To celebrate Nerdage’s fifth birthday today, I asked my wife, Annette Price, a noted cake decorator, if she had any superhero cakes I hadn’t previously featured on the blog.  She agreed, and came up with some I haven’t posted before that I could showcase on the blog.  The lead image are cakes featuring DC heroes Hawk and Dove.  Oklahoma native Sterling Gates wrote the characters in their recent New 52 relaunch.

Other characters featured in today’s images include the Thing, Plastic Man, the X-Men, Captain America, Batman and She-Ra.

You can see Annette’s previous cakes showcased here, here and here. And you can find out more about her cakes and cupcakes at Cupcakes and Mayhem.

- Matt Price

Tarzan wishes the Nerdage blog happy birthday in this cake by Annette Price

Way back on Dec. 5, 2007, I made the first post at Nerdage, as NewsOK launched its first blog about comics, games, movies and geek culture.

Alan Herzberger, now our digital managing editor, was instrumental in the initiative to create the blog. It’s now among NewsOK’s most popular, with upwards of 2 million page views in the past few years.

I’ve had a good time with a number of series over the years, including my “actors and actresses with geek appeal” series  in 2010 and 2011; and my quest to read 2,011 comic books in 2011.

Using the calculator at timeanddate.com, Nerdage has been around for 1827 days, which can also be expressed as:
157,852,800 seconds
2,630,880 minutes
43,848 hours
261 weeks

Over that time, I’ve had 4,281 posts and at least 4,561 comments. (Some experimenting with various commenting systems over the years means many comments can’t be easily counted.)

I’ve had great contributors and guest posters help out, for which I’m quite grateful. Thanks especially to Annette Price, who has to put up with me every day, but who has also contributed text, photos, and cake to Nerdage’s success.  (And more cake.)

Also deserving of mention are Kyle Roberts, my co-host and editor on the Planet 46 Comics Show; and Greg Elwell, co-founder with me of NewsOK’s original comics podcast and original contributor to Nerdage.  The staff at my store, Speeding Bullet Comics, are always great with research help for the blog, no matter how arcane the request.

Thanks to all the sources who provide content, interviews and insight; and to all those involved in the business of creating new and innovative stories that we have featured here.

Nerdage, has, perhaps appropriately, been a more personal quest than I might have expected.  There’s no way to blog about every event happening in geek culture anymore (if there ever was), and so there must by design be a filtration process: What do I think is interesting, informative, important?  What is positive and what is fun?  I hope I succeed in answering these questions in a way that entertains readers most days.

- Matt Price

Happy Groundhog Day and happy birthday to me — we celebrated by giving away a Lone Ranger cake at my store, Speeding Bullet Comics.   The second issue of Dynamite’s new “Lone Ranger” comic is out this week.

See previous comic-related cakes decorated by my wife, Annette Price, here and here.

- Matt Price

As I recently posted, the Nerdage blog recently hit 3000 posts.  My wife Annette, a fine cakemaker, made the above Mystery Science Theater 3000 cake to celebrate.   There’s even more to celebrate today.  It’s my birthday, for one, and on this date 10 years ago – Feb. 2, 2001 – my first “Word Balloons” column about comic books ran in The Oklahoman

I will have a very self-congratulatory column running in Weekend Look this Friday, looking back at the past 10 years.  But I also wanted to mark the date today, and say thanks to everyone who has been with me — as a friend or a colleague; as a source or a reader — for all or for any of that time.   Thank you. I appreciate you all.

- Matt Price

Happy Birthday, James Robinson! (Cake by Annette Price)

Happy birthday to “Starman” writer James Robinson, celebrating his 47th birthday today.  To celebrate, here’s my list of the top 10 graphic novels or comic-book series by the acclaimed author.  Not included is the current “Last Stand on New Krypton,” since it’s not yet completed, but I highly recommend it so far.

1. Starman
I’m going to include the entire run as one work. It’s been collected in trades, and is in the process of being re-collected in fantastic-looking hardcovers.  You can also track it down as “Starman” issues #0-#80.

In “Starman,” reluctant hero Jack Knight takes on the superheroic role of Starman, following in the footsteps of his father and brother.   Eschewing a traditional superhero uniform, Jack dons a leather jacket and anti-flare goggles and takes to the sky using a device invented by his father, the cosmic rod.

Jack’s hometown of Opal City becomes one of the great fictional cities of the DC Universe under Robinson’s pen, and Jack himself is perhaps the best-developed comic-book character created in the entire decade of the 1990s.  Artist Tony Harris co-created the character and drew the first four and half years of the book.   His art set the mood for the book, and made it immediately visually different from many of the rest of mainstream comics being published at the time.

2. JSA: The Golden Age
In this alternate universe tale, DC’s superheroes give up their roles at the conclusion of World War II.  Retired heroes are faced with the McCarthy commission and others questioning their loyalties.  Drawn by Paul Smith, this 1993 miniseries was nominated for an Eisner Award.  I find it an interesting companion piece to “Kingdom Come,” by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, which came out shortly after.

3. Leave it to Chance

This all-ages series ran for 13 issues, 12 of which have been collected in hardcover format.   The fantastic series, drawn by Paul Smith, featured a young girl who was the daughter of the world’s most powerful sorcerer.

4. Firearm
Private investigator Alec Swan gets involved in superheroic cases, often against his will.  Great characterization and nice art from Cully Hamner.   The character was created by Robinson, Hamner and Chaykin.  You’ll probably have to hunt the back-issue bins to find it, as it was created before trade paperbacks became ubiquitous, and although Marvel bought the Ultraverse line of which “Firearm” was a part, Marvel hasn’t shown any intentions to reprint the comics.

5.  JSA
Co-writing with David Goyer, Robinson brought back the original superhero team with the relaunch of JSA, featuring Jack Knight as Starman, Dr. Fate, a new Hawkgirl and Hourman, and the original Green Lantern and Flash.  Art is by Stephen Sadowski. While Robinson only wrote four issues (and a “Secret Files”) he launched here one of DC’s biggest successes of the ’00s.

6. Hawkman
With Geoff Johns, Robinson brought back Hawkman and made him usable again.  Muddled Hawk-chronology had hampered the use of the character, But once Goyer and Johns brought him back in JSA, Johns and Robinson made him both noble and savage, as he adjusts to the world and to Hawkgirl, who he believes to be his eternal love – whether she remembers it or not.

7. Terminator: Secondary Objectives
This 1991 series features Robinson working with Paul Gulacy and Karl Kesel, and is set in the world of the “Terminator” films.  Following up on the first Dark Horse “Terminator” series, this series has a Terminator trying to accomplish his “secondary objective” of killing the pregnant Sarah Connor.  “Secondary Objectives” is currently available in Dark Horse’s first “Terminator” Omnibus.  “Endgame,” also by Robinson, is available in the second “Terminator” Omnibus.

8. Grendel Tales: Four Devils, One Hell
The first Grendel story not by creator Matt Wagner, and also the best.  Robinson writes about a private eye looking into a client’s murder in a future New Orleans.  Art by Teddy Kristiansen.

9. Legends of the Dark Knight: Blades

This collaboration with Tim Sale is available in the “Tales of the Batman: Tim Sale” collection.  The three-part story from “Legends of the Dark Knight” features a new swashbuckling hero in Gotham.

10. Bluebeard
This miniseries about a serial killer who changes his identity after each murder is drawn by Phil Elliot. The miniseries was collected into a graphic novel by Slave Labor, and is disturbingly compelling.

Oklahomans who want to meet James Robinson can do so on June 12 at Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, where the writer will be signing along with “War of the Supermen” co-writer Sterling Gates. (Full disclosure note: I am one of the owners of Speeding Bullet Comics.)   In the meantime, celebrate the birthday of one of my favorite comic-book writers by tracking down some of these comics.  And share your favorites in the comments!

- Matt Price

So superhero cakes came up as a topic again after Marvel’s Tom Brevoort appeared on Last Cake Standing on the Food Network.  I noticed more traffic to this page, where I showed off some superheroic cake designs from my wife, Annette.

Since I’m all about giving the people what they want here at Nerdage, I asked Annette if she had more cakes she’d be willing to show off at the blog.  She obliged.   The Booster Gold cake shown above is one of my all-time favorite superhero cakes.   The following gallery showcases superhero cakes including Aquaman, Rorschach from Watchmen, the Wonder Twins and more.  For the non-superhero fan, there’s a Spock from Star Trek and a Tom and Jerry.  Enjoy!  Feel free to share your own superhero cake pictures of you’ve got ‘em.

– Matt Price

It was a year ago today when Nerdage began here at NewsOK. It’s been a good year for comics and video game fans, with “Iron Man,” “The Dark Knight,” “Grand Theft Auto IV,” the Brainiac arc of “Action Comics,” and much much more.   I was glad to be here reporting and commenting on it as it happened.  At times, Nerdage was even the most popular blog on NewsOK, which was a shock to me, and we’ve been continually one of the highly ranked reads around here, for which I am grateful.

My thanks to Nerdage contributors during its first year of existence:
Greg Elwell
Christopher Price
Chris Borthick
Kyle Roberts
Annette Price (who also made the pictured cake)

And many many thanks to all of you who read and comment.  Here’s hoping for even more success in the coming year!

– Matt Price

However, there’s an Oklahoman who I think is the best superhero cake maker on the planet.  (Several of you will already know I’m talking about my wife, Annette, so you could say I was biased… but seriously, I think these are the coolest superhero cakes ever.)

Legion of Super-Heroes cake.

Spider-Man bust cake.

Superhero poker hand, starring Golden Age DC Comics heroes.

Wolverine’s fist breaking through the birthday cake.

A couple non-superhero cakes, after the cut.

The Borg Cube as a birthday cake.

A protest to the missed fumble call in the 2006 Oklahoma-Oregon game, in cake.

Let me join Blog at Newsarama and The Superman Homepage as wishing Superman a happy birthday… sort of.  From the Superman Homepage Article:

The idea that Superman’s birthday is February 29 initially began as a lark. DC editors explained tongue in cheek in comic book letter columns that Superman remained eternally youthful because he was born on Leap Day, February 29, which occurs only once every four years.

The in-story birthdate has jumped around, and has varied depending on if you’re talking about the date he was born on Krypton (which would have a whole different calendar, anyway) or the date he arrived on Earth.

– Matt Price

Cake and photo by Annette Price