The Professional Nerd’s diary of Thought Bubble Festival Part 2

My write-up of Thought Bubble 2010 finally surfaced over on The Culture Vulture. TB was great this year. Partly because we had more staff on the OK Comics table, mostly because it was just great. I'd say more, but it's all through there. That said, have a little taste:

"10:30pm: Spot John Romita Jr, described by Marvel’s Editor in Chief as the greatest artist in comics, stood at the bar. I have been reading his comics since I’ve been reading. He’s comics royalty. Nearly let the fact that I have absolutely nothing constructive to say to him stop me from saying hi. Realise I don’t want this to be the day I almost met John Romita Jr and brusquely shove my friend Jack out of the way mid-sentence to go introduce myself. For the entire two minutes we talk he grips my hand like he could turn it into a calcium supplement. He’s very gracious about the fact I barely understand syllables right now. The only other three people in the world I would get like this with are Michael J. Fox, Stan Lee and Harrison Ford."

(While we're on the subject of Thought Bubble - here's my diary of TB2009).

Ultraman Zero Trailer: Green Lantern vs Power Rangers

Via BleedingCool.

Leeds' Identity Crisis and the Perils of PR Bobbins

I had a guest post up on The Culture Vulture the other day. It's about Leeds, its identity and the problems with trying to form a cohesive narrative about any city. It's here. It ran with the picture above, which I took with my very own iPhone.

Last Saturday at OK Comics...

- I decided to go to work in an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt under an unfastened plaid shirt. I observed on Facebook that there are few things in this life that announce you as a comic shop employee like the aforementioned clothing combination and was vindicated by the 'likes' of several friends. Brendan also wore a t-shirt under an unfastened plaid shirt. This is not coincidence. It was confirmed for me that this look is BACK.

- Oliver was uncertain whether to follow the hype and buy Enslaved or follow his feelings and buy Castlevania. He went with Castlevania. This may be significant.

- Me and Kirsty are now a Leeds independent retail power couple. She worked at Crash Records for the first time in several years. She also helped with the window display at OK Comics.

- I discovered that the Valerian and Laureline translation I have been patiently waiting for has actually been on the shelf for at least a few weeks. RETAIL FAIL. (I toyed with dubbing this a 'REFAIL', but it just didn't work). I read French comics without being told to now.

- Mike Infinitum brought in several shortboxes that contained, amongst other things, late '90s X-Force and X-Men. While we tried to coat our enthusiasm under a slap-dash veneer of irony, there was no hiding the fact that me and Brendan were both genuinely excited about this. The excitement, though, was insufficient to prompt either of us to actually buy anything from the box.

- We sold some comics.

All-Star Superman in Moving Pictures! (Or 'a Trailer')

The trailer seems to miss the tone of the comics series entirely and instead opts for an end-of-the-world sort of feel. Could just be the cut of the trailer, I suppose, but...

I got a bad feeling about this.

I Still Function

That last post was pretty out of the blue, eh? Yeah, I've been right quiet. That's largely due to copious amounts going on at SPOnG and other writing eating away at my spare time. I do hope to resume semi-regular posting here soon, though. In the meantime, I exist (in a random, not particularly ordered) capacity on Tumblr and, of course, on Twitter.

Project Waldo Has a Real Name Now

Yup, Nate Simpson's Project Waldo has a name now. It has a name because it might actually get released in the not-too-distant future. I have no idea how you're meant to write it without the benefit/luxury of graphic design software, so please just look upwards. I'm very excited at the prospect of being able to hold this soon.

Steven Moffat's Son Uses Interviews his Dad to Make 4,000 People Look at a Cat

Alpha Protocol: Reviewed to Hell

“I'm playing Alpha Protocol at the moment,” I said the to the staff down at my local games store.
“Hmmm...” replied Clarice (name changed for legal purposes). We all looked across the counter at a not-yet-for-sale copy they had on display.
“So, it's kind of like Fallout 3 crossed with Splinter Cell?” Pete half-asked, half-stated.
Holy turd-monkeys! That would be AMAZING, right?!
Yeah. It would.
“Maybe,” I said. “If, you know, they took the bits that make each of them good away and left you with something that plays a bit like a stale biscuit.”

In fairness, Alpha Protocol starts on a high. It opens with that old 'SEGA' noise you used to get on the Mega Drive. It's all a bit downhill from there.


Yes, the best bit was finishing it. Rest of the review's on that SPOnG website I work for.

This is Where Scott Pilgrim Lived

When that damn dirty volcano left me starved of new comics for a week recently, I manually reignited my man-passion for Scott Pilgrim. Because I was having a pretty extreme nerd-out, I went so far as to track down the apartment he shared with Wallace Wells. I did it like some kind of weird stalker who tripped up and fell into a Grant Morrison comic about the crossover between reality and fiction. The picture above is what I found - it's the house on the left.

In case you care, I took the address from the package Ramona delivers to the apartment in Volume 1 (It's 27 Alberta ave, Toronto). I went to Google Maps, then Google Street View. Then, for the first time I really took to heart the fact that the pins Google sticks in maps to show addresses are made out of guesswork. So, I looked at visible house numbers, worked out how numbering on the street works then nailed the address using the power of my brain. I then felt pretty pleased with myself for a couple of minutes, then I felt a little sad.

Yes, it doesn't look exactly the same as in the comics. No, I don't think we should blame Bryan Lee O'Malley for that. We have only our own nerdish compulsions to blame for any sadness we feel about this fact.

If you want to see the location for yourself, go here.