Superhuman speed, strength, sensory perceptions, extrasensory perceptions, magical powers: the possibilities are seemingly endless in the world of superheroes. Whether we’re talking American comics or Japanese manga (and everything in-between), many of us are fascinated by heroes and antiheroes who don costumes and fight the good fight against larger-than-life supervillains and their hordes of henchmen.
If we’re talking American comics, I’m partial to Wolverine from the X-Men and his insane regenerative abilities. I didn’t read many comics growing up, but I loved the X-Men cartoon from the 1990s and watched it every chance I could get. Batman: the Animated Series was another one, which may be why Batman’s one of my favorite heroes as well. He’s an interesting one because he doesn’t rely on inherent superpowers. It’s all skill, grit, determination, and money. Lots of money.
Speaking of Batman or, to be exact, Bruce Wayne and the money behind him, I just finished an anime called The Millionaire Detective that I think many fans of Batman might enjoy, particularly fans of the cartoon series. The protagonist is a detective in a Japanese police department and he ends up partnered with an exceedingly wealthy man who buys a position in the department and starts solving crimes with all the money he has on hand. Everything from purchasing rare sports cars so he can chase down bad guys to reimbursing anyone who suffers collateral damage at twice the amount. It starts off with a hilarious bang and grows in scope and in dramatic scale throughout its run. And at just eleven episodes of about 25 minutes each, it’s an easy run to binge. Check it out on Crunchyroll!
Now that we’re on the topic of Superheroes…
The B.E.N.T. Superhero Flash Novel Challenge Ends with a Successful Bang!
The first B.E.N.T. novel challenge has come to an end, and we’ve gotten four completed submissions in the pile for consideration! Many of you are still working on yours, and I’m here to urge you not to give up! The beauty of this challenge is it continues past the deadline date. All it means is you’ll need to wait a little while before we can get to you, so finish and submit as soon as possible! We’re looking forward to seeing what you can add to this fun, expanding superhero universe!
And if superheroes aren’t your thing–or they are but you want to write something different at the moment–we’ve got other universes currently open!
Want to Write for the Car Warriors Universe?
If you’re a fan of Steve Jackson’s Car Wars game, or you love Mad Max and other post-apocalyptic shenanigans and want to write that kind of stuff, we’ve got a great opportunity for you! We are accepting pitch ideas for novels and short stories set in the Car Wars universe. The fiction side of it is Car Warriors: the Autoduel Chronicles, and the first book published is Burning Roads by William Joseph Roberts.
If you’re interested in learning more, head over to the Car Warriors section of the website!
Also, we are down to the last five days on the Kickstarter campaign to fund our ever-expanding fiction line. If you’d like to support it as a fan and a reader, now’s your chance to land both physical swag and immortalization in the form of thank you credits and even tuckerization appearances in upcoming stories and novels! From “redshirts” to cameos to main cast, the opportunities are as endless as your imagination!
Peter Stanley Interviewed by CCS Disability in Action!
Peter Stanley (Real name Piotr Mierzejewski) was recently the subject of a feature post from the organization CCS Disability in Action on its Facebook account. In it, they interview him about his debut novel Dragoon: First Strike as well as discussing his inspiration for it and everything he had to go through to get it finished. Check out the link here for the full post!
While you’re there, don’t forget to check out his debut novel Dragoon: First Strike. It’s X-COM meets Independence Day meets Wing Commander in the bloody battlefields of New Zealand.
And to bring things full-circle, our last topic involves more superheroes!
Superhero Discussion on Blasters & Blades!
Three Ravens must really love Blasters and Blades (and vice-versa!), because we’ve got representation on deck once again! Episode 287 is titled “What Makes a Good Superhero” and features William Joseph Roberts, Jennie Wren, Phillip K. Booker, JR Handley, John Epple, Nick the President of Apogee Comics, and the inestimable Madam Stabby Stab!
