All-Con 2014 - Day Two

Friday was my least-busy day this year at All-Con.  I had only one panel I was running myself and only one major event to worry about attending.  Given the more casual nature of the day, I opted for a casual costume - one I improvised after considering what I could possibly do on short notice with my beard trimmed into a goatee. 

And then it hit me.  It would be easy enough to get a blue shirt and red shorts.  I already did the voice quite well.  And it didn't take much effort to fashion a sign out of cardboard and a lanyard so I could be recognized at a distance.  For many years, I've been so the go-to guy for comics news and trivia for many people.  It seemed fitting then that I should be The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.



My first stop that morning was at a new addition to the All-Con events calendar - The Game Room.  This room gave attendees a chance to try a variety of board and card games.  It was sponsored by local game shop Roll2Play, which is also sponsoring its own upcoming gaming convention - T.A.B.L.E.  I spent the better part of the morning in the convention's Game Room, playing a few games with my friend Wes and demonstrating  Chrononauts and Fluxx to other gamers.


Of course I still had some time for cosplay pictures as I played.


The TARDIS and The Eighth Doctor


Hogun The Grim from The Warriors Three from Thor.


A female assassin from Assassin's Creed.  
Catwoman and Black Widow.   

This Cassandra Cain cosplayer has a web-comic well worth checking out.
I ran into the female assassin a second time and she asked if I could get a picture of her in her new corset.  Since she didn't have a camera of her own, I agreed to take a few pictures for her as she posed with a variety of weapons in front of a mock Stargate set.  Because if being a geek blogger for over a decade has taught me anything, it is that you can never have enough pictures of a heavily armed geek girl on your blog.



 Hood Down

Hood Up


Dual Wield


Amy Pond from Doctor Who
A medieval group of Gothamites - Poison Ivy, Robin, Batman, Bane, Catwoman & Harley


The Second Doctor and Black Cat


Doctor Girlfriend from The Venture Bros.  

I hadn't planned on attending Don't Lose Your Geek Card: The Comic Book Trivia Edition but decided to show up after realizing my schedule allowed me the time this year.  I didn't take part in the game, amusing as it might have been to have played The Comic Book Guy while doing so.  After winning the game for three years running, I decided to retire before I got retired.  Since then, I've befriended the hosts - Cole Houston and Andrew Farmer - and even been a guest on their podcast, Hey Kids Comics!  It was enough for me to sit in, enjoy the comedy and answer most of the questions for everyone after the contestants were buzzed out.


    My night ended the same way my Friday nights have ended at All-Con for the past three years - with United States of Geekdom's screening of Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog.  It was an enjoyable evening, as always, and I had a lot of fun riffing on the film with my buddies Rick and Roy from Cult Film Fanatics.  I also got a picture of my friend Beth (of Wilde Designs) in her Captain Hammer cosplay.

Dallas Sci-Fi Expo 2014 - Sunday, Part One

Closing up the Saturday show-report, I forgot to mention how Jeremy and I closed out the day - meeting Karen Gillan.  While the lines were as crazy as the lines for Stephen Amell most of the day, the crowd after 6 pm had died down to something quite manageable.  We didn't get much time to talk but I did get an autographed photo and was able to communicate how much I loved her work without drooling over myself That's not hyperbole - I have a weakness for red-haired women and Scottish accents, making Karen a double-threat to me.

Sunday, I had three major goals.  Meet Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy, get something signed by Justice League artist Kevin Maguire and take as many cosplay pictures as possible.  I was successful on all three counts.  But as I worked on editing pictures the night before, I decided to add another goal to the day - premiere a cosplay I had joked about doing but never seriously contemplated. 

Why not?  Well, it was a cosplay idea that spun out of a joke between friends on Facebook.  But then I figured - what the hell?  Anyone who gets offended by my doing an intentionally cheap cosplay based on a joke that made a lot of my friends laugh isn't worth considering.  I'm not disrespecting all the people who spend a lot of time and money and effort on their costumes - just having a laugh at a figure who could stand to be taken a bit less seriously. 

So that is why I cosplayed Alan Moore.



And for those of you who are wondering why Alan Moore is reading a Little Lulu comic, it's a reference to Alan Moore's cameo on The Simpsons, playing himself in the episode "Husbands and Knives".



Of course there are dangers in being Alan Moore. For one thing, it really annoys the Oracle cosplayers.


"I told you! I wrote The Killing Joke as an Elseworlds! DC Editorial made it canon!"
"Don't care. Leave. NOW."
Actually, that's my friend Dianne - who was part of a group of ladies who were recreating Adam Hughes' Women of DC print.  We'll be seeing more of them a little later on.  But before I got pictures of them, I was lucky enough to get a number of other good pictures.



Judge Anderson from 2000 AD and a young lady with a most creative costume - a classic comic-book version of herself. Her dotted-make-up was meant to simulate four-color printing.



Edward Kenway from Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag.


Jayne and Kaylee from Firefly.


Doctor Midnite.


Harley Quinn


Harley and Ivy, together again.


I took a picture of this Drow lady a year ago. Alas, it seems her cosplay group that I linked to last year no longer exists. Still a great costume, though.

Austin Comic Con 2013 - Part One

Originally I hadn't been planning to attend Austin Comic Con.  I dislike most corporate-sponsored comic conventions (i.e. overpriced autograph fairs that have little to do with comics or conventions) and this one had the added bonus of seemingly being aimed at the lowest common denominator (i.e. half-naked booth babes whose costumes have nothing to do with what they're selling).  And given this particular corporation's pitiful record of trying to market themselves as family-friendly while at the same time partnering with strip-clubs and horror conventions...  well, I'm content not to give them any money or time. 

Only two things got me in the door.  First, the fact that I was attending for free.  Second, the fact that Dennis O'Neil - the man who modernized Green Arrow for the modern age - was one of the guests.  It's the first time I've heard of him doing a convention appearance in Texas and I didn't want to take the chance that it would be his last.

It's been five years since I've attended one of these cons and time has not improved them.  The dealer's booths were so closely packed together there was barely room for one person to move down the aisles if there were people standing in front of the booths on either side of them.  Forget about having two lanes!  Thankfully, the Artist's Alley was much more spacious.

Once I had my chance to shake hands with my hero and get an autograph, I wandered around to take in the sights of what cosplayers were in attendance on an cold and rainy Sunday morning.   

  ASSASSINS!   
Robin and Raven from Teen Titans.   
Mother and Son as Princess Zelda and Link.   
Poison Ivy.   
Wolverine and Cyclops.   
A trio of Asgardians - Loki, The Enchantress and Thor. Apparently at peace... for now.   
Thankfully, Thor later had some back-up in the form of Sif and Fandral the Dashing.
Actually, all these cosplayers are part of a marvelous group called Heroes Alliance, who do charity work in costume for various events. Take a look at their website and see what you can do to help.   
Zatanna.   
A Hobbit.   
Shockingly, this one stumped me as it's a character - Kevin "Corky" Corcoran
- from one of the few British dramas I haven't seen - Copper.
Daenerys Targaryen from A Game Of Thrones.   
Jay and Silent Bob.   
Winter Is Coming...   
This Poison Ivy works at the excellent Austin comic books & games store The Dragon's Lair, which I've written about before.  She's teaching cosplay make-up at the store and judging by her Deviant Art page as well as the picture above, she knows her stuff.  So if you're in Austin, you might stop by and ask for Amber.