Welcome to the third issue of the all-new monthly "blogazine" edition of Random Acts of Geekery! As you're reading this, the leaves have changed color, the stores are loading up their shelves with a blinding array of various candies to give to the kiddies at the end of the month, as well as costumes and masks for them to wear (although nothing as fun as we had when we were kids, right?), and some stores are even starting to feature Christmas items!
Well, as I'm writing this, it's the end of July, and still just a smidge over a month until the first issue of this hits the blogospere, and I have no idea what kind of reaction this new version of RAOG will get! As you can see already, there have been some changes occurring with this third installment: Most obviously, there are the new headings for each article. Some of these may change as I look at them more, but for the most part, I'm happy with what I came up with (now if only there was a way for me to not have the regular text title preceding it, but then it'd just be blank, and it could be hard to find with any search engine); the "Monster Stuff" and "Monster Scrapbook" features have been split into two separate articles, so as to make them easier for your browser to load; and finally, I've decided to make the "Babe of the Geek" a regular feature, where you'll see a gallery of photos of a leading lady from geek media, celebrating the lovely ladies who male geeks like me had crushes on growing up... and every now and then, I'll feature an actress currently appearing in a geek-related role!
Three issues into this, and I'm feeling pretty good about maintaining this schedule, and not worried that I'll start falling behind and have to go on hiatus again, as I've had to do twice in the past now (and you have no idea how much I've hated to do both of those hiatuses... well, maybe you at least know how much I prefer to be ahead of schedule... it's a sickness, I know).
One thing I do want to throw out with this issue, even though it's going to be months before I see any results from this, and that is to invite you, the readers, to be a bigger part of this blogazine! For the very first time, I'm opening up the doors to accepting submissions from you! There's just a few guidelines to bear in mind:
- Before you go and put your heart and soul into writing an extensive piece, shoot me an email at waffyjon at comcast dot net first with the idea for your article, and maybe give me an idea of what direction you're going with it. This will help eliminate possible duplication of efforts, in case I or one of the other readers has something similar in the works.
- Remember that submissions should be of a geeky nature! It should reflect the old-school geek culture that this blog is known for, although there are a lot of topics that can be covered -- comics, cartoons, oldies rock and roll, monsters, sci-fi, pulps, toys, TV, children's books (with licensed characters, natch), etc.
- For the most part, I'm not looking for submissions on the regular features, but there are exceptions! I am happy to accept submissions for Puzzle Time (because sooner or later, I'm going to run out of what I have in my files from old geek puzzle publications), Covers Redux (I've only been covering the Marvel superheroes reprints, plus Sgt. Fury, but perhaps there could be a one-shot CR for DC reprints?), Geek TV, Ape of the Geek (if there's a particular anthropoid you'd like to write about), Comics They Never Made and Silly Covers.
- Keep it PG-13, please!
- I reserve the right to make any edits that I feel are necessary and appropriate, although I will let you know of any changes I make before publication.
- There's no compensation for your submissions... heck, I'm lucky to make a little money off of this blog myself sometimes! But there is the exposure, as well as being able to share your passion about something with the world!
- Remember that I work quite a bit ahead of schedule (see above), so once I've accepted a submission, it may be a few months before it appears, although I will more than likely consider adding submissions to issues that are complete but haven't been published yet.
- By submitting an article to me, you agree that while you maintain the copyright on said article, you also agree to have the article remain in the RAOG archives for as long as they are available.
Now that all that's taken care of, get ready to enjoy this special Halloween-themed issue of RAOG! Not every feature is Halloween-related, but there should be enough to justify the theme! And here's what's coming up in future issues:
November: Continuing from this month's "Cool Stuff" feature, there'll be more of the gallery of Big Little Books, but at the same time, there'll be a separate "Cool Stuff" feature with other items, too! November is, of course, my birthday month, as well as being Thanksgiving month, so there'll likely be a feature or two relating to those! "Fandom Library" will be returning next month, as well, with some selected features from the short-lived Laugh-In magazine!
December: December being Christmas month, you can expect a few Christmas-related features, such as some reruns from past Christmas Comics Countdowns, and I'd imagine I'll do a "Geek Memories" installment of Christmas memories.
January: I've been toying with the idea of a special Monkees-themed issue, and this may well be the month that happens!
February: It'll be the anniversary of the first publication of this blog, marking... eleven years?!? Holy crap, even with the two hiatuses, I still find that hard to believe! February is also Valentine's month, so expect an all-romance comics edition of "Comic Reading Library"!
Enjoy this issue, and I'll see you again next month!
Jon
Puzzle Time – Test your skills at
solving these classic puzzles from Fun and Games Magazine!
Comic Reading Library – A Special
All-Horror Edition of the Comic Reading Library!
Cool Stuff! – A few random items to
start us off this time, then the beginning of what will be a
multi-part gallery of Big Little Books and similar publications!
Essays on Comics Characters – The
Joker!
Kirby Kovers – A gallery of classic
Jack Kirby covers!
Covers Redux – Can you spot the
differences between the original covers and the reprints?
x
Geek Memories – Halloweens Past!
Comic Book Ads – This month, Sam
Spade for Wildroot Cream-Oil!
Monster Stuff – Lots of monster
goodies this time around, with a large amount of lobby cards to check
out!
Ape of the Geek – Konga!
Monster Scrapbook – Spinning off into
its own section once again, an extra-large sampling of articles from
monster magazines of the past!
Government Comics – Rex Morgan, M.D.
Talks About Your Unborn Child!
l
Geek TV – The short-lived
invisibility series Gemini Man is in the spotlight!
The Indexible Hulk – The Hulk Battles the Missing Link!
Babe of the Geek – A new regular
feature, this month starring Julie Adams from The Creature From
the Black Lagoon!
Kirby Kovers EXTRA! Monster Covers – An extra dose of Kirby Kovers,
spotlighting his monster and horror covers!
My Characters – This month, it's villain time again, with the Daemon!
l
Puzzle Time Answers! – How well did you do this month?
