The Geekiest Day of My Life!

Yesterday was fun. Me and The Neph got an early start (early for a Sunday) and hit the local mini-Comic Convention at Heritage Hall on Main St. I'm starting to get a handle on these events now, being a veteran of two local mini-cons, and one giant con in Seattle. Usually, I just wander around. But this time I decided to actually check out the miles and miles of longboxes, following The Neph's lead. He was looking for back issues of The Darkness, which I think is a tie-in to a video game, but some of the issues had Warren Ellis's name on the cover, so they might be okay.


I wasn't really looking for anything. I already have too many comics (get in touch if you want some, I've got heaps of mid-00's DC superhero dreck). But a few things caught my eye, and my money. Action Comics #563 in pristine condition, for a dollar. The second of three cover appearances of Ambush Bug in Action, and the only one I didn't already have from my first go-round as a comic buying individual. I'm not only a huge Ambush Bug fan, I'm also a huge Keith Giffen fan, so when I found a whole schwack of early-80s Legion of Superheroes in the dollar bins (bagged and boarded, no less), I scooped those up too.


I've long loved the Legion. I picked up the first issue of Giffen's 1989 dystopic relaunch based on the bleak, but portentious cover alone (and who can resist first issues?) and was immediately hooked on the Legion. Though that series was hardly friendly to the uninitiated, that was part of the fun: putting together the clues Giffen, along with series co-writers Tom and Mary Bierbaum, dropped throughout the series. Though the Legion existed within the same fictional universe the rest of the comics I was reading then were set in, it was set 1,005 years in the future and gave me a whole new dimension to explore.

But best of all was Giffen's art...so unlike anything I'd seen before. So dynamic and sharp. What's great about the Legion stuff I scored is that it's got Giffen art just at the point where he was developing into the master penciller he is now--though you'd hardly know it these days.Most of his current work is as a writer. I highly encourage you, however, to check out his layouts for 52, the good weekly comic DC put out a couple of years ago. He is, however, pencilling (as well as writing) a new Ambush Bug mini-series that starts later this month. Huzzah.

I also picked up a couple of stone-cold graphic novel classic for dirt cheap. I got Watchmen, to replace the one I bought when I was 12 that I traded to Travis for V for Vendetta when I was 15 and never ended up trading back. I also, finally, got a decent edition of Batman: Year One, which is only my favourite Batman story ever...or one of them.... I got them both because, y'know, The Neph is reading The Darkness, and while I support him in pursuing his own interests, I also want to encourage him to read something 100% awesome.

Weighed down by our loot, The Neph and I hit Vera's for some hamburgs. Nothing especially geeky about that, but, whoo yeah, that's a burger.

Then we went downtown to meet up with Nicole. While we were waiting for her, we accidentally signed some petition, just to be nice. I hope it wasn't for some cuckoo cause. Like the environment or something.

Nicole showed up and we went KRAZY! I love Geo. Herriman, and my eyes stared at ORIGINAL HERRIMAN ART. And original Chester Brown, and Chris Ware (nice) and Lynda Barry and lots of other awesome stuff.

Then The Neph and I ditched Nicole and met up with Jesse and we got ice cream and sat in the park and talked about Batman. Then we went over to Jesse's and barbecued hot dogs and watched Justice League: The New Frontier. Awesome. Yes. And then we watched all the bonus features.

I eventually stumbled home, drunk on geekery, a full 14 hours after I'd left. What a day.

mp3: "The Lucifer Rebellion" by Hypatia Lake

mp3: "Long Walk Home" by Radars to the Sky