Images from Steve Wozniak’s first annual Silicon Valley Comic Con, 2016.
Silicon Valley Comic Con 2016
Category Archives: comics
See the iTunes Terms & Conditions Rendered in Comic Book Form
Every piece of software we use comes with some kind of license agreement. These agreements are usually filled with tens of thousands of words; a veritable sea of legalese and technical terms. Most of us (me included) just scroll down to the bottom of these agreements without reading a single word. Then, we click the Accept button in blissful ignorance and go on to use the latest app we’ve acquired.
But one comic-book artist has decided to take the somewhat unenviable task of poring over the entire Terms & Conditions that come along with Apple’s all-encompassing media consumption platform, iTunes. It’s a daunting project, for sure. But artist R. Sikoryak is definitely having fun with it by turning those lengthy terms into iTunes Terms And Conditions: the Graphic Novel.
The project is being posted on Tumblr where it’s described as, “The complete, unabridged legal agreement, as drawn by R. Sikoryak. A new page added every day.” R. Sikoryak is also fashioning each day’s comic after the work of other comic-book artists. All of the comics feature a vaguely Steve Jobs-esque character and all of the text in the comics is pulled directly from the iTunes Terms & Conditions verbiage.
Imagine if tech companies actually presented their legalese like iTunes Terms And Conditions: the Graphic Novel. They’d be a lot more fun to read, and more people would actually see them!
Stan Lee to Teach Online Course
Comic book legend Stan Lee is teaming up with the Smithsonian Institution to teach a five week course on the rise of superhero culture.
The online course is open to all ages, and is delivered via video lectures and interviews, interactive exercises, curated links and readings, and online discussion with course faculty and students from around the world.
Upon completion, graduates will receive a certificate featuring original artwork and Stan’s signature.
“It’s a great honor being invited to share my views on the evolution of superheroes and the genre’s overall impact across all generations of people,” said Stan Lee. “Throughout my career, characters have evolved so much – from drawings on a page to other-worldly special effects only animation could produce, to live-action and so much more. I can’t wait to dive into these discussions thanks to Smithsonian and edX.”
For more information, you can visit the “Rise of the Superhero” sign up page.
Cleveland Comic Con 2015 (Images)
Wizard World kicked off its first Cleveland based Comic Con this weekend with an impressive “thousands of fans” attending, according to Wizard World PR. Lou Ferrigno and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson cut the ribbon Friday evening to open the doors for the inaugural con. The event included celebrity guests (mostly from the West Coast) commenting on the record cold weather Cleveland was experiencing, but all in good fun. Notable attendees included Bruce Campbell, Joey Lauren Adams, William Shatner, Drea De Mateo, and Karen Gillan among others.
Wizard World has already announced dates for next year’s Cleveland Comic Con, which will be held Feb. 26-28, 2016.
Stay tuned for this week’s Robot Underpants show here on Geek News Central for audio clips from some of the panels.
‘Gotham’ or ‘Batman Without Batman’
When I heard this show was coming, I kind of groaned. The description about “Gotham” was that it’s to take place before Batman, Joker, and all the cool bad guys and gadgets. It’s “Batman Babies.” It follows young Jim Gordon and the Gotham PD around to solve crimes. Another cop procedural show, just what we need. I have this feeling that there’s some farm outside of LA somewhere, where writers just sit and churn out cop stories, then when Hollywood orders a new cop show, they just change a few names and settings, and we’re good to go. That’s how I felt about “Almost Human” but at least there were good actors, and the effects were pretty.
But I digress.
I’ll go ahead and say “possible spoilers ahead” even though nothing really happened in this first episode. The only real event that happened, is the one everyone knows – Bruce Wayne’s parents get killed. And they stuck to that. Outside of the names of Batman related characters, I’ve got a feeling they aren’t going to stick to the story lines very closely. We’ve already met Oswald Cobblepot, who will become the Penguin, but instead of the usual short, stout character we know, he’s a tall, slender guy with a limp and greasy hair. A different take, I guess. Young Catwoman is so obvious, yet so absent from this episode there’s no point in going into that really. This first one was a set up episode. As most pilots are. We meet young Jim Gordon. We know it’s him, because we hear his name mentioned about 80 bazillion times. We meet his partner Harvey Bullock, and a few other bad guys and gals.
I always give a show three episodes before I make a call on whether or not to continue. So we’ll see where this goes. I’m a big Batman fan, so I’m in for a few more eps. I just don’t know how great it’s going to be when all the fun stuff about Batman (costumed criminals, the Bat-gadgets, and Batman himself) are removed. I really wish the show took place in the 40’s. Like it did in the comics. A 1940’s Gotham PD would be pretty sweet, in my opinion. But it’s not. It’s modern day. So I wonder – Will “Gotham” just sorta leave us with another cop show, but with Batman-related names?
