This Ink Runs Cold and the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con

 

Well, hey, I guess it's time for my yearly "yes, I'm going to Comic-Con" post. This year seems like it'll be a return to the enormous shows of 2019 and earlier, with lots of star power and big, flashy events both on the show floor and outside of the convention center. And it looks like Marvel will bring their Fantastic Four cast to Hall H in anticipation of next year's film. Am I excited? Yes! Do I think I'll be able to get into Hall H to see the Thing? No! But you never know what Comic-Con magic will be in play.

Unlike most previous years, I won't be stationed at a specific booth for this show, but I will be making a few stops to sign books on different days.

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Z2 Comics is debuting their new Motörhead graphic novel, No Remorse: The Illustrated True Stories of Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead at Comic-Con, and I...somehow? have a story in the book that I worked on with artist Jeff McComsey. I'll be signing copies of the book with other contributors on Sunday at 2pm at booth 1529.

 Sister Powers: Summer Vacation will also debut at Comic-Con this year, from Keenspot Entertainment and artist Mario Wytch! Keenspot has booth 2635 on the show floor, and I'll be at their booth most days to sign copies with Mario.

Artist Scott Morse recently announced This Ink Runs Cold, a sci-fi/crime anthology that he'll be drawing, in part, on the show floor at Comic-Con, while the convention is taking place. I submitted a story and found out earlier today that it made the cut when Scott posted the above image. Don't worry that my last name is misspelled (or perhaps we're just using the historic spelling). It's...it's me, I promise.

We're still working out the details, but Scott has asked those of us who'll be at the show to stop by while our pages are being drawn. This'll happen between Friday and Sunday at the Allen Spiegel Fine Arts booth, #4701 on the show floor. I'm hoping that there'll be a livestream or some other documentation happening as the pages are created, because this is a really fun idea and I hope others want to watch it come to life.

My contribution will be a story titled "Blood Brothers." There are plans to publish the book shortly after the convention, so I hope to see it in print before too long.

I've got about 24 hours before I have to head out to the airport, so I'm glad that I'm using some of this precious time to update the ol' blog. It's important!! I believe it! See you in San Diego!

Is Mega Minion Jerry...just the Thing?

Okay, so I'll admit that I don't get the Minions. I recognize that they're a cultural phenomenon, part of a blockbuster movie franchise, and in ten years, kids who grew up watching the characters will write academic papers on them, but my eyes just get a bit glossy every time a commercial for their latest appearance comes on. That's okay, because not everything has to be made for me, but I've generally done my best to ignore Despicable Me and any of the offshoots of the last however many years.

But when I see the Thing, I take notice, and let me tell you, the Thing appears in the new Despicable Me 4 movie that comes out...when does it come out? Soon? I'm assuming it comes out soon. The point is, one of the Minions is clearly the Thing.

Thirty seconds of searching tells me that the Thing in this movie is called Mega Minion Jerry, and that he is part of the Mega Minions, a group that forms a superhero team after gaining powers from an experiment. One of Jerry's powers is apparently the ability to eat lots of things (suspiciously also like the Thing). So, okay, we have a rocky superhero with blue overalls and a slightly lighter than orange complexion. This is the Thing.

The Minions also have a pretty good presence in the toy aisle. Your friend (and mine) Larry sent me this image from a recent shopping trip:

Jerry also, apparently, barrels things over. He clobbers them, if you will.

So the only question that remains, then, is how official is this connection? The Minions have that gobbledygook speech pattern, right? Will this one say "it's clobberin' time" or something like it? Does one of the other Mega Minions stretch? Will Jerry develop a terrible smoking habit?? Do I have to actually watch this movie to find out?!

I haven't bought any of the toys yet. I'm considering it.