Tuesday, July 30, 2019

G-FEST XXVI Part Two: Cheesy Monsters Raid Again!

What has gone before:

My son Eddie and I are attending G-Fest.

The first official day of the convention was Friday, July 12. After a light breakfast at the Crowne Plaza’s Chicago Fire Oven, I spent most of the morning preparing for my “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation. I love doing these one-man events, but they’re always preceded by mental “flop sweat.” Outside of my writing, I am not a natural entertainer. That I am able to do these one-man panels is a tribute to all I learned from my boss/mentor/friend Stan Lee, who was one of the finest natural entertainers I ever knew.

Wanting to take a break as my presentation drew closer, I went to the “Godzilla’s Revenge at 50” panel hosted by Martin Arlt with his panelists Danny Tokarz, Kym Taborn, Jeff Horne and Kevin Horn. The movie, known as All Monsters Attack in Japan, has never been high on my list of beloved Godzilla movies. Here’s a quick summary from  the Internet Movie Database:

A bullied schoolboy dreams of traveling to Monster Island, where he befriends Godzilla's son, who is also having bully troubles.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the movie, said to be perhaps the most divisive of the Japanese Godzilla films. The discussion of the movie's pros and cons was fascinating. For example, it had never occurred to me that this is the one Godzilla film that takes place in the real world. The monsters appear in the dreams of the boy and only in his dreams. At no time are we asked to believe the monsters are real. That was a revelation to me.

After listening to the panelists talking about how every element of All Monsters Attack links to every other element, I began to gain a new appreciation for the film. I plan to watch it again as soon as possible.

SIDEBAR. When I looked through my DVDs and found the Toho Master Collection edition of All Monsters Attack which I had bought in 2008, I was surprised to see I’d never watched it. Such was my disdain for the  U.S. version of the movie. I’ll be correcting that oversight in the near future and write about the two versions in an upcoming bloggy thing. It’ll be coming your way as soon as I can squeeze the piece into the schedule.

A few years back, I did a “Monsters of the Syfy Channel” panel at G-Fest. Though it was the last panel of the convention and held in a huge ballroom, the room was packed. Indeed, it was standing room only. The presentation went exceedingly well. My corny jokes landed well. At least most of them. We breezed through the movies so fast there was time for the audience to create their own cheesy movies. I believe that standout was: Elephantantula. If someone ever makes that movie, I will watch it.

Before I even got out of the ballroom, people were asking me if I was going to do another panel like this one. That’s when I started thinking about an equally wacky follow-up. Taking my title from the second Godzilla movie - Godzilla Raids Again - I began compiling movies and images for a sequel, one that would cover crazy critters beyond those seen on the Syfy channel.
                                                                                 

Local artist Ron Hill did some cool title cards for me and I was on my way. I began by announcing our prom king and queen: Tabonga from From Hell It Came (1957) and the otherworldly bird thing from The Giant Claw (1957). I thought they made a lovely couple.
                                                                             
                                                                                

SIDEBAR. Having made the decision to eschew political commentary in this presentation, I cut the joke that identified the actress who played the bird creature as a young Kelly Anne Conway. Come on, you know you see the resemblance.

With the invaluable technical assistance of Martin Arlt, we shoed the audience giant octopus, giant cheerleaders and centerfolds, a blob or three, giant gila monsters, Reptilicus and Reptisaurus, giant killer rabbits, a “great” alligator so lame its victims had to pull themselves into its jaws, a gaggle of graboids, and so many others. We had movies done over and over again. We had some of the weirdest sharks ever. We had pop stars cruelly killed by monsters. We had a blast.
                                                                                  

I was so confident I even announced my next year presentation: Kong Kin Vs. Cheesezilla. I’ll be looking at giant ape creatures and a  bunch of wannabe Godzillas. If you have suggestions, feel free to e-mail them to me. I’ll do my best to watch them all.

If you’re feeling sad on account of you missed the “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation, I can alleviate your anguish somewhat. In the fall, I will be writing a series of bloggy things duplicating and expanding on the presentation. These blogs will eventually be collected into a trade paperback. Because I love you as much as I love my cheesy monsters.
                                                                                      

After the presentation, Eddie and I had lunch at the Murray Bros. CaddyShack restaurant, which was connected to the hotel. They had a special Godzilla menu. I ordered a Godzilla Juice, which was very tasty. Eddie ordered the fire-breathing Godzilla Burger. The food and drinks were good, the prices were not terrible for a restaurant connected to a hotel. Best of all, it was very convenient to G-Fest and G-Fest activities.

After lunch, I visited artist alley, the dealers room and some of the art and model exhibits. Artist alley, which had formerly been located where the CaddyShack now is, was a little crowded for the number of people in it. I know G-Fest will be addressing this for next year’s con. In artist alley, I bought a comic book called Ectyron: The Invasion from the Red Star Nebula by Carter Allen and others. It’s sitting on my reading pile even as we speak.
                                                                                

In the dealers room, I went looking for The Giant Claw t-shirt that Martin had been wearing. They were sold out, but I paid for one to be sent to me when they restocked. I also bought a Godzilla plush for a friend of mine with a new addition to his family. It’s best to get kids hooked on Godzilla at an early age.

Truth be told, hanging out in the dealers room too long would have been injurious to my wallet. One of these years, when I’ve reduced my Vast Accumulation of Stuff considerably, I plan to give myself a G-Fest spending spree.

The G-Fest model and art rooms were spectacular. There was also an exhibit of select items from the Mark Livolsi collection, one of the most impressive Godzilla toy collections in the world. Any day now, it’ll be auctioned off by the Peekaboo Gallery.
                                                                                     

The Peekaboo Gallery has produced an outstanding hardcover book for the auction. Vinyl Conflict: The World of Godzilla Toys is nearly 300 pages of beautiful photographs of the Livolsi collection. It’s not a cheap book, but it was worth every penny of the sixty or so dollars I paid for it via mail order. It’s a keeper.

After resting a bit in my room, Eddie and I attended the official opening ceremony of G-Fest XXVI. All of the featured guests were on stage with convention organizer JD Lees. Even when the guests were speaking Japanese, which would then be translated for the audience, you could feel the joy in their hearts at being welcomed so warmly to the convention. It was a joy echoed by the fans who came to the ceremonies. Such a splendid event.

I was especially moved by Akira Takarada’s comments. At 85 years of age, the star of Gojira is still a handsome man and dresses better than any other person at G-Fest. He spoke of the actors with whom he had worked over the years, mourning those no longer with us and celebrating them and us. He is a treasure.

Back in the room, I watched parts of The Demon of Mount Oe and The Golden Bat. Even with subtitles, I had trouble following the plots. I saw enough to know I want to track them down and watch them soon. They looked like great fun.

Blasphemous as it sounds, Eddie and I planned to play G-Fest hooky on Saturday. I’ll tell you about that day when this G-Fest report continues tomorrow. See you then.   

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Monday, July 29, 2019

NEO COMIC CON: August 4, 2019

NEO ComicCon is my next convention appearance. It will take place on Sunday, August 4, at the Soccer Sportsplex, 31515 Lorain Road, North Olmsted, Ohio from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for cosplayers and free for children under the age of 13. As in previous years, proceeds from NEO will benefit the Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana Organization.

I’m the Guest of Honor, but the rest of the guest roster is truly impressive: Tom Mandrake (who recently drew the one-page Kid Colt Outlaw tale I wrote for Marvel Comics #1001), Paul Pelletier. Marc Sumerak, Matt Horak, Darryl Banks, Don Simpson, Gary Dumm, Rick Lorenzo, Dan Gorman, Ted Sikora and more. In addition to the comics guests and retailers, NEO will also have two cosplay contests (one for adults and one for kids), a gaming tournament and a variety of panel presentation.

Sometime during the day, I’ll be giving sort of a live version of my “Black Lightning Beat” columns here at the bloggy thing. I’ll be talking about my visit to the set of the Black Lightning TV series at the end of the second season, my catching up with some brilliant cast members at the San Diego Comic-Con and maybe even offer some speculations on the forthcoming third season. If there’s time for questions, as I will do my best to achieve, you can ask me questions on Black Lightning and any other thing on your minds.

One of the many things I like about the NEO ComicCon is the venue has artificial turf, as would make sense for a soccer sportsplex. I often tell Saintly Wife Barb this is the one convention I can come home from without my feet, ankles  and legs hurting.

My show tables will be between those of the esteemed Mandrake and equally esteemed Pelletier. I’ll be bringing Isabella-written books like the Black Lightning trades and others. I’ll have a comics rack that includes the exclusive, available-only-from-me, signed and numbered Marvel’s Greatest Creators Tony Isabella #1. This variant edition reprints the vert first appearance of Misty Knight and is limited to 1000 copies.

In addition to the above, I plan on bringing a selection of posters featuring Black Lightning, Hawkman, Daredevil, Luke Cage and maybe a few others. Depending on how energetic I get between now and NEO, I might also bring some bargains from my Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales.

I’ll sign any Isabella item you buy from me for free. I charge for other signatures ($5 per item), but, for this convention, I will be donating that money to the Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana Organization.

I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and readers at this great convention. If you’re cosplaying, especially if you’re cosplaying as characters I created or have written, please come by my table so I can get a photo of you for this blog.

For more on NEO, go to the convention’s website or to its Facebook page. Hope to see you there!

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In other news of sorts...

I had a delayed reaction to doing G-Fest and the San Diego Comic-Con back-to-back. Around the middle of last week, I was pretty much good for little more than puttering around my computer and binge-watching The Boys on Amazon Prime. However...

I’m feeling fine. I’ll be resuming my G-Fest convention report on the morrow. That will be followed by a few one-off bloggy things. And those will be followed by my San Diego Comic-Con reports. I’ve got some other things up my sleeve as well.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Friday, July 26, 2019

G-FEST XXVI Part One: Still Better Than the Dan Ryan

If you’ve missed my previous G-Fest bloggy things, here’s the basic information from the event’s website:

G-FEST is the largest regular gathering of Godzilla and Japanese monster fans in the world. Held each summer, it typically attracts more than 1000 attendees, but has seen a gradual increase in attendance over the past few years. G-FEST 2018, its 25th anniversary, was the most successful convention to date, bringing in more than 3000 Japanese science fiction and fantasy film fans!

G-FEST is a family-oriented convention which caters to a wide variety of interests within the kaiju genre. G-FEST features presentations and Q & A sessions by actors and crew from the Japanese Godzilla films, fan presentations on topics of interest, contests and gaming, new and classic kaiju movies, the western world’s largest kaiju-oriented dealers room, and lots of fun and camaraderie.


G-Fest XXVI was held July 12-14 at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare. Special guests included actor Akira Takarada, star of Gojira and many other movies; director Shusuke Kaneko; actress Peggy Neal; director Yoshikazu Ishii; modeler Takuji Yamada; Sonoe Nakajima, the daughter of Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima; animator Philo Barnhart and me.

In addition to the many activities at G-Fest itself, the glorious Pickwick Theater showed kaiju films Thursday afternoon and evening, Friday evening, Saturday evening and, on Sunday evening, Linking Love, a recent example of Shusuke Kaneko’s non-kaiju work. If you were too tired to leave the hotel, you had only to go to your hotel room where, from Thursday morning through Monday morning, the in-house TV channel showed a variety of programs from full movies to episodes of television shows to documentaries.

I wanted to mention all of the above in case I forget to mention it in later installments of this multi-column convention report. This convention deserves all the kudos I can give it.

Thursday was fairly uneventful. I was working on the notes for my Cheesy Monsters Raid Again panel in the morning, finishing a couple hours before my son Eddie arrived. As in past years, he was doing the driving. We made pretty good time, better than in those past years. That was thanks to us not taking the Dan Ryan Expressway for a change.

Driving through Ohio is fairly pleasant. We have nice rest areas. We have toll stations that usually work efficiently. That goes out the window when we hit Indiana and Illinois with their frequent and frequently inefficient toll stations and generally inadequate rest areas. Even when the drive through those states goes well, I always know I’ll be facing eleven and a half miles of Hell before I get to whatever event I’m attending in Chicago suburb Rosemont, be it G-Fest or, back in the day, the Chicago Comic-Con.

Hell is another name for the Dan Ryan Expressway. Those eleven and a half miles take a hour to drive and it’s bumper-to-bumper slow. It’s as if some mystical madman transported part of the Los Angeles highway system to the Midwest. In the case of Los Angeles, you have all Los Angeles and its surrounding areas offer. In the case of the “Damn Ryan” (which I started calling it by the second time I had to drive on it), all you have is downtown Chicago and factories and, I assume, suburbs bordering some evil Hellmouth. I like Rosemont a lot. It’s getting there I hate.

Godzilla smiled on us this trip. Somehow, the Google Maps app on my son’s phone took us away from the Dan Ryan and onto other highways. It wasn’t any wondrous drive through the park, but it was still better than the Dan Ryan. We didn’t keep exact track, but I think we cut a half-hour off the trip. Alas, this was probably some kind of fluke portal we will never encounter again.
                                                                               

My “Damn Ryan” hate always dissipates when we reach G-Fest’s home, the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare. This hotel has been the convention site for many years. They love hosting G-Fest and treat the event with respect. It can be difficult to book your room at the hotel because it sells out the rooms allotted to the convention swiftly, but there are many other nice hotels on the same street. I think I stayed at all of them during my Chicago Comic-Don years.

Our room was very nice. Those of you who have read my hotel rants in previous convention reports know what I look for in such rooms. Our beds were comfortable. There was natural light when he wanted it. We had a safe and a refrigerator. The housekeeping was first-rate. The only drawbacks were that the bathroom was a little small  and our floor’s vending machine kind of a joke. Over all, though, I would give high marks to our lodgings. I’ll talk about the hotel in general in the next chapters of this G-Fest report.
                                                                              
Whenever we come to Chicago, Eddie’s goal is to eat his weight in Italian beef sandwiches. His quest to become a half-man, half-beef creature took us to Portillo’s. I had a breaded chicken sandwich on account of I already carry far too much beef.
                                                                         

I like Portillo’s. The food is terrific and reasonably priced. It has lots of table. Its decor is old-school advertisements and many other knickknacks and photos. I expect to go back there year after year as long as I’m attending G-Fest or in the unlikely situation of my being invited to the various Chicago comics conventions that take place in Rosemont locales.
                                                                        

After dinner, Eddie and I were able to get our badges and program books. We saw our dear friends Martin and Pam Arlt. Martin has an incredible collection of kaiju-appropriate t-shirts. He’s handsome enough to be a kaiju t-shirt model. Of course, being as how a great many kaiju t-shirts are bootlegs, appearing in the pages of GQ is likely off the table for him.

Eddie and I stayed in Thursday night. I wanted to be rested for my Cheesy Monsters Raid Again presentation. A previous year’s panel on the Monsters of the Syfy Channel was a hilarious hit, but it always takes me a while to get “into character” to star in such a panel. I’m not a natural showman like my late friend and mentor Stan Lee, but I can channel him for presentations like this.
                                                                                  

We watched bits of pieces of several movies on the hotel’s In-House TV Channel. The two I can remember were Gamera Vs. Gyaos, the 1967 American International dub shown on American television as Return of the Giant Monsters; and The Super Inframan, a Hong King science-fiction action movie produced by the Shaw Brothers in 1975. It was kind of a knockoff of Ultraman, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the full version of it. I’ll be on the lookout for that.

That’s my prelude to G-Fest XXVI. My report on the first day of the convention will be coming your way soon. See you then.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

TONY'S TIPS #310

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder...Bob Ingersoll’s The Law Is a Ass Volume One: All Rise, a collection of his long-running column; Tokyo Tarareba Girls Volume Three and Four by Akiko Higashimura; and Lazarus Risen #1 by Greg Rucka with Michael Lark:
                                                                                  
                                                                                   

                                                     

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2019 REVIEWS #6

What Has Gone Before:

I’m reading and reviewing the Free Comic Book Day comic books sent to me by my pals at Stormwatch Comics in West Berlin, New Jersey. When I read and review FCBD comics, I look at three areas.

QUALITY: Is the material worthwhile?

ACCESSIBILITY: Is the material presented in such a way that someone coming to it for the first time can follow it?

SALESMANSHIP: After reading the FCBD offering, would someone want and be able to buy more of the same?

I score FCBD offerings on a scale of zero to ten. Each category is worth three points with the tenth point coming from my interest in seeing more of what’s ever in the book. 
 
We begin with...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [IDW] has an 8-page story by multiple writers that leads into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #94 and a 12-page story by multiple artists that is little more than a recap of confusing continuity.

QUALITY: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is, at its core, a truly fun concept that works best when it is basic and suitable for all ages. It loses something when its stories get too complex and its action gets too graphic. Those are faults on full display in this issue. The “car chase” in the first story is well done. The recap is tedious.

ACCESSIBILITY: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are very well-known outside the world of TMNT comic books, but I don’t think their mass audience will recognize the characters as portrayed in this issue. The recap left me feeling like catching up on the continuity would be the equivalent of studying for a master’s degree.

SALESMANSHIP: If this version of TMNT interests a new reader, that reader can make use of ads offering literally dozens of volumes of TMNT comics. There are also house ads for Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle, Sonic the Hedgehog and Usagi Yojimbo. The back cover of the issue, which should be prime ad real estate, has nothing but the TMNT logo on a black background. That is about as utter a waste of space as I can imagine.

SCORE: Four out of ten points.

                                                                                    

Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship [Boom! Box] features a 14-page excerpt from the forthcoming graphic novel of the same name and a second eight-page story. The former is by writer Lilah Sturges with artist Polterink; the latter is written by Kelly Thompson with art by Savanna Ganucheau.

QUALITY: Lumberjanes is not a book I have any particular interest in, which does not stop me from recognizing the quality of both the writing and the art. Not every comic book has to be for every comic book reader. I wish more online fans could accept that.

ACCESSIBILITY: The basics can be gleaned from the stories, but I’d have liked to have seen all the characters named. I think rosters of characters, especially with head shots and a few words about the characters are something more comics should embrace.

SALESMANSHIP: Very good. Besides a house ad for a Lumberjanes book, the issue promotes eight other titles.

SCORE: Seven out of ten points.

                                                                              

Ghost Hog [Oni Press] presents two stories of the title character by creator/writer/artist Joey Weisner and a brief excerpt from Pilu of the Woods by author/illustrator Mai K. Nguyen. Ghost Hog is as the title suggests, the ghost of a hog who was killed by a hunter and is trying to get a handle on this whole “being a ghost” thing.

QUALITY: The Ghost Hog stories are exceptional. They are funny and thoughtful. I want to see more of this. The Pilu excerpt was just too short for me to get interested in it.

ACCESSIBLE: The Ghost Hog stories are easy to get into. The excerpt from Pilu of the Woods isn’t easy to get into.

SALESMANSHIP: Very good. There’s a full-page house ad for Weisner’s Ghost Hog. There’s a house ad for Pilu. Other house ads pitch four books by Eisner Award winner Katie O’Neill, Weisner’s Mermin books and, on the back cover, nine other Oni comics for kids.

SCORE: Eight out of ten points.

                                                                                   

Brenna Thummler’s A Sheets Story [Lion Forge/Caracal] presents a thoroughly charming 25-page story about the friendship between a teenage girl and a ghost. It also features a brief interview with Thummler.

QUALITY: High. Thummler’s work is realistic and spritely. I’ll be looking for more by her.

ACCESSIBILITY: This was a breeze to follow. The story itself told me everything I needed to know about the characters.

SALESMANSHIP: Excellent. There are full-page house ads for Sheets and another graphic novel by Thummler. There are also house ads for several other comics by this publisher.

SCORE: Ten out of ten points.

Look for more Free Comic Book Days reviews in the weeks to come. I hope to review them all before the Halloween ComicFest free comics arrive at my house.

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It’s good to be back, but I’ll be leaving again. I wrote this blog entry to post on the one full day I’m back in Medina before flying to the San Diego Comic-Con.

Attending G-Fest and Comic-Con back-to-back is going to be far more grueling than my usual convention adventures. I don’t how some of my fellow creators managed to do conventions weekend after weekend and remain relatively alive and relatively sane.

I’ll be back in Medina late Monday, July 22. I figure it’s going to take me a day or two to recover. If all goes well, I’ll be writing bloggy things by Wednesday, July 24, not to mention preparing for two conventions and two Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales in August. I am a crazy person.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Monday, July 15, 2019

TONY'S TIPS #309

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder, I review the new Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Dynamite's Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1-5 and IDW's Swamp Monsters. am anthology of marshland horror comics edited by Steve Barnes and Craig Yoe!
                                                                               
                                                                                  

Thursday, July 11, 2019

DROWNING ECHO


Friends and family members are frequently horrified by what seems to be my insatiable desire to watch as many cheesy horror/monsters movies as I can. When I’m too exhausted to write or otherwise use my time wisely, I’ll pop one of my vast accumulation of un-watched movies into the Blu-Ray player or all-region DVD. This is always a crap shoot, the closest I come to a gambling addiction. But there’s an upside to my mania.

Sometimes I find movies I really enjoy and I can’t wait to tell you about them. Sometimes I find movies that make my eyes go wide with how truly awful they are. I can’t wait to write about those movies either. In the case of the latter, the end result will usually be a blog entry like this one.

Drowning Echo [2019] is not listed under that title at the Internet Movie Database, though that was the title on the DVD I got through my local library system. The official title seems to be Nereus and that’s the name under which it’s listed. The mythological Nereus was a sort of Triton prototype. Neither of those titles is as good as the original working title: The Complex.

Here’s the IMDb storyline summary of this movie:

During a visit to friends, Sara begins having visions and is attacked by an unearthly creature in her friend's swimming pool; she soon discovers that anyone who comes into contact with the water is in danger and she is driven to confront the mystical and malevolent creature lurking in the depths.

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD


Sara [played by Itziar Martinez] visits childhood friend Will at a motel-type complex with a few permanent tenants. At various times of the year, it does a good tourist business. However, Sara’s visit doesn’t come during one of those tourist times.

There’s a pool at the complex. A young woman vanished from it and her body was never found. Two residents saw the woman taken by some creature who appeared in the pool and then vanished. They saw more than the viewers did. All we see is a spooky gill-man kind of face and some water tentacles. The awesome tentacles you see on the DVD? They aren’t in the movie.

Sara starts investigating. Some residents reveal themselves to be bad people. Others become victims. One of them seems to be the host for the creature, but that’s not made real clear. Sara and another resident - the only one left alive - defeat the creature. But then we get one of those “oops” endings wherein Sara discovers she’s the new host for the creature.

SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER


Let’s cut right to the chase. This movie is a 108 minutes of sheer tedium. It seemed longer. The acting isn’t awful, but that doesn’t make up for the tedium. Drowning Echo is boring with no satisfying payoff for the two hours of my life it stole from me. I recommend giving it a very wide pass.

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Today’s blog entry is shorter than usual because, a few hours after I post it, I’ll be on my way to G-Fest, the amazing annual Godzilla convention. The legendary kaiju event runs from Friday, July 12 through Sunday, July 14, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel. On Friday, I will be giving a presentation called “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again!” It’s the second in a series of similar presentations I’ll be giving until I run out of cheesy horror and monster movies to share with the audience. In other words...forever.

The bloggy thing will be on hiatus while I’m traveling, save for an entry on Tuesday, July 16. On Wednesday, July 17, I’ll be flying to San Diego for Comic-Con International. You won’t see another blog entry until I return and recover from that event. I’m shooting for Wednesday, July 24.

I’ll be back sooner or later with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

COMICS COMICS COMICS

Digging into the comics waiting to be reviewed pile...

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki with artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connell [First Second; $17.99] tells of a young woman whose toxic relationship with her girlfriend takes a toll on not just her, but on her friends. I’m not going to lie here. This is an incredibly difficult graphic novel to read. We all know folks who stay in relationships long past any reasonable expiration date, suffer horribly because of them and yet still return to them time and time again. In this story, it’s a romantic relationship. But it has applications for other kinds of relationship as well. Hell, I should write my own graphic novel called DC Comics Keeps Breaking Up with Me.

Frederica Riley is someone who is easy to like, which makes it all the more painful when her dream girl turns out to be a nightmare. A recurring nightmare. Laura Dean is manipulative and totally self-centered. She expects more from Frederica than she is ever willing to give of herself.

Tamaki writes these characters with obvious insight. They and the supporting players are more than fictional constructs. I wouldn’t be surprised to meet them in real life. Valerio-O’Connell captures all the myriad emotions brilliantly. I’ll be very surprised if this graphic novel doesn’t land a bunch of nominations in the next batch of comics awards. Definitely recommended.

ISBN 978-1-62672-259-0

                                                                                  

Mysteries of Love in Space #1 [$9.99] is one of those wacky one-shots DC Comics publishes from time to time. The quality of the material is often uneven, but I’m a pushover for anthologies with weird-ass themes. I wish I’d be invited to participate in them because I can be as weird as the next creator.

There are some first-rate stories in this anthology. Writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Max Dunbar do a heartwarming sweet Bizarro story in which the character encounters someone who really gets him. Nice coloring by Paul Mounts and lettering by Dave Sharpe add to the joy I received from this story.

Space Cabbie, who used to appear in short stories in the DC sci-fi comics of the 1950s and 1960s, is a longtime favorite of mine. I’m not sure what his deal is in the ever-changing DC Universe, but I got a kick out of “GPS, I Love You” by Aaron Gillespie with artist Max Raynor, colorist Hi-Fi and letterer Sharpe. The story is kinda on the freaky side, but I liked it. Needless to say, I could write the heck out of a Space Cabbie series.

The best story in the issue is Lois Lane and Superman in “Glasses” by writer Dennis Hopeless, penciller Tom Grummett, inker Cam Smith, colorist Adriano Lucas and letterer Tom Napolitano. The tale has a nice take on the Lois and Superman relationship. It should receive a nomination in next year’s comics awards. It won’t because most of those awards ignore the mainstream, but it should.

                                                                          

From 2018:

Avengers Back to Basics by Peter David with artists Brian Level and Juanan Ramirez [Marvel; $14.99] is the first time in print for the graphic novel that was originally published digitally. It’s a time travel story that gets its heart from Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan as she gets swept up in and into Avengers history...and it’s a history that could be rewritten to dire effect.

Though I’m not generally a fan of time travel tales, I thought this story played to David’s strengths. He got to write the Avengers at various points in their lives while playing with some key events in Marvel Universe history. He did an excellent job with Kamala Khan, which is important to me on account of she has become my favorite Marvel Comics character. There are some shocking twists in the GN, all leading to a satisfying ending.

The art and storytelling are first-rate. The styles of the artists are similar enough that I didn’t even realize which of them had done which “issues” until I checked the credits for this review. Color artists Jordan Boyd and Erica Arciniega used their hues to tell the story without overpowering either the writing or the drawings. Letterer Jimmy Betancourt of Comicraft did good work as well.

All in all, Avengers Back to Basics is a solid super-hero thriller and plenty of personality. I enjoyed it.

ISBN 978-1-302-91263-5

                                                                               

You already know I’m going to G-Fest this week and Comic-Con next week. I have some other conventions and garage sales scheduled for the rest of the year:

July 26-27: Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sale (9 am to 1 pm on each of those days)

August 4: NEO Comic Con (North Olmsted, Ohio)

August 9-10: Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sale (9 am to 1 pm on each of those days)

August 16-18: New Mexico Comic Expo (Albuquerque)

August 23-24: Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sale (9 am to 1 pm on each of those days)

September 21: Flaming River Con. I’m not a guest of this Cleveland event. I’m going to show my support for the LGBTQ+ comics community in my old home town. If I can get my hard-working wife to take some time off, I might even make a downtown Cleveland weekend of it.

November 2-3: Akron Comiccon

November 8-10: Grand Rapids Comic-Con (Michigan).

I may try to squeeze in one more Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sale in early September. I’d also be available to be a convention guest in September, October and December. If you’re a show promoter who would like to book me for one of your shows, e-mail me for my appearance requirements.

If you’d would like me to speak at your college, library, school or other venue, the same holds true. I can talk about modern comics, comics history, diversity in comics or my career in comics. E-mail me for my appearance requirements and availability.

I’ll be hitting the road for G-Fest tomorrow morning, but I should be able to write and post a short bloggy thing before leaving. See you then.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

COMICS STUFF

Being a gathering of short comments and item on the comics we love so dearly and maybe even those we don’t.

On June 6, I wrote about Conan e Kazar #27, a 1976 Italian comic that reprinted one of my “It! The Living Colossus” tales in between reprints of Conan and Kull stories. After discussing the stories in the issue, I turned my attention to the back cover:

The back cover of this issue is an advertisement for L’Uomo Ragno [Spiderman] #153. My first thought was that this reprints an issue of Marvel Team-Up, but I was able to pin the cover to any specific issue. If any of my bloggy readers can identify the cover/issue, I will say wonderful things about them in a future bloggy.

John Sink came to my rescue. I don’t know how I managed to miss it, but that’s the cover of Marvel Team-Up #22 [June 1974]. The cover is pencilled and inked by John Romita. In that story by writer Len Wein, penciller Sal Buscema and inkers Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt, Spidey and Hawkeye must stop Quasimodo from taking over all of the computers on Earth. I’m not sure they succeeded. I mean, how else can we explain Comicsgate and the ongoing Russian interference in our elections?

Thanks, John. For your efforts, you get a no-prize, not redeemable anywhere in the known universe.

                                                                                 

Marvel has reprinted thousands of vintage comics over the years in packages ranging from the traditional 36-page comic book to $100+ omnibus additions. However, with the exception of the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run of Rawhide Kid, Marvel has not delved into its vast backlog of western comics. When I can pick them up for one or two bucks, I buy these Marvel western books, read them and then resell them in my garage sales.

Red Wolf #5 [January 1973] with its Gil Kane cover was one of those purchases. It’s a Gil Kane cover, always a good thing, with a new-at-the-time, 20-page story by Gardner Fox with artists Syd Shores and Chic Stone. It’s a decent enough story - Roy Thomas rewrote a lot of the dialogue - with pretty good art. Yet, reading it with my 2019 eyes, I’m thinking it’s a bit tone-deaf when it comes to its portrayals of indigenous peoples, though, in all fairness, it’s far less tone-deaf than some other Marvel western comics of the 1960s and 1970s.

I doubt we’ll ever see a collection of the original Red Wolf comics of the 1970s. The western version of the character was introduced in an issue of Marvel Spotlight and his own title ran nine issues. I'd buy it, especially if it also an introduction that addressed the tone-deafness of the stories and provided a more accurate history of indigenous peoples. I’m not sure anyone else would buy it. Which is too often the case with old comics I love.

                                                                         

I’ve written about Commando, the British war comics digest, several times in the past. This time out, I wanted to draw your attention to Commando #5155 [9/6/18].

Commando has gotten more inclusive over the years. The protagonists of “The Pact” and Indian Army soldiers battling the Japanese army in World War II. On the final page of the tale, writer Heath Ackley writes:

“The Indian Army was the largest volunteer force in history with over two and a half million soldiers in its ranks. They did not only serve in the Burmese campaign, but in Italy, North Africa, South Asia and France. Often overlooked, the Indian Army played a valuable role in gaining victory.”
A major book publisher’s representative once told me his company never lost money with books about World War II. It’s not something I wish to pursue, and I realize the book market has changed considerably since I owned a book store, but I wonder if a graphic novel about the Indian Army would succeed.

                                                                              

Sometimes I read something that comes highly recommend and, after reading it, I wonder why it came highly recommend. I usually decide it’s a case of “your mileage may vary” and leave it be. Sometimes I have something more to say. Albeit not a lot more.

I got four issues into The Long Con Volume 1 [Oni Press; #19.99]. Five years ago, a cataclysmic event destroyed everything within a 50-mile radius of a stand-in for the San Diego Comic-Con. Outside the radius, the government has quarantined the area. A reporter who survived the event goes back to report on what happened. He finds a great many fans and guests have survived. Indeed, those survivors think zombies rule the outside world. It’s the scoop of the century and not a bad premise.

My problem is that, four issues in, I don’t like any of the cast. They represent the worst of multiple fandoms and close to the worst of humanity. What some call lovingly written and drawn, I saw as an exercise in self-loathing. Ugh.

The Big Bang Theory was criticized on the same grounds on which I’m giving a thumbs down to this book. I contend there was almost more humanity in the Big Bang cast that I see in The Long Con. Which is why it was such a delight to see those characters change and grow over the run of the series.

Maybe that will happen with The Long Con. But I’m just not feeling it. If you enjoy the book, that’s terrific. Really. Not every comic book has to be to my taste. The comics world is big enough for all of us.

******************************
Just some reminders.

I will attending G-Fest - the world’s best Godzilla convention - on July 12-14, Friday through Sunday, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hara Hotel. Following that, I will be at the San Diego Comic-Con from July 17-21, Wednesday night through Sunday, at the San Diego Convention Center. If you want to get together with me at either of these events, e-mail me as soon as possible. I will not be able to receive or send e-mail after tomorrow night until late Monday or Tuesday. After that brief window when you can reach me by e-mail, I will again not be able to receive or send e-mail from July 17-21. I will return from Comic-Con on July 22, albeit fairly late in the day. It’ll take me a day or two to recover from attending two big conventions back-to-back.

Whether at these events or afterwards, I’m always willing to talk to people who might want to hire me for comics or other creative endeavors...or who want to book me as a guest for their events. I’m also available for talks about comics, comics history and diversity at colleges, libraries and schools.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
 
© 2019 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #308

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder...Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019); Nurses Monsters and Hotrodders; and Six Days: The Incredible Story of D-Day’s Lost Chapter!
                                                                                 
                                                                               


Monday, July 8, 2019

THE ROAD TO COMIC-CON 2019

Comic-Con International: San Diego, also known as San Diego Comic-Con, happens July 17-21 at the San Diego Convention Center. July 17 is the preview night. I’m a firm believer in mission statements for such events, so here’s this one:

The SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION (Comic-Con International) is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized for charitable purposes and dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, including participation in and support of public presentations, conventions, exhibits, museums and other public outreach activities which celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.

You can find out about attending the convention, the exhibit halls, the incredible programming, the equally incredible special guests, directions to the event, publications and exclusive items sold at the convention by going to the Comic-Con website. I won’t attempt to duplicate the Herculean effort that goes into providing all that information. No one does it better than Comic-Con itself.

What I will be doing today is letting you know about my Comic-Con plans. That’s probably the only area of knowledge in which I know more than the Comic-Con website.

I’m not being brought to Comic-Con by any publisher or by the event itself. Like most attendees, I’m coming in on my own dime, joined by my Saintly Wife Barb, my daughter Kelly, Kelly’s roommate Lauren and my goddaughter Vanessa. I am forever surrounded by capable and beautiful women. It’s my special gift.

My family and I can get into Comic-Con every year because, back in 2013, the convention gave me its coveted Inkpot Award and has not asked for it back yet. To get it, they would have to pry it from my cold dead hands. Not happening. However, I would remiss if I failed to mention and thank the Comic-Con staffers and volunteers for the many courtesies and kindnesses done for me and my family. They have made my journey much easier for me.

I have few concrete plans during Comic-Con. I will be appearing on just one panel:

That '70s Panel
Friday July 19, 2019 10:00am - 11:30am
Room 8

It was a time of change in comics, with a new generation intermingling with the old and taking command. Hear what the comics industry was like in the 1970s from Mike Friedrich (Iron Man, Justice League of America), Tony Isabella (Black Lightning, The Champions), Trina Robbins (Wimmen's Comix, Wonder Woman), Arvell Jones (Marvel Two-in-One, Iron Man), Louise Simonson (Creepy, Power Pack), Walt Simonson (Manhunter, Thor), and moderator Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer, Blackhawk).


Although I’ll certainly be attending other panels as well, the one I am most interested in is this one:

Black Lightning Special Presentation and Q&A
Saturday July 20, 2019 5:00pm - 5:45pm
Ballroom 20

Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) and his family return to the small screen this fall! At the conclusion of season 2, Lightning (China Anne McClain), along with her father Black Lightning, had seemingly taken down Tobias Whale (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III), as he's exiled to a black site for lockdown. Lynn's (Christine Adams) desire to save the pods almost costs her her life, while Khalil's (Jordan Calloway) and Jennifer's (McClain) relationship seemingly comes to an end once Tobias pulled his coattail-or shall, we say, spine? And we can't forget Anissa, a.k.a. Thunder (Nafessa Williams), who continued to fight her way through Freeland's corruption. Hear from some of the series stars for a lightning round of a season 2 review and a tease of what's to come for season 3! In addition, this supercharged series stars Damon Gupton and James Remar. Based on the characters from DC, Black Lightning is from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil, and Sarah Schechter. Black Lightning returns this fall to The CW on Mondays (9/8c), with the last two seasons available for streaming on Netflix. Black Lightning: The Complete Second Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 1.


Beyond those panels, my plans are to catch up with old friends and make new friends. I hope to meet with someone from the publishing house who has bought the contract to my 1000 Comic Books You Must Read with an eye towards convincing them to do a new and expanded edition of that classic volume or, failing that, give the contract back to me so I can find another way to publish that edition.

I am not scheduled to do any signings at the convention. I would be available to do such signings for charitable organizations at the event. I would also be willing to do them at the booths of comics publishers I’ve worked with, though it’s unlikely I’ll be asked to do that. Not everyone loves me as much as you do.

I am always willing to meet with any publisher or producer that would like to explore working with me. I’m a friendly, hardworking, and frankly terrific writer. A meeting isn’t a contract or even a promise. Maybe we can work together, maybe we can’t. I will never be less than honest with you about what I can do and what I would be willing to do.

Here’s a tip. I can do a lot.

If you would like to meet with me for that or any other reason, you should e-mail me as soon as possible. I don’t take a computer with me when I travel. I’ll be home through Wednesday of this week - I’m attending G-Fest in Chicago - and return sometime on the following Monday. I’m home on the Tuesday before Comic-Con, but flying to the event early Wednesday morning.

The best way of reaching me during the convention is by cell phone text message. If you don’t have my cell phone number, e-mail me and let me know why you want to get together with me. I will e-mail my number to you. Better yet, if you send me your cell phone number, I will send you a text message giving you mine.

My Comic-Con dance card is very open. If I can help you with some advice based on my 47 years working in the comics industry, answer some questions about my career, look at your latest published work or other such things, don’t be shy about contacting me. I will try to make time for you in between looking at old (and new) comic books and other cool items I can’t afford.

For several reasons, I’m thinking this could well be my last Comic-Con. I want to make it as fun and productive as possible.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Sunday, July 7, 2019

G-FEST XXVI PREVIEW

Let’s start with the info on the convention website:

G-FEST is the largest regular gathering of Godzilla and Japanese monster fans in the world. Held each summer, it typically attracts more than 1000 attendees, but has seen a gradual increase in attendance over the past few years. G-FEST 2018, its 25th anniversary, was the most successful convention to date, bringing in more than 3000 Japanese science fiction and fantasy film fans!

G-FEST is a family-oriented convention which caters to a wide variety of interests within the kaiju genre. G-FEST features presentations and Q & A sessions by actors and crew from the Japanese Godzilla films, fan presentations on topics of interest, contests and gaming, new and classic kaiju movies, the western world’s largest kaiju-oriented dealers room, and lots of fun and camaraderie.

G-FEST XXVI will be held from July 12th to July 14th, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare.

Special guests for G-FEST XXVI include actor Akira Takarada; director Shusuke Kaneko; actress Peggy Neal; director Yoshikazu Ishii; modeler Takuji Yamada; Sonoe Nakajima, the daughter of Haruo Nakajima; animator Philo Barnhart; and writer Tony Isabella.

The G-FEST double double feature film festival is returning to the Pickwick Theatre. The Kaiju Eiga Film Fest consists of Godzilla’s Revenge and Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster on Thursday afternoon, with The X From Outer Space and Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack playing on Thursday evening. The Friday and Saturday main features are Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Monster Zero. Sunday will feature a recent example of Shusuke Kaneko’s non-kaiju work, Linking Love in the evening.


G-Fest and promoter J.D. Lees, publisher of G-Fan magazine, is very kind to me. He lists me as a special guest or guest presenter when I attend the convention and honors me with the real guests at the event’s opening ceremony. I can’t say enough nice things about this convention and, even if I could, this column would be longer than War and Peace.

My special presentation this time around will be CHEESY MONSTERS RAID AGAIN! A few years back, I did a Monsters of Syfy slideshow. It was a surprise sensation. It was the last panel of the event and we filled a large ballroom with our images of the wacky creatures of the SyFy channel and a good-natured fun at the expense of those critters. So we’re doing something like it this year.

From the official G-Fest schedule...

Cheesy Monsters Raid Again

(2:00 PM, Ballroom 1) - A world in extreme danger...of laughing our butts off. We love our monsters, even when they’re dripping with cinematic cheese. Join comics writer Tony Isabella as we examine over fifty of the crazy creatures that we remember so fondly.


I had a ball putting together this year’s creature features list. Some of these movies are well-known. Others, I suspect, are films you’ve never heard of. One of them is so obscure and recent that I have no images for it, just a title card.

Besides the amazing programming, G-Fest has much to offer fans of Godzilla and other kaiju. There will be an amazing model room with sensational examples of creativity. There will be the usual packed-to-the-walls-with-great-stuff dealers room. Artists Alley will have some wondrous works of art, including some comic-book and graphic novel debuts. Celebrity autographs and photos will be available at very reasonable prices. G-Fest swag will be sold...until it sells out, which it usually does.

The Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hara hotel is one of the friendliest and finest convention venues I know. The hotel loves having G-Fest and goes the extra mile to make everything run smoothly. In addition, the hotel turns over one of its TV channels for 24-hour airing of a wide variety of Japanese movies and TV series, most of them in Japanese. You could literally experience kaiju all day and night. Sleep is highly overrated.

My son Eddie and I will be arriving at the convention on Thursday. Except for when Eddie is indulging his love of Italian beef - and Chicago has some of the best - we’ll be at the convention. If you want to meet up with us, catch us at the convention. If you want to set up something in advance, e-mail me.

NOTE: I do not travel with a computer. I’ll be offline while I am at G-Fest. So, unless you e-mail me before we leave on Thursday, I will not receive your message.

Because we’re driving to G-Fest, I’ll be bringing a box of various Black Lightning and Tony Isabella books. I won’t be set up in the dealers room or Artists Alley, but, if you want to buy a book from me and get it signed, it’ll be a simple matter for me to go to my room and get it for you.

That’s all for now. I’ll be posting a preview of my upcoming visit to San Diego’s Comic-Con in a day or two. Watch for it.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN JUNE

I’m running out of ways to say that life can be shitty, Trump and the Republicans even more so, but there is still hope for us all. I see it in the fact that, each and every day, I can find somebody or something that makes me happy. I post these happy things on my Facebook pages and on Twitter. At the end of each month, I gather them together for a blog entry much like this one.

Here are things that made me happy in June.

June 1: My first garage sale of 2019 was a rousing success. I made 137% of my two-day goal and got to hang out with some great local comics fans. It’s a double-win!

June 2: “There’s No Hope in Crime Alley” by Denny O’Neil and Dick Giordano. A classic story that holds up no matter how many times I read it. I wish Batman was this good today.

June 3: “To Kill a Legend” by Alan Brennert and Dick Giordano. One of the best Batman stories ever told. I would have liked to have seen the adult Bruce Wayne/Batman of the alternate world that our Batman visits in this tale.

June 4: Coming across the file for a former employee who stole from me and who felt I should thank him for not killing me when I caught him in the act. I’d pushed many of the details of this stuff out of my head, but, boy howdy, will this make an incredible chapter in my memoirs of sorts.

June 5: I’m starting to get Comic-Con Fever. It will likely be my last Comic-Con, so I’m hoping to see lots of old friends, meet some of my online friends for the first time in person and make some new friends.
                                                                              

June 6: Working on my “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation for G-Fest. My picks for prom queen and king are The Giant Claw and the Tabanga (From Hell It Came). Next year’s presentation will be Kong Kin Vs. Cheesezilla. Because I am quite mad.

June 7: Comic-book categories on Jeopardy. No matter how often the comics industry shoots itself in the foot, our art form has become forever part of the culture.

June 8: Medina, Ohio. Friday afternoon. It’s 80 degrees and sunny. Someone in a T-Rex costume is mowing their lawn. I think I can die happy now.

June 9: Friends from all over the country. Steve and Annie Olle of Washington D.C. came to my garage sale on Friday. They were merely passing through, but it was wonderful to see them. They even bought some of my Vast Accumulation of Stuff.

June 10: More friends from all over the country. Don Hillard from Oregon had a conference in Cleveland and stayed over Saturday and Sunday to hang with the Isabella family. Big fun. We love the guy!
                                                                                 

June 11: Return to Sleepaway Camp (2008) is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. But it was worth watching for the brief appearance by Felissa Rose, reprising her role as Angela Baker from the original Sleepaway Camp (1983).

June 12: Stan Helsing aka Scary Movie 5 (2009) is the kind of movie you watch on Amazon Prime when you’re too tired to make any better choice and, hey, it’s free. That said, I got a huge kick out of The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic as “message therapist” Mia.
                                                                            

June 13: DC’s new Dial H for Hero by Sam Humphries and Joe Quinones is insane. I like it.

June 14: Last night’s spaghetti and meatballs dinner with Barb and the kids. My idea, though I “wisely” delegated the actual work to them. It’s called “management skills.” Yeah, they didn’t buy that either.

June 15: The amazing people who come to my garage sales. Those who have been reading comics their entire lives. Others who have just started reading them. Always looking for something new or something new-to-them. This is comicdom at its best.
                                                                                

June 16: Thirty-five years today.

June 17: The way my mind works. I just wrote a one-page comic-book story for an anthology. If it doesn’t get accepted, I already know how to expand it into a 17-page comic-book story.
                                                                                   

June 18: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 by writer Tom Taylor with artist Yildiray Cinar. The neighborhood concept was stretched a bit too far in the previous issues, but this brings it right back home as Peter Parker must face a family crisis.

June 19: I finished my list of movies to be included in my “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again!” at G-Fest. I swear some of the jokes for this are writing themselves.

June 20: Finding a box of Superman merchandise that dates back at least two decades. Hope to get it priced for next weekend’s garage sales.

[NOTE: I didn’t get a chance to price the Superman merchandise for my last June garage sale. Maybe for the garage sale I’ve scheduled at the end of July.]
                                                                          

June 21: Graphics guy Ron Hill did a great job creating four title cards for my G-Fest “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation and did them overnight. They look amazing!
                                                                            

June 22: Jurassic Predator. This 2018 British film has incredibly awful writing, laughably bad acting and a puppet T-Rex that never lets you forget it’s a puppet. Its budget was so long that the same fake entrails appear over and over again. It was ninety minutes of goofy smile on my face. Worth every penny of the $9.43 I spent to buy it.

June 23: We’re getting new neighbors. It looks like the sale of the house next door has finally been completed. Hope they like comics and garage sales.
                                                                                

June 24: DC SuperHero Girls: Spaced Out is another wondrous graphic novel by Shea Fontana with art by Agnes Garbowska. But what has me chuckling every time I recall it is a shot of Gorilla Grodd playing with puppies. Who’s a good doggie?
                          
June 25: A fan described me as a demi-god. I was going to respond and call that an exaggeration until I remembered the wise advice of Winston Zeddemore, “When someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"!

June 26: Receiving praise for Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands from one of the organizers of the protests when Tamir Rice was murdered. “Your reference to Tamir Rice and tensions with the police really hit home. You did a fantastic job writing this comic. Thank you for bringing some super hero hope to Cleveland.”
                                                                                  

June 27: Courtesy of a dear friend, I now have a wonderful “Rainbow Batman” pin showing the cover of that classic comic. I’ll wear it at SDCC to show support for the LGBTQ comics community. Warning: it’s small. If you lean down to look it at, I may have to remind you that my eyes are up here.

June 28: Celebrated my son Ed’s birthday with Barb and Kelly at the Blue Heron Brewery in Medina. We had great food and a great time. I recommend the BHB Burger and the Black Bottom Peanut Butter Pie.

June 29: A private message from a long-time fan wondering why I did not get more credit for my work. He wrote: “The best stories, like yours, aren’t “super-hero” stories. They’re well-crafted stories about extraordinary people and sometimes very ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.”

June 30: My last garage sale customer of the weekend was a guy who had ALS surgery the day before. He was on crutches, but wanted to come to the sale. He and his wonderful wife made my day. They were so nice!

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella