Category: Books & Comics

Con Haul

  • October 31, 2016

I’m shamelessly borrowing a post format from AW here; everything I purchased at the local comic con I attended yesterday. I arrived with $106.50 on me, and left with nothing! Here’s the swag…

A pack of Voltron tattoos from 1984. The guy that sold them to me (from a mostly full box) seemed surprised when I said I’d use them. ($2)

Three packs of trading cards. As should be obvious by now, I can’t pass up non-sports cards. At $1/pack these were a bit pricey though. ($3)

A stuffed stegosaurus. I bought this for KLS from the girl who made it. This is actually the second one I’ve bought over the years, although this one is cuter and fatter! ($7)

A Japanese money box ‘sound bank’. I haven’t opened it yet. I think it’s a tiny bank that plays a sound effect from Super Mario Bros. when you put coins in. ($5)

Loads of comics. The average cost was just under $0.50 each. I tend to gravitate to non superhero stuff pre 1990 if possible. That’s the first eleven issues of Indy! ($14.50 in total)

An Avalon Hill fantasy board game from 1979. Yes it’s complete, and yes it will be played. The rules seem delightfully complex! ($10)

A fat Rilakkuma thing. I overpaid for this, but it was my white whale in a UFO catcher in CA early this year. Plus it’s cute! ($40)

Dungeons & Dragons lite-brite set (from 1983). Yes it’s unopened and yes it will remain that way! How could I have passed up such a curiosity! ($15)

Not a bad load of loot is it? For those keeping tabs this totals to only $96.50. What about the other $10 you ask? That was the admission fee.

After a string of disappointing years the con roared back this year and impressed me to no end. Next time I’ll be sure to have more cash with me 🙂

We Are Providence

  • May 13, 2016

We drove to Providence today, on day one of our little getaway. I’d been considering such a trip for years, but after recently reading the newly reprinted Ramsey Campbell book ‘The Thing In The Lake’ the trigger had been pulled.

It was finally time to pay my respects to Lovecraft. 

 
The first stop was a wonderful store downtown that promotes the memory and legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, an author (mostly) obscure in his life but now recognized as one of the most influential American authors to have ever lived. His contribution to the genres of fantasy and horror can hardly be underestimated, and I’ve been a fan for about 30 years. 

 
The store had some remarkable items, and the lovely proprietress gave us a map of providence with all the Lovecraft sights on it. Afterwards we walked a few minutes to a local library to see this bust (which had been partially funded by Guillermo del Toro): 

 
And then we headed to our primary destination, the Swan Point Cemetary. Specifically this small and somewhat unassuming tombstone: 

 
Lovecraft was poor in his time, and upon his death didn’t even get his own gravestone (the above was erected over 50 years later). Initially he was only on the Phillips tombstone, behind me when I took the above shot. (Yes, I placed the tiny Cthulhu on top, but you can see offerings left by others – including foreign coins.)

Ironically he wrote about this very cemetary in his stories, as he did about many other sights in Ptovidence. He was a somber man, very poor and (as he believed) unsuccessful. If only he could have known how famous he would one day be, and how in a cemetary packed with incredible edifices the one that most people would come to visit was the tiny stone with his name on it.

Mr Lovecraft: your imagination was boundless, your stories timeless and I’ll always be a fan. 

 
It was late in the day when we finally got to our B&B and we’re gobsmacked by how beautiful it is! 

 
That’s the dining room we’ll eat breakfast in tomorrow! Everything in here is beautiful, and it’s probably much fancier than I deserve 🙂 

 
Tomorrow we’re off to the zoo, only a hop and skip from here. Expect photos of animals!

  • Posted in Art
  • Robert

NYCC 2015 Day 4

  • October 11, 2015

  
Since we could only stay at the con a few hours today we focused on one last sweep of the main hall (well, about a third of it) and some last minute purchases. 

 
As always I love the vintage and the unusual, and were it not for getting sidetracked by a pile of ancient D&D modules (all of which I then bought) I nearly purchased a crazy expensive boxed Ultraman villian from the 80’s.

I didn’t buy this though: 

 
Or any of these: 

 
And certainly not this: 

 
I have to say though, I love that someone’s even trying to sell that. Yet another reason this con is so much fun.

I haven’t spoken of our celebrity sightings yet. Aside from the X-files panel, we probably saw fewer this year than ever before, and much of the sightings were like this: 

 
There were also much fewer people signing autographs this year as well, which may have been good because I doubt anyone could have topped the bizarre John deLancie from last year 🙂

Eventually, it was time once again for us to turn our backs on the con and head home. 

 
Since it’s KLS’s birthday today, we had sprung for a first-class room on the train home! It was cozy and comfortable, and came with a delicious meal in the dining car! 

 
Doesn’t she look happy!!

After four long and packed days we’re super tired, but once again we had a great time at NYCC. I’ll follow up in a few days with a post about some of the unusual loot we brought home with us…

  • Posted in Books & Comics
  • Robert