When I wasn't busy posing in front of posters of Bon Jovi, I was at the convention center in downtown Philly or at a bar. And my girlfriend Sam and my buddy David were lovely enough to walk booth-to-booth on Saturday with me to dig through quarter and dollar bins (which is one of my great joys to do with a group of friends). Here's the little bit of stuff I grabbed:
A NextWave issue I was missing, a copy of the final issue of the Prisoner adaptation, Hickee #4 and the first 3 issues of a cute SLG book about a kitty called Ubu Bubu. All of these were a quarter!
A copy of Lauren Weinstein's Girl Stories (only 4 bucks!), a copy of Let's Hit the Road - a roadtrip book by Rich Tommaso I'd never heard of - for only $4, the first two issues of Comic Book Comics at Ryan and Ben's recommendation for a quarter each and a copy of the newest issue of Twisted Toyfare Theater from my friend, and Toyfare editor, Justin Aclin (Volume 10 is out in July, people!). Also pictured up there is the show's con program with a pretty little cover by Joe Quesada.
Justin also hooked me up with a customizable figure from Shocker Toys and then I bought some movies. I can't FUCKING tell you how excited I am about these!
- I snagged a Drive-In theater video from John A. Russo, the co-writer of the original Night of the Living Dead. I'd been looking for it online, but it was always, like, $30. I was so psyched when I got it that I forgot to ask if he'd sign it. I dunno why he was even selling crap, but I'm glad he was. That reminds me, TJ hosted a panel on Friday with Tom Savini! Just wanted to say that. :)
- I also got a copy of the BMX classic "Rad" on DVD! I first watched this with TJ on tape about 2 years back and David somehow got the soundtrack, so I've been looking for it. Now I gotta get this shirt, and I'll be set.
- And prolly my most exciting buy: "Summer Camp Nightmare." Oh man oh man OH MAN! I love summer camp shit and I love horror movies and looking at the back of this box, it appears that this film is about campers killing their counselors and taking over a camp! As TJ put it, "So it's like Camp Nowhere with gore?" And as Katz put it, "Holy shit, you're gonna love this." And he knows a thing or two about horror movies.
(issues #1-6 above and #7-12 are below along with color separations for issues #1 and #12)
FUCKING MADNESS.
Anyhow, we ate at the market across the street from the convention center as much as possible. Emily and I grabbed cookies from an Amish booth, TJ and I grabbed beers from the beergarden in the back, I had a cheese steak with Justin and Sama nd David and I ate crepes for breakfast TWICE!
NUMMERS!
NUMMERS!On Friday the floor was more busy than I would have thought for a Friday and was crowded Saturday, which made shopping a little tough. Still, we made it across the whole floor in one day. Sunday was fairly slow from what we saw, but we were only there to say goodbye to people, so I wasn't really paying attention.
Back in artist's alley, I didn't find much that I was interested in, but artists like JG Jones and Rags Morales were around, which was neat. I ran into a table where Mike McKone was sitting and the guy was selling original art pages from only $10. TEN BUCKS! It was mostly stuff with no major characters in-costume, but it was still cool stuff. And the stack was something like 12 inches tall. For only $20, I grabbed the following two pages from JLA: A World Without Grow-Ups #1 because they feature Bart Allen.
So, I guess the theme this weekend was CHEAP DEALS.
Saturday night, we went to a Kaiju Big Battel match, and if you ever get a chance to go, you should. We headed over because 1) we heard there was an open bar, 2) it was only a couple blocks from the convention center and 3) we had VIP tickets, so we got to sit in the balcony. IT WAS NUTS FUN as guys dressed in ridiculous monster outfits out of some Power Rangers fever dream jumped around a wresting ring and hit each other as they fell on top of cardboard buildings.
Seriously, if you get a chance to go to one of these in a refurbished, 140-year-old theater with free beer and tons of friends, THEN GO.
But the most carefree, genuinely enjoyable, feel-good-in-my-heart event was the gong show karaoke with Skeletor following the monster wrestling. It was hot and we were sweaty, but no one cared as people took the stage to sing their hearts out in goofy hats until Skeletor was done listening to them and gonged them off the stage. And Skeletor looked GREAT:
Yes, that's a PBR with a straw in it.
Apparantly he does this once a month around Philly. I want to move there for him.
Follow that with drinks in the hotel lobby and Saturday became my favorite night there. The weekend was amazing once again because of my great friends showing up. So I just want to say it was great seeing you Matt (Get well, dude), David, TJ and Emily (thanks for letting us stay over and for the ride), Andy, Cotton (thanks for the ticket), James, Justin (thanks for your help with the room, I was glad to see you kick ass Saturday), Jim, Jordan, Alex, Ashley, Kiel (I don't remember what we talked about on the phone), Dan, Adam, Jeff, Shane, Isis, Sean, Paul, Shawn, Rob, Eric and so on and so on and so on...
And even though I had to wait an hour in the parking lot at the end of the show because our battery was dead and we needed a jump, the show was still dope. Hopefully it sticks around, and I get a chance to head back next year.
Back in artist's alley, I didn't find much that I was interested in, but artists like JG Jones and Rags Morales were around, which was neat. I ran into a table where Mike McKone was sitting and the guy was selling original art pages from only $10. TEN BUCKS! It was mostly stuff with no major characters in-costume, but it was still cool stuff. And the stack was something like 12 inches tall. For only $20, I grabbed the following two pages from JLA: A World Without Grow-Ups #1 because they feature Bart Allen.
So, I guess the theme this weekend was CHEAP DEALS.
Saturday night, we went to a Kaiju Big Battel match, and if you ever get a chance to go, you should. We headed over because 1) we heard there was an open bar, 2) it was only a couple blocks from the convention center and 3) we had VIP tickets, so we got to sit in the balcony. IT WAS NUTS FUN as guys dressed in ridiculous monster outfits out of some Power Rangers fever dream jumped around a wresting ring and hit each other as they fell on top of cardboard buildings.
Seriously, if you get a chance to go to one of these in a refurbished, 140-year-old theater with free beer and tons of friends, THEN GO.
But the most carefree, genuinely enjoyable, feel-good-in-my-heart event was the gong show karaoke with Skeletor following the monster wrestling. It was hot and we were sweaty, but no one cared as people took the stage to sing their hearts out in goofy hats until Skeletor was done listening to them and gonged them off the stage. And Skeletor looked GREAT:
Yes, that's a PBR with a straw in it.
Apparantly he does this once a month around Philly. I want to move there for him.
Follow that with drinks in the hotel lobby and Saturday became my favorite night there. The weekend was amazing once again because of my great friends showing up. So I just want to say it was great seeing you Matt (Get well, dude), David, TJ and Emily (thanks for letting us stay over and for the ride), Andy, Cotton (thanks for the ticket), James, Justin (thanks for your help with the room, I was glad to see you kick ass Saturday), Jim, Jordan, Alex, Ashley, Kiel (I don't remember what we talked about on the phone), Dan, Adam, Jeff, Shane, Isis, Sean, Paul, Shawn, Rob, Eric and so on and so on and so on...
And even though I had to wait an hour in the parking lot at the end of the show because our battery was dead and we needed a jump, the show was still dope. Hopefully it sticks around, and I get a chance to head back next year.
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