I always have a grand time at the Quad Con held in Saint Charles at the Steel Shop Event Center. The next one is a week from tomorrow on October 20th, starting at 10AM (and going until 4PM). It is just $5 to get in with free admission for military and free entry for all after 2:30 PM. The Quad Con always has a metric ton of vendors selling everything from comics, to toys, crafts, trading cards, Funko Pops, vintage video-games, original art, cosplay, and more! I highly encourage anyone in the area to be at the Quad Con on Sunday the 20th, I plan on attending and having a fantastic experience! See you there!
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Friday, October 11, 2024
Marvel Doing Zany Character Pairings? Sounds Fun!
The Marvel Universe is a big place. There are well-known characters who did not meet for years of existence or whom still haven't hung out. With this in mind, J. Michael Straczynski is going to be writing a number of one-shots for Marvel featuring, "...characters who had either never been paired before, or only minimally," for the amusement of us readers! JMS returned to Marvel a bit ago to write, "Captain America," after previously leaving on less-than-stellar terms when Editorial overrode how he wanted to finish his, "Amazing Spider-Man," run. JMS's take so far on, "Captain America," has been a bit quirky, but still fun. Hence, it is interesting to think he'll write about Rocket Racoon and Doctor Doom, Nick Fury going against Fin Fang Foom, Hulk chilling with Doctor Strange, and so forth.
The only story that made me scratch my head in that it doesn't sound like a strange duo is, "Spider-Man Vs. Doctor Octopus." I mean, they interacted enough that at one point Otto literally took over Peter's body and served as, "The Superior Spider-Man," for a controversial run--perhaps there is a twist to that story? Whatever the case, we get to enjoy some wild matchups this January with JMS scripting and a variety of great artists illustrating.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Silver Sprocket is Doing a Fundraiser--With Rewards!
I am a big fan of the independent comic publisher Silver Sprocket. They put out works that are creative, edgy, experimental, and simply awesome. They are celebrating 15 years of existence by running a fundraiser! They're looking for 200 more people to become members/subscribers which can get you all their awesome releases in digital or print form. They're also selling snazzy prints (I have one pictured above) and signed books that the authors were kind enough to autograph.
This fundraiser will help them to keep printing superb works and make sure everyone at Silver Sprocket can make a living wage (not easy to do in comic-books, sadly). Here is that link again so that you can buy something cool and help give Silver Sprocket some more cash so that they can look forward to another 15 (and more) years!
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
"Funko Fusion," is a Disappointment of a Game
I've loved playing Lego-themed videogames over the years. There have been many from, "Star Wars," to, "DC," "Marvel," and ones that mash-up a bunch of properties to an interesting result. When Funko announced their own game, "Funko Fusion," I had hoped it would be fun like the Lego games. I've played a bit of, "Funko Fusion," and am disappointed to share that it is pretty mediocre.
The Lego games are full of charm and fun gameplay. "Funko Fusion," is a mostly uninspired 3rd-person shooter with boring landscapes, annoyingly long boss fights, lame puzzles, and a shocking lack of personality considering how fun and quirky real-life Pops can be. Some surprisingly graphic body-horror imagery aside (as others noticed) there isn't much of interest in this game. It's just drab and dull. This is such a missed opportunity and I'm glad my library (libraries rock!) had it for me to check out instead of having to drop a stack of cash to be underwhelmed. At least we still have the Lego-themed games to enjoy after this missed opportunity.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
I've Officially Known Samii 13 Years as of Today!
I met Samii 13 years ago today! We chatted online via OkCupid, went on a date (then many more), and now here we are all these years later. I am thankful every day that Samii went from being my girlfriend, to my wife, to the mother of our wonderful boys. It is wild to think we were strangers when I went and met her in-person for the first time at the Crestwood Mall (which was replaced with a Dierbergs and some housing awhile ago). I'm glad I didn't scare her off with my eccentric demeanor and continue to marvel at how caring a person she is. Clarkson and Gibson have the best mommy and I have the best partner in life. It's been a wild 13 years and I look forward to many more!
Monday, October 7, 2024
"The Comics Courier," is the Print Comics Criticism I've Been Yearning For
I love absorbing all forms of media as well as reading crictism of that media. Whether I agree with a review or article, if it makes me think about a movie/show/comic/whatever in a new way, I appreciate that. We don't have much print comics crictism, lately. Magazines that focused on comic-books all went out of print besides a yearly-ish edition of, "The Comics Journal." Hence, seeing that there is a Kickstarter campaign for, "The Comics Courier, A New Comics Criticism Journal," has my attention.
As much as I love reading about comics online, I enjoy a good magazine regarding subjects I enjoy too. Print isn't dead, with plenty of topics still getting magazines, so a biannual (twice a year) print publication dedicated to comics sounds superb. The creator/main editor is Tiffany Babb, who has almost a decade of experience regarding comics. She has recruited a bunch of great folks who write about comics as well and if I had any issue with this new publication it would just be how I wish they'd included me because I love to write about comics and can usually ramble on long enough to meet double the needed word-count--editors love/hate me a lot! My quibble of being left out of this debut issue aside (seriously, hit me up if you want an article in a future issue, Tiffany) I love the idea of, "The Comics Courier," and have already backed it at the level for a physical copy (you can get just a digital, but I just told ya'll I want it in my dirty mitts)! Go and back it on Kickstarter now if you value comic-book criticism too--which considering how I do a chunk of that, I figure you must be into reading folk's thoughts on comics!
Sunday, October 6, 2024
You Were Warned About Those Commercial DNA Kits
I've given my genetic information to companies that have to follow strict privacy rules. I'm talking about HIPPA laws regarding genetic testing for myself and my family members. That said, I've always been leery of 3rd party companies like 23andMe or Ancestry that want my DNA and don't seem beholden to any particular rules about what they do with my information. Seriously, I wrote about it back in 2020. Now, 23andMe is on the brink of bankruptcy and has all that useful genetic data they could sell to survive. I warned ya'll.
Could this information serve great medical purposes? Yes. You could anonymize data and study a bulk of it to see how certain genetic markers can be linked to other ones for health issues. Am I paranoid at the idea that it could be sold to advertising companies or law enforcement? Yes, because a lot of information could be in that genetic code and there is zero responsibility to privacy for 23andMe--once you signed up and spat in a tube for them you signed away your rights.
It sounds like a science-fiction concept, but imagine a company getting your genetic information and putting it in a database. This database finds you have a gene that predisposes you to really liking dark chocolate. The company sells this money to an advertisement agency with a corporation that sells chocolate as a client. One day, they trawl their data and decide to send anyone with the chocolate-loving gene a coupon for a discount on a new line of dark chocolate bars with various fun nut options. That isn't too nefarious, but things could get a lot more twisted and intrusive.
I could be paranoid, but if I give someone all my genetic code and they don't have any privacy obligation, maybe they don't anonymize data and sell my DNA data if they get into a tight spot. I bet a few decades ago the idea of sending a company your salvia so you could find out if you're 30% Irish or such sounded outlandish, but now here we are. Your genetic code could translate to dollar signs. Be careful who gets your DNA because Lord only knows what will be possible to learn from it in the next couple of years.
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Wishing Donald Glover a Speedy Recovery
Donald Glover is a talented actor/singer/comedian and basically an all-around skilled fellow. He had postponed a number of tour dates as his musical alter-ego Childish Gambino due to an unspecified health issue. Now, those dates have been outright canceled with it disclosed that Glover's unnamed health issue will require surgery. Glover is entitled to medical privacy just like any other human being, but I appreciate his feeling comfortable sharing that, "“My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously. With that said, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the North American tour and the UK and European dates. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.” Prioritizing one's health is important and I applaud Glover for doing as such. I wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to him in the, "Community," movie which should eventually come out after delays from script rewrites among other stuff.
Friday, October 4, 2024
The, "DC All-In Special," #1 is a Promising and Creative Start of a New Venture
DC is launching their, "All-In," Initiative which involves the standard DC Universe and an alternate one (the Absolute one) somewhat co-existing and (one assumes) eventually overlapping in some fashion. It's a bit like the original or new Ultimate Universe Marvel is doing, in other words. This new, "DC All-In Special," #1 is a one-shot that kicks everything off...and it actually does so in a clever way.
There is a lot of artistic creativity in this special that makes a big commercial endeavor actually feel almost a bit quirky--and I like that. You see, this is a flipbook that tells the same story from vastly different viewpoints and uses that format for all kinds of intriguing ways to tell a surreal story. We see things from the perspective of the heroes on the main DC Earth as they expand the Justice League--and Booster Gold is there as everything goes wrong with Daniel Sampere providing some solid art.
We also witness Darkseid getting up to a bunch of evil stuff and enacting a master plan...with Booster Gold yet again there from a slightly different metaphorical angle as everything goes wrong (the man can't catch a break in this comic). I liked seeing an alternate take of the same yarn and the Wes Craig artwork on the, "Evil," side is especially impressive--as others have observed. I give props to writers Joshua Williamson and Scott Snyder for their creative use of the comic-book format and using that to give us two stories that end up uniting beautifully as one twisted tale.
The, "DC All-in Special," #1 is much more experimental than I expected for a random one-shot that launches a new line of stories (and a whole new Universe of heroes). This gives me some optimism for the upcoming Absolute titles--I was thinking of at least trying their first issues and definitely plan to do so now--and makes me curious about what will be happening in some of the, "Main," DC books as well like the upcoming, "New Gods," series. Color me pleasantly shocked at how good this was. I tip my hat to DC for getting me excited about all the other things coming down the pipeline for, "All-In."
5 out of 5 Stars.