World’s Greatest Toys!

Taking a much-needed rest on Saturday afternoon, Andrew, Martha and I were chillin’ out in the convention hall’s atrium. I spotted an adorable woman about 50 feet away. When she raised her head and gazed over our heads, I struggled to reconcile the emptiness where her eyes should be.

“Andrew, check her out,” I nudged my buddy. “Oh, cool,” he said. “She’s doing the ‘Dark Willow’ thing.” Not being a fan of Buffy, I had to take his word for it.

She started to leave the area, so Andrew and I ran over to request pictures. She is really pretty, but the black contact lenses were really creepy!

Having failed to bring drops, she was blinking her dried-out eyes furiously. She was a good sport and managed to keep her eyes open long enough for us to get some cool images.

NEWSFLASH: SMOKING STILL COOL (AP July 30, 2007)

According to a recent study from the San Diego Council of Medicinal Pleasure, smoking remains a vital rite of youth passage. Reporting from San Diego’s venerable Comic-Con, SDCMP Council chairwoman Cheryl Hookah stated, “the smoking of cigarettes, particularly the clove variety, represents a critical period of growth for kids,” noting that goth-kids are early adopters of the necessary phenomenon.

“Eye liner and retro T-shirts are important,” Hookah explained. “But smoking is the true test of ‘cool’ among today’s youth.” Recent anti-smoking propaganda has “had an affect,” Hookah confessed, “but the really cool kids know what’s up.”

In the coming year, cool kids are expected to continue gathering and smoking en masse at comic book conventions and — between periods — outside high school gymnasiums across the country.

Note: Contributing editor Nick Naylor provided factual information for this article.

Spider-Man was quite well represented by costumed attendees of San Diego Comic-Con.

In 2007, Spider-Man was “Professional.”

Spider-Man was “Amateur” (and occasionally sporting a Spinal Tap ‘package’).

Spider-Man was “Young”…

…and Spider-Man was “Old.”

Spider-Man shot the breeze with Captain America.

Spider-Man reminisced about the Secret Wars with Black Spider-Man, showed interest in Black Cat…

…and Spider-Man quickly grew tired of Black Cat.

Eventually, Spider-Man grew tired of the Con itself…

…and split.

On Thursday, I was honored to sit on the TwoMorrows panel at San Diego Comic-Con and discuss my forthcoming book, Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys!â„¢

Above, panel attendees file into the conference room (left) while publisher John Morrow prepares the multimedia presentation as Modern Masters’ editor Eric Nolen-Weathington looks on (right).

Joining John, Eric and myself on the panel were Alter Ego magazine’s Paul Hamerlinck (above, seated far right) and Write Now! magazine’s Danny Fingeroth (above, seated left of Paul). Each creator (myself included) had an opportunity to unveil TwoMorrows‘ latest products and offer exclusive previews of upcoming items.

The panel was modestly attended (about 25 fans showed up), but it was extremely cool and a real honor for a fan-boy like me. I sat on a panel with some very accomplished and highly respected comics professionals.

Not bad for a schmoe like me.