Who you Conning?

We made our way to St. Louis this past weekend for PROJECT: Comic Con at Westport.  A good time was had by many.  The exhibition portion filled two large areas and was generally well apportioned and laid out for the artists, retailers and other folks.  They also had a pair of breakout rooms for panels and presentations.

Organization seemed good.  And the place was full.  Not a lot of space in the aisles on Saturday.  Maybe some additional floor space next year.

So how was the Con?  A fair mix of artists, retailers, and exhibitors.  Plenty of folks on costume.  Featured guests from the biz.  Energy drinks.  So what else do you need?

How about comic books for kids.  I spent close to two hours going through long boxes with the specific goal of picking out some comics for my two young readers.  The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of books are PG-13 or above and cater to guys like me (who were fans in our youth and have now become the chief consumers of comics).  It’s a sustainability problem that will continue to threaten the comics industry, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Some Leaves and Stuff

A beautiful fall weekend, the likes of which we rarely see in November, meant a lot of time outside for the kids and a lot of leaves being bagged by the grown-ups.  There was also time for football, soccer, partying, and even some basketball.  But mostly it was the leaves.  With three big old trees in the yard, you just take it in stride…

53 Bags

Illinois’ offense looked competent and borderline good for the second straight week, scoring 35 points against the Gophers.  We’ve said all along the O&B would need 30+ points a game to win; too bad they waited until the season was halfway over to wake up.  Of course the competition has been less stringent after that brutal September, but how much do we attribute to more manageable foes, how much to the Offensive Coordinator finally getting it together, and how much to having a quarterback who can actually pick up blitzers and hit open receivers?  And we note that Minnesota made adjustments at halftime (and the Zooker did not) and nearly caught up after that terrible blocked punt, but Charest hit McGee on a crucial third down and Illinois got that final touchdown.  To their credit, the Illini never gave up on the season and still have the Illinois rivarly with Northwestern and a winnable home game against Fresno State.  Win those two and we’ll forgive some of the earlier crap…

Belated Halloween Slideshow

Behold, the Beemsville Halloween photo ritual – a little late this year due to party commitments.  Guess the costume themes for this year’s two events, to include:

• Halloween and Nephew Party
• Findlay Legion Costume Party

The wife was pretty excited about piecing together her Rainbow Brite costume from various means on a relatively tight budget…

Halloween Spirit

Forget Linus and the Great Pumpkin, this guy from Jersey has figured out the true spirit of Halloween…

That’s right.  It ain’t the trick-or-treating, the candy, or the pumpkins.  It’s all about the ladies.

Wizard World Chicago 08 Photos

We had big fun at the Con, as usual. Highlights included the Warren Ellis talk, Max Brooks Zombie Panel, mad costumes (see photos), and talking to the comic book folk. Also enjoyed the Batman: Gotham Knight premiere.

Shouts to Ronin Studios, Ape Entertainment, and the Wizard World volunteers.

And now, without further adieu, photos…

(click on the photo to link to web gallery)

Photos: All Hallow’s

If we’re going to do fam-theme costumes, the least we can do is make it a cool. Or geeky. Whatever.

So the girl wanted to be Spider-Girl, but the mixing Marvel and DC wasn’t working for me. I had to lobby hard to keep it all Justice League. We watched some cartoons and discussed the merits of Kryptonian heritage. It was difficult, because she really does love Spidey, but in the end she didn’t want to be the only one without a cape…

Halloweensville 07

For most of my adult life Halloween has included three key elements:

1. Drinky
2. Fire
3. Ladies in flirtatious costume

(Yes, that’s Bruce Campbell and Highlander Me. On rare occasions Halloween has included unexpected unqualified coolness).

There are, of course, other benefits. Candy and Jackolanterns, for example, and loads of horror movies and fun parties. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown… And these days there’s something new: theme-night trick-or-treating with the kids. Yes, for the second year in a row, we have a definite theme in mind for our costumes. I may decide to actually post a few photos of the entire fam, if only briefly. This year the theme is sort of mine, so I don’t mind so much, but I doubt the kids will stand for it when they get older. And the wife’s garb does qualify as flirtatious, so…