NEW MEXICO COMIC EXPO (August 16-18)

The New Mexico Comic Expo is my next convention appearance. It will take place Friday through Sunday, August 16-18, at the Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 2nd Street NW. The show hours are Friday 2-8 pm, Saturday 11 am-7 pm and Sunday 10am to 5 pm.

From my quick scan of the media, comics and cosplay guest roster, the show will be hosting over fifty celebrities. Among the media guests I’d like to meet - but whom I probably won’t get a chance to meet - are Jason Momoa (Sunday only); Jon Bernthal (Saturday and Sunday); Hayley Atwell (all three days); and Felicia Day (Saturday and Sunday). The list would be longer if I had more time to watch movies and TV shows. I’m embarrassed to admit how many great films and series I haven’t watched yet.

The comics guest lists reads like FOOT (Friends of Old Tony): Chris Claremont, Roy Thomas, Don McGregor, Julia and Eric Lewald, Kevin Eastman, Larry Houston, Bob McLeod, Mike Zeck, Ron Wilson, Keith Wilson and many others. Forgive me for not listing all of the great comics guests, but I don’t want this pre-convention report to read like a phone book. Though it would be the coolest phone book in the entire history of phone books.

Over the three days, the New Mexico Comic Expo will present forty panels featuring its guests and cosplayers. I will be appearing on two panels, both scheduled for Saturday.

At noon in Room 2, I’ll be on the “I Created That Character” panel with Don McGregor, Keith Wilson, Steve Erwin and Kerry Gammill. I suspect I’ll mostly be asked about Black Lightning, but I’m ready to be surprised by audience questions about lesser known creations that I may have forgotten about.

Then, at 6 pm in Room 1, my friend and mentor Roy Thomas and I will be talking about “The Good and the Bad with Marvel”. It was Roy who hired me to work at Marvel in 1972. I don’t think he has regretted that decision more than four or five times since then.

The convention is also hosting several special events. Friday has Comic Trade Night (where you can bring up to one box of comics to trade with your fellow fans) and the Kick-Off Party with proceeds benefitting Safe House Albuquerque. Saturday will have the Cosplay Contest with three categories - Youth (0-13), Adults (14+), Groups (6 members maximum) - and Late Night Karaoke. Sunday’s events will wrap up with the Art Auction. For more information on the guests, panels and special events, check out the Expo’s website.

When I’m not doing panels or roaming the vendors area for wondrous comics and related items that I can buy and sneak into my suitcase without Saintly Wife Barb catching me, I’ll be at my booth. While the major attraction there will be your getting the opportunity to  meet SWB, I’ll have a selection of Isabella-written books for sale as well. Because we’re flying in, I’m limited to how many books I can bring to the convention. At this time, I expect to have copies of these books:

Black Lightning (my 1970s series)
Black Lightning Volume 2 (1970s stories not by me)
Black Lightning: Brick City Blues (my mid-1990s run)
Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands (my 2018-2019 series)
July 1963: A Pivotal Month in the Comic-Book Life of Tony Isabella Volume 1
Marvel’s Greatest Creators Tony Isabella #1 (the exclusive-from-me limited variant edition reprinting Misty Knight’s first appearance)

If you buy a book or comic from me, I’ll sign them for free. Even if you bring a grading company representative to witness my signing said book or comic.

Here’s the rest of my signature policy:

All other items: $5 each.

Items signed in front of a grading company witness: $10 each.

Photos are free, but I do ask you e-mail them to me with permission to post them online.

Speaking of photos...

I love cosplayers who dress as characters I created or characters I’ve written. I just love cosplay in general. If you are cosplaying at the New Mexico Comic Expo, please stop by my booth so I can get a photo of you for possible use in my future New Mexico Comic Expo convention report.

On other matters...

If you are a publisher, editor, artist, filmmaker, movie and/or TV producer or actor who wants to work with me, we can certainly talk during the Expo. If you e-mail me before Wednesday, we can schedule that conversation. If you don’t e-mail me, I’ll still do my best to find time to meet with you. I’m an agreeable guy.

If you are a media person, print, podcast, TV or radio, who would like to interview me, I’ll do my best to make that happen as well. As with the above, e-mail before Wednesday and we will schedule an interview. Also as above, if you first contact me at the Expo, I’ll try to make that work.

One more thing.

Barb and I are flying into Albuquerque early Thursday. We will be spending all day Monday in the city as well. We’d like to do some tourist stuff and welcome your recommendations. You can post them in the comments, on my Facebook page or send them to me via e-mail.

I have a couple conventions in November, but that looks like it for the year. I’m probably going to do fewer conventions in 2020, but we’ll see how that goes.

If you’re a promoter who would like to book me as a guest at your convention or other event, e-mail me with as much information about your event as possible. I’ll email my appearance requirements back to you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Saintly Wife Barb and I are excited about coming to Albuquerque and the New Mexico Comic Expo. We hope to see you there.

I’ll be back soon with more bloggy stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2019 REVIEWS #7

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...

Hope by Dirk Manning and K. Lynn Smith [Source Point Press]. Dirk is a friend of mine; I wanted to state that up front because I am a full disclosure kind of reviewer. He normally writes horror comics. Here Dirk writes a 22-page story introducing his first super-hero creation.

QUALITY: This is one of the best of the Free Comic Book Day issues. While the story certainly touches upon the unease with which your average folks and average law enforcement agents react to supers in so many other comics, Dirk and K. Lynn have come up with some fresh takes on that basic situation. I liked it a lot.

ACCESSIBILITY: This is the first issue of an ongoing series. It has every thing a reader needs to know to get into and enjoy this first Hope tale.

SALESMANSHIP: Almost perfect. Dirk’s editorial talks about how Hope came to be. What the issue doesn’t do is tell us where we can find more Hope. Other house ads promote other comics; they are nice ads but a little more information would have been helpful.

SCORE: Nine out of ten points.

                                                                               

Interceptor Issue One [Vault Comics] is by Donny Cates with artist Dylan Burnett [Vault Comics]. It’s a combination of hi-tech super-hero, space colonies and future vampires. The 24-page comics story is by Cates, Burnett, letterer Taylor Esposito, and story editor Seamus Martin.

QUALITY: It’s a well-written story, albeit more than a little heavy with the plot background and the science explanations. We don’t get as much insight into the lead character as I’d have liked. The art was good.

ACCESSIBILITY: Mostly accessible, though the heaviness I mentioned above demands concentration and maybe Cliff Notes.

SALESMANSHIP: Good. It has a house ad for the Interceptor collected edition, followed by one for Reactor, which seems to continue the story from Interceptor. More coverage of other Vault Comics titles is lacking.

SCORE: Six out of the points.
                                                                                    

Next up is Valiant: Bloodshot FCBD Special [Valiant]. Bloodshot is my favorite of the company’s characters, narrowly edging out Faith. This issue has a 12-page prologue to a new Bloodshot series by Tim Seeley with artist Tomas Giorello, an interview with Seeley, an 8-page prelude to Fallen World by Dan Abnett with artist Juan Jose Ryp, an interview with Abnett and an interview with Fred Van Lente on the forthcoming Psi-Lords series.

QUALITY: The Bloodshot story is terrific. The interviews are very informative. The Fallen World prelude is well-done, but, I’m not a huge fan of future versions of comics characters.

ACCESSIBILITY: I had no difficulties following these two stories. Valiant writing has always been very welcoming to new readers and these tales are no exception.

SALESMANSHIP: Good. There is no much story/interview content that there isn’t a lot of room for house ads. But there are some, one of them for what appears to be a Valiant Universe app.

SCORE: Nine out of ten. 

                                                                             

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Striker Force [Graphic India] turns the world-famous soccer player into a super-hero. The issue presents his 21-page origin story and several pages of concept art.

QUALITY: Despite the contrivance of Ronaldo’s super-powers deriving from his skill at kicking a ball-like power-sapping device, I was mightily entertained by this story. It was well-written with lively art and, most of all, it was big fun. I’ll be looking for it in the Previews catalog.

ACCESSIBILITY: I got right into the characters. Everything I needed  to know was in the writing and art. Well done.

SALESMANSHIP: The back cover had a photo of Ronaldo and his comics counterpart with a quote about why this project appeals to him. It may not be an ad per se, but it’s effective.

SCORE: Ten out of ten points.

                                                                                 

Wolfie Monster and the Big Bad Pizza Battle by writer/artist Joey Ellis [Scholastic] features a 28-page excerpt from a graphic novel aimed at younger readers.

QUALITY: It’s a clever character and concept, but the execution is shaky. The plot meanders, the writing is so-so and the art, well, I found it uninteresting.

ACCESSIBILITY: If the story was more solid, the characters and the situations would have more clear and inviting.

SALESMANSHIP: Decent. The inside front and back covers have ads for other Scholastic graphic novels. The back cover has an ad for the Wolfie Monster graphic novel.

SCORE: Four out of ten points.

                                                                                  

CBLDF Presents Defend Comics [Comic Book Legal Defense Fund] is an anthology featuring excerpts from five graphic novels: Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen; Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale; Nobody’s Fool by Bill Griffith; A Fire Story by Brian Fies; and bags (or a Story Thereof) by Patrick McHale and Gavin Fullerton.

QUALITY: Mixed. A Fire Story is the best of the books excerpted in this anthology. Pilu is interesting and well-crafted. Apocalypse Taco is so-so. Nobody’s Fool is a graphic memoir I’ll read soon. Bags is intriguing, but I’m on the fence as to whether or not it’s any good.

ACCESSIBILITY: Also mixed. Apocalypse Taco is undecipherable. Bags is a little rough. The others are easy to get into.

SALESMANSHIP: So-so. There’s barely any information on the CBLDF, which I would think would have been the point of the Fund doing a Free Comic Book Day issue. It’s also not clear if these excerpts are excerpts - I assume they are - and nothing to indicate where an interested reader can find the rest of the stories.

SCORE: Four out of ten points.

More Free Comic Book Day reviews to come. I’ll return tomorrow with the lowdown on my next convention appearance. See you then.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN JULY

July saw me attending G-Fest XXVI in Chicago with my son, followed swiftly by my attending the San Diego Comic-Con with Saintly Wife Barb, my daughter Kelly, my goddaughter Vanessa and Lauren, Kelly’s housemate. So, as months ago, as long as I didn’t think about the blight on our society that is Donald Trump and the Republicans, I have to say July was a pretty good month. It was exhausting, but a pretty good month nonetheless.

Here are things that made me happy in June.

July 1: The Great Alligator (1979). This Italian monster movie is 90 minutes of cheesy mania. Lousy dubbing. A stiff giant alligator prop whose victims seem to push their way into its jaws. Released under so many different names it’s as if it were a fugitive on the run from the law. Gloriously terrible.

July 2: Vinyl Conflict: The World of Godzilla Toys. This catalog of the Mark Livolsi collection is a 300-page beautiful hardcover book from the Peekaboo Gallery. The collection goes on the auction block in August. It is magnificent.

July 3: Marvel Comics #1001. An annual-size comic featuring single-page stories by a multitude of creators. I wrote one for Kid Colt, Outlaw and it’s drawn by Tom Mandrake! Look for this special issue later this year.

July 4: Sharing food and watching fireworks last night with family and neighbors. Some of the latter will be leaving us soon, but we cherish the memories we’ve made with them.

July 5: Dell’s Adventures in Paradise [Four-Color #1301; February-April, 1962] with its absolutely wild story of a crazed professor determined to kill a shark god. It’s a keeper!
                                                                           

July 6: Charlton Neo Media’s classic cover gallery books, such as Nurses, Monsters and Hotrodders. The vintage covers are shot from Charlton’s original printing stats. Informative and just plain fun for comics history buffs.

July 7: Black Lightning Season Three commences shooting on Tuesday,  July 9. Black Lightning Season Two will be available on Blu-ray and DVD sometime in August.

July 8: Bob Ingersoll’s The Law Is a Ass Volume One: All Rise, the first in a series of books reprinting the classic “comics and the law” column from Comics Buyer’s Guide.

 

July 9: Fantastic Four #10 ties in to whatever the heck “War of the Realms” is, but writer Dan Slott with artists Paco Medina and Kevin Libranda pulled off a done-in-one story that made Yancy Street come to life in wondrous fashion. Well done.
                                                                             

July 10: Black Lightning was the answer to a $2000 Double Jeopardy clue on last night’s program. How cool is that?

July 11: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6 has another memorable story in “Spider-Bite” by Tom Taylor with artist Juann Cabal. I’m a big fan of down-to-earth super-hero stories and wish the industry would do more of them.

July 12: G-Fest XXVI was an amazing experience. My “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again!” presentation was a hit. Seeing old friends. Making new friends. The inspirational humanity, talent and warmth of the great Akira Takarada. I’ll be bak next year.

July 13: Taking Saturday off from G-Fest. Ed and I went to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game. I love the fans and the stadium. Even in the unbearable heat. We watched the last three innings at one of the nearby bars.

July 14: Dinner with Alan and Pauline Weiss at a terrific Chicago restaurant with a street festival going on outside. Best non-dinner moment: watching a young woman write FUCK I.C.E. on the sidewalk. She knows who the bad guys are.

July 15: Martin Arlt was named to the G-Fest Hall of Fame for his many years of mind-boggling service in creating and scheduling the convention’s panel programming.

July 16: The rush of rushing around getting ready for the San Diego Comic-Con. My battle plan includes sleeping during our very early flights there.
                                                                                  

July 17: San Diego Comic-Con. Making a young woman’s day by trading her my Supergirl bag for her Teen Titans Go! bag. It took some more trading to get a couple of Black Lightning bags.

July 18: San Diego Comic-Con. Great panels on Thursday. A spotlight on the deservedly legendary Maggie Thompson with Mark Evanier and Leonard Maltin in the am. The Mark (Evanier), Sergio (Aragones) and Stan (Sakai) Show with three of my favorite creators/people.

July 19: Comic-Con. Thursday night dinner at Lou & Mickey’s with my Saintly Wife Barb, Mark Evanier and Ken Plume. Excellent food in a nice restaurant in the Gaslamp Gaslight District.

July 20: Comic-Con. Thursday night. The Comic-Con 50th Anniversary reception at the Marriott Marquis Marina Ballroom. So many dear old friends celebrating an incredible landmark for this most wondrous of comics events!
                                                                                 

July 21: Comic-Con. Friday morning. That 70s Panel with host Mark Evanier, Mike Friedrich, Arvell Jones, Lee Marrs, Trina Robbins and Louise and Walt Simonson. What a great way to catch up with so many comics greats!

July 22: Comic-Con. Friday. Mike Friedrich and I had a wonderful chat after our panel. Mike’s post-writing life took him to amazing places. He’s happy with his new path as a minister and I’m just as happy for him. Good guys deserve happy endings.

July 23: Comic-Con. Love for Black Lightning. It was all over the convention from the fans to the pros to convention center workers to a shuttle bus driver. If only DC Comics understood what it has in this iconic character and his creator.

July 24: Comic-Con. My first visits to Mattel’s booth to confirm my pre-order of the Strange Lives of Batman action figures set were awful. Long, already capped lines. To its credit, Mattel recognized the problem and set up a separate table for pre-orders. It took me less than five minutes. Of course, now it feels like an eternity waiting for the set to arrive.
                                                                                

July 25: Comic-Con. The WB/Comic-Con 2019 Cocktail Media Mixer on Friday night at the Float Rooftop Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel. The carnival theme included a customized bag, carnival games, wonderful food and drinks and the pleasure of introducing Saintly Wife Barb to Black Lightning cast members and others.

July 26: Comic-Con. I got to enjoy the convention with my Saintly Wife Barb, daughter Kelly, her roommate Lauren and my goddaughter Vanessa. I am so blessed to have these women in my life.

July 27: Comic-Con. Saturday. Mark Evanier’s Quick Draw Panel with Disney legend Floyd Norman, international legend Sergio Aragones and the inspirational Scott Shaw! This is always one of Comic-Con’  best panels.

July 28: Comic-Con. Chatting with Larry Ganem in the DC Hospitality Suite. He’s a good guy and the closest thing I have to any kind of relationship with DC. Whether my association (or the lack thereof) with DC changes or not, I’m glad for his friendship. The Suite was pretty cool, too.

July 29: Comic-Con. Sharing meals and spending time with too many old friends to name, but I’ll try: Maggie Thompson, Anthony Tollin, Elliot Maggin, Ken Penders, Larry Houston, Arne Starr, Stan Sakai, Scott Shaw, Sergio Aragones, Barbara Kesel, Marv Wolfman, Arvell Jones, Peter Kuper and more. If this was all Comic-Con held for me, it would still be a wondrous event.

July 30: Comic-Con. Ending my Comic-Con weekend by taking Saintly Wife Barb, daughter Kelly and Kelly’s roommate Lauren to dinner at Buster’s Beach on the lovely boardwalk behind out hotel. A perfect cap to our Comic-Con.

July 31: Comic-Con. The countless, well, at least more of them than I can count, volunteers, staff members and organizers who made the convention better for everyone. I thank all of you from the bottom of my comics heart.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

G-FEST XXVI Part Four: Last Dance for Ghidorah

What has gone before:

My son Eddie and I played hooky from G-Fest on Saturday, July 13, but attended the final day of the convention on Sunday.

Today’s G-Fest finale is less convention report and more personal  reflection. I had fun at G-Fest, but not as much fun as I could’ve had. I need to rethink the way I do this and other conventions so that I can enjoy them more and they take less out of me.

I was sick on the final day of G-Fest. It was a culmination of not always good choices I made. I fell behind on preparing my material for my “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation, not finishing my notes until Thursday morning, hours before we left for the event. I stressed over the presentation. I wasn’t as careful with my diet as I should have been; I need to eat less and more healthy. As much as I enjoyed going to Wrigley Field, it was a bad choice to do so in ninety-plus degree weather.

I was so sick Sunday morning that I skipped breakfast and stayed in my hotel room. I don’t think I emerged until noon. Between feeling poorly, which wasn’t helped by my anxiety that, in just a few more days, I’d be flying to the San Diego Comic-Con, and of what I had to do before I left, I realized (after check-out time) that Eddie and I should drive back to Medina on Sunday and not stay the night. As Eddie has a full schedule waiting for him at his job, he was on board with this plan.
                                                                                  

                                                                              

I didn’t spent as much time with friends as I could have at G-Fest. I did hang out a bit with Martin and Pam Arlt, Jennifer Otto-Lahr and her sons Conner and Jake, and some others. I barely said “hi” to JD Lees, the founder of G-Fest and G-Fan magazine. Likewise for Sue Matzke, who runs the kid-friendly Minya’s Place; Dave Nunes, the king of the dealers room and charity auction; and Tim Bean, whose work with the Japanese guests is indispensable. I did get to chat a bit with Dr. Eric J. Stoner, who sent me some funny screen caps from Reptilicus, and Alan Berckenhoff, who was assisting in the autograph sessions and who introduced me to his niece Maddison. She had no idea who I was, but kindly seemed impressed that Uncle Alan thought I was a big deal.
                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                                

I barely attended any panels. Looking back over the schedule, I’m feeling sad about that. I have to plan my G-Fest days better.

I didn’t spent a great deal of time in the various exhibit rooms, though a highlight was visiting the Peekaboo Gallery’s showing of items from one of the finest Godzilla collections ever amassed in this country. This is the auction house (and publisher) who did the Vinyl Conflict: The World of Godzilla Toys hardcover I have praised recently.
                                                                                   

The art and model exhibit rooms were sensational, but I didn’t get to them until Sunday. By then, many models had been taken down by their creators. I was pleased to see my friend Jennifer Otto-Lahr won first place for her amazing Godzilla painting. I knew she was a terrific mom and cosplayer; I never realized she was also a great artist. Well done, my friend.

I didn’t attend any of the film festival showings. I did attempt to see The Great Buddha Arrival on Sunday, but I couldn’t handle the temperature in the viewing room. As I’ve mentioned in the earlier chapters of this G-Fest report, the hotel air conditioning system, outside of the individual hotel rooms and a few other convention rooms, wasn’t up to the challenge of the scorching temperatures on the outside.

Before any one accuses me of a “Poor Tony” column, let me repeat I made not good choices. When I return to G-Fest next year, I hope to make better choices.

I’ve already started work on next year’s “Kong Kin vs. Cheesezilla” presentation. I’ll be covering King Kong and Godzilla knock-offs in my usual humorously snarky style. I’ve already targeted some films I’ll start watching in a month or so. I also invite you to email me your suggestions. I hope to have my presentation finished a couple months before G-Fest.

Besides attending more panels, I think I’d like to be on a few more panels. I’m intimidated by the wealth of knowledge G-Fest panelists possess, but there may be some topics on which I might be able to hold my own. For example, I’m weary of those who claim the monsters are the only reason to watch these movies. The best Godzilla movies (and other kaiju films) are those that combine great monsters with great human stories. I’d love to be on a panel discussing all those great human stories.

I definitely want to spend more time with friends, more time with the exhibits, more time with the movies. I also want to be able to hit the dealers room with more serious cash than I have brought to the convention in the past. Just don’t tell Sainted Wife Barb about this plan.

Paramount will be to eat properly and regularly. I’ll try to curb stress by planning my activities better and maybe even grab a nap here and there. It works for me at home, so maybe it’ll work for me at conventions as well.

When Eddie and I checked out of the hotel, the Crowne Plaza did me a solid. I had expected to have to pay for Sunday night. Instead, they only charged me a late departure fee of fifty bucks. One more reason I love that hotel.

We said some goodbyes and attended a little of Stan Hyde’s popular “Kaiju Konfessions” karaoke presentation. Then we hit the road and drove back to Medina. We arrived around midnight.

G-Fest is one of my most favorite of all conventions. I’ll be back whenever I can, even if I’m also attending Comic-Con. I can sleep on the plane.

******************************
There’s a lot going on in my life right now, which is amazing since I’m not writing actual comic books at the moment. I will have more information on various events and projects soon. Keep watching the bloggy thing for news, views and reviews.

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

LAST GARAGE SALE OF 2019

I'm going to do one more garage sale this summer and I hope to make it as spectacular as possible with more mystery boxes than my previous sales and lowered prices on a great many items.

But, before I decide on the date, I'd like some feedback from those of you who come to my garage sale.

My two possible weekends are August 23-24 and August 30-31. The later date would allow me to make more mystery boxes and add more items to the sales. Which would you prefer?

My under consideration plan is to run these garage sales from 9 am to 5 pm. Which is twice as long as my normal hours. Would those hours make it more likely you could come to the sales.

I'm thinking of adding a third day to the sale. If I do the earlier date, it would have to be the Sunday. If I do the later date, the third date could be Thursday or Sunday. Which is better for you?

I'll be posting this on Facebook and elsewhere. If you respond to it on this bloggy thing, be aware I have to approve your response before it appears. Which I'll do as swiftly as possible.

You can also e-mail me.

Thanks.

G-FEST XXVI Part Three: No One Has Ever Said That to Me Before

What has gone before:

My son Eddie and I are attending G-Fest.

Saturday was going to be our “playing hooky” day of the convention. Traditionally, that’s the day with the biggest attendance and the greatest difficulty in getting to the panels and into the dealers room and other areas. Additionally, because the temperatures were in the 90s for most of the convention, it could get unpleasant in many parts of the hotel. The individual hotel rooms were fine. I’m sure many of us staying there had cranked up the air conditioning. However, between the constant opening of outside doors, the number of people attending the con and the tight confines of some exhibit and movie rooms, it got steamy.

Eddie had gone online to buy tickets for an afternoon baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates. We had gone to Wrigley Field on our previous visit to G-Fest and had a great time at that legendary ballpark. Unfortunately, neither of us took into account those ninety-degree temperatures.

I went to the Chicago Fire Oven for the breakfast buffet. Unlike my previous meals at the hotel restaurant, I was less than enthused by the quality of the food. Maybe it was the restaurant, maybe it was the head getting to me.

Back up in the hotel room, while Eddie went to some G-Fest stuff, I did a little bit of writing and watched the last half of Godzilla Battle Royale on the in-house TV channel. According to information I found online, this somewhat bizarre movie was a “professional fan-film” made with suitmation and other effects. It was directed and produced by Billy Dubose."

The acting was enthusiastic. The cast included Robert Scott Field, who was so excellent in 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and, in a small but pivotal role, Akira Takarada.

The movie manages to feature dozens of monsters, some lifted from actual movies and some original creatures. The action is very fast-paced, almost dizzying in places. The film totally won me over when Queen Ghidorah entered the fray. The movie is apparently available online, so I plan to watch the whole thing as soon as I get a bit of free time.
                                                                             
The drive to Wrigley Field was longer than expected but uneventful. As we had done on our previous visit, Eddie and I parked in one of the neighboring pop-up parking lots. These are residential spots, mostly driveways, made available by local businesses and residents. We paid $45 for a spot close to Wrigley Field and our later dinner with some friends of mine. We were assured we could stay there as long as we liked and that was, indeed, the case.
                                                                              

Wrigley bills itself as “the Friendly Confines” because it’s not a large stadium. Yet, on this visit, as on our previous visits, the fans couldn’t be nicer. You could strike up conversations with just about anyone. I was complimented on my “awesome mustache, dude” and talked with another fellow about how nice would be to have air-conditioned restaurants in Wrigley that weren’t exclusive to well-heeled club members.

At one point while Ed and I were inadvertently sitting in the wrong seats, we were next to a group of Spanish-speaking fans. Noticing Eddie’s Cleveland Indians hat, we talked with one of them about our hometown and other baseball cities. I told the young man I enjoyed hearing him speak Spanish with his friends. He was astonished:

“No one has ever said that to me before!”

He was used to people getting angry because he was speaking another language near them. I told him that was nonsense, that this mix of culture and language was America, was what our country was really about. Eddie chimed in with the observation that many of the Cubs and Pirates players were from Spanish-speaking countries.

Baseball is America’s game because it’s inclusive. The players and the fans can come from anywhere, brought together by their love of the sport. Our racist president might seek political gain with his fanning the flames of hate, but real Americans know it’s he who is the aberration. I have no doubt history will bear that out.

The next time some bigoted lout tells someone to go back to where they came from, remind them we all came from someplace else. Maybe also direct them to the Hell they so richly deserve.

If you think that above statement was heated, you should have been at Wrigley that afternoon. There was no relief from the heat. There was even a fight in the bleachers. Since the Cubs were blowing away the Pirates, Eddie and I decided to leave those friendly confines and head for one of the neighborhood (and air-conditioned) bars to watch the final innings there.
                                                                              

Following the game, he went back to our car long enough to change our sweat-soaked Wrigley Field shirts and head over to Grassroots Grill and dinner with Alan and Pauline Weiss, who live in Chicago not far from Wrigley.

Alan is an old friend from back in the days when I lived in NYC and worked in the Marvel offices. He has long been one of my favorite comics artists, though I don’t believe we ever had the pleasure of working together. These days, he mostly does commercial art but is still interested in doing comics.

Pauline had a multi-faceted career in comics, working for a number of companies as an editor and manager and more. These days, she’s an IT executive for a major company.

Outside the restaurant was a street festival. As Alan would later tell us, pretty much once winter is gone, the residents of Chicago switch to summer garb and start holding such festivals. On our way to the restaurant, Eddie and I saw a young woman write “FUCK ICE” on the street. Resist, my people, resist!
                                                                            

The Grassroots Grill is located at 3747 N Southport Ave. The place is nice and made for conversation. The menu has all sorts of tasty drinks and foods. Alan, Pauline and Eddie and I had a great dinner talking about our old comics buddies, the state of the industry and so much more. Obviously, Eddie didn’t know many of the people that we talked about, but, every now and then, he enjoys hearing about his dad’s checkered past.

Alan and Pauline live in the neighborhood, so they were heading in the same direction as our car. After we parted, Eddie and I made the decision to drive to the wondrous Pickwick Theater to catch the evening’s showing of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) starring Nick Adams, Akira Takarada and the stunningly beautiful Kumi Mizuno. It was time to reconnect with G-Fest.

Here’s the Internet Movie Database summary of the film:

Aliens from Planet X request the use of Godzilla and Rodan to fight off King Ghidorah, but have a better use for the three monsters.

The Pickwick is a classic movie theater. It’s big with the kind of old-fashion decor that used to make going to the movies an event in itself. The seats were some of the most comfortable theater seats I’ve ever experienced. I take pride in only dozing off for a couple minutes during the movie. Some of my fellow G-fans probably spent more time snoozing than they did watching the movie.

Monster Zero is a pretty cool film. Even with the dubbing, there’s a clear connection between Adams and Takarada. The latter sometimes calls the former “my greatest enemy and my greatest friend.” I wish Adams had lived to make more movies with Takarada.
                                                                              

The connection between Adams and Mizumo is steamy. His love makes her realize what life should be and why some things are worth dying for. Their romantic pairing is among my favorites of all Godzilla movies. I come to these films for the monsters, but those monsters are always better when there’s a good human story being told next to the action and mayhem.

When we got back to our hotel, Eddie and I learned that our friendMartin Arlt, who puts together G-Fest’s monstrously terrific panel programming was named to the G-Fan Hall of Fame. It’s an honor that he certainly and richly deserved. Congratulations, Martin!

I was exhausted after our Saturday of baseball, too much sun, good friends and a fun movie. If we watched any of the hotel’s in-house kaiju channel, I don’t remember it. I slept the sleep of the just. Or, at least, the sleep of the “got nothing left.”

I’ll be back soon with the final chapter of this G-Fest convention report. See you then.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #311

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder...We go back to the dawn of the Comics Code with Mysterious Stories from PS Artbooks. Plus reviews of Bad Weekend by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up by Kodama Naoko!