World’s Greatest Toys!

It’s show-time again!

Rob Chatlin (editor of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys!) and I will have a dealer table at this Sunday’s (02/17/08) Los Angeles Comic Book & Sci Fi Convention at the Shrine Auditorium.

As with last month, we will have a broad range of Mego figures — MOC, MIB and Loose — on display and available for purchase. We’ll also have vintage Kenner, Mattel, Popy, Medicom and more. It will be a vintage toy lover’s dream. I will also have copies of the Mego book on hand and can sign books for anyone interested in acquiring an inscribed edition.

If anyone out there in Blogland is in Southern California, we’d love it if you stopped by the show. We actually have THREE tables this time, and we’d love to see you there. Here’s the info:

Shrine Auditorium Expo Center
700 West 32nd St.
Los Angeles, CA

The official Web site for the con is here:

Los Angeles Comic Book & Sci Fi Convention

Guests include stars from TV’s Jericho, Katy Sagal and Teen Titans Year 1 Writer Amy Wolfram.

Hope to see you there!

Benjamin

I returned home yesterday from a startlingly enjoyable trip to San Diego for the 2007 Comic-Con International convention. I have attended the Con off and on for the past decade, but — thanks to my publisher’s presence — this is the first time I wore a badge emblazoned with the word “PROFESSIONAL.”

As opposed to just attending the panels, I was actually invited to sit on one panel discussing upcoming books and ‘zines from my publisher, TwoMorrows… including Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys! Needless to say, it was a thrill. It was modestely attended and focused mostly on comics-related publications, but the panel was a blast for me.

I was in San Diego from Thursday until early Sunday, and I spent most of the time with camera in hand. I’ve never paused to photo-document the con before, and I relished doing it this year. Over the coming days, I will blog some of the fascinating people I met and interesting photographs I captured.

Comic-Con brings out the child/teenager in everyone in attendance. For me, one of the truly intoxicating features this year was the announcement of a definitive Bladerunner DVD release. I witnessed an insanely cool panel with several of the genius talents responsible for the movie, including Syd Mead, Sean Young, Joanna Cassidy and Ridley F*&%ing Scott. Bladerunner is absolutely my favorite film.

Ever.

Suffice to say that I’m literally counting the days until the official release this December. Seriously, I am already saving up for an HD television and an HD player.

Anyway, to start my series of photo-blogs, I chose a snapshot taken by the Bladerunner production company who hired actors to dress up like Bladerunner characters and took pictures with fan-boys and fan-girls. I couldn’t resist.

Above: Benjamin (middle) flanked by actors portraying characters Pris (left) and Roy (right).

Man, that was fun.

Benjamin

Over the past few years at San Diego Comic-Con, I have noted a drastic upswing in female attendance. In the late ’90s and early aughts, the fairer sex was represented mostly by mid- to late-teen girls. Typically, these were Goths-Grrls looking for Terry Moore or Neil Gaiman. Leather boots. Dyed hair. Tats. The works.

This year, I ran around with two of my oldest and dearest friends, Andrew Jones and Martha Chong (brother and sister; Martha is married). We noticed that females — both young and old — were representing! And these weren’t casual attendees or fan-boy companions. Nope. These girls were full-on…

hard-core…

NERDS!

One common threads among females was clever costuming. Hands-down, the best costumes we saw were created and worn by girls. We were particularly impressed by all the girls who exhibited uncanny character awareness and geek nuance. This goes way beyond just playing ‘dress up.’ When we asked to take someone’s picture, these girls were fully prepared with dynamic poses and catch-phrases.

One of my favorite examples of this phenomenon was a little girl Andrew and I dubbed Little Leia. She is maybe 8 years old. And she was very into the character. Andrew and I asked her father (wheelchair-bound and dressed as Darth Vader, no less) if we could take her picture. With his approval, Little Leia scurried off to drop her bag and retrieve her blaster-gun. Upon return, Little Leia struck a cool pose, and we snapped some shots (see triptych above).

Andrew and I thanked the little girl and turned to walk away. Three steps into retreat, Little Leia quietly protested, “I… I have another pose…”

Andrew and I looked at each other blankly for a moment, then broke into giant grins. “OK!” we announced, walking back toward her. “Go ahead!”

Little Leia struck her second pose. And we snapped away like Hollywood papparazi. Andrew and I agreed Little Leia was absolutely charming and adorable.

Benjamin

Saturday brought a flurry of activity at the Marvel booth, when a giant wooden crate was finally opened to reveal the early version Iron Man armor. I must say, it is incredibly cool up-close and in person, so I can only imagine how amazing it will look on screen.

The armor reveal was guaranteed maximum fuss when director Jon Favreau and lead actor Robert Downey, Jr. arrived for a signing. It was an absolute mob-scene, another indication of how Hollywood has successfully invaded the fan-boy compound.

Stars are not unusual at Comic-Con, but it’s especially nice to run into people you admire yet might not expect to find walking the exhibitor floor of a comic book convention. Two of my more happy encounters were with genius rock star/poet/right-wing antagonist Henry Rollins (above left, with unidentified fan) and the inimitable Stan Winston (above right). Both were gracious and clearly having a good time.

Bow down to cool.

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.

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.

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.

San Diego is a really beautiful town, featuring some phenomenal views. We stayed at the Harbor Sheraton, quite a ways from the hustle and bustle that surrounds the convention hall. Each night, we sat on the deck and enjoyed the moon light shimmering off the water. From our quiet hotel room, we could see downtown San Diego and watch the boats and battleships that dot the horizon.