I Was A Sci-Fi Convention Virgin... A Guest Blog by Tina LoSasso! The Sci-Fi / Fantasy Convention In San Diego - Part 3 Above Photo:  Tina at the Crescent Hall's Program Schedule - Which showcased most of the panels she attended!   Above Photo:  The CONjecture Banner as Seen at the Registration Room.   - Above Photo:  Tina LoSasso holding one of the many books she discovered at the CONjecture 2010 convention! -

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3250:

Today's post is the 3rd in a series of blogs on the recent CONjecture 2010 that was held in San Diego this past weekend, October 1st through 3rd.

My thanks to my wife, Tina LoSasso, who wanted to blog about her experiences at this Sci-Fi / Fantasy Con, the first convention of this genre that she has attended!  Here's Tina's guest blog post:  

I was a Sci-Fi Convention Virgin...Until This Weekend!

This year marked my 10th Anniversary with San Diego Comic Con, but until this weekend I was still a Sci-Fi Con virgin. 

Friday night Michael practically begged me to go with him to Conjecture 2010, a gathering of sci-fi and fantasy fans at a hotel in San Diego. 

Finally, I gave in. As we drove down that morning, I asked him if he would consider this an advance on his Anniversary present. (We celebrate 9 years together next month!)

He didn't exactly accept the offer, but after this guest blog, I think I win!

We spent a slow morning checking out the vendors, some intriguing books and fantasy jewelry, and perusing the art show, (as seen to the left).

(Someone, PLEASE tell me: what's with all the cats in the artwork? There were drawings of cute little kitties, prints of cats in fantasy settings, even textile cats, there were cats in at least one-third of the exhibits! I don't get it: do cats have some significance in Sci-Fi that I'm missing?)

The good news is: I think I now understand what Steampunk is. I know I'm not into it although I dig some of the gadgets. I'm fascinated by anything with clocks and gears, not sure what that means! But the Steampunk look is just too much buttons, lace and granny glasses for me!

The afternoon was taken up by Now That It's Over panels where fans of recently cancelled Sci-fi/fantasy-influenced shows get to gripe about the networks and how the show runners did us wrong. Naturally, this was my favorite part of the day! 

I confess: I led the revolt at the LOST panel.

Kudos to Amy Berner, (pictured in photo), for her bravery in sharing the panel with two obvious non-fans of the show.

Once I couldn't contain myself any longer, (You expected answers, had you actually watched the show before?! No, they were NOT all dead. Weren't you listening when Christian Shepard explained everything to Jack?! What happened to the polar bear? Duh, Sawyer shot it.), the audience kicked in with their theories and insights.

Oh, what fun to talk about the best show of all time again!

Robert J. Sawyer, author of Flash Forward, the inspiration for last season's cancelled show, gave a well-prepared presentation on his involvement with the show. Not having read the book, I'm now itching to check it out.

Sawyer explained what changes the network insisted on to make the concept appealing to American audiences: change the novel's physicists (main character Lloyd Simcoe) and engineers to TV's cops (FBI agents), lawyers (Demetri's financee) and doctors (doctors, doctors!). The other big shift was changing the timing of the Flash Forwards from 20 years in the future to 6 months for the show.

I was fascinated to learn that America's favorite character wasn't Mark Benford played by Joseph Fiennes, but John Cho's Demetri! C'mon, we loved John Cho too, but Benford was the main character and hero of the story!

The Heroes panel was way more fun than Season 3, thanks to Tadao Tomomatsu, (pictured at the left in the photo), who had a bunch of silly stories about appearing on the show.

He also explained something I admit I never knew -- that the original intention was to replace the cast with each new season.

Wow! what a different show that might have been with new characters discovering their powers and how to use them.

Panels for Dollhouse and the new season's Sci-Fi shows, plus a brief but well attended Masquerade rounded out the day for us.

For such a small show, the Masquerade contestants sported some seriously detailed costumes!

I left my first Sci-Fi Con anxious to get my hands on some tapes of Dr. Who and wondering what will be on the agenda next year.

Still don't know what 'filking' is.  But, hey, there's always next year!

~Tina Lo Sasso

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Thanks again, Tina, for sharing your thoughts on your attending your 1st ever Sci-Fi / Fantasy Con here in this blog today! 

(Please note:  Tina's thoughts blogged here are her impressions of what she saw at this con. My thoughts have been posted in the previous two blog posts, Part 1 & Part 2.)

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,245 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 1,950 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet...I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!!

Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below.  

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:   Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013     ComicBooksCircus.com - It's Under The Big Top Of Comics! Click the Above Circus Tent to See Our Current Listings!

My thanks to those of YOU that have read today's blog post! I do appreciate that! For those of you that didn't know me before today... I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 San Diego West Coast Comic Con (SDCC) at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   My wife Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor (dealer) table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! Plus I have a chapter in a new book coming out in December of 2010, that is pictured above, "Gotham City 14 Miles"! You can view our dealer table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link, which takes you to our table named: 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing'.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!     Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'. Please Note: I have reached the maximum of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so it might be a while before I am able to accept your request. Just send a message along with the invite that you saw my Blog!         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

CONjecture 2010! The Sci-Fi / Fantasy Convention In San Diego That Was Held Friday October 1st through Sunday October 3rd at the Town & Country Hotel Resort In Mission Valley Part 2: Panels & Events That We Attended           - - A Guide to the CONjecture 2010 Photos Pictured Here! - Above Photos:  Top - A Steampunk couple who, IMO, should have been in the Masquerade! - Bottom - Tina LoSasso with Amy Berner, who is holding one of her many published books at the CONjecture 2010! - Photos At the Left - Top to Bottom: The Banner for CONjecture 2010 as seen outside the registration room. -  The Dr. Who, New and Old Panel: Marc Biagi, Ronald Oakes, Amy Berner, Neal Hallford and Tadao Tomomatsu. - The Now That It's Over: LOST Panel: Jean Grahm, Amy Berner, and Stephen W Potts. - The Now That It's Over: FlashForward Panel: Marc Biagi & Robert J Sawyer. - The Now That It's Over: Dollhouse Panel:  Marc Biagi, William H Stoaddard, Amy Berner, Hector Reyes, and James Floyd. - The Now That It's Over: Heroes Panel: Tadao Tomomatsu, James Floyd, and Ryan Layton. - The Conventions 101 Panel: Ronald Oakes, Christina B McGuire, Val Ontell, and Chaz Boston-Baden. - The Now That It's Over, What's Next? Panel:  James Floyd & Amy Berner. - The CONjecture 2010 Masquerade: Judges at the Judges Table on Saturday night. - NOTE: Please See the Below Write Ups for Each of the Above Mentioned Panels / Programs!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3249:

Today's blog is a little more in depth about some of the activities and events that Tina and I attended while at the CONjecture 2010. It was held from Friday the 1st of October, through Sunday the 3rd.

I'll be sharing more photos at my Facebook Group Page at Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing in the upcoming days.

Yesterday I shared Tina's and my Top 3 things about this con that we enjoyed the most.

Today I am going to mention most of the panels and events that we attended, of which a few of them made the Top 3 Lists of what we enjoyed most at this con for us.

At the top left column of this blog post, viewing down, from top to bottom in order are:

The Dr. Who, Then and Now Panel: The panelists were very well informed on the subject! Which had to be tough, as the show is the longest running Sci-Fi show in history on TV...(with a gap!).

Marc Biagi, who was the moderator, wants to be the first American to play Dr. Who!  With his great knowledge on the show's history, more power to him!  His factor actor as Dr. Who was Tom Baker.

Neal Hallford's favorite Dr. Who was also Tom Baker.

Tadao Tomomatsu says watching Dr. Who was how he 'learned English'!  He has a great command of the English language plus accents, that's for sure!

Although Tina and I are NOT Dr. Who Fans, we did catch Torchwood, a spinoff from Dr. Who.  Unfortunately for us, when the panel did discuss this series we were elsewhere, as this panel ran over into another panel we were not going to stay for.  The other panel did not take place, so the Dr. Who panel stayed on. 

The Now That It's Over: LOST Panel: This panel was smaller in size in the number of panelists, but not in the number of opinions! However it seemed at times that the panelists were watching three different shows...so Tina stepped in when she disagreed with a panelist's comments.

That's because with the smaller number of those of attendance in the room, those attending had more input than what I've seen at a comic con of larger size. 

Nothing bad about that...Actually it was pretty good.  Even though I had become 'Lost' during the time of Strike in Hollywood, Tina had grown even fonder of this TV Series.  And for her busy schedule, that is saying something!  She read several LOST blogs during the years the show ran on TV, even contributing her own posts to this blog.  That's how interested she was in LOST!

There we started finding that one of the panelists, who we first saw on the Dr. Who panel, had very similar tastes to our own.  That would be Amy Berner, who is shown with Tina near the top right of this blog's photo header section.  

Very entertaining panel discussion and audience input.

Now That It's Over: FlashForward Panel: Tina was more of a fan of this show than I was.  For me it had to do with the Olympics being shown inbetween episodes of the show.

For both Tina and myself, this panel had the best presentation of all the panels / programs that we attended.  The fact that FlashForward's creator, Robert J Sawyer gave the presentation is why. 

In truth it wasn't really a 'panel', nor was it an interview, although there was a moderator, Marc Biagi, who we first saw at the Dr. Who panel. Instead it was basically the Guest of Honor, Robert, outlining exactly what he wanted to present to the audience.

There were only a few minutes of derailment, when one attendee would ask drawn out questions, but other than that, the presentation was put forward and wrapped up by the time the hour was over.

Now That It's Over: Dollhouse Panel:  This hour covered a lot of ground by the panelists.  Yes, all of the panelists were Whedon Fans, but even Amy Berner stated that Dollhouse was the weakest of Whedon four properties that have made to TV.  She was shocked when it got a 2nd Season!

William H Stoaddard stated that the show was a "totally brilliant failure", and that Season One was a 'formulaic action adventure".

James Floyd kind of put it all in perspective with his thought of what probably went through the minds of those producing the show: "Crap! We got a second season...What do we do?!!

Now That It's Over: Heroes Panel: Tina stayed for this one, while I went on to another panel. Tina really enjoyed this panel, basically because Tadao Tomomatsu shared a lot of what went on at the Heroes set.

That's because Tadao was an actor on the series! His behind the scenes accounts were really vivid.  I'm sorry I missed this panel!

The Conventions 101 Panel:  Instead, I went to this panel, which was running at the same time.

Years ago I decided to 'specialize' in what kind of conventions I wanted to go to, because I was a high school / college student. Conventions were really starting to come into being for comics in the late 1960's, and quite honestly, comics became my collecting interest.  True, I read Lord of the Rings, Heinlein, Bradbury and other sci-fi / fantasy books, but comics were my main collecting interest.  Besides, I could always 'taste' some sci-fi at sci-fi programs at those early comic cons.

So I wanted to see what I had missed out on, as the program guide stated it would be about the history of conventions and discussion on various local, regional and travelling cons.

And that it was!  The panelists were definitely qualified to talk about the panel's topic!

Ronald Oakes worked on Chicago cons, including Chi-Con 7, and World Con boards.  Christian started working on LOSCon in the mid 1980's (14 & 15), after starting with gaming cons in the early 1980's.   Val Ontel, who was the Chair of CONjecture 2010, started in 1974 with the Star Trek Con in NYC. Chaz has worked in multiple departments at different cons, including the daily newsletters, registration, con suites, etc.

The earliest known history of the convention scene was in the 1930's where both London and Philadelphia vie for having the first sci-fi con.

The sci-fi con really hit the big time with the 1939 New York Con, and in 1940 with the ChicCon.  Then there were a few years off for WWII.

World Con is the longest continually running con, with the MidWest Con being the 2nd longest running.  WesterCon is the 3rd longest running con.

There is a LOT of activity in Southern California for cons now! The Gaslight con is May 6th - 8th.  CONjecture 2011 will be held with dates TBD.  Condor Con is in February of 2011.  Anime-Conji was a success in San Diego in 2010, so there will be another in March of 2011, (March 25-27th). World Fantasy is being held October 27th-30th. That is where authors and publishers get together with large amounts of books for autograph sessions.

More cons were mentioned, but I have only so much space in this post, and time to allow for one post...

The Now That It's Over: What's Next? Panel: This panel had two well informed panelists and a small group in attendance. So it was perfect to have a Q&A between the panelists and the attendees.

As mentioned earlier, Tina and I realized we had similar tastes to what Amy Berner was watching, so I took a lot of notes for us to follow up on.  James is the Vice President of 'Star Force' - a Star Wars Club in San Diego.

What's their top choices to watch on TV right now?

Amy: #1 - Fringe now in its 3rd season. #2 Caprica - in its 1/2 season.  Plus tied with Caprica as #2 would be Supernaturals now in its 6th season.  Amy hopes that this new season can keep up the quality of the earlier seasons. 

James: #1 - Warehouse 13!  #2 - The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network now in its 3rd season. 

New shows we should be watching:  Amy: The Event. James: Futurama!

Both Amy and James also mentioned that 'V' is one that we should be watching, (which we do), but it hasn't come back yet for its 2nd Season.

Genre show Not living up to its promise:  They both picked Stargate. (Interesting...)

Too early to call it:  Amy: No Ordinary Family - "didn't blow me away...Can I keep watching this?!"

Couldn't get into it:  Both Amy and James:  Smallville!

Show to avoid:  Both:  Ghost Hunters!

Other shows worth mentioning:  Amy: The Cape looks interesting.  James: Leverage on TNT - but its not a sci-fi genre show, but really enjoying it.

As I said...a LOT was covered in this panel!  Thanks Amy and James for your opinions of the TV Shows!  Most we are already watching, but we are ging to catch up on ones we don't and you suggested!

The 2010 CONjecture Masquerade:  This show, like several other programs and events didn't start exactly on time.  However, the M.C. of the show, Tadao Tomomatsu made the show worth waiting for! 

Besides being knowledgeable in several sci-fi shows, he is a very funny guy!  Perfect choice for a M.C.!   

The CONjecture had as of Saturday mid afternoon, over 300 paying attendees.  So I wasn't expecting that many contestants in the Masquerade.  There wasn't...Only a half dozen!  But it was fun! Plus the fact that we didn't have to wait for 3 - 4 hours just to get in like we do aat the SDCC.  Which is why we have stopped attending that Comic-Con International Masquerade...

Tadao was fun to watch and listen to.  The six entries were fun to watch, and then Intermission hit, while the Judges made their Judge's Decision.  BTW, the fact that audience had a say in the results for two awards was great!

However...partway into the Intermission's program, Tina and I looked at each other.  There had been a warning that the Intermission's program was not suitable for young children. We soon found out why.  It was a lip-synching re-enactment spectacle to a movie being shown from Lionsgate.  A HoRRoR film, that if I had known what it was, I wouldn't have bothered to stay into Intermission. 

Tina is NOT a HoRRoR fan.  Which is why she doesn't bother reading HoRRoR graphic novels / comics, nor does she attend HoRRoR films or HoRRoR panels at comic cons.  I respect that, and quite honestly, the program being presented during Intermission wasn't to my taste either.  I do sell HoRRoR / MoNSTer comics and graphic novels, but I leave the most graphic ones off our online store for the most part.  Thus before the program finished...We left.

Unfortunately nothing else was happening during the Masquerade's Intermission that we wanted to stay for.  We did drift back near the room to see who won the Masquerade's three awards.

But we left soon after...with a bad taste in our mouths after a really good day at CONjecture 2010.  A shame, as it was Tina's 1st Sci-Fi Con, and a new one for me after years of not attending any...

However, in general, we did have fun at this sci-fi / fantasy con for most of the day / evening... I'm not going to let the Intermission spoil my memories of the CONjecture 2010, but it would have been better to leave on a higher note...

Our thanks again to Mysterious Galaxy (MG) bookstore for sending us a Facebook Event Invite to check out this event. MG is our favorite Independent Book Store in the San Diego area!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,245 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below.  

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:   Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013     ComicBooksCircus.com - It's Under The Big Top Of Comics! Click the Above Circus Tent to See Our Current Listings!

My thanks to those of YOU that have read today's blog post! I do appreciate that! For those of you that didn't know me before today... I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 San Diego West Coast Comic Con (SDCC) at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   My wife Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor (dealer) table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! Plus I have a chapter in a new book coming out in December of 2010, that is pictured above, "Gotham City 14 Miles"! You can view our dealer table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link, which takes you to our table named: 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing'.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!     Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'. Please Note: I have reached the maximum of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so it might be a while before I am able to accept your request. Just send a message along with the invite that you saw my Blog!         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

CONjecture 2010! The Sci-Fi / Fantasy Convention In San Diego! Friday October 1st through Sunday October 3rd at the Town & Country Hotel Resort In Mission Valley Part 1           - Above Photos:  Top - Michael D Hamersky outside of the Registration Room. - Bottom - Guest of Honor at the CONjecture 2010, Robert J Sawyer, with Michael! - Photos At the Left - Top to Bottom: The Banner for CONjecture 2010. -  Tina LoSasso holding the book 'FlashForward' by Robert J Sawyer. Yes, the Book that the TV Series was based on! As seen at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore table! - Tina with Theresa M Moore, author of the Children of the Dragon series. - Michael with the owners of Lunasea Studios, who bring you 'Little Vampires' and a comic book series titled: 'Project Elohim' - The only comic books I found at this Sci-Fi / Fantasy Con! - Tina with Amy Berner, who was on many CONjecture panels yesterday.  Tina enjoyed talking with her about the 'LOST' Panel and will check out her 'Getting Lost' book! - Tina in the dealers room, where we found a table with many t-shirts, including the one Tina is holding 'The World of Lovecraft', (pun intended!). You can find this and other items at the web site that Jane & Scott Dennis run: www.fopaws.com. - Michael with Nancy Holder, author of Crusade and co-author of the 'Wicked' series of books. - Tina and Michael at the Anime-Film Room, before it opened. - Tina at the 'Dr. Who, New and Old' panel. The panelists were Marc Biagi, Ronald Oakes, Amy Berner, Neal Hallford, and Tadao Tomomatsu.

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3248:

Just a quick note today to let YOU know that if you are in the San Diego Metro Area today, Sunday, October 3rd, that it is the LAST Day of the CONjecture 2010 being held in the Mission Valley Area!

Above are just some of the 175 photos I snapped yesterday at this con, with notations of who the people are...

I'll be sharing more of those pics in Part 2 of this blog series, as well as at my Facebook Group Page at Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing in the upcoming days.

The show ends today, starting at 9AM and ending at approximately 6:30 PM.  Sunday's admission price is less because it is a shorter day than Friday or Saturday.

Here are the 3 favorite things that Tina and I enjoyed seeing yesterday:

Tina: #1 - The Now That's It's Over: FlashForward panel - moderated by Marc Biagi and featuring the Guest of Honor, Robert J Sawyer.

#2 - The Now That It's Over: Heroes panel, featuring Ryan Layton, James Floyd and Tadao Tomomatsu.  Tina was intrigued by the stories that Tadao told, as he was actually on the TV Show and shared several behind the scenes tales!

#3 - The Now That It's Over: 'LOST' Panel. She enjoyed the discourse between the panelists, Jean Grahm, Amy Berner (pictured above with Tina), and Stephen W Potts with the audience.

Michael's Top 3 things:

#1 - The Now That It's Over: FlashForward panel, as mentioned in Tina's #1 choice.

#2 - The networking with Amy Berner, who seemed to enjoy at least 90% of the same TV shows that Tina and I watch!  All 4 of the panels that Amy was on yesterday were panels that we attended!

#3 - Watching Tina's reactions to HER 1st true Sci-Fi / Fantasy Con!  She has attended many comic cons and pop culture cons since we married in 2001, but never a con of this genre.  She notice a 'world' of difference there! 

Here's the link to the event on Facebook so you can see what is happening today!

We will not be attending today's Final Day...

Thanks again to Mysterious Galaxy (MG) bookstore for sending us a Facebook Event Invite to check out this event. MG is our favorite Independent Book Store in the San Diego area!

And thanks to staff at the CONjecture 2010 for making our attending a memorable one!  I'm glad that my wife Tina was able to attend her 1st Sci-Fi con! 

---------------------------

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,245 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below.  

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:   Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013     ComicBooksCircus.com - It's Under The Big Top Of Comics! Click the Above Circus Tent to See Our Current Listings!

My thanks to those of YOU that have read today's blog post! I do appreciate that! For those of you that didn't know me before today... I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 San Diego West Coast Comic Con (SDCC) at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   My wife Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor (dealer) table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! Plus I have a chapter in a new book coming out in December of 2010, that is pictured above, "Gotham City 14 Miles"! You can view our dealer table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link, which takes you to our table named: 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing'.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!     Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'. Please Note: I have reached the maximum of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so it might be a while before I am able to accept your request. Just send a message along with the invite that you saw my Blog!         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

Holy Road Maps! 'Gotham City 14 Miles' Is Now Ready For Pre-Order @ Your LCBS!       -------------- Above Top Photo: This is the Week that YOU Can Start Pre-Ordering Gotham City 14 Miles from YOUR LCBS! At the Top Left: The last time I saw Adam West (Batman) was at the April 2010 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con! At the Bottom Left: Burt Ward (Robin) was also at the 2010 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Book Convention!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3247:

Holy Roadmaps!  It's True!

This is the week that YOU can start pre-ordering YOUR copy of the upcoming book, 'Gotham City 14 Miles' at YOUR Local Comic Book Shop, (LCBS)!

I've been blogging about this book now for what seems quite a while...(Click here for the almost 500 links on Google!)

That's because 1 of the 14 Essays, (Mile Markers), being printed in the book is mine! (Mile Marker #10!)

So the Editor of this book, Jim Beard, started posting recently that pre-orders can be made at your LCBS starting this week using the Diamond Distributors Previews magazine.  It's easy to do, if you have a LCBS near you.  If not...then I suggest you check out the Facebook Fan Page for Gotham City 14 Miles to see how you can do so...PLUS be interactive with others who are excited this book is finally coming to press!

Matter of fact, there have been several write-ups already this week, and several people have forwarded them on to me.

Below is just one that seemed to make a big stir, so I am just posting the first paragraph of it here, with a link for YOU to read the full article from the Toledo Free Press. Written by Jeff McGinnis:

 “Biff! Bang! Pow!”  So read the screen as the Caped Crusader struck a blow for justice against an evil villain and his henchmen. For an entire generation of fans, those words and others would forever be connected to Batman, thanks to his wildly popular 1960s television incarnation." (For the rest of this great article, click here...)

I have already mentioned my multiple 'plugs' for this book, so I'll just leave you to your own devices to check out the links here that can be found on Google.  As you can see, my earlier blogs have been picked up by multiple re-posters.

So I'll leave with you something new this blog post...Here's the 'Table of Contents':

Mile Marker No. 1: “Bats in Their Belfries — The Proliferation of ‘Batmania’” by Robert Greenberger. Covers the genesis of the show and the explosion of Batmania.

Mile Marker No. 2: “Batman — From Comics Page to TV Screen” by Peter Sanderson. Delves deep into “Batman’s” comic book roots.

Mile Marker No. 3: “Such a Character — A Dissection and Examination of Two Sub-Species of Chiroptera homo sapiens” by Jim Beard.

Mile Marker No. 4: “Notes on Bat-Camp” by Tim Callahan. An effort to answer that age-old question: “Was ‘Batman’ truly camp?”

Mile Marker No. 5: “Aunt Harriet’s Film Decency League” by Becky Beard.

Mile Marker No. 6: “POW! – Batman’s Visual Punch” by Bill Walko. Looks into the impact of the show’s vibrant visual design.

Mile Marker No. 7: “Known Super-Criminals Still at Large” by Chuck Dixon. Compares and contrasts TV versions with comic book portrayals.

Mile Marker No. 8: “May I Have This Batdance?” by Michael S. Miller.

Mile Marker No. 9: “The Best Dressed Women in Gotham City” by Jennifer K. Stuller. Presents a compelling argument for its female denizens and their place in “Batman.”

Mile Marker No. 10: “Holy Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor!” by Michael D Hamersky. Addresses the topic of youth culture as presented in “Batman.”

Mile Marker No. 11: “Gotham City R&D” by Michael Johnson.

Mile Marker No. 12: “Theatre of the Absurd – ‘Batman: The Movie, 1966’” by Rob Weiner. Rolls film on the 1966 feature film.

Mile Marker No. 13: “Jumping the Bat-Shark” by William Patrick Murray. Delves into the third season of “Batman.”

Mile Marker No. 14: “Some Days You Just Can’t Get Rid of a Bomb” by Paul Kupperberg. The legacy beyond its original broadcast.

Afterword by Jeff Rovin, co-author of Adam West’s “Back to the Batcave,” offers a few personal anecdotes about the show and working with West.

Episode Guide by Joe Berenato. A rundown of episodes, with airdates and fun facts.

Again, when YOU go to your LCBS, or tell your friends that this is what you want for the upcoming Holiday Season...This is the info that you will need to tell the LCBS that you want to pre-order!

Gotham City 14 Miles / ISBN 9780578064611 / $22.95 MSRP

Of course I'll let you know more as the weeks go on about this book.  Heck, I'm anxiously awaiting for my copy to arrive!

In the meantime please feel free to check out the Facebook Fan Page for Gotham City 14 Miles and 'liking' it!

Thanks again to Jim Beard, my Editor, for asking me to participate in this enterprise of his back in 2009!

PLUS...My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,245 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  I would appreciate that!

Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below.  

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:   Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013     ComicBooksCircus.com - It's Under The Big Top Of Comics! Click the Above Circus Tent to See Our Current Listings!

My thanks to those of YOU that have read today's blog post! I do appreciate that! For those of you that didn't know me before today... I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 San Diego West Coast Comic Con (SDCC) at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   My wife Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor (dealer) table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our dealer table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link, which takes you to our table named: 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing'.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!     Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'. I am reaching the maximum of 5,000 Facebook Friends soon, and I don't want YOU to be left out!         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

My 'Take' On: HTown #1  The Wondercon 2010 Special Preview Edition - By Angel, Perguidi & Palmiotti As Seen at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International!     - Above Photo:  The Front Cover to the Special WonderCon 2010 Edition of HTown #1! - At the Top Left: Christopher Perguidi holds the Special Edition at the SDCC! - At the Bottom Left: The Logo for the Comic Con International: San Diego - a.k.a. San Diego Comic Con 2010.

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3246:

Today's post is once again on another publication that I 'found' at the recent SDCCI, back at the end of July of this year. What a great place to celebrate my Birthday Week!

Here is what the the creators of the comic book have to say about it on their web site:

"Watch out world! The secret's out. Hitler creates superhuman beings to gain world domination. The whole world finds out and create their own. A fun filled adventure brought to you by Chris Perguidi and Allan Angel. First Printing 2010. Written by Chris Perguidi. Pencils by Allan Angel and Chris Perguidi."

Inks by Peter Palmiotti and Allan Angel

Color Cover. B/W interiors. 28 pages.

Price: Sold Out Shipping: Sold Out.

Sounded like an interesting concept...Here is 'My Take' on the special WonderCon 2010 Edition of HTown #1, which although is technically 'Sold Out', I have a special announcement about this comic book near the end of the review:

Front Cover - A full color comic book cover with loads of characters on it!  Looks like a 'period piece'. This is an 'inviting cover' asking a casual browser at a LCBS to pick it up and browse it...

Inside Cover - Gives the Credits to the those that worked on the Preview issue, along with the web site to go to for more info, and possible purchase option.  Okay start so far...

The first page - Not a 'Splash Page' - as it starts with the action right away.  I note that it is in black & white for the interior pages.

It is a total of 24 pages with action, action, action!  Plus a storyline that can be followed, even with all of the multiple characters in the pages!

BTW, there actually was a 'splash page', a 2-page spread on pages 2 &3.  A really 'Nice' double page spread!  Definitely made me want to read more!

The inside back cover was a full page ad for writer Chris Perguidi's 'The Lizard Zone', which appears to be a pop culture show airing in Gilroy.  I didn't check that out further..

The back cover was the Ka-Blam! printers ad.  Which I see a lot in other self-published comics that are either given to me at comic cons or sent in for possible review...Another good print job from Ka-Blam!  As mentioned above, the interior pages are black & white, with color covers on the outside only.

I found this Preview Comic to do exactly what preview comics are meant to do...Interest the casual browser at a LCBS enough to make them want to be a reader by purchasing it right then and there.

The storyline was one I enjoyed.  But then again I liked the 'Invaders' series from Marvel Comics, the old 'Blackhawks' from DC Comics.  I'm not comparing this series to those. Just letting you know my tastes in period pieces.

The layouts of the panels was fine. Which is hard to do with that many characters to include.  Check out some of the Avengers, or JLA comics for comparison. 

The pencils / inks  were also fine.  This was a well put together presentation.  The only thing missing in a comic book like this was the lack of color.  But then again this is a 'Special Preview' at a reasonable cover price. 

My comic book grade for this publication is a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT, (VF/NM) 9.0 on a 10.0 grading scale.

That's because I truly felt that this comic book would have made a better presentation to the general comic reading public had it been printed in full color...

Well, here's my announcement that I mentioned at the start of this blog post. 

Yes, the preview comic I read and reviewed here is 'Sold Out'. 

However there is a full color comic book that is being released on October 15th, as seen at this link. 

I have not read the comic book in color, nor have I seen the additional pages in this new version. 

However, I did want YOU to be aware that you can pre-order it now!

Also, if YOU are in the SoCal area, AND are attending the upcoming Long Beach Comic Con (LBCC) during the Halloween Weekend, HTown will be for sale there also.  So there's no excuse for missing this #1 regular version comic book!

Thanks again, Chris, for sharing your time with me at the recent San Diego Comic Con International, AND for bringing this comic book to my attention again in time for my blog readers to pre-order and / or attend the LBCC to buy a copy from you!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,240 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 1,950 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet...I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!!

Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below.  

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:   Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013     ComicBooksCircus.com - It's Under The Big Top Of Comics! Click the Above Circus Tent to See Our Current Listings!

My thanks to those of YOU that have read today's blog post! I do appreciate that! For those of you that didn't know me before today... I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 San Diego West Coast Comic Con (SDCC) at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   My wife Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor (dealer) table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! Plus I have a chapter in a new book coming out in December of 2010, that is pictured above, "Gotham City 14 Miles"! You can view our dealer table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link, which takes you to our table named: 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing'.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!     Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'. Please Note: I have reached the maximum of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so it might be a while before I am able to accept your request. Just send a message along with the invite that you saw my Blog!         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.