1.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
2.
Action Comics
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Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters as the term is popularly defined. The publisher was known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications and as National Periodical Publications. Its original incarnation ran from 1938 to 2011 and stands as one of the comic books with consecutively numbered issues. A second volume of Action Comics with issue #1 ran from 2011 to 2016, Action Comics returned to its original numbering beginning with issue #957. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster saw their creation, Superman, launched in Action Comics #1 on April 18,1938, Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to find a publisher for their Superman character originally conceived as a newspaper strip without success. Superman was originally a bald madman created by Siegel and Shuster who used his abilities to wreak havoc on mankind. He appeared in Siegel and Shusters book Science Fiction, Siegel then commented, What if this Superman was a force for good instead of evil. After seeing the published first issue, publisher Harry Donenfeld dismissed the featured strip as ridiculous, originally, Action Comics was an anthology title featuring a number of other stories in addition to the Superman story. Zatara, a magician, was one of the characters who had their own stories in early issues. There was the hero Tex Thompson, who eventually became Mr. America, vigilante enjoyed a lengthy run in this series. Sometimes stories of a humorous nature were included, such as those of Hayfoot Henry. The series saw the introduction of characters and themes which would become longstanding elements of the Superman mythos. Lois Lane made her debut in the first issue with Superman, Superman was first depicted as possessing the power of flight in issue #13. Other new superpowers depicted for the first time for the character included X-ray vision in issue #18 and telescopic vision, Luthor, a villain who would later become Supermans archenemy, was introduced in issue #23. The original Toyman was created by writer Don Cameron and artist Ed Dobrotka in issue #64, by 1942, artist Wayne Boring, who had previously been one of Shusters assistants, had become a major artist on Superman. Under editor Mort Weisinger, the Action Comics title saw an expansion of the Superman mythology. Gradually, the size of the issues was decreased as the publisher was reluctant to raise the price from the original 10 cents. For a while, Congo Bill and Tommy Tomorrow were the two features in addition to Superman, the introduction of Supergirl by Otto Binder and Al Plastino occurred in issue #252
3.
Detective Comics
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Detective Comics is the title of an American comic book series published by DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011, is best known for introducing the superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27, a second series of the same title was launched in the fall of 2011 but in 2016 reverted to the original volume numbering. The series is the source of its companys name, and — along with Action Comics. The series published 881 issues between 1937 and 2011 and is the longest continuously published comic book in the United States. His second effort, New Comics #1, would be retitled twice to become Adventure Comics, another series that ran for decades until issue #503 in 1983. Wheeler-Nicholson was forced out a year later and its first editor, Vin Sullivan, also drew the debut issues cover. The Crimson Avenger debuted in issue #20, Detective Comics #27 featured the first appearance of Batman. That superhero would eventually become the star of the title, the logo of which is often written as Detective Comics featuring Batman. Because of its significance, issue #27 is widely considered one of the most valuable books in existence. Batmans origin is first revealed in a story in issue #33. Batman became the cover feature of the title beginning with issue #35. Issue #38 introduced Batmans sidekick Robin, billed as The Sensational Character Find of 1940 on the cover and the first of several characters that would make up the Batman Family. Several of Batmans best known villains debuted in the pages of Detective Comics during this era including the Penguin in issue #58, Two-Face in issue #66, a female was chosen first, to offset the charges made by Fredric Wertham that Batman and Robin were homosexual. Writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff introduced Bat-Mite in issue #267, in 1964, Julius Schwartz was made responsible for reviving the faded Batman titles. Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Infantino introduced Barbara Gordon as a new version of Batgirl in a story titled The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl. in issue #359, Mike Friedrich wrote the 30th anniversary Batman story in Detective Comics #387 which was drawn by Bob Brown. Writer Dennis ONeil and artist Neal Adams had their first collaboration on Batman on the story The Secret of the Waiting Graves in issue #395, Adams introduced Man-Bat with writer Frank Robbins in Detective Comics #400. ONeil and artist Bob Brown crafted Batmans first encounter with the League of Assassins in Detective Comics #405, after publishing on a monthly schedule throughout its run, Detective Comics became a bi-monthly book from issues #435 to #445. Issues #438 to #445 of the series were in the 100 Page Super Spectacular format, ONeil and artist Dick Giordano created the Batman supporting character Leslie Thompkins in the story There Is No Hope in Crime Alley appearing in issue #457
4.
52 (comics)
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52 is a weekly American comic book limited series published by DC Comics that debuted on May 10,2006, one week after the conclusion of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis. The series was written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka,52 also led into a few limited series spin-offs. 52 consists of 52 issues, published weekly for one year, the series covers much of the DC Universe, and several characters whose disparate stories interconnect. The story is followed by the weekly limited series Countdown to Final Crisis. It was the first weekly series published by DC Comics since the short-lived anthology Action Comics Weekly in 1988–1989, the use of a weekly publication format is unusual in the North American comics industry, traditionally based upon a monthly publication. 52 and Batman Eternal both hold the top position, of being the longest-published serialised weekly comic, published by a major North American publisher, the record was previously held by Action Comics Weekly. The story was conceived as being a chronicle of what happened in the missing year between the end of Infinite Crisis and the beginning of One Year Later. It would especially focus on how the world dealt with the disappearance of the big three heroes in the DCU, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. As the series went on, it more of a platform for which to set the stage for upcoming storylines in the DC Universe. A backup story titled History of the DC Universe appears in Weeks 2 through 11, with the team of Dan Jurgens. Reminiscent of DCs earlier History of the DC Universe limited series, in this story, in the final chapter, both the device and a Monitor inform Donna Troy that she was supposed to have died instead of Jade. Weeks 12 through 51 feature Secret Origins, written by Mark Waid with a team of artists. In the aftermath of Infinite Crisis, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have temporarily retired their costumed identities, and the remaining heroes attend a memorial for Superboy in Metropolis. Time traveler Booster Gold attends the memorial, but when Superman, Batman, Boosters reputation is ruined by his unscrupulous attempts to maintain his corporate sponsorships, as well as the arrival of a mysterious new superhero named Supernova. Booster tries to regain the spotlight by containing a nuclear submarine. Skeets uses Boosters ancestor Daniel Carter to regain access to Hunters lab, realizing that Hunter is aware of his plan, Skeets traps Carter in a time loop in the bunker and sets out to locate Hunter himself. Hunter and Booster attempt to trap Skeets in the Phantom Zone, ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, is told that the gravestone of his dead wife Sue has been vandalized with an inverted version of Supermans S symbol, the Kryptonian symbol for resurrection. He confronts Cassandra Sandsmark, and she tells Dibny that she is in a cult which believes that Superboy can be resurrected, but they would like to try it first with Sue
5.
Gotham Central
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Gotham Central is a police procedural comic-book series that was published by DC Comics. It was written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, with pencils initially by Michael Lark, the story focused on the Gotham City Police Department and the difficulties of its officers living and working in Gotham City, home of Batman. Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker collaborated on the Officer Down Batman crossover and they wanted to do a series about the police in Gotham City and finally obtained approval from DC executives. The writers wanted Michael Lark for pencils and waited nearly a year to get him onboard due to scheduling, Gotham Centrals debut yielded Eisner Award nominations in 2003 for Best New Series, Best Writer, Best Writer, and Best Penciller/Inker. Gotham Central repeatedly failed to break the top 100 comics in sales, DC Comics was encouraged by the improved sales of the trade paperback collected editions, and the book was never in danger of cancellation. Ultimately Lark and Brubaker moved on to projects, and. It continued to have sales troubles through to the conclusion, issue #37 ranked 102nd place, despite this, Ed Brubaker mentioned, in an interview, that the book sold pretty well and was never in danger of cancellation, outselling almost all of Vertigos books at the time. Despite fans reactions, writer Greg Rucka assured that DC actually would have continued publishing Gotham Central as long as Rucka wanted to do so, Rucka explained that the end for the series was in sight when Lark left after issue #25 and Brubaker left after the Dead Robin storyline. Rucka felt that the three of them created the comic together and that he should not continue on without them, when DC was discussing the Infinite Crisis event and subsequent year-long story break, Rucka thought it would be a good time to end it. At one point, Rucka was in talks to replace Gotham Central with a new series called Streets of Gotham and those plans were scrapped in favor of making Montoya a major character in the weekly series 52, with Rucka as a co-writer. In 2009, DC released a series called Batman, Streets of Gotham that has been described as a mixture of Gotham Central and another canceled Batman series, Batman. The Gotham Central cast was divided between the day and night shifts, with arcs alternating between both sets of characters, main characters among the ranks of the detectives were Marcus Driver, Romy Chandler, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen and Josephine Josie Mac MacDonald. Their superiors, Commissioner Michael Akins, Captain Margaret Maggie Sawyer, Jim Corrigan, a corrupt CSI, features near the end of the series. The supporting cast was pulled from the large roster of the Gotham City Police Department. Long-time supporting characters of Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock, Batman himself, although not often seen, played a prominent role in the series. In The Line of Duty Written by Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka, Marcus Drivers partner Charlie is killed by Mr. Freeze while the pair are investigating a lead, making the MCU aware of a bigger plot by Freeze. The MCU investigate the late Charlie Fields unsolved case, involving the murder of a teenage girl, Half a Life Written by Greg Rucka. Renee Montoya is outed at the station as a lesbian and finds her work environment, the Batman villain Two-Face appears in this arc, having fallen in love with Montoya and kidnapped her
6.
Queen & Country
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Queen & Country is an American comic book published by Oni Press and written by Greg Rucka with various artists illustrating. It was inspired by the British ITV television series The Sandbaggers, Mackintosh is heavily praised in an essay by Rucka in Issue #1 of Queen & Country. The first series began in March 2001 and ran for 32 issues, three Queen & Country, Declassified spin-off mini-series have also been published, the first two written by Rucka and the third by Antony Johnston under Ruckas supervision. They deal specifically with the past missions of various characters, events of the first Declassified miniseries in particular influence what happens in later issues of the main series, it is best read before Operation Stormfront. Translated editions of the volumes are available in Polish, French and German. The series is centered on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS and it attempts to portray the bureaucracy and politics which the agents deal with realistically, as well as including the dangerous missions typical of the spy genre. Operation, Broken Ground Written by Greg Rucka, Operation, Morningstar Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Brian Hurtt, Bryan Lee OMalley, and Christine Norrie, Operation, Crystal Ball Written by Greg Rucka. Operation, Blackwall Queen & Country #13–15) Written by Greg Rucka, Operation, Stormfront Written by Greg Rucka. Operation, Dandelion Written by Greg Rucka, art by Steve Rolston and Mike Norton. Operation, Saddlebags Written by Greg Rucka, art by Mike Norton and Steve Rolston. Operation, Red Panda Written by Greg Rucka, a second Tara Chace novel, Private Wars, was published in 2005. The novels tie in to the series, issue 29 to 32 depicts events immediately after A Gentlemans Game. Private Wars takes place a few months after the end of the comic series, a third Queen & Country novel, The Last Run, was released in October 2010. A scriptbook, titled Queen & Country Scriptbook vol, a film adaptation is under development, but has been stranded in development hell for some time. On September 9,2013, actress Ellen Page is in negotiations to star in the film, Greg Ruckas Homepage Oni Press Homepage
7.
Stumptown (comics)
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Stumptown is an American comic book limited series and later ongoing, written by Greg Rucka with art by Matthew Southworth. The first series launched by Oni Press on November 4,2009, a second miniseries began in September 2012 and ran for five issues and a third volume, this time ongoing, began in September 2014. The comic book is a detective fiction series based in Portland, Oregon, featuring Dex Parios. It takes place in the continuity as Ruckas novel Fistful of Rain. Each story arc will be one case, in an iFanboy podcast, Rucka says he was going to write his college thesis on the American Detective genre. He cites authors such as Dennis Lehane, Robert B, parker, Raymond Chandler as influences in the creation of his character, Dex Parios. He also credits television shows of his such as Magnum. Simon and Simon, and The Rockford Files Oni Press announced that in less than one week, the first volume was nominated for the 2011 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series
8.
Whiteout (Oni Press)
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Whiteout is a comic book limited series by writer Greg Rucka and artist Steve Lieber. It was originally released in four issues during 1998, by Oni Press, a film adaptation of the series was released on September 11,2009. The story follows Carrie Stetko, a Deputy U. S, marshal working at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and her investigation of a murder that takes place there. The story moves through many Antarctic stations, as Stetko chases down suspects, early in the story, Stetko is attacked by the killer and left for dead in a storm. She saves herself but loses two fingers due to severe cold-related injuries, the series was followed by a sequel, Whiteout, Melt. Stetko is sent back to Antarctica by the government, as she is familiar with the territory and it turns out Russian mercenaries are on a rampage. Stetko and a rogue Russian intelligence officer must save the day, a third volume in the series, originally advertised as Whiteout, Thaw, was expected to be released as four separate issues beginning in the Fall of 2007. In December 2008, Rucka announced in a forum post that the title was changed to Whiteout, Night, the book once crossed over with Barry Ween, in a 6-page story done for the Oni Press Summer Vacation Supercolor Fun Special. The story, titled Weenout, The Carrie-Ween Crossover, was co-written by Rucka and Ween creator Judd Winick, illustrated by Winick and colored by Guy Major. Additionally, Lieber drew a B&W pin-up of Carrie & Barry for the Special, the series are collected as trade paperbacks, Whiteout Volume 1 Whiteout, Melt In 2001 both series were collected into a limited edition hardcover, Total Whiteout. The Carrie Stetko character was ranked 44th in Comics Buyers Guides 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list, a critically and commercially panned film based on the comic book was released on September 11,2009. It was directed by Dominic Sena, and stars Kate Beckinsale, the first issue reprinted at the artists webpage
9.
Wolverine (comic book)
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Wolverine is a number of Marvel Comics comic book series starring the X-Men member Wolverine. As of April 2013,323 issues and 11 annuals have been published and it is the original flagship title created for the character. The first Wolverine was a series written by Chris Claremont with pencils by Frank Miller, inks by Joe Rubinstein, letters by Tom Orzechowski. Marvel Comics published the series from September to December 1982 and this story arc covers the events leading up to Wolverines engagement to Mariko Yashida. An ongoing series started publication in 1988 and lasted until 2003 when it was relaunched after issue 189, the original creative team consisted of writer Chris Claremont and penciler John Buscema. Claremont described the series as high adventure rather than super heroics, sort of a combination of Conan meets Terry, nearly half of the seriess run was written by Larry Hama. Other writers on the series included Peter David, Archie Goodwin, Jo Duffy, Warren Ellis, Todd Dezago, Erik Larsen, Steve Skroce, Rob Liefeld, Frank Tieri, Matt Nixon, marc Silvestri penciled Wolverine from 1990 to 1992. As part of the Dark Reign storyline, the series was renamed Dark Wolverine in 2009 with issue #75 and starred Wolverines son, the third volume ended with issue #90. A fourth volume was launched in September 2010 with a new #1, after issue 20 the series returned to its original ongoing numbering as issue #300. How Marvel reached issue #300, Volume 2, Volume 3 Wolverine, Weapon X and Volume 4 and it concluded with issue #317 in December 2012 in the wake of the Marvel NOW. initiative. As part of the Marvel NOW. relaunch, Wolverine Vol.4 was cancelled as of issue #317, an additional series titled Savage Wolverine debuted in January 2013. The title features team-ups between Wolverine and other Marvel superheroes, IGN gave the trade paperback collection of the first Wolverine series a Must Have rating. Wolverine at the Comic Book DB Wolverine at the Comic Book DB Wolverine at the Comic Book DB Wolverine at the Comic Book DB
10.
Wonder Woman
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Wonder Woman is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is said to be a member of the Justice League, demigoddess. In her homeland, she is Princess Diana of Themyscira, and outside of her homeland, Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston, and artist Harry G. Peter. He and his wife Elizabeths cohabitant, Olive Byrne, is credited as being Marstons inspiration for the characters appearance, Marston drew a great deal of inspiration from early feminists. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941 and first cover-dated on Sensation Comics #1, the Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. Wonder Womans origin story relates that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and given life by Athena and her Amazonian-training helped to develop a wide range of extraordinary skills in strategy, hunting, and combat. Many stories depicted Wonder Woman rescuing herself from bondage, which defeated the damsels in distress trope that were common in comics during the 1940s, Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society and Justice League. Attempts to return Wonder Woman to television have included a pilot for NBC in 2011. Gal Gadot portrayed Wonder Woman in the 2016 film Batman v Superman, Dawn of Justice, Gadot will also star in the characters first solo live-action film Wonder Woman, set to be released on June 2,2017. Two months later she was dropped from her role as a UN Ambassador following a petition, in an October 25,1940, interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium. Marston introduced the idea to Gaines, given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that eras unconventional, liberated woman. Marston also drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8, scripted by Marston. Marston was the creator of an apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph. Marstons experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest in situations different than men, Marston designed Wonder Woman to be an allegory for the ideal love leader, the kind of women who should run society. Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world, Marston wrote. In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote, Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, Not wanting to be girls, they dont want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Womens strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness, the obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman. Marston went on record by describing bondage and submission as a respectable and noble practice and this weakness served to subvert the damsel in distress trope, since Wonder Woman inevitably rescues herself
11.
Punisher
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The Punisher is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, the Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129. The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and his familys killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran and a United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper, Frank Castle is a master of arts, stealth tactics, guerrilla warfare. The Punishers brutal nature and willingness to kill him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the Punisher in 1989, as did Thomas Jane in 2004, jon Bernthal portrays the character in the second season of Marvels Daredevil as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bernthal is set to reprise the role in The Punisher, his own self-titled series, the Punisher was conceived of by Gerry Conway, writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, who helped design the characters distinctive costume. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel, Conway had drawn a character with a small deaths head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the design, blew the skull up to huge size. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication, and I mentioned that I didnt think we could ever have a comic book where the hero would be called the Assassin, because theres just too much of a negative connotation to that word. And I remembered that, some time ago, I had had a relatively unimportant character. Was one of Galactus robots, and I had called him the Punisher, and, since I was the editor, Gerry said, Okay. Appearing for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #129, the Punisher was initially an antagonist of the titular hero and he is portrayed as a bloodthirsty vigilante who has no qualms about killing gangsters, something that most superheroes of the time refrain from doing. J. Jonah Jameson describes him as the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed, in this appearance, the Punisher is determined to kill Spider-Man, who is wanted for the apparent murder of Norman Osborn. The Punisher is shown as a fighter, a master marksman. All he reveals himself is that he is a former U. S. Marine. He has a fierce temper but also signs of considerable frustration over his self-appointed role of killer vigilante. Spider-Man, who is no stranger to such torment, concludes that the Punishers problems made his own seem like a birthday party
12.
GLAAD Media Award
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In addition to film and television, the Awards also recognize achievements in other branches of the media and arts, including theatre, music, journalism and advertising. Results are then certified by a Review Panel who determine the final list of recipients based on voting results, the 1st GLAAD Media Awards ceremony honoring the 1989 season was held in 1990, and recognized 34 nominees in 7 competitive categories. The 1st Annual Awards ceremony recognized 34 nominees in 7 competitive categories and was a small affair. Twenty years ago when I proudly accepted the first GLAAD Media Award…it was a small crowd. There are more photographers here tonight than there were people then, for the first six years, winners were announced prior to the ceremony. Beginning with the 7th Annual Awards held in 1996, the change was made to its current format, the 15th Annual Awards held in 2004 marked the first year nominations were expanded to recognize media in Spanish-language categories. The 16th Annual Awards held in 2005 marked the first year that the ceremonies were televised, the original GLAAD Media Award stood approximately 6-inches tall, consisting of a flat, 5-inch square shaped crystal sculpture with a design of five concentric circles on a newsprint background. The sculpture was traditionally etched with the year it was presented followed by the words GLAAD Media Award and was mounted perpendicular to its flat, quadrant shaped base. The award remained unchanged until 2009, when an all new statuette designed by David Moritz of Society Awards was unveiled for the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies. Nominees are selected by GLAAD Nominating Juries consisting of over 90 volunteers with interest, Nominating Juries may select up to five nominees in each category. If no projects are deemed worthy of nomination in a particular category, at the end of the year, the Nominating Juries submit their list of recommended nominees to GLAADs staff and Board of Directors for approval. GLAAD does not monitor media created by and for the LGBT community for defamation, therefore media outlets created by, over 600 GLAAD Media Award voters participate in the selection of Honorees from the pool of Nominees in each category via online balloting. Voters are made up of three groups, GLAAD staff and board, GLAAD Alliance and Media Circle members, and GLAAD volunteers & allies. These results are reviewed for certification by a Review Panel which consists of the GLAAD Board co-chairs, senior GLAAD program and communications staff. The first Annual Awards recognized Honorees in just 7 competitive categories, while many of the categories have been expanded over time, several early categories have been merged or phased out altogether. One notable example being the omission of the Outstanding Daytime Drama category in 2011, the most notable of these Special Honorary Awards are, Advocate for Change Award – Presented at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards in 2013. Its inaugural recipient was former U. S. Davidson/Valentini Award – Presented annually at the San Francisco GLAAD Media Awards and it is named in memory of Craig Davidson, GLAADs first executive director, and his partner Michael Valentini, a GLAAD supporter. It is presented to an openly LGBT individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the LGBT community, excellence in Media Award – Presented annually at the New York GLAAD Media Awards
13.
Americans
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Americans are citizens of the United States of America. The country is home to people of different national origins. As a result, Americans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, although citizens make up the majority of Americans, non-citizen residents, dual citizens, and expatriates may also claim an American identity. See Names for United States citizens. S, virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th century. It also includes influences of African-American culture, westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements, immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics, in addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, the United States of America is a diverse country, racially, and ethnically. Some other race is also an option in the census and other surveys, people of European descent, or White Americans, constitute the majority of the 308 million people living in the United States, with 72. 4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census. They are considered people who trace their ancestry to the peoples of Europe, the Middle East. Of those reporting to be White American,7,487,133 reported to be Multiracial, with largest combination being white, additionally, there are 29,184,290 White Hispanics or Latinos. Non-Hispanic Whites are the majority in 46 states, there are four minority-majority states, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii. In addition, the District of Columbia has a non-white majority, the state with the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White Americans is Maine. The largest continental ancestral group of Americans are that of Europeans who have origins in any of the peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations that have a large European diaspora, the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the United States. Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, La Florida, was the first person of European descent born in what is now the United States. Twenty-one years later, Virginia Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the Thirteen Colonies to English parents. 8% of the total population, Hispanic or Latino Americans constitute the largest ethnic minority in the United States. They form the second largest group after non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race
14.
Batwoman
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Batwoman is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batwoman was created by writer Edmond Hamilton and artist Sheldon Moldoff under the direction of editor Jack Schiff, when Julius Schwartz became editor of the Batman-related comic books in 1964, he removed non-essential characters including Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite, and Bat-Hound. Later, the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths retroactively established that Batwoman had never existed, after a long hiatus, Batwoman was reintroduced to DC continuity in 2006 in the seventh week of the publishers year-long 52 weekly comic book. Reintroduced as Kate Kane, the modern Batwoman began operating in Gotham City in Batmans absence following the events of the company-wide crossover Infinite Crisis. The modern Batwoman is written as being of Jewish descent and as a lesbian in an effort by DC editorial staff to diversify its publications, from 2009–2010, the character replaced Batman as the lead in Detective Comics. She subsequently starred in the eponymous Batwoman monthly comic book as part of The New 52 relaunch, following the cancellation of Batwoman, the character has been returned to Detective Comics in a leading role for the DC Rebirth event and will be getting another solo series in 2017. Kathy Kane is primarily associated with the Silver Age of Comic Books, in the aftermath of the attacks on comics in the early 1950s, the Batwoman was the first of several characters that would make up the Batman Family. Since the family formula had proven successful for the Superman franchise, editor Jack Schiff suggested to Batman creator, Bob Kane. A female was chosen first, to offset the charges made by Fredric Wertham that Batman, Kathy Kane and alter ego Batwoman first appeared in Detective Comics #233. In the characters debut issue, Batwoman is introduced as a rival to the crime-fighting prowess of Batman. But now, in one suspenseful surprise after another, Batman finds he has a rival in the mysterious and glamorous girl. She was a costumed crime-fighter like Batman, yet in many ways not an exact counterpart, for example, the contents of her utility purse were actually weapons disguised as stereotypical feminine products such as lipstick, cosmetic compacts, charm bracelets, and hair nets. Batwoman appeared regularly in the pages of Batman and Detective Comics through the early 1960s, following the revamp to Detective Comics in 1964, Batwoman was removed from the series. The new Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, not only replaced Batwoman as Batmans female counterpart, Batgirl also proved to be more appropriate for her time period and the realistic approach DC Comics began taking with its characters. But thanks to the big change and an editor, these hapless females are gone for good. In their place stands a girl who is a capable crime-fighter, however, with the launch of the Batman Family comic book series in 1975, readers continued to request for Batwoman to appear in new stories. One reader states, it is totally beyond me why you ignored Batwoman in your first two issues, I can understand your reluctance to go back to the days where everybody in Gotham had a Bat-identity, but you cant wipe out Batwoman that easily. I was counting on her making the scene in a new story, Batwoman was brought back in Batman Family #10 as Batgirls guest heroine when she comes out of retirement to assist Batgirl in defeating Killer Moth and Cavalier
15.
DC Comics
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DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. a division of Time Warner, the company has also published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo. The initials DC came from the popular series Detective Comics. Random House distributes DC Comics books to the market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market. DC Comics and its major, longtime competitor Marvel Comics together shared 70% of the American comic book market in 2016, entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in autumn 1934. The company debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun, The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a date of February 1935. That title evolved into Adventure Comics, which continued through issue #503 in 1983, in 2009 DC revived Adventure Comics with its original numbering. In 1935, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, created Doctor Occult. Wheeler-Nicholsons third and final title, Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936, the themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27. By then, however, Wheeler-Nicholson had gone, Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfelds accountant, listed as owners. Major Wheeler-Nicholson remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, shortly afterward, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied, also known as Nicholson Publishing, at a bankruptcy auction. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a fourth title, Action Comics, Action Comics #1, the first comic book to feature the new character archetype—soon known as superheroes—proved a sales hit. The company quickly introduced such popular characters as the Sandman and Batman. That year, Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, and kept only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, at that point, Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics. Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961. The company began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics Wonder Man and this extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, at the time comics top-selling character. Despite the fact that parallels between Captain Marvel and Superman seemed more tenuous, the courts ruled that substantial and deliberate copying of copyrighted material had occurred, faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost, Fawcett capitulated in 1955 and ceased comics publication
16.
Monterey Peninsula
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Monterey was founded in 1770 by missionary Junípero Serra and explorer Gaspar de Portolà. Portolà erected the Presidio of Monterey to defend the port against an expected Russian trading, at the same time, Serra founded Mission San Carlos Borromeo, second in the chain of Spanish Missions of California. Originally near the presidio, the later moved a few miles south to its current location in Carmel. Monterey served as the capital of upper Las Californias and Alta California from 1777 to 1848, under the flags of Spain, independent Mexico, the city was originally the only port of entry for taxable goods in California. All shipments into California by sea were required to go through the Custom House, the oldest governmental building in the state, and Californias Historic Landmark Number One. Built in 3 phases, construction on the Custom House began in 1814 under the Spanish, Monterey was also the site of the July 7,1846, Battle of Monterey during the Mexican-American War. It was on this date that John D. Sloat, Commodore in the United States Navy, raised the U. S. flag over the Monterey Custom House, in addition, many California firsts occurred in Monterey. These include Californias first theater, brick house, publicly funded school, public building, public library, and printing press, which printed The Californian, Colton Hall, built in 1849 by Walter Colton, was originally a public school and government meeting place. It also hosted Californias first constitutional convention, today it houses a museum, while adjacent buildings serve as the seat of local government. The Monterey post office opened in 1849, the city has a noteworthy history as a center for California painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Such painters as Arthur Frank Mathews, Armin Hansen, Xavier Martinez, Rowena Meeks Abdy, in November 1995, California Governor Pete Wilson proclaimed Monterey as The Language Capital of the World. Pacific Grove was founded in 1875 by a group of Methodists who modeled the town after Ocean Grove, in time, the butterflies, fragrant pines and fresh sea air brought others to the Pacific Grove Retreat to rest and meditate. The initial meeting of the Pacific Coast branch of the Chautauqua Literary, modelled after the Methodist Sunday school teachers’ training camp established in 1874 at Lake Chautauqua, N. Y. this location became part of a nationwide educational network. In November 1879, after the summer campers returned home, Robert Louis Stevenson wandered into the deserted campgrounds, indeed, it was not so much like a deserted town as like a scene upon the stage by daylight, and with no one on the boards. Today, Stevenson School in nearby Pebble Beach is named after the author, the Pacific Grove post office opened in 1886, closed later that year, and was re-opened in 1887. Pacific Grove, like Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey, became a haven in the 1890s. Artists of the En plein air school in both Europe and the United States were seeking a venue which had natural beauty, so that Pacific Grove was a magnet for this movement. English painter William Adam and other artists moved to Pacific Grove in the early 1900s, for a number of years, John Steinbeck lived in a cottage in Pacific Grove owned by his father, Ernest, who was Monterey County Treasurer
17.
Salinas, California
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Salinas /səˈliːnəs/ is the county seat and largest municipality of Monterey County, California. Salinas is located just outside the portion of the greater Bay Area and 10 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Salinas River. The population was 155,662 as of 2013, the city is located at the mouth of the Salinas Valley roughly eight miles from the Pacific Ocean and has a climate more influenced by the ocean than the hot-summer interior. The marine climate is ideal for the industry, grape vineyards. Salinas is known for its vibrant and large industry and as the hometown of writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate John Steinbeck. The land currently occupied by the city of Salinas is thought to have settled by Native Americans known as the Esselen prior to 200 AD. Between 200 and 500 AD, they were displaced by the Rumsen group of Ohlone speaking people, before this time, Monterey was the capital of California and had been under military rule after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American war. In the 1850s a junction of two main stage coach routes was located 18 miles east of Monterey and along the big bend of what is referred to as the Alisal Slough. Soon thereafter, in 1856, an inn called the Halfway House was opened at that junction in Salinas. The streets of Salinas were laid out in 1867, and the town was incorporated in 1874. The conversion of grazing land to crops and the coming of the road in 1868 to transport goods and people was a major turning point in the history. Dry farming of wheat, barley, and other grains as well as potatoes, irrigation changed farming in Salinas to mainly row crops of root vegetables, grapes and sugar beets. Many major vegetable producers placed their headquarters in Salinas, the camp opened on April 27,1942 and held a total of 3,608 people before closing two months later on July 4. Following World War II major urban and suburban development converted much farmland to city, the city experienced two particularly strong growth spurts in the 1950s and 1960s, and again in the 1990s and early 2000s. The Harden Ranch, Creekbridge and Williams Ranch neighborhoods constituting much of the citys North-East were built almost exclusively between 1990 and 2004, Salinas was also the birthplace of writer and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck. The historic downtown, known as Oldtown Salinas, features much fine Victorian architecture, and is home to the National Steinbeck Center, the Steinbeck House, major development took place in the 1990s, with the construction of Creekbridge, Williams Ranch, and Harden Ranch. When annexed in 1963, Alisal was described as a large Mexican-American enclave, hispanic immigration peaked from the 1980s through the early 2000s. Mostly European-American neighborhoods in North Salinas, an expansion of the city built mostly in the 1950s and 60s
18.
Stan Lee
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Stan Lee is an American comic-book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, television host, actor, and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. In addition, he challenged the comics industrys censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation. He was inducted into the book industrys Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994. Lee received a National Medal of Arts in 2008 and his father, trained as a dress cutter, worked only sporadically after the Great Depression, and the family moved further uptown to Fort Washington Avenue, in Washington Heights, Manhattan. When Lee was nearly 9, his sibling, brother Larry Lieber, was born. He said in 2006 that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, by the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in a one-bedroom apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx. Lee has described it as an apartment facing out back, with he and his brother sharing a bedroom. Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, in his youth, Lee enjoyed writing, and entertained dreams of one day writing the Great American Novel. He graduated from school early, aged 16½ in 1939. With the help of his uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division of pulp magazine, Timely, by the 1960s, would evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee, whose cousin Jean was Goodmans wife, was hired by Timely editor Joe Simon. His duties were prosaic at first, in those days dipped the pen in ink, I had to make sure the inkwells were filled, Lee recalled in 2009. I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that he had intended to save his given name for more literary work. This initial story also introduced Captain Americas trademark ricocheting shield-toss, which became one of the characters signatures. He graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a feature, Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent. Lees first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6, other characters he created during this period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comics include Jack Frost, debuting in USA Comics #1, and Father Time, debuting in Captain America Comics #6. When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left late in 1941, following a dispute with Goodman, Lee entered the United States Army in early 1942 and served in the US in the Signal Corps, repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment. He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films, and slogans and his military classification, he says, was playwright, he adds that only nine men in the US Army were given that title
19.
Jack Kirby
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Jack Kirby, born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer, and editor, widely regarded as one of the mediums major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. Kirby grew up in New York City, and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and he entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, during the 1940s, Kirby, generally teamed with Simon, created numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics. After serving in World War II, Kirby produced work for a number of publishers, including DC, Harvey Comics, at Crestwood Publications he and Simon created the genre of romance comics and later founded their own short-lived comic company, Mainline Publications. Ultimately, Kirby found himself at Timelys 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, there, in the 1960s, Kirby and writer-editor Stan Lee co-created many of the companys major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk. The Lee-Kirby titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim, but in 1970, feeling he had been treated unfairly, at DC, Kirby created his Fourth World saga, which spanned several comics titles. While these series proved unsuccessful and were canceled, the Fourth Worlds New Gods have continued as a significant part of the DC Universe. Kirby returned to Marvel briefly in the mid-to-late 1970s, then ventured into television animation, Kirby was married to Rosalind Roz Goldstein in 1942. They had four children, and remained married until his death from heart failure in 1994, the Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor. Jack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28,1917, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City and his parents, Rose and Benjamin Kurtzberg, were Austrian Jewish immigrants, and his father earned a living as a garment factory worker. In his youth, Kirby desired to escape his neighborhood and he liked to draw, and sought out places he could learn more about art. He was rejected by the Educational Alliance because he drew too fast with charcoal and he later found an outlet for his skills by drawing cartoons for the newspaper of the Boys Brotherhood Republic, a miniature city on East 3rd Street where street kids ran their own government. At age 14, Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, I wasnt the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever, I didnt want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First. He remained until late 1939, when he began working for the animation company Fleischer Studios as an inbetweener on Popeye cartoons. I went from Lincoln to Fleischer, he recalled, from Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldnt take that kind of thing, describing it as a factory in a sense, like my fathers factory. Around that time, the American comic book industry was booming, Kirby began writing and drawing for the comic-book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers
20.
The Incredible Hulk (comic book)
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The Incredible Hulk is an ongoing comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero the Hulk and his alter ego Dr. Bruce Banner. First published in May 1962, the series ran for six issues before it was cancelled in March 1963, with issue #102, Tales to Astonish was renamed to The Incredible Hulk in April 1968, becoming its second volume. The Incredible Hulk returned in September 2009 beginning at issue #600, which became The Incredible Hulks in November 2010 and focused on the Hulk and the modern incarnation of his expanded family. The series returned to The Incredible Hulk in December 2011 and ran until January 2013, the original series was canceled with issue #6. Lee had written each story, with Jack Kirby penciling the first five issues, a year and a half after the series was canceled, the Hulk became one of two features in Tales to Astonish, beginning in issue #60. This new Hulk feature was initially scripted by writer-editor Lee and illustrated by the team of penciller Steve Ditko, the Tales to Astonish run introduced the super-villains the Leader, who would become the Hulks nemesis, and the Abomination, another gamma-irradiated being. Marie Severin finished out the Hulks run in Tales to Astonish, beginning with issue #102 the book was retitled The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, and ran until 1999, when Marvel canceled the series, the Incredible Hulk vol.2 was published through the 1970s. At times, the writers included Archie Goodwin, Chris Claremont, len Wein wrote the series from 1974 through 1978. Nearly all of the 1970s issues were drawn by either Herb Trimpe, who was the regular artist for seven years, or Sal Buscema, issues #180–181 introduced the character Wolverine, who would go on to become one of Marvel Comics most popular. The original art for the book page that introduced Wolverine sold for $657,250 in May 2014. Key supporting characters included Jim Wilson and Jarella, both of whom would make few appearances outside of this decade, in 1977, Marvel launched a second title, The Rampaging Hulk, a black-and-white comics magazine. This was originally conceived as a series, set between the end of his original, short-lived solo title and the beginning of his feature in Tales to Astonish. After nine issues, the magazine was retitled The Hulk. following Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo took over the writing with issue #245. Among the adversaries Mantlo created for the series were the U-Foes, mantlos Crossroads of Eternity stories, which ran through issues #300–313, explored the idea that Banner had suffered child abuse. Later The Incredible Hulk writers Peter David and Greg Pak called these stories an influence on their approaches to the series and he told me to do whatever was necessary to get on the book, he liked my ideas so much. I did, and once installed he immediately changed his mind—You cant do this, six issues was as much as I could take. Byrnes final issue featured the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross, Byrne had done a seventh issue, consisting entirely of one-panel pages
21.
Vassar College
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Vassar College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the first degree-granting institution of education for women in the United States. It became coeducational in 1969, and now has a ratio at the national average. The college offers B. A. degrees in more than 50 majors, Vassar also offers many extracurricular organizations including student theater, a cappella groups, club sports, volunteer and service groups, and a circus troupe. Vassar Colleges varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in the NCAAs Division III as members of the Liberty League. Vassar tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the nation in the 2017 annual ranking of U. S. News & World Report, for the freshman class entering fall 2016, the college had an acceptance rate of 26. 9%. The total number of attending the college is around 2,450. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres and more than 100 buildings, a designated arboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 400-acre ecological preserve. Vassar was founded as a school under the name Vassar Female College in 1861. The college became coeducational in 1969, Vassar was the second of the Seven Sisters colleges, higher education schools that were formerly strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the Ivy League. It was chartered by its namesake, brewer Matthew Vassar, in 1861 in the Hudson Valley, the first person appointed to the Vassar faculty was the astronomer Maria Mitchell, in 1865. However, immediately following World War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on the G. I. Because Vassars charter prohibited male matriculants, the graduates were given diplomas via the University of the State of New York and these were reissued under the Vassar title after the school formally became co-educational. In its early years, Vassar was associated with the elite of the Protestant establishment. E. Digby Baltzell writes that upper-class WASP families educated their children at such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale. A select and elite few of Vassars students were allowed entry into the secret society Delta Sigma Rho. Before becoming President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Trustee, roughly 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus. About 60% come from high schools, and 40% come from private schools
22.
A.B.
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A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelors degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both. Bachelor of Arts degree programs take three to four years depending on the country, academic institution, and specific specializations, majors or minors. The word baccalaureus or baccalarium should not be confused with baccalaureatus, degree diplomas generally are printed on high-quality paper or parchment, individual institutions set the preferred abbreviation for their degrees. In Pakistan, the Bachelor of Arts degree can also be attained within two years as an external degree, in colleges and universities in Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and South Africa, the BA degree can be taken over three years of full-time study. Unlike in other countries, students do not receive a grade for their Bachelor of Arts degree with varying levels of honours. Qualified students may be admitted, after they have achieved their Bachelors program with an overall grade point average. Thus, to achieve a Bachelor Honours degree, a postgraduate year. A student who holds a Honours degree is eligible for entry to either a Doctorate or a very high research Master´s degree program. Education in Canada is controlled by the Provinces and can be different depending on the province in Canada. Canadian universities typically offer a 3-year Bachelor of Arts degrees, in many universities and colleges, Bachelor of Arts degrees are differentiated either as Bachelors of Arts or as honours Bachelor of Arts degree. The honours degrees are designated with the abbreviation in brackets of. It should not be confused with the consecutive Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours, Latin Baccalaureatus in Artibus Cum Honore, BA hon. de jure without brackets and with a dot. It is a degree, which is considered to be the equivalent of a corresponding maîtrise degree under the French influenced system. Going back in history, a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree was called a pass degree or general degree. Students may be required to undertake a long high-quality research empirical thesis combined with a selection of courses from the relevant field of studies. The consecutive B. cum Honore degree is essential if students ultimate goal is to study towards a two- or three-year very high research masters´ degree qualification. A student holding a Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree also may choose to complete a Doctor of Philosophy program without the requirement to first complete a masters degree, over the years, in some universities certain Baccalaureatus cum Honore programs have been changed to corresponding master´s degrees. In general, in all four countries, the B. A. degree is the standard required for entry into a masters programme, in science, a BA hons degree is generally a prerequisite for entrance to a Ph. D program or a very-high-research-activity master´s programme
23.
University of Southern California
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The University of Southern California is a private research university founded in 1880 with its main campus in Los Angeles, California. As Californias oldest private university, USC has historically educated a large number of the regions business leaders. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research and cultural institutions throughout Asia, an engine for economic activity, USC contributes $8 billion annually to the economy of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and California. For the 2014–15 academic year, there were 18,740 students enrolled in undergraduate programs. USC also has 23,729 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, engineering, social work, and medicine. The university is one of the top fundraising institutions in the world, consistently ranking among the top 3 in external contributions, multiple academic rankings list the University of Southern California as being among the top 25 universities in the United States. With an acceptance rate of 16 percent, USC is also among the most selective academic institutions in the nation. USC maintains a tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship, with alumni having founded companies such as Lucasfilm, Myspace, Salesforce. com, Intuit, Qualcomm, Box, Tinder. As of 2014, the university has produced the fourth largest number of billionaire alumni out of all institutions in the world. USC is home to the world’s most powerful computer, which is presently housed in a super-cooled. The only other commercially available quantum computing system is operated jointly by NASA, USC was also one of the earliest nodes on ARPANET and is the birthplace of the Domain Name System. Other technologies invented at USC include DNA computing, dynamic programming, image compression, VoIP, USC sponsors a variety of intercollegiate sports and competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Members of the teams, the Trojans, have won 102 NCAA team championships, ranking them third in the nation. Trojan athletes have won 288 medals at the Olympic games, more than any university in the United States. If USC were a country, its athletes would have received the 12th-most Olympic gold medals in history. In 1969, it joined the Association of American Universities, the University of Southern California was founded following the efforts of Judge Robert M. Hellman. The three donated 308 lots of land to establish the campus and provided the seed money for the construction of the first buildings. Originally operated in affiliation with the Methodist Church, the school mandated from the start that no student would be denied admission because of race, the university is no longer affiliated with any church, having severed formal ties in 1952
24.
Douglas Adams
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Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, scriptwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. Adamss contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academys Hall of Fame, a posthumous collection of his works, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002. Adams was known as an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, as a lover of fast cars, cameras, technological innovation and the Apple Macintosh, Adams was born on 11 March 1952 to Janet and Christopher Douglas Adams in Cambridge, England. The following year in 1953, Watson and Crick famously first modelled DNA at Cambridge University, the family moved to East London a few months after his birth, where his sister, Susan, was born three years later. His parents divorced in 1957, Douglas, Susan, and their mother moved to an RSPCA animal shelter in Brentwood, Essex, Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. At nine, he passed the exam for Brentwood School, an independent school whose alumni include Robin Day, Jack Straw, Noel Edmonds. Griff Rhys Jones was a year below him, and he was in the class as Stuckist artist Charles Thomson. He attended the school from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until December 1970. Adams was six feet tall by age 12 and stopped growing at 6 ft 5 in and his form master, Frank Halford, said of him, Hundreds of boys have passed through the school but Douglas Adams really stood out from the crowd — literally. He was unnecessarily tall and in his short trousers he looked a trifle self-conscious, the form-master wouldnt say Meet under the clock tower, or Meet under the war memorial, he joked, but Meet under Adams. Yet it was his ability to write stories that really made him shine. He became the student ever to be awarded a ten out of ten by Halford for creative writing, something he remembered for the rest of his life. He also designed the cover of one issue of the Broadsheet, and had a letter and short story published nationally in The Eagle, in it, Adams rhymes futile with mute, while and exhausted with of course did. On the strength of an essay on religious poetry that discussed the Beatles and William Blake, he was awarded an Exhibition in English at St Johns College, Cambridge. He wanted to join the Footlights, an invitation-only student comedy club that has acted as a hothouse for comic talent, despite doing very little work—he recalled having completed three essays in three years—he graduated in 1974 with a B. A. in English literature. After leaving university Adams moved back to London, determined to break into TV, an edited version of the Footlights Revue appeared on BBC2 television in 1974. A version of the Revue performed live in Londons West End led to Adams being discovered by Monty Pythons Graham Chapman, the two formed a brief writing partnership, earning Adams a writing credit in episode 45 of Monty Python for a sketch called Patient Abuse. He is one of two people outside the original Python members to get a writing credit
25.
Emergency medical technician
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Emergency Medical Technician and ambulance technician are terms used in some countries to denote a health care provider of emergency medical services. EMTs are clinicians, trained to quickly to emergency situations regarding medical issues, traumatic injuries. EMTs operate under a limited scope of practice, EMTs are normally supervised by a medical director, who is a physician. Some EMTs are paid employees, while others are volunteers, there is considerable degree of inter-provincial variation in the Canadian Paramedic practice. For this reason, any discussion of Paramedic Practice in Canada is necessarily broad, regulatory frameworks vary from province to province, and include direct government regulation to professional self-regulating bodies, such as the Alberta College of Paramedics. Only someone registered in Alberta can call themselves an EMT or Paramedic in Alberta, in this manner, the confusing myriad of titles and occupational descriptions can at least be discussed using a common language for comparison sake. Most providers that work in ambulances will be identified as Paramedics by the public, however, in many cases, the most prevalent level of emergency prehospital care is that which is provided by the Emergency Medical Responder. Primary care paramedics are the entry-level of paramedic practice in Canadian provinces, primary Care Paramedics may also receive additional training in order to perform certain skills that are normally in the scope of practice of Advanced Care Paramedics. This is regulated both provincially and locally, and ordinarily entails an aspect of medical oversight by a body or group of physicians. This is often referred to as Medical Control, or a role played by a base hospital, the Advanced Care Paramedic is a level of practitioner that is in high demand by many services across Canada. However, still not all provinces and jurisdictions have ACPs, the ACP typically carries approximately 20 different medications, although the number and type of medications may vary substantially from region to region. As well as bypassing a closer hospitals to get an identified stroke patient to a stroke centre, Critical Care Paramedics are paramedics who generally do not respond to 9-1-1 emergency calls, with the exception of helicopter scene calls. Instead they focus on transferring patients from the hospital they are currently in to other hospitals that can provide a level of care. CCPs often work in collaboration with registered nurses and respiratory therapists during hospital transfers, however, when acuity is manageable by a CCP or a registered nurse or respiratory therapist is not available, CCPs will work alone. Providing this care to the patient allows the hospital to avoid losing highly trained staff on hospital transfers. CCPs are able to all of the care that PCPs and ACPs provide. Where an PCP and ACP may run 40–50 medical codes per year a CCP may run 1–2 in an entire career. IV/IO starts are nearly non-existent in the field and for this reason CCPs are required to attend double the amount of time in classroom situations or in hospital to keep current
26.
Security guard
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A security guard, security officer, or protective agent is a private person who is hired to protect an organizations assets from a variety of hazards by using preventative measures. Security officers are generally uniformed to represent their lawful authority to protect private property, Security guards are generally governed by legal regulations, which set out the requirements for eligibility and the permitted authorities of a security guard in a given jurisdiction. The authorities permitted to security guards vary by country and subnational jurisdiction, Security officers are hired by a range of organizations, including businesses, government departments and agencies and not-for-profit organizations. Until the 1980s, the watchman was more commonly applied to this function. This term was carried over to North America where it was interchangeable with night-watchman until both terms were replaced with the modern security-based titles, Security officers are sometimes regarded as fulfilling a private policing function. Many security firms and proprietary security departments practice the detect, deter, observe, a private security officers primary duty is the prevention and deterrence of crime. Security personnel enforce company rules and can act to protect lives and property, all security officers are also required to go through additional training mandated by the state for the carrying of weapons such as batons, firearms, and pepper spray. Some officers are required to complete certification for special duties. The number of jobs is expected to grow in the U. S. with 175,000 new security jobs expected before 2016, one major economic justification for security personnel is that insurance companies will give substantial rate discounts to sites which have a 24-hour presence. For a high risk or high value property, the discount can often exceed the money being spent on its security program. Discounts are offered because having security on site increases the odds that any fire will be noticed and reported to the fire department before a total loss occurs. Also, the presence of security officers tends to diminish shrinkage, theft, employee misconduct and safety violations, property damage. Many casinos hire security officers to protect money when transferring it from the casino to the casinos bank, armed security officers are frequently contracted to respond as law enforcement until a given situation at a client location is under control and/or public authorities arrive on the scene. Patrolling is usually a part of a security officers duties. Often these patrols are logged by use of a guard tour patrol system, until recently the most commonly used form used to be mechanical clock systems that required a key for manual punching of a number to a strip of paper inside with the time pre-printed on it. But recently, electronic systems have risen in popularity due to their weight, ease of use. Regular patrols are, however, becoming accepted as an industry standard, as it provides predictability for the would-be criminal. Random patrols are easily programmed into electronic systems, allowing freedom of movement
27.
Oni Press
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Oni Press is an American independent comic book publisher based in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1997 by Bob Schreck and Joe Nozemack with the goal of publishing comics, unsatisfied with the material that was dominating the industry, they believed firmly that sequential art could be used to tell virtually any story. Schreck left the company in 1999, and Oni Press is currently owned by Nozemack, the company name derives from oni, the Japanese word for the devils or demons popular in Japanese folklore. For the most part, Oni Press avoids publishing superhero titles, Oni Press publishes few comic books on an ongoing monthly basis - Marc Guggenheims Resurrection, Antony Johnston and Christopher Mittens Wasteland and Brian Hurrt and Cullen Bunns Sixth Gun. Greg Ruckas Queen & Country was published monthly from 2001 to 2007, most of its titles are either irregular recurring miniseries, often published in four to six monthly installments, or original graphic novels. Oni Press material initially released as comic books is usually later collected into trade paperbacks and they have published well over 100 titles, with multiple books undergoing reprints due to sustained popularity. Oni Press had a film and television production unit, Closed on Mondays, headed by Eric Gitter and located in Los Angeles, California
28.
Antarctica
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It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
29.
Whiteout: Melt
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Whiteout, Melt is the title of a comic book limited series written by Greg Rucka, illustrated by Steve Lieber, and published by Oni Press in 2000. It is the sequel to Whiteout, like Whiteout, the illustrations are all in black and white, capturing the starkness of the Antarctic landscape. A third volume in the series, Whiteout, Thaw was expected to be released as four separate issues beginning in the Fall of 2007, however the series was not issued in 2007 or 2008. Rucka subsequently indicated that Thaw was expected to be released around the time as the film version of Whiteout in September 2009. The story follows Carrie Stetko, a U. S, marshal who is called back to Antarctica from her vacation in New Zealand to investigate the explosion of a Russian science outpost. There she discovers a cache of nuclear warheads and evidence that some of them are missing. Along with an officer from the Russian intelligence service, Stetko sets off across the ice on foot to track down the thieves, the series are collected as trade paperbacks, Whiteout Volume 2, Melt In 2001 both series were collected into a limited edition hardcover, Total Whiteout. It won the 2000 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series
30.
Superman
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Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, high school living in Cleveland, Ohio. They sold Superman to Detective Comics, the future DC Comics, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success, Superman helped to create the superhero archetype, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farm couple, the child is raised as Clark Kent, very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities, which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity through a secret Superman identity. Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis, as Clark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Supermans love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain Lex Luthor and he is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batman and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several versions of Superman have been depicted over the years. Supermans appearance is distinctive and iconic, he wears a blue costume with a red-and-yellow emblem on the chest, consisting of the letter S in a shield shape. This shield is used in media to symbolize the character. Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon and he has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the characters impact and role in the United States and worldwide. The characters ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel, the character has been adapted extensively and portrayed in other forms of media as well, including films, television series, and video games. Several actors have portrayed Superman in motion pictures and TV series including Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, Siegels fanzine did not sell well. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips, which they self-published in a book they called Popular Comics, the pair dreamed of becoming professional authors and believed that syndicated newspaper strips offered more lucrative and stable work than pulp magazines. The art quality standards were lower, making them more accessible to the inexperienced Shuster. In early 1933 or in 1934, Siegel developed a new character, also named Superman, but now a heroic character and this first prototype of Superman had no fantastic abilities and wore casual clothing. Siegel and Shuster often compared this version to Slam Bradley, a character they created in 1936. Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they decided to turn it into a comic strip, the first publisher they solicited was Humor Publishing in Chicago, after having read one of their comic books, Detective Dan
31.
Batman
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Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, originally named the Bat-Man, the character is also referred to by such epithets as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, and the Worlds Greatest Detective. Batmans secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, after witnessing the murder of his parents Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime, Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, with assistance from various supporting characters, including his butler Alfred, police commissioner Gordon, and vigilante allies such as Robin. A large assortment of villains make up Batmans rogues gallery, including his archenemy, Batman became popular soon after his introduction in 1939 and gained his own comic book title, Batman, the following year. As the decades went on, differing interpretations of the character emerged, the late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic, which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, the success of Warner Bros. live-action Batman feature films have helped maintain the publics interest in the character. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists, with trying to understand the characters psyche. In 2015, FanSided ranked Batman as number one on their list of 50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History. Kevin Conroy, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Anthony Ruivivar, Jason OMara, Batman has been portrayed in both film and television by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck. In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications to request more superheroes for its titles, in response, Bob Kane created the Bat-Man. Collaborator Bill Finger recalled that Kane had an idea for a character called Batman, I went over to Kanes, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of. Reddish tights, I believe, with boots, with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign, the bat-wing-like cape was suggested by Bob Kane, inspired by Leonardo Da Vincis sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a child. Finger suggested giving the character a cowl instead of a domino mask, a cape instead of wings. Finger said he devised the name Bruce Wayne for the secret identity, Bruce Waynes first name came from Robert Bruce. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry, I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism
32.
Batman: No Man's Land
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Batman, No Man’s Land is an American comic book crossover storyline that ran for the whole of 1999 through the Batman comic book titles published by DC Comics. The story architecture for No Mans Land and the outline of all the Batman continuity titles for 1999 were written by cartoonist Jordan B, the lead-up story began with the Cataclysm story arc, which described a major earthquake hitting Gotham City. No Man’s Land covered, in detail, a period in the lives of the residents of the city, explaining all events from the time of isolation, until its time of re-opening and the beginning of rebuilding. The main storyline ran through the monthly Batman titles Detective Comics, Batman, Batman, Shadow of the Bat, and Batman, Legends of the Dark Knight with other spin-offs serving as tie-ins. In all, No Mans Land encompassed 80 regular monthly issues,4 specials, and the Batman, Harley Quinn graphic novel, the storyline is divided into several arcs. A part of the story would continue from one Batman title and then to the next Batman title that would come the following week, much the same format used in the Superman comics for that time. Unlike the Superman comics, where a team is maintained for one monthly title. The core storyline was collected as trade paperbacks in five volumes. However, because of the number of issues that were devoted to No Mans Land. DC has since released a new collection of No Mans Land that includes issues previously uncollected, a novelization of the story line was also written by Greg Rucka and released as hardcover in January 2000. Gotham City suffers the results of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the Cataclysm storyline. In response, the U. S government declares Gotham a no mans land, destroys all bridges leading to the island, gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years swiftly carve up the city. The citys polices commissioner, James Gordon, and several members of his department, oracle and Huntress also end up on the inside. Bruce Wayne leaves the city to lobby the government to aid to Gotham. Gordon and his men wait for Batmans return, but he disappears for months, a bitterly disappointed Gordon denounces Batman and refuses even to speak his name. Huntress attempts to order, fashioning a Batgirl costume. She soon discovers that criminals fear her more as Batgirl than they do as Huntress, when Batman returns, he allows her to continue to use the costume. However, when she fails to hold off Two-Face and his army of men and loses Batmans territory, Batman and the police work separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by battling and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti
33.
Ed Brubaker
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Ed Brubaker is an American comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubakers first early comics work was primarily in the fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents, Dead Boy Detectives. He later became known for writing superhero comics such as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Catwoman, Uncanny X-Men and he has won an Eisner Award on six separate occasions. At Caliber, he edited the anthology series Monkey Wrench. In 1991, he began contributing stories to the Dark Horse Comics anthology series Dark Horse Presents. Among those contributions was the three part serial An Accidental Death, a collaboration with artist Eric Shanower, which garnered the two a 1993 Eisner Award nomination, in 1997, he began to publish his cartoonist work through the small press publisher Alternative Comics. In the one-off At the Seams, a triangle is explored through three stories which each depict a different participants point-of-view. The comic was a 1997 Ignatz Award nominee for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection and his other work for Alternative Comics, the humorous and experimental Detour No. 1, was to be the first issue of a series, Detour was nominated for the Best New Series Harvey Award in 1998. The Fall, a novel that was written by Brubaker and illustrated by Berlin creator Jason Lutes was published by Drawn. This work had previously been anthologized in five parts in Dark Horse Presents in 1998, the story involved a convenience store clerk who gets involved in a ten-year-old murder mystery after he uses a stolen credit card. In 2004 IDW Publishing announced that Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips would collaborate on a creator owned pirate series titled Black Sails for them. That series has not yet published and The Fall remained the last independent comic book work by Brubaker until his work for Image Comics. Predating Brubakers Alternative Comics work by two years, Vertigo Visions, Prez, Smells Like Teen President was Brubakers first work for one of the two major American comic book publishers. Published by DC Comics mature readers imprint Vertigo, the comic was a political satire which revamped an obscure 1970s Joe Simon creation. Brubaker worked with his An Accidental Death collaborator, artist Eric Shanower, a slacker detective story set in San Francisco, the series was critically acclaimed and the first to gain Brubaker attention from Hollywood producers. In late 2000, Brubaker signed a contract with DC Comics. That same year, he began to do his first mainstream super-hero work and he would continue to work on various series starring the Batman character until late 2003 including such story arcs as Bruce Wayne, Murderer. and Bruce Wayne, Fugitive
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Bruce Wayne: Fugitive
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Bruce Wayne, Fugitive is a storyline that ran through the Batman comic books in 2002. The story directly follows the Bruce Wayne, Murderer, at the end of Batman, The 10-Cent Adventure #1, Bruce Wayne finds his girlfriend, Vesper Fairchild, dead in Wayne Manor just as police arrive. The Gotham City Police Department promptly charges Wayne for murder, and both Wayne and his bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux are imprisoned, leaving the Batman Family to work the crime and absolve them. The story runs through Batgirl #24, Batman #599, Batman, Gotham Knights #25-26, Birds of Prey #39-40, Detective Comics #766-767, Nightwing #65-66, with Batman free, the Batman Family continues to investigate the circumstances of the crime. Many start to doubt Bruces innocence, oracle recovers a disk proving the journal entries from Vespers apartment had been altered. This means Vesper did not know Batmans identity, Cain had been hired by then-President Lex Luthor to discredit Bruce Wayne for his stance against Luthor during the No Mans Land storyline. Cain subsequently deduces Batmans true identity, recalling his own acquaintance with a young Bruce when Bruce went to him for training and he was thus able to frame him for a crime where the only motive was Batmans desire to protect his identity. Capturing Cain, Bruces name is cleared, Cain keeping Bruces identity as Batman secret to protect his daughter. The Bruce Wayne, Murderer. and Bruce Wayne, Fugitive storylines have been collected in several volumes, storyline is being reprinted in new editions. Another new single volume edition has announced for Bruce Wayne - Fugitive. In addition, the table of contents incorrectly referred to Detective Comics #769 as Purity, Part 1. A week later, DC Comics announced plans to recall the Batman, Bruce Wayne, new edition trade, asking retailers to accept returns from customers and destroy existing copies. Bruce Wayne, Murderer at DC Comics Bruce Wayne, Fugitive, Vol.1 at DC Comics Bruce Wayne, Fugitive, Vol.2 at DC Comics Bruce Wayne, Fugitive, Vol.3 at DC Comics
35.
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia
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Wonder Woman, The Hiketeia is a graphic novel written by Greg Rucka with art by J. G. Jones. The work marked Ruckas first outing with the character, before he became the writer on the ongoing Wonder Woman series one year later and it was released in hardcover in 2002, and in paperback a year later. Before he started his run on Wonder Woman, with #195 in 2003, Greg Rucka started his work on the character a year before that in the one-shot Wonder Woman. Compared to his work, The Hiketeia offered a very limited presentation of Wonder Woman. By presenting the work as a tragedy, Rucka meant to reveal Wonder Womans more ineffectual - given the untenable situation - and his work on the ongoing series allowed for more varied circumstances, and therefore more facets of Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, The Hiketeia is a modern Greek tragedy of duty, when Wonder Woman partakes in an ancient ritual called the Hiketeia, she is honor-bound to eternally protect and care for a young woman named Danielle Wellys. But when Wonder Woman learns that Danielle has killed the sex-slavers/drug dealers who murdered her sister, she finds herself in battle with Batman. Caught in a situation, Wonder Woman must choose between breaking a sacred oath and turning her back on justice. Released in 2002, the novel was well received both by fans and critics. Comics Worth Reading considered it to be the best Wonder Woman story, instead, her depiction was praised for showing Diana as caring, thoughtful, capable of reflection and even humor. The artwork was praised, with one reviewer using the panel in which Batman is hurled from a second story balcony by Wonder Womans punch as an example. Wonder Woman, The Hiketeia DC Comics
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Graphic novel
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A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word normally refers to long fictional works, the term graphic novel is applied broadly and includes fiction, non-fiction. It is distinguished from the comic book, which is used for comics periodicals. Fan historian Richard Kyle coined the term graphic novel in an essay in the November 1964 issue of the comics fanzine Capa-Alpha, the Book Industry Study Group began using graphic novel as a category in book stores in 2001. In the publishing trade, the term extends to material that would not be considered a novel if produced in another medium. Collections of comic books that do not form a story, anthologies or collections of loosely related pieces. The term is sometimes used to distinguish between works created as standalone stories, in contrast to collections or compilations of a story arc from a comic book series published in book form. As the exact definition of the novel is debated, the origins of the form are open to interpretation. The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck is the oldest recognized American example of comics used to this end, the first American edition was published in 1842 by Wilson & Company in New York City using the original printing plates from the 1841 edition. Another early predecessor is Journey to the Gold Diggins by Jeremiah Saddlebags by brothers J. A. D. and D. F. Read, inspired by The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. In 1894 Caran dAche broached the idea of a novel in a letter to the newspaper Le Figaro. In the United States there is a tradition of reissuing previously published comic strips in book form. In 1897 the Hearst Syndicate published such a collection of The Yellow Kid by Richard Outcault, the 1920s saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition, with Belgian Frans Masereel cited as the undisputed king of this revival. American Lynd Ward also worked in this tradition, publishing Gods Man, in 1929, the 1940s saw the launching of Classics Illustrated, a comic-book series that primarily adapted notable, public domain novels into standalone comic books for young readers. In 1947 Fawcett Comics published Comics Novel #1, Anarcho, Dictator of Death, by the late 1960s, American comic book creators were becoming more adventurous with the form. Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin self-published a 40-page, magazine-format comics novel, savage in 1968—the same year Marvel Comics published two issues of The Spectacular Spider-Man in a similar format. Meanwhile, in continental Europe, the tradition of collecting serials of popular strips such as The Adventures of Tintin or Asterix led to long-form narratives published initially as serials. By 1969, the author John Updike, who had entertained ideas of becoming a cartoonist in his youth, addressed the Bristol Literary Society, on the death of the novel
37.
Elektra (comics)
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Elektra Natchios is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Frank Miller, the character first appeared in Daredevil #168 and she is a love interest of the superhero Daredevil, but her violent nature and mercenary lifestyle divide the two. The character is a trained assassin of Greek descent who wields a pair of bladed sai as her trademark weapons. She has also appeared as a character of X-Mens Wolverine and in other series and mini-series. Elektra was ranked 22nd in Comics Buyers Guides 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list, Miller initially based the characters appearance on Lisa Lyon, a female bodybuilder. In the 2003 film Daredevil and its 2005 spin-off, Elektra, Élodie Yung portrays the character in the second season of Marvels Daredevil, and she will reprise the role in the upcoming TV show The Defenders. Created by Frank Miller, Elektra first appeared in Daredevil #168 and she was resurrected shortly after, but the story contained a narrative note which indicated that Daredevil would never encounter her again. After over a decades absence, she reappeared in Daredevil #324-327, Daredevil writer D. G. Chichester recounted that he and editor Ralph Macchio had bandied about the idea in a casual fashion now and again, but neither of us wanted to do it as a gimmick. On the rare occasion I thought I had an angle to use her. In my mind, its always been her to whom the title refers and this upset Frank Miller, who claimed that Marvel had previously promised him that the character would not be used in any publication. She has since appeared in two ongoing series and several mini-series. Elektra appears in the 2012 Thunderbolts series by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon, Elektra was born on a Greek island near the Aegean Sea to Hugo Kostas Natchios and his wife Christina Natchios. She had a brother named Orestez Natchios. Two contradictory accounts of her history have been given. In Elektra, Root of Evil #1-4, Christina is killed by assassins hired by Orestez, while in Elektra #18, in both accounts, she gives premature birth to Elektra just before dying. When a nine-year-old Elektra was assaulted by kidnappers, the men were all killed by Orestez, Orestez advised his father that Elektra needed to learn self-defense. Hugo hired a sensei to teach her the martial arts, in Elektra, Assassin #1, the adult Elektra has vague memories of being raped by her father as a 5-year-old. Years of counseling and medication had convinced her this was a false memory, Elektra grew up close to her father but was plagued by dark visions and voices with no known source
38.
Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra
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Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra is a four-issue comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics written by Greg Rucka with art by Salvador Larroca. Marvel characters Daredevil and Elektra are introduced to the Ultimate universe in the series in October 2002, a sequel to the series called Ultimate Elektra was released in August 2004. In this story, Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios are both students in Columbia University, where they meet and start dating, Murdock is blind and studying law. During the course of the story, Elektra and her roommates are harassed by a boy, Trey Langstrom, until Elektra. In response, Langstrom and a group of thugs destroys Elektras fathers business, Murdock, also a martial artist and possessor of enhanced senses, forces the thugs to confess, but couldnt stop Elektra from seriously wounding Langstrom. While Matt reveals his identity to Elektra, she forces him to choose between their love and his sense of duty and he chooses the second and they apparently part ways. The first issue Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra was ranked 13 with pre-order sales of 77,050. Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra #2 was ranked 13 in the top 300 comics for the December 2002 period with sales of 67,761 while issue 3 was ranked 14 with pre-order sales of 66,360. The final issue was ranked 12 in the January 2003 period with sales of 66,107. The series has been collected into a paperback, Ultimate Daredevil
39.
Image Comics
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Image Comics is an American comic book publisher. It was immediately successful, and remains one of the largest comic book publishers in North America and its output was originally dominated by superhero and fantasy series from the studios of the Image partners, but now includes comics in many genres by numerous independent creators. Its best-known series include Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade, The Darkness, Invincible, The Walking Dead, Saga, in the early 1990s, comics creators Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, and Jim Valentino had dinner with Malibu Comics editor-in-chief Dave Olbrich. Malibu was a small but established publishing company sympathetic to creator-ownership and these and several other freelance illustrators doing popular work for Marvel Comics were growing frustrated with the companys work for hire policies and practices. In December 1991, a group of these illustrators approached Marvel president Terry Stewart and demanded that the company give them ownership, accounts vary as to whom this group included, but it is generally accepted that Todd McFarlane and Liefeld were among its leaders. Marvel did not meet their demands and this development was nicknamed the X-odus, because several of the creators involved were famous for their work on the X-Men franchise. Marvels stock fell $3. 25/share when the news became public, Images organizing charter had two key provisions, Image would not own any creators work, the creator would. No Image partner would interfere – creatively or financially – with any other partners work, Image itself would own no intellectual property except the company trademarks, its name and its logo, which was designed by writer Hank Kanalz. Each Image partner founded his own studio, which published under the Image banner but was autonomous from any central editorial control. The first Image comic books to arrive in stores were Liefelds Youngblood, Larsens The Savage Dragon, McFarlanes Spawn, and Lees WildC. A. T. s. Within a few months, the Image titles success led to Malibu having almost 10% of the North American comics market share, by the beginning of 1993, Images financial situation was secure enough to publish its titles independently, and it left Malibu. Some of the founders came to resemble separate publishers, each with several ongoing series set in a shared universe. These included Sam Kieth, Dale Keown, Jae Lee, and the team of Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, later, some established self-published series also moved to Image, such as Jeff Smiths Bone and Colleen Dorans A Distant Soil. The partners had little business or management experience, and many series quickly fell behind their intended publishing schedule, comparing them to vaporware, one reader reported that 17 of the 36 delayed items in his December 1992 order were from Image. In response, retailers cut orders to reduce their risk and this significantly hurt the studios, which were each responsible for their own cash flow and profitability. Image had become the third-largest comics publisher in North America, exceeded only by long-established industry leaders Marvel, disagreements between partners began to develop. Silvestri withdrew Top Cow from Image in 1996, protesting that Liefeld was recruiting artists from his studio, the other five partners discussed ousting Liefeld from the company, and Liefeld resigned in September 1996, giving up his share of the company. Silvestri subsequently returned Top Cow to Image, wildstorms Cliffhanger imprint, established in 1998, was a commercial success, launching high-selling creator-owned properties by Humberto Ramos, J. Scott Campbell, Joe Madureira, and others
40.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
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DC Countdown, commonly referred to as Countdown to Infinite Crisis, is a one-shot publication and the official start of the Infinite Crisis storyline. It was released 30 March 2005, sold out, and quickly went to a second printing, when this comic was first published, the cover showed Batman holding a shadowed corpse, so as not to ruin the surprise of who dies. For the second printing, the shadows were removed to reveal the identity of the corpse, during initial solicitations the comic was entitled DC Countdown to postpone revelation of an upcoming crisis. Countdown was a special 80 page comic originally priced at $1, much lower than would normally be the case for an 80-page comic, artist Ed Benes pencilled and inked his chapter. The main plot concerns Ted Kord, the superhero and former Justice League member known as the Blue Beetle, most of the other DC heroes dismiss Kords concerns, either politely or like Batman, outright. Only Booster Gold, another superhero and Kords best friend, eventually decides to complete the investigation. Alone and unaided, Blue Beetle continues to follow the clues to Switzerland where he infiltrates the base of the Checkmate organization. After Beetle refuses to join Lord, Lord executes him with a gunshot to the head. Countdown was bannered as a bridge to all four of the Crisis leadup titles, the main plot was essentially an extended prologue to The OMAC Project. The events of Day of Vengeance were foreshadowed, when the Beetle confronted the wizard Shazam, the Rann-Thanagar War was mentioned on a single page, but seemed to already be underway in the story. The main characters of Villains United were featured in a chapter of the book. Countdown was reprinted as part of the paperback collection of The OMAC Project. Your Guide to Infinite Crisis, DC Countdown, Countdown to Infinite Crisis at the Comic Book DB
41.
Infinite Crisis
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The main miniseries debuted in October 2005, and each issue was released with two variant covers, one by Pérez, and one by Jim Lee and Sandra Hope. The series storyline was a sequel to DCs 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths and it revisited characters and concepts from that earlier Crisis, including the existence of DCs Multiverse. Some of the characters featured were alternate versions of comic icons such as an alternate Superman named Kal-L, Infinite Crisis #1 was ranked first in the top 300 comics for October 2005 with pre-order sales of 249,265. This was almost double the second ranked comic House of M #7 which had sales of 134,429. Infinite Crisis #2 was also the top seller in top 300 comics for November 2005 with pre-order sales of 207,564. DC officially began leading up to the new Crisis with a one-shot issue Countdown to Infinite Crisis, followed by four limited series that tied into. Once the Crisis was completed, DC used the One Year Later event to move the narratives of most of its DC Universe series forward by one year. The weekly series 52 began publication in May 2006, and depicts some of the events occurred between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later. In June 2008, a third and Final Crisis began a run and this Crisis has thus been referred to in DC continuity as the middle Crisis. Infinite Crisis was announced in March 2005, the event was kicked off with the release of Countdown to Infinite Crisis. These first four limited series each had a special tie-in issue, as with many large-scale comic crossovers, Infinite Crisis featured a large number of tie-ins. Before the event was announced, books such as Adam Strange, after Countdown, several books were identified as tie-ins to the four mini-series. Thus, although Infinite Crisis itself is only seven issues long, DC Comics executive editor Dan DiDio stated that Infinite Crisis was being hinted at in various stories for two years prior to its launch, starting with the death of Donna Troy. With Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis began to visibly affect DCs editorial policy, mark Waid signed an exclusive contract with DC, receiving a similar editorial role. DC replaced its official logo with a new one that debuted on the first issue of DC Special. Kal-L seeks out his cousin, Power Girl, also a survivor of Earth-Two, believing Lois health will improve on her native world, he hopes to replace the current Earth with Earth-Two, which he considers perfect. Kal-L tries to enlist Batmans support, stating that the Post-Crisis Earths inherent bad nature caused Batmans recent mistrust, Batman refuses and tries to use his Kryptonite Ring, but as this is not native to Kal-Ls Universe it fails and is destroyed by heat vision. Afterward, Batman learns Superboy-Prime destroyed the JLA Watchtower, Alexander reveals to Power Girl that he and Superboy-Prime had been leaving their paradise for some time, manipulating events to help create an inter-dimensional tuning fork
42.
Geoff Johns
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Geoff Johns is an American comic book and television writer, film producer, and television producer. He is the president and Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics and his most notable work in different media has used the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, and Superman. He is well known for his work on The WB/The CWs Smallville, Arrow and he is also a comic book retailer who co-owns Earth-2 Comics in Northridge, California with Carr DAngelo and Jud Meyers. Johns was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Barbara and Fred Johns, and grew up in the suburbs of Grosse Pointe and Clarkston and he is of half Lebanese ancestry. As Johns continued collecting comics, he gravitated toward DC Comics and later Vertigo, after graduating from Clarkston High School in 1991, he studied media arts, screenwriting, film production and film theory at Michigan State University. He graduated from Michigan State in 1995, and then moved to Los Angeles, Johns started off copying scripts, and after about two months, was hired as a production assistant for Donner, whom Johns regards as his mentor. While working on production of Donners 1997 film Conspiracy Theory, Johns visited New York City, where he met DC Comics personnel such as Eddie Berganza, reigniting his childhood interest in comics. Berganza invited Johns to tour the DC Comics offices, and offered Johns the opportunity to suggest ideas, a series based on the second Star-Spangled Kid and her stepfather, to editor Chuck Kim a year later. Johns expected to write comics on the side, until he met David Goyer and James Robinson, after looking at Stars and S. T. R. I. P. E. Robinson offered Johns co-writing duties on JSA in 2000, and Johns credits both him and Mike Carlin with shepherding him into the comics industry and that same year, Johns became the regular writer on The Flash ongoing series with issue 164. I make a lot of my characters from Detroit, I think self-made, blue-collar heroes represent Detroit. Wally Wests Flash was like that, I took the inspiration of the city and the people there and used it in the books. Johns Flash run concluded with #225 and he co-wrote a Beast Boy limited series with Ben Raab in 2000 and crafted the Return to Krypton story arc in the Superman titles with Pasqual Ferry in 2002. After writing The Avengers vol.3 #57-76 and Avengers Icons, The Vision #1-4 for Marvel Comics, Johns oversaw the re-launch of Hawkman and Teen Titans. Johns was responsible for the return of Hal Jordan in 2005 as the writer of the Green Lantern, Rebirth mini-series, Johns was the writer of the Infinite Crisis crossover limited series, a sequel to 1985s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Following this, Johns was one of four writers, with Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, in 2006, Johns and Kurt Busiek co-wrote the Up, Up and Away. Story arc in Superman and Action Comics and he then reunited with Richard Donner on the Last Son storyline in Action Comics with Donner co-plotting the series with his former assistant. The Justice Society of America series by Johns and artist Dale Eaglesham began in February 2007 and six months later, he and that same year, Johns helmed the critically acclaimed Sinestro Corps War storyline in the Green Lantern titles
43.
Judd Winick
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Judd Winick is an American comic book, comic strip and television writer/artist and former reality television personality. He created the animated TV series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Winick was born February 12,1970, and grew up in Dix Hills, New York. In his youth Winick initially read superhero comics, but this changed when he read Kyle Bakers graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn, which Winick said in a 2015 interview he still reads once a year. Winick graduated from school in 1988 and entered the University of Michigan, Ann Arbors School of Art, intending to emulate his cartoonist heroes, including Breathed. His comic strip, Nuts and Bolts, began running in the newspaper, the Michigan Daily, in his freshman year. The University published a small print-run of a collection of his strips called Watching the Spin-Cycle, in his senior year, Universal Press Syndicate, which syndicates strips such as Doonesbury and Calvin & Hobbes, offered Winick a development contract. After graduation, Winick lived in an apartment in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, with fellow writer Brad Meltzer, struggling to develop Nuts and Bolts for UPS, while working at a bookstore. On January 1,1993, UPS decided not to renew Winick’s strip for syndication, Winick was unable to secure syndication with another company, and was forced to move back in with his parents by the middle of 1993, doing unfulfilling T-shirt work for beer companies. Winick applied to be on MTV network’s reality TV show, The Real World, San Francisco, hoping for fame, during the casting process, the producers of the show conducted an in-person, videotaped interview with Winick. When asked how he would feel about living with someone who was HIV-positive, Winick gave what he thought was an enthusiastic, politically correct answer, Winick was accepted as a cast member on the show in January 1994. The producers informed the housemates that they would be living with someone who was HIV-positive, Winick and his six castmates moved into the house at 949 Lombard Street on Russian Hill on February 12, Winicks 23rd birthday. Winick became roommates with Pedro Zamora, Winicks Nuts and Bolts strip began running in the San Francisco Examiner in March of that year. Winick, who is Jewish, was offended at Raineys decision to wear T-shirt depicting four guns arranged in the shape of a swastika, after filming of the season ended, Winick and Ling moved to Los Angeles to continue their relationship. By August 1994, Zamoras health began to decline, after being hospitalized, he asked Winick to substitute for him at a national AIDS education lecture. When Zamora died on November 11,1994, Winick and Ling were at his bedside, Winick would continue Zamoras educational work for some time after that. Winick designed illustrations for The Complete Idiots Guide to, series of books, and did over 300 of them, including that series’ computer-oriented line. A collection of the computer-related titles cartoons was published in 1997 as Terminal Madness, road Trip went on to become an Eisner Award nominee for Best Sequential Story. Barry Ween was optioned by Platinum Studios to be adapted into an animated series, Winick’s graphic novel, Pedro and Me, Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, was published in September 2000
44.
The OMAC Project
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The OMAC Project is a six issue American comic book limited series written by Greg Rucka with art by Jesus Saiz and published by DC Comics in 2005. The book is one of four leading up to DC Comics Infinite Crisis event. The series directly follows the Countdown to Infinite Crisis special, picking up the story where the left off. The OMACs mentioned in the title borrow their name and general appearance from the 1974 Jack Kirby creation OMAC, in the miniseries, OMACs are people scattered across the world who harbor invasive technology in their bodies but do not know it. The human hosts of the OMAC technology act as unwitting sleeper agents for former Justice League associate Maxwell Lord, the OMACs are guided by the Brother Eye satellite, as in the original 1974 Kirby stories. In this 2005 miniseries, however, Brother Eye differs from its 1974 inspiration and this miniseries portrays Brother Eye as an artificially intelligent spy satellite originally built by Batman, not to control the OMACs, but to observe the members of the Justice League. Before the beginning of the miniseries, Maxwell Lord has already secretly captured Brother Eye from Batman, Lord uses the OMACs and Brother Eye to stalk and attack the worlds superheroes and supervillains, with the avowed goal of reasserting humanitys control over the world. Blue Beetle is dead, Booster Gold is in the hospital, Booster Gold wakes up and, after learning of Ted Kords disappearance, decides to investigate with the help of Wonder Woman. OMACs have been spotted all over the world and have managed to kill several metahumans, interwoven through this plot are scenes detailing the power struggle within the Checkmate organization itself. Checkmate is led by the White Queen, White King, Black Queen and Black King, through his machinations, Black King Maxwell Lord becomes the only leader of the organization, despite being double-crossed by one of his own Knights, Sasha Bordeaux. Lord is then killed by Wonder Woman to prevent him continuing to direct the actions of a mind-controlled Superman. Sasha herself is transformed into an OMAC-like being, powered by nanotechnology, rocket Red #4, a former member of the Justice League Europe, sacrifices himself in order to destroy several drones and save the lives of his friends. Batman and Sasha then work with the remnants of Checkmate and other government organizations to lure the majority of OMACs to the Sahara Desert. There, as OMACs gather to attack a number of gathered heroes, Batman activates an EMP device that disables all of the OMACs. However, the Brother Eye satellite is still hidden and has about 200,000 OMACs still under its control, Brother Eye overrides all television screens around the world and broadcasts Wonder Womans killing of Maxwell Lord. People dont understand the circumstances, only that theyre watching Wonder Woman murder a recognized Justice League colleague, as the series closes, Brother Eye prepares to launch an all-out war against metahumans to protect humanity. Batman works furiously to disable his rogue creation, while Wonder Woman, Brother Eyes campaign against the Amazons leads into Infinite Crisis #1. Sasha Bordeaux, returning from the attack against Brother Eye in space, is requested by Batman to track down the remains of the satellite
45.
Checkmate (comics)
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Checkmate, a division of Task Force X, is a fictional covert operations agency appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in Action Comics #598 and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate, the Checkmate organization was created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin, first appearing in Action Comics #598 in 1988. The precursor to this organization was known as the Agency. Harry Stein was appointed Valentina Vostoks replacement in The Agencys command position by Amanda Waller, Stein later sought out the most stable personnel available from the American and international intelligence and law enforcement communities to form Checkmate. His agency would field only the best-trained and well-equipped of agents, for the organizational structure of the re-organized Agency, Stein chose the game of chess as his working model. Stein brought in Gary Washington and Black Thorn as Checkmate operatives, Checkmate. was at various times involved with the other government agencies in the DC Comics universe, primarily the Suicide Squad, which resulted in the crossover The Janus Directive. Checkmate. was canceled after 33 issues but the continued to appear. After the events of the mini-series The OMAC Project, a precursor to the Infinite Crisis limited series and this volume ended after publication of its 31st issue dated December 2008. After the cancellation of the volume, the team returned in the Final Crisis one-shot tie-in Resist by Greg Rucka. The name Checkmate is taken from the move in chess. The Bishops oversaw the Rooks behind the scenes while the Rooks planned missions and supervised the field agents, or Knights, list of operatives during first series. She relinquishes command to Harry Stein, who recreates The Agency into a new image and organization, dubbed Checkmate, Checkmate loses at least 38 Knight agents and its headquarters in Shelby, Virginia in the incident. In the aftermath, Sarge Steel takes Wallers place as head of Checkmate, a Russian version of Checkmate is introduced in the last issues of the original series run. They are admittedly underfunded, but wear armor similar to their U. S. counterparts, Checkmates hierarchy is remodeled in a manner similar to that of Marvel Comics Hellfire Club. The chess-motif remains, but there are sets of Kings and Queens, as well as Bishops, Rooks, Knights and Pawns, neither Rooks or Pawns were seen however. Pawns assisted the knights on missions, serving as surveillance and backup if needed, the structure of Checkmate with two halves, Black and White, may also be inspired by the CIAs original two separate halves, the Directorate of Operations and Directorate of Intelligence. Sarge Steel reactivates Checkmate in Deathstroke, the Terminator #17, in order to find the body of Deathstroke. Phil Kramer is promoted to King and Kalia Campbell to Queen, Harry Steins said to be on indefinite leave of absence after his son was shot and to be spending more time with his family
