Are You All Ready For This Weekends Clallam Bay Comic Con?

Clallam Bay Comic Con -It's Almost THAT Time!

The third annual Clallam Bay Comicon on the way 13th-14th July

 

Sticker art - only a dollar - and
panel moderators and table bosses get one for free!
You don't HAVE to buy one, but it proves you
attended. We still got 2012-13 tshirts, too.

 The third annual Clallam Bay Comicon will take place July 13-14 in the Lion's Club building in Clallam Bay, featuring artists, discussion panels, music and more. Once again, there will be no admission fee, and sales table rates are kept very low. All creatives are welcome to show. The unusual schedule (Sunday-Monday) allows comic shops to attend.

The show organizer, Donna Barr, says this may be the last year for the show, but she only put it on to prove she could do it.

"If I can do it 'way out here, anybody can do it. The largest nearby town, Port Angeles, has many facilities - space and hotel accommodations, eateries, excellent inexpensive bus service, local attractions and accessible wilderness - that would make a comicon a success, and once a town has a comicon, the opportunities for all businesses just grow. The whole entertainment industry and trees - can you beat it?"

For full information on attending the show, or to see how to an admission-free comicon, follow the links at http://www.donnabarr.com

 

2014 Clallam Bay Comicon

Hi, folks! And we're off and running for the 3rd year!

Promote your attendance or your shop with the 2014 flyer mini-poster (download link), featuring our logo, Kelpie! If you want to use logo/mascot "Kelpie" for tshirts, buttons, etc., and make some money, contact me.

First, links to the 2nd annual con:
The 2013 ComiconRecord Page/Con Report Link
The 2013 Comicon Facebook Page

Now - the 2014 information: 

FACEBOOK LINK (If you want to keep up with ongoing discussions, ask questions, organize a sales rep or living space or panels).

July 13-14-15: During and after Clallam Bay/Sekiu Fun Days 9am to 5 pm SUNDAY AND MONDAY for trade show (setup, show, breakdown). (You heard us - Sunday and Monday). SATURDAY is optional, for getting here, enjoying Fun Days, Parade, and Fireworks party night; but highly recommended.

ADMISSION for public: free. "We don't need no stinkin' badges." You're all special guests to us. And don't have to prove you're pros or amateurs.

BOOTH FEES: $25 ($27.00 Paypal).  CONTACT for payment instructions.

The newly renovated building - nice job, Lions!

WHERE:
Clallam Bay/Seiku Lion's Club
90 Bogachiel Street
Clallam Bay, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, United States (Take Highway 112 through Clallam Bay. After the hard left, look for liqour store on the right; Bogachiel Street is the next left).

LINK TO PHOTOS OF MORE SPACES

ACCOMADATIONS AND HOUSING Get your ass in gear - rooms fill up FAST! And also Neah Bay AND the Couchsurfers Event Link! Stay with fascinating local people - or if you are a FLP - sponsor a comics/media/art/writer in your own home.

EVERYONE WELCOME. If you do comics, poetry, gallery art, jewelry, paint cars, bake pies, sing, do stand-up, sculpture, hip-hop, light shows, whatever - bring it. Cosplay wanted for the parade. AND HORSES!

HOW TO GET HERE: Take a flight to Port Angeles on Kenmore Air, then take the Forks bus to the the Clallam Bay connection at Sappho.  Yes, Sappho. Bus details at Clallam Transit. Or take Olympic Bus Lines from Seattle. Coming from Portland, or other points south? Take the WEST side of the Olympic Peninsula, Highway 101: Good roads, scenic, food and fuel - and MUCH less traffic, even in July.

GETTING to Neah Bay and back, if you'd prefer not to drive every day - contact Olympic Peninsula Errand Service, for Janet or Adam: (360) 640-4583 NOTE: Neah Bay is a First Nations town, and DRY. And you don't want to drive THAT road after enjoying some wind-down juice.

AWARDS: Who are we to judge? If your fans love you and buy stuff, you win.

PROVIDED: space, electricity (PROBABLY wi-fi). More Wi-fi is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner. LOTS of table space!

SPACE: Dealer's Room: main club building. Gaming and music: outside covered porch. Panels: outside covered porch. Parking: around Lion's Club, Old Fire Hall and Clinic parking lot. LINK TO PHOTOS OF MORE SPACES

PANELS and EVENTS Link: Includes audio-visual details.

GAMES: You want games? Find a Gamesmaster and contact us to be put in the Panel schedule.

CATERING: We have a NICE kitchen available, so if you want to bring and sell food, take care of your own licensing or whatever. 

CHARITY: Comicon needs a charity. Contact us.

BEST, safest, most scenic route if driving: Highway 101 around Lake Crescent, then Highway 113-112 to Clallam Bay (slightly longer, but recommended).

FIRE DISPLAYS: If you want to play Burning Man, contact the District Five Fire Department.

FOOD AROUND TOWN

LAST-MINUTE PRINTING: Already on the peninsula and forgot something? Need a large print order at the last minute? Olympic Printers are the guys.

T-SHIRTS: Don't want to drag a million t-shirts along, especially if you have a new design? Get 'em done in Port Angeles and pick 'em up at SickTees.
 
CHILDREN: watch your own.

TRASH: Container in Lion's Club kitchen. SEPARATE THE CANS.

FACILITY CARE: No tape of any sort on the wall. Respect the Lion's Club's wall displays. We all chip in to clean up at the end of the show. It don't take long.
 
Don't set yourself on fire.

EXHIBITORS:

1: Donna Barr's A Fine Line Press AND Clallam Bay Comicon Central (Official convention t-shirts!).

2: Catalyst Studios

OMG! Another Bristol Comic Event!

Bristol is THE greatest city in the world. So, how many comic events can it host? As many as it wants cuzit's the greatest city in the world!

4th October sees the Comics and Small Press Fair and also the AniMangaPop! event and now....

BCP INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
& COMIC EXPO!!!

Mercure Holland House Hotel & Spa, 22nd November!

And guess what?

£5.00 A Ticket!

Yes. You read that correctly £5.00 TICKETS!!!

So you are asking who the guests are?  Well, don't be put off by the fact that the publisher of Black Tower Comics and Books (me) isn't listed...if I was no one would notice.

Here's the skinny (as we are wont to say out on the streets.

You can visit the official site and get all the details here:
http://bcpexpo.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html  

 But, take it away Expo folk...

We are so excited to have the following confirmed and ready to join us at the BCP International Book Fair & Comic Expo! As more guests are confirmed we will add them to the lists under the right areas! As you can see we are hoping to bring to you a diverse and unique convention with BCP International Book Fair & Comic Expo! We hope you are as excited as we are.

Headliner:

• DeVaughn Lilly

Authors:

• A.S. Chambers
• Adam Millard
• Ashley McCook
• Chloe Hammond
• Chris Lynch
• Dan Wright
• Emma Shortt (TBC)
• Joanne Hall
• John Scott
• Kris Carter (TBC)
• Mike Collins
• Natalie Clements
• Paul Grist
• Scott Stanford
• Terry Martin (TBC)
• Tony Cooper

Poets:

• Paul Tobin

Artist In Residence:

• Simon Williams

Artists:

• Graham Bleathman
• Grayham Puttock (TBC)
• Ian Schofield
• James Dean
• Rianne Rowlands
• Simon Brett (TBC)

Publishers:

• Alternative Realities
• Bearded Skull Comics
• Corvus Press
• Hellbound Media
• Spectral Press (TBC)

Editors:

• Liberty Editing Services

Traders:

• One Dotty Duck
• Fish 4 Comics (TBC)
• Science Fiction Collectables   
  

Now, I'm off to "up my meds" and calm down - it's only four months away!!

DR Who....WTF??

It was 07:54hrs or a quarter-to-eight for most people.  Who was phoning me at that time? It had to be bad news, right?

I picked up the phone:

"Hello?"

"Hi there. Is that Terry Hooper?"

"Uh, yes. Who is this?"

"Hi, I'm Steve. I'm a researcher with the BBC Cambridge radio news people."

"And can I ask my the feckin hell you've called me at this time?"

A bit of talk about whether the call was at an inconvenient time...blah blah blah.

"So what do you want?"

"Well, as you run a Dr Who blog we thought we'd try to get your views on the next series being the last the BBC is going to make?"

"It is? Well, I'm not that big a fan of the new doctors and I do not run a Dr Who blog--"

"Oh. Sorry."

Phone put down ("The caller has cleared").

I've heard nothing on the radio and seen nothing on tv or in newspapers so I have no idea what the crap was going on.  Maybe they should have contacted Rich Johnson!!

'I see into your soul Doctor...' - Doctor Who Series 8 teaser trailer - ...

I HATE BLOGGER!

It took me ONE HOUR before blogger allowed that Newsham concept art image of Ultron to be shown.

WHAT is the ****** problem with blogger????????????????????????

Avengers Age Of Ultron...Grumpy Old Man In Bristol Says "That Ain't The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver!"

But then he would -he's an old fart!

Like most super hero movies before, the second Avengers movie has had its fair share of "fan trailers" and fake images -there are plenty of real ones out there!

First this post for the film. As far as I'm aware it is NOT any sort of official poster and if you know movies you'll know why -showing what Ultron looks like takes that "first look" moment from the film.

Look at where this comes from -Newsham Park concept art for Ultron.  Still, a cool poster!

And we all know what The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver look like in the movie -right?

Some Goth-chick -Elizabeth Olsen- as Wanda the Scarlet Witch who, in a lot of the set photos I've seen seems to be costumed mainly to show off lots of cleavage -as in the image below. And that is Taylor Johnson as Pietro -Quicksilver.....my arse. There are cosplayers out there that show the old comic costumes DO work...but, of course, this is the "more realistic" thing.

I'm guessing this outfit was made because Scarlet Johansson wasn't putting out the cleavage the movie people think the movie needs to give it no credibility.

But I'm still looking forward to the movie....when is Watchmen II out?

All Star Squadron-The Invaders-Machine Man and being a Happy Bunny

On the good news side I am two issues away from completing the 41 issue run, plus 3 annuals, of DC Comics 1980s series The All Star Squadron. This was Roy Thomas's series set in the 1940s and featuring pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC characters from that period.

Now, that makes me a happy bunny because a few issues were stolen from when they first appeared in newsagents -back in the 1980s comic speciality stores in the UK were still a rarity though Bristol did have a few -Quicksilver Comics in Totterdown, Forever People in Gloucester Road and Broadmead, and so on.

I had hoped that I might get the whole series in the black and white DC Showcase Present All Star Squadron  book but a couple of  cross-overs were left out and now, if rumours are correct, DC is dropping the title to sell them as archive hardbacks featuring 3-4 issues at a time -at a huge price.

And these were great comics when DC actually produced....great comics!

The other "Happy Bunny" news is that I am also near completing the run of Marvel Comics 1970s series set during World War 2 -The Invaders.

Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch and Toro, Captain America and Bucky plus a host of guests including Union Jack (I and II), The Destroyer and the Young Allies plus more...including The Mighty Thor!

  Its the team-up that began in the 1940s with The All Winners Squad.

Oh, and written by....Roy Thomas.

Vampires, Golem, Nazi super soldiers, the Red Skull -the villains and their, uh, villainy shine through.

All good stories and weaving a continuity that should have served Marvel well -Torch, Sub-Mariner and Captain America guest starred and thought Yellow Jacket, Black Panther and the Vision on the streets of Nazi occupied Paris in Avengers (vol.1) #71...1969?

But the Invaders also clashed with The Fantastic Four in the Fantastic Four King Size Annual #11 (1976)...which I have yet to get.

Yeah, this was when Marvel could also produce great comics...and didn't have to go to Dynamite Entertainment to produce Avengers Versus Invaders -I mean, W....T....F was THAT about?????

And My Marvel Comics  Machine Man run is complete. Yey!

Yes, I gave up on current DC and Marvel and decided its time to just complete runs of comics were issues were stolen, destroyed or just not available in shops in the 1970s and 1980s.  Oh, for a complete run of The Sub-Mariner!

Off to rub myself down with comic bags!

Don't Try To Be Arty By Publishing In Hardback -Stick To Paperback

Alright, I think anyone who knows me is aware that I am a completist. If I have part of a series I try to get the rest of it.  I wanted to make sure that I have the entire League of Extraordinary Gentlemen run and I do -in single issues and the collected book.  Also The Black Dossier and later three books that wound up the series (even if not that great). 

But I am also a Captain Nemo fan and have been since a kid (blame James Mason).  So, I thought I would bite the bullet and purchase Nemo: Heart of Ice and Nemo: The Roses of Berlin. Both are hardbacks from Top Shelf and Knockabout.

Well, first thing I noticed, removing the Heart of Ice from its undamaged packing box is that the bottom right hand-side of the cover has bad creasing -this is NOT from bad treatment in storage but a production issue and there are slight creases in other areas including the spine. I emailed a couple of people I know who have these books: same problem.

Now, as I read through the book I suddenly thought that I had purchased a copy with pages missing. I checked and at first you cannot tell as the pages are un-numbered ('thanks').  So I read through again and realised that it was just an awfully written script trying to be clever.  You need to have the book to know what I mean but the story jumps around and...well, its a mess.

Roses of Berlin was so-so story-wise and had ever element we've seen since the first volume of TLOEG. BUT there is, again, a problem with the cover that one other person has but the other does not.  Inside the back cover the art has been incorrectly glue so you see the card board of the cover....

See what I mean?

Basically these are all production issues that should have been spotted. It's using the old method of  wraparound cover glued over the front/spine/back of the book and frontispiece and inside back art glued over the card.  It's been used for a very, very long time -such as with UK comic annuals.  However, I have never come across this problem in any UK annual.

It looks very shoddy, though the interior pages are well printed. I actually thought to myself "I bet these were printed on the cheap in China!"  Looking at the indices..."printed in China".

So, be aware, if you are one of those people who are sticklers for quality in their collections ask the people you are buying this from if there are any such defects.

But it seems to all pale into insignificance when you try to read Heart of Ice.  Aweful.

Comic Messe Erlangen by Stuphi

Supermans New Movie Costume

This is it!!!! This is what we've ALL been waiting for!!!

At least, that's what all the PR is saying. Firstly, I am sure that everyone has seen the image below. It is to promote mental health awareness.  Superman turns away from an obviously manically depressed Batman because Superman does not know how to help someone suffering from depression....

Sorry?

Oh. Uh, apparently I am wrong. Put THAT in your diaries kids. It seems that this image is designed to get us excited and punch the air while yelling "YEEEAH!"

I sneezed. Does that count?  About as inspiring and invigourating as a floppy willy on your wedding night.

BUT all is saved!  Yes!  We have a look at Henry Cavill's new zzzz zzz zzzzzz zzzzz zzzzzz   hm? oh. Superman costume!  Yes, utterly....utterly and totally uninspiring. Seriously?  The man isn't even wearing his red knickers for goodness sake!

Now, unlike many dumb sucker losers blogging movie pundits I am NOT going to start criticising the film that has not even been made yet.  Seriously. And Gal Gadot, who I am told is to play Wonder Woman has so far done no filming for the role as we're told she is buffing up for the role.

Oh, and Detroit is in the background to this photo -well, 'really' its Gotham city.  Excited yet?  No, me neither. 

At a time of talk about the progression of the Marvel Movie universe -Black Panther, the re-booted (yeugh) Fantastic Four, Avengers 2, a possible new Hulk movie....DC movie news just seems....piffle.  I've not heard or read one thing that gets me as excited as when Christopher Reeves was starring in Superman or Michael Keaton in Batman.

DC does the talk but it can't do the walk....its more a mobility scooter move.

At least the leather, PVC and latex industries are doing well out of these movies.

meh

Not sure WHO did this next one but I love it!

Uh, A Question....

That whole Mayan Calendar "End of the world" thing -how'd it turn out?  I think I missed it all.

CBO Continues On With Comic World Domination.....no, really.

The number of countries from which CBO is getting high numbers of visitors is getting longer.  We now have Indonesia and Turkey to add to the list along with Taiwan. USA and China are at 1 and 2 (respectively) with the UK in third place.

All I can say is thank goodness for "Translate Page"!!!

Before You Ask -Its BEHIND THE DOOR!

My gran, bless her, seemed to think I was too straight-laced for my own good. When a woman in her sixties tells you a dirty joke she heard in work and you respond with: "And WHERE did you hear that??" then be prepared to be called a prude. And yet my gran was a very nice, respectable working class woman.

I used to dread her going on holiday...she made sure she always sent me "a mucky postcard" -everyone else got respectable post cards but not me.

Here is an example and the answer to the boys question is above.

I would like to dedicate this piece of classic British humour to the American who claimed British humour was based solely on hate and nastyness (and had NO idea what they were talking about). British humour is traditionally based on bawdiness, double entendres and satire not to mention "schoolboy humour".

Ripping into someone or putting people down in a very nasty way  is an solely AMERICAN creation. The UK has hundreds of years of satirical and bawdt books, plays and even movies not to mention music hall tradition of school boy humour and (Max Miller) double entendres. The US tried to copy this but when "Shock Jocks" came in realised they could make that the standard for themselves.

Not clever just nasty. Oh, and what is wrong with a boy trying to help Miss Smith look for her cat?

;-)

Hey -War-Gaming!

I'm hoping that anyone interested in war-gaming -I am not talking about fantasy/40k but the much older military war-gaming- checks out some of the blog links, especially Plastic Soldier Review which (hush. Calm Terry) had this news:

Great news for the Great WarA while ago we told you about the contents of the forthcoming World War I gift sets from Airfix, which will include many new figures. Well Airfix have now confirmed to us that those figures will also be made available as individual figure sets. The set numbers and names are:

• 01764 - WWI French Infantry 1914
• 01765 - WWI British Field Gun and Crew
• 01766 - WWI French Field Gun and Crew
• 01767 - WWI German Field Gun and Crew

All the sets are new sculpts, and all the field guns are logical choices. So the British will have the 13-pdr, the French the '75 and the Germans the 1896 n/A 77mm. All are for the early part of the war, so no steel helmets anywhere, and all the guns will come with full crews and limbers but no teams. We have been shown some of the sculpts and they look very good - much better than the WWII British produced a couple of years ago.

Airfix also say that they have plans for more new sets over the following three years to mark the progress of the Great War, including several that have never been made before in this scale. Plenty to look forward to there then, but these first four are all expected before the end of this year.

Hat Industries and even Emhar and Strelets produce WW 1 figure sets so fingers crossed the new ones will be of figures -as promised- never before produced!

Stories for Dog Lovers / Stories for Cat Lovers

 

Canine/Feline Classics Releases

STORIES FOR DOG LOVERS / STORIES FOR CAT LOVERS

Eureka Productions is pleased to announce the release of Canine/Feline Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 25, the newest volume in the Graphic Classics® series of comics adaptations of great literature.

Canine/Feline Classics is a unique, two-in-one volume, with half stories for dog-lovers, and half for cat-lovers. Featured are “The Emissary” by Ray Bradbury, “Ancient Sorceries” by Algernon Blackwood, “The Beast from the Abyss” by “Conan” author Robert E. Howard, and 17 more great stories and poems, including two from the volume’s co-editor, John Lehman, author of The Bark of Love and Dogs Dream of Running.

The Graphic Classics series presents the works of great authors in comics adaptations and heavily-illustrated text. The adaptations are written at an adult level, and utilize as much of the author’s original language as possible. Our goal is to create books that are enjoyable for adults, yet accessible to children ages twelve and up. Graphic Classics are available in bookstores and comics shops nationally, or direct from the publisher, Eureka Productions at http: ⁄ ⁄ www.graphicclassics.com. Resellers, libraries and schools can order from Diamond Book Distributors, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Follett or other distributors. The Graphic Classics series is also available in digital format for iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and computer viewing from iVerse Media, OverDrive, Comixology and Ave! Comics.

“The Graphic Classics series never seems to misstep. From the incredible artists they enlist to bring these stories to life to the story selections themselves, everything about these books is a delight.”
— Alex Haas, Indy Comic Review

“The Graphics Classics series reminds us of the comic genre's literary potential and harkens back to the popular origins of much of our most revered literature.”
— Kristian Williams, In These Times Magazine

“A splendidly inventive series.”
— Malcolm Jones, Newsweek



CANINE/FELINE CLASSICS: Graphic Classics Volume 25
Edited by Tom Pomplun, with John Lehman
Published July 2014, Eureka Productions
Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors
ISBN 978-0-9825630-8-3
144 pgs, 7" x 10", paperback, full color $19.95