So as you might have read, I was out last week at the grand and glorious Geocaching event known as GeoWoodstock. Visiting Flagstaff Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Route 66, and a little time in Las Vegas. Keeping that in mind I was not home to pick up my comics and arrived at Comic Carnival Wednesday to get two week’s worth of books.
As we now get into Con season I find it amazing the number and variety of conventions going on during what I like to call the “Off Season” for teachers. This weekend I’m heading to WonderFest to check out the hobby of model making. I’m looking at this in a similar way that I looked at “PowerCon” last year. I want to take a day and see what it’s all about. I’ll get into more detail when I write up my experience next week.
Then we have the weekend in which EVERYTHING is happening, (June 14-16) making it impossible to do it all. There’s Brickworld Chicago, the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival (A2CAF), Heroes Con, and MINIs on Top just to name a few things I would like to attend.
Brickworld is a four day conventions for LEGO fans in which the first two days are exclusively for that group to learn about new techniques, play games, talk and celebrate the brick. Saturday and Sunday are open to the public to see some amazing displays of work. I’m always impressed and feel that I have a long way to go to get to the level of most of the builds there. I will not be attending this year.
A2CAF or the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival is an amazing get together put on by the local library system to celebrate comics. It was originally called Kids Read Comics and focuses on all ages books and creators. If you are a parent, or a teacher (or both) and want to learn about comics for kids, meet up and coming artists, and get ideas for activities to do in your classroom this is the place to be. Did I mention it’s free? I highly recommend it although since I have retired I will not be attending it either.
Heroes Con is a comic book convention held in Charlotte, NC and is different than a lot of “Comic Cons” in the fact that they seem to 😳focus on comic books and not pop culture. So instead of a long list of stars attending and most of the effort going to the famous faces of TV and film, they focus on the creators of comics. I’ve never attended, but the list of attendees makes my wallet cry out in pain. I will be attending for the first time this year and will write it up when I return. I’m already planning on getting some artwork from some of my favorite artists (I’m on the commission list for Tony Harris!!! 😁)
MINIs on Top is one of the big MINI Cooper events in the Northeast. I had completely forgotten about it until over GeoWoodstock and friend reminded me and asked if I was going. Like MINIs on the Dragon, this is an event for MINI enthusiasts to get together, socialize and drive their MINI on some really cool roads. In this case it is up to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. While I would like to go, but this year with MINI Takes The States and everything else going on that weekend, I’m just not able to attend. It is on my list to look at next year.
This Week’s (and Last Week’s) Comics:
Man’s Best #2 – Athos & Porthos are still searching for their master on an alien world and come across some trippy lifeforms that well, made me a little hungry. If they can rescue Lovey from the other really weird aliens they can set off and resume their quest.
Star Trek Defiant #15 – Will the crew of the Defiant be able to escape Starbase 99 alive and in control of their minds? What about Spock? What about Belanna? What does Seal have to do with all this?
Rogue Sun #19 – Interesting issue… Since Rogue sun is kind of like a Firestorm character in which the body who is in charge of Rogue Sun, communicates with the spirit of the last Rogue Sun they did a really cool thing in this issue. Half of it is from the point of view of the spirit and the other half is from the point of view of the teenager who is currently Rogue Sun. Interesting way of seeing both points of view.
Undiscovered Country #29 – So our main characters have discovered that all the work to provide food in the bounty district is a sham since the train to deliver the food just ends up plummeting into a chasm. They find out who knew about it and now must escape a death sentence… can they?
Spider-Boy #7 – The conclusion to Bailey’s arc dealing with his origin and Madame Monstrosity! Will Bailey escape (hmm… interesting that a number of issues as Summer begins deal with escape) and save his friends and everyone else held campitive on the farm? Who will come to his rescue? Bailey realizes his true power in the Marvel universe.
Ultimate Spider-Man #5 – The story of Harry Osborne and how he got to the position he currently is in. Nice to see a different point of view in this world, making it even more like the storytelling from the original Ultimate Comics.
Primer #3 – So we finally get to the point in the origin that brings us back to the exciting beginning where Primer saves a crashing plane. We also get introduced to our real villain, and the Night Nights scourge of children’s bedtimes… Yes, if they want to keep going, they really need a better name.
The Flash # 9 – We move along with some more secrets uncovered as the speedsters try to figure out why the world (Amanda Waller especially) has it in for them.
Detective Comics # 1085 – Oh boy… Batman gets together with members of his rogues gallery to stop the Orgham’s continued domination of Gotham City… will it work? Will someone take this opportunity to do something nefarious? Did Batman learn anything while wandering for a few issues in the desert after being hung?
Superman #14 – Oh boy… So Lobo and Superman battle while Brainiac’s plan comes to fruition. What was Brainiac planning? Can anyone stop him?
The Amazing Spider-Man #50 – Peter doesn’t seem to be a naive as he leads on as he goes against the Green Goblin… Yes, the Green Goblin- it’s on the cover so it must be true. Being the 50th issue (Legacy numbering 944) there are some nice side stories that are like the end credits in a Marvel film, meaning read to the end to find out more about what is coming up. I especially liked “Time To Make The Doughnuts.”
Titans #11 – Really?!? Circ-En-Arrh? Batman really knows how to mess around with his sidekicks. Then again Amanda Waller sends a brainwashed Titan Amazo after the group… can they survive? Will Raven be uncovered? Does Nightwing know something, and will he survive long enough to reveal what he has figured out (or what Circ-En-Arrh figured out)?
Alan Scott Green Lantern #6 – The conclusion to this series brings about Alan Scott finally coming to terms with who he is both in the present and in the past. Nice conclusion to this story.