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Author Archives: Jesse Russell

Before Oakland, there was Madison, Wisconsin. In Madison, the hours that weren’t filled up by my day job were typically devoured by event planning and running the city’s popular arts and politics news site, Dane101. Some of the events I organized include an annual two-night cabaret/carnival/masquerade party called the Fire Ball Masquerade, Madison's biggest non-city sponsored Halloween party, the geek culture focused MadPubQuiz of Awesomeness, and the first Whedonesque Burlesque in the country. Having successfully reshaped the reality of Madison, Wisconsin I packed up and moved to the Bay Area in February of 2013. In addition to comics, I enjoy imbibing cocktails and beer, exploring foreign cities, consuming food of various temperatures, hearing music performed live, losing at board and card games, and getting caught in the rain.

On Wednesday the San Diego Comic-Con kicks off. In recent years the focus has been less on the form of media in the event’s name and more about television shows, video gaming, and film. This year Comic-Con could be much more old school as the main point of discussion for many attendees will likely be the controversial decision by DC comics to reset all of it’s titles to #1 and, in a sense, relaunch the Universe. On Saturday, fans are planning a protest to express how “utterly baffled, disappointed and just ANGRY” they are about DC’s decision.

That protest is in solidarity with “Harleypalooza” where cosplayers who like to dress as The Joker’s lady friend, Harley Quinn, plan to show their outrage at the new DC version of Harley. The previous incarnation of Harley sported a modest clown suit and the new DCU (or DCnU) has her sporting a loosely tied corset and very, very short shorts (here’s some commentary on the new look).

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