Our chums over at Nerdy Show have a challenge for all the comic book fans out there: Craft the events of the on-going DC Comics event, Blackest Night, into a song. Legendary prizes await.
Since June of last year, the DC Universe has been under siege. The dead are coming back to life and harvesting the hearts of the living when they’re ripe with emotion. This is the “Blackest Night” that Watchmen scribe Allan Moore prophesied years ago in the pages of Green Lantern. The Green Lantern Corps are joined by other ring-wielders from across the color spectrum, each embodying an emotional force –- rage, greed, fear, will, hope, compassion, and love. Only their combined forces can bring light to the darkness and put an end to the enemies of existence, The Black Lanterns. This event doesn’t just affect the Green Lanterns; every DC character, living or dead, has been thrown into the fray!
March is the climactic finale of Blackest Night. There’s been 10 months of event books, cross-overs, tie-ins, and years of foreshadowing and lead-up to this epic storyline — more than enough material to forge into an incredible song. So pick up that Fender Strat, boot up the Fairlight CMI, get the band back together, and unleash your geek-love with musical ferocity. The Blackest Night Song Fight has begun. Your song can be in any genre or style — ska, techno, folk rock, death metal, chiptunes, gangsta rap -– even instrumentals are accepted if you can tie them into the theme. The possibilities are infinite. Listen to the Nerdy Show gang debut the contest in their podcast episode, “Bring Da Amber Lamp Corps” to get some ideas.
This is the first contest in the “Epic Fan Music Challenge” series, which asks listeners to show their fan-love by composing an original song based on one specific item of fandom. Nerdy Show’s previous contest debuted their “Rare Game Remix Series” with Tetris Rap Attack. Participants sampled the score to the over-looked Nintendo game Tetris Attack and then crafted hip-hop beats from it. The winning beats were rapped over by the genre-bending indie rapper (and confessed nerd) Astronautalis, with 2nd and 3rd place beats rapped over by Nerdcore rappers Masurao of Krondor Krew and MC Coolwhip, respectively. Check out their episode “Tetris Rap Attack” to hear the winning tracks as well as an interview with Astronautalis.
What prizes are in store for Blackest Night Song Fight’s winners? First place gets you a $100 shopping spree on A Comic Shop’s online store and the opportunity to kick off Nerdaplaooza 2010 (the world’s largest nerd music festival) by playing your song at the pre-party (headlined in 2009 by Schaffer the Darklord). Second and third places get you a smattering of comic book and nerd music goodness, including an original 1984 Green Lantern action figure, and copies of Eisner-nominated Atomic Robo signed by writer/creator and Nerdy Show co-host Brian Clevinger.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to the contest page and start writing!
Nerdy Show will debut the three winning songs and select runners up in April, just as the Blackest Night ends and Brightest Day begins. Be sure to subscribe to them on iTunes for weekly doses of awesomeness, and come to CoS’s March 19th SXSW Party, sponsored by Nerdy Show and headlined by video game rock gods The Protomen.
