johnny boo!

yes, look at johnny boo, the cutest ghost on earth.  this is one of the comics i bought this weekend, mainly for my niece, but you know i read it too!  it's a sweet little story, about johnny and his pet ghost squiggle, and eating ice cream and a monster they think is mean but who really isn't.  the colors are bright and the images undeniably adorable, and at 7 i think maggie will be able to read most of it herself.  i bought all of the johnny boo books they had there, which was everything but the halloween one.  she's getting one today, and the rest throughout the year.  added bonus: if she digs them, she'll read them to calvin and he'll get into comics and my mission to innoculate all my nieces and nephews will be complete!

i love comics for kids because it encourages them to read for fun.  i think once that becomes a habit, they read more and more for pleasure, not just because they "have" to.  it's true that i'm biased about comics, though.  i never realized how reading them as a kid was so influential later.  i mainly read archie comics (superhero comics in the 80s were really very macho), and then about 12 i discovered mad magazine, which was disgusting and wonderful.  to this day i think lying down on the floor with a comic book is about the best way to spend an afternoon.  kids who get to read comics like to draw, and learn about the interplay between visual and verbal communication, and spend time engaged in important imaginative thought.  they are also just a good time.  they can be art or they can be just big dumb fun, like anything.  what's more fun than spending a happy afternoon with a kid and a comic book, though? not much. 

comicon!

 these two handsome young men and i went to the emerald city comicon this year!  we went for all three days, and i will admit, it was both amazing and exhausting and holy shit i'm glad to be home. 

 i didn't take nearly as many photos as i normally do.  in fact, the entire three days i took 19 pictures.  which is crazy.  when we have an outing during the day here i can come home with upwards of a hundred!  it was just really packed with people, all the time, and visually overwhelming for me.  there wasn't an inch of space that didn't have something cool on it, in it, walking through, you get the the idea. 

this is maybe a third of the stuff i bought.  part of me thinks "oh my god amanda!" and part of me is happy i can support comic book artists and writers.  while i bought some stuff from artists i knew, i also picked up a fair amount of of things from people i had never even heard of.  seriously talented, nice, wonderful people.  that was probably my favorite thing about the con; getting to talk to the person who made the book you're looking at.  asking them questions, talking about things they're into, learning about books/writers/stuff that is brand new to you.  i met so many great people making cool stuff it was ridiculous.  i feel all inspired to do and make and create things now, and to hunt down some more of the new artists i was lucky enough to meet.

one of the highlights of the weekend for me was meeting kc green, of gunshow the webcomic.  i love this guy's work SO MUCH.  i couldn't find him the first day, but the boychik and his friend knew where he was so they brought me right to him the next day.  he signed my books and did sketches for me, and one of the things that that really made it awesome for me was when i asked him to make the sketches "extra satanic."  he came through, as you can see.

honestly, spending three days with a huge mass of people who are into the same kinds of comics, movies, music and art that i love felt good.  being able to go to back to our tiny hotel room at night and watch cartoons and read comics and order pizza with the boys was even more awesome.  it was a great vacation.  i can't wait to do it again next year!

this really just happened

the boychik and i are going to emerald city comicon this year!  we've wanted to go for a while, and this year i finally bit the bullet and bought tickets.  it's something i talked about with D before i did, so he would know that in january i would be spending money on that.  last friday, i bought the tickets.  i told D and he asked if i booked the hotel room too.  i said, no, i was going to do it later.  he actually said, "you should do that now, because all the hotels are going to get booked up."  so today i found a hotel about a mile away from the convention center, for only $100 a night, so i booked our room.  the conversation that followed tonight in the car went as followed:

me: i booked our hotel room today!  it had an indoor pool, and was only $99 a night. 
him: oh yeah?
me: yeah, i figured you were right i should do it sooner rather than later.
him: or you could pay me back for your half of the new computer.

SERIOUSLY?  i pointed out the conversation we had last friday, and his response was "huh, yeah."  AAARGH. 

in any case, we're going to comicon!!!  D will have to wait for my half of the computer money until next payday.  this post should make up for yesterday's extra-schmoopy one.