Tidewater Comicon 2014

Last weekend, Elizabeth, Dave & I visited the local comicon down in Virginia Beach.  It was Dave & Is third con this year, and Elizabeth's first.

It was easily my second best con, especially for it being in its first year.  Both of us thought it was better than the Richmond Wizard World we attended back in August.  (We also attended what was my first con back in March, going out to Seattle, Washington to attend Emerald City Comic-Con.  We attended all 3 days for that one.)

I was able to get a couple of comics signed.  The Monsters variant of Justice League United that Kelley Jones did, and a random issue of Masters of the Universe that Pop Mahn was the artist on.

For being such a small con, I was impressed with the amount of artists and talent that was there.  I was able to come away with a lot of cool art (both original and prints), which I will share now.  (I apologize for the glare on some of these.)

First up are two prints Elizabeth picked up from Pop Mahn's table.  The left, Skeletor looking pretty awesome upon a throne of skulls.  On the right, we have Batman & Martian Manhunter duking it out with a White Martian.

Next up, just a cool looking print from Angela McKendrick.  Not sure if she is a local (local being Virginia) artist or not, as Dave and I also saw her up in Richmond and I picked up a few mini-prints from her there.  You can find her on DeviantArt here.

 Last print belongs to Elizabeth, one she picked up from artist Matt Slay.  Leonardo is her turtle, and she really liked this print.  Slay was super cool and personable.  Dave and I both got commissions from him, and Dave also picked up a few prints, including a pretty awesome looking Raphael that he had done for a signing with Sean Astin.  You can check out his DeviantArt page here.

This was the commission I had done by Matt Slay.  While talking with him, he mentioned he was doing a variant cover for the upcoming IDW cross-over The Real Ghostbusters/TMNT.  So when it came around for me to decide on a character to get done, I went with Egon Spengler.  Love how it turned out.  Dave had a Casey Jones done, which was also very impressive.

These are all mini original pieces of art both Elizabeth & I picked up from the talented Lee Lacy.  He had a lot of movie/tv characters to choose from, and I will admit it was hard to choose.  I was going to try and stick with a horror character theme by choosing The Cryptkeeper and The Tall Man (from Phantasm), but found it hard to pass up one of my movie mentors, Mr. Miyagi.  Elizabeth ended up picking up the trio of bumbling burglars Fester, Marcus, & Hammer from 3 Ninjas, one of her movies.  Lee was actually surprised someone knew the trio, and was happy to see his choice appreciated.  I will most definitely keep an eye out for him at future cons.

Lastly is the pre-con commission I had done by the talented Eryk Donavan.  Dave had a Judge Dredd done by him when we were at Wizard World, which turned out awesome.  I learned he was a local talent, so I contacted him if he was going to be at Tidewater, and then asked for Michael Myers from Halloween.  I love how it turned, and I'm already planning for future horror icon commissions from him at any future cons I see him at.  Check out his work by going to his website here.

Tidewater Comicon is already planning a Spring 2015 show.  It will be a 2-day event, May 16-17.  I am already looking forward to it, and to seeing the local show continue to grow.

Happy 32nd Birthday

I had a great birthday this past weekend, spent with great friends and an amazing wife.

Yesterday after church, Elizabeth, Lindsey, Brian and myself spent the afternoon with pizza and homemade cookies (easily some of the best I've ever had) and watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.  Two films Elizabeth had never seen, and that are on my 40 Films before 40 list.

(For those that don't know, when Elizabeth and I made 40 Before 40 lists two years ago, one of the objectives on my personal list is a list of 40 movies Elizabeth has never seen with me.  It is a wide range of movies, mostly favorites of mine that I want to experience with her,)

It was a great afternoon, and surprisingly, she liked Bogus more.

After Bri & Lindz left, we relaxed at home and I began playing Batman: Arkham City, one of my birthday gifts.  I also took the time and called my parents and grandparents, as I had missed a call from them.  And it is always nice to talk with family.

Dave came over later that evening, and we ate leftover pizza & cookies, and ended up watching The Serpent & The Rainbow, which he had just bought at MovieStop.  (Movie will get its own post shortly, as I am considering it as Movie #1 in my 31 Days of Horror challenge).  He also had his gift for me, which was Volumes 1 and 2 of Chew, Omnivore editions.  A great gift, since I just got into Chew earlier this year.

One final gift I've yet to experience, but that is because it hasn't happened yet.  Elizabeth, Dave, and I will be going to a hockey game next month, which should be lots of fun.

WizardWorld Richmond 2014

Back in March, Dave & I went to Seattle to attend Emerald City Comic Con for his birthday.  He turned 30 this year, so Elizabeth & I wanted to do something big and special for him, so the two of us went to a comic con, as I had never been and he had been wanting to go to another one (he had last gone to NYCC in 2009).  It was lots of fun, and we had a great time.  It was a wonderful first con experience, and it was cool to meet writers & artists personally, and it was during that weekend I got back into Twitter, which ultimately brought me back to the blog as well.

Fast forward to this past weekend, and Dave and I decided to would travel up to Richmond to attend the inaugural WizardWorld.  We knew it would be a much smaller event than ECCC, but worth it for a 1-day ticket.  Tom from Heroes & Villains would also be there on Saturday with his wife and a few other friends.

As we expected, it was a much smaller event, but it was still enjoyable.  I didn't come away with as much stuff as I did in Seattle, but the few things I did get I really like.  I bought 3 mini postcard sized prints of Jason from Friday the 13th, Skeletor, and a mash-up of Batgirl/Buttercup (from Powerpuff Girls).  I also picked up this cool looking Creature from the Black Lagoon print, and a print of Predator with different pop culture items in the trophy room including a Batarang, Lion-O's sword, and the Rocketeer helmet.

The one piece of original art I left with it a small headshot of Plastic Man done by Tom Cook, an animator who has worked on so many different things.  It was hard to choose what I was going to get, as my options included characters from Masters of the Universe, Scooby-Doo, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  I also had him sign a few dvds that I own while I was at his booth.

I did pick up a Blu-Ray I have been wanting to get while I was there.  I upgraded my Daimajin set.  And from looking at it last night, well worth the upgrade.  Will have to find the time soon to rewatch the movies.

Dave left the event with an original piece of art from Neal Adams featuring Invisible Woman.  He also met Bruce Campbell and got his autobiography signed.  Not sure of everything Tom left with, but I do know he left with an original Raphael done and signed by Kevin Eastman, as well as a few comics signed by Eastman.

I enjoyed the con, and will probably attend again.  Dave and I made the joke after learning that it was the inaugural one, that we should attend every year and see how it improves, and then in 5-10 years, we could say we had been attending from the start.

We have the local Tidewater Comicon on October 18th to look forward to, and I think Elizabeth will be joining us for that experience.

07/02/2013

Taking some time to catch up.

Comics for the most part last week were great.  I'm loving the City Fall arc in TMNT, and the new Godzilla book that started on Wednesday got off to a great start.  I mean, Japanese Godzilla VS. 1998 Americanized Godzilla?  I can't wait!

DC has me interested in the upcoming Trinity War.  And I'm interested in all of the Lantern books with their new teams, but found Red Lanterns to be the one I'm most interested in after the first issue.  I'm really looking forward to Villains Month in September, and to see what ramifications come out of it.

I've started using Twitter again.  So, if you are on there and want to find me: Jrwells82.

On the movie side of things, I've decided I need to start watching movies I've recently purchased or got from DVD Swap.  Since I have added 24 movies to my collection since joining their site last year.

106) The Town That Dreaded Sundown - This is one of the Scream Factory releases I purchased last month, and I finally decided it was time to give it a chance.  Is a pretty decent movie, and the fact that it is (loosely) based on a true event down in Texarkana is what makes it so frightening.  I really enjoyed this film, and Scream Factory did a stellar job, not just with the transfer for Blu-Ray, but also the supplemental features.  On the DVD, there is a bonus film of The Evictors, which I will attempt to make time for this month.

107) Mad Max - I finally acquired a DVD of The Road Warrior through DVD Swap, so it's time to watch another franchise of films I love.  Mad Max is a pretty solid film, with some great car chases & crashes, and an excellent performance from Mel Gibson.  Of course, The Road Warrior amps everything up a notch, but Mad Max still holds up.

Netflix Double Feature!  Because I love not knowing what they will send me next.

108) Showdown in Little Tokyo - Not the best, nor worst, film I've seen.  I actually live-tweeted while watching the film last night.  Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee are good together, but this film was just lacking something.  It was a decent action/buddy-cop film, but the humor was missing.

109) Soylent Green - I really enjoyed this, even though I knew the ending going in (it's hard not to know when "Soylent Green is people!" is a part of pop culture.)  I really liked the character interaction between Sol  and Thorn, especially since Sol had experienced the world before the overpopulation, and knew of things like strawberries and beef.  Edward G. Robinson does a fantastic job as Sol, especially after finding out this was his last film and he was dying of cancer while filming.

Going to Retro Cinema at Movie Tavern with Dave & Elizabeth tonight.  Jaws is playing!  Can't wait to experience it on the big screen (BONUS: Eliz has never seen it, and it is on my "40 films before 40" list)

06/03/2013

This past weekend was great.  Elizabeth and I had company in town with Roc, so the 3 of us hung out Thursday night playing Life.  Friday night Brandi joined us for pizza and another round of Life, and Dave made an appearance.  And after the 2 of them left, the 3 of us played some intense rounds of Hoopla.

Saturday was movie marathon day at TOS.  We did a "Ben Stiller" theme, which included 4 movies: Heavyweights, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Zoolander, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Yes, I know: Stiller only has a brief cameo in Anchorman. But Raj and Eliz made the movie choices, and I think it's one they quote a lot and wanted to watched together.

After the movie marathon, Eliz and I walked around the Pirate festival that was going on in Hampton this weekend.  It was lots of fun, even though we didn't buy anything.  Neither one of us was hungry enough for the food, and we didn't see anything souvenir wise that was worth it.  We did get to see a cool game though called "Water War", where two people/groups launch water balloons at each other to see who can get the wettest.

Yesterday was a wonderful day at church, as we played Jeopardy in Sunday School class for end of the quarter, and then there was a luau in Children's Church for end of the year.  It was lots of fun, and I look forward to seeing how the children's program moves forward in the fall.

And to top the weekend off, Elizabeth and I had a date night in last night, catching up on some comics and then watching a movie.  We finally finished up Geoff Johns Green Lantern run.  I can't believe it's been 9 years.  Part of me doesn't even want to continue with the GL books, since it ended so perfectly, and it will be a hard run to follow.

So, a couple movies to cover.  I won't cover all 4 movies from the marathon, but I do want to cover one of them. :)

83) Heavyweights - I had forgotten how good this movie was!  I'm pretty sure I've only seen it a handful of times since seeing it in the theater in '94, so it wasn't ingrained into my brain unlike other films.  First off, it's probably one of the first films Judd Apatow worked on (he was writer/executive producer).  Then, Ben Stiller is great as villain Tony Perkis.  A lot of humor and warmth, and quotable, and made evident by Elizabeth.  I currently own a Full Screen DVD (one of the few that I do allow in my collection), but a Blu-Ray was released in Dec '12, which I will be upgrading to eventually.  Not just for the Widescreen transfer, but because it is also loaded with extras, which the DVD has none of.

87) Up - Why why why did I wait 4 years to see this movie?  This was the selection Elizabeth made for date night last night, and man is it great!  First off, it takes a lot for me to cry during a film.  Not get emotional, but to actually shed a tear is work.  But this one had me crying within the first 10 minutes of it, and the thing is: I knew what was coming!  I had actually watched the opening of the movie online, knowing what kind of story Disney/Pixar was able to pull off in a span of 5 minutes.  But the movie itself is just wonderful.  Great characters, beautiful landscapes, and just a wonderful story.  Easily one of my top 5 Pixar films.

88) First Blood - I remember catching Rambo movies on TV when I was younger (probably on the USA network), but it must of been mostly the 2 sequels, because I watched First Blood last night, and realized I had never seen any of it.  A good early '80s action flick.  The scene where Rambo takes the cops out in the forest was easily my favorite part, and the interaction between Rambo and Col. Trautman.  I look forward to  seeing the sequels with the eyes of film love I've acquired since my childhood.   

This was a pretty good catch-up.  I'm back to mostly mid-shifts this month at work, so I will probably continue to watch movies during my down time.  I am back into reading regularly as well though.

The New 52

So, I haven't talked much about the changes DC started 5 months ago.  DC decided to relaunch their universe in some fashion.  They re-imagined some characters (the Superman family, for instance), brought new characters into the DCU (Grifter from WildStorm, Swamp Thing from Vertigo), and some characters they just left alone (Green Lantern is the best example).  They tried simplifying the timeline, and some comics (JLA, Superman) are taking place 5 years ago, at the beginning of this new 52.

I don't have any big complaints about it.  I've never been one to complain as long as the story is good.  I quit collecting the Superman titles, mainly because they re-imagined him the most.  They wiped out the marriage of Lois and Clark, and both Martha and Jonathan are dead.  Dave has been getting Action Comics and Supergirl, and I've been reading them that way.  They've been ok, but I'm kind of glad I'm not collecting them.

The Batman books have been great.  Scott Snyder's Batman is my favorite book out of the new 52, and it doesn't disappoint.  It's been revolving around the Court of Owls, a Gotham urban legend that has been around since Gotham was being built.  But it seems there is more to the legend than even Bruce knows.  This week's issue was amazing, and I look forward to the upcoming event that will explain more of the Courts back story.  Another book I look forward to monthly is Nightwing.  Dick Grayson has always been my favorite sidekick, and I love that he is in his own book again.

JLA has been pretty solid, as well as Green Lantern and Aquaman.  But with Geoff Johns at the helm of all three, it would be hard to disappoint.

Off to work I go.  I guess I'll follow this up sometime soon in the future!