The Lonely Cache
Posted on September 7, 2024 by Bruce

How to Survive Your High School Reunion as an Introvert

Posted on November 8, 2024 by Bruce

While I was born in Indiana, I was not raised here. We moved after kindergarten to California, and kept moving around until I was in 4th grade. So pretty much I grew up in California (both northern & southern), but returned to Indiana for college, and just stayed. For me, one of the reasons I stayed in Indiana was probably my experiences in high school.

In early August I started getting notices about my 40th High School Reunion. I had heard it was coming, I had seen some “Save the Date” posts on social media. I learned a lot about myself after attending my 20th High School Reunion, which is why I don’t see myself going to this one.

So if you want to skip to the end: How to Survive your High School Reunion as an Introvert- just don’t go.

Please note there are many points of view when it comes to any event… These are mine and may only be slightly based on reality.

This has nothing to do with the hard work of all those people who planned and are taking time to make this an amazing event for those who attend. Which I’m sure it will be a great experience. I am not making light of their efforts or suggesting that anyone should not attend. This is a personal decision as an introvert based on my past experiences. Since I don’t live in the area, it takes more effort to attend, and I just think I’d rather put the effort into doing something else, or going someplace else.

Growing Up in the “1900’s” -You Had a Computer?!?

You could still die of dysentery in 1984, but you’ve have to work really hard to do it. Oregon Trail was originally released in the 1970s as a text based game.- Yes, we played it originally as a text only program.

When I decided to attend my 20th high school reunion in 2004, I had grandiose ideas of reconnecting with old friends and reminiscing about old times. Seeing how everyone was doing. My parents always commented about my friends in high school and what a tight knit group we were. Now for those who don’t understand- this is a Gen-X* thing. When Gen-Xer’s left for college, we tended to lose contact with anyone and everyone we went to high school with, especially if you were an introvert. You see, we didn’t have phones attached to our hands, email had not been invented, neither had social media. Texting? ZOOM? Video Chats/Facetime? Nope, those things did not exist. Unless you attended the same university (many of my friends did just that) if you saw friends it would only be over breaks. If you communicated with them, it would be by letter. If you had time or the will to write one. Many friends you would look up their address or phone number in the “Phone Book” a magical tome that contained information about people in your town… Not in town? Tough luck. When home you could drive to their house, but knowing the actual address?!? That and they were at school, so unless you exchanged information… The funny thing about parents, then kids leave for college, sometimes parents move. Let me repeat this- we didn’t have phones, or the internet to help us keep in contact or find people. Those things didn’t exist until after we graduated from college. I recall visiting my parents and getting a few pieces of mail including a wedding invitation for a friend- the wedding had occurred months before I was given the invitation, my parents never thought of forwarding it to me.

As for how did I learn about the 2004 reunion? I think it was on America Online (AOL) now considered the easiest way to determine if an email is coming from a very old person. In 2004 it was one of the biggest networks and with CDs at every BlockBuster and in every mailbox, AOL was the best way to get on the Internet and connect with people using this newfangled thing called “email.” It was a lot cooler than Prodigy.

Nostalgia is a Fuzzy Thing – Like a Tribble with Very Sharp Fangs

So in 2004 (The year “TheFacebook” started) Sue and I flew out to Los Angeles to attend two days of my class reunion. Friday was an evening event, and Saturday was a picnic for families. I should have know how it would go since I left my sport coat in my closet and had to buy one when I arrived. 🙄

When you think back nostalgically about things, you tend to see yourself in the middle, and maybe not the most important part, but at least a part of the action. I realized after about 10 minutes, that I was a nobody. Sure there were people who remembered me (and I didn’t immediately remember them). There were people who I remembered, and we chatted until, someone they REALLY wanted to talk to walked by. After about 30- 45 minutes of “mingling” I called my brother, Mike, to see about getting together the next day. By this time I did have a cell phone (it was a flip phone… the first iPhone wouldn’t be released for three more years).

I was not involved in much during high school. I rarely attended events. I recall attending one concert from an up and coming band. I had been a part of some clubs- Model United Nations, and I think Interact Service Club, and maybe some others (they look good on college applications) even then I was usually hiding in the background (never in a leadership position) but by Senior year I had kinda disappeared completely. I had gotten my first job while in middle school and had worked until after graduation. I worked at the family business (a t-shirt store), and then at a pre-school/Daycare Center once I turned 18. My senior year I actually took a bunch of Independent Study or Advanced Projects classes while getting pulled to work most days.

While in college I would fly into town in the morning, and then work at a Child Development Center until closing. Continuing to work pretty much every day (except weekends and holidays) until I returned to college. My friends rarely contacted me, I think we were on different schedules (at least that’s a good excuse). I was invited to a holiday party once or twice, unfortunately I had to work the next day so I had to leave early. I do recall driving a friend back to their college since I had “Winter Term” (my school gave us the month of January to do off campus study- I taught at a private school and lived with my parents for two of them) so I was available to help. That’s probably the only person I’m still in more than “Facebook says it’s your birthday” communication with over social media, he’s also an educator so we speak the same language. Although e teaches at a High School so he speaks with a slight accent.

When you stand around a crowded room full of people you’re supposed to know, you have time to reflect. I recalled weekends where I would call my friends on Friday night and see if anything was going on, be told “No, but if it changes we’ll let you know” then find out about what amazing things everyone did that weekend (together) over lunch on Monday. “Oh, it just sort of happened.” I still remember being abandoned at Grad Night and wandering through the crowds at Disneyland, alone, for what seemed like hours. I was the loser nerd with no friends, everyone else in groups having fun except me. I’ve said that most of the people I hung around with in high school were the “smart kids” and joked that I was their token dumb kid. I wasn’t dumb, but I wasn’t in any Honors or AP classes because I just didn’t push myself. Ask around- AP Studio Art doesn’t count. My parents were just happy I could have graduated early. As I said I am “friends” with some on social media and some of them post photos of the group during high school. Funny thing, I’m not in almost any of the photos they post. I actually started thinking that the stuff I did in high school was all in my imagination and that the things I thought I did, didn’t really happen. The reunion just made those beliefs seem even more accurate.

At the 20th reunion most people only talk about their kids or their successful career (mostly their successful kids). Sue and I don’t have kids, and I was an elementary school teacher, a not so impressive career, especially for the Southern California crowd. After a few “lite” chats with people, I think less than a handful. The evening ended for me when they had a group photo taken of the class. I thought this was my chance to see who was there of my friends that I couldn’t find in the mob and reconnect… As two people who I had always thought of as “good friends” during high school walked by, I said “Hi!” and they looked over and just continued to walk on, heading to their already full table. No reaction- since we hadn’t seen each other in at least 16 years I guess I was expecting something more- silly me. Funny thing- I never got a copy or even the offer to buy a copy of that group photo.

After that Sue and I left the event, headed to a nearby bar, had a beer and nachos and went back to my parent’s house. I had a great time with my brother the next day (avoiding the picnic) and I only think about high school when silly things like reunions come up or I see that sport coat.

Being an Introvert

I say I’m an Introvert- which means I feel more comfortable alone, or with only a few select people. However, while I pride myself on being a “geek” (See Diagram) If I’m truly honest with myself I’m a “nerd.” I really am inept when it comes to social interactions. I don’t know how to have “small talk.” I don’t have enough experience in social situations to not come across as awkward. Maybe this is a partially a result of being an introvert, maybe it has other origins. For many of us being around people is hard, but as an introvert with a bit of social anxiety it is also exhausting.

As an introvert it’s not that I’m shy, or stuck up, or whatever. It just takes me a while to feel comfortable with people. Basically, if I’m chatty around you- then I consider you someone I feel safe around, or you’re talking about something I am passionate about. Unfortunately, I have too many experiences in which I thought I could open up to someone only to find out I was wrong, and I was instead considered, weird, or even repulsive. Someone who nobody really wanted to be around. Memories of high school just reinforced those feelings, reunions of any kind do the same thing… it’s not you, it’s me. I’m not looking for sympathy, just want people to understand. Not everyone gets excited about social things. For me they are extremely uncomfortable. It’s not that I don’t want to connect or reconnect with friends, it’s just I feel that for many people, they feel an obligation to be “nice” when they really have other “more important” things to do than spend time with me. When I would return to Los Angeles I would spend time with my parents and I wasn’t about to try to guilt people into meeting by posting I’m in town on social media. This also occurs when I travel, I might be in your town, but I won’t bother you with a “Let’s get together!” You have your life and you don’t need to worry about me. I don’t want to be a burden.

I wasn’t always an introvert… really, it came about due to little things. Before third grade I was that kid who was loud and obnoxious always wanting to be in the limelight (or at least that’s how I remember it) Smart enough to know that when kids teased me about not being able to say my favorite color “purple” I just called it “violet” and moved on- the crayon had both words on it and I could say one of them. I was retained in 3rd grade (they said I was immature🙄) and spent a year being teased about being stupid and how I “flunked.” I was teased by people who I now realize weren’t that smart, but they needed to feel good about themselves and I was an easy target. I spent a lot of my childhood by myself, reading or in “Imaginative play,” my parents were busy with other things. Fortunately they spoiled me enough with things to play with. I also had my share of imaginary friends growing up. This and my love of comic books and science fiction put me in the “weird” category. I would talk about strange things that I thought were awesome, and most people didn’t. I wasn’t into sports. I was skinny, had glasses and braces until high school. I tried too hard, and failed for the most part. Over time I learned it was easier to just disappear and let everyone else talk, because I’d get weird looks and giggles if I opened my mouth, still do. When I’m excited I won’t shut up and that’s when people see me as weird and want to run away. For the most part growing up I was happy in my own little world, and still am. My old extroverted self comes out every once in a while, but usually only when I hide behind a small stuffed monkey – and I don’t care if people think I’m weird or strange. Hiding behind a small stuffed monkey is both weird & strange although I do prefer the word “eccentric.” If only I had enough money to actually earn the label.

As For Going to Your Reunion – You Be You

As for me, It may seem like a shock, but I’m scheduled to work at the LEGO Store that day. When I get home, I might raise a glass to the class of 1984, but probably just sit back and snuggle with Bailey & Issi watching Sue knit while reading something stupid or watching something stupid on TV. Much better than hiding in the corner of a loud room listening to people laugh and talk about how great things were in high school and not remembering it at all. I do hope those in attendance have a wonderful time- post lots of photos of people I don’t remember, want to forget, or wish I could have said “Hi!” to but probably would have been ignored by them.

To Mr. Calkins, Herr Olsen, Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Costantini (many of whom are viewing this from another plane of existence) thank you for shaping me, and supporting me while I was your student. In some cases you pushed me, in others you let me be me and supported my geekiness. For the record, Mr. Calkins taught Math and Science Fiction. I only took one of his classes (and it wasn’t Math)👽. He sold comics to me and made me feel that It was OK to be a geek. I painted my senior mural on his door. Herr Olsen- was my German teacher for three years, after a horrible freshman year trying out French and touch typing. I have no hand-eye coordination and ask Sue or anyone who has had the misfortune of dating me (all three of you.), I’m not romantic. My French teacher actually told me to drop the class at the semester or he’d change my D to an F. Herr Olsen was one of the only teachers I felt comfortable enough to write down, when he asked “What grade should you receive?” “An A, because you’ve never given me one.” I was always a few points shy, and he didn’t give me a A even when I asked.😁 To Mr. Baxter, who was the other teacher I felt confident enough to question and supported my love of Arthur Conan Doyle. He also taught Media Studies which allowed me to talk about films and even try out making one or two. Finally Mr. Costantini who after Back to School Night looked at me dumbfounded and asked if I was really related to my older brother… 😱 I was very successful in his International Relations class, and my brother hadn’t been successful at all in his Government class. He couldn’t believe we were related. There were many other teachers not just from when I was in high school but, like I said, I have a really bad memory.

Yes, I grew up near the ocean… lucky me. 🙄 “Why did you leave?” is a question I always hear. “Midwesterners are real… they are genuinely friendly- sadly, I can’t say the same about a lot of people in California.”

Again, I’m not looking for sympathy, or apologies, I’m just wanting to give a take on reunions from a different point of view. Some people have wonderful high school experiences, some think they did, until they reflect. For those who have wonderful memories of high school and lifelong friends… I’m happy for you.

*The first rule of Gen-X is we don’t talk about Gen-X.

This Week in Comics (My Pull List for November 6, 2024)

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Bruce

This week has been interesting with the U.S. Election. Sadly I seem to be seeing parallels in the comics that came out to what the countries future might be. Maybe I shouldn’t have started by reading Survival Street first. A comic with a world in which corporations run the government and in this issue a small enclave tries to hide out by ignoring the problems around them until they no longer can, that kicked off my short stack for this week!

I don’t want to get into details dealing with the election or the results (this isn’t that kind of blog) but lets just say I’m concerned that we will end up in a world that makes most dystopian novels seem like fairy tales. I hope I’m wrong, but…

This Week’s Comics:

I Hate Fairyland #17 – Gert has tried to be a hero, but her past comes to take care of that fantasy!

Action Comics #1074 – Superman in on Krypton via the Phantom Zone and tries to get help from his parents without messing up the past and his future! It’s always interesting to see how different creative teams show Krypton and Joe-El and Lara. This time Jor-El has a beard and Lara is blonde.

Batman #154 – Batman is on the case, trying to figure out who killed the mayor! After everything that has happened he’s not well-loved (neither is Bruce Wayne). Then there’s this question about his possible brother?

JSA #1 – So with everything that happened in Absolute Power and All-In we have the latest version of the Justice Society of America. Which seems to be a mix of all the previous versions (except the one with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in it). The elder statesmen have gone missing- Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, Dr. Fate, Hackman and Hawkgirl. and those left are trying to find them. Jakeem Thunder (the modern version of Johnny Thunder) has been critically injured. We get some drama between the various characters and learn who is behind all of this mayhem.

Absolute Superman # 1 – We’ve seen a different take on Batman, and Wonder Woman in this universe controlled by Darkseid. Now we bring in Superman. The big changes seem to be that Superman didn’t leave the planet until he was a little older. That and instead of his parents being scientist, they are now lowly workers, punished for going against the Science League. We flash forward to Superman saving some mineworkers in Brazil who are being forced to work in dangerous conditions by the Lazarus Corporation. Superman saves them and then gets into a fight with the “Peacemakers.”

The Ultimates # 6 – The new version of the Ultimates take on The Hulk and his irradiated group of baddies. Things don’t go as planned…

Public Domain #10 – The story behind The Domain. San Diego Comic Expo is over and we head back to find out a bit about relationships from the past. This is an interesting take on the comic industry while also having at the superhero comic these characters are making being published alongside.

Nemesis Rogues’ Gallery #4 – So who is trying to take on Nemesis and Rookie? We learn the backstory behind the group who are pretty angry at our antihero.

Survival Street The Radical Left #2 – As I said in the lead up, this comic came out at an interesting time. I’ll let this page speak for itself.

Oh, the issue? Should this enclave help out a couple of librarians who are being pursued by bounty hunters for distributing banned literature… it seems their bookmobile had a book on climate change in it. Welcome to the future.

“War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” – Orwell

This Week In Comics (My Pull List for October 30, 2024)

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Bruce

This week was Halloween, a time that most school’s don’t look forward to at all. On November first kids show up in a variety of states: exhausted, on a candy buzz or a combination of the two. Kids bring candy to school thinking they are so smart at hiding it, what they don’t understand is most teachers don’t care. Many have packed their own lunch – which consists of a bag of candy. It’s all part of growing up. Thinking you are “Sticking it to the man” or whatever.

Sue and I are hot and cold when it comes to All Hallow’s Eve. Having taught in the same neighborhood as many of my students I’ve given out worksheets to some kids. Other years we’ve just closed up the house. Unlike my brothers, I’m not into decorating. Again it runs hot no and cold, but never something that elaborate. On Halloween this year it rained a bit. The number of kids have steadily declined throughout the neighborhood and most seem to be imported from other neighborhoods. I don’t know why, because our neighborhood isn’t a large candy bar Mecca or anything.

I guess what I found interesting was the lack of imagination when it came to costumes, and how some kids felt entitled. Most of the time the kids will go through the moves “Trick or Treat!” Listen to an adult say something nice about their costume, then “Thank You!” As they run off to the next house. This year, I actually had a kid throw the candy back in the bowl! She said “I don’t like jelly beans” and then her brother, who I think was almost as shocked as I was sheepishly returned his to the bowl. I dug around and found the last M&M small size bags in the bowl and stood there dumbfounded. When they left I decided to do one of two things- first was just lock the door and turn off the lights. The other option was to go downstairs and pull out the LEGO poly bag tub and start handing that out. I chose the latter and confused some kids, but made some very happy. Next year? Who knows? After Tuesday who knows what the world will even look like?

Enough. After last week’s double batch I’m back to just what was on my subsheet or titles they know I want.

This Week’s Comics:

Night Club 2 #3 – In the first series a few non-popular kids end up becoming vampires and then superheroes. In series two adolescence kicks in and frankly as many geeks/nerds will say- they are easily manipulated. so in our last issue one of the group decided to turn his “girl friend into a vampire… ah young love. this issue we get to deal with the ramifications of this decision. Those being she really wasn’t his girl friend and just a popular kid who wanted whatever he had… once turned- she turns all of her friends (aka the popular kids/bullies) in the school the results aren’t pretty.

Captain America #14 – Cap is back! fighting Nazi’s and fascists just before the election! Oh wait, no he isn’t. He’s now helping Thor out with a mystical issue from a while ago when Asgard relocated to Earth and then weird things happened. Spider-Man has been brought in since Steve and Peter were about to have dinner and chat about their lives as superheroes- See Spectacular Spider-Men for a similar encounter but with Miles instead of Steve. Coming up next: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Therapist.

Amazing Spider-Man #60 – It’s the 60th issue of Amazing Spider-Man! wow! its like 1965 or something… Actually according to Legacy Numbering it is actually Issue #954. This is a series of short stories some intertwine and give us some foreshadowing as to what might be coming up in the future.

Trick or Read Fantastic Four #1 – Free Comic Book Day happens in May, over Halloween comic companies have a second free comic opportunity. This one I picked up because after NYCC and seeing Doctor Doom riding an armor plated T-Rex. So, Doom and the FF meet with Dino Doom and the Dino FF and try to save each of their respective universes.

Quested Season Two #5 – The story of Lothar (Jinx’s Father)

Ultimate X-Men #8 – This is really starting to make me think I need to read it as a compiled series and not individual issues. We’ve got more and more characters being introduced and people trying to find out about the multiple suicides,a nd the “Children of the Atom” cult. I appreciate the art style and really need to sit back and carefully read each issue.

Action Comics #1073 – Still in the Phantom Zone. We now meet Aether the big bad of the moment. Will Superman and Mon-El be able to stop him? Will Superman escape the fate he has been tossed into?

The Magic Order # 2 – So Cordelia Moonstone isn’t Codelia Moonstone , head of the Magic Order, and protector of the Earth from evil magical thingies? Can she escape this weird universe she’s been put into? Who did it? Why? answers are forthcoming as is retribution for putting her through this.

Minor Arcana #2 – When we last left Theresa she was trying to help her mom out and had just started doing a Tarot card reading for one of her mom’s clients… Theresa thinks this is all just bunk, but find out… maybe it isn’t. Can she figure things out enough to be able to return to her world? How will this experience change her?

Oh, I haven’t had time to catch up on the stuff I planned to do because it seems my idea of part time work is not exactly what the real definition is. I kind of miss being fully retired, not working and having time to fiddle with various projects… I guess I got spoiled. At least today I got a text asking me if I really wanted to work- I said “Thanks! No” so I could spend some time at home and even get this post out.

Please make sure to vote on or before Tuesday. It’s important. Maybe we can return to some semblance of sanity… I doubt it, but I can dare to dream.

This Week in Comics? (My Pull List for… a couple weeks)🙄

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Bruce

So I head to New York Comic Con (see last post) and because of that I miss out on picking up that week’s comics. Then I come back and I have the return of Curling and work at the LEGO Store. Once I get hose out of the way, I have unpacking, laundry, Sue’s car has issues, etc. So I’m falling behind.

I’ve written down what I’d like to journal about, for the most part, even sketched a few days out, I’m way behind in my Promptober drawings and just feeling a bit behind. Stress seems to be creeping back into my life. I’m retired… this shouldn’t be happening. I get up in the morning and should get up and get started, but I tend to have two cats asleep next to me. What is important? Drawing, cleaning, laundry, or spending what little time I have with Bailey and Issi, with Bailey and Issi. After Hemi crossed the rainbow bridge, even though I made sure to spend as much time with him as possible,I still wish I had more. As I type this Bailey is napping between the keyboard and the monitor, I pause to pet him every chance I get.

What should I be doing during retirement? I thought I had it somewhat figured out… I’m guessing no one really figures it out. I’ve already started planning 2025 (Hoping we are all still around after November). I’m right now considering returning to GeoWoodstock, Heroes Con, and Gen Con, maybe WonderFest for a day. Adding a first time visit to London Calling, Baltimore Comic Con, and the Lake Como Comic Arts Festival. The Dursleys are rolling their eyes at my wasteful whimsical ways. Oh well, let them roll and think bad things about me. I’ll live my life, they can live theirs, petting my cat and trying to be the best person I can be.

Lots of comics over the past two weeks and I’m not really sure which ones are from which week so I’m going to be extra brief.

This Week’s Comics x2:

The Flash #14 – The West Family goes camping in Skartaris! Or maybe they are on a secret mission, or maybe other weird things are happening. Oh, and it’s new costume time for Wally. and I guess Barry has given up his powers or the superhero life (must have happened in the Absolute Power series that I didn’t follow)

Action Comics #1071 & 1072- Superman is in the Phantom Zone and is trying to figure things out including who is in charge and who he might be able to trust before his color power dies!

Ultimate Spider-Man #10 – Uncle Ben and J.Jonah Jameson have figured some things out and are now about to publish about the Illuminati. Will they be stopped? What will be the ramifications?

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25 – The Black Panther drops by to help Miles fight off his vampiric urges. and (of course) the Vulture drops in too.

Spectacular Spider-Men #8 – After everything that happened in the Arcadium everyone involved needs a little help. so they create a support group to help them talk through the experience. Until a weird strange thing happens!

Superman # 19 – I guess another result of Absolute Power is Lois Lane gets superpowers and becomes “Superwoman” ending with the Time Trapper and Doomsday?!?

Radiant Black #30 & 30.5 – No details- the end of the massive arc and a big bright future awaiting the characters. How do they get through everything? read it to find out.

Absolute Wonder Woman #1 – We have the Absolute universe where our heroes are going through different origins. In this case there are no Amazons, Diana is raised by Circe and she’s been influenced by manga and carries one of THOSE GINORMOUS SWORDS usually found in Japanese comics.

Spider-Boy #12 – Bailey gets up with Daredevil and recounts a past adventure, when Daredevil was mentoring Bailey, but now we get to find out what happens since everyone now remembers Spider-Boy and get introduced to Spider-Girl.

Star Trek Defiant # 20 – Just when you thought things were horrible Miles O’Brien swoops in to save the day, except he doesn’t save the entire day.

The Domain #4 – Three people, one alien sharing the same powers but only one can use them at a time. No problem? What, you’ve never read a comic book before… of course there are problems. and Now things start to come to a head. This is the comic being produced by the fictional characters in “Public Domain.”

Star Trek #25 – Fluidic Space… the Mycelial Network… The Kelvin Universe?!?

Rogue Sun # 22 – It’s a murder mystery and Rogue Sun has to find the murder.

Titans #16 – What happens after “Absolute Power”? Some Titans leave, som return, and then we have the PTSD flashbacks being caused by… Next issue should clear things up.

The Department of Truth #26 – In a world where if enough people believe something it becomes real- I bring to you the story of Marilyn Monroe?

Detective Comics #1090 – Flashback to Bruce’s youth and his father’s belief in the Hippocratic Oath. Unfortunately, maybe not everyone should be saved.

Where Monsters Lie Cull-De-Sac #1 – There’s a place out there (actually more than one) where all the creatures from your nightmares actually live. You those tales about weird serial killers that are told around a campfire? Those are real (I checked with the Department of Truth) and when they aren’t killing people, they live in nice gated communities. The first series showed us one of those communities and the agent who was going to bring them down. Now we follow up with what happens next and meet a whole new group of misunderstood people.

Prodigy Slaves of Mars #3 – I’m so glad I keep up with Ancient Aliens, Skinwalker Ranch , and other shows that deal with “Things not of this Earth.” So the brothers are trying to save the world, even though everyone is against them. They are also trying to figure out what their dad was up to.

Recap: New York Comic Con

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Bruce

What’s a Whimventure® without some flexibility? I had planned to leave Wednesday and deadhead it to Newark (where I was staying). On Sunday I get a text from my friends who hooked me up with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Balloon gig asking if I was going to be in town Wednesday afternoon for a (shhh!) secret test flight of some new balloons. I dropped everything and changed my plans so I could! (Who wouldn’t?). So Tuesday I drove to New Stanton, Pennsylvania stopped for the night and then headed to New Jersey. This also included a stop at “Big Rusty” the Thomas Dambo troll in the area.

BIg Rusty… He’s big and ummm… rusty.

After Rusty, I arrive at the super secret location to balloon testing and spend the next few hours running back and forth as our group “handles” two different balloons that I am not a liberty to divulge their identities. One thing about Test flying is that it gives the sponsors an opportunity to see the balloon, get photos and even be a balloon handler. We are not allowed to take video or photos and even signed an NDA. The experience was great and seeing my friends made it even better.

Now a word about New Jersey and roads… WTF? I’ve been confused over street layouts before but New Jersey seems to take it to the next level. Even Waze is confusing. Remember: Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do. It seems like anything that we midwesterners would consider straight forward (like turning left) in Jersey it’s complicated. I bring this up because after driving most of the day, and then running a balloon around I had to not only get to my hotel, but then pick up Sue in the middle of the night at the airport. The Newark airport is like a kid dropped all his Hot Wheels track and then randomly connected it. Then put signs just to make figuring out which exit to take confusing. Sue, who I’m starting to think is part bat, only seems to fly at night and as I get older driving at night isn’t as easy as it once was.

The plan was I go to comic con & Sue attends the “Comic Con of Fiber and Yarn” aka The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. She takes my car and I take public transit. Which when looking at the map seemed like it would be “easy” but this is New Jersey and after one failed attempt with Sue driving me to a train station that didn’t have a parking lot or entrance I decided to take an Uber. Once I figured things out the rest of the getting to and from the Con was easy but, like any first attempt I learned a lot. Uber from the hotel to Newark Penn Station. Train to New York Penn Station then walk the High Line to the Javit’s Center. It may not have been the quickest route, but it was pretty, and I didn’t have to worry about crossing streets. Train each day $12, Uber ranged from $12 to $37 each trip mattering the time of day. About $185 total for both not including tips. The hotel, fortunately, was on points (thank you MTTS).

Day One:

I decided to take the first day and just explore… understanding that there is a lot to see and I won’t see it all in one day. Heck, I didn’t see it all in four days! On the drive home I thought about how to describe this to a non-comic book/pop culture person. Think of it this way- It’s Diagon Alley. Think of Harry Potter when he first experiences Dragon Alley and all the wondrous stuff and strange people there. When you get into the Javit’s Center it is filled with all sorts of people dressed in all sorts of costumes. Understand most people do NOT cosplay. They might wear a comic or pop culture related t-shirt, but the majority of people are not in costume. Like Harry Potter it seems like almost everyone is happy (“You know who” is long gone) since they can be themselves outside of the muggle world. No longer getting strange looks or laughs from the general population for being passionate about some aspect of pop-culture (more on this later). I walked the exhibit hall and had a few goals- first and foremost: getting lanyards and pins for my niece and nephew since they would be coming out on Sunday. That means- getting in line. The con has maybe been open an hour by the time I get up to the front. I buy 2 lanyards and two “exclusive” pins. I also ask about the”exclusive” sticker which they are already sold out of… wha?!? Someone didn’t plan ahead.

My next queue wasn’t really a queue, I wanted to get something for one of my brothers for Christmas. Then I headed to a booth that had “secret” exclusive Star Trek pins for this year’s election. I was limited to two 😢. but since they were also almost out, I didn’t complain. From there I walked around some more. Taking in the chaos that is day one and figuring out where everything was in relations to landmarks. While walking around I found a place that was selling Pokémon models. I bought a Magikarp. You see when I first started teaching Pokémon was just getting popular. I was asked what my favorite Pokémon was constantly by students. so I asked a kid- “What’s the worst Pokémon you could have?” “Magikarp.” So that became my favorite- just to confuse kids. I then went through my list of booths and stopped by each one. I decided if I wanted to buy, or not.

I then headed to Artist Alley, my favorite place. I stood in another queue this time for some original art by Katie Cook. I saw that her second book was sitting on her table and discovered that it had just been released. I had actually brought my copy of her first book to get signed. What Katie is known for at conventions is doing a quick pen & ink and watercolor sketch on something about the size of baseball card. I first saw her at C2E2 and she was mostly doing people’s cats… So I had her do Hemi. I didn’t have one of Issi or Bailey so I decided that was something I wanted to get. Over the course of the Con I would actually return to Katie’s table and get one for my niece and finally I needed a Rocketeer to put on the wall of my studio. I was getting tired so I headed back to the Hotel. Sue had taken my car for the day so she could visit Big Rusty. We had a nice dinner at a tavern to end our day.

Just a Few of the Cosplayers @ NYCC

Day 2:

This was the day I had set aside for my brother, Mike. I arrived early and ended up in the queuing hall waiting for the Con to open. Mike was outside and actually got into the hall before me! Lesson learned, don’t do what you think would be logical. Once we found each other we headed to one place I needed to go to complete the whole Christmas present thing. We then headed to the Merch tent for the Con, Mike bought a couple shirts, I bought a d20. Mike and I talked about stuff, I mentioned a few things and tried to be a big brother/uncle/Godfather and help out with some projects the kids have coming up (I was a STEM teacher of a few years). We headed to a panel with the actor Todd Stashwick. I know I’m very anti- celebrities at comic cons but when in Rome… Todd’s latest role was in season three of Picard where he played Captain Liam Shaw of the U.S.S. Titan. The only person to basically say “No” to the legends that are Picard and Riker. Amazing guy, very personable and I look forward to going back and watching some of his other works (12 Monkeys, esp.). After that we headed to Artist Alley and wandered, I made notes of places I’d like to return to. Mike (being an extrovert) just talks and talks to people and where I am shocked at some things he doesn’t know (I blame myself for failing to teach him) he’s shocked at the stuff I don’t know. It seems that while I was busy adulting, and he was in high school, there were some things in pop culture I might have missed. He had been chatting with Bill Plympton (artist and animator from his adolescence) and I finally looked at costs and said- “Could you draw him?” and put the fee on his table. Bill’s style is somewhat editorial cartoonish, but soon Mike had a portrait from an artist he liked. As I told him- that’s birthday and Christmas rolled into one. We then wandered around some more and I was looking at Chris Eliopoulos’ sketches and commented that he didn’t have a “Rocketeer” I was at that point waffling between a Batman and a Flash sketch. Chris said- I usually don’t do commissions but there’s something I want and I need to make enough to buy it… Voila! I had a Rocketeer commission coming my way tomorrow! We left the con a little later and headed for dinner, then Mike headed home, and I headed to the hotel.

The Durselys

I mentioned Comic Con is kind of like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter especially for a muggle. I found out when Mike got home that he had tried to explain it all to his in-laws… not a good idea. Basically they aren’t just muggles, they are the Dursleys. Anything they can’t understand is “stupid” “a waste of time and money” and anyone involved should be belittled and laughed at for being “stupid” and “Wasting time and money.” You wonder why I say that Cons are safe places where you can find your tribe? This is why. The real world is full of Dursleys. It’s funny that people can be fanatic about sports, but if you are a fan of anything else you are seen as “weird.” I felt sorry for Mike having to put up with what probably seemed to him like ridicule of me and my passion for comics, I’m fortunate that I don’t have that problem. Sue and I respect each other, even if we don’t understand exactly what the heck we are talking about. I’ve had to deal with people like that enough I just write them off as “muggles” roll my eyes, and move on- they aren’t worth my energy. Then again I’m just a stupid hick from Indiana who does things on a whim. Frankly people like that are just plain toxic and should be avoided like the plague.

Day 3:

Saturday, being the first time people who work M-F can attend and bring their kids, can be horrible so I planned for it. I had two panels I actually had reservations for that I wanted to attend and that was it. I actually walked from Penn Station up 5th Avenue to the LEGO Store to get my LEGO passport stamped, something I had neglected to do all the other times I had been there. I bought some minifigs and the headed to the con. I arrived for the Star Trek Universe panel with time to spare. I was just asked if I reservations and moved into the queue.

The panel was amazing (I know, I don’t like celebrities at cons) but like when I went to the Picard panel at Paris Comic Con, some rules are meant to be broken. The highlight was seeing the first episode of Lower Decks that will air this week. Of course a lot of the cast was present to chat and answer questions. They then went through all the other shows and movies upcoming. Star Fleet Academy had just wrapped filming season 1 and will be back for a second season. Strange New Worlds will be back for a fourth season even though they haven’t aired the third season yet. They did show us the first few minutes of the first episode after the second season’s cliffhanger. Then they had the cast of Section 31 on stage to talk about that film, and the big question mark as to what will happen next.

I then went to the Creature Commandos panel which followed. Unlike San Diego, NYCC does clear the room after each panel. I got back into the queue and this time they did scan my badge to see if I had a reservation. The rumor going around was- since this is the last panel in this big room for Saturday, and that it is about a new show, that they would do something special. That could be show full episode, maybe give stuff away… nope. The majority of the cast was there to talk about the series, James Gunn was there to talk about other things happening at DC. They did announce that merch was now available online for those who wanted to buy it. At 5:45 they cleared the room, to confused grumbles from some of the audience.

I headed to the autograph area which also had a bookstore and picked up some signed copies of a few titles. Then back to Artist Alley where I picked up dinner. From there back to the station, and an Uber to the hotel.

Day 4:

I had bought Sunday badges for my niece and nephew, hoping to build some memories with them… ummm… I’m not sure that was good idea. I did write up the day, but then remembered “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. ” I’ve since deleted it.

Sue and I arrived at the hotel at the same time. She was gushing about how cool her Whimventure was… She found her tribe and a place to celebrate what she loves- which is awesome. I drove her to the airport and returned to the hotel, planning on leaving the next morning for home. I got ready early, Started watching something on the History Channel about the history of Toys & Video Games and then check my phone to discover Sue’s flight had been delayed, so she would miss her connection to Indy. I gather my stuff up and rush back to the airport to pick her up. The next morning we deadhead home. It was nice that the boys missed us, I know I missed them.

Overall Impressions

I’ve been to a lot of Cons and this was my third time at NYCC. I’ve decided that there are other conventions that I like better. Conventions that are cheaper to attend and focus more on the things I like. Like San Diego Comic Con, I don’t see myself making this an annual pilgrimage or even if I’ll ever return. I see many of the artists at other conventions. I really don’t need the stuff, and didn’t buy that much anyway. I think I’m going to stick with Gen Con for games, and Heroes Con for comics as my must do conventions. I’m looking at two other conventions for 2025- one being Baltimore Comic Con which I have heard good things about and the other… we’ll see if I can get tickets for before I say anything else.

My Haul from New York Comic Con. This does not include things that ended up or will end up in the hands of other people.

This Week in Comics (My Pull List 10-9-24)

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Bruce

For those who think this is just a list of the comics I bought this week… it isn’t. It does have a list, but I try to add some dialogue to it about other things, instead of a bunch of posts.

I do follow a number of artists and comic creators and groups on SubStack and through newsletters they send out. Recently one posed a question that left me trying to come up with an answer- “What comic changed you?”

The idea behind it is that art changes us, be it a book, a painting or sculpture, a film… experiences change us. So having done the whole Social Media thing with posting favorite movies, books, etc. and then calling out a friend to do the same (a subtle form of bullying IMHO), I’ve gone through it. Then again a comic? As members of the educational community (and a few members of my family) would point out comics aren’t reading, comics aren’t anything but fluff. I still roll my eyes at my niece saying that comics ruin your imagination.🙄 So what comic has changed me? I could list off all of my favorite comics, and how they have impacted my life, but that’s a lot of comics. So instead let’s just say comics kept me from major depression during trying times in my life.

When I was in third grade my parent’s sent me off to a sleep away soccer camp held at a nearby college. Yes, I went to a sports camp and as you can guess, had a horrible time. What saved me was Hägar the Horrible. When I was in third grade I was (and still am) socially awkward and I brought along two brand new Hägar the Horrible comic collections. In those days you could get collection of daily strips in the handy paperback book size at your local drug store (Comics are the gateway drug to literacy). I had two that would hopefully last me through the week of camp. Being socially inept during camp I tried to stand up for my room mate and got picked up and dropped on my head for my efforts. My room mate thought it was funny and moved to another room afterwards. I guess he thought I was weird or immature or something. The only thing that kept me to together was escaping into the land of the vikings and Hägar. I can’t say if there was any one strip that made a big impression on me, but the ability to shut out the real world and only deal with a whimsical world of three panels and a punchline made the experience survivable. Note: I never went to a “sports camp” again.

I have found that I repeat this anytime I’m in a situation in which I am alone and just need to escape the anxiety. When my grandmother dropped me off to my college dorm room. (Don’t ask where my parents were, I think it had something to do with a soccer game 🙄) I sat alone listening to the other kids families excitedly talk about the future, I sat on my bed realizing that I had no idea what to do or where to go. Being from out of state, I knew absolutely no one. Where an extrovert/sportsing kind of person would go out and throw a ball around and talk to people, I instead went down to the campus bookstore and picked up Bloom County. I had never heard of it, but it looked amusing. <spoilers> Bloom County is amusing.

Those are just two instances that I comics helped save my sanity. Now as I draw comics I find the creating a comic allows me to express the feelings I have from various situations and share them in an away I normally wouldn’t. I do a lot of self censoring and no matter how much I’d like to do a comic about some events and topics, I know better. Fortunately for the most part (and looking at the site’s views) not many people read my stuff, so I don’t have to worry too much about offending anyone.

This Week’s Comics:

Amazing Spider-Man #59 – Tombstone and Spider-Man have it out in a fight that takes up an entire issue. In the end- well… define “winning”

Batman and Robin # 14 – Bruce and Damian get to head out for a night on the town! Much to Damian’s chagrin it’s a gala fundraiser that (fortunately for Damian) doesn’t go as expected. It seems that there is a growing dislike for all things Wayne in Gotham, no matter how much good they do.

The Ultimates #5 – so mistakes were made, The tech that was supposed to go to the new “Hawkeye” ends up in the hands of the wrong person and it’s Cap’s job to retrieve it… Again lots of fighting and, since it is Captain America, lots of talking. The sad part is , while they are fighting the illumination no one is asking the import questions like “What about the stockholders?”

Absolute Batman #1 – We have a general idea of what DC is doing- they’ve created another universe and will now inhabit it with altered versions of the heroes we have grown to know. The first one is Batman. No longer is Bruce Wayne a wealthy philanthropist. No longer were his parents killed in “Crime Alley” after taking in a showing of “The Mask of Zorro” at the Monarch Theatre. And yet, he still becomes Batman. I’m interested in seeing how this all plays out. I think this may be another attempt at a “New 52” but without rebooting every title. I know there are plans to do this treatment to most of the major heroes in the DC pantheon. So far using Alfred as our lens into the new version of Gotham has made it definitely different.

Action Comics #1070 – Darn that Phantom Zone! it seems that things are going amuck and after three Kryptonian criminals escape in a rather strange way it is up to Superman to find out what is going on and hopefully stop it and maybe help those imprisoned. Secondary Story- Supergirl goes off on a top secret mission to… Heck if I know.

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight The Kryptonian Age # 5 – Five issues in and we finally see the guy who lives in Smallville. Since this is a Victorian era tale (Elseworlds) there are a number of storylines going on. Batman has left Gotham to find out what happened to the train (it was blown up). Alan Scott, Carnival Trickster and Balloonist is visiting Smallville where Lois and Jimmy are reporting on the happenings which include the sheriff and bespectacled gentleman who seems to have no issues with bullets. Outside of that Lex Luthor seems to be creating other heroes including one Jay Garrick frozen in mid lightning strike, and Cliff Stone who may or may not have been blown up by Luthor after refusing to work with him.

Public Domain #9 – So our merry band of comic creators take their show to the big Comic Expo in San Diego in hopes to get their version of the Domain comic the press it needs. Of course the evil corporate folks have other plans.

Rocketeer Breaks Free #3 – Cliff and the crew survived a Nazi U-Boat attack in San Francisco rescuing people. and now our intrepid band need to figure out what the Nazi were up to with Alcatraz in the middle of it. Of course it ties back to the last series so I need to go back and reread.

Next Week is New York Comic Con so I’ll be on hiatus for a week. I’ll still be drawing, but posting to this website is a bit of a challenge. If I can figure it out I will post something- if not check out Cecil’s hijinks, I’m sure he’ll post something.

Daily Journal Week 1 – It’s Alive!

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Bruce

So after CXC I decided starting October 1 I would follow some advice from Brian Canini and begin keeping a daily cartoon journal. Understand that when I first proposed My Geek Odyssey to the Lilly Endowment as a Teacher Creativity Fellowship Project I was going to chronicle my journey in England during the 50th anniversary of the MINI Cooper as a webcomic. I realized at the time that my concept of a comic was stuck in the traditional three panels and a punchline strip. I couldn’t get beyond that (and still for the most part can’t). I added Cecil to the strip because my actual life wasn’t entertaining enough and I assumed adding an evil geocaching monkey and you get laughs galore.

So I decided to use the daily journal comic as a way to try out new drawing techniques and reflect on the day’s events. I went out a purchased a regular old cheap sketchbook at Meijer and cut an already used piece of Bristol into a square to make panels. So I draw out 4 panels which leaves me room at the bottom of the page to do the daily prompt. This does confine my prompt to a long narrow drawing, but that’s an added challenge. I’m one week in and have come up with a rhythm kind of on how to do this, my first trip away from home will see how it works out. I started by trying to do the comic before going to bed… not a good idea for me. I tend to want to go to sleep and it takes me a while to get into that zone, so delaying rest to finish a comic isn’t going to work. This was an issue when I did the comic for MINI Takes the States 2010. I then moved to doing it in the morning. Retirement has changed me from a person who had to get up and be ready for school by 7:30 AM to someone who might roll out of bed at 8:00 or once the cats decide that I am no longer a place to sleep. I then head to my studio and do two things. First I look at what today’s drawing prompt is from the Draw or Die Club. Since I started in “Promptober” I’ve stuck with those prompts and not the usual prompts emailed to me. Then I think about what happened the day before and how I want to express that as a series of drawings.

So on day one, Sue left for a conference and I had to work at the LEGO Store. It was a release day and the new Fortnite Sets had been released. I had the “job” of finishing the display of “Peely Bone” while greeting and chatting with guests. At home I sat down to watch politics in action and Sue called to catch up on her day. I watched about 10 more minutes and decided to just go to bed.
I had one job. One job. Go to ALDI and pick up the Halloween Cat Scratching houses for the boys. It seems that this is a thing and Aldi puts out new stuff on Wednesdays.
This is pretty typical when Sue goes on a trip. I do a quick clean up once she’s gone, and then let everything go to heck until the day she comes home. Then a flurry of activity and she usually doesn’t notice.
Sue came back with a cracked tooth, the dentist isn’t open normally on Fridays, she was able to get it taken care of, but spent the majority of the day recuperating until her boss called and then we had to run some errands. I wasn’t about to let her drive (although she was more than capable). Here I tried to just put journaling in with the comic- not having speech bubbles or narration boxes.
What does the future hold? We have a lot of things in flux right now. Unlike many people who like to overshare online, I try not to, so let’s just say the future is “fuzzy.” I decided that a Magic 8 Ball would give us clearer answers. So far… Outlook still is unclear.
For this comic I actually drew myself once and then used my lightbox to trace myself multiple times.
I was at the LEGO Store working and spent the day greeting people (aka Zone 1). We had a mix of people in but two stood out for me. One was a lady who had to tell me all about how her kid had over 700 LEGO sets (there’s an app for that) and she didn’t understand why the store hadn’t moved to a more upscale mall. I read this as wanting us to be in a place with a less diverse clientele. The other was the person asking if we price matched and showed me an Amazon listing of a set. 🙄 For the record… no.
Every other Monday Sue and I head to a somewhat local tap room and play trivia with some friends. Some other friends actually run the event so its a great opportunity to get together with people and being an introvert it is nice to actually see other people even if it isn’t stepping outside of my comfort zone too much.

So after a week I have had a few thoughts. mostly, how I need to work on being able to draw my characters (all of them from different angles. That said there have been a couple time this week when I’ve looked at what I drew and did a double take, trying to figure out who drew the stuff on the page. This usually happens when I actually like what I have drawn (which is rare). Being able to just draw and not worry about how pretty it is is hard for many people. You want your drawings to look good and no matter how many times I tell kids “If I can tell what you drew, then you accomplished your task and should be happy” I don’t always follow that same rule for myself.

One thing that Brian mentioned about a daily journal comic is that it gives you a chance to experiment with styles, inking techniques, character design. After doing My Geek Odyssey for over a decade now (even with the lengthy hiatuses) I know that characters evolve the more you draw them and at some point you will find that image for that character. I don’t see Cecil changing much in the future. As I have gotten older I’ve had to change my drawing of myself. This version, isn’t that bad. I am old, and it does show- but that’s OK. As I grow out my beard again I know how I will look. As my hairline recedes more I have ideas as to how to deal with that, now.

When I first started My Geek Odyssey I did my own lettering. My first time I went to New York Comic Con I attended Webcomics Boot Camp and my biggest takeaway was that my handwriting wasn’t up to par. “Lettering is an art.” So I should just use a font that looked like handwriting and have been doing so ever since, until now. I decided that since this is just my journal it doesn’t have to be perfect. After looking at other indy comics, many have decided that “lettering is personal” the art and perfection will come as they practice.

The question is- do I keep posting these only on Social Media? Do I post them on Insta? Facebook? Threads? I’m avoiding whatever Twitter has mutated into. Do I post them daily here? As I have said, I enjoy reading SubStack, but am concerned as to how it will fare in the future. What are your thoughts? Add them to the comments.

This Week in Comics (My Pull List 10-2-24)

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Bruce

I’ve already done the pre-Convention post, and the post CXC post so I really don’t have much to say. I am working on Promptober, and only time will tell if I can keep it up. Added to this is my goal of a daily comic journal along with other stuff.

Tuesday was a massive release day for LEGO stores. I had the chance to finish one of the Fortnite sets- Peely Bones. Basically a cut away of a banana character. I’m old and don’t play Fortnite so I have no clue what the big deal is. The minute I saw him the only thing that came to mind was the 1930’s song “I like bananas because they have no bones” since this guy has a skeleton and intestines. Working at the LEGO Store you do get a chance to build sets , most times you don’t get to build the entire thing, but that’s OK. The hardest part I’ve found is when there are extra pieces left over from another builder and you try to figure out if anything was assembled incorrectly.

This Weeks Comics:

Nemesis Rogues Gallery #3- In this issue Nemesis and The Rookie show us a little bit about what goes into planning a heist. Currently they are doing a pretty good Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson imitation while building up a nest egg for a future master plan. What happens when the next step hits an unexpected snag? Things get interesting when the hunter becomes the hunted.

Justice Society of America #12- A wonderful recap of Stargirl’s adventures solo & with the JSA as we celebrate her 25th anniversary in comics, and to think it only took her 25 years to graduate from Blue Valley High School. Less adventuring and more homework might have helped her pass classes, yet she still ended up valedictorian which says something for the state of the Blue Valley Public Schools. 🙄

Batman #153- Things are calm in Gotham as we start this new arc. Fine, the mayor is in cahoots with the Court of Owls, the Riddler is now running a very successful tech company, Vandal Savage is Commissioner of Police, and Bruce Wayne is back in charge of Wayne Enterprises which seems to have redoubled its efforts to help Gotham, even though some people don’t want the help. What about this new “Hero” who wraps himself in the flag and shoots bad guys?

Creature Commandos #1- I got a ticket to see the Creature Commandos panel at New York Comic Con so I decided to pick this one up and do some research. Frankenstein’s monster, a vampire, a werewolf, a medusa and a mad scientist all walk into a secret government facility being run by a not so nice Army general… I figure the punchline will happen soon.

DC All In Special #1- I’m guessing this is the end of Absolute Power and the starting off place for DC’s new Absolute titles. It seems the Justice League has decided to let every super hero join up- maybe in hopes of retaining their trademark on the word “Super Hero.” Darkseid is involved. The comic actually has two stories one from the POV of the heroes the other from the POV of Darkseid both ending in the middle of the comic with Booster Gold in this new alternate universe facing a Darkseid themed team of superheroes.

I Hate Fairyland #16- Has Skottie Young finally gotten to the point of wanting to stop I Hate Fairyland? The arc is called “Happy End Game” so who knows? We begin with a wonderfully confused Gert trying to figure out why people’s faces look so weird as she enters the city… “That’s called smiling, Gert.” Of course things happen once it dawns on her that she is being treated like a hero and it isn’t that bad of a feeling – she actually like it. I did find it interesting the way she defeated the villain… it seemed appropriate in this day and age.

DC’s I Know What You Did Last Crisis #1- This anthology book deals with untold stories of heroes during the various ultimate crisis to end all multiverse crises crossover event to help increase sales over the summer – Heroes will die! The world as you know it will never be the same! Kind of events. DC’s It really worked in the 80’s to clean up all the stuff from the Silver Age, so let’s just hit the reset button every few years now with another event. If you don’t know about all the various events being covered it might be confusing. It was for me, and I know most of them. That said these short stories were for the most part good. For me the first one with Batgirl was probably the best. Your mileage may differ.

Shake of the Week:

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (Recap)

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Bruce

Wow. If you are a comics creator this is a conference you need to put on your annual list. I have said before this is not a “I’m going for photo-ops and autographs with celebrities to impress my friends” kind of Con. Your friends may not even know who the folks are you got autographs from or photos with. If they do- you have some amazingly awesomely geeky friends.

CXC is an educational conference and even has an academic symposium happening at the same time. The sessions cover the practical aspects of comics, the serious stuff dealing with “funny books.” Each year I think to myself that I really don’t need to go… and each year I go I am blown away. Most of the time it has something to do with me realizing that in my small group, I’m pretty knowledgable in the area of comics… Here I am an idiot and know nothing.

Sessions start Thursday and the entire day I learned things. I was inspired and figuring out how I could become better at my craft. I’ve been not enough Educational conferences that inspire me, and then I return to the classroom only to find out that the school won’r support the changes I just learned about. This time it’s all on me. Last year I learned about SubStack (more on that later) this year I overwhelmed.

The morning started with doctoral candidates in a panel talking about their various areas of study. Each had a unique perspective, but pulled together by the common thread of cartoons/comics. Which got me to recall those times when I thought about majoring in Art only to be told that I needed to exorcise these silly creatures if I wanted to be a serious artist… I wanted to be a cartoonist and animator not a “serious artist.” Throughout the day I kept getting reminded about how I really like to draw and need to make time to do just that.

Brian Canini’s session was probably the highlight of the entire con for me. Brian talked about how to develop more productive comic making habits and was amazing. He talked about his journey and the mistakes he made, what he learned and how everyone has their own path, but there are some things that might help. What he said was common sense, but to hear it was a game changer for me. Which is why I’m sitting here in the morning already having drawn from the Draw or Die Promptober prompt, and worked on some other drawings- normally I’d be snuggling with the cats in bed. I’m hoping to build the habits I need, not to make money or be famously successful, but to feel good about my art, and what I am making.

Jon Novak talked about the coloring process. You don’t think about coloring much and sadly the colorist is usually an unsung hero (like the letterer) in the creation of comics. Jon colored some of the favorite books in my classroom library: Giants Beware! Dragons Beware! and Monsters Beware! He went through the process, The decisions he needed to make and how much leeway the artist gives him. It was great, although I have a lot to learn about digital tools to tackle more than what I currently do.

David Rickert then spoke about hands… Yes, all about how to draw hands. Siting some amazing inspirations- he has posted his presentation along with his reflections (which are much better than mine) on his SubStack so I won’t go into detail at least about his excellent presentation. I will mention SubStack for a moment. It is a great platform for artists and writers to share their work and get support. I’m only concerned that, like many digital platforms, it can either vanish, or mutate into something horrible and while I have all my stuff I’d have to recreate everything again… For the time being I’ll stick with my silly WordPress site.

The day closed out with Jeff Smith talking about where he gets his ideas. This dovetailed into a point that Brian Canini had made about always have multiple projects in various stages going simultaneously. While Jeff was finishing “Bone” he was starting to go through the start of “RASL” The seed that would become “Tuki” started during Bone, but really came to a head as he was finishing “RASL.” When asked about researching things, Jeff talked about ox carts. In “Bone” he had drawn ox carts for a few issues and realized that he had no idea about how an ox cart actually worked. So he dove into researching how ox carts work. Basically, you can’t research everything, but be ready to jump into researching things as needed. Do you need to become an ox cart scholar? No, but it is nice to know how they are built and how people guide the oxen if you are going to have them in your comic. Will most readers know if you got it wrong? Nope, so don’t sweat it.

Day two had some other amazing presentations, just nothing that hit me as hard as the first day- I’m guessing I’m just not at that level yet. The first session dealt with breaking out other the cage we put ourselves as cartoonists- the panel. L. Pidge did a great job of show us how we can use the space on the page and not just constrain our art into panels. Something to consider if I ever get fancy enough to worry about layout more than just getting the idea on the paper.

The second session cause a bit of PTSD for me. It was an excellent session on how to become a lecturer/professor at an art school. Flashbacks to teaching at the collegiate level and just dealing with academia. I realized, once again, that I really don’t want to return to a classroom anytime soon. The one part that stuck in my head was Beth’s introductory slide which was a cool graphic about who she is. I have since done my own.

My version of Beth Hetland’s intro slide from her talk about being a professor. I have drawn two versions of myself- one clean shaven, since that’s how I look currently, the bearded Bruce is easier to draw except if I want to show any facial expression.

The afternoon brought session on the future of Editorial Cartoons (spoilers: they are still alive, just not in newspapers as much), how to store and ship artwork (spoilers: I’m doing it wrong), and a cool session on ideas for gag comics. A Gag comic is a single panel comic (like those found in some magazines). It was a nice brainstorming session with some cool ideas that if I were still teaching I might use.

My Scribbly Notes From Thursday & Friday:

I signed up that morning for Sue and I to take the behind the scenes tour of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum and Library. Since Sue’s mom was a librarian I figured she would like it. Little did I know that a couple of the big name attendees were also on this tour. I try to avoid being a “fanboy” because I usually put my foot in my mouth if I try to talk to someone I admire. SO I was quiet. Sue was trying to get me to get photos with Cecil… Do I regret not doing it? A little, but it was just great seeing how excited these big names were over the artwork they were looking at. It made me realize that we are all fanboys, just for some the bar is a bit higher.

Some photos from the Tour and a few pieces set out in the Reading Room. As far as I can tell presenters are asked to suggest artists or works to display in the Reading room. All the tables are covered with artwork, some of it known, and other pieces somewhat obscure. this is where I feel like an idiot as I overhear the “fine art” speak about various pages… “Oh, I really preferred the work he did during his blue period…”

Once we left the tour we ended up at the opening reception and then a chat with Jeff Smith, Art Spiegelman & Françoise Mouly on stage. It was a nice talk with stories of underground comics, art and just life. I wanted to focus on the moment, so I took only a couple photos and no notes.

Saturday and Sunday events are held at the main branch of the Columbus Library (OSU had a football game (college priorities, I guess). That and the library offers a larger facility so there is enough space for exhibitors. There are also sessions many catering to a broader audience. This year I did a quick walk through the exhibit area and picked up some books and stickers. I could have spent more time, but I was tired, missed my boys and ready to go home and begin to act on some of the ideas that were presented.

One thing that made this CXC different was Sue. Sometimes she will attend these things with me, most of the time she won’t. This time she helped me get out of my shell and go to the opening reception, and Friday’s after party. As an Introvert, I really tend to avoid the social stuff because I’m by myself, don’t really know anyone, and after past experiences figure I’d just be a barnacle clinging to someone who says “Hi.” I don’t want to be that person, in fact I hate talking with people since I tend to say the wrong thing… all the time. I think it might be clever, and instead, it’s just stupid. Perhaps that will end up being part of my journal comic.

Projects I have been inspired to work on thanks to CXC:

  • A Daily Journal Comic (done at the end of the day- although may be inked in the morning)
Here’s my first day… knowing how things work out it will morph as i get a better idea as to how to do things. From format to character design. Right now I’m just looking at four panels and a space at the bottom to work on a drawing prompt (Thank you Draw or Die Club)
  • A science fiction story that I’ve written a few ideas about (a dream note)
  • A silly little story about taking the bus places (another dream note)
  • Redoing some of the short comics I made about past life experiences (Sophomore Crit & High School Reunion)
  • Continuing The My Geek Odyssey strips for FTF Geocacher maybe even seeing about putting them all together.
  • Daily drawing prompts (Draw or Die Club)

My Haul:

I really didn’t pick up much this time around. This makes up for buying an original piece of Will Eisner artwork last year. A lot of what I picked up I’ll actually be giving to people as gifts, so (even though they don’t read this) I wouldn’t want to ruin any surprise. I do recommend looking at the list of exhibitors and checking out some of their work. Better yet, let;s meet up next year and hit the con, and the after parties- If you are there I probably won’t hide in my hotel room!

This Week in Comics (My Pull List 9-24-24)

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Bruce

This week was pretty heavy with some new ones, and others I had missed from previous weeks. I’ll do a big write up on Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) next week. So this post is pure comic stuff. Some of the comments are short, sorry, about that. Some stories are harder to review without giving away too much. Other stories just don’t have as many details in them. Good guy, punches, bad guy who then punches good guy back. Ultimate bad guy get’s nervous…

I Am Stephen Hawking – Ordinary People Change the World – If you have never picked up any of these books by Brad Meltzer & Chris Eliopoulos you are missing some of the best all ages biographies ever done in a graphic novel format. It’s gotten so big that PBS has the Xavier Riddle cartoon by the same team, in the same style. Basically take a famous person, pick a trait that people should embrace and use their life to exemplify that trait. In Hawkings case it’s “Defy Boundaries.” Yes, there are some of the more adult themed arts of his (and every person’s) life that get edited. but the idea is everyone can and should do things to make the world better.

Survival Street: The Radical Left #1 – Now for something completely different. I remember picking up the first comic in the Survival Street series and all I can recall was it was something like the Sesame Street Muppets in a post apocalyptic universe… That was a while ago. This comic continues the series and obviously I have forgotten a bunch. In this case we are dealing with a dystopian America run by the corporations and if you aren’t part of the ruling elite your life and that of your family isn’t great. This issue we follow our Happy and friendly PBS based characters as they go to rescue people from a corporate work camp. unfortunately after taking them to a city that can offer them a life, it isn’t great since they are refugees. Some actually want to return back to the work camp since it was simpler… Sadly, I see this as one of the possible futures awaiting America.

The Writer #3 – Still on the road to Solomon… as everyone figures out their powers Izzy get her sword (from Grandma) as they confront more demons and finally face Solomon himself!

Star Trek Defiant #19 – As the Defiant races to save their crew from the Romulans with the help of Chief O’Brien, there are other issues going on including the realization of the fate of the Romulan homeworld as seen in the Kelvin Universe and Picard.

Night Club 2 #2 – High school aged vampire superheroes… what kind of teenage drama could occur when love is involved?

Star Trek # 24 – Can the Theseus escape Pleroma after Lore has done what Lore likes to do? How will they save everyone on the ship and at what cost?

Minor Arcana # 1 – Jeff Lemire who has written some amazing stories many of whom deal with human drama no matter what the genre. This time he takes us home to Limberlost and the story of Theresa who is back to help her mother who is in failing health. Mom is the town psychic & fortuneteller and Theresa will have nothing to do with it… or will she?

Detective Comics # 1089 – I was sad when I looked at this issue and quoted a bowl of petunias “Oh no, not again.” This is fortunately the last story in arc in which Batman and his allies go up against the evil that has taken over Gotham City. I don’t know what else to say, but it has been a long road and I’m hoping things change next issue. Like Captain America venturing into the world of the occult, I’m not sure I’m into Batman taking this deep a dive into that pool either.

Magic Order 5 # 1 – The previous 4 series of “The Magic Order” have been amazing and as this one starts out I’m just trying to figure it out. Which is kind of what happened in the previous four iterations. Kids go missing, Cordelia Moonstone and members of the magic order get called in to help… then, well things get weird.

Lawful # 4 – In a land where if you break the law you get turned into a monster it’s pretty good reason to follow the rules you’d think. Like most perfect solutions there’s a catch, if you are in a position of power there’s a way to get those horns, claws and scales removed, magically.

Helen of Wyndhorn # 5 – It looks (sadly, like this may be the penultimate issue of this series, and that makes me sad. I really have liked it, and the actual story from our time period has me guessing as to how it will tie back, since it basically just follows what happens to most collectors as they get older. Their parents sell off their collection for pennies, not knowing what it may actually contain. As for Helen, she is still trying to figure out life without adventures, which is not fun. Her governess does finally intercede, and we wait to see what happens next.

Ultimate Spider-Man # 9 – Looks like Uncle Ben and J. Jonah Jameson have gotten their news site working well. “The Paper is a success and now (with a few more Spider-Man stories) can start covering other stories that are more important to the city. While Harry and Peter try to figure out how to circumvent and Stark/Stane interference with their tech only to discover that the King Pin has put a price on their heads. Has Harry gone too far in stopping one attempt… did he not read the “Great Power, Great Responsibility… oh, and don’t kill people” memo?

Amazing Spider-Man # 58 – Tombstone goes on the rampage and is going to kill his own daughter for betraying him… Can Spider-Man stop him in time and save her? And you thought there would be no ramifications from “Gang War.” I had a nice chat with the owner of my LCS on JR Jr.’s layouts and fart. While I’m not exactly a fan of his more rough and tumble style used in Spider-Man, I do have admit, this issue a great way to show people how it is done, no matter if you like the exact style, it is a beautiful thing.

The Flash #13 – Finally we are done with some of this weird stuff and now we just need to wait for the fall out. “It’s a boy? It’s a girl? It’s a non-binary universe?” I’m guessing this will tie into the “Absolute” titles like Flashpoint cause havoc in the DC Universe before that.

Action Comics #1069 – Superman faces his final opponent in this flashback story. Can he survive? Hint: He’s Superman.

Titans # 15 – So Raven’s dark side has joined with Trigon to take over the world… or has she?

Shake of the Week-