September books and cons
September is a busy month. I am sure that is not news to parents, but to a local comics/book fan, it certainly is!
The first weekend in September was Baltimore Comic Con. This was the second year I've done only Saturday and have been quite happy with that. There's only so much walking and carrying and shopping I could physically take. They're expanding to three days next year and using more of convention center complex. I do think I'll have to find a new hotel; the Lord Baltimore has dropped the Radisson connection, so they're heavily remodeling for the next year or so. The elevator trips were nerve wracking at odd moments. I was amused to discover through Pinterest that they're hosting a 1920s New Year's Eve party this year, Lord Baltimore being the hotel I used for my 1920s Nano novel years ago. (If you're on Pinterest, fyi, I have two, one for fannish/writing research and one more historical/needlework oriented, so let me know if you want the ids.)
I did come home with some lovely art.
One was a sketch I preordered from Chris Samnee. I am so happy with this.
Then I wandered over to Ramona Fradon's table. She always has some already done artwork/sketches you could purchase, so I picked this small Wonder Woman. It's like seeing the Super Friends of my childhood:
I did not attend any of the panels. I feel I made a A+ life decision, especially where the DC panels were concerned. Reading about Dan Didio espousing how heroes can't have happy personal lives and Mera & Aquaman are not actually married might have shot my last nerve with that company. (Which weirdly would have made sense if they'd come straight off the Blackest Night/Brightest Day minis but this is a new universe and Mera is actually acting as his Queen from all accounts...) I do wish I could have gone to the Ramona Fradon spotlight panel on Sunday, but I was just as glad to get home, even if Metro had closed the Union Station Metro that weekend.
I also bought:
Mike Maihack Amethyst print
Graphic Audio cd set Rogue Angel #41 "Staff of Judea"
Cyborg 009 GN from Archaia
A sketchbook by Sara Richard
A Winter Soldier action figure
Then this Saturday I attended the Small Press Expo, catching a ride with
likeadeuce. The con continues to grow by leaps and bounds. It wasn't quite as bad as previous years when I could barely move in the aisles. I did however love seeing all the little girls in attendance; clearly *all* of them have discovered Raina Telgemeier's Smile and Drama. An entire Girl Scout troop surrounded her table soon after the doors opened, all in their green vests. This former Girl Scout felt so proud! Raina tweeted today that she had completely sold out. I also went to Raina Telgemeier's panel with Gene Luen Yang, covering everything from the Bay Area comics scene to their awareness of their audience/market. (To which, Raina gave a pointed look at the assembled young girls on the front rows to much amusement.) Both of them had also done licensed materials and you'd never think "oh it was for the bills man" attitude. Yang waxed eloquent on the Avatar tv series and how much his career owed to librarians that featured his work. Telgemeier was a Babysitters Club fan from her childhood so this was a project of some love and pride. She's been asked if there's a franchise she'd want to adapt she always cheerfully says "I already did!"
What I bought:
Fanfare/Ponent Mon's "Summit of the Gods" volume 4-- A manga about mountainclimbing and Mt Everest
Cartozia Tales issues 1&2 - an interesting shared world comic that is running right now as a Kickstarter. They have a map and their creators are assigned certain parts to explore for that issue. For the next issue, though, they switch around, so they have to write about other characters/regions/etc.
Black Feather Falls: Possibly my personal favorite pickup of the con. I noticed this in the debut book listings and since I'm on a 1920s bent again, a detective story set in the 1920s with a pair of female detectives seemed right up my alley. If you're at all curious, the book is also up at Activate as a webcomic. I liked having the physical version in hand though.
After the con,
likeadeuce had invited me along to dinner and the Nationals-Phillies game. Dinner was at the PF Changs where I drowned my sorrows in honey chicken and chocolate after the Connie Willis signing that I missed -- so weird not seeing a Borders there. I don't appear to be good luck for the Nationals -- the last three games I've attended in person they've lost! On the bright side, I got to see Bryce Harper come pretty close to saving the game for the team. And singing along to those baseball classics A-Ha's "Take on me!" (it's a Nats thing) and "Werewolves of London (it's a Jayson Werth thing.)
As for the books, the Spy Museum in DC is hosting two events I may attend. Elizabeth Wein, author of WWII YA espionage books Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, is signing on September 19th at 2-4pm. Then on September 29th at 1pm Ally Carter is signing United We Spy, the last of her Gallagher Girl books. The one I'm certain I will attend is V.E. Schwab's signing of Vicious at One More Page Books in Arlington on September 27th. If you liked Heroes or Soon I Will Be Invincible it's very much in that style. Also Flatliners.
Somewhere in the middle of that weekend will be my local library sale -- so many books.
The first weekend in September was Baltimore Comic Con. This was the second year I've done only Saturday and have been quite happy with that. There's only so much walking and carrying and shopping I could physically take. They're expanding to three days next year and using more of convention center complex. I do think I'll have to find a new hotel; the Lord Baltimore has dropped the Radisson connection, so they're heavily remodeling for the next year or so. The elevator trips were nerve wracking at odd moments. I was amused to discover through Pinterest that they're hosting a 1920s New Year's Eve party this year, Lord Baltimore being the hotel I used for my 1920s Nano novel years ago. (If you're on Pinterest, fyi, I have two, one for fannish/writing research and one more historical/needlework oriented, so let me know if you want the ids.)
I did come home with some lovely art.
One was a sketch I preordered from Chris Samnee. I am so happy with this.
Then I wandered over to Ramona Fradon's table. She always has some already done artwork/sketches you could purchase, so I picked this small Wonder Woman. It's like seeing the Super Friends of my childhood:
I did not attend any of the panels. I feel I made a A+ life decision, especially where the DC panels were concerned. Reading about Dan Didio espousing how heroes can't have happy personal lives and Mera & Aquaman are not actually married might have shot my last nerve with that company. (Which weirdly would have made sense if they'd come straight off the Blackest Night/Brightest Day minis but this is a new universe and Mera is actually acting as his Queen from all accounts...) I do wish I could have gone to the Ramona Fradon spotlight panel on Sunday, but I was just as glad to get home, even if Metro had closed the Union Station Metro that weekend.
I also bought:
Mike Maihack Amethyst print
Graphic Audio cd set Rogue Angel #41 "Staff of Judea"
Cyborg 009 GN from Archaia
A sketchbook by Sara Richard
A Winter Soldier action figure
Then this Saturday I attended the Small Press Expo, catching a ride with
likeadeuce. The con continues to grow by leaps and bounds. It wasn't quite as bad as previous years when I could barely move in the aisles. I did however love seeing all the little girls in attendance; clearly *all* of them have discovered Raina Telgemeier's Smile and Drama. An entire Girl Scout troop surrounded her table soon after the doors opened, all in their green vests. This former Girl Scout felt so proud! Raina tweeted today that she had completely sold out. I also went to Raina Telgemeier's panel with Gene Luen Yang, covering everything from the Bay Area comics scene to their awareness of their audience/market. (To which, Raina gave a pointed look at the assembled young girls on the front rows to much amusement.) Both of them had also done licensed materials and you'd never think "oh it was for the bills man" attitude. Yang waxed eloquent on the Avatar tv series and how much his career owed to librarians that featured his work. Telgemeier was a Babysitters Club fan from her childhood so this was a project of some love and pride. She's been asked if there's a franchise she'd want to adapt she always cheerfully says "I already did!"
What I bought:
Fanfare/Ponent Mon's "Summit of the Gods" volume 4-- A manga about mountainclimbing and Mt Everest
Cartozia Tales issues 1&2 - an interesting shared world comic that is running right now as a Kickstarter. They have a map and their creators are assigned certain parts to explore for that issue. For the next issue, though, they switch around, so they have to write about other characters/regions/etc.
Black Feather Falls: Possibly my personal favorite pickup of the con. I noticed this in the debut book listings and since I'm on a 1920s bent again, a detective story set in the 1920s with a pair of female detectives seemed right up my alley. If you're at all curious, the book is also up at Activate as a webcomic. I liked having the physical version in hand though.
After the con,
likeadeuce had invited me along to dinner and the Nationals-Phillies game. Dinner was at the PF Changs where I drowned my sorrows in honey chicken and chocolate after the Connie Willis signing that I missed -- so weird not seeing a Borders there. I don't appear to be good luck for the Nationals -- the last three games I've attended in person they've lost! On the bright side, I got to see Bryce Harper come pretty close to saving the game for the team. And singing along to those baseball classics A-Ha's "Take on me!" (it's a Nats thing) and "Werewolves of London (it's a Jayson Werth thing.)
As for the books, the Spy Museum in DC is hosting two events I may attend. Elizabeth Wein, author of WWII YA espionage books Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, is signing on September 19th at 2-4pm. Then on September 29th at 1pm Ally Carter is signing United We Spy, the last of her Gallagher Girl books. The one I'm certain I will attend is V.E. Schwab's signing of Vicious at One More Page Books in Arlington on September 27th. If you liked Heroes or Soon I Will Be Invincible it's very much in that style. Also Flatliners.
Somewhere in the middle of that weekend will be my local library sale -- so many books.