Celebrating Captain Rochester At The 2010 Comic-Con International Part 2! Another Look At An Off-Site 2010 Comic-Con Party!   ---------- ---------- Above Uppermost Photo: George Karalias Cutting the Captain Rochester Cake! ---------- Above Top Photo: The Captain Rochester Cake As Seen Before the Cutting! At the Top Left: The Front of the Palm Restaurant in Downtown San Diego! 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 #3208:

Today's post is a continuation from my youngest son's blog post on Monday, July 26th, after we ended our five days attendance at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.  Vinie's earlier blog post, 'Celebrating Captain Rochester at Comic-Con - From a Tween's POV' told the story from his point of view.  

Today, I'm going to add just a little more text, and a lot more photos from the event we were invited to. Plus a link to where YOU can see and purchase the Captain Rochester items that Vinnie and I have discussed in the two posts.

First of all...Tina and I were invited to this Offsite Comic-Con Party by George Karalias of Rochester Electronics.  I had blogged about the promotional comics that Rochester Electronics had published after seeing my Facebook Friend, Scott Shaw!, at the 2010 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con with the 2nd issue.

Scott had illustrated issue #2 in this series, and was selling them at his table in Artists Alley at Wizard World. I enjoy seeing Scott's artwork, and enjoyed the storyline as well.  Thus my blog post about seeing issue #2 at Scott's table as seen here.

Well...George Karalias saw my interest in this series, and sent me a copy of issue #1.  I then did a joint review blog on both issues in this blog post here.  As you can see after reading both of the blogs about Captain Rochester, this is a great concept using 'promotional comic books' that too often nowadays is overlooked!

So anyways...I was pleased to see an invite in the mail to myself to attend the Second Annual Captain Rochester Artists Appreciation Dinner Party.  I knew my wife Tina LoSasso would love to attend, but we were bringing my youngest son this year to Comic-Con all 5 days / nights.  Turned out that George was fine in accepting Vinnie to attend, especially as he was going to be picture taking, as well as myself!

As you will see in the photos below, a Great Time was had by all that attended!  Can you figure who they all are?  Here's some help in identifying them:

Card Set 1 Artists
Jack Davis	Keith Knight	Gary Fields
Gene Colan	Mort Drucker	Willie Ito
Stan Sakai	Paul Gerrish	Segio Aragones
Floyd Norman	Doug Gray	Stephanie Buscema
Fred Hembeck	Chris Gerrish	Chris Wisnia
Mike Gray	Al Jaffee	Scott Shaw
Art Baltazar	Dan Parent	Grace Gerrish
Rich Koslowski	George Karalias	Batton Lash
Bobby London	Peter Bagge	Mike Kazaleh
Gordon Kent	Paul Power	Daxiong
Dave Alvarez	Jon Murakami	Bob Foster
B.K. Taylor
Card Set 2 Artists
Sergio Aragones	Jeff Keane	Dean Yeagle
Tom Richmond	Jack Katz	Brent Anderson
Ken Stacey	Garrett Ho	Chari Pere
Dave Bennett	Steve Rude	Jim MacQuarrie
Art Baltazar	Dan Nakrosis	Stephen Silver
Jerry Eisenberg	Tone Rodriguez	Rick Detorie
Batton Lash	Scott Shaw	Dave Alvarez
Scott Jeralds	David Coulson	Jon Murakami
Tracy Buck	Stephen Notley	Rick Geary
Jim Mahfood	Tom Luth	Leo Leibelman
Todd Kurosawa	Doug McCoy	Hy Eisman
Gary Owens

Here's the start of the photos (reduced in size to fit):

Well...I hope YOU had fun identifying the above persons that were just part of the many that were there at this celebration party!  And no, I didn't score a 100% either in identifying them all!

You should check the Captain Rochester Facebook Fan Page for additional photos I have sent in to George, and also the CaptainRochester.com web site where YOU can order the comic book issues of Captain Rochester, PLUS the New Trading Card Sets and Sheets that were unveiled at the Party!

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

Again, My Thanks to George Karalias of Rochester Electronics for bringing the latest news of Captain Rochester to us, and for inviting us to cover the Second Annual Captain Rochester Artists Appreciation Dinner Party!  We truly enjoyed it!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,205 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)! 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:  The Best Of Simon And Kirby From Titan Books! As Seen At The San Diego Comic-Con International  2010!     -- ---------- Above Uppermost Photo: Michael D Hamersky and Steve Saffel In the Titan Books Booth at 2010 SDCC! ---------- Above Top Photo: Steve Saffel Showing The Next Simon & Kirby Book: 'The Simon And Kirby Superheroes' to Those In the Audience at the Jack Kirby Annual Tribute Moderated by Mark Evanier! At the Top Left: The Front Cover to the Book Reviewed Here Today! 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 #3207:

Today's post is almost a continuation from yesterday's blog post when my wife, Tina LoSasso, guest blogged.  That's because while Tina and I were at the Titan Books Booth on the last day of the Comic-Con, I met up with another of my Facebook Friends, Steve Saffel.

Steve is an Editor with Titan Books, and I had seen him earlier at the Annual Jack Kirby Tribute.  Mark Evanier, the moderator of the panel, had asked Steve to come up and talk about Titan Book's next book, 'The Simon And Kirby Superheroes'.  A picture from that panel is shown at the top right of this post.

Steve mentioned to me that the series of books that Titan was starting to publish would be several volumes.  I had heard about the first book, but had not yet read it.

You see, when I was first starting to read comics, I started with 'funnybooks' and then TV Westerns as I have blogged about before. Slowly other genres came into my reading habits. 

It wasn't until Journey Into Mystery #72, (Sept 1961), with art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, and written by Stan Lee, that I realized that there were actual people that illustrated and wrote these comics!  That's how BIG of an impression that Jack Kirby made on me.  That's the first comic that I remember reading and then wanting to 'collect' comics.

By that time the comics 'team' was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, as the earlier team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had ended.

It wasn't until Marvel Comics started reprinting some of the earlier classics in 'Fantasy Masterpieces' that I realized that 'Marvel' had existed before the 1950's!

You see, there were only spinner racks in the 'Good Old Days' when I grew up!  Comic Book Shops per se, had not truly come into existence in the early 1960's...  There were a couple of early shops, but those were in sections of used book stores, etc.

So, it wasn't until the beginning of Fandom, and books like this one came into print that I was able to read about the early history of comics, and of those that were the comic book creators...

Here is 'My Take' on this book that Steve brought to my attention, with a little bit of promo blurbs first:  

The Best Of Simon and Kirby 

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Titan Books (May 12, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1845769317
ISBN-13: 978-1845769314
Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.4 x 1 inches

"A collection of complete comic book stories from the legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, covering every genre in which they made their mark.
 

From the very beginning in the late 1930s, Simon and Kirby produced the finest stories around, creating dramatic new super heroes (Captain America, Blue Bolt, Fighting American, The Fly), western action (Boys Ranch), gruesome horror (Black Magic), explosive detective fiction (Justice Traps the Guilty), and the very first romance comics (Young Romance). They were the dream team.

This is the only edition authorised by both Joe Simon and the estate of Jack Kirby; each story is hand-picked by Joe Simon himself."

As stated at the beginning of this review, I wasn't all that familar with the works of Simon and Kirby when I first started reading comics.  In fact Simon and Kirby were working individually when I actually started 'collecting' comics.  Thus I missed out on a lot of these tales told in different comics for different publishers.

I mentioned that I saw this book series being publicized at Mark Evanier's Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel.  I have attend all of them conducted at the San Diego Comic Con International since he started them the year of Jack's passing.  So for anyone to write an introduction to each one of the chapters presented in this book...Well, Mark would be the one to do so.

What I mean by 'chapters' is this.  Each chapter is on a different genre of comics that either Joe Simon or Jack Kirby was involved in individually, or as the team of Simon and Kirby.

The chapters / genres cover include: The Heroes, Way Out Science Fiction, War And Adventure, The Birth of Romance, Crime Drama, The Great Western, Oh! The HoRRoR, and 'Sick' Humor. Each of those chapters could have been expanded into a book themselves!

Which is what I understand that this series will / would do, depending on reception by the intended audience and sales. I for one enjoyed each of the chapters presented in this book. This is not my 'normal' review as it isn't a 'comic book' or a 'graphic novel' that I'm reviewing today.  It's more like a 'coffee table book' that could reach more than its limited target market.

I for one enjoyed reading this compilation of 'The Best' of Simon and Kirby. I'm not the only one... 

There was also news recently that 'The Best of Simon & Kirby' has received two Harvey Award nominations for BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT and BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION!

Here is editor Steve Saffel's reaction on hearing the news:

"It's been an amazing year for The Best of Simon and Kirby. First we were nominated for the Eisner Award--in essence, the Oscars of the comics industry, awarded at the San Diego ComicCon International. And now we've been nominated in two categories of the Harvey Awards--"Best Domestic Reprint Project" and "Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation." If the Eisners are the Oscars, then I suppose the Harveys are the Emmys (or maybe the BAFTA Awards). We're in the company of giants--Harvey Kurtzman, Alex Raymond, Art Spiegelman, and more. There's no way to predict what's going to happen, but it's an amazing journey along the way!"

So this book has achieved the critical acclaim it so richly desrves!

Now all it needs is the 'popular' acclaim and sales figures to match...

I'm giving this book a NEAR MINT (NM) 9.4 out of a 10.0 grading scale.  Even though it isn't a comic book or graphic novel!

The presentation of just the cream of the crop in each of the comics genres published is done very well in this oversized book.  The intros to each chapter by Mark Evanier are an added plus.  Kudos to all who had a hand in getting this book published!

Please note that the features presented in this book cover a long range of publishing dates, from August 1940 to February of 1966.  Thus this is just a preview of the works of Simon and Kirby, b oth individually and as a team.

The added feature 'A Simon And Kirby Checklist' starting on page 238 ends the book.  Another added Plus!

Oh, and I did say there was another book coming out soon, right?!

At the Comic-Con there were "signed advance copies of the gorgeous SIMON AND KIRBY SUPERHEROES! With a specially designed bookplate featuring Fighting American and Speedboy, these copies are signed by Joe Simon himself; plus a limited number are also signed by Neil Gaiman, who provided the introduction to the book, giving fans two autographs for the price of one! Outside of their work for Marvel and DC, this hardback compendium features all of the duo’s finest superhero stories and characters, including Fighting American, The Fly, Lancelot Strong and The Stuntman, fully restored to their original glory". 
 

This is not a review of the second book, but since I have your attention...Here's just a teaser of what it is about:

"Beginning with Blue Bolt in June, 1940, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby set the standard for costumed heroes. Their creation Captain America, remains one of the most famous heroes in comic book history, and their work for Timely and DC Comics raised the bar.

This volume introduces some of their most exciting characters: Fighting American, their cold-war take on the patriotic hero, The Fly, with origins in an unknown Spider-Man prototype, Lancelot Strong, the man with the double life, and the Hollywood swashbuckler known as Stuntman.

This is the only edition authorized by both Joe Simon and the estate of Jack Kirby, gathered from the official Simon and Kirby archives."

Product Details
ISBN: 9781848563650 Dimensions: 7 1/2” x 11” Hardback: 480pp Publication date: Oct. 12, 2010

All authors:
Jack Kirby, Joe Simon

This is definitely something to look forward to!  You might want to ask for either one of these two books as a gift for the Holidays Gift Giving Season in 2010!

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

Thanks Steve for bringing this book to my attention at Comic-Con!  For more on this book and others that Titan Publishing is printing in the near future please check out their web site at TitanBooks.com. Plus they have a Facebook Fan Page at Titan Books! For the individual listing for 'The Best of Simon and Kirby' click here. For more info on the upcoming book 'The Simon and Kirby Superheroes' book click here.

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,205 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)! 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.

 

Tina's 'Take' On:  Torchwood #1 With SDCC Variant Cover As Seen At The San Diego Comic-Con 2010!     ---------- Above Photo: Tina LoSasso In Front of the Torchwood #1 Comic Book Poster In the Titan Books Booth at 2010 SDCC! At the Top Left: The Front Cover to The SDCC Exclusive Variant Cover to Torchwood #1 - Illustrated by Ian Churchill! 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 #3206:

Today's post is guest blogged by my wife, Tina LoSasso, who attended her 10th San Diego Comic-Con International this year! 

Review: “Torchwood” Comic Expands Storylines from the Wild & Crazy BBC Sci-Fi Series

Michael and I had the pleasure of meeting several representatives from Titan Publishing at San Diego Comic-Con 2010. They gave us a review copy of Torchwood #1 (Sept 2010) for mention in our Blog. If you’re a fan of the show, you’re going to want to get yours, and you have four covers to choose from.

We discovered the “Torchwood” series on DVD this summer. In fact, when I finish writing this for Michael to post in the morning, we’re going to finish Season 3: Children of Earth. And to anyone else who’s seen it – yeah, I know – I can’t believe we were able to tear ourselves away from it! I can’t wait, so here we go – forgive the typos…

Torchwood #1 contains two separate stories. The first (The Selkie) is inclusive while the second (Broken) is part 1 of 5. The copy we read has a really cool San Diego Comic Con exclusive “sketch” cover with realistic representations of Jack, Gwen and Ianto among the rubble of the destroyed Hub. 

Fans of the series will appreciate the involvement of John Barrowman (Capt Jack Harkness) in the comic. Barrowman wrote a special foreword explaining how the comic grew out of his meeting artists Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring at San Diego Comic-Con 2008. ‘The Selkie’ story is written by Barrowman and his sister, Carole E. Barrowman.

The self-contained ‘Selkie’ reveals a little more of Jack’s mysterious history. OK – we still don’t know why he can’t die, but we do learn a little bit about what he did before Torchwood. We also see Jack on his own without his team – outside of Cardiff. It’s different and somewhat interesting.

‘Broken’ feels like an episode of the TV series. It has it all: the team, the bantering, the mystery, the Rift, - why you’ll even see a sinister character from seasons past.  I admit I loved everything about it, except the artwork style. I’m just not a fan of this style. But that won’t stop me from getting my hands on the next issue as soon as it’s out!

On a comic book grading scale of 10, I give Torchwood #1: 9.2 (Near Mint Minus)

Michael still needs to read it, but once he does, look for Torchwood #1 – and a bunch of other cool sci-fi comics in our online store. That’s if he can part with it!

Time to finish watching Torchwood: Children of the Earth!

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

Thanks Tina for guest blogging here today, and giving us your thoughts on this comic book with one of the four variant covers that is being printed!  For more on this comic book and others that Titan Publishing is printing in the near future please check out their web site at TitanBooks.com. Plus they have a Facebook Fan Page at Titan Books!

And my personal thanks to Kristen Funk of Titan Publishing Group LTD for bringing this comic book to our attention!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,205 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)! 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.

 

Vinnie's 'Take' On:  Berona's War Preview Book As Seen In The Archaia Booth At San Diego Comic-Con International 2010!       -------------- ---------- Above Topmost Photo: Vinnie along with Anthony Coffey and Jesse Labbé at their table in the Archaia booth! Directly Above: Vinnie at one of the Exhibit Hall doors eager to get back in! At the Top Left: The Front Cover to 'Berona's War Preview Book'! 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 #3205:

Today's post is guest blogged by my youngest son, who attended all five days of the Comic-Con this year with us!

'My Take' On Berona's War Preview Book - by Vinnie 

This is my review of the Berona's War Preview Book which was one of the comics that my dad and I picked up at the San Diego Comic Con. It is published by Archaia Comics, and was created by Anthony Coffey and Jesse Labbé. Both, Anthony and Jesse, did part of the art and part of the story, but Anthony did the cover art (As stated in the credits on the Inside Front Cover.)

Here is what the book's promb blurb states the publication is to be about:

48 Pages
$3.95 US

Berona’s War Preview Book

"The BERONA’S WAR PREVIEW BOOK serves as an introduction to the upcoming hardcover releases BERONA’S WAR: FIELD GUIDE and BERONA’S WAR: FIGHT FOR AMITY, a pair of books introducing some of the wackiest, most violence-prone characters since “Spy Vs. Spy” and classic Looney Tunes! The PREVIEW features descriptions of each book, a rundown of key players in the war, three short stores and several pages of concept sketches and ideas."

Below are my thoughts about each part of the comic:

Front Cover: I liked the front cover art, because it shows two of the characters in the Berona's War series. It shows the "new-ish" looking drawing style while it shows old style of equipment, and creatures, so it is really fun to look at.

Inside Front Cover: The inside front cover has the title, credits, and publishing information. It also has Archaia's website as well as the address. It also states the "workforce" at Archaia including the President of the company, all the way to the interns, making sure almost everyone has some credit for being in that company.

Splash Page: The splash page gives interesting information, both about the book and human nature. It talks about why someone would pick up this book, and all sorts of other things.

Interior Pages: The interior pages, obviously contain the story which is illustrated and written beautifully. The first few pages of the interior pages also have each class of creature that would be found on the island of Berona, as this was which is where the story is et.

Inside Back Cover: The inside back cover has the usual ad, but this one is about another book from Archaia. I'm glad they had the ad be put on the inside back cover instead of the back cover, because most people will look at the back cover before the inside one. By having the ad on the inside, they can have the lure for the people to think about reading and buying the book.

Back Cover: The back cover had information about the creators, Jesse Labbé and Anthony Coffey, and about their previous works before Berona's War. It also gives information about the Berona's War series, which is the reason for people to even thumb through it to see the wonderful works of these creators. Overall, a really good promo "ashcan" of sorts that will attract people to buy their books. I know I will when I have some money to spend.

My comic book grade for this publication is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 on a 10.0 grading scale.

To see more on "Berona's War" series, check out this link!

If YOU are on Facebook check out their Archaia Fan Page!

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

Thanks Vinnie for guest blogging here today, and giving us your thoughts on this preview book from a tween's POV!

And my personal thanks to Anthony and Jesse who took the time during the Comic-Con to personally show Vinnie their series!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,205 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)! 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.

 

Former Comic-Con Goddess Reflects on San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Part 2 Of A Guest Blog By Tina LoSasso!        -------------- ---------- Above Topmost Photo: Michael and Tina at the 2nd Annual Captain Rochester Artists Appreciation Dinner Party! Directly Above: Michael and Tina at SyFy's 'Cafe Diem' Downtown San Diego! At the Top Left: Another Waiting In Line Experience for Ballroom 20! 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 #3204:

Today's post is guest blogged by my wife, Tina LoSasso, a continuation of Part 1 posted here yesterday!

A Woman’s View of 10 Years of Comic Con!

The crowds at Comic Con have begat line control worthy of Disneyland. I missed wading through the Hall H line looking for line buddies in the hour before dawn on Saturday mornings. Can’t do it anymore, the line is too tight and directed by the security patrol instead of the meandering mess it used to be.

As for the change in security, I think they were much more polite and customer-focused than in recent years. It seemed clear to me that they’d been given some very strict instructions about how to talk to attendees. I’ve heard some stories to the contrary, and on Sunday, they seemed to have lost their patience, but overall I think the security personnel were a big improvement this year.

In recent years, the Elite staff has been ill-informed, rude and sometimes out of control. Just last year, I was flabbergasted by an Elite red-shirt telling a blind woman she had to walk to the next set of bathrooms (about a quarter-mile of hallway) because they’d cordoned off the nearest ones for no discernable reason.

Between volunteers and security, line control was much more pro-active this year with plenty of staff positioned along routes to direct people joining the lines. Twice I saw security staff help someone essentially jump the line by guiding them through the Hall H line to join their friends further ahead. Now that’s customer service.

My favorite improvement this year concerned the Warner Brothers booth. After being elbowed repeatedly and nearly crushed last year trying to get Michael a Wonder Woman bag, I applaud whoever brokered the deal whereby WB included a bag in every attendee packet. I suspect it was the Fire Marshall. This simple change helped alleviate some of the insanity on the Floor.

And, was it me or where there a lot less clueless parents with small children in strollers?

I made a big change this year – no Convention food. After contracting food poisoning last year, I decided we weren’t eating anything we didn’t bring in ourselves. I highly recommend the practice – you’ll avoid one more line and save a ton of time!

After 10 years of Comic Con, I’m still a fan – not a Goddess – these days, I think, you have to dress up like Wonder Woman to earn that, but a fan nonetheless.

Despite the crazy crowds, we had a lot of fun at Comic Con.  Here are a few of our favorite lighter moments:

“Jeffster” performing to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” at the Chuck panel. Vik Sahay made the long wait in line worth it, which was fortuitous since the panel itself was disappointing (horrible moderator and no time for audience Q&A).

Running into Allison Scagliotti in the ladies room – she was elated that her job moderating the Eureka panel was over – so Claudia!

Any moment during Quick Draw but Peter David guessing the drawings depicting the word “Miscellaneous” -- with the emphasis on “aneous” -- was hilarious.

Molly Quinn (rumored to be the next Mary Jane in the Spidey reboot) getting into the Comic Con spirit by donning a Lt. Uhura costume for the “Castle” panel. We had a heads-up on that and weren’t disappointed.

A surprise Hall H visit from the always delightful Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) who gave us a glimpse into his upcoming “Haunted Mansion.”

The gay guy who was posing men cross-legged on Thor’s throne at the Marvel booth. He was mock insulted when I played it safe and said, “How metrosexual of you” -- he corrected me!

Helen Mirren (“The Queen” for goodness sakes!) taking the stage for the RED panel in a Harvey Pekar T-shirt.

Funniest Comic Con Moment: This sums up the twisted mentality of Con goers. I spotted him outside the Floor on Sunday afternoon. Obviously riffing on a Comic Con staple, the handmade signs proclaiming things like: “Free Hugs,” the guy had cut out a hole over one eye and drew a circle around it, and taped a pen to the board and wrote “Free Pokes to the Eye.”  If you don’t know what this refers to, Google “Comic Con stabbing” – you’ll be more polite in Hall H in the future, I’m sure!

Note: If you haven’t purchased your ticket for next year’s Con, stay tuned. The 15,000 4-day with Preview Night tickets sold out before the end of this year’s Con. Watch Michael’s blog for when tickets are available online – and jump to it.  Tickets usually go on sale during August. If recent history is any indication, they’ll sell out surprisingly quick.)

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Thus Part 2 of Tina's 2 part guest blog ends today.  Thanks, Tina!

PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,200 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/

 

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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.