Tate’s Comics

Lauderhill, FL

May 4th, 2013

Free Comic Book Day is the one day out of the year when superhero fans and dealers can come together for the love of comic books. Established in 2002, Free Comic Book Day takes place on the first Saturday of every May. All across the world, long lines of people gather to pick up a free comic book (or several!). Major publishers, such as Marvel and DC, print special comics for this day. Free Comic Book Day is definitely something everyone should attend at least once in their lifetime.

This year, the OUTLOUD team was lucky enough to spend it at Tate’s Comics in Lauderhill, FL. Arriving at 10 a.m., there was already a line trailing outside of the door. There were people dressed up as Stormtroopers, Finn from Adventure Time, Spiderman, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool and many more.

This year Tate’s Comics celebrated 20 years in South Florida, but Tate’s is more than just a comic book store. Not only does it carry a wide array of comics, but also action figures, posters, vinyls, DVDs, and more. The second floor of the store is an art gallery. Anyone can ask to have their art put up there and hope someone will love it enough to buy it. The staff also proved to be friendly and knowledgeable. You can check out our podcast interview with Anthony from Tate’s Comics here.

Make sure to also take a look at our Street Talk video, where we asked guests which superhero would make a better president, whether hardcopy or digital graphic novels are preferable, and their thoughts on the rising popularity of superheroes.

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Run For Your Lives

Hialeah, FL

April 27, 2013

While everyone else was still moping at home because of how “The Walking Dead” ended its third season, devoted zombie fans poured into Hialeah’s Amelia Earhart Park to participate in the first of its kind: a 5K-marathon obstacle course called Run For Your Lives.

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the event, it combines the endurance aspect of G4’s Ninja Warrior with a gory, undead twist. Runners must brave a 5k obstacle course complete with water barriers, mud pits and mock barbed wire crawls. In order to be counted among the survivors, a runner must climb, slide, crawl, dodge, and sometimes swim away from zombies and cross the finish line with at least one health flag remaining.This new trend has turned the horrific image of the living dead into a catalyst for saving lives. In 2011, Reed Street Productions created the event as a way to spread awareness for Warware, a clothing line founded by an active duty service member with the goal of giving athletes and service men and women high performance apparel at more affordable prices.

As Run For Your Lives became increasingly popular, it transformed into a nationwide phenomenon, with their 2013 season beginning in Miami, Florida on April 27th and ending in Austin, Texas on December 7th.  Its number of sponsors also grew. At the Miami marathon, a Technicolor brain-shaped tent on the grounds marked the sponsorship booth for the Kennedy Krieger Institute, an organization that prides itself on researching developmental disorders and brain and spinal injuries in children. As I walked into the park where the main event was held, I was blown away by how many people were willing to run for charity.

Upon arrival, I was immediately splattered with makeup and gore before being sent out to feast upon the living. Pulling the flags off of passing runners, I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing a live action game of “Left 4 Dead” or “Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies.” Despite the chaos on the course, or rather our section of it, the Apocalypse Party lacked much of an audience as two cover bands took the stage. Listening to Retro-Sky play Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right,” I watched an intoxicated individual attempt to mosh in front of the stage. The less zombie-crazed folks took to their lawn chairs to watch. Despite the lack of enthusiasm on the crowd’s part, the bands morale didn’t suffer. Lead singer Rob Fires did an amazing rendition of The Cure’s “Just like Heaven” – that definitely put a smile on my face. Andrew “The White Russian” Ramirez shredded every song flawlessly alongside Drummer Bill Gato and Bassist Joe Moreno. Despite the scorching heat and small crowd the event was a great success and I left feeling less corpselike than I had when I came in.

Check out our interview with Retro-Sky, one of the bands performing at the Apocalypse Party.

Here we are, already in the 21st century, an era in which a skydiver breaks the sound barrier while traveling 843.6 mph, a baby has been cured of HIV, and a Korean pop song became the first to reach one billion views on YouTube. But be careful of what you wear, ladies, as “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to avoid being victimized.”

This statement was said during Canadian police officer Michael Sanguinetti’s routine visit to a school, where Sanguinetti was giving a pep talk to a handful of law students. He began with, “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this.”

Correct, Michael.

Warnings like Sanguinetti’s are all too familiar in a world where women have been fighting for equality for decades. It is apparently okay for a rapist to blame the victim, using excuses such as how much the victim had to drink, or the fact that they were dressed provocatively at the time of the act. Consequently, instead of focusing on the prevention of rape in the first place, attention has been directed towards the victim and what they “should” or “shouldn’t” do.

The first SlutWalk took place in Toronto, Canada, where over 3,000 protesters joined together to end the ongoing shaming and degrading of women based on their choice of clothing. SlutWalks have hit the streets of Canada, India, and many states in the US. Now for the first time, Miami, Florida has hopped on the bandwagon. On April 3, 2013, protesters marched Florida International University’s halls. Both women and men alike could be heard chanting, “one, two, three, four, slut shaming out the door,” and seen raising their fists in unity. This may have been the first for Miami, but organizers of the event say it certainly won’t be the last.

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