Reflections on Comic-Con

So, I went to my first official Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con was last weekend, and it was a surreal experience.  First let me forewarn you readers, this post will be dripping with fan boy rantings, and full of name drops.  That being said, the first rule of Conventions, wear comfy shoes.  A good friend of mine from back home came down for the weekend, not being a comic book fan, but a Star Wars nerd, I was confused as to why he would want to go to a comic book convention.  I realized it was more for the experience and of course to hang out with me (I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with me!).

The big draw for the con was of course Stan "The Man" Lee, who had to cut short his trip and was only available on Saturday, so they set him up special on Friday night, which I did not attend, although Stan has been an invaluable soldier in comic book creation, my goals were on a few other things.  Firstly, my two favorite people in the comic industry, who also happen to be Harding University graduates and from Little Rock, Mitch and Elizabeth Breitweiser were going to be there and they had a limited edition print that Mitch drew and Bettie colored.  Even cooler I found that it was limited to only 60 copies.  Those who don't know, the smaller the batch run, the more valuable these things are, but I don't care about that, I mean its original, and its limited, auto-buy.  Secondly, I had my three volumes of Batman by Neal Adams hardbacks that I wanted to get signed, which I did, and had them personalized to me, which I was informed made them less valuable, again, those are for me, no one else, so value be damned!  Oh wait, back to Mitch and Bettie, I had Mitch's first official series he did for Marvel, "Drax the Destroyer" 4 issues mini series, which I had him sign, along with Defenders #5 (the best so far, art wise), this was also a collaboration with Bettie, so I got her to sign as well.

Now let me go back a step here, so we got to the Irving Convention Center at 10 am, the show was supposed to open at 11, describing the line is hard, so lets just say it snaked its way from the door, up the stairs, down the stars, along the side of the building and then back to the street and then up the center of the stairs.  I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the time, but it was 1145 before we were inside.  another 75 minutes waiting for Neal Adams.  Then to learn that as I was heading to Kevin Conroy's line (he was the voice of Batman in the animated series in the '90's) only to learn it went all the way around the convention center and was capped, ok over to George Perez's line, oh wait its capped too.  Well lets check out the wares.  Tons of toys, books, comics, a booth selling knives and swords, no thats not dangerous...a booth selling custom leather work, including bracers, superhero masks, etc.  Costumes, yes, nerds do it right, from 7 year olds as Captain america, to a 60+ creepy Riddler (I swear he had free candy!).  We decided to grab some lunch and that took over an hour, then went to the panel room to get ready for Patrick Stewart, we got there an hour before and sat in on Neal Adams, who of course talked about how he was turned down by DC at first and wound up at Archie Comics, and was told all along that the industry would be dead in a year...Tons of stupid questions bounced off him and his son, but the best he answered with and get this he told us it was a lie.  "Who is your favorite character to draw?"  the truth is all of them, its just that much fun.  The lie, Batman, because he has a cape, and thats like drawing two people.  Honestly, I liked the lie!

Patrick Stewarts Panel, was packed, although not all the VIP seats were filled, so he made a comment about it and all of the sudden they were like you guys move on up... He told stories about his childhood growing up in England, and how he got started, and how he loved playing bad guys on stage.  About midway through, a question was pitched from the other side of the room, "Who was your favorite villain?"  Holy shit its John Delancie (Q from TNG).  He approaches the stage, and they have one of those moments, you know two old friends, give each other the handshake hug, and then start to reminisce.  So very cool!  Not one question about X-men, all about Star Trek and his Shakespearean works.  Fast forward, I leave a bit before its over to try one last time to get Perez, I have been lugging around the first six issues of the New 52 Superman for him and the lines not horrible, I am however at the very end.  told I will not make the cut today.  Fortunately one of my friends who works at the local shop is there and like 15th in line, tells me to give him my books and he'll get it for me.  That was awesome, thanks again Brad, you totally rock!

Sunday, my friend says we need to get there earlier, but today won't be as crowded as Saturday, as they never are.  So we get up and have a great breakfast at the Old West Cafe, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, hash browns, and some toast, they do it up right!  We roll out, 45 minutes later we're at the convention center, maybe 100th in line.  90 minutes till doors open.  Got a few shots of some great costumes, a great Batgirl, a mini Batgirl (she had to be 5 or 6), Maverick, Goose, and Iceman, a little girl as Indiana Jones (it was too cute!), Master Chief from Halo, Bane from the new Batman movie, a family of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern and the daughter was also Supergirl.  My one goal for Sunday was to get Kevin Conroy to sign my Batman the Animated Series Boxed Set.  I went immediately to the line to queue.  So, the ruling here is first is VIP then Priority, then General Admission.  We are told that the first hour will be only VIP and Priority, my thought is 11-12 right...well 1230 rolls and then we are told the line is capped and he has a hard stop at 330 to catch a flight.  the 3 people in front of me start raising all kinds of hell, and genuinely so, we could have been up there waiting, but they held us all back.  They claim if they get though all that that then they will let us through.  The Red-shirted nerd with a little power leaves and the orange shirt guy was like you 4 go on, no promises, but I'll let you through.  fast forward 2 hours and we are through, I'm standing in front of the man who no one will recognize in a photo, but the minute you hear his voice its like, holy shit your batman!  He signs my stuff, even stops for a photo, and I'm done.  Wow, that was incredible, and to the soldier in front of me, good luck on your deployment, and thank you for being such a hard ass to the line nazi and getting us through!  I also found out that Mitch's print of 60 sold out mid day saturday, which is awesome!

So that was my experience for Stan Lee presents Dallas Comic Con, lots of line standing, great people watching, and overall a fun weekend!  Next time, I'm going VIP, 30 minutes early and line cuts sound good to me!

Live long and prosper.

Schools Out (Almost)!

Doesn't quite ring as big as I can remember in my younger years, that last day, no books, throwing out all the garbage from your locker, expelling all that knowledge as you push that door to the summer wide open and hit the bricks for home.  At least I rode my bike, I lived close, and it was fun.  Now, I ponder, I really need to find a part time gig, something to allow me some walking around money, I don't need to get rich, just be able to spend my own money.  Not working has really made me realize that all that time I was told it was "our" money, well it really was, and it still is.

There are a few things on my to do list for the summer, first I need to get this bunion removed from my foot, that is supposedly going to put me out of commission for at least 2-4 weeks (driving at least).  Second, I have a lot of reading that I want to do, number one on  the list is "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson, and yes I have a real hardback book, I know theres something about reading the biography of Steve Jobs on my iPad, but I have the book and I'll read the book.  The second book, a bit more niche is "The Walking Dead, The Rise of the Governor" - by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, those who read the comics will know who The Governor is, and no its not AH-nold.  Beyond that, I just want to survive my first Texas summer and spend time with the Toddler.  On the Toddler, we are still fighting the I don't want to eat anything thats not brown and fried, and still trying to potty train.

Not much else at the moment, will try to update more often.

Good Friday

So it's almost here, Easter, for those of you who are good catholics, it means next friday you can eat red meat!  But seriously, it is Easter, and we all know thats when we celebrate the reanimation of zombie Jesus with chocolate bunnies and deviled eggs (seriously whose idea was that?).  For those of us who are parents its another excuse to get your child more toys/games/etc.  In our case, I made the mistake of showing the wee one the Dora the Explorer Microphone, not fully thinking of the ramifications of my actions (no remember pre children, my favorite thing was buying the most annoyingly loud toy for any of my friends kids).  All through Target she's pressing the button and singing along..."Come on vamanos, everybody lets go!  Come on, let's get to it.  I know that we can do it."  Which mind you is cute there first two or three times, but after 10 minutes of various songs, I wanted to put it back, and we all know how hard that can be once they have it in their hands.  So, its been hiding out since we got home last weekend, and I really don't know what to do, I need to explore it to see if there's a volume control, but I fear there isn't one.  What do you do in these situations?

It's been this way for almost two years now, and next Friday I'll be 38, which puts me closer and closer to 40 and further and further away from 30.  20 year reunion, yes I'm sure its sometime this summer, and yes I'll probably go to see everyone who didn't like me then, but now we're all Facebook friends.  See how many kids everyone has, see who's already going grey (this guy, but it blends well with the blonde).  I remember my 10 year, sorta, the first night was a drunken haze, the bbq the second day was a total blurry hangover.  And the dinner the last night was really nice down at the train station.  Queue Boyz II Men's its so hard to say goodbye (which every senior class from 92-95 used as their anthem), and scene.  But seriously there are a few people who I genuinely miss and will enjoy seeing.  Did I mention my birthday is next week?  Presents are not optional, please send cash or gift cards.

All Tapped Out

Good morning, as I sit here with my cup of Barista Prima House Blend, I was thinking, "self, you haven't posted on your blog in a while."  So here we go...

The Walking Dead - so did you watch season two?  I know I did, man what a ride, SPOILER ALERT, The show started off to me what seemed very slow, I thought the whole search for Sophia took a bit too long, but man the payoff was well, sad, but omg, when she came shambling out of the barn, I was like oh no, but then it turned to holy crap, I can't believe they did that!  The continued transformation of Shane was also a great journey.  Note to readers, if a friend comes back from a supply run alone, and then immediately shaves his head and has a dark look about him, don't trust him!  Throughout the comics and the TV show, I always felt Dale was the moral anchor of the group, his death hit me the hardest on the show, I felt it was too soon, I have been emotionally connected to his character ever since the first season when he was going to stay behind with Andrea, "You can't just come into someones life, make them care, and then just check out."  He was always the voice of reason, the voice that said we're still human, and we need to act like civilized people.  Oh yeah, and we're all infected and this is not a democracy!  And as per Chris Hardwick (@nerdist) Armless Zombies are the new spring style!

Comic Books - Not a lot to mention here, but Scott Snyder (@ssnyder1835) has just been killing on Batman.  Apparently without Bruces knowledge there is a secret society called The Court of Owls thats been ruling Gotham for what sounds like centuries.  The books are nothing short of the best read from a comic I've had since "Hush" or "Identity Crisis"  Both excellent reads and I highly recommend them, and they are available in beautifully collected "Absolute Editions".  You should totally buy them.  SPOILER ALERT, Nightwing (Dick Grayson) was selected to be groomed as a Talon, and by the by, Batman can hit you in exactly the right spot to knock out a specific tooth!  EPIC.  I don't know where this story is headed, but as long as Snyder stays on it, we're in for one hell of a ride!

Magic: The Gathering - Yes, I got back into it, I hadn't played since college, some friends back in Arkansas reignited my interest in this social card game.  I have to say I forgot how much fun it is, the thrill of cracking a pack and the hunt for rare cards.  The joy of opening a $3.99 pack of cards and pulling out a $60 card (good return on investment imho).  What I don't like is that I got back in during the middle of a cycle, so everyone else seems to have way better cards than me, so I tend to lose a lot.  The sets come out in Blocks, and each block contains three separate sets of cards (about 400-600 per block), plus each year they drop a Core Set, now you dont need every card, but you do want to try.  Currently Standard consists of Mirridon Block, Innistrad Block and 2012 Core set, I have Innistrad and core, but I don't have Mirridon, which sometimes puts me at a disadvantage, and I'm not about to drop $$$ on a set that will soon be phased out of Standard, which is October I believe.  Mind you I'm a very casual player and collector, some of these guys have way to much MTG committed to memory, kinda like those sports guys who know every roster and stat for high school/college/pro football/basketball.  I also listen to the guys over at MTGCast's weekly podcast Limited Resources, although they don't do a lot of standard, its informative and they occasionally talk about current strategies/cards, I love the draft talk and their judgements on what cards are worth drafting when they do a crack a pack.  Just found another one this week, not sure what they spend all their time on yet, but its called The Mana Pool.  My only complaint is that these are not on Stitcher, this app is so good, you take your favorite podcasts and then it will auto update each time you launch and boom there they are.  So much easier than having to check itunes all the time.

Well, thats all I have for now, Catch up on the walking dead on iTunes, or pre-order the Blu-Ray, go play some magic on Friday Nights, its fun and a great way to meet new people.  And go to your comic shops, I know digital is cool, but you cannot beat the experience of going to the store, finding something new, and just having those great geeky conversations about how Rob Liefeld can't draw feet, or that female superheroes must have major back problems from the heaving pendulous breasts.   Signing off, you have the con, get to the choppah, and remember, I'll be back!


Oh, crap, totally forgot about this, but this looks so cool....

words, words, words, BBC America....

When it comes to TV, I am trending more towards BBC America.  I started watching Being Human there first, but now I watch both versions, and sometimes that confuses me.  Doctor Who, while I admit I am not a full-on Whovian, I do like the show, I watched when Eccleston took over, then bowed out, but for some reason Matt Smith in fezz and bowtie, bowties are cool!, got me sucked back into the show, and I have been watching religiously ever since.  My most recent show was a short series called The Fades, a interesting supernatural show about a young boy who as it turned out has supernatural powers, basically he can see spirits, called Fades, and this power makes him an Angelic.  The story was slightly hard to follow, but I really liked it, it left the ending open for more, which I assume they are going to do.

Now, lets talk about Being Human on BBCA, it was great for the first 3 series, believable, great storyline, easy to see how each character feels.  No with Series 4 just starting last week (spoiler alert), they've jumped the shark, pulled a Back to the Future, and killed off 3 of the 5 main characters, of which I really don't like 1, so its the core 4 that have always been my favs.  I'm going to give it another couple of shots, but I just don't know.  I'm so ready for Doctor Who to come back on, and not ready for Walking Dead to end their season and have to wait till Halloween for more...

ZOMG, this looks so cool!

How cool does Darkseid look?  This is from the variant cover to Justice League #6.  Oh, in other news, I just read that Justice League #1 has gone back to print for a seventh time, making it the bestselling book of 2011 and still trending strong into 2012.  I think this is the only New 52 book to hit this milestone.  So far its been a great read, but if you haven't gotten into it yet, I'd wait for the trade, as the story is slow, and being able to read it without any ads would be very nice. 

My other favorite so far has been the Court of Owls storyline that Scott Snyder has been running in Batman.  I have to say that this is by far my favorite Batman story since Hush.  The emotions running in the story really resonate and you can see how Bruce is dealing with all that's happening throughout.  This is IMHO Snyder's best work to date.

Nothing else new to report on the geek front, go out and have a great Wednesday, its hump day after all, go get some humps, some humps, some lovely lady lumps...wow that was so bad.

Comic Book Men

So, it's been two episodes and I just can't give Kevin Smith anymore of my time.  I guess I just don't dig him like I used to.  The premise, albeit gave me a nerdgasm, a day in the life of the comic book store.  But it just feels too scripted, too fake, and honestly the shopkeepers seem like douches and jackwagons.  I've spent many an hour at a CBS, browsing, reading, playing games, geeking out, discussing who'd win in a fight Shazam or Thor, Batman vs Iron Man, Superman vs well anyone (still think Wonder Woman could take him!).  I've also been listening to comic book podcasts of late, and maybe that has me jaded, these are from the fans, not shop owners, these are they guys who are out there every Wednesday hitting the shelves to fill their needs (yes a comic book is like a soap opera for guys, without all the bad acting).  I've been working on my list of things I'd like to do this year, so far I've gone back to school...I'd like to participate in or start my own comic fan podcast.  I am slightly slanted as I really only read DC, but I'm always up to talk about anything... Did you see The Walking Dead this week?  See that's how my brain works, it's the whole ADD, oh look a duck, but with cool geekiness.   That being said, I really don't know how many people actually read this, I don't get many comments, but I do see the page views spike after a new post.  If your reading this, leave a comment, let me know who you are and where you come from, feel free to comment, call me a clownshoe, whatever, just don't sit back and lurk the boards...

Back to geekiness, I've been messing with DSLR photography since October more seriously, yes my camera is off of Auto.  I'm running into issues trying to catch the kiddo in action, by the time I get the settings down she's right up in the lens, should I use my 55mm or the 18-55mm  I like the fixed focal length on the 55mm, but sometimes I think it should really be just for portraits, please tell me your thoughts if your a photo nut on what the 55mm should be used for.  Should I just carry my DSLR with me everywhere in case I see something that just looks great, or should I just go out somewhere I've never been and just take a ton of pics?  Seems like all I ever take are family shots indoors or out at an event like the Zoo, etc.  What did you do to get better at finding "the shot"?

With all the hullabaloo about the iPad 3, a friend of mine on Facebook summed it up pretty well, "I'd rather have thin than a ridiculous pixel density."  I think I have to agree, while I love my iPad, I still don't see how it fits into my digital life fully, I don't like using it for typing notes in class, as I just don't like the non keyboard tacticity (is that a real word?).  My daughter is content using it to watch Dora or Diego, which is great, since it frees up the big TV for adult use.  I'm starting to feel like I use it less and less, I don't read on it all the time, I still prefer a real book, I don't play as many games on it like I used to, and well, the movies I have on it are great, but I don't have a lot of free time to watch them.  Occasionally I'm a Twitter S#|$$er, or will browse the web while on the throne (who doesn't?).  I guess since the move, the relegation that I'm unemployed, and now a student, the iPad just doesn't seem like the business tool I thought it would be.  And why does blogger look like a steaming pile on it?  How can I blog remotely when it looks like something that a cat coughed up?  Although, it appears that MS Office has been seen running on the iPad, and its close to a release, shame apple beat you to the game here with iWork for the iPad, think I can squeeze in another i product into this sentence, how about iOS is great, I love iMacs, and I'm a total iTool!  HA, Bazinga!