137
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
This was a really fun one, with me trying out watercolors for a diffrent project. A lot of the dream sequences start off that way actually.
Mortal Kombat vs. Mortal Kombat
I’ve been struggling with how to talk about the new Mortal Kombat movie. I’m not huge into doing reviews a big blockbusters anyhow, because everyone and their brother does it… This little blog in the right hand corner of nowhere probably isn’t going to provide any new or meaningful insight.
The other problem is because this is a franchise actually have a certain weird attachment to. Not a sacred cow like Superman, but I was there when Mortal Kombat took over the world as a video game. You were either a Street Fighter guy or a Mortal Kombat guy… and I was definitely a Mortal Kombat person. I was there when the first movie came out… and became widely considered the first good video game movie. I still have great affection and nostalgia for it. Yeah this new film is good. In fact it may objectively be a better film than the original… But do I like it better?
When the first Mortal Kombat film came out it was at the height of the 
franchise popularity. They really could’ve done anything that they wanted and slap that label and characters into it and been successful. I mean, just look at the success of that dreadful cartoon they half heartedly put together. But for the live action, they chose to basically rip off Enter the Dragon… And if you’re going to copy, steal from the best. They created a fun buddy cop sort of film with the relationship between Liu Kang and Johnny Cage, with it being very much a martial arts tournament movie. That’s where the new film really diverges. The fighting, the tournament, it’s all secondary. We do get some one on one matches, but their montage and we blow through them surprisingly quickly. The focus here is more on an almost superhero fantasy.
The big problem with the new movie is there’s no story. They drift from set piece to set piece, and the narrative is a very weak string that ties it all together. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie, Star Trek first contact, arguably considered the best of the next generation films, is very similar. Light on story, heavy on spectacle. That’s what this is. The characters look great, most of them looking very much like they should.(I’m a little unnerved to see scorpions real face… And not just a skull) There is an attempt to really build some drama and pathos between the subzero and scorpion story, something that was missing from the original film. Back then, I remember liking the fact that those two are the only ones who look like they should, but simultaneously being pissed that they were on the same side. Definitely not a mistake they make here. There’s some influence that’s obviously been taken from the Mortal Kombat Legacy DVD we talked about earlier this week, and really, it would’ve been nice if they brought Michael Jai White over as Jax. Casting Mechad Brooks from Supergirl instead… Yeah, I just don’t buy it. However the rest of the roles feel right.
One of the things I kept thinking was “they could’ve done this in the original if they just had the technology”. The original Mortal Kombat 
makes innovative use of CG and puppetry, cutting edge at the time but limited by today’s standards. The new film really leans into the FX for the powers… Especially with Subzero. The ice effects are brilliant, and they genuinely look good. Ice is a tough sell, but they manage to nail it every time.
At the end of the day, I’m really pleased with this movie. It’s not necessarily my Mortal Kombat. It feels less like a comic book, it takes itself way more seriously, but I enjoy the fact that it’s harsh and bloody… Delivering on the promise that we got from the original video game. I’m eager to see more, and I hope that they’ll actually throw more money at the sequel. The greatest downfall of the original Mortal Kombat is that they slashed the budget for the sequel, going direct to video and devolving into what looked like a weekday afternoon kids show – Power Rangers or VR troopers. Mortal Kombat Annihilation just fails to work on most levels, not to mention killing one of your main characters in the first scene is always a downer from the word go. The new franchise hopefully has learned from the missteps of the past, with the promise of more characters from the franchise to come.
For the moment, I’ll just leave you with this bit of snark. (It made me laugh)
136
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
This weeks alternatives
I haven’t done a TV blog in weeks because first off, Superman and Lois is on hiatus. The Flash has been solid. Good stuff, nothing extraordinary,… Just a good solid average TV week in and week out. Remember when television was like that? Of course it’s taking a few weeks off too. Falcon and the Winter Soldier actually started out in that same mold, solid entertainment, but then got a little more woke than I prefer towards the end. So all in all, I haven’t had much to talk about. I’ve been seeking elsewhere for my television entertainment.
The Food That Built America has come on my radar with a vengeance. It’s a documentary series on the history channel and in it’s second season, that has absolutely shocking marvelous stories about very familiar food. Nathan‘s hotdogs, white castle, Hershey, but the one that really pushed me over the edge and made me a devotee was the McDonald’s versus Burger King episode. See, if you watched Michael Keaton in The Founder, you know how McDonald’s started, but this episode really tells the second part of the story – how it expanded and the birth of the Big Mac as a reaction to Burger king’s Whopper. You get some amazing insights as to both McDonald’s and Burger King, moreover, it’s fascinating to see the development of such familiar comfort food as white castle, and hotdogs in general. Hershey’s Chocolate and all sorts of other things that just seem a part of normal every every day life. Seriously, I’m riveted.
The other television I’m obsessing over is the Big Bad B Movie Show. That one may take some explaining.
The Big Bad B Movie Show is a horror host show, much like Elvira or Svengoolie on MeTV. There was a time when every city had their own unique horror host. It’s an art that’s slowly fading away, but in Cleveland, we don’t let go of things quite so easily. We had Big Chuck and Lil John right up through the 90s, and there’s something in the water here that grows horror hosts at a faster rate than any other state in the union. So the newest crop are Leopold and Lenora… And they’re brilliant. The most significant thing about Leopold and Lenora, is that they’ve found a fairly original formula to do the whole horror host thing with, and that’s no mean trick. Leopold is a hipster doofus, and Lenora is a glam airhead counterpart. They’re both brilliant and hilarious. I’ve watched sketches that involve terrible children shows… “So kids, come on let’s start with grabbing the kitchen knife!” And Gwar as a personal injury firm, as well as terrible horror scopes, parodies on the purge, and the worst imitation of Vincent Price I’ve ever seen. It’s all glorious. If I have any complaint, it’s that they also incorporate other local (Somewhat opportunistic) horror hosts the mummy in the monkey, eating up one hosting segment that would be better served by Leopold and Lenora. Nevertheless, the big bad B-movie show is easily one of the best horror host shows in decades… And I should know. I am a bit of a horror host groupie, and yet I can’t sing the praises the show enough. I’m enjoying every second of it.
Well, perhaps not every second of it, they are still stuck with public domain films… Which means they’re showing the same set of movies that every other Internet horror host Joe’s. It’s really the one weakness of the series, but on the other hand, I don’t mind watching Robot Monster and the Last Man on Earth quite so much with these companions to join me. You can watch Leopold and Lenora on the Channel 19 news app, available on fire stick… Or do a web search for WUAB TV Cleveland, and you’re sure to find The Big Bad B Movie Show. It’s absolutely worth your time, and is now the highlight of my week.
Mortal Kombat : Legacy
I’m a fan of Moral Kombat, indeed I was always more of a MK guy than a Street Fighter person and absolutely love the film with Robin Shoe and Christopher Lambert . With the new movie in theaters this weekend, I wanted to also revisit some of the old stuff! We’re going to start with this Dollar Tree find.
When I pulled out the MK legacy DVD, I was shocked to see it cut into episodes. I suddenly assumed I was looking at a TV series instead of the movie I expected. Turns out these are actually about 10 minute webisodes that all collect into a sort of feature anthology. Not a terrible idea, so we’ll still treat this as a film.
Part one actually starts off very industrialized, and believe it or not it’s actually a good look for Mortal Kombat. The factory building robots, this heavy foreshadowing for things like Sektor’s head and Kano’s mask. Sonya’s there though, and I’ve got admit, I think I actually like Jeri Ryan in this role even better and I did Bridgette Wilson (the actress in the original film). She’s got a harder edge t her than Wilson, though I think I would’ve preferred her a bit younger, nevertheless Jeri Ryan still pulls off the part. Michael Jae White as her partner Jax on the other hand, 
kind of strikes me as a bulkier Shemar Moore.
Sonya reports back in that she’s found Kano in the factory, and hearing this, Jax knows she’s gonna go off half cocked and sets off to rescue her. He’s not wrong, in the next scene we see her in a lonely hallway, chained to the ceiling with Kano coming in menacingly. Elsewhere in the factory, Jax and his team arrive in the rescue mission. It’s a good fire fight, not necessarily what you expect from Mortal Kombat but definately well choreographed action.
As the melee continues between Jax and Kano, Sonja frees herself and we get to explore the complex. Jaxdelivers one mean roundhouse punch to Kano and we pretty much see why he wears a mask now! It ends up when A bomb explodes and we see everybody 
recuperating how they can.
Our next is Johnny Cage, being hyped up in a sort of reality TV feature documentary. Unlike the original film, where Cage is at the height of his power, this shows him all washed up, unable to make the transition to big budget action films. It’s not his talent that’s in question, it’s his bad behavior off screen, picking fights with random people and getting into trouble with the law. I cringe a little bit when he tells is it agent “I haven’t worked since Power Rangers went off the air”. I hope this isn’t really a swipe at the green ranger Jason David Frank (a great martial artist, nice guy and regular on the con circuit). It might not be, actor Matt Mullins did in fact star in one of the Power Ranger spinoffs, Kamen rider. Either way, they’re honest in thier evaluation of film culture in 2010…The action film is dead, and you can see why he’s having a hard time…except he’s getting stabbed in the back by his agents and they’re pitching his show other people now.
Cage gets into a tussle with security and he takes them reasonably easily because, course hes Johnny Cage! Suddenly, time stops. A mysteries man walked out of the darkness 
offer him a place in the tournament.
I’m reminded again that these are a bunch of separate little vignettes when we transition to the next set which is a combination of animation and live action. It’s the story of Outworld and Sho Kahn’s rise to power, with his General Baraka. But it’s really the story of Princess Kitana , Princess Mylena and Queen Sindel.
The combination of animation and live action is bizarre, jarring in places. I was wondering if they went this route because they didn’t have enough footage shot. Either 
way though the character development is marvelous, far greater than anything we’ve seen before and generally more than the subject matter deserves. They really lean into the Game of Thrones fantasy aspects and it works.
Raiden’s story fast forwards us back to the present, here on earth and see him in a mental facility. It’s a strange take on the character and continuity.
Using a taser on Raiden is probably the worst idea ever.
Ultimately, he has to transcend his human form and release the god within. Of all these segments, it’s probably the most out of place, and were I watching just a film, I would have assumed it was added to fill time rather than as a passion project for the director, Kevin Tancharoen.
It doesn’t matter that much though, because the next section is what I’ve been waiting for. Subzero and Scorpion! We get an interesting origin for our two archetypal ninjas. It feels like a snowy ninja movie, and the first time those familiar robes are unveiled, sent a shiver down my spine. It’s a well done piece of homage to the kung fu films that Mortal Kombat draws it’s inspiration from. We have ninja clans and a dead shogun and a 
generational grudge and it’s beautiful.
Traditionally, we’ve spent more time following Sub Zero, but this time Scorpion is the star, and it’s really fascinating to explore how he became this kind of ghost, why he’s filled with vengence and why he’s back. It sets up the grudge match in the tournament perfectly.
We end the series with the robots, and interesting concepts where a particular clan has trained and brainwashed assassins for generations now turning towards cybernetics. Assasins are transitioned from humans and rebuilt into robots. It’s definitely a the 
section with the most body horror, but I do come I feel like I know a lot more about Sektor and Cyrax, and it brings the story full circle as we can see that this is what Kano’s factory was working on at the beginning.
Mortal Kombat and example of a dollar store find that isn’t at all what I expected it to be but still a nice hidden gem. Wish I’d had this movie 20 years ago at the height of my fandom, but I’d still be content to pop this in and watch it as a prequel anytime before I dig into the classic film. I recommend. Good action and good sci fi.
135
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Tracy vs Slimer!
Despite being a realitvely simple costume (that is, no armor), my reinterpretation of the original and filmation Ghostbusters Ape as a modern Columbia Ghostbuster quickly became one of my favorite suits and ended up showing up a LOT.
Tracy is one of two Ghostbuster suits I own, the other is my full body Slimer, and I love pairing the two up in pics!
134
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
My Bloody Valentine 3d
While this movie automatically gets a great deal of disdain simply by virtue of being a remake, I actually thought it was one of the better of horror re-imaginings out there. It stays faithful to the themes and concepts of the original but doesn’t slovenly try and recreate what has come before. It’s got it’s own identity, much like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead remakes. It also helps that while I enjoy the original Bloody Valentine, it’s not one of my sacred cows. I was perfectly open to a remake and the team of Todd farmer and Patrick Lussier is definitely the right duo for the job.
I didn’t get to see this in the theater though. In one of the bigger marketing blunders in cinema, this film came out in January and was out of the theaters before February and Valentine’s Day ever drew near. As a result, my first exposure to this was on DVD and that’s really the wrong way to watch this movie. It’s not just the small screen, but it’s also the lack of 3D in a film that really needs it. Something about the 3D is what makes this movie shine and turns it into much more fun romp.
They waste no time getting us to the backstory, it’s told through a series of newspaper articles ahead of the credits and Harry Warden is mentioned by name. There’s also 
plenty of photos of Tom Atkins here, a nice touch. The shots of him in the hospital and the bloody massacre there serve to establish just what kind of a maniac we’re dealing with. It’s enough to even give reliable old Atkins a pause. I mean it by the way, this opening shot is ridiculously bloody with body parts strewn everywhere, nobody is left in one piece and hearts are drawn in blood on all the walls.
We shift over to a teenage party happening at the mine. This feels like a much more public party then the more intimate affair we saw in the original, but still it’s just a excuse to get our cast together and start introducing the characters.
The massacre from the hospital of course continues now in the tunnels, as a masked miner with a pickaxe slices and dices his way through the partygoers. Another stack of torn bodies litters the passageways and our teenage cast are Harry Warden’s next target. Even with some of the more egregious CGI, it’s gloriously gory.
Atkins and his Deputy arrive just in time to save the last of the teenagers, and 10 years later we pick up with the survivors as adults. One of them, Axel, has become the sheriff. We’re almost immediately treated to the sight of him cheating on his wife and fellow survivor Sarah. Tom on the other hand, has left town for a long time, even though his family still owns significant interest in the mine. His return to town is not met with any great enthusiasm. He’s an unwelcome pariah in a community of loose ends and the fact that he’s here to sell the mine doesn’t make anybody happy. To make things even more dire, it’s shortly after he checks in to his motel room that the masked killer makes his first appearance.
Even as Tom starts to renew old acquaintances , mostly negative, Harry Warden starts sending out the human hearts of his victims in candy boxes. There are more killings when Tom visits the mines and as a result the timing makes the prime suspect, especially in the eyes of his old friend Sherriff Axelwho married Tom’s high school sweetheart.
To convince Tom and the rest of the community that Harry Warden is not responsible for this new rash of murders, Sheriff Axel heads to the unmarked plot in the woods where 
vigilante justice buried the murderer. When they arrive they find the grave open and the mystery deepens. With nowhere else to turn, Axel takes Tom into the jail for questioning.
There’s not enough evidence to hold Tom and he decides to make his way back to the mine to do some investigation of his own. what he finds is the abandoned, boarded-up old cabin that Axel’s been having his affair in. There’s empty chocolate boxes there, ready for fresh hearts. Meanwhile, the murders continue, with Harry Warden showing up first at the home of one of the city founders, then at the grocery store where Sarah works and then finally at the sheriff’s home itself.
Sarah finds herself torn between Axel and Tom, but the inevitable truth is, one of them is responsible for these murders in the name of Harry Warden, and she’ll have to be the one to figure it out.
My Bloody Valentine 3D is the way remakes should be done. While it honors the themes 
and feel of the original, it does its own thing, playing in that movies sandbox. It brings back the villain brilliantly, the Harry Warden of this film is afar more active, faster-moving brute who kills in the bloodiest fashions possible. It does its best to keep you guessing who the actual murderer is, ramping up the tension until the only person that you can trust is the poor ingenue. Valentine is fun and even a little scary, the more I watch it The more I really enjoy it. If you’ve never watched this, I urge you to give it a chance, especially if you can score a 3D screening of it like I did at my local repertory theater during a Halloween marathon. Seeing it at least once in 3D will make you appreciate a great deal more, Even upon rewatches.
133
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Superman Supermobile
Anyone remember the goofy Supermobile with the extending fists that ERTL put out in the 70’s? I always wanted one of those and figured that now that I have my own printer I could grab a model and print out my own. I was shocked to discover no one had created a model for this vehicle yet, and ended up rendering it myself in Bryce 3d, and then converting it to printable.
Model can be found here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2832957
132
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
The Prophecy : Uprising
After checking out two and three for other reasons, I was pretty much done with the Prophecy series. The reason I’m back, it’s because of an interesting looking cast that includes Kari Wuhrer , Doug Bradley and Sean Pertwee. We are back in Romania, and missing Christopher Walken. I knew that coming in as well, but it’s okay – by the time we hit Movie number three, he was superfluous and really just being shoehorned in there for name value.
This time around we open up with some footage designed to look old, a dictator watching the parade, and the angel in the background – it’s affected the dimension logo itself which immediately got my attention. When we fast forward to present day, we see a petty thief as he races through the town occasionally getting glimpses angelic statues at the top of the buildings. He slams into Sean Pertwee, a cop of questionable morals – considering he roughs the punk up and shakes him down for his cash. The film quickly backpedals though and tries to prove to us he is not such a bad guy since he gives it to the offering box at church. On the side, Kari Wuhrer keeps watch, handing out votives and watching the parishioners. For his part, Pertwee is being watched by an angel named John who then attempts to recruit him. Meanwhile in the basement of the church, a priest watches as scripture writes itself – burning into the pages of an old manuscript. It’s enough to give him a heart attack. The book it self is the prophets lexicon, our macguffin for this film.
In his adorable tiny little car, Pertwee and his angel sidekick are called to the scene of a murder. What he finds is the small time crook he had been shaking down earlier. He’s been thrown from a roof with his heart ripped straight out of his chest. It’s some pleasant gore for a series that’s usually mostly bloodless. Inside the church towers, he encounters two other cops, including Doug Bradley, and an ominous greeting scrolled on the wall in a suspiciously red color.
Across town, a woman in a waitresses uniform is someone being mauled by a dog in the park. She runs over to help, but the victim looks up evily. It’s just a guise, and behind it, the spirit of Belial , she possesses the woman. In the distance, the barking at the dog stops. Reliable sets off, beginning for mission to find the profits lexicon. She invites the church to find it, but it’s too late… Kari is already stashed away back at her dreary little apartment.
Back in the car, Sean Pertwee explains the finer points of police work to the engine. How 
to beat Suspect property. This is before Sean for it we got respectable on shows like Gotham, so he’s dropping a lot of F bombs and really relishing it. He drops Angel John off, and calls in a favor from the station for the facial recognition and background on this guy. Something about him doesn’t set right.
At the next crime scene, still being presided over by Doug Bradley we have another victim with no heart… This one had voices in her head driving her to file her teeth down. Angel John seems to know a little bit too much about what’s going on here. For we continues to research the case, looking for other incidents were removed. We got a nice touch here where he does some instant messaging with an unseen competent, one who goes by the name of Joseph 1995. It’s absolutely a reference to Steve Hytner (better know from his Kenny Banya role n Sienfeld) from the previous prophecy films, layering in just enough continuity to be endearing. Joseph 1995 mentions that these entities, these angels always take the heart, because it renders the body uninhabitable.
Next stop is a creepy old abandoned mansion. Pertwee is confused and annoyed.
“Nobody’s here!”
“There will be.”Suddenly, the basement is filled with visions of the past, the medical atrocities that occurred in this mansion, and it’s all tied to Pertwee’s past, before the revolution, when his parents were declared enemies of the state. It’s his secrets that are being revealed, not just the minor acts of torture he inflicts on petty thugs, but the great secret buried in his past, that as a child he turned in his parents. The angel knows it all. But somehow, his sister was saved… A nurse removed her to treat the deep gash on her upper cheek, one just below her eye… A gash which matches a scar on Kari Wuhrer’s face.
In a small cafe, Wuhrer is consulting a priest friend who confides in her that Revelations is not just another book in the Bible, it’s still incomplete and waiting to be finished by the dictation of God. That dictation will happen in the Prophet’s Lexicon and whoever carries it basically holds the fate of the world in their hands. It’s no wonder that Belial , now having jumped into yet another body, is after it. The best way of course, would be to assume the guise of someone close to her, and he now jumps into the body of her priest friend, but bright voices in Wuhrer’s head urge Kari to run. She flees in a city bus.
Belial’s last body shows up, once again without a heart and Wuhrer’s priest friend is in custody. The cops are confused, and Doug Bradley is getting irritated at all the mystery. They put them in an interrogation room with the angel to interrogate, and they seem just a little bit too familiar with each other. Belial finally shows his true colors there, with a large monster bat flying out of his mouth. Angel John rips out his heart to make sure he can’t backtrack, end when no one‘s looking, Belial possesses Bradley. It’s time for Pertwee and the angel to go find Pertwee’s sister. People flood into the road, making the passage impossible.
“Just shove them out of the way!”
“Theyre human beings, not sheep!”
“That one looks like a sheep.”
It’s showdown time, Doug Bradley, versus Kari Wuhrer versus Sean Pertwee and his angel.
A fun cameo to watch for here, make up designer Gary Tunnicliffe is the one driving the cab that Wuhrer takes.
What makes this very unlike the other Prophecy films is how much it’s really more a police procedural then it is a horror film. Not a straight mystery, and the chase aspect with the Demon trying to grab the book from Kari is still there, but we are far more focused on Sean Pertwee’s Character and his angel partner trying to solve the mystery of a string of murders where the heart has been removed from the victim. It’s an interesting direction, but I’m not sure why they chose this one – it feels incongruent with the previous films – even when Dimension chose to change direction with the Hellraiser movies turning them into more head trips, they still felt in some way connected to the greater mythos. This feels like something different. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, Pertwee’s character in particular has great depth and I’m actually digging the angel a l
ittle more in this one, the way he acts as a sort of Oracle. But the two elements clash – as if the movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. I wonder if this was adapted from another script – Dimension was doing a lot of that around this period. That’s not necessarily a criticism. I like a lot of the stuff that dimension was putting out around this time. If you had good producers who were passionate about the project, we would see some interesting films come about in some pleasantly exotic European locales. If you’re a fan of that whole style and the way those movies felt, you’re going to like this. It’s a good role for Wuhrer as well. Much of what I’ve seen her in has her playing the hard edged tough girl, but she’s charmingly vulnerable in this film. She’s playing against type and given a chance to show some range as she goes from passive to frightened to digging down deep to find some sort of inner strength. It’s a good journey for her
Ultimately I actually kind of enjoy this film – it’s good background noise and was a lot more fun than some of the previous entries. That may be because I’m not a devotee of the series, and this new take on it is far more appealing to me.
I can’t wait until the next one!
131
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Tracy as Iron Man!
Despite being a realitvely simple costume (that is, no armor), my reinterpretation of the original and filmation Ghostbusters Ape as a modern Columbia Ghostbuster quickly became one of my favorite suits and ended up showing up a LOT.
Tracy learned his lesson from his tussle with Iron Man on Asguard, and went to build his own armor!
130
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Puppet Master
You know, that first puppet master film really is something special… From the moment we start with the dissonant carnival music and the close-up shots of the puppet faces, there is something inherently spooky about everything. Richard Band knew what he was doing when he scored this and Charles Band was really about to find his destiny.
Toulon, The creator of the puppets, is a great character – honest and multi layered. There is also the brilliance of starting the film out from puppet Blade’s perspective – the lower angle chattering as the bad guys arrive at the scenic hotel. It’s quite bold of this low-budget production to start things off with the introduction being a period piece before moving the modern day – yet again is this a sense of scope and a lush atmosphere that the film alone may have lacked otherwise.
As the group of sensitives attend the funeral of their fellow psychic in this very hotel, they encounter the murderous puppets – the story is as simple as that. But simple works, 
and through it Charles Band has crafted his most enduring creation. In this first installment, more care is given to the puppets – both in personality and in animation… Indeed, in later installments We get a lot less stop motion and more close-ups, with clips from this film used repeatedly. Still, it’s great as a standalone or part of the series – and it’s another one where the opportunity to get this on DVD was worth the three dollar price of this collection!
Lorain Comic and Toy Expo 2021
I was standing there, minding my own business, chatting with Anubis, and all of a sudden the Vulcan threw a care bear at us.
These sort of things just don’t happen to other people.
I attended Lorain Comic and Toy Expo this weekend. This is a small show in its first year, but I really wanted to support it because I want to see conventions coming back… and I admire the sheer chutzpah of trying to launch a convention even at the tail end of the pandemic. It also has a great advantage of being one town over from where I live, as well as trying to draw in cosplayers with a low key costume contest. It was a perfect opportunity for me to test the waters with my new McMandalorian costume, and Maddie was dying to break out her Clementine costume (From The Walking Dead game she’s been playing).
The Lorain show is starting off its first year with a bunch of familiar faces, filling the ball room with a lot of the usual suspects from the LoCo sellers (think the Comicpalooza comic crawl I did last year), as well as vendors from the North East Ohio Toy and Collectibles Club and my home comic shop Comics are Go. While there were bargains to be found (I managed to hit up a bunch of dollar and 50 Cent bins), The emphasis on these particular vendors slightly skewed more towards collectors pricing then bargain hunting. The upside of that is it creates a dense marketplace. You could probably do the dealers room in 15 to 20 minutes, but it was worth your while to go around a few times and spend a couple hours. Every pass we made, Maddie and I spotted new things we missed on our previous trips. It’s also necessary to make a couple of passes when you’re getting stopped from time to time. We’d barely gotten down the first isle when I got pulled away to show up on Captain Crappy and Ms. Fever Blister’s livestream! ( I show up about two and a half hours in)
All in all, it made for a fun day. Maddie did a video on her experiences at the con for her youtube channel and you can find it below.
We found some fun stuff (Maddie was over the moon to find a Glacion Mimikyu plushie!) and had a good day, and definitely plan on coming back for the next one. The promoter has big ambitions, already planning out the next show, expanding it with outdoor activities for kids and at least one wrestling guest for the autograph hounds. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes, because I’d really love to have a con so close to home.
129
Posting the best strips from the series, in order from the beginning.
Every Wednesday and Friday
Denny O’Neil
Denny O’Neil is the legendary editor of Batman in the 80’s and 90’s. But more importantly, he was the writer of the Shadow at DC in the 70’s!
Argo City Comics 