I am still arranging it and getting it in shape. (more…)

If you have ever been to Wizard World Philly or any of the outstanding comic book stores in our city, you already know that Philadelphia knows comic books. But it would seem that we are also becoming the place to publish comic books as well.

215 Ink is the latest of a growing number of comic book publishers that have decided to call Philadelphia home. Much like Image Comics, 215 Ink publishes nothing but creator owned titles that take comics to places they have almost never been before. Titles such as Transmeet, Jesus Hates Zombies and Ghost Lines as just a few examples of their deep, diverse line-up.

Andrew DelQuadro is the President of 215 Ink and he recently talked with me about 215 Ink, what makes them unique and why Philly is such a great comic book town. (more…)

Caroline Bean is the Director of Social Media for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, the folks responsible for many of the exciting and iconic Philadelphia-centric events and campaigns we’ve come to love.

She took a few minutes to chat with us about what it’s like to manage social media for an entire city, a couple big campaigns, and Star Wars.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a born-and-bred Delawarian, but I’ve lived in Philadelphia for nearly ten years now and I even bought a home here, so I’m clearly hooked. I’ve worked at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) (also known as Visit Philly) for almost ten years.

Considering I work in social media, I’m never fully “off the clock” (social media people know what I’m talking about) but I do find plenty of time to enjoy this city. I go out to eat a ton (jamón ibérico at Jamonera! Shrimp pil pil at Dmitri’s!), train for the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (on the Schuylkill River Trail, Penn Park or Forbidden Drive in the Wiss), cheer on the Phillies (love those guys no matter what), and guilt my fellow book club members into actually reading the books. I’m also on the board of the Professional Women’s Roundtable, a networking group for emerging women business leaders in Philadelphia. (more…)

In the second installment of the countdown to Alpha Girls I decided to take some time and chat with two gentlemen who are very familiar to Geekadelphia readers Tony Trov and Johnny Zito.  It was great chatting with these renaissance men about this particular creative endeavor and how it evolved over the years.

This is all in anticipation for the screening of Alpha Girls their sorority horror epic that is screening October 3rd at The Trocadero. Feel free to RSVP on the Facebook group here and enjoy the interview. (more…)

Something happened to cupcakes. There is this strange sentiment that so often pervades the world of cupcakes these days.  It might be the increasingly competitive nature of boutique and micro cupcake baking in this post-cupcake revolution era, but there was a certain joy that is missed from this particular arena of pastry. But, there are a few genuine micro bakers who are still fighting the good fight.

In the case of Melissa Ward of Cupcake Friday Project, the joy of baking is not something that is easily forgotten. Her very Julie & Julia-esque (her goal for the last of 2012 is 52 flavors in 52 weeks) exploration of flavor is done with plenty of joy and even more sass.Cupcake Friday Project is the product of one geek girl’s genuine love for baking. Mel (as she is referred to in her Blog) is a model for aspiring lady bakers.

She has striking red hair, a charming smile and quick wit. Her recipes are playful without sacrificing respect towards higher baking. She is, without a doubt, one of the most joyful bakers I’ve met in a while.

I had a moment to sit down with Mel over Blueberry lemon buttermilk pancake cupcakes with maple buttercream and candied bacon. Needless to say, it was an absolutely delicious 45 minutes. (more…)