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Wednesday Runaround – From Mexico To Japan, Via Carpentersville

Published Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:53:23 -0600

BorderWatch: French artist Peggy Adam's graphic novella Luchadoras, of Female Fighters, draws attention to the hundreds of women who have been tortured, raped, kidnapped and murdered in Mexican border city, Ciudad Juarez.

According to the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, more than 500 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993, with almost all cases unsolved, in a city that's run by drug cartels, with police and judiciary accused of corruption and those that make a stand finding themselves and thair families under attack.

Originally published in French, with a new Mexican Spanish edition published in the territory it describes, Adam hopes to bring further attention to the troubled situation.

MobileWatch: In Mumbai, India, telecommunication marketers are using mobile comics of "momics" as a way ro retain customers for 8 rupees a comic or thirty a month for ten rupees, with mobile operators fighting over the most popular comics to add to their rival services.

SynchronicityWatch: War Of The Supermen? Fall Of The Hulks?

RecordWatch: The Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville is trying to get into the Guinness Book Of World Records, with the greatest gathering of people in superhero costumes, currently running at 1016, with over 1400 attendees

Do all of those count though? Really?

FilmWatch: Bleeding Cool thought The Vulture might be in the offing for Spider-Man 4 last month, now it looks as if it might be being John Malkovich…

MonkWatch: Japanese Buddhist monks are using manga and cosplay to get their message across. One temple in Ryohoji attracted hundreds for last month's festival.

Benzaiten, the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts, was depicted as a doe-eyed cartoon character on a sign at the temple, which also offered short cellphone video downloads of chief monk Shoko Nakazato chanting prayers.

Ryohoji's abbot Nakazato, 45, said he is part of the manga generation himself, having grown up on a diet of big-eyed cartoon figures and robo-cats, and sees nothing wrong with using the genre to attract newcomers.

"I have little resistance to manga … I wanted to tell the people that temples are a fun place to visit," he said.

Did anyone cosplay as a monk, I wonder?

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