Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #45!

Five names retired from the 2005 hurricane season. Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Stan and Wilma won't be hurricane names again.

Lea Hernandez tells us that Friends of Lulu is starting a fund "for women in the industry who wish to pursue legal action in sexual assault cases". It's overdue, and a good idea. And I agree with Lea's issues with the prize package as noted in her entry.

Jay Hosler and The Diabolical Dr NoNoNo! (PDF link, use FoxIt for quick PDF loading). And visit Jay Hosler's whole page while you're at it.

Loren at Suspension of Disbelief has created a list of Free Online Comic Books, posted by the publishers for fans to read, along with a list of trades to get if you liked the free ecomics.

One of Kryptonsite's 2005 April Fool's joke came true... will one of their 2006 jokes come true as well?

Wil Wheaton links to an incredible look at the Trinity Test Site called Dark Miracle. Just click on the Flickr set of photos.

Cartoonist duplicated paintings in order to keep them for himself and his children during a divorce.

The Museum of Hoaxes talks about the MIT vs Caltech tradition.

Words fail me... this guy is a complete lunatic and ought to be locked up. No woman in their right mind would want to date a scumbag like him.

I've been watching the comments on Pal Dorian's note about the "Silly Little Fairy" commercial. My gut reaction to the ad when I saw it on TV is that the ending was offensive... but your mileage may vary.

One of my favorite games to play with TV ads is "What is this ad really telling us?" For instance, there's an ad playing now about a bunch of mob guys who are after a snitch... they don't catch him, but they get his phone, and because it is massively personalized, they are able to deduce who it belongs to. So, what is this ad really telling us? If you buy their product, you will get killed by the mob!

When I was in college, a dormmate had a three-year project going. Right around Christmas she would spend some time in the lounge with a couple of other people watching the ads for shows. They noted the gender and ethnicity of children in all the ads for toys, and if the toy was a game with a clear winner, they noted who won in the ad. The first year, the ads were heavily slanted towards white males, and even when a girl showed up, the guys always won the games. By the last year, the data was still heavily slanted toward white males, but they found that girls won the games almost as much as boys ... if a girl appeared in the ad. I never saw the compiled results of the study, only the part my dormmate was involved in, so I don't know if that was really the result. But it's what the folks who hung out in the lounge noticed.

I've been keeping an eye on ads myself recently, especially since hubby-Eric and I started watching "Black. White." I've been trying to note the ethnicity of people appearing in ads. It's kind of interesting to me to see the ethnic groups that are completely left out of advertising. Around here, I rarely see an ad featuring Asian or Hispanic lead characters. But I keep thinking that one of these days I need to do an ad survey, just out of curiousity.

Ad surveys, as I learned how to do them by watching my classmate in the dorm, are pretty simple. Pick a show you already are inclined to watch (my dormmate actually watched Saturday morning cartoons, as her project was to see how advertising was aimed at kids). During the ads, note the ethnicity and gender of every character in the ad. Note if what happens to them is positive or negative. Ignore promos for other shows or movies. At the end of your show, tally up the ethnic groups represented and the genders represented. Look at how each group was portrayed. Put away the data for a year and do it again next year to see if the advertising market has changed at all.

This would actually be a perfect project for bloggers. Except that it takes some effort, and you have to actually pay attention to ads on TV. And watch TV, for that matter. Still, it would be one of those things where you could link back to your entry from the previous year, and link to other folks entries. A good blogger meme. Maybe I'll do it next time I watch TV.

The voting is open. Design #1 sucks and I hope dearly that it loses. I'm going to vote for #2 myself, though I wouldn't mind #3.

The results currently have #2 leading, with #3 just behind it, and the ugly and awful jumble design #1 far behind.

Below are the good designs, #2 (leaping salmon, mountain) and #3 (whale).


Update: The server is getting hit hard... I'd suspect someone might have set a bot on the voting, except the voting is pretty consistent... about 17% for the ugly design, 48% for #2 and 35% for #3.

April Fool's Day is one of my favorite holidays... when it's done right. Humans love jokes, and it's only natural that we've set aside one day of the year that we can play jokes on each other and have it be (mostly) socially acceptable. For me, April Fool's jokes have to have a few traits to be truly funny.

First off, the joke has to be harmless. It can be mean, but not mean-spirited. Second, there must be an easy way to tell that it's a joke. It should catch the unwary, but not fool the vigilant. There must be enough of a ring of truth about it that it could be believable, but also there should be a fatal flaw. And it absolutely must have a way to tell for sure that it's a joke once someone starts to suspect. In my case, I used links to my April Fool's page.

My jokes this year were simple. I'm not a very good prankster. My original thought for the Aquaman page was a post on Aquaman's retirement party (since he is 65 this year). I had a germ of an idea, but I really needed to see what Sword of Atlantis said about him first. When Orin appeared in Sword, I decided against using that idea and decided on "All-Star Aquaman" instead. Choosing an artist was simple. I've wanted to see Oeming draw Aquaman for a long time, so I indulged my fantasy. The writer was a bit harder, but as I was reading my blogs I ran across Warren Ellis' blog again and realized that he was the one. Not only would he make for a really interesting Aquaman story, he also probably wouldn't kill me when the joke got back to him. As a matter of fact, he linked to the joke. I really wanted people to understand it was a joke, so I linked to the April Fool's page three times in the entry.

My joke for Bloggity was a little more obscure. "Banishment of the Daleks" is an old Usenet Doctor Who joke. It didn't even start out as an April Fool's joke, either. In some note, a person was listing a bunch of Dalek stories from Doctor Who, and threw in the non-existant Banishment just because there were so many "- of the Daleks" stories. Another person, who clearly didn't own a copy of the programme guide, asked about Banishment, and a whole bunch of people spontaneously jumped in and made stuff up about this fictional tale. I was involved in it, myself. We all agreed that it was a third Doctor story that had never aired. We said that UNIT and Sgt Benton in particular had big roles in the story. Beyond that, I remember little. But we had fun. Unfortunately, one person taken in by the joke was extremely offended when he learned it was a joke, and chastised some of the people involved (including two guys who were, at that time, writing Doctor Who novels but wanted to join in the fun). The joke was mostly dropped, though it came up every once in awhile. Someone even wrote some fanfic under the title, using the ideas we'd originally come up with. In any case, I wanted to bring it back with the new show happening, so it became my Bloggity joke for this year. I didn't actually expect anyone to fall for it, but I had fun writing it.

One of my favorite things to do on April 1st is to look at all the jokes other people have posted. Sadly, I was conning this year and so missed out (and I'll probably miss out again next year as well). It looks like this was a good year for jokes, too. Still, here are a few links to some of the ones I found:

Gutterninja's Review has to be one of the finest pieces of April Foolery ever written. At least for the comics blogosphere. I stand up and applaud this effort. And now I want to go watch my husband read the book to my niece.

Mike Sterling changed format for a day, and provided a screen shot for everyone who missed it.

Silver Age Comics looks at a Superman story that was clearly an April Fool's joke.

Elayne Riggs did a little round-up of jokes.

Wikipedia has a page for this year's April Fool's jokes.

The Museum of Hoaxes also rounds up this year's hoaxes.

Eric and I both landed entries in Today in Alternate History's April Fool's Day entry. Eric's was about baseball, mine was about Spaghetti trees.

Time to clean out some links I've been saving for no apparent reason...

Dave has a math puzzle that I find much more interesting than Sudoku. And it involves actual math. It's much harder to master, too.

The jokes just write themselves sometimes: Uranus has a blue ring.

Silver Age comics looks at a classic run of Spider-Man.

A template for mainstream journalists to follow when they want to report about comics. Yup, we've all seen this exact article about a hundred times.

2006 Eisner Award Nominations. I've read so few... I think Solo #5 (Darwyn Cooke) definitely deserves an Eisner... Age of Bronze and True Story, Swear to God both deserve awards... and Ramona Fradon and Marty Nodell both deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. I've read more than that, but that's all I want to comment on.

Aaron Williams has some great links, and if you went to the Emerald City Comicon, don't forget to fill out the survey and request him as a guest.

Colleen Doran has a story about the Palace of Ajax being found by archaeologists, along with a suggestion to buy Age of Bronze.

Darth Vader in Japan. Just watch it. Via Boom! Studios.

Taking pictures of a courthouse can get you hassled in today's America. Remember to print out the photographer's rights and have them with you when you take pictures.

Boing Boing reports on Larry Young! Well, sort of.

The bird flu may hit the US West Coast by the end of this summer. Remember to wash your hands and don't touch your face.

There's a great article on Wikipedia about leetspeak, and its origins and developments.

The English Language is absurd, and these poems prove it. Just read them aloud.

A big leap.

Robert Jordan is fighting for his life, and fully intends to win.

Libel award given to a man called a "Nazi" on a chatroom.

MIT and Caltech are at it again.

I don't care about the criticism. I still want one. I'd put the $100 laptop through its paces in a test run. And I still think it's a great idea. Increasing access to the internet and educational opportunties can only make the world a better place.

Dark, But Shining has moved. I bet everyone already knew that. I've turned down a couple of offers to join these great group blogs... I have four blogs of my own, so my hands are full.

For a long time I've wondered if the electrical "noise" from various appliances that we keep on all the time in our house might be part of my health problems. I can hear the VCR even when it's "turned off". So when I read this article (also linked here) I felt a little sense of relief. Maybe I'm not completely nutso after all.

I'm only linking to this item because that XXX Root Beer is a few miles from where I grew up. I really want to go there now.

Oh, way cool! When I was in first grade, I got really interested in the Maya, and wanted to go to Mexico ever since. I still haven't made it, but these are GREAT photos.

Paul Cornell links to yet another Tom Baker sings website. This one has no songs I recognize.

Now that I've written up my con report, I'm going to have to hunt out everybody else's reports...

Polite Scott posted about his first day and day two of the con.

Jeff Parker gives thanks, but decides not to write a con report, since he was only there one day.

Heidi is taking her con reports a little more slowly. I think she has a better memory than I do. In any case she has Post-con thoughts, and now is writing a wrap-up starting with Friday and moving on to Saturday.

The Dorothy folks have some great reports... Day One, Day Two, and links to my reports.

The Beat has some Emerald City coverage, including links to Matt Maxwell's report, Brett Warnock's report, and links to pictures and more pictures.

I do plan on compiling and editing my four con report entries into one big report, posted on its own page. I want to put things into proper order and maybe include information that I forgot on the first draft, which is what blog entries sometimes turn out to be.

Here are a couple more slightly related links.

The Great Curve notes the Sword of Atlantis I gave to Kurt.

Mike Sterling mentions my con reports.

And if you know of a report I didn't spot, please let me know about it in the comments. I'll add it in as an update. And don't forget to check out The Troll Pictures from the con, or the nifty list of people Torvald has been trollographed with. I'll start adding my sketches to the page in a week or so, once I've had a chance to scan them.

Update: Heidi posts her Sunday report.

Update: P'la Jarvinen posts her report.

Update: Greg Hatcher has a report for the Madison and Denny Middle School kids.

The main reason I write up these odd convention reports is to remind myself of the day. I don't really expect anyone else to read, much less enjoy, my reports. At the same time, I feel a lot of pressure to finish these reports quickly, so I don't forget everything that happened. Then, of course, I find that I forgot things, and got information wrong. It's annoying... but not as annoying as coming back a year later and remembering nothing about a convention. So I'll just muddle through, but be sure to check the comments on each part of the report for corrections by other folks who were there.


Now... where was I? Oh yes! Eric and I went out to the car for lunch, dumping off the extra stuff we'd picked up on the way. I was pretty beat, so I wasn't expecting much of anything at all from the rest of the convention. Eric seemed determined to get a couple more sketches. So back we went. As we entered the Event Center we noted that somebody had put a big sign over the Cash Machine that said "OUT OF CASH!"

First up we visited the Comics Fairplay booth where I finally noticed Joe St Pierre sitting in the next booth. The name caught my eye and tickled at my memory. I asked Joe if he'd worked on Aquaman, and when he said yes it all came flooding back. He drew the crucial issue during the PAD run in which Aquaman gets his cybernetic harpoon at STAR labs and gets to try it out on land, and in which Garth is sent to another dimension, not to mention a big issue in the growth of Koryak as a character. So of course, I had to troll Joe, and asked for a sketch, too, which he kindly provided.

In the meantime, Eric was getting a painting in his sketchbook from someone named "Billis" at the Friendsie booth. I'm not kidding about it being a painting. It's a small painting, but a painting nonetheless. It's of the Wicked Witch talking with a monkey.

With the convention starting to wind down, we headed back to Artist Alley to see about another sketch or two. I wanted to troll some people, as well. Eric got a drawing from Dev Madan of the Scarecrow... a rather spooky one in my opinion. Then he got in line for Tim Sale. While he waited for Tim Sale, I trolled Dan Brereton.


Then I trolled Scott Alan and Bob Schreck, who told me he would kill me if the picture of him and the troll got on-line. Heh. Eric admitted that he had wanted to ask Bob during the DC panel when Shrek 3 was coming out. I groaned. I waited in line with Eric for Tim Sale, and heard someone in front of us ask for a sketch of Superman eating pie. Eating pie and really enjoying it. I suddenly didn't feel quite so bad about making people draw Aquaman for me.

When we got to the front of the line, I trollographed Tim, then Eric got a sketch for his sketchbook. I already have an excellent Aquaman drawing by Tim Sale in my sketchbook. The sketch Tim Sale did is simply COOL. Eric's sketchbook has a dual theme, and while it's leaned heavily toward Green Lantern over the years, this con it took a decidedly Ozian turn. Larsen did the Tin Man, Billis did the Wicked Witch, and Madan did a Scarecrow. Well, Tim Sale turned in a magnificent Cowardly Lion. Then he said that he'd never drawn a lion before, so he hoped it was ok. Looking at the sketch now... the only thing wrong with it is that he spelled "cowardly" wrong. I'll forgive him that. It was loud and hectic in there.

We also wandered by the Girl Genius booth again, and bought a few things. We got the fourth collection in trade paperback for my little sister. We also got Phil's 24-hour comic. And I got Cheyenne Wright's Arcane Times sketchbook, which is AWESOME. It has most (but not all) of my favorite bits from his webcomic. The cover is the "running away from fanboys" scene, and Zombie-Alton can be found within the pages. And this one too. Cheyenne, despite my teasing him all weekend, still found the heart to draw me another Aquaman sketch in the book.

Eric wanted to try and get a sketch from Colleen Coover, so we headed back that way and eventually caught her at the booth. While Colleen drew for Eric, I wandered around a little and noticed someone I thought might possibly be an Aquaman cover artist. I wasn't sure, though, so I went back to Eric and found Colleen drawing a JAR sketch for The Cliff Guy. I mentioned that I thought I just saw Brian Stelfreeze, and he confirmed it was him. While he was WAY too busy to get a sketch from, I definitely had to troll him. First I approached Doug Wagner, who was also sitting at the 12 Gauge Comics booth, and asked him to pose with the troll. Then, when Brian had a short break, I asked him if he'd pose with the troll, too. He agreed, though he was a bit taken aback by the troll. I had to reassure several people throughout the day that trolls are good luck, despite their look.


With all that accomplished, we headed over to the Illusive Arts booth again where we chatted with Anna for a bit and I was given yet another Aquaman heroclix. Anna had some exciting stuff to tell Eric. It suddenly occurred to me that Kirk had never got a chance to see my Aquaman sketchbook, because the piece he did for me was on a separate sheet. So I wandered over there, feeling the exhaustion more than ever before, to show it off. Unfortunately, Kirk wasn't there... but P'la was, and I showed off the sketchbook to her while we chatted a little. Then Kirk came back, and was glad to look through it. He also wanted to add another sketch.

While he was drawing, I noticed that Gabe was sitting mostly alone in the Penny Arcade booth, so I called Eric and told him to get his sketchbook over there. He got Gabe to draw... well, Gabe. As Green Lantern. As seen in this strip, only Eric wanted Gabe as Green Lantern. Coincidence? Ok, so Eric didn't ask for Wonder Woman. But still...

After that, it was home for us. We'd had a good con, and we both needed badly to recover. I believe I fell asleep on the ride home. Good thing I wasn't driving.

OK... time for remembering other events I had forgotten... Early Sunday some time I was sitting in the Illusive booth, having coached Anna to say "Once a week is all we ask!" if Cheyenne should come by. He did come by, and Anna, after a moment thinking about it, remembered what to say. Cheyenne, for his part, looked brutally exhausted. He told me he'd been up until four am the previous night coloring the next Girl Genius page. I suddenly felt very guilty for teasing him... A number of people, when they found out I was an Aquaman fan, told me about the great sword that some fan had given to Kurt Busiek. Every time I heard it, it made my day... I did hit some dealers looking for the handful of Aquaman stories I'm missing, but nobody had the range of Golden Age stuff I'm looking for... I missed TONS of people that I wouldn't have minded seeing. Tony Harris, Ryan Ottley, The Luna Brothers, Doug Mahnke, Stuart Immonen, the list goes on. Again, I like the haphazard way I wander about a con floor, but maybe I need to try to hit all the booths next year... the Troll doesn't fit in my con bag very well. Next year I need to figure out a better way to carry him, as he managed to pop a couple of buttons off my bag... If you attended the con, the Survey is now up on the main page. Let them know where they went right and where they went wrong so they can improve the con next year. And request Aaron Williams as a guest, along with whomever you want. Let's rock the vote, eh?

And that's it for the con report from 2006. I'll certainly try to make it to 2007's con, which is reportedly going to be March 31st and April 1st. Again, all the troll pictures are available here, and will have full commentary once I finish writing it all..

Sunday morning, I was still tired from Saturday... especially thanks to Daylight Saving Time... and still worried about Eric's missing sketchbook. I starting listing off things we needed to do, and when I got to "find the sketchbook", Eric stopped me. "You found it last night," he said. "Huh?" "You found it last night. You got up and put it on my bedside table." "HUH?!?" After a few moments of confusion, we figured out that I had somehow, in my sleep, found the sketchbook and even told Eric where I'd found it. I have been known to sleepwalk and talk, and apparently that's what I did Saturday night because I was so worried about Eric going to the con without his sketchbook.

I gathered up the stuff we needed, including the old cell phones. I forgot to put the blank sketchbook in my bag. Eric carried the troll and his witch feet, along with his mysteriously found sketchbook and a bag of jelly babies for Kirk Jarvinen. I had my sketchbook and the camera, along with my notepads for scribbling down people's names. I was wearing my "worn" Aquaman t-shirt. We took off early in the hopes of getting free parking near the Event Center, although I warned Eric that, because of the construction nearby, free parking might be hard to find.

As it turns out, we might have been able to find a spot. But we ended up parking in the North lot ($9 again, ouch), which was about as far from the entrance to the Comicon as any of the spots in the parking garage, only with no stairs (or elevator) to worry about. With my feet still feeling Saturday's pain, it was a good bit of a walk anyway.

We got to the entrance before the doors opened, and there was a small line. We got in line and began to relax and chat. A Qwest Field Security guy came by and pre-searched our bags.

A young man and his mother (or grandmother, I didn't ask) got in line behind us and we started talking. He told me it was his first ever convention. He had been in baseball practice the day before, so he hadn't managed to come. I asked who he was most looking forward to seeing. He said Erik Larsen. I managed a chuckle and a grin. I pointed to the entrance, and pointed out the Image booth. I told him that yesterday Erik was front-and-center, and he'd probably be in the same spot today. I told him to ask politely for a sketch. He was aghast. He had never even considered getting a sketch and hadn't brought a sketchbook. I reached into my bag... but I hadn't brought the extra one. Curses. I told him it would be ok, Larsen would find something to sketch on. We talked a bit more, and I gave advice and showed off my Aquaman sketchbook.

Suddenly, Eric realized he'd forgotten the checkbook. He decided to go back to the car, although the con would be open by the time he got back. We agreed to meet at the Illusive Arts booth.

Sure enough, the line started moving just as Eric vanished out of sight. The kid and his mom followed me in and I went right up to Jay Faerber, who had been next to Erik Larsen on Saturday, and with the kid behind me asked if Erik would be back again. Yep, same place, said Jay, in fact he'd be back any minute. I told Jay that the kid wanted to meet Erik, and Jay pointed to Larsen's spot and said to just wait here. I smiled, said "good luck" and set off to find P'la Jarvinen.

I had a bag with three cell phones in it, and I didn't really want to carry it around throughout the con. I was hoping to dump it off on somebody at the Mercury Studios booth, but when I got there, there was nobody there at all. Stymied, I went over to the Illusive booth, where they were still getting ready. Eric didn't show right away, so I kind of hovered between the Mercury booth and the Illusive booth, until I spotted Eric at the Illusive booth and went back. I didn't feel like carrying the phones around, so I asked Anna if I could leave them there for a bit. She was cool with it.

Eric took a little time to take pictures of his witch feet with various Illusive Arts items. He also tried to buy the trade from them... I say "tried" because they insisted on giving it to him. They also gave him a decent discount on the necklace, which I now own. I plan on wearing it to the Winkie convention, and at the next Oogaboo Rendezvous (this Saturday, we're hosting). After our main business was concluded at the Illusive booth, Eric and I set off to Troll Gigi.

Gigi Edgley, due to flight problems, hadn't made it to the con at all on Saturday. But first thing Sunday morning there was already a line. We quickly confirmed with the Farscape handler that the troll pic would be ok, then got in line. The guy in front of me had a lot of people to get autographs for, so I turned to the woman behind me in line and said, "You see that guy over there in the Girl Genius booth? The one with the goggles around his neck?" "Um, yes." "Do me a favor, will you? Go up to him and say 'Once a week! It's all we ask!'" "Why?" "I'm trying to get him to update his webcomic." "Oh! Ok!" So she merrily wandered over to poor Cheyenne Wright and tormented him just a little for me. I saw her talk to him, then he started, looked at her in consternation, then looked around wildly. I waved. He spotted me, rolled his eyes, and waved back. The woman came back in line and said, "That was fun!" "Yup!" I said, "Thanks!"

Gigi was amused by the troll, and happy to have her picture taken with him. She posed differently than anyone else so far has posed, and I do believe that this is the happiest the troll has ever been.


Next to Gigi, at the Farscape/Buffy fan booth, we spotted an Angel puppet, and Torvald just had to pose with him. I do believe that Eric also got a picture of his witch feet underneath the puppet, too.

After trolling Gigi, we went back to the Illusive booth and got the cell phones, which we gave to Kirk Jarvinen who was now at the Mercury Studios booth. We also presented him with his jelly babies, which he tried out immediately and shared with Karl Kesel.

We hit the freebie table at some point during that first hour, and at 11 am we headed up to the balcony for the DC Panel. This time we were nice and early and we found seats behind Heidi Meeley and, as I didn't figure out until I was back down on the floor almost two hours later, Polite Scott and his wife. Gail Simone popped up and sat down in the audience, even though she was supposed to be one third of the panel. We chatted a bit, and somebody (Update: Gail's husband, see the comments) asked me if I wanted an Aquaman heroclix they'd got in one of the promo boxes and gave it to me when I said "yes". Then Kurt Busiek arrived, along with a convention lackey, and with the help of four strong guys from the audience the table was set up on the stage and Gail and Kurt had a seat. Bob Schreck was the last third, and it took him awhile to get up to the balcony because the elevator was not available.

Before Bob arrived, Kurt opened up the floor to questions, so I immediately popped up with "Is the new Aquaman the old Aquaman's son?!???" Kurt glared at me for a brief moment, then answered as if I were serious, "NO! He's exactly who he says he is." I turned to Eric and said, "I just thought I'd get that one out of the way right off the bat."


The questions ranged all over the place, which was unfortunate, because Gail and Kurt each only have knowledge of their own books, and once Bob arrived, his knowledge of books was limited to the lines he edits. While I can't say there was absolutely no new information, what information we got was pretty limited. With about fifteen minutes to go in the panel I began to feel the water I'd been drinking, and it along with that odd shaking movement of the balcony made it necessary for us to leave early. That's probably when all the fun info was shared, I just know it.

After a short rest, Eric and I resumed wandering. There were two more Torvald pictures I wanted to get for sure. Both Karl Kesel and Jeff Parker had been missing from the Mercury Studios booth the day before, and I wanted their pictures on Torvald's page. So we headed back, yet again, to their booth and caught them both. Both were willing to be trollographed, and both pictures turned out great. I'm going go show you Jeff Parker's, because I think he's as dynamic in person as his excellent book.


Eric left his sketchbook with Kirk, who was working on another piece, and we wandered some more with the troll out and ready. If it sounds like we do a lot of wandering at these cons, that's exactly right. I don't tend to go in straight lines at cons, and I swear I walked more over the weekend than I did during the entire 3-day. I next ran into Greg Scott Bailey, who tells me that things are finally coming together, and the site should be updated with solid information soon.

We also stopped by the Comics Fairplay booth again to get another picture of Heidi Meeley. The first picture really didn't turn out. I wouldn't have wanted anyone to post that picture if it was of me... the glare from her glasses made for a very odd look. So I got another two pictures, both of which looked ok. I also learned that I'd been sitting behind Polite Scott and hadn't even realized it. ARGH! Heidi said that she'd left the panel a bit early also, and promised to let me know if she ran into Scott again. I also snapped a troll pic of P'la Jarvinen, since she was at the booth chatting with Heidi.


A few moments later, the young man I'd been talking with in line passed by. I said hello and asked if he'd gotten a sketch, and he enthusiastically said he had. I gave him a high-five. It was clear he was having a great time. His reaction pushed me over the edge to do something I've considered for a couple of years. Eric and I wandered over to the Image booth, and I got in line for Erik Larsen. Eric raced off to get his sketchbook from Kirk, if he could spare it. He got back in plenty of time, and was able to ask Larsen for his usual. Any character from Oz, or any character at all as a Green Lantern.

Erik chose to sketch a Tin Man for Eric, but had some trouble remembering the look. He mentioned that he really wanted to draw Tik-Tok, which would have been cool, but he just couldn't do that on-the-fly. Maybe at some other con, we can bring a reference for him. While Larsen sketched, the troll monitored his progress closely.


Larsen has the strangest drawing style I've ever seen. When someone asked him when he'd developed the style, he said it happened the first time he picked up a pen as a child, and he drew well enough that nobody ever corrected him. After Erik finished drawing, Eric took his sketchbook back to Kirk. And I took a picture of Larsen with Torvald the troll.

Then came the moment of truth. I asked Erik Larsen if he'd be willing to draw an Aquaman sketch for me. He thought about it for a bit, but agreed. It was fun to watch him draw in his unique style. He drew an Aquaman looking to his left... and then said, "What should I put over here where he's looking?" I suggested a fish, but that didn't suit him. So he drew something else in that spot. You'll see it when I post it.

Around this time I did a little booth sitting in the Comics Fairplay booth to let Eric wander. Heidi's husband was selling some original art, and when Eric came back the two of them somehow conspired to get me a piece that featured Vulko and Koryak prominently. I would have also liked the other Aquaman piece he had, but I didn't feel right even asking for one, so I didn't. Eric got the one for me anyway. Did I mention that I love my husband? There might have been a chance he would have sprung for the second one if he'd had more dough on him, but by that point in the con the Cash Machine outside the Event Center ran out of money. Bad planning, that. We left the piece of art at the Illusive booth, who are complete lifesavers, so we didn't have to carry it around.

Next up, Eric and I took our troll, sketchbooks, and our copy of Banana Sunday over to Paul Tobin (Root Nibot) and Colleen Coover. I trollographed them (though the picture is a little bit bad, as Colleen blinked at the wrong moment), then Colleen agreed to do a sketch of Aquaman. I think you'll all enjoy it. I certainly do. Overhearing me talk with Collen and Paul was Corey Lewis, creator of Sharknife and Peng. He was interested, so I asked him if he'd like to try Aquaman as well. He did, and I got a great sketch which I'll post later. For whatever reason, I forgot to get a picture of him with the troll.

As an aside for the moment... my feet are beginning to ache as I look at where we went next. Did I tell you that Monday morning I found a blister the size of a half-dollar on the pad of my left foot? And another small one on one of the toes on my right foot. They've shrunk rapidly with me resting off my feet for a day, but it was still pretty nasty to walk around on Monday.

I think I also forgot to mention the fire alarm that went off Saturday afternoon. It was the lamest sound for an alarm I've ever heard. A kind of low whoop that at first I was sure was caused by some promotion in some booth, except that all the fire alarm pulls were flashing. It took me longer than most to catch on, then I wondered if we should, like, head toward the exits or something. But nobody moved. The green shirted Lackeys weren't evacuating, nor were the Qwest Field employees, so it became something of a bust as far as fire alarms go. As one person pointed out, if there had been a real fire, somebody would have reacted OR we would've smelled smoke OR the lights would have flickered OR they would have made an announcement on the loudspeaker. Absent all of those, it seemed safe enough to stay put.

Right, back to Sunday. Eric and I wandered back to Artist Alley to bug Kurt again (I got my fill of Kurt-bugging in for the year at this con) and I got to trollograph Pia Guerra and Dev Madan.

As is usual whenever I get near them, I started chatting with Karin and Suzanne. Suzanne was describing a new use for leftover pizza called (I think) Eggs Markos, in which you cube the pizza and scramble it into eggs as a breakfast treat. This intrigued me, as Eric and I had had pizza for dinner Saturday night, and there were leftovers. I haven't tried it yet, but I intend to.

At some point in here I did a little bit of booth sitting at the Illusive Arts booth, and thus Polite Scott and his wife were able to find me just before they took off to visit the Science Fiction Museum.

Next up we headed back to Kirk Jarvinen's booth to see if he'd finished Eric's sketch yet. Across the aisle was the Penny Arcade booth... and yes, I trollographed Gabe and Tycho!


Gabe is the really cute one holding the pen and Tycho is the one holding the troll down. I didn't find it necessary to ask them for a sketch, as I've already got a sketch from Gabe from last year's ECCC. But I was wondering what they'd think of Eric's sketchbook.

In the meantime, Kirk Jarvinen was going above and beyond all call of duty with his sketch for Eric. In fact, the word "sketch" does NOT do it justice. It was a fully colored "piece". It's going to be daunting for every other artist who takes a look. It's the Adam West Batman as Green Lantern, and I will be scanning and posting it. After he finished, he showed us a gift he'd gotten, from James Dean Smith of Boris the Bear as Doctor Who. At this point, both Eric and I realized how late it was and just how hungry we were, so we headed back to the car for our packed lunch, and to dump off any and all extra stuff we'd gathered, including my new page of Aquaman art.

Ok, time for another break, but I'm in the final run to the finish of the con...

I am still writing up my report of Sunday at the con, and I haven't put in the commentary for all the images, but you can see all of my Troll pictures from Emerald City Comicon 2006 on this page.

In addition, I've made a simple index of most of the people Torvald the Troll has posed with so you can check out the person you are most interested in seeing, like, say, Heidi Meeley of Comics Fairplay without having to scroll through the entire bunch (although you'll still have to wait for pictures to load).

I have a couple more pictures, but those will be going into the Sunday con report when I finish it. In the meantime, you can look at the images and enjoy...

Ah... lunch. Lisa and I had lunch in my van on the third floor of the parking garage, where we also dumped out all the various bits and bobs that had accumulated in our bags since the morning. We opened our Heroclix boxes and chatted with hubby-Eric on the phone for a bit. And then, well-rested, we headed back down to the con. Before going in, Lisa hit the cash machine for some spending money.

Entering the hall again after lunch I was struck with just how warm the hall was. I normally don't mind warm, but with all the walking the poor fans had to do, the hall was just a tad too warm for comfort. After the walk from the parking garage back to the hall, the heat was not welcome at all.

We went back to talk with Kirk Jarvinen again, who had finished the Aquaman piece he was working on for me. It's gorgeous. While we were chatting, P'la stopped by and suggested I hit The Comics Fairplay booth and see my fellow blogger Heidi Meeley. I hadn't realized that a blogger had a booth, so off we went! I chatted with Heidi for a bit, and trolled her, and then Lisa and I wandered off again.

We next stopped at the Image booth again, and met Mike Bullock, the writer of Lions, Tigers and Bears, which I bought as it was coming out. We talked a bit, I got him to pose for a trollograph, and we wandered off.


Next up we headed back to the Mercury Studios booth, and chatted with Paul Guinan. Lisa bought a book with Boilerplate in it, and I trolled Paul.

I was now very tired, and my feet hurt, and I wanted to rest. At that point, we were wandering past the Illusive Arts booth, and when I mentioned how exhausted I was, Anna suggested I sit in their booth for a spell and relax. I was grateful for the chance to get off my feet, and so we settled down in the booth. Lisa flipped through the book she'd bought from Paul Guinan, and I quickly wrote down the names of everyone I'd taken photos of so I wouldn't forget. Greg offered to do a sketch for Lisa, and she gratefully accepted (Batman). Then I started watching folks go by, and when I heard Anna mention that the buttons were free, I started to call out to people and ask if they wanted a free button.

Now, I've done booth sitting before. In fact, it's not a job I mind at all in smallish doses. I love talking to people, and it's always useful when the thing I'm trying to show off is something I really believe in. In the case of Dorothy, it's a book I really love, so attracting attention to it is just a natural thing to do.

I suspect people who've got more experience at this have better things to say about it than me, but here's the trick. If you have a booth, you MUST have something free to give away. Preferably something small and cool, like a button or stickers. This is the bait. When you ask people if they want something free, 99% of the women and maybe 75% of the men will come over and check it out. People like "free". They've just spent hours tromping around the floor of the con spending money, free is good. And once you have them at the table, you politely and quickly give them an overview of whatever it is you are selling. My speech for Dorothy was simple: "Have you heard of Dorothy? No? Well, it's a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz, only Dorothy is a teenager with a chip on her shoulder. Would you like to take a look?" And that was the second thing the Illusive team did right. They had sample books set out to flip through. So after my speech, most people would politely flip through the book. At which point, if they still seem interested, you can hit them with the rest of the information. If they aren't interested, wish them a happy con and let 'em go. You might have planted a seed for the future, or they might completely forget about the book. But you've done your job.

I don't know if I sold any books while in the booth, but I had a great time and chatted with a lot of people. In the meantime, Lisa got a sketch and Greg offered to do a second sketch for me, as well. I also gratefully accepted, and it actually kept me in the booth a bit longer, so I was well rested when Lisa and I decided to hit the floor and troll for more pictures. We revisited Paul Guinan first, where Lisa asked for a sketch of Boilerplate. I wandered over to Brom and got a trollograph. I then spotted Jim Demonakos and got his trollograph, too. Lisa was amused.


A note about the shirts... Con "officials" were wearing black shirts, and con support staff were wearing green shirts with the word "LACKEY" on the back. The designs stood out, and you could always tell who to call for help.

The costume contest was about to start, so Lisa and I headed up to check it out. This convention is new enough that programming is still weak, but Jim has been doing an excellent job of growing the con slowly and not pushing too hard. I think the con will have better programming each year, until it rivals the best cons out there. I already think the con floor is better than a great many.

In any case, the climb to the costume contest was hard on my knees after a day of walking on the concrete floors, and the area was sitting room only. I took a few pictures, but something about the lighting up on the balcony made the images come out looking horrible. I like my camera, but I didn't get any shots I consider worth sharing. Some costumes of note... there was a young man, who came up about to the waist of any adult, who was dressed in a homemade Boba Fett costume. It was clear that he'd made the suit himself, and where it lacked in polish it made up for in enthusiasm. I also saw Kid Flash, Speedy, Aqualad (yes, the one I took a picture of), numerous Jedis, a Ghostbuster, Poison Ivy, and the most amazing Two-Face I've ever seen.

We didn't stay at the costume contest for long. The balcony really bothered me (it had a slight but disturbing motion to it) and without a place to sit, I wasn't willing to hang around. I did take the overview shots of the con floor from the balcony while we were up there, though. First up, Artist Alley.


The curtain divided the Event Center into two sections. The other section was occupied this year with a different event. I never did quite figure out what was going on over there, though I'm sure if I looked hard enough I'd find out easily. Next up, the Main Floor.


Because we didn't linger at the costume contest, we wandered the floor some more. I was getting tired, so the camera didn't come out as quickly. We wandered down an aisle I hadn't hit yet, and ran into Mark Brill. He and Lisa started talking, while I chatted with his boothmate, and then Lisa asked for a sketch. Mark drew Platypus Rex for her.

In the meantime, I wander across the aisle and met Scott Mills, who I've bought books on-line from in the past. We chatted, I trollographed him, and then I showed off my sketchbook. It became one of those rare moments, when the artist is inspired by all the other sketches to add to the book. I got a Scott Mills original, which I will be posting to this blog at a later time.

Lisa and I retreated back to the Illusive booth for a bit of a rest, when somebody noticed Two-Face walking by. I had to troll him! I dashed around the corner and asked to take his picture with the troll. He was delighted to pose for me. I don't know if the photo does the costume justice. It was the most amazing costume, from the clothes to the make-up.

That was it for both of us as far as photos and sketches. We did a little more wandering, and ended up back at Kirk Jarvinen, where P'la told us about the cell phone drive she was heading. If we had any old cell phones we wanted to get rid of, this was the place. To my surprise, Lisa recalled that she and mom each had an old phone. I also had a phone to get rid of, so I would be able to bring three phones on Sunday... assuming we could find them all.

Lisa and I were both worn out, and there was only an hour or so left in the con, so we stopped by and said good-bye to Greg and Anna, and made our way back up to the parking garage. We sorted out our stuff and I agreed to follow Lisa home to pick up the used cell phones for P'la's drive.

When we got to my Mom's house, Lisa found her phone immediately... but Mom wasn't having any luck. She'd been cleaning and had held the phone in her hand earlier in the day, but it had vanished in the meantime. If only we had called a bit earlier! I stuck around awhile, helping with the search, but eventually had to go. I told Lisa that I was going to organize the stuff in my van before I left, so I'd be sitting outside for a bit longer if they kept looking.

After I'd delayed as long as was reasonable, I put my glasses on, put the key in the ignition, and started to turn it... and Lisa came running out. They'd found it! In a basket that all three of us had already looked in! Apparently it vanished until it thought I was gone. I took the phones and headed home.

When I got home, I was scheduled to make dinner but was too tired. Eric, being a complete sweety, ordered in pizza. After a quick meal, we both relaxed... except we couldn't find Eric's sketchbook. I'm going to start scanning his sketchbook at some point, because he has the most awesome pieces in it. But Saturday night, we just couldn't find the sketchbook at all. I had a blank sketchbook, and I planned to take that along if it didn't turn up.

I went to bed slightly disturbed at the missing sketchbook, but delighted with the fun I'd had on April Fool's Day.

And with that... I still have Sunday to write up. But for now I'm going to rest...

It's time for the fourth annual Emerald City Comicon report. As usual, I'll have forgotten the exact order events happened, and no doubt will forget people who I really ought to mention. I'm sorry in advance for any inaccuracies in this report, and please, if you see an obvious mistake feel free to correct me. Old reports are here: 2003, 2004, and 2005.

In addition, there are simply too many photos with Torvald the Troll for a single blog entry. I'll post a few of them in this entry, but most of them will be showing up on this page as I get the opportunity to post them. If I mention a photo in this entry, it will be on the Torvald page with commentary eventually.

Saturday morning dawned early and I got going without checking my computer at all. I'd posted my April Fool's Day jokes Friday night to make sure they got maximum impact on the actual day, and so I didn't feel the need to put something on either blog while I was off trying to have fun at the con.

In my bag I carried The Troll and a stack of Doctor Who books for Kirk Jarvinen, who is not only a fellow Doctor Who fan, he also is an Aquaman artist. I also had The Sword of Atlantis with me, and I was really hoping Qwest Field security didn't look too closely and decide I couldn't enter with it. I was also wearing a one-off t-shirt I'd had made with my now favorite ever Aquaman panel on it:


After I met with my sister ("almost twin or evil twin") in Factoria, we tore across the Lake on I-90 and ended up parking in the Event Center garage ($9, ouch). We arrived at the entrance to the con a little after 10 am, and there was still a line to get in. One reason for that was that they were searching every bag. People without bags were being allowed to cut in line, so I had Lisa go ahead. Luckily, security didn't even ask about the sword (which was wrapped in two sheets of posterboard), so it wasn't a problem.

I decided that the first thing to do was to get rid of the sword, by giving it to its new owner. So Lisa and I headed off toward Artist Alley to find Kurt. After looking at the bewildering rows of people, we realized we needed to consult the program guide. But lo! Jim Demonakos walked by at that moment and I called, "Hey Jim! Where's Kurt Busiek?" Jim gave me a funny look, then pointed across the aisle. Kurt was, quite literally, right behind us. "Thanks, Jim!" He waved and wandered off. Con organizers have lots to do, so silly fangirls asking how to find people can only be a major annoyance. Sorry Jim!

In any case, Lisa and I approached Kurt's table, and he happily pulled out the alternate cover to Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #40 that I needed. And I presented him with the wrapped sword, saying, "I have a gift for you!" He gleefully opened it and immediately started to pose. As did his kids.


I also pulled out Torvald the Troll, who immediately met his match in the form of Kurt Busiek's new Sword of Atlantis...


The troll ought not to be too worried, though, as Kurt was threatening it with the back of the blade...

Moving on...

My next task was to drop off Kirk Jarvinen's books. They weren't really heavy, but anyone who has wandered around a con with a bag on their shoulder knows exactly how heavy things that aren't heavy can get after just a couple of hours. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't at the Mercury Studios table, where I expected to find him. He was on his way, I was informed by Steve Lieber, looking for parking. The guys at the table had no problem taking the books off my back, however, and putting them in Kirk's spot to await his arrival. Whew! Less than a half hour at the con, and both my main tasks already accomplished! Yay!

The next half hour or so was a mix of visiting people and just getting a feel for the layout of the con. Lisa and I wandered happily, and ended up back in Artist Alley where I noticed that the huge line waiting for Adam Hughes had finally vanished into just a couple of folks. Time for the troll!

Now, as much as I want an Adam Hughes sketch in my Aquaman sketchbook, I realize that he's immensely popular and his sketchlist fills up within ten minutes of the start of a convention. I just don't move fast enough to get a sketch from him. So getting a picture of him with the troll may well be the closest I get. But, it was fun, and the picture turned out great.

I was mildly antsy to see if Kirk had got the books, so we eventually wandered back to the Mercury Studios table and met Kirk for the first time. He showed me a piece he was already working on for me (and my eyes popped out of my head), then I asked him to pose with the troll... poor man.

After that... well, things flew by fast. We hit the freebies table and got some free Heroclix, and stopped very briefly by the Illusive Arts table where I was not immediately recognized because Anna wasn't around. We visited the Madison and Denny Middle School table (as mentioned here) and got a troll picture. Then I ran into Aqualad, Speedy, and Kid Flash. From the Teen Titans cartoon. No, really. I didn't get pictures of most of them, but it occurred to me that I would never hear the end of it if I didn't get a picture of the gal dressed as Aqualad. Who was carrying around a green dolphin.

Moving on, I started to get various folks to pose with Torvald the Troll. Mercury Studios folks David Hahn and Steve Lieber posed, as did Donna Barr and Roberta Gregory. I also got Cheyenne Wright to pose... then started to question him about his webcomic and its recent lack of updates, much to the amusement of Phil Foglio, who was standing nearby (and to whom I'd given a print-out of Torvald's poses with him and his family from Anglicon). I finished by telling Cheyenne I would be happy if he updated just once a week. That's all I ask. Once a week...

Lisa and I had walked past the Farscape booth a couple of times. Lisa was dismayed to see that there was a charge for both autographs and for photos, because she had been thinking of getting an autograph for her friend who is obsessed with Farscape. Not as dismayed as I was. Torvald's first pose was with Virginia Hey of Farscape, and part of the reason I was continuing to take pictures with the troll and people was because of her. I was definitely hoping for pictures of Lani Tupu and Gigi Edgley, but I wasn't willing to pay for them.

However, I had sort of anticipated the problem. When I put together my montage of Torvald photos (a copy of which I gave to Phil Foglio in the previous paragraph) I included the pictures of both Virginia Hey and David Franklin, both from Farscape. So I went up to the booth and showed Lani Tupu and his handler (who I remembered from Anglicon) the montage of Troll photos. The handler recognized me, and definitely recognized the troll, and when I mentioned that I didn't have any money for a photo she said "NO! No, no charge for a photo with just the troll! You can get a photo with Lani and the troll!" Lani, remarkably bemused but completely game, posed for the photo.


Now I want to pause for an aside right here. I want you to understand that I don't expect anything for myself from any artist or writer or actor... I expect them to be there promoting themselves and their work. I expect a certain amount of schmooze, and I expect them to be selling stuff. That's what they are there for. If I'm not willing to pay, I don't expect anything more than a smile and nod. Had Lani and his handler turned down my request, I would not have been upset. Mildly disappointed, but I know how the business works. My con reports read like I'm running rampant around the con floor... and I am! But I have a great deal of respect for the people who make the con possible. Every single action, the sketches I get, the posing for photos... all of it, is a gift. I write about them because I'm very very pleased with the gifts they give me.

Right... now that I've sucked all the fun out of the blog entry, back to the grind. Gigi Edgley hadn't arrived yet, and they weren't entirely sure whether or not she would arrive on Saturday, as she was having plane problems. So I promised to check back again and we wandered off into the retail section.

I stopped by at the booth of my local comic shop and said hi, and got my LCS owner to pose with the troll before heading back to Artist Alley. Once in Artist Alley I saw my chance to talk with Alex Maleev, who is an Aquaman cover artist. Unfortunately, I didn't think to pull out the troll... but I did ask him for a sketch. He drew one, and it will be showing up on this blog later.

Next up were the wonderful Karin Yamagiwa and Suzanne Kaufman, who I've seen every year since 2004, when they both did Aquaman sketches for me. Karin has gotten married since I last saw her, to Dev Madan, who started out my first Aquaman sketchbook, so she's now Karin Yamagiwa Madan. They posed with the troll, chatted a bit, and Lisa bought a couple of buttons from them.

Next to the Dangerous Duo, to their right from the fan point of view, was Ian Boothby, a writer of some renown for his efforts on Futurama and The Simpsons. He also was willing and able to pose for a photo with the troll. Sharing his table was Pia Guerra, and next to her was Kurt Busiek. When I mentioned something about giving Kurt the sword, they both scolded me, saying he was hitting everyone with it. Kurt, overhearing, poked at Pia with it.


I retreated to Kurt's table to avoid Ian's mock reproachful looks, and Kurt told me a cute story about his daughter. She was poking him with the sword and Ann told her to stop. "But Mom, it's not even sharp!" Right, said Kurt, it's a pretend sword. Daughter continues to poke Kurt, and when Ann told her again to stop she said, "I'm only pretending to do this!"

Wandering around some more, I got pictures of the troll with Tom Peyer and Gail Simone. I then stopped by to visit a few web comics artists and went ahead and Trolled them too. First up was Liriel of Bad Blood, a webcomic that has been on my "to read" links list for about a year now. I can't remember who recommended it to me, but I just haven't seemed to have the time I want to devote to it. However, I have every intention of getting caught up with it by next year's con! It's a vampire story set in Seattle. Right up my alley.

Another strip I learned about was Scooter and Ferret, which looks fun. Scott and Georgia posed with Torvald too, and I'm adding their strip to my reading list.

As we were wandering out of Artist Alley we spotted Mark Brill, who has been in my sketchbook forever, and stopped him in the middle of the aisle for a troll picture.

Next up was another visit to the Illusive Arts booth to see if Anna had returned. She had, and it didn't take long for her to register who I was. She came out of the booth to give me a hug, then I got her and Greg Mannino to pose for a troll picture.


I also had them put aside a trade paperback for me, since Eric wanted to buy one. I also seriously considered the necklace, like Dorothy wears in the book, but I wasn't sure about it. I figured if they still had them when Eric and I got there on Sunday I would consider it again.

Well... what can I say. I think that if I were to take a con logically and start at one corner and hit every booth in order and visit with everyone as I go, I'd probably end up walking a lot less and having a lot less fun as well. Somehow, after Illusive Arts, we ended up at the Image booth where I got a picture of Jay Faerber. I mentioned again that it was the first volume of Noble Causes that was in the goodie bag for ECCC two years previously that had gotten me addicted to the book. Ah, nothing like a free book to hook me!

Next vict-- er, troll picture was of Batton Lash. I told him I've been enjoying the webcomic and described the issues I have with the way it's presented. My main issue is that it cycles back to the first panel of the day when you hit next, instead of making next not an option when there aren't more pages. I also wish the RSS feed had only a link, and not the first panel. Batton said he'd look into it... but as he pointed out - it's a new thing for them. A lot of webcomics are still feeling their way.

Speaking of webcomics, my next visit was to John Lustig, creator of Last Kiss Comics. He, too, got trolled. We headed back to the Farscape booth to see if Gigi had arrived, and found a handsome little fellow to pose Torvald next to on the Buffy/Farscape fans booth.


Gigi's plane problems were significant enough that she wasn't going to arrive until Sunday, so we moved on. Both of us were beat, but we wandered into Artist Alley again and found Matt Haley willing to pose for a trollograph. After that we wandered a bit, dazed and confused. I think we visited Kirk Jarvinen again and met his wife Pamela. And at some point we decided it was time for lunch.

Which is where I'm going to stop for the moment. I didn't intend to write a novel about the con, but that seems to be where I'm headed. I'm going to post this as a rough draft, so things may change as I write the rest of the report.

I was just watching Countdown on MSNBC and they showed a trailer for a movie about 9/11. I was unable to watch the whole trailer. Understand, no one I knew died on 9/11. I live across the country. But the trailer seemed so incredibly tasteless that I had to turn it off. And it opened wounds that I didn't know I had. It is far too soon for these movies. I can't even imagine how someone in New York would feel about them.

...I'd write up a nice con report now. But I am, so I won't. But I had a very very good con. I want to thank again everyone I met and especially everyone who posed with the troll. I have exactly 50 Troll pictures (including the Adam Hughes one I posted here). I'm sorry I didn't think to get a picture of Polite Scott with the troll, but I did get Heidi Meeley. All that and more coming soon....

Knowing that I was going to see Kurt Busiek at the Emerald City Con, I decided that I had to give him some sort of gag gift. The perfect thought occurred to me... how about a plastic sword, to represent the Sword of Atlantis? There's a great costume place up in North Seattle, I knew I could find one there. I acquired one, and it was good, but it just needed something. While chatting with a friend about the situation, she said she had the tools needed to decorate the sword. This is the result:


Reposted from The Aquaman Website