Panels

DragonCon Day 2

I had such a great day today at DragonCon!  I am so so pleased with my Cosima cosplay. First thing I did today was meet Chris Rankin aka Percy Weasley!  Chris talked about his audition process, his favorite Percy moments, and what he’s up to these days.  For his Percy application, Chris mailed in a postcard saying he was a prefect in school, a ginger, not a twin and 16 aka perfect for Percy.  His favorite HP character is Tom Riddle and he’d love to play Arthur or Horace in a remake.    His favorite HP moments: leading the first years to the common room, the breakfast scene at the burrow especially the hair and the ‘night dress thing’, the final battle (apparently the Weasley family danced to Saturday Night Fever!), and his absolute favorite moment was yelling ‘I’m headboy’ in Prisoner of Azkaban.

Chris earned his degree in media production and currently works in TV production.  Overall, I was pretty impressed with the interview! 

Friday Schedule

 After Chris Rankin, I attended a panel discussion about creating a safe space for female (comic book) readers.  It was a great conversation between Gwenda Bond and Laurenn McCubbins and I came away with some killer reading recommendations: Bombshells, Not Funny Ha Ha, Diary of a Teenage Girl, and On A Wire to name a few.I wrapped up the afternoon by going to an X-Files panel featuring the actors who played Deep Throat and Alex Krychek (Jerry Hardin and Nick Lea).  Sadly, Lea confirmed he will not be appearing in the new X-Files in Jan. 2016.Two of my favorite cosplays I saw today were a couple dressed up as the Grey Lady and Nearly Headless Nick and a woman dressed up as The Last Unicorn, my FAVORITE childhood movie. Last but not least – my fellow sestras and I being silly 🙂 

Sunday (Tuesday) Comics

While I made sure to go to Criminal Records this past holiday weekend, I clearly did not make posting about it a high priority.  I beg for your forgiveness!  See my humble offering:

IMG_4698Wytches #6 – You will not believe who pledged Sailor to the wytches in the chilling conclusion to the first story arc.

A-Force #1 – Yay it’s here!!  Even though I was a little lost (this post from Panels helped a lot!), I thoroughly enjoyed so many bad-ass ladies in one comic book!

Lumberjanes #14 – A new story arc starts up as Jen is attacked and kidnapped in a freak summer snow storm!  Of course the ‘Janes refuse to sit by and they set out to rescue their beloved camp counselor themselves!

In related news, I read and LOVED Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, featured on last week’s Sunday Comics.  It was incredible – funny, serious, adorable, sad, ALL THE FEELS!  This week’s Oh, Comics! podcast from Panels is all about Nimona – check it out here!

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I’m a shark!!  What did you read over the long weekend??

Special edition Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell released a special edition of Fangirl today!!  Coming in one of three colors, the special addition version features amazing fan-art, a Q&A with Rainbow, and a sneak peek of Carry On due out this October!  This particular edition has a red book jacket with a gray cover and blue ribbon bookmark and was purchased at Barnes and Noble.

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I first fell in love Fangirl fan-art on pinterest.  My favorite by far is Simini Blocker who I am so happy to see featured in the special edition (Emergency Dance Party).  Other contributing artists are Valeria Bogado Cravero, Leela Wagner and Lily Williams.

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Mark went to buy running shoes today and I went to buy books.  Put this little tidbit on the twitterverse and look who took notice #squee!

IMG_4660I had to pause Panel’s latest podcast on the Age of Ultron to fangirl out at my desk.  Such a fangirling happened once before when I tweeted to Rainbow and Simini after My True Love Gave to Me came to out (amazing winter holiday collection, check it out!).  If you haven’t read Fangirl yet, what are you waiting for??

 

Comic Book Haul

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Thor #4 – So a dark elf, a minotaur, and the new Thor walk into a bar. Except instead of a bar, its’a secret vault containing the skull of a giant king that has the power to plunge the ten realms into war. What could go wrong?

Reading a comic book series with YEARS of backstory is intimating, like scary intimidating, like where do I start maybe I’ll just give up before I even start. Panels has a great posting on this very topic right here. With every passing issue of Thor, I am enjoying the complex world more and more – granted there is a lot of terminology that goes over my head but I am very much enjoying the story. I loved the Thor vs. Thor banter in #4 and the artwork continues to be top notch. I particularly love the inner dialogue of (Lady) Thor, even though she is clearly a badass superhero her inner monologue makes her so relatable. I can’t wait for #5 out 2/11/15.

Lumberjanes # 10 – Guys, we are going to spend this free day earning as many boring and frankly outdated badges as possible! OR DIE TRYING.

Lumberjanes continues to be hella sweet. The girls’ passion for summer camp shenanigans is always an entertaining treat and every issue presents a ridiculous, unexpected surprise. What will the girls find in the woods this week?? (spoiler it may be dinosaurs in an out of order outbox!)

March Book One by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

I heard about March on Panels’ podcast Oh, Comics! Oh, Comics! is a weekly chat show about the wild and wooly world of comics, hosted by Paul Montgomery and Preeti Chhibber (If you can’t tell, I go to Panels for all my comic needs!!). Immediately after listening to the podcast and adding March to my Goodreads TBR, a friend told me that Congressman John Lewis would be at a book signing at Criminal Records for the release of Book Two. Here was the perfect opportunity to buy Book One, have it signed and meet the acclaimed Congressman himself! I have heard that March takes the larger than life Civil Rights heroes and makes them real, everyday people. I can’t wait to see Lewis’ life and our nation’s history come to life, a full review to follow!

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The Wicked and the Divine Vol. 1: The Faust Act

The Wicked and the Divine Vol. 1 written by Kieron Gillen and art by Jamie McKelvie encompasses the first five issues of the series which follow twelve gods who are reborn into the world every ninety years but within another two years are dead.

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I was first introduced to W + D on Panels where it was listed as great holiday gift for ‘for your cousin who only reads literary fiction’ – it was also on a ‘best of 2014‘ list and ‘best of women in comics in 2014‘. How could I go wrong (aside from literary fiction bit HA)? I wanted to like W + D, I really did. The artwork is gorgeous, the costuming (for lack of a better word) of the gods is beautiful i.e. the individual issue covers. I just didn’t connect with the characters. It wasn’t a page turner for me, I wasn’t dying to read the next issue and I even skimmed issues #4 and #5. Sad but true. Part of the problem is me, I’m not the biggest fan of various mythologies. Maybe I need to start smaller, like Percy Jackson?

What’s next for me and comics? I am really excited to read Lady Thor #3 and #4, Locke and Key Vol. 4, as well as the next couple of Nailbiter and the graphic novel Seconds. What are you reading?