Offbeat Worlds by Stephanie Brown

Hey guys! I know I know, this is well over a month late, I’m sorry! But hey, better late than never right?

Enjoy!

I wish I had a better camera…

Marvel, the big comic book company that has start making hit-movies and recently released their biggest success ever, The Avengers, is awesome. And I don’t mean they are awesome because of all that stuff I just mentioned. They are awesome for an entirely different reason.

And that reason is the 4-year-old boy named Anthony Smith. Anthony is hearing impaired, he can’t hear in his right ear at all and his left ear has trouble, and so therefore Anthony has to wear a blue hearing aid to help him hear and learn.

This has never bothered little Anthony until recently, when he realized that none of the superheroes he loves wear any hearing aids. The poor little guy fell into a depression, and desperate for help, his mother reached out…

To Marvel.

And guess what Marvel did?

They sent Anthony a whole package of awesomeness, which included limited edition comics featuring Hawkeye, who actually did wear a hearing aid and several custom drawings by the artists at Marvel. One of those was an adorable drawing of Hawkeye and Anthony Smith together and crime-fighting superheroes (above). The other was a whole new character inspired by Anthony and his blue hearing aid called Blue Ear, who used his fancy blue hearing aid to hear people calling for help (below).

And it worked too. Little Anthony Smith is back to being the happy and enthusiastic boy that he should be.

This is such a heart-warming story and so amazing on the part of Marvel that I had to share it. It’s good to know that there are still people out there who are willing to go out of their way to help someone they have never even met.

[Philip DeFranco]

Recently in an interview Joss Whedon was asked who would win a fight between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Avenger’s Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff). Since he knows both characters extremely well, having created and written for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show and writing and directing the upcoming Avenger’s movie, he answered with this:

Buffy would go easy at first, but as soon as Natasha popped her with a Widow Sting, she’d start bringing some slayer brawn to the fray. Natasha’s fast, but a couple of good connects and she’s wobbling, possibly something broken — she whips out her glock and now Buffy’s dodging — right where Natasha wants her. Natasha shoots the cable holding the steel barrels and they tumble onto Buffy, nearly burying her — Buffy just arcs out of the way, grabbing the splintered cable and swinging directly onto Natasha, a bullet grazing her cheek as her feet land hard on the Russian’s shoulders, sending her back flat – crack! – on the floor, Buffy wrenching the gun away and tossing it, fist ready for the final strike. Natasha, struggling to stay conscious, says the fight’s over. Buffy agrees, but Natasha explains: She poisoned Buffy hours ago. That waitress that brought her salad …? Natasha smiles. The poison is dormant — ’til it’s activated by adrenaline. Buffy’s eyes narrow. “Too bad I didn’t use any.” Wham! Natasha’s out for the count, and Buffy’s heading — slowly — to Willow for a mystical cleanse.

That’d be my first guess.

The man is amazing. And that is why I shall forever be a fan of his.

I present to you a geeky ode to fictional women (by a woman):

Quorra (Tron: Legacy)

Chell (Portal)

Echo (Dollhouse)

Ohura (Star Trek)

Codex (The Guild)

Princess Leia (Star Wars)

Sarah Conner (Terminator)

River Tam (Firefly/Serenity)

Samantha Carter (Stargate SG-1)

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games trilogy)

Black Widow (The Avengers)

Kate Beckett (Castle)

Willow (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)

Ripley (The Alien Saga)

Claire Redfield (The Resident Evil Games)

Tifa (Final Fantasy 7)

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Happy International Women’s Day!

I’ll let the epicosity speak for itself.

The Avengers comes out May 4th. Can’t wait!