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Whether it’s Ghostbusters set in the wild west or Tootsie with gender roles reversed, most writers I know who are also movie fans have, at some point, thought about how they would reimagine their favorite flick. If that’s you, read on for a few tips on what to consider when you’re putting your own spin on a beloved movie.

It’s hot. Summer this year has been blazing, and it has undoubtedly left millions dreaming of cool water, air conditioning, and ice cream scoops the size of a human head.

Or the power to produce freezing temperatures with the wave of a hand, perhaps! Comics are rife with cool characters blessed with the power to beat the heat with a well-placed freeze ray or ice blast. Colorful characters like Mister Freeze, Killer Frost, Captain Cold and Iceman are common – and even familiar – sights in superhero media. But some other chilly villains and wintry warriors have a profile as low as the temperature outside is high.

To fangirl or not to fangirl?

I’ve asked myself this question more times than I can count. Is it socially acceptable to squeal in the theater when the new trailer for Thor: Ragnarok brings us hot-lips Hemsworth? When a new comic comes out, how much can I fangirl at the register to the hipster cashier? At Disney World, can I stand in line for Gaston and have a flexing contest? If I have the windows down in my car, can I blast the Steven Universe soundtrack so loud I drown out the bro beside me blasting his indie rock?

The answer—always—is hell to the yes.

The first fandom I ever loved was Star Trek—no use denying that. My parents gifted me with the knowledge of Klingons and Vulcans and warp speed, Captain! I knew the names of the characters on the starship Enterprise long before I knew the names of presidents or classic-rock guitarists. It was a fandom my parents gave to me, but it was never my first fandom.

It was a place I visited often and knew the catchphrases to, but it wasn’t where I fit. Growing up, being a fangirl had not yet become something you aspired to be. It was a secret you printed out in the computer lab and shoved in the front of your clear plastic binder. It was scanlations you read during middle school lunch. It was the duels you challenged your best friend to on the back of the bus. The Blue-Eyes White Dragons you summoned. The bullies you wanted to SEND TO THE SHADOW REALM—

Okay, okay. I’m talking about one particular fandom, really.

My first one.

My generation was gifted with a lot of fandoms. I’m the Harry Potter generation. I’m the Pokémon generation. The Kids WB, the Cartoon Network, the Adult-Swim-on-Saturday-nights-with-Inuyasha-and-Fullmetal-Alchemist generation. I’m also, I am proud to say, the Yu-Gi-Oh! generation.

Oh man, lemme preach to you the love and devotion that is the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom. Let me introduce you to Yu-Gi-Oh! abridged. Let’s discuss our most devastating card combos, our favorite character ships, our most-watched episodes. Let’s scowl together at the terrible 4Kids dub that, although we try to deny it, is engrained into our childhoods like those washable fruity tongue-tattoos that stain your mouth for weeks. Let’s talk about which names we like better—Anzu or Tea? Jounouchi or Joey? Why the hell did 4Kids name Honda “Tristan”? Remember when, like, four episodes into the show, Tristan’s voice mysteriously changed when they swapped out voice actors? Or when Yuugi’s spikey hairdo became synonymous to the weed symbol for a hot minute?

Oh man, those were the days.

My favorite character is Atem—erm, Yami. The dub calls him Yami, but it’s just a shortened version of “Yami no Yuugi” which translates to Dark Yuugi (and he earned that name like whoa. See episode one, where he basically breaks Seto Kaiba’s mind)—anyway, Yami’s true name is Atem, and he’s an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was trapped in the Millennium Puzzle for 5,000 years (3,000 in the Japanese version—numbers smumbers, amirite?) and can possess Yuugi to do Epic Card Battles.

Ohmygod, so much to absorb. Still with me?

So, as a somewhat-maniacal spirit with a heart of gold and an ego the size of the Great Pyramid, of course Atem became my favorite character—full stop. He is also part of my favorite OTP…

…which includes Yuugi, the teenaged boy he shares a body with.

Their entire relationship is spiritual. Literally. They have soul rooms, right? Atem’s room is a sandier version of Jareth’s stairwell maze—staircases running this way and that, trap doors and trick edges, while Yuugi’s room is full of children’s games and toys and it proves that he’s a super-special awesome cinnamon roll. One is a few thousand years old. One’s sixteen. One had his memories erased. The other wants to help him regain them. But then they both realize the best memories are the new ones they make together! Y’all, my heart is so full just thinking about it. This ship has layers! So many layers! It is an OTP that has birthed thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of fanfics.

It even has its own name: puzzleshipping.

Through my first OTP, and a dire need for my pre-teen (and, later, teenaged) self to read all the fanfic, I found the fandom, and through the fandom I found . . . Well, I found home, y’all. Or the beginning of one. I found, after years of searching through books and TV shows and video games and movies for some sort of connection—like traversing the labyrinth in Atem’s soul room—I found a door. A door that I could open.

And on the other side were things that middle-school me never knew I needed. A best friend in a stranger who asked if I was reading the last chapter of the manga. A community that helped me find myself. Hundreds of thousands of memories and inside jokes that made me feel like I was—finally—part of something bigger. My first cosplay. My first message-board RPG.

My first fanfic.

A fanfic that led to another fanfic, and then another, and then another—until I grew a taste for my own characters and worlds. And then I began to write those, too. My first fandom opened a door, and when I stepped through it I never looked back. Readers, I’m not saying that all fandoms are everything to everyone, but one fandom may be the world to one person. One book, one comic, one character, one OTP—it’s a wonder what shape a key takes to open a door.

And I’m glad I stepped through mine.

I found happiness in a thirty-minute time slot on Kids WB, and it’s one I keep chasing years after the series ended.

And now, in every new fandom I join, I find it again.

**The spellings of names in this blogpost are reflective of the years the author has spent in the Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction archives. So forgive her for adding an extra ‘u’ in Jonouchi and Yugi’s names. Sometimes you can take the girl out of the fanfic, but you can never take the fanfic out of the girl.

Literary Yarns may have focused more on the bookish side of geekery, but with a few modifications, Prince Hamlet can be turned into another popular (or UNpopular, depending on how you see it) murderous prince and Elizabeth Bennet can be changed from a quick-witted intellectual to a ruthless zombie huntress. Read on to find out how!

Our favorite camp counselors are back! As the Wet Hot American Summer characters return to Camp Firewood for a ten-year reunion, we can’t help but wonder what reading material they packed for those long 1991 internet-less nights. While they were catching up, we snuck into their cabins and riffled through their suitcases. Here’s what they’re reading.

X-Files Illustrator Kim Smith Talks with Quirk Publisher Jason Rekulak

Quirk Books Publisher Jason Rekulak collaborated with illustrator Kim Smith on her best-selling picture book adaptation of Home Alone, and he was thrilled to re-team with her on an adaptation of The X-Files. They chatted recently about how this otherworldly picture book came together.  

JR: Were you a fan of The X-Files as a kid?  

KS: Growing up, I was obsessed with everything paranormal. I loved ghosts, aliens, any sort of unsolved mysteries. But I was just seven years old when The X-Files premiered, so I wasn’t allowed to watch the early episodes (because they would have given me nightmares!). Luckily, the show was a hit, so I did catch episodes in the later seasons during their first run.  

JR: Any particular favorites?  

KS: The episode I remember most was about a virus that made your head explode [“Drive,” Season 6, Episode 2; the episode was directed by Vince Gilligan and starred Bryan Cranston, who would later team up on Breaking Bad]. It stuck with me for years, and it was fun to see it again when I watched the series as an adult (thanks, Netflix!).  

JR: How did you go about imagining/illustrating Dana Scully and Fox Mulder as children?  

KS: I wanted to make sure you could identify them as the characters from the show, but I didn’t want them to resemble bobble-heads or mini-versions of the adult Dana and Fox. I wanted them to look like real kids. Their iconic hairstyles helped a lot. I also gave Fox an alien pin to show his love of the paranormal. (I wanted to squeeze an “I Want to Believe” poster into one of the illustrations, but I could never find the right place.)  

Early character sketches of Fox Mulder (top) and Dana Scully (below).  

JR: Can you tell us a little about your process?  

KS: Once I have a final manuscript and approved character designs, I start a series of rough thumbnails. They’re small and scribbly so I can work quickly; I like to put down as many ideas as possible to find the best compositions. I try lots of variations: I move the characters around, sketch the scene from different angles, and play with lighting to find the right fit. When the thumbnails are finished, I select the best compositions for each page and then put them together into a little book to make sure everything is reading clearly.  

We made a few tweaks to these sketches and eventually decided to eliminate all the narration (because 90% of the story is Dana and Fox talking, anyway). That required me to move the dialogue into speech bubbles. My next round of sketches is a lot tighter and includes details that appear in the final artwork:  

Once these sketches are approved, it’s time for color. This is my favorite part. The story takes places in the fall, at night, in a backyard. I wanted to make sure to use some fall colors and I also wanted to use colors that would showcase any bright green aliens you might find in the scenes. What ended up working best was a yellow/blue-green palette with highlights of green in key places.  

JR: What was the greatest challenge of working on this book?  

KS: Making sure the illustrations were something fans would love, but also making sure the art worked for young readers unfamiliar with the TV series.  

JR: You created a terrific process video that documents your work on the cover. Can you tell us what we're seeing here? Also, can you explain why the image in the video starts with blue and purple trees? I just assumed you went straight from black-and-white sketches to final colors. 

KS: I use a technique called flatting – a lot of digital artists use it. You don’t see the earliest parts of the process in this video so I’ll describe it. I start by painting all the different shapes that make up the characters (face, clothing, hair, eyes, etc.) and the setting (the house, trees, and tent) on different layers in Photoshop. This makes it easier to return and paint in details while keeping the shapes of the objects intact. When you’re using this technique, the bright colors make it much easier to see the different shapes against each other, and it helps me see everything is separated. I can also work faster when I’m not thinking about color quite yet. Once all that work is done, I’ll start putting in the colors. This is where I figure out the tone and lighting for the illustration. Once I’m happy with the color, I’ll paint in the details. I love to use digital paintbrushes that mimic gouache painting (shout-out to Kyle Brush!). When everything is nearing the finish line, and most of the painting is done, I’ll add a bit of extra lighting and atmosphere to make the cover feel really spooky and mysterious. And, lastly, I hand-lettered the title with the help of a few guidelines to make sure everything was straight.

JR: One more question (I can't resist!): Is there extra-terrestrial life in the universe?  
 

KS: Definitely! But whether or not that life has visited Earth is another question…