Jennifer Susannah Devore's Blog, page 7

Am I Mortal? You Are Now: 20 Years of Hellboy, and Counting

In case you didn't pick up a copy at San Diego Comic-Con, never made it to Comic-Con, or never intended on going, but love reading JennyPop's work ... voila! Reprinted from the official 2014 SDCC Souvenir Book. Enjoy!

Am I Mortal? You Are Now: 20 Years of Hellboy, and Counting

by

Jennifer Susannah Devore

Here, Sheldon. I pulled the new Hellboy for you. It's mind-blowing!

-Stuart Bloom, The Big Bang Theory

Being human is a pain in the ass: heart-shattering emotion, physical limitations, that unrelenting shoulder-tap called mortality. Any wonder the knell of immortality, even human-hybrid versions, is so alluring? Not simply a fantasy world of superheroes keeping it tight and right, the mass appeal is a micro-fantasy of vicarious athanasia, preternatural strength and invulnerability: forever swinging on that top branch. Sure, weakness abounds, even for the eternal: religious vestiges, beheadings, spells, Kryptonite, wooden stakes, domestic beer. Still, ruination-odds are worth the eternity-payoff.

Conversely, what a quandary it is when immortals bemoan their gifts, even forfeiting them to join the Muggle world. Who knew pancakes, cigars and television were so bewitching?

An analog birth during the San Diego summer of 1993, Hellboy sparked fictively from the NorCal mind of Mike Mignola during the English spring of 1574. Hellboy's mum was Sarah Hughes, a troubled teen ascended from witches; Pappy was Azzael, a demon high enough in Satan's ranks he's what the Mob calls "made". Sprinkle some German Occult-literature, add carnal, Teutonic Dark Arts, cap it with a midnight ride on the neighborhood goat-demon and … It's a (half-human/half-demon) Boy!

After that wild night in '74, waiting nearly four-hundred years in the netherworld, probably playing with Star Wars Legos, Romanov-family soothsayer Rasputin finally summoned the wee Anung un Rama, during the already very busy Christmas season of 1944. For Der Führer and his Nazi cretins, this magic trick was their anti-Hail Mary, a ritualistic conjuring of Ragnarök: the Norse foretelling of the world's demise and rebirth. A Doomsday subcontractor commissioned by Hitler in a last-ditch effort to save his WWII bacon, Rasputin invoked the child effectively, yet input the wrong GPS coordinates. Rather than the Nazi-laden, party-ready Scottish isle, the demon babe was spewed via impressive pyrotechnics amidst church ruins in East Bromwich, England.

With big eyes and a high forehead, not unlike Tyra Banks or Sheldon Cooper, the wee bairn worked its evolutionary wiles -those saving babies from abandonment in the wild- on the British Paranormal Society and a big-hearted detachment of U.S. Army Rangers. Further coaxed by evolution and the magical smell of a baby's head -dry roasted peanuts- Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (a.k.a. "Broom") immediately takes to the nipper. Lured by a warm blanket and a Baby Ruth bar, he leaps into the loving arms of Broom, whom gives him the name, "in retrospect, perhaps not the most fortunate", Hellboy.

Nazi-infected England being no place to raise a child, Broom sallies the little peanut to an appropriate locale: New Mexico, cradle of the weird. Within a clandestine Air Force base, Hellboy is raised by the military, but reared by Broom. A.K.A. Red, Rosie, Brother Red and Peanut, Hellboy grows into a fine young creature, fighting for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.), protecting Earth from the supernatural ills that be, including cat-eating Fragglewump trolls, undead Nazis and Black Forest tooth fairies.

Sure, it seems all flowers and sausages; but what lies beneath Hellboy's basaltic surface? His longevity has no term-limits; yet he can still fall to injury, despair and eventual death via extreme physical attack, heartbreak or even his greatest foil, his own temper.

"Sometimes I get angry. And when I get angry I sometimes do stupid things. Things like charging headlong into a pitch black room. I'm tougher and stronger than any human, but I can't see any better in the dark," he first admits in Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1.

His heart isn't any stronger either. Spending his life protecting humans, and cats, what happens to that big, red heart when it aches for their pain, or eventual loss?

In Dark Horse Comics, Hellboy is sired via Satanic ritual, generated in moody, fictive East Bromwich. In real life, he is conceived from Mike Mignola's psyche, hatched in sunny San Diego on the floor of Comic-Con in 1993, with half the mess and fanfare of the East Bromwich incident. Appearing first in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (1993), Hellboy timorously stepped onto the stage, far less buff than today; obviously, he's been working out. In fact, the clearest connection between the original and today's snarky yet affable cranky pants, is his name.

In the early-1980s, when Doctor Who incarnations included posh Peter Davison and Willie Wonka-wannabe Collin Baker, Mignola was inking for Marvel Comics. Later that decade, when Sylvester McCoy's quasi-Riddler played The Doctor, Mignola was playing for both teams: inking at Marvel (The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil); drawing/producing at DC (Gotham by Gaslight, Batman: A Death in the Family).

By the 1990s, as Paul McGann sashayed through the Who-niverse as The Oscar Wilde Doctor, Mignola finally tired as gun-for-hire. Strong nudging from Mike Richardson at Dark Horse Comics led Mignola to "quit working on other people’s properties and start creating his own." Cut to Richardson at a "now-forgotten comics convention" where Mignola hands him a packet, capitulating, “Okay, I’ve got a book for you … It’s called Hellboy.”

In 1994, Mignola, Richardson and Dark Horse issue the graphic novel Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, the later-groundwork for Guillermo del Toro's 2004 feature-film Hellboy. (Editor's note: Mignola regards the Seed of Destruction miniseries as the true start of the series, thus the 20th anniversary occurring in 2014, not 2013.)

Since then, Hellboy has fathered myriad offspring: films, animated series, spin-offs (Abe Sapiens, Sledgehammer, B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson), novels, toy lines, video games and beyond.

Gilgamesh, Merlin, Aragorn, Spock and even the hot, boho witches of Charmed, human-hybrids one and all, suffer a special brand of angst. When Kirk queries, "You're only half-Vulcan, what about the human-half?", Spock replies, "It is proving to be an inconvenience, but it is manageable."

Anne Rice's hesitant vampire, Louis, cannot release his humanness, feeding instead on rats and, eventually, villains; whilst Luke Skywalker briefly fights the Dark lure, a battle his father Anakin loses. The tug of war can be great, even in those with whom the force is strong. Only Spaceballs' Barf the Mawg (half-man/half-dog) really gets it, accepting his condition joyfully, stating, "I'm my own best friend!"

Page-to-screen adaptations brim with conflcits. Hellboy is no different. Notably is Hellboy's identity: comics allow life amongst the people, sans question; films cache him from the public, proving difficult in the YouTube era. Strongest link amongst Hellboy iterations? A human element in a fundamentally wicked creature. "We all have a side we try to hide," sympathizes Agent Myers in del Toro's Hellboy.

Hellboy doesn't struggle with his demons, so much as he is aware of them. He is also aware he's ugly. "I wish I could change this, but I can't," he gestures to his visage, apologizing to his film love-interest, the beauteous, power-incontinent pyro, Liz Sherman.

"He's complicated," comics-enthusiast Lesli Thyra suggests. "He's trying to fit into a human world and find acceptance. A creature from hell, he's strongly influenced by his adoptive, human father. He's also a protector of the human race, but must be kept secret, which makes his need for acceptance difficult."

"Do you need everyone to like you? Everybody? Or, am I enough?" Liz wonders in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, as Red realizes, upon saving Manhattan from a destructive forest god, and saving a baby, the people not only dislike him, they fear him.

As Red endeavours to rid Manhattan of the varmint, Prince Nuada, master of said-varmint, argues for its life. "Demon, look at it. The last of its kind. You have more in common with us, than with them. You could be a king."

Whispering to Red later, Nuada's dying words tap into a nerve, "The humans, they will tire of you. They have already turned against you. Leave them. Is it them or us? Which holocaust should be chosen?" Not a happy ending, either way.

Still, endings must come. Hellboy: The Fury #3 saves the world, but kills Peanut. Happily, superheroes rarely, truly die; this one merely moves south of the border. Hellboy in Hell just brings a new POV, a Lovecraftian multiverse of new characters, relationships and exploits.

"I always say that when characters die in the Hellboy universe, they just become more interesting," Mignola told Comic Book Resources' Kiel Phegley. "So Hellboy now is a lot more interesting. I just felt he'd run his course as the guy who everybody knows."

Superhero life is not always a bowl full of kitties. Mortal loved ones fade in the blink of an eye, Scottish Fragglewumps will always eat cats and Heaven help you if you're caught without your protective herbs, rosary or troll-terrorizing canary. The supernatural-half seems glamourous; but the human-half is always worth fighting for … at least for the good guys.

 

What makes a man, a man? It's his choices. It's not how he starts, but how he ends.

- B.P.R.D. Agt. John Myers

 

Jennifer Susannah Devore is the authoress of the 18thC. historical-fiction series, Savannah of Williamsburg as well as the contemporary-fiction, The Darlings of Orange County. She also writes for GoodToBeAGeek. She loves Disneyland, Nordstrom, television and playing dress-up. Jennifer lives at the beach; her closet is far too small.

End of article.

 

Note: Past years’ books included J.S. Devore articles on Peanuts, Tarzan and Bongo/Simpsons Comics. Additionally, I will covering all our Con shenanigans for GoodToBeAGeek as well as part of Rotten Tomatoes' SDCC2014 Twitter feed. Follow along @GoodToBeAGeek @JennyPopNet @Eslilay and @RottenTomatoes!

Let The Gates of Geekhalla Open: SDCC 2014 Commences

Aaaaaaand ... awaytheygo! San Diego Comic-Con 2014 (July 24-27, 2014, San Diego Convention Ctr.) is officially commenced! Preview Night, Wednesday night's unofficial kickoff for industry pros, press and others, has come and gone, and whilst crowds may not have peaked to the expected numbers for Friday and Saturday, the crush inside the San Diego Convention Center was as tightly packed and palpably amped as any Con day in recent recall. From the moment one stepped out of the steep, summer humidity and into the blessed, blasting air-conditioning of the Conv. Ctr., there was an energy one could feel through one's soul, like the floor was made of millions of excitable tribbles. It was as though everyone there, from jaded industry pros to Baby's First Comic-Con, was just happy, and amazed, to even be there.

Perchance it's the year-over-year, burgeoning, Herculean task of even getting into the Con, but Preview Night 2014 transmitted a sensorial vibe of sheer joy and unabashed gratitude, like getting a governor's stay-of-execution or realizing you don't have to go to the family cabin for Thanksgiving this year. Every minute is a gift. Many a hardcore geek thought WonderCon Anaheim might be it for the year; actually getting into Comic-Con can be a gift from the Nordic gods, a badge to Valhalla.

If folks weren't simply soaking up the warm and safe embrace of Geekhalla, they were dashing hither and thither, in the brief 6-9p window, to do their part for the economy. Many a vendor offers pre-Con deals, sales and "Preview Night Only" collector's items. If you think the posh, petite, Asian girls gliding daintily across the marble floors of South Coast Plaza carry impossibly-huge Louis Vuitton and Chanel shopping bags, that's nothing compared to the sweaty, pasty, peeking-tummy army of Comic Book Guys hefting gargantuan Hasbro and LEGO bags through the carpeted halls of SDCC. Either way, pretty Asian girl or tubby comic nerd ... "get out the way, fool!" If there existed any semblance of personal space, it was only due to the fact that Preview Night is not a popular costume day: behold, Friday and Saturday! Wednesday night cosplay was mild, if notable at all. The number of folks in dress could be counted on two hands, if you're a Simpson.

Now that SDCC 2014 is in gear, keep up the energy, folks! Keep doing your bits for the local economy, too! San Diego loves geeks: local and tourists! Spend freely in our bars, restaurants and shops; and tip generously! Most of all, be kind. Of all that body-crush and shoulder-bumping last night, in the Con and on the streets of the Gaslamp District, I received one, only one, "Excuse me!" It doesn't hurt your vocal chords, take any time or cost a dime to say something nice when you nudge a fellow geek. Give a pleasant "Hello!" or "Thank you!" to the crossing guards around the Con, too! Armed with little more than a whistle and a smile, these folks have guest control at Disneyland levels! Thanks, guys!

Remember, Yours Truly was picked up by Rotten Tomatoes’ official SDCC 2014 Twitter feed and Dr. Lucy and I will covering all our Con shenanigans for GoodToBeAGeek. Come along with us @GoodToBeAGeek @JennyPopNet @Eslilay and @RottenTomatoes!

Finally, if you're keeping track ... Yours Truly's Hellboy article was published in this year's official SDCC Souvenir Book! That's #4, kids! Fun times! (Full article to post soon.) Past years' books included J.S. Devore articles on Peanuts, Tarzan and Bongo/Simpsons Comics.

 

Abyssinia on the Con floor, cats!

 

The Nerdicane, it is a-Comin'! SDCC 2014 Pre-Preview Night

The streets were eerily quiet last night. With the exception of oddly quiet construction setups and a formidable sense of a looming pop culture storm, San Diego's Gaslamp District was nearly devoid of any signs of the true onslaught of geekage fast bearing down on America's Finest City. Yours Truly used the time to enjoy the vast amount of personal space and the ability walk about the Gaslamp District with arms akimbo and even engaging in the occasional twirl. (I was wearing a tutuesque skirt, after all.) Still, amidst the serene dusk, one could feel a slight tremble in the Earth, like a TGV heading down tracks on the French countryside, or a tornado steadily rumbling toward a calm, Kansas burg.

Nearly every bartender we met said this was their first Comic-Con and, to a man, they all claimed proudly they "weren't worried". Suckers. One of them noted plainly and proudly she was from Portland whilst another, across the Gaslamp, stated in the same manner that she was from Seattle, as if hailing from these metropoli alone was pedigree enough to command the coming Nerdicane.

Although, I do have faith in the mirthful and ebullient Kit. Nestled behind the bar, as though in a Shakespearean farce and ready to proffer the occasional aside and commentary to the audience, Kit pours out yummy, Icelandic-tundra, gin cocktails at McCormick & Schmick's on the ground floor of the Omni Hotel. (Ask for him by name: Kit with one "T", not two, like Knight Rider.) Kit seemed not only prepped and perked for the pending squall, but struck me as an even greater dork than Yours Truly. (A compliment, Good Sir Kit, to be certain! The cool kids will never know how to follow our lead!) Kit shall be amongst his own kind and, I predict, do raw-ther well.

San Diego Comic-Con 2014 kicks off, unofficially, tonight with the coveted Preview Night. Twisted Pair Photography's Dr. Lucy and I will be there scoping out the Con floor (to make the most of our time during regular Con days) and checking out all the earlybird geekage like D&D tourneys, sneak-peek screenings and First Come, First Served deals on geek girl gear: notably, the Princess Leia V-neck tee I passed on at WonderCon. Of course, the biggest task of the night? Procuring an official Comic-Con Souvenir Book. Did my article submission make it in again, a 20th anniversary Hellboy retrospective? Fingers and painted toesies crossed!

Best of all, I was picked up by Rotten Tomatoes' official SDCC 2014 Twitter feed! Additionally, Dr. Lucy camera and I will covering all our Con shenanigans for GoodToBEAGeek. Come along with us @GoodToBeAGeek @JennyPopNet @Eslilay and @RottenTomatoes!

 

Abyssinia on the Con floor, cats!

Hannah’s other fave places to haunt online?

JennyPop.net jenniferdevore.blogspot.com and amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore

Boobs Are Not Bunnies: JennyPop's Tips and Common Con Courtesy for SDCC

Cheers, kittens! One week to go! San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) is nigh and America's Finest City is all abuzz. Not only is our lovely beach burg stuffed to its cliffs and cul-de-sacs with not just the usual Summertime crush of les touristes from all over the globe, but also with a healthy, amusing dose of geekery. Bienvenue a tous! San Diego loves geeks!

Be ye a local geek (comme Moi) and didn't get in (ni comme Moi), there's still a faint ray of hope. Local "news" station FOX5 is giving away a pair of badges in this week leading up to the Con; naturally, one must actually watch the local broadcast every morn to learn a code-word. Of course, considering what one goes through for badges, the hoops could be worse than having to endure an hour a day of local news ... maybe. If you are going, local or not, contest winner or no, I proffer a few helpful tips and links to help your Comic-Con be as easy-peasy lemon-squeezy as can be.

Toucan Blog: daily tips leading up to the Con from the very wizards themselves behind the Comic-Con Int'l (CCI) curtain
Programming Schedule: SDCC's complete, online, Wed.-Sun. catalogue of panels, screenings, autograph signings et al
Transportation Info.: quick links to parking, hotel shuttles and local transportation like the MTS Trolleys, Coaster and Amtrak
Uber and Lyft: sure-fire, friendly ride-sharing to, from and around the Con; but know these private companies' rates fluctuate depending on the time of day/night and need. Business 101, kids. Supply and demand hard at work here.
Taxi Magic: the beauty of free enterprise and capitalism? It forces real competition! The taxi industry is trying a friendlier, gentler, cleaner approach to service. Download the Taxi Magic app and give S.D. Yellow Cabs another chance.
North County Coaster: a great option if you're coming anywhere from Oceanside south; the Coaster is a quiet, clean ride with great views of the Pacific for most of the way (Snag a seat on the west-facing side for the best views!).
Call a friend or beg Dad: if you have anyone in the area whom claims to love you, even tolerate you, even a little bit, capitalize on that. Beg them for a ride! Drop-off and pick-up anywhere in the Gaslamp District makes your life easy-peasy!

As one expects, SDCC is a complete jumblef#&* at every turn. Whether you end up inside the Con rubbing elbows and armour with the likes of�� Salma Hayek, Daniel Radcliffe, George R.R. Martin, Weird Al and Seth Green or, enjoying the wild festivities that occur just outside the Con doors, it can, at times, feel like a claustrophobic nightmare. Remember to be kind. (As a dyed-in-the-wool geek, I can attest that a lot of us don't groove well in large volumes of people; we're oft a pale, quiet, nervous type.)

Comic-Con is a haven for nerdery, creativity and pop-culture camaraderie. It's also a Tokyo metro-style, sardine-packed, hot-and-humid mess. Try to say "Pardon me" when you bump into Poison Ivy, "Thank you" when Adam West Batman holds open a door for you and a chivalric "After you, Milady!" when you and Princess Leia arrive at the same egress, at the same time. When it comes to cosplay, leave the snark and sneers at home; compliments go a long way in making someone's day. Some of those costumes take forever to make, are probably raw-ther uncomfortable and it's a good bet that no matter how smoking they look, the wearer feels just a tad self-conscious.

Apropos: the boobs. Yes, the boobs. As I wrote in my coverage of WonderCon Anaheim 2014, Of course, de rigueur, there are lots and lots of boobs. There are always lots and lots of boobs. Funny thing is, after a few years of this, I���m beginning to recognize some of them. There is also a lot of chatter about the appropriate amount of attention one should give those boobs. For this girl's take, if you're going to put them out there, waaaay out there as some of the ladies do, I think you'd better expect some feedback. Still, that does not excuse some of the vile, verbal assaults hurled their way. Keep it clean, folks. Common courtesy guides one should ask before taking a picture, glance but don't gawk and never, ever touch! (Please, see official guidelines below.) Just be nice. Like Thumper's mama says, "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." A good time shall be had by all, especially when we're all cheery comic chums! Come on, everyone! Let's all play the Pollyanna Glad Game!


Word to the wise, if you don't care about common courtesy, how about a nice bullwhipping by Mistress of the Dorks, Adrianne Curry to help you mind your manners?

As in years past, Eslilay Evoreday (Twisted Pair Photography) and I shall be covering SDCC for JennyPop.com. To boot, Yours Truly is champing at the bit to learn if this year's submission to the official Souvenir Book (a Hellboy retrospective) made it in again: previously published articles include Catwoman, Batgirl, Hellboy, Betty and Veronica, Peanuts, Tarzan and The Simpsons. So, follow Moi on Twitter and Insta for all the geeky, gooey, booby goodness coming straight from San Diego Comic-Con!

*CCI's Code of Conduct and Anti Harassment Policy

Attendees must respect common sense rules for public behavior, personal interaction, common courtesy, and respect for private property. Harassing or offensive behavior will not be tolerated. Comic-Con reserves the right to revoke, without refund, the membership and badge of any attendee not in compliance with this policy.

Persons finding themselves in a situation where they feel their safety is at risk or who become aware of an attendee not in compliance with this policy should immediately locate a member of security, or a Comic-Con staff member, so that the matter can be handled in an expeditious manner. If your safety is at risk and you need immediate assistance you may also use a white house phone and dial 5911.

Security may be contacted by visiting our Show Office in Lobby C. A Comic-Con staff member will be in the office during public hours.

Follow�� @JennyPopcom (Twitter and Insta)

Boobs Are Not Bunnies: JennyPop's Tips and Common Con Courtesy for SDCC 2014

Cheers, kittens! One week to go! San Diego Comic-Con (July 24-27, 2014, S.D. Conv. Ctr.) is nigh and America's Finest City is all abuzz. Not only is our lovely beach burg stuffed to its cliffs and cul-de-sacs with not just the usual summertime crush of les touristes from all over the globe, but also with a healthy, amusing dose of geekery. Bienvenue a tous! San Diego loves geeks!

[image error]

Be ye a local geek (comme Moi) and didn't get in (ni comme Moi), there's still a faint ray of hope. Local "news" station FOX5 is giving away a pair of badges a day, in this week leading up to the Con; naturally, one must actually watch the local broadcast to learn the "Code of the Day". Of course, considering what I went through for badges, the hoops could be more difficult than having to endure an hour a day of local news. If you are going, local or not, contest winner or no, I proffer a few helpful tips and links to help your Comic-Con 2014 be as easy-peasy lemon-squeezy as can be.

Toucan Blog: daily tips leading up to the Con from the very wizards themselves behind the Comic-Con Int'l (CCI) curtain
Programming Schedule: SDCC's complete, online, Wed.-Sun. catalogue of panels, screenings, autograph signings et al
Transportation Info.: quick links to parking, hotel shuttles and local transportation like the MTS Trolleys, Coaster and Amtrak
Uber and Lyft: sure-fire, friendly ride-sharing to, from and around the Con; but know these private companies' rates fluctuate depending on the time of day/night and need. Business 101, kids. Supply and demand hard at work here.
North County Coaster: a great option if you're coming anywhere from Oceanside south; the Coaster is a quiet, clean ride with great views of the Pacific for most of the way (Snag a seat on the west-facing side for the best views!).
Call a friend or beg Dad: if you have anyone in the area whom claims to love you, even tolerate you, even a little bit, capitalize on that. Beg them for a ride! Drop-off and pick-up anywhere in the Gaslamp District makes your life easy-peasy!

[image error]As one expects, SDCC is a complete jumblef#&*. Whether you end up inside the Con rubbing elbows and armour with the likes of  Salma Hayek, Daniel Radcliffe, George R.R. Martin, Weird Al and Seth Green or, enjoying the wild festivities that occur just outside the Con doors, it can, at times, feel like a claustrophobic nightmare. Remember to be kind. (As a dyed-in-the-wool geek, I can attest that a lot of us don't groove well in large volumes of people; we're oft a pale, quiet, nervous type.)

Comic-Con is a haven for nerdery, creativity and pop-culture camaraderie. It's also a Tokyo metro-style, sardine-packed, hot-and-humid mess. Try to say "Pardon me" when you bump into Poison Ivy, "Thank you" when Adam West Batman holds open a door for you and a chivalric "After you, Milady!" when you and Princess Leia arrive at the same egress, at the same time. When it comes to cosplay, leave the snark and sneers at home; compliments go a long way in making someone's day. Some of those costumes take forever to make, are probably raw-ther uncomfortable and it's a good bet that no matter how smoking they look, the wearer feels just a tad self-conscious.

Apropos: the boobs. Yes, the boobs. As I wrote in my coverage of WonderCon Anaheim 2014, "Of course, de rigueur, there are lots and lots of boobs. There are always lots and lots of boobs. Funny thing is, after a few years of this, I’m beginning to recognize some of them." There is also a lot of chatter about the appropriate amount of attention one should give those boobs. For this girl's take, if you're going to put them out there, waaaay out there as some of the ladies do, I think you'd better expect some feedback. Still, that does not excuse some of the vile, verbal assaults hurled their way. Keep it clean, folks. Common courtesy guides one should ask before taking a picture, glance but don't gawk and never, ever touch! Just be nice. Like Thumper's mama says, "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." A good time shall be had by all, especially when we're all cheery comic chums! Come on, everyone! Let's all play the Pollyanna Glad Game!

As in years past, Eslilay Evoreday (Twisted Pair Photography) and I shall be covering SDCC 2014 for geek-culture website GoodToBeAGeek, even Preview Night! To boot, Yours Truly is champing at the bit to learn if this year's submission to the official Souvenir Book (a Hellboy retrospective) made it in again: previous published articles include Peanuts, Tarzan and Bongo/Simpsons Comics. So, follow us on Twitter and stop by GoodToBeAGeek.com in the days following the Con for all the geeky, gooey, booby goodness coming straight from San Diego Comic-Con 2014!

 

Abyssinia on the Con floor, cats!

 

Follow  @JennyPopNet @GoodToBeAGeek @Eslilay for Con-floor Tweets and pix! #geek #SDCC #cosplay

San Diego Comic-Con 2014 Badge Quest: Victorious!

Holy moly, Hellboy!! This year was a close one! If you read my Adventures in WonderCon post, you will have noted the tint of sadness that came with realizing WonderCon Anaheim (WCA) was it for the year; the Comic-Con Badge Quest Slaughter of 2014 had left Dr. Lucy and myself emotionally exhausted and near expiration, with little hope of survival on the Con battlefield. Yet, like a Phoenix, rising from Arizona -wait, that doesn't sound right- we mustered every cell of life that remained, gathered our courage and cerebral weaponry and ... huzzah! With two weeks to spare, we parried and riposted our way into San Diego Comic-Con!

Dr. Lucy and I have had a pretty good run of not only getting into SDCC to cover it for geek-culture website GoodToBeAGeek, but also of Yours Truly getting into the accompanying Souvenir Book for a number of years. (Past years included articles on Peanuts, Tarzan and Bongo/Simpsons Comics.) This year's submission is a piece on the 20th anniversary of Mike Mignola's half-demon/half-Boy Scout, Hellboy. (Cloven-hooves crossed I get in the Book this year, too!)

Still, as anyone will tell you, SDCC is becoming more and more difficult to permeate. Getting into the Con via standard, online badge purchase is a crap shoot; obtaining a Member ID is simple enough and getting in the online queue is equally non-taxing; getting to the front of the queue before every day sells out is a seemingly random, lottery-style mind%&*#. GoodToBeAGeek's very own editor, Jessa Lynn Phillips, who one should note is closely tied-in with SyFy Channel's upper-echelon, stated, "I don't think I know anyone who got passes (other than panelists) for more than one day this year."

To wit, not only is a badge purchase a shot in the dark, this year Comic-Con International (CCI) eliminated the ability to purchase 4-day badges. (Exception being if you purchased a Preview Night badge, for an extra fee, you can add an automatic 4-day pass.) The purpose, according to CCI, was to cut down on unused, precious badge space: folks buying all four days with the intention of only using one or two days. Further, the ability to purchase for friends (up to three plus yourself) during the pre-registration phase -which one can only enter if one attended the previous year- also limited those three friends to those whom attended the previous year. (Crikey! Getting a law degree has got to be simpler. Of course, based on some attorneys I know, it very well might be!)

Naturally, WCA was a blast and, for someone whom loves to play dress up, getting to don my Louise Belcher costume was fun enough in itself and enough to hold me over until Hallowe'en. Still, there had been a faint raincloud over my head as I read CCI's Toucan Blog daily posts counting down to SDCC 2014.

I had worked my wee fingers to the bone massaging every contact, acquaintance and stranger I could. No one can say I didn't try. I jiggled all the door handles; like Hillary trying to get into the White House. I even answered an ad on Craigslist to wear an M&M costume; and offered my scribing services for legit pro or press passes, only to be flagged. Apparently "honest-work for honest-comps" is offensive to the CL community; had I offered boudoir photos for scalped badges, I might have made "Best of Craigslist". Besides the Badge Quest Slaughter, we here at GTBAG applied for press passes, only to be sliced and diced by CCI's intensely perlustrative press wizards: You shall not [press] pass! I offered to man a booth at GoComics -sadly that contact was no longer with the organization- ; and I looked into volunteering anywhere there was a need within the Con, except the lavvies. One industry-insider advised with a pitiful shake of the head, "Volunteers was filled months ago. It goes almost as fast as the badge sale these days."

In the end, neither the M&M suit nor a volunteer's t-shirt was necessary. Happily, Lucy and I were fortunate enough to garner not just an enviable Saturday-pass, but the much-coveted Preview Night-pass! How, you may wonder, mouths collectively agape like codfish? Simple: intricate dealings in the Black Arts, magick of the Teutonic strain and a serendipitous, random spin of Lady Fortuna's wheel.

Keep all this in mind next year, kids. SDCC online badge sales usually hit mid-February to mid-March. If you got in this year, use that pre-registration phase next year! If you don't get a badge for 2015, try not to utter in disgust the words of Dr. Sheldon Cooper. It’s okay. You know, th-there’s always WonderCon in Anaheim, you know? Th-that’s just as good. Excuse me. (Turns to cry)

Take not ye Cons for granted! Each one seems to grow exponentially, year over year. Citing Events in America, a North American trade show and conference directory, SDCC 2014 augurs 130K attendees once again: a self-imposed, max. capacity. Only CES Int’l Las Vegas and New York Comic-Con (NYCC) will bring in more geekage per cubic sq. ft.: 150K and 133K, respectively. NYCC's projected attendance is up from 117K last year.

As I wrote earlier this year of WCA, oft minimized and discounted as Comic-Con's little sister, "Whether you get into SDCC or not, WC is fast-becoming a good time all her own and very possibly, depending on how things line up, just as high-maintenance."

 

Follow  @JennyPopNet @GoodToBeAGeek @Eslilay for Con-floor Tweets and pix! #geek #SDCC

Hannah’s other fave places to haunt online? JennyPop.net jenniferdevore.blogspot.com and amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore

 

 

Happy Summer Solstice! JennyPop's Fave Summer Flicks

For some folks, summer can mean little more than warmer days, shorter nights and a de rigueur vacation: a pleasant yet slight change-up in the regular routine. This is particularly true for those of us inhabiting tropical climes. Born in Miami and raised in SoCal, where summer is not drastically different from the rest of the year, childhood summers notably signified no school, extra Disneyland and family holidays in Hawai'i, which in turn meant a month of guava juice, beachdays and new friends on Waikiki, dinners at Chuck's Steakhouse and shopping for bark-cloth dresses and Hawaiian dolls at Liberty House and the Polynesian Cultural Center. (Mom was bonkers for all things Hawai'ian, including Daddy, born in Honolulu.) Summers as a child were glorious, but not all that varied from the rest of the year, south of L.A..

Still, when everyday is postcard-perfect, it's easy to grow blasé. So, fast-forward quite a few years, when we couldn't take one more minute of our damned beautiful, sunshiny beaches, my husband and I picked up our three pets and moved to the East Coast for a very agreeable, wildly divergent change of pace. Both Californians, we never realized what we'd been missing! We spent a fabulous, expeditious six years living on the mid-Atlantic: Cape Charles and Williamsburg, VA. When I wasn't researching, writing and marketing my Savannah of Williamsburg books, we were driving up and down the East Coast exploring every wee waterway, historic burgh and major metropolis.

Both Cape Charles and Williamsburg are popular destinations for Easterners and Southrons; nothing says summer like seeing license plates from every state up and down the 95 in Colonial Williamsburg parking lots! Add in the heavy, humid, sweet air of summer and Virginia may be simultaneously one of the most uncomfortable and beautiful summertime stations of all. Speaking strictly with regards to American summers, there is nothing so festive and rewarding as an East Coast summer. (Summers abroad? That's another post. Ahhh, Nice is very nice indeed and the Alps are absolutely alluring.)

Summer actually means something back East: more than just School's out!, higher electricity bills and frizzy, beach hair. Months of truly stifling winter can breed severe and depressing cabin fever which, thankfully, will always give way to a semi-satisfactory spring thaw. Tulips and daffodils popping through the snow are indeed a lovely egress from Mr. Frosty's glassy grip; but it can still be damned cold, and oft snowy, through springtime. By the time summer rolls up the shore, folks are champing at the bit for warm days of comforting sunshine and carefree nights of fireflies and crickets. Fourth of July fireworks may traditionally celebrate our American Independence, but they also commemorate a new, deep breath of sweet and salty air. Devouring salt water taffy and sickly sweet pink lemonade, riding your bike on the boardwalk until ten at night, sleeping in until ten with nothing to do but put your bathing suit back on and find your friends down on the sand? This is summer, our American summer. San Diego and Huntington Beach this time of year are absolute barrels of sunny monkeys; but summers in Southampton, NY and Hilton Head, SC are treats you owe yourself, at least once.

Sure, summer's not my fave season, with the exception of San Diego Comic-Con. Anyone who's been reading me for a while or knows me socially can verify that autumn is my real gig. Still, I like a good time, no matter what time of year. In fact, this year's Summer Solstice finds me in 100-degree weather, under a blazing sun (sunscreen ga-lore!) far from my beloved beach. Nevertheless, I am thoroughly enjoying the clear, crisp chlorine of a fabulous family pool (a nice change from the salty surf hiding who-knows-what under the waves) and whatever cool, watermelon-and-mango, adult beverage floats my way.

Sure, it may not be Hallowe'en, but I can still have a blast! See, because I'm a Jazz-age designed, good time gal, I can do summer better than anyone, in my own, geeky way of course. Most likely, you're having fun wrong. Of course, one fabulous thing about summer? Autumn is right around the corner ... and then Christmas! Still, as long as summer is here let's get in the spirit! In addition to your languid beachdays, Charlie Brown-styled summer camp, vacations abroad, Hawaiian getaways, cross-country road trips, midnight-sun Alaskan cruises and lighter wine choices, please accept my humble suggestions for fun summer flicks to help fill those long, lazy, summer days.

As a fave musician of mine, Jannie Funster of Texas sings, "Where are the girls on banana seat bicycles, the ones with no shoes on their feet?" Why, Miss Jannie, they're in Laguna and Ocean City and Sandbridge and Bar Harbor! Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

 

JennyPop's Fave Summer Flicks

What About Bob?

Lilo and Stitch

Jaws

Muppet Treasure Island

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Lords of Dogtown

Poirot: Evil Under the Sun

Poirot: Murder in Mesopotamia

Poirot: Death on the Nile

National Lampoon's Vacation

National Lampoon's European Vacation

A Year in Provence: Summer

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown ... and Don't Come Back!

Addams Family Values

Little Darlings

The Parent Trap (original)

 

What are your fave summer flicks? LMK @JennyPopNet

#summer #movies #favesummerflicks #summertime

JennyPop's other Fave TV and Film Lists: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

More Rum, Please: Summer Means Malkovich, Crossbones and Blackbeard

If summer calls for sans souci, seaside days of sun and sticky sand, then summer nights, especially Fridays, demand a touch of gold bling and a white linen blouse to accentuate that tan, plus just enough coconut rum to help lull you to sleep by the sound of lapping waves ... but watch your back, and your neck. Blackbeard's in town for the summer and not since Jaws has the beach looked more inviting, relaxing ... and deadly.

 

In a sea of fictionalized Blackbeards, the latest incarnation cavorts freely outside the traditional, Pyrate King design book. Clean-shaven (gone is his namesake beard tied with multiple bows of red and gunpowder fuses), bald and casually styled in island linens and sandals, casting off his trademark black velvet frock coats and leather bucket-top boots, NBC's Blackbeard appears more Gob Bluth than Rob Zombie. A mesmerizing figure to start, John Malkovich (Shadow of the Vampire, Being John Malkovich, Dangerous Liaisons, The Portrait of a Lady) portrays the 18thC. pirate with a soothing deadliness that lures the viewer into a unsuspecting trance: his escalating diatribes seep forth with an almost musical, rhythmic, Eminem-cadence, like an unsuspecting frog in a warm pot of slowly boiling water. Before you, or the frog, realize what's occurred, your kidney has been cut out; but Blackbeard has left you a lovely shrub glass of port to ease your dying moments.

Given to way too many police melodrama and hospital backdrops, broadcast television has bravely left the shore of predictability and NBC has joined the ranks of writers and producers currently exploring that century replete with not just high theater, but some damn fine wardrobes. Turn, Sleepy Hollow, Salem (although 17thC.) and now Crossbones have all not only done their homework, rewarding writers and creators whom clearly have studied their Colonial American history, but have skillfully engaged a 21stC. audience barely capable of understanding the difference between Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Button. This engagement may be partially due to a sagacity on the part of casting agents.

Be they Founding Fathers like George Washington, philosophers like René Descartes or medieval authors like Geoffrey Chaucer, varying forms of media have forever presented us with whiskered old men; when, in fact, most of them were in the ascent and apex of their careers about the same time as many of us today: 20s-40s. FOX's reiteration of Sleepy Hollow casts the beauteous, theatre-trained Englishman Tom Mason as the heretofore, nebbish Ichabod Crane; AMC's Turn gives us the chiseled Ian Kahn as George Washington and now NBC's Blackbeard is a far more contemporary, if not quite Chris Hemsworth, version of Blackbeard than any who have come before him. Whilst the historical-figures are given to us, visually, as men with whom we can identify by today's standards, there is no mistaking the sartorial and language cues of the period. The frock coats and cloaks are as billowy and majestic as the dialogue. Contractions, abbreviations and slang be damned, the King's English is securely, blessedly in place here.

Just as Bauhaus furniture was a severe reaction to Victorian and Edwardian flourish, perchance, conversely, this 21stC. trend toward the 18thC. may very well be a flouncy reaction to today's nonchalant, terribly casual yet, simultaneously, hyper-agitated, get-it-by-yesterday, 140-character, "WhereUB?" schlubby kind of modern lifestyle. Casual historians and professional researchers alike of the Colonial period already know what TV audiences are just now learning: the 18thC. is far more hip than you thought and a dash of formality, in language and dress, is desperately craved.

Crossbones writer Neil Cross (Luther, MI-5, Doctor Who) knows both sleek, crime drama and dazzling, costumed fantasy. His treatment of the notorious Blackbeard, living an alternate, 1729 existence on the secret isle of Santa Compana, wherein he was never slain in 1718 by Lt. Robert Maynard and the British Royal Navy, is a thoughtfully imagined life of a temporarily land-stalled pirate, seeking to steal a proprietary technology, a chronometer, that will have him back on the Spanish Main and on top of the world by summer's end.

"I thought it was a excellent piece of writing," said Malkovich of The Devil's Dominion, episode 1. So taken with it, he agreed to the role of Edward Teach, a.k.a. historically as Blackbeard or Thatch, upon finishing the script, he said in a Reuters interview.

As with many a film and theatre fixture gracing the small-screen as of late, Malkovich commands your attention. As author Jennifer Susannah Devore wrote of Tom Mison in a review of FOX's Sleepy Hollow, "Mison brings a decidedly non-telly flip-of-the-cape to primetime viewing.; so can it also be said of Malkovich in Crossbones.

Pleasingly, Crossbones also employs the considerable talents of Englishman Richard Coyle (Covert Affairs, Coupling, The Whistleblowers) as Dr. Thomas Lowe, posing as ship's surgeon, serving as foil and nemesis of Blackbeard. "Ohhh, Geoffrey!"

If you find your summer lacking the proper amount of tropical sun, salty nights, Beach Bum Rum, silk-embroidered frock coats and Shakespearean-level dramaturgy, Friday nights on NBC, in a clandestine cove somewhere in the Caribbean is just the place to pile your purloined silver platter high with the spoils of privateering, pirateering and stagecraft that far excels the likes of standard, broadcast production.

Crossbones airs Fridays at 10/9c p.m. on NBC.

 

Aside: should you require more than one night a week of island dreamin'? Author Jennifer Susannah Devore's Savannah of Williamsburg: The Trials of Blackbeard and His Pirates, Virginia 1718 is a quasi-realistic account of what really happened in the shoals off North Carolina's Outer Banks during the autumn of 1718. To boot, in honour of Crossbones, her book (second in the Savannah of Williamsburg Series ) shall be free every Friday this summer ... and always free via the Kindle Lenders Library!

... and in case ye be needin' a pirate chanty fer those summer nights ...

A pirate chanty from Savannah of Williamsburg: The Trials of Blackbeard and His Pirates, Virginia 1718

"Me Cup Is Broke!"

lyrics by Jennifer Susannah Devore

Blow me sails full! Blow on! Blow on!

Pour me ale full! Flow on! Flow on!

Me treasure be waitin', me lady tried 'scapin',

Me gold chest it swells, soon we'll all go to Hell!

Ye Caribbean Sea so hot it drains me wit!

DREAD! Me cup is broke and who will fix it?!

 

Blackbeard's Chanty:"Me Cup is Broke!"JavaScript is disabled!
To display this content, you need a JavaScript capable browser.Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!
Music by PBIII, lyrics by Jennifer Susannah Devore

 

Be ye a musician? The above-recording is by PBIII. Record your own fine tune to "Me Cup Is Broke!" and share it @JennyPopNet or Savannah of Williamsburg's Facebook Page!

#Crossbones #pirates #summer

The Jumonville Massacre: A Savannah of Williamsburg Book IV Excerpt

Today marks the 260th anniversary of the Jumonville Massacre. It also marks nearly as many years gone by since I started writing Book IV in my Savannah of Williamsburg Series. Folks, this one, I can honestly say, is the most difficult one yet to scribe. Not only is this period of Colonial American history intricately spiderwebbed with FFV (First Families of Virginia: the Fairfaxes, the Randolphs, the Byrds, the Carters, the Washingtons et al) and all manner of their ensuing drama and personal conflicts, but 1754 is also a period of exponential growth in commerce, communication and westward expansion.

As Book IV in the planned, six-book, pre-Revolutionary series running 1705-1776, it also serves as a slight pivot wherein, like true colonials of the formative years of mid-18thC. America, characters begin to see varying ideals of life across the sea from The Crown. Whether royal power is dispensed via greedy royal governors like Gov. Robert Dinwiddie, or faceless judges of the Privy Council back in London, personal opinions and political ideologies are being formed. This is an arduous road to take with characters whom have always been only the very best of friends with little to worry about than fishing conditions on the James River,which bottle of wine to take to a hostess and whether or not a pink or a green hat should be worn for a spring garden party. Such is life, though. Folks grow up and, sometimes, especially during great turning points in history, disagree. Yes?

History's account of the Jumonville Massacre is whitewashed and glossed over so much so that it has come to be known romantically as the Jumonville Affair, to Americans and British anyway. Even the National Park Service (as the massacre occurred near what would become Fort Necessity, what is now in the Farmington, PA-area, and is now a national park) labels it "The Skirmish". One particular "history" book describes the massacre as "A second expedition in 1754 led to bloodshed." Jumonville is most oft characterized by one or two sentences with an airy flip of the wrist that says, "who knows what really happened?". I do, and so does Savannah of Williamsburg. To be fair, PBS, as one might expect, has approached it with honesty and scholarship via their phenomenal series The War That Made America.

Jumonville is a deep, dark scar in our shared history, masked by the thick makeup of time. 22-year old George Washington's first step onto the military stage is tripped by deceit, gullibility, naivete, youth, ambition and manipulation. Washington is played by not only those he thought confidants, but also his own vigorous itch to reach the next echelon of the gentry's intimate infrastructure. The French have a different recounting of the Jumonville "affair", of the slaughter in the woods; this is the tale I, and Our Dante Marcus Pritchen, intend to tell in Savannah of Williamsburg: Washington's Folly and The French & Indian War, Virginia 1754.

As Book IV is still far from the publishing stage, I proffer the following excerpt to the long-suffering, long-patient readers waiting for the next title in the Savannah of Williamsburg Series of Books.

Excerpt from Savannah of Williamsburg: Washington's Folly and The French & Indian War, Virginia 1754 by Jennifer Susannah Devore.

"Do you hear the owl, Ensign Jumonville?" Officer Druillong, though not superstitious, was aware his men might be less than rational about such things. "The men, they are sometimes wary of such omens," he smiled.

"L'hibou? The owl? Oui, je l'ecoute. I hear it. Not to worry. It is merely an owl. Crows are bad luck, magpies are bad luck, corvids are bad luck. I do not believe the owl brings bad luck. Maybe in America, though? You know a bit of the American culture, M'sieur Laforce." he turned to his his other officer and compatriot. "Is the owl a harbinger of evil, here in America?"

"I do not think so, universally, Joseph." He held up an index finger and added, "Although, I do know of a superstitious saying that comes from the British colonies in the South. From South Carolina, I think. I learn this from a trapper I once meet in Montreal; he learned this from a fur buyer for a French family in Charleston." LaForce cleared his throat and looked upward for a moment, remembering the recitation properly.

"When you hear the screech owl, honey, in the sweet gum tree, it's a sign as sure as you're born a death is bound to be," he ended with a bit of a chuckle, amused by the Southrons and their provincial ways.

Still, nobody else laughed or chuckled; the misty, rain-soaked morning was just a little too creepy, overall. All three officers then looked to the trees, set their cafes back on the wooden cabaret-tray, on top of the leather-trimmed trunk, and placed preparatory hands on their own firearms as a chill suddenly skittered up each man's spine. Seeing nothing out of order, each man went back to his early-morning business, in silence, and ignored the hoots of M'sieur Owl. On the other side of the camp, cadets Remy St. Raphael and Xavier Moreau de Poirot went back to attending their cartridges and keeping a sharp eye for anything out of place.

Up on the cliffs, overlooking the glen, Washington stood anxiously, a young man, barely out of boyhood and ready for action. He looked back and forth amongst his Virginia militia. They looked ready, yet unsteady. These men were not trained for this; they were farmers, William & Mary dropouts and shopkeeps, not professional soldiers. It was akin to sending volunteer firemen into the raging mouth of a forest fire. Washington then turned his gaze to the troops with whom he shared this campaign: the British regulars, the professionals.

Captain Stephen's men, about twenty in count, had arrived as silently as Tanaghrisson's warriors and placed themselves just west of the glen, flanking the pit where the French obliviously set about their morning routine. Washington's men had come up from the south, whilst the Indians were everywhere, and nowhere, all at once. As he squatted behind a rock, keeping his lithe, 6'2" frame hidden from the French, Washington watched the contrasts between his Virginians and Stephen's regulars. That was where he really wanted to be, in charge of a proper British army. This Virginia militia business was okay for a bit; but it wasn't the stuff of gentlemen. Royal officers were gentlemen. Colonial lieutenants were simply chief rabble-rousers. Of course, he could have joined the Royal Navy straight away. Alas, there would be little to no opportunity to rise within those ranks. He may have had family connections; but so did every young man of note on either side of the Atlantic and they all wanted to be naval officers. Few wanted to rough the wilds of the colonies. If Washington could move along the French, secure some prime property with Governor Dinwiddie and the other Ohio Company landowners, he'd be certain to receive a commendation, a promotion and a grand step up the social ladder. He just needed to get through today.

Long ago young Washington lost sight of his Indians: the savviest group of this military triad, at least where the deep woods were concerned. Their numbers were small, maybe only ten, but a powerful ten they were. The Seneca, Iroquois and Delta warriors knew this area better than all of the Virginians and Britons put together. They certainly knew it better than young Dante, Washington's official journaler.

Commissioned to document all goings-on, Master Dante Marcus Pritchen was an adventurous tabby always on the lookout for an escapade and a good time and whom also called Williamsburg his home. He had jumped at the chance to be embedded with this expedition led by the equally adventurous Lt. Colonel George Washington. A country cat by nature whom lived in a rather comfortable tavern in the colonial capital city and who was descended from the cats of Julius Caesar', Dante's version of country was more suited to the life of a English country gentleman. These Ohio Country, dense woods were a little wet and wild for his druthers; but hearty he was and every bramble, bug and blister was nudged away with a sturdy spirit and not a small bit of cockalorum. Not a soldier by any stretch of the imagination, Dante was still a natural athlete, never a flabby and lazy tabby, if not altogether fit for a forest atmosphere. Accustomed to a fine meal, a decent glass of port and a quality bed of goose-down, he made the best of dining on stale bread, a ration of rum (not bad, that) and sleeping in a tree, which, by the morning, was wet with dew. If there was any test for Dante, it was wet fur in the morning.

For now, he shook a bit off his back legs, adjusted his scarlet-lace stock, smoothed his sleep-wrinkled blue frock coat and shot his , now-torn, lace cuffs. Just because he was camping, didn't mean he had to look like an animal. Thinking back though, the blue-and-scarlet drawing room ensemble, even though capped with very expedition-appropriate, buckskin cloak and moccasins, might not have been the best choice of gear. Nevertheless, though many of the soldiers had openly mocked his dress and, whilst never uttering a word, Washington's occasional side-long glance betrayed his bewilderment about clearly found it an odd selection, it had yet to impede his job. In fact, Dante had already filled two of his four journals with notes, reports and even some sketches. Nobody could have covered this expedition better and if any military embed was to get his work published in the Virginia Gazette, or, even more exciting, the London Times, it was Dante Marcus Pritchen, cub correspondent. With a final shake of dew off a back leg, he snatched a fresh journal and a dry quill and nib from his leather bag and began to scribe onto the first page. He always loved scratching his nib onto that first page. He surveyed the morning's situation.

With the British on one side, Virginians on another and the Indians all around, the French would have neither a clue what was happening, nor a sliver of a way out; trapped like rats on a sinking ship. Maybe then they would heed King George's polite requests to extricate from British lands.

Without warning, a single pop of ignited gunpowder cleaved the peaceful dawn, like a sharpened hatchet through brittle firewood. In a flash, chaos, screams and the smell of sulfur replaced the morning serenity, cricket-song and the musky scent of moss and wet earth. Before anyone in the French camp knew what was happening, dozens of men flooded into the hollow, like water flowing freely out of a pitcher and into a bowl. Indian warriors dropped from the trees like acorns as polished British redcoats and countrified Virginians poured into that same bowl, into the glen. Scattering this way and that, the regulars and Virginians blocked the only egress up and out of the glen. Armed Indians lined the cliffs like a row of stolid pickets. The French screams were sudden and surprised, ranging from soprano to deep baritone pitches. Remy turned toward the excited and terrified screams of his friend.

"Au secours! Au secours!" Xavier pulled a piercing screech from his lungs, a last-ditch warning to Remy. "Les Anglais! Les Anglais! Les sauvages, mon ami! Les sauvages!" and he pointed to a warrior crouched on the cliff directly above where Remy stood.

Remy looked upward in the direction of Xavier's telltale finger. The sharp edge of a tomahawk was the last thing Remy saw. It was quick. Xavier had just enough time to pray his friend's end was painless before he saw his own mortality at the edge of the same blade. Blessedly, it was instantaneous and painless for both of them.

 

Excerpt from Savannah of Williamsburg: Washington's Folly and The French & Indian War, Virginia 1754 by Jennifer Susannah Devore. All rights reserved. Property of KIMedia, LLC. Excerpt may be shared digitally for entertainment,  non-commercial purposes only and may not be reprinted in analog format or sold in any format, digital, analog or otherwise.

WonderCon Anaheim 2014: Little Sister Growing Up Fine, Just Fine.

 

Picture it ... early-morning Saturday, March 15, 2014: San Diego Comic-Con Badge Quest

6:00a.m. Awakened ceremoniously with rousing rendition of John Williams' Star Wars Theme, performed by Boston Pops
6:15  Fully awake, finally, after repeats of  Star Wars Theme
6:20  Espresso
6:30  Text cohorts in NorCal, registration codes and Member IDs ready to go
6:35  Re-read official CCI email re: SDCC badge-sale


Remember, there is no need to rush to the landing page at 7:00 AM! You can enter the waiting room two hours before the sale begins [ at 9:00 AM] or 10 minutes before the sale begins, and your chances are the same. Your wait time is up to you!


Ha!
6:56  Forefinger poised. Nobody's going to get in before I do!
7:00  Go! Go! Go! I'm in!
7:05  Text cohorts again; You guys in? Huzzah! Everybody's in! One of us will surely get our badges!
7:05-8:56  More espresso. More texting. Granola and youghurt. Comic Book Men, Arrested Development and France24 news.
8:56-8:59  Check pulse. High. Mellow out, dork; it's just a stupid convention. One more espresso.
9:00  Huzzah! We're in the official queue!
9:00-9:20  This is so exciting! Already doing better than last year! We'll have such fun! Better get hotel a.s.a.p.!
9:20  Saturday badges are running low. Hmm. That's okay. "Low" does not mean "sold out".
9:25  Saturday badges are sold out. Okay. No worries, we'll go Thursday, Friday, take off Saturday, back on Sunday. Awesome!
9:30  Friday badges are running low. Cool. Cool. No problem.
9:33  Friday badges are sold out. Damn it. Okay, okay. Thursday's awesome! First day, fresh, that New Con smell!  Anything but Sunday. Sunday sucks. Nobody dresses, no good panels. Vendors only have crap left. Thursday will be awesome!
9:35  Thursday badges are running low. Tina Belcher-style groan.
9:36  Thursday badges are sold out. I don't care. Sunday rocks. I love Sunday actually! Lighter crowds, all the vendors slash their prices, loads of people will still be dressed. Sunday is going to be amazing!
9:40  San Diego Comic-Con is now sold out. Thank you for your participation.
M*&$%#  F#*&@%!!!!
Instantly recall The Big Bang Theory's "Convention Conundrum" (S7e14)


It's okay. You know, th-there's always WonderCon in Anaheim, you know? Th-that's just as good. Excuse me. (Turns to cry)

-Dr. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

[image error]

No. No, Sheldon, it is not just as good; but, as this girl is quickly learning, it is not something to pish-tosh, either. WonderCon Anaheim (WCA: April 18-20, 2014 Anaheim Convention Ctr.) seems to be growing exponentially. Like the Richter scale used to measure earthquake activity, what seems like a fractional uptick is, in fact, a greater output than one might presume. Noting the difference between this year's WCA and WCA2013, it may retain slightly less cachet than San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC: July 24-27, 2014 San Diego Convention Ctr.), but like your best friend's little sister who just started law school at Stanford, she's starting to look pret-ty, pret-ty good.

Attendance at WCA, in its third year now, was estimated at 56K for 2014, continuing its yearly climb. 2014 numbers are an increase from, according to Publisher's Weekly, the approx. 40K attendees for 2012, and slightly higher than that for 2013.  Further, SDCC 2014 is predicted to once again reach its self-imposed max of 130K attendees; this is to be topped only by CES Int'l Las Vegas (150K) and New York Comic-Con (133K), itself up from 117K last year, citing Events in America, a North American trade show and conference directory. Clearly, the geek con continues to trend.

The growing popularity in geek culture manifests not only via the annual mass-disappointment amidst failure to obtain SDCC badges -This, CCI, is what is known as an embarrassment of riches.-, but in the burgeoning desires of Hollywood. Longtime con-pros (distributors, producers, manufacturers, publishers) will tell you, quietly over a Dirty Shirley at Mix Bar in the Anaheim Hilton after the con doors close, that many of the old-timers still love the concept of the con, but philosophically loathe the H-town intrusion. "I noticed the change coming like a locomotive in 2004, in San Diego. Hollywood changed everything. Yeah, we're makin' more money, but it's not the same," the Ol' Gil Gunderson-doppelgänger said with the resolute shame of a jaded, tired mob wife.

Hollywood is nothing if not flirtatious and has now taken notice of wide-eyed, wallflower WonderCon, The Other White Geek, and is asking her to dance, too. Changes at WCA this year included, most notably, the restriction of badge sales to online only: nothing at the door this year. Wise move, considering it sold out completely. As well, whereas last year's event used one exhibit hall, this year's took over two, fully. "Artist's Alley" and "Small Press" areas were expanded and, to boot, nearly every upstairs room was utilized for panels and L&D.

Of note, amongst hundreds of events, was a Bob's Burgers panel f/Loren Bouchard, Kristen Schaal, John Roberts, Dan Mintz and Larry Murphy; Rotten Tomatoes vs. The Fans in "Your Opinion Sucks" f/Matt Atchity; Frozen: The Art of Story f/Jeff Ranjo; The Psychology of Star Trek vs. Star Wars; Hanna-Barbera History f/Jerry Eisenberg and Wally Burr; and Once Upon A Time f/Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Not enough hours in the day or days in the Con; choose wisely when planning future visits and get in line early.

Another tell-tale sign WC is starting to hang with hip crowd? Celeb sightings are on the rise. Eric Bana, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel McHale, Kristen Schaal, Ethan Spaulding, Olivia Munn and Kevin Smith. (Smith was more a snub than a sighting. We said, Hi! He appeared focused and on a mission. You still say Hello, big guy.) There was even a Captain Bloodstone sighting: best known as Blackbeard's loopy first mate in Savannah of Williamsburg: The Trials of Blackbeard and His Pirates.

Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., DC Entertainment, BBCAmerica and Dreamworks were all present in force. Sony offered a sneak peek of Deliver Us From Evil; Warner Bros. presented the world premiere of Son of Batman; and BBCAmerica delivered the exclusive screening of Orphan Black's S2 premiere.

If Disney is your gig, as it is for so many of us comic geeks, you spent your evenings across Katella at Disneyland, or if you wanted to save your hard-earned Disney Dollars, went to the admission-free Downtown Disney. Back inside the Con, it was a treat to see Margaret Kerry at her booth: Walt Disney's very own pick, the original model on whom Tinkerbell was based! Aimez-bien Les AristoChats? Gary Dubin, voice of zee chaton Toulouse from Disney's AristoCats was also on-site, signing colour animation stills.

Other easily chattable guests on-hand included Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Kaite Cook (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Marjorie Liu (Dark Wolverine), Jim Pascoe (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica).

Where cosplay is concerned, if you're thinking WCA is like going to a club on a Wednesday night, thinking you can leave your A-game at home, you'd be wrong. Cosplayers are as serious and creative as ever, if not as numerous as SDCC. Fewer folks might be dressed than at SDCC, but those whom are, are in their Saturday night best. Listen up, wheats; you know if Adrianne Curry, Mistress of the Dorks and cosplay queen, is in the house, you'd best get your act together. Professional stage makeup, Colleen Atwood-quality costuming and the spirit, personality and energy behind it all to make every character pop. Cosplayers don't just pose, they become their characters, for your pleasure. They know their characters intimately and want to interact with you. Of course, de rigueur, there are lots and lots of boobs. There are always lots and lots of boobs. Funny thing is, after a few years of this, I'm beginning to recognize some of them.

Most popular costumes this year? Doctor Who variations, by far. The best Doctor Who costume? Not a Who, but a What: the villainous, ever-moist Lady Cassandra and her attendants. Halo Kitty was a bit unsettling, as was a male version of Morticia Addams. Thankfully Mary Poppins & Bert, Zelda & Link, Harley Quinn & The Joker, all the Pirates of the Caribbean, a score of Japanese Lolitas and a very attractive Morticia & Gomez (phew!) cruised the con floor and our Hilton lobby. There were also a few Bob's Burgers folks: Beefsquatch! The Bob's Burgers panel must have been a wild scene! Damned Anaheim Gardenwalk Happy Hour got in my way of getting there. I blame P.F. Chang's Asian pear mojitos.

As far as vendors go? Too many to recall. However, I do treat myself each year to a few tidbits, as I like to help the economy and support independent artists whenever I can.  This year's fave choice? Besides a couple of Big Bang Theory, babydoll tees, I acquired a beautiful bit of steampunk art from Awkward Affections of San Francisco. Charming and shy, the pretty artist known as Kaz proffered an eccentric, quirky and whimsical selection of cards, custom invitations, matted prints, and canvas wall art featuring animals I would very much enjoy meeting, all with a  Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland and Edward Gorey style and sensibility. Other fave pieces included her "Anatomy of a Mermaid" and "Anatomy of a Unicorn". I say! (Of course, if you read my Savannah of Williamsburg novels, you'll understand my weakness for les animaux anthropomorphic.)

If, like Yours Truly, you originally failed in the March morning mayhem that was the SDCC badge-massacre, I guarantee your first thought was similar to Sheldon's: "At least there's WonderCon. Right?" Well, kids, if you thought WonderCon was your Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free card and waited too long to buy those badges, epic fail. Now look at you. You've got no Comic-Con and you missed out on WonderCon. What a mook.

To make matters more tenuous, WonderCon is rumoured to return to San Francisco's Moscone Center next year, it's original home for nearly thirty years. (WCA was supposed to be a temporary show, as Moscone Ctr. received a full refurbishing.) Of course, CCI did take the effort to officially name the Con next to the Mouse House, WonderCon Anaheim. Maybe it's here to stay? Maybe we shall have a Norcal and SoCal WC? Maybe you bring a sport coat next time so we have some options for dinner? As of the date of this posting, nobody, official or otherwise, has an answer. The best I could learn was to check the San Diego Comic-Con/WCA website over the year; WonderCon 2015 updates, be they North or South, will be posted there.

In the end, I'm still not sure I'm buying the common line heard at WCA. "You know. I really prefer this, to Comic-Con. The crowds are lighter, it's easier to get a hotel room, it's just nicer all around." Sure. That's like saying, "Dude, it's so much easier dating Debbie in accounting. Kate Upton is probably totally high-maintenance. Debbie's way easier to deal with, and a much cheaper date." Sure. I do have to admit the Starbucks is nicer at the Hilton Anaheim, as opposed to the Sbux carts at SDCC. Of course, the line is so outrageous, who has time to wait, what with all those amazing panels and vendors such?

If you can't get an SDCC badge, WC is an absolutely fun and doable alternative (like Debbie). If you did get an SDCC badge, WC is just double-fun for you (You cad!). Yet, think about next year. Whether you get into SDCC or not, WC is fast-becoming a good time all her own and very possibly, depending on how things line up, just as high-maintenance. Next year, Debbie might not be available ... if she's even in town.

As for this kitten's last-ditch chances for SDCC? As Orange County's own George Bluth says, "There's always money in the banana stand."

Special S/O: Speaking of supporting independent artists, if you like my Louise ears, and I cannot count how many folks at WCA loved them, please know the quality is superb, the cap-portion is very snuggly and comfy and the ears actually stay upright. Available via Epic Costumes on Etsy!

For even more WonderCon Anaheim 2014 pics, visit Twisted Pair Phtography!

@JennyPopNet #WonderCon #SDCC