Deus ex Weekend - April Book Signing and Convention

So the weekend of April 18 and 19 is shaping up to be a pretty busy weekend! Along with the in-store book signing I'll be doing on Saturday, April 18, at JC Comics & Cards in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, I'll be selling and signing copies of my book Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan at the Toledo Comic & Sci-Fi Convention Sunday, April 19! So if you're in the Northeast Ohio area on that Saturday or the Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan area that Sunday, please come see me and say "hello!"

The book signing is from 1pm to 3pm at JC Comics & Cards, located at 2609 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The store is also having a one-day 20% off sale that day from 11am to 7pm.

The comic show is from 10am to 4pm at the Holiday Inn Express Conference Center, located at 10621 Freemont Pike in Perrysburg, Ohio. This is a Jeff Harper production. I met Jeff shortly after I got back into comics, and he puts on the nice regional conventions I mention in the "Pros and Cons" chapter of the book. They are small family-friendly shows designed for the collector and bargain hunter.

Also, promotional postcards for the book are now also available at two more Northeast Ohio locations: Kenmore Komics and Games in Kenmore and Comic Heaven in Willoughby (thanks to John and Jim for their support!) and display copies of the book are available at JC Comics & Cards and Rubber City Clothing.

Last Son

Friday night I made it out to the Akron Film Festival to catch a screening of Brad Ricca’s Last Son. Recently given a brand-spankin’ new addition, the Akron Art Museum was the site of the film festival this year. It’s a simply gorgeous facility and yet another reason to be proud of Akron.

Last Son’s 10pm screening time didn’t seem to deter folks from showing up, paying their six bucks and taking in the documentary about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Glenville, Ohio-native creators of Superman. The film has a very somber tone, befitting, I suppose, of the Depression Era origins of Siegel and Shuster that helped birth their legendary creation. Ricca also hints at the mystery around the death of Siegel’s father that is fictionally expanded upon in Brad Meltzer’s 2008 book, The Book of Lies.

Although the framing device being used to market the film is not quite as successful in execution as it probably seemed like in concept, Ricca does a nice job in the film itself of contextualizing the time and making some educated leaps into what may have influenced the young boys to create the world’s first super hero. Everything from the death of a father figure to the pulp fiction of the era to early use of the phrase “superman” are all explored. The film reminded me a lot of the types of music-related papers and presentations you see given at the Pop Conference. And from a pop culture perspective, Last Son was a successful, entertaining 65 minutes.

Still Enjoying the Ride

At the end of last year, I made the decision to drop Mighty Avengers with issue #20 and New Avengers with issue #50. I was frustrated with the ending of Secret Invasion and comic prices were set to jump to the four dollar mark. I picked up New Avengers issues #49 and #50, but let them sit on my growing backlogged monthly comic reading pile. Eventually, though, I sat down and read the two issues back-to-back and realized there was no way I was going to drop this book!

Issue #49 was good, wrapping up the Baby Cage storyline that began in the waning pages of Secret Invasion, but it was issue #50 that really got me to change my mind about dropping this title. Double-sized, full of action, and just the right cliffhanger tone at the end to take me back to what it was like to be willfully strung along from month-to-month by the four-color beauty of the medium, the book had everything I needed to buy back into the book and overlook the cover price hike.

So then I told the local comic shop to put New Avengers back on my pull list and jumped right into issue #51 the week it came out. Bendis' dialogue is as good as ever. The banter between Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Peter Parker is fantastic. I love the conversational tone Bendis is able to strike in the writing. And Wolverine’s comment that effectively closes the scene is pitch-perfect! Not to mention the journey Doctor Strange has embarked on and the peril he is encountering... again, I can’t help but stay on for the ride.

When I got back into reading comics, I picked up Brubaker's Captain America with issue #25 and Bendis' New Avengers with issue #26. I am venturing beyond the Marvel borders these days, particularly with Vertigo and IDW, but these two titles are my mainstays. Solid writing, generally consistent art, and pure entertainment. Bring on the next 50 issues!