Fister Interviews: Henry Wiggins of Geek Soul Brother

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Fister Roboto in Interviews // 1 Comment

It’s my utmost pleasure to share an interview with Henry Wiggins of geeksoulbrother.com. Henry shares a related passion and that’s what brought us together. Henry and I became nerd friends after stumbling across each others’ websites. GSB loves sharing his passion for old school geekery with the newer generations – and what a task that is. Henry’s a very warm and inviting guy. I hope you find our Q & A session entertaining and informative. He’s written a special retro review for us, so look for that first thing on 10/16.12.

You enjoy sharing your generational geek love with the newer generations, Have you ever been shocked to find a new school geek isn’t familiar with a 100% confirmed classic? “What’s The Empire Strikes Back about, Geek Soul Brother?”

There are different levels of geek. I wouldn’t expect a level 5 geek to know about the same things as a level 8. But if you know your stuff and you missed watching a classic like Blade Runner, then I’ll give you what for. But truthfully, there’s so much out there in the past that it’s hard for younger people to go back and catch everything. And I actually relish those moments. It’s satisfying for me to re-introduce things to them that they missed.

Every hero/villain/geek has a related origin – tell us about yours.

I grew up knowing I was different from many of the other kids. I had a vivid imagination even for a kid. In my youth I was attracted to science, then comics, then fantasy art, science fiction, astronomy, physics.. any world of wonder that could feed my imagination. I was also a budding artist type. Then, as an adult, church taught me how to speak and interact with groups of people. But I really found my lost tribe when I started working at Pratt Institute, an art and design school. It was there that I could share my geekery, unfiltered among other creative people. Nobody minded if I had a Thor action figure on my desk or a phaser replica (w/sounds) on my shelf. They actually admired it. And I grew to love the energy of the younger students there. It was then that I don the cape and started to develop the personal mission to help younger generations discover cool fiction and fantasy of the past, and give them encouragement to create their own.

I know you dig the old school horror flicks. What’s your favorite?

By far and above any other, it’s John Carpenter’s THE THING. He did something in that movie that I find very rare. There was a genuine panic and paranoia amongst the characters. And there was no damsel in distress to be a conduit for the audience’s fear. These guys were scared out of their minds. Plus, you just can’t beat the ending, no spoilers.

Indulge me here. Let’s say in an alternate universe, Jake Lloyd is picked to play Damien Thorn in the 1976 classic “The Omen” – how does this film go down?

Instead of killing people, he simply annoys them to death with his fast talking and deal making. Plus he wears podracing goggles throughout the whole film.

I’m always surprised how cool, passionate, and approachable most fellow geek bloggers are. What’s your favorite thing about this unique community?

I think it’s cool that we all share common ground, but are unique enough to drop some knowledge on each other from time to time. For creative people like us, it’s important to have that positive energy and support from your peers. I feel blessed that I’ve connected with so many decent people in the blogosphere.

You’re a black, Christian, geek – something of an anomaly (at least in Kentucky). I’m guessing your street cred hasn’t suffered. What do want the readers to know about you outside of your geek related interests?

Oh, my cred has taken a hit every now and then. It’s taken me a while to be comfortable with myself and my different facets. I’m Christian, but I’m a black belt. I’m Black or African-American, but I can gel with most cultures, no problem. My main thing is to teach whatever I know, be it geek knowledge or, for instance, how to change the brakes on your car. I just love passing on knowledge. I think it’s one of the key ingredients to getting closer to that Star Trek future we’re looking forward to.

Lastly, 90% of the time, Marvel destroys DC at the box office. What’s your take on this? Halle Berry can’t shoulder all of the blame!

I think when Marvel was hitting rock bottom; they gained a do-or-die attitude. BLADE let them know it was possible to make a cool movie from a comic character. And then Spider-Man validated them. The ‘tough times’ gave them the courage to go in directions they might never have gone if it was just business as usual. I mean, who plans out a multi-movie project culminating in all the characters/actors coming together in one film? DC will continue to struggle with their properties (except maybe Batman) unless they can get that ‘leap of faith’ mindset going first, and Warner Brothers has to let them do their thing.