Ignite Phoenix #12 is one of the valley’s premier community themed events and is happening this Friday, May 4, 2012, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Virginia G. Piper Theater at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Out of over 90 submissions, 18 different speakers from the local creative, technical, and business communities were selected to give a 5-minute presentation (with a maximum 20 slides) on projects or topics that they are passionate about.
The show has sold-out, but you can follow Ignite Phoenix on FACEBOOK where announcements will be …

When multi-billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, inventor extraordinaire, dons his solar-charged, steel-mesh armor, he becomes a high-tech warrior — the world’s greatest human fighting machine! The Invincible Iron Man – Marvel Comics circa 1990s
In 1963, Stan Lee envisioned Iron Man as a commentary on the Cold War and the U.S. military industrial complex, and together with his brother, Larry Lieber, and artists Jack “King” Kirby and Don Heck, they created one of comics’ most compelling characters and one of the few self-made superheroes.
Industrialist Tony Stark (who is based on the real-life …

1941! The world at war! And in a secret laboratory, frail Steve Rogers became the American super-soldier! For four thrilling years, he fought the Axis powers — until a freak stroke of fate threw him into suspended animation. He awoke in the mid-1960s, a man twenty years out of his time. Since that fateful day, Steve Rogers has sought his destiny in this brave new world! Captain America – Marvel Comics circa 1970s
America’s “first Avenger,” Captain America (Steve Rogers), was created by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack “King” …

Arizona native BIGCHRIS (aka Big Chris Wood) is an established professional artist & illustrator who has worked on projects as varied as the Halo and Left 4 Dead video games to providing artwork for bands like KoRn and System of a Down. He has also lent his unlimited and unique artistic skills to numerous national comics, magazine covers, TV commercials and Hollywood movies.
Since returning home to Mesa in 2010, BIGCHRIS has become hugely popular on the local pop culture art scene and has devoted his time towards uniting and supporting …

“When Dr. Donald Blake strikes his wooden walking-stick upon the ground, it becomes the mystic hammer MJOLNIR – and the lame physician is transformed into the Norse God of Thunder, Master of the Storm, Lord of the Living Lightning – and heir to the throne of eternal Asgard…The Mighty Thor!” – Marvel Comics circa 1970s
Thor’s only connection to the aforementioned Donald Blake in the 2011 movie by director Kenneth Branagh was as an inside joke when Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) gives the Thunder God some of her former boyfriend’s clothes …

If you have been to a comic convention west of the Mississippi in the past 5 years then you have probably seen Daniel and Dawna Davis of Steam Crow and Monster Commute fame. With Daniel’s trademark handlebar mustache, their brand-savvy Steam Crow booth set-up and their eccentrically adorable original art and steampunk-themed merchandise, this dynamic-duo stands out and is hard to miss.
Not only has the locally-based Steam Crow team created one of the coolest collections of art and effects that you are likely to see at a pop culture convention …

For this coming Christmas, Life of Pi will finally be coming to theaters – and now there is another very good reason to hope the world doesn’t end in a Mayan apocalypse on December 21, 2012. At the CinemaCon (the official convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners) this week, 20th Century Fox unveiled a 10-minute look at the upcoming 3D film about an eccentric Indian boy lost at sea on a lifeboat together with a very large and hungry Bengal tiger, and the buzz from the convention is …

In the new action movie Safe, the Chinese mob doesn’t use child labor to make computers and electronic devices; they just use a child as the actual computer (shhh…do not let Apple find out about this!) With this kind of new technology, everyone’s going to want a piece of it, and it’s up to an American (well…British) hero to save the day and the kid in this all-out average action flick.
Because they don’t leave a paper trail, a walking, talking kid-computer is the preferred mobile technology of the Chinese mob, …

In the United Kingdom the new stop-motion animated movie The Pirates! Band of Misfits is called “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.” Apparently “science” doesn’t play well in North America, but that shouldn’t stop us “Yankees” from enjoying this very entertaining British film by the creators of Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit movies.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits is based on a series of British books, by author/screenwriter Gideon Defoe called, “The Pirates! In an Adventure with (various titles),” about a not-so-swashbuckley Captain conventionally called, “Pirate Captain.” The …

Heather Martin (AKA H.L. Martin) is the talented writer/artist behind Fallen, Inc., an independently published comic about a demonic turf-war where demons pose as human “paranormal exterminators.” Heather started the Fallen, Inc. project in 2009 and has been a part of the local comic creative scene ever since. She’s often one of the only female creators you’ll find at local conventions and comic shop events.
Heather’s books are darkly humorous and the demonic universe she’s created is very well thought-out and researched. Although this creator is quiet and unassuming, she is …