The Weekly Geek: JK Rowling, comic book hero

I found out about one of the cooler things in our universe this week, almost by accident. You see; I recently glimpsed that Harry Potter author JK Rowling was the subject of a new comic book and immediately thought, "Wow, how very girl-powered!”

The graphic novel is due out in December from Blue Water comics, and will tell the now-infamous story of the talented scribe, who went from down-on-her-luck writer to multi-millionaire bestselling author and screenwriter/film producer in just a few short years.

Even better, the book is just one in a series of Female Force comics that feature women of note. Along with the recently announced issue featuring Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, Rowling will join two other prominent female writers to be announced next month. Those under consideration include Toni Morrison, Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood, Ursula LeGuin, Harper Lee, Anne Rice, Beatrix Potter and Virginia Woolf.

Yes! Let me suggest a few others, Blue Water. Ahem: Sally Ride, Madame Curie, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and of course, Ellen DeGeneres. There’s no shortage of inspiring, powerful, interesting women out there, and I can’t begin to say how cool and refreshing it is to see this sort of material in comic form. It’s just the sort of thing to rub in the faces of folks who think anyone who’s interested in graphic novels is a sweaty, socially inept man-child (think “Comic Book Guy” from The Simpsons).

I’ll even excuse the company for making a Sarah Palin version.

Elsewhere in the geek universe, a slew of videogame fans gave tribute this week to the Dreamcast, Sega’s short-lived (but much-loved) last videogame console, that debuted on 9/9/99.

The system will long be remembered as a haven for “hardcore” gamers, with classics like Soul Calibur, Shenmue, Chu Chu Rocket, Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi and so very many more fondly remembered favorites.

While I love my modern consoles and computer games, with all of their newfangled motion control and high-powered graphics, I still have a soft spot for the very first “128-bit” system, and the iconic “Sega!” scream.