Gone To All-Con 2017 - Back With Comic Reviews On Monday!

Gone to All-Con and want to see me?  Here's my panel schedule!


THURSDAY

11 AM - Pin Oak - Wonder Woman 101 
6 PM - Pin Oak - Lost In Time: An Introduction To Doctor Who


FRIDAY

1 PM - Dogwood Room - All About Arrow
7 PM - Addison Room - Marvel Cinematic: Strange Things Have Happened!
8 PM - Addison Room - Buffy! The Tribute Returns!
9 PM - Addison Room - Doctor Horrible Returns! 
10 PM - Addison Room - Do You Want To Play A Game? - Let's Plays For Beginners 


SATURDAY

9 AM - Oak Ballroom - Doctor Horrible Returns! 
1 PM - Meredith Room - Beauty And The Beast: The Live Action Movie Discussion
4 PM - Elm Room -  Lost In Time: An Introduction To Doctor Who 
7 PM - Elm Room - Critical Writing: How (NOT) To Make Enemies And Alienate People


SUNDAY 

12 PM - Elm Room  - Wonder Woman 101

You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) - A Book Review

It's a fair bet that most of the people who read You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) will find themselves nodding along at least once as Felicia Day pours out the details of her life. From her formative years as a home-schooled hippie-kid who didn't fit in with the rest of the "Thumper" children to her more recent adventures as an advocate for geek girl empowerment in the face of the Gamergate movement, there are many moments that are sure to elicit sympathy from the reader.

In my case, it went a bit further than that. I found myself reading this book as if reading a concurrent history of my own warped adolescence. I'm certain it will surprise no one to learn that, like Felicia, I was a bright child who was nowhere near as well-developed socially as I was intellectually and I didn't peak until well into adulthood.

Like Felicia, I found the friends I couldn't find in real life on-line. We both role-played on Prodigy, though I was into Quest For Glory and she was into Ultima. We both ran up huge phone bills we tried to hide from our parents - her by calling computer-game hint-lines and me by dialing-up out-of-state bulletin-boards to download Mystery Science Theater 3000 sound clips. We both volunteered at the library and we both showed up to the one high-school dance we ever attended dressed-up fancy for an event where everyone else was in t-shirts and jeans. But it goes deeper than a series of shared experiences.

I've also known the pain of depression and anxiety. I also respond more strongly to negative commentary than positive reinforcement because it's a better fuel for my passion. And while I haven't experienced nearly as much vitriol as Felicia has from on-line trolls, I also keep a folder of hate e-mail to remind myself, when I doubt the power of my work, that the fact that I am working at all pisses somebody off enough to try and make me stop.

Maybe I'm weird for relating to this book as strongly as I did. But that is Day's point in a nutshell. We, in our own little ways, are all a little bit weird. But weirdness isn't a weakness - it's a strength.

It's that little bit of uniqueness that let's us bring something into the world that nobody else can. That message alone makes this book worth the reading. Even if you never fantasized about being an orphan because orphans had all the best adventures in kids' stories and comic books or cringed in agony as your mother found your hidden fan-fiction journal.

Felicia, if you read this, thank you. Thank you for opening yourself up with this book. And for trying to make the rest of us realize that we can make ourselves great because of our weirdness - not in spite of it.

Dallas Comic Con 2014 - ALL THE PICTURES! - Part Four

Captain Hammer-Pants.  And he dances too!





Jafar from Aladdin


Deathstroke


Wonder Woman


Stephanie Brown Robin.


Tigra.


A Minecraft Player.


Deathstroke and Black Mask


Codex and a mini-Codex from The Guild.


Zombie Spider-Man!


Yet another Deathstroke.


Chun Li from Street Fighter.


A non-zombie Spider-Man.


Glitzy Geek Girl as Thor.


The Joker.


Hipster Elsa from Frozen

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 Comic Con 2013 - Sunday, Part Two

And the pictures continue...



 With all due respect to Glitzy Geek Girl, she's too cheerful to be convincing as an evil Mary Marvel.
 
Does anyone else have trouble seeing Dark Knight Rises Bane without hearing this?


 The Incredible Hulk, of course.    
Odd quartet this: Zatanna's rabbit, The Penguin from Batman Returns, Catwoman and Zatanna.


Bad Horse from Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.



Another relatively obscure character - Adam Warlock.    
Amy Pond, Rose Tyler and The Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who.


Batman vs. Deathstroke.


I don't know what the heck this is, but I am impressed and terrified in equal measure.


Novel design this: Classic Peter Parker, as his Spider-Sense goes off.