Whatcha reading? Part 2!

The comic book distribution shutdown is over, and comics are slowly making their way back to stores on Wednesdays once again. Things have changed, though - DC has left Diamond completely and will ship Tuesday-arriving books independently; Marvel is only shipping new comics every other week; both Marvel and DC are skipping their comic shipments for a week in late June; many small publishers won't be shipping any books at all until at least August. These are unprecedented times in the comic book industry.

About a month ago, I made a post about some of the books I have been working my way through since I've now actually got time to read them. With the slow trickle of books that have come out since things started up again, I find that I'm still working my way through my big stack of unread books. And since I had fun making that first post, I thought I'd make at least one more and show you just what I've been keeping busy with while I am making progress with my "to read" stack.

Even though comic store distribution came to a halt throughout most of April and May, the Walmart DC Giants have shipped on schedule. I usually get these three titles through my local comic shop, but it seems that the direct market versions of Swamp Thing and the Flash might be cancelled? When I read this, I drove out to Walmart and grabbed the mass market versions of all three...just in case. The novelty of this line has yet to wear off for me.

Next up on the list are two back issues, Thor #200 and Weird War Tales #93, with the first appearance of the Creature Commandos. They were both interesting Bronze Age books!

I grew up reading the Death of Superman storyline, but I never picked up more than a few issues of Batman's Knightfall saga. These issues aren't too expensive to find, but with Knightquest and Knightsend added on, there are a lot of issues out there. I still need to find just a few Knightquest issues, but I have finally made it through the big Knightfall story, culminating with Batman #500. The issues got pretty repetitive after a while, but I enjoyed it - though I'm sure I would've been mad about DC replacing Batman at the time.

Right around the time of Heroes Reborn, JM Dematteis had a fairly long run on the Silver Surfer title in which ol' Norrin Radd has adventures with (and space-dates, I guess) Alicia Masters. I managed to get all of those issues a while back but only recently got a chance to read them. There were some real moments of brilliance in this run! Plus the Thing showed up in a few issues, which is always a plus!

Next up on my list are two issues of Marvel's Shogun Warriors book, both guest-starring the Fantastic Four. I do not have high hopes for these! But I had to get 'em anyway.

If you're looking for some digital comics to read, why not try out Bad Karma from Panel Syndicate? Art on this new title is by Black Terror artist Ryan Howe!

Lastly, I found this RoboCop vs. Terminator series for a good price and picked it up few weeks ago. Firstly, the concept looks like a no-brainer, and secondly, it's by Frank Miller and Walt Simonson! Let me tell you - it did not disappoint. These two comic book creative giants are at their prime in this four-issue series from Dark Horse. I'm not even necessarily a really big fan of either franchise, yet I loved every page of this gem.

Plus each issue came with a cardboard centerfold cutout! Yeah!!

If you have a chance to pick up this series or the subsequent collection, do it! It's well worth it.

That's it for now. I hope that everyone is well and has enough comics to get them through these tough times. 

Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 2 (Wednesday, 7/17)

Let's look at Wednesday's pictures at Comic-Con 2019!

Preview Night started early for me this year, as I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Conan O'Brien taping that took place before the convention officially opened. This means getting up early and waiting in line - a Comic-Con tradition! - to officially get the tickets you had semi-reserved. I got in line at about 7:30am; there were several hundred people in front of me. But I got my tickets and was set loose at around 10:00.

From there I hopped back over to the convention center to complete the booth setup...and to see some of the displays while there was time.

The Comic-Con tarp thing that hangs outside of the convention. Still looking good after another year in storage!

One of the nearby parking garages was dressed up in an Avengers promotion.

I saw a few interesting things on the show floor. This Marvel Two-in-One cover caught my eye, for some reason.

And, oh, this Action Comics #1, graded 8.5, as well. That's a $2 million book right there. Sheesh. The other ones aren't bad, either.

The Conan taping started at around 3:45 that afternoon. The Spreckels Theatre looked snazzy, as always.

Here I am with some friends! I'm apparently showing off my bracelet.

The guests on this day were from the It sequel. Bill Hader giggled through most of the interview. It was a weird show - more raunchy than I had expected. I know that Conan recently moved to a new 30-minute format, but this show ran an hour. Everyone was excited to be there! And when the show ended, we burst out of the theater and galloped toward the convention center. It was great to be able to see the show without having to miss any time at the convention.

I got inside about a half hour before the floor opened. It's always fun to see things right beforehand - there's a nervous energy going through the crowd of exhibitors.

And here's the Dark Horse staff getting those yellow bags ready...

...and I saw Robert Kirkman walking around the floor...

And then it was open! And it got crowded fast.

One of my first stops was the Marvel booth. I'm a sucker for SDCC comics and Marvel has had some interesting ones the past few years.

Some Captain Marvel costumes and props were on display by the booth!

I passed by Grae Drake, former Rotten Tomatoes gal and current Ms. Moviefone, and we got this very natural picture together.

In years past, I was able to do most of my shopping on this night (to be fair, I shop every day, but I get the bulk of my "must have" items on Wednesday if I can). This year, for whatever reason, the lines seemed to move more slowly than I remembered. I stood in the Marvel line for quite some time, and when I got out, there wasn't a lot of time left to see and do other things. But I did see this Alien statue!

So, I apparently have a three-issue comic series coming out this fall from Keenspot? This was interesting to see. I'll write more about it at another time, but a lot of this was unexpected.

Here's my friend and collaborator Mario Wytch, who I met for the first time in person, despite knowing him online for about 15 years. I also learned at this show that his last name is not pronounced "witch".

After the show ended for the night, I stopped by the Chuck Jones Gallery in the Gaslamp district, one of my go-to locations every year. It's always a fun place to stop and see.

There were some neat Fantastic Four prints on display among the other items.

NBC's The Good Place had a pancake diner right in the Gaslamp, which seemed to be one of the more popular attractions during the show.

Super7 once again had a neat offsite pop-up shop; this year it was called the "Boodega" after being Skeletor and Hordak's Lair for the past few years. The line was just as long as it always was, though, and because I don't have any particular affinity for the Universal movie monsters, this was as close as I got.

It was a pretty low-key night all around, but it was a big day with Conan in the morning and early afternoon. After getting some pizza, I was ready to head back and get ready for Thursday. We'll look at those pictures soon!

Pictures from the 2018 New York Comic Con, part 4 (Sunday, 10/7)

It's time for the last batch of pictures from the 2018 New York Comic Con, on an overcast Sunday. I don't usually make it to NYCC on Sunday, but this year I had two fairly big reasons for being there, and it was fun to be there until the show closed down for the year. Let's take a look at the pictures!

Here's the Javits Center on a gloomy Sunday morning.

Is this...a Power Rangers thing? Either way, it's good work.

She-Ra had a big presence at the show, despite the new cartoon not having aired yet at the time. I'm happy to see how popular it's become since. What a great way to welcome young girls into nerd culture!

I was (apparently) very excited to see my friend Oliver Mertz on the show floor!

Okay, there's Rogue...and Gambit, yeah...and Captain Marvel...and...what is goin' on with that Captain America?!

Early in the day on Sunday, I met up with Jennie Wood and we walked over to the Dark Horse Comics booth. This was a big day! We got to go into the inner workings of the booth setup, into the meeting area, where we sat down for an interview with Comics Beat writer Edie Nugent! We talked about, among other things, the Flutter collection which was on the cusp of being released at this time.

I was only slightly nervous during the whole thing (and Jennie did most of the heavy lifting, naturally). But someone delivered snacks during the interview, which was right up my alley, of course.

After the interview, Jennie and I stepped out into the signing stage where we had a special signing to promote the Flutter Collection! Jennie is, of course, the one who set all this up, and I was happy to be along for the ride. It was a fun experience that I won't forget. And if you wonder how dedicated I am to things like this, just know that I missed the first half of the Steelers game for it, which is a big deal. Obviously, I still ran around in black and gold, like an annoying away team fan.

The signing wrapped up near the end of the show, and I ran around for a few minutes to get one last look at everything. Costumes were still plentiful here on the last day.

Does DC have the market on LEGO superhero movies? I'd think that a Spidey LEGO movie would do...pretty well.

Crowds started to thin as the day drew to a close. But I still had one last stop to make.

The 2018 Tick panel was a last minute addition to NYCC, for reasons that will be forever unknown to me. But right at the end of the day, room was found and the whole cast showed up.

New-to-season-two cast member John Hodgman was the emcee for the panel.

The room filled up pretty quickly as the panel began - I went to previous panel to make sure that I'd get a seat. Soon after I made it in, they closed the doors and wouldn't allow others to enter early, so in the few minutes leading up to the panel, the room was pretty sparsely populated, which was kind of worrisome. But then, all at once, the doors opened and everyone flooded in. The room was mostly full for the panel.

Since this was the last panel for the day - and the convention - it ran over quite a bit, to the point where workers were coming in and yelling at everyone to leave so they could tear down the stage.

The cast of The Tick seems to genuinely like each other, and the fact that they all showed up at the last minute for this thing was a nice testament to that. Season two is on Amazon Prime now!

As the panel was breaking up and the workers were shooing everyone out, I got to say hello to a few of the cast members. Here I am with Miss Lint, Yara Martinez!

I, uh, gave John Hodgman some pins. And then we took a picture.

And then I saw Valorie Curry! What a great character Dot is on this show. In between the two of us, you can see one of the workers literally pulling the stage apart.

Everyone on stage took the time to sign autographs, take pictures, and talk to the fans who stuck around until the very end of the convention. It seemed to me that everyone in the room was happy to be there, even at the end of a long convention and given a non-ideal time slot for the day. Here's hoping that the cast can be together for several more seasons.

And that's it for my NYCC 2018 trip. It was off to New York Penn Station and back home. But let's look at some of the things I picked up while I was there!

Earlier in the day, Ian Nichols took me to one of the booths selling original art, and I grabbed some color guides - specifically for the short-lived and much-maligned Fantastic Force series! When I saw a bunch of these all piled up, I knew what issue to look for: #7, one of the few that directly crossed over with the main Fantastic Four book. This page has the Thing in a couple panels, so it was a no brainer!

This is the Venture Bros. production art I got earlier at the panel.

The best thing I bought, though, was this Flying Spaghetti Monster colander, seen here full of pasta.

I'm out of convention pictures! Time to go to another convention, I guess. Until then...!