Comic Book Literacy at Wizard World Texas

This time let's have dessert first. Hostess Hulk Cakes, anyone?

If you say "Hulk Cake" really fast it almost, kinda sounds like "cup cake." Which is what they fundamentally are but, as always, green food coloring, sprinkles and revamped packaging turns an everyday, mild mannered lunchbox treat into a gamma radiated beast intent on dessert domination.

Add on a half-assed attempt at a holiday tie-in (these are "Hostess Scary Cakes"...scary...like Halloween...) and we've got a real cafeteria commodity here. Sure, the cynical might point out that the cream center could also have been green but the goo's shear gooeyness makes up for any tonal indiscretion. In fact, the goo amps up the sweetness factor so much that eating one of these may be a life experience equivalent to being punched in the face by the Hulk himself.

And if it seems like I'm waaay too excited about these things, it may be because I rarely eat sugar. So after two of these I'm about ready to throw on the purple pants and go on my own Hulk-style rampage.

On to the main course:


Join us Saturday November 8th for Wizard World University at Wizard World Texas. At 2:00 the "Comics in the Classroom" Panel will feature Comic Book Literacy producer Khindra Kent as she speaks about the utilization of comics in early education.

The panel also includes Weldon Adams (Overstreet Price Guide Advisor) presenting "Comics Strips as Classroom Material" and Stephen T. Varela (University of Texas - El Paso) presenting " Re-Canonization: Transforming the English Curriculum with the Grapic Novel."

Tickets on sale on Wizard's site.

Crossing Over

Awhile back I mentioned that I had donated my bizarre Super Hero Food Collection to the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Well the best part of making charitable donations is shamelessly bragging about them in a public forum...which is what brings us here today. I finally got to visit my old food in its new home:

Yes, not only is this rare photographic evidence of CBL director Todd Kent (I usually prefer to stand behind cameras, not in front) but it's also a look at the greatest assembly of super hero related food products in Central Oklahoma. A recent road trip to the Sooner state gave me an opportunity to bask in the super hero foody-ness contained behind museum grade glass. Nothing exudes significance like being enclosed behind glass. See for yourself:

Yeah, the gang's all there. Spider-Man Candy Canes. Superman Orange Drink. Hulk Gumballs. Batman Bottled Water. And so much more. I just hope that the collection can bring a little bit of "WTF" to the museum visitors' experience.

And as I've said before, the museum itself is worth a visit. It's not huge but it is densely crammed with every kind of action figure related whatnot in creation. Of note on this trip was the (I assume custom made) life size Green Lantern statue.

As eye catching as that was, there was a somewhat more subtle, yet maddeningly genius display hidden in plain site amongst the 12 gazzillion action figures locked in eternal battle. Look closely:

At first it appears to be the USS Enterprise-D being attacked by the combined might of the Klingons, the Romulans and the Borg. Picard's crew seems to be aided by Captain Kirk, Captain Sisko and Odo. That might be enough for the casual crossover fan...but wait. The Romulans brought reinforcements. Alien, The Terminator, Edward Scissor Hands and Cyclops from the X-men are all looking to get their hands a little dirty.

Fortunately it looks like Starfleet enlisted the help of the Guardians of the Universe, the Flash and Captain America (or possibly U.S. Agent) mans the helm. The robot from Lost in Space looks on in a fairly useless fashion, as usual...but in a stunning field promotion, the first officer's chair is occupied by Alf.

A seemingly arbitrary arrangement of random collectibles or a blockbuster in the making? You be the judge.

And for those of you in the "everything must have some kind of explanation" club, it looks like that's Q standing on top of the bridge. So we can all assume he put this little party together. Happy now?

Find the museum online here:
http://www.actionfiguremuseum.com

Also, I had posted this awhile back but it's worth another look. It's a video we made about the museum after we had shot there for the Comic Book Literacy Documentary:

Latest Shoot: POW!

Believe it or not, we actually got some production done lately. Thanks to our old friends at the Hero Foundry. Take a look at some pictures from "POW!":

"POW!" stands for "Pictures on the Wall" and was a live art show and auction to raise funds for the Hero Foundry which donates comic books to schools and libraries.

Live art, live music, live food....well I guess the food wasn't alive but the crowd certainly was. Especially when it came time to bid on the artwork generously donated by local artists.

For information about how you can help the Foundry get comics into the hands of kids, find them online here:
http://www.theherofoundry.org/


Special thanks to Paul and Brian from the Foundry and Jeremy and his staff at Titan Comics, the greatest comic book store in the world. Find them online here:
http://www.titancomics.com

Kid Stuff

The wild west was full of surprises. Most of them were decidedly unpleasant. A sleeping bag-nested rattlesnake here, a touch of tuberculosis there. Life came fast and hard and pleasant surprises were few and far between. It's that frontier styled expectation that kept my hopes low regarding the Billy the Kid Museum in Canton, TX.


Best case scenario, I thought, was a kitschy roadside gem. Worst case scenario: a boring building with nothing in it. Well, my friends, the Billy the Kid Museum did not disappoint. And it offered a surprise that did NOT lead to a slow and/or painful death. You can't ask for more than that in your wild west experience.

I had driven past the ominous site a hundred times on various trips to East Texas. It's located in Canton, TX whose claim to fame is "First Monday Trade Days" which may or may not be the world's largest flea market. Suffice it to say, if you are looking for a particular item, it can be haggled for at First Monday.

The exterior of the Museum had always been, at the very least, attention grabbing:


So on this trip my curiosity won the battle it was having with my sense of self preservation and I made the stop.

Inside, amongst the livestock remains, wanted posters and a lengthy dissertation linking LBJ to the Kennedy assassination, I found what can only be described as "the best Billy the Kid Comic Book collection in the world." There was even a laminated piece of paper that said so. And you know if it's laminated they mean business.


I have to admit to only having a marginal knowledge of western comics. I know they were big in the 50's and that they starred both real and fictitious protagonists. It was something of an eye opener when I saw not one, but EVERY wall plastered with Billy the Kid comics.



And not just the Kid, but the Texas Rangers, the original Rawhide Kid, the Cheyenne Kid and even Zorro. If it rode a horse and had a predilection towards shouting "yeehaw" then the odds are that it ended up in comic form at one time or another.

While the main focus of the museums seems to revolve around the legend of an elderly Billy the Kid retiring and living out the rest of his days in a small Texas town (instead of being shot and killed by at a young age as most "traditional" historical accounts claim), other Texas legends get coverage as well. The afore mentioned Kennedy assassination garnered its own room and mini-exhibit. Legendary Texas gangsters Bonnie & Clyde are also included with these eerily lifelike representations:



But for me it was the comic book collection that really set this place apart from other roadside attractions. There's something to be said for for the element of surprise. And there's nothing better than finding a niche comic book collection where you least expect it.



Find the museum online HERE

And tell 'em, "Brushy Bill" sent ya!

Indiana Jones Lottery Tickets

I've been trying to think of something clever to say about these Indiana Jones Lottery Tickets.

But sometimes the juice just isn't there. I just thought they were neat. I don't know that I've ever seen a movie-tie in lottery ticket. But I never play the lottery so maybe they happen all the time.

I wanted to get one of each of the four (one for each movie) and the $5.00 price tag just barely allowed me. Unfortunately I got 2 Temple of Dooms and zero Last Crusades. Although if I were to look on the bright side, I could say that Temple is arguably the best of the series. Plus it was the only winning ticket in the lot. Five cool buckaroos.

...Making my total lottery winnings: negative fifteen dollars. Where's that Star Trek slot machine when you need it?

Let's Roll

As I've stated before, when it comes to Super Hero food products, fruit snacks are usually a fairly pedestrian offering. But this summer's disgraceful lack of Iron Man edibles and a seemingly similarly low Dark Knight nosh turnout have left us with little options on the fanboy aisle at the grocery store.

Since beggars can't be chooser we must look on the bright side of our ever dwindling grocery lists. Sure there's nothing new about Fruit Roll Ups...but Fruit Roll Ups with a gimmick? Fruit Roll Ups with the flimsiest of premises masquerading as a high concept RPG? Well sir, that's a horse of a different color.

Get acquainted with Batman Battle Rolls Fruit Roll Ups:

I know, I know, it seems like every other crappy Fruit Roll Up you've never been interested in. But at the very least they made the tiniest effort to break away from the pack. It's a game, you see.

But the most challenging part of the game seems to happen before you even get started. I don't know if fruit Roll Ups have always been this hard to unroll or if there is a special trick to it that just escapes me but my first several attempts at de-packaging ended up looking like this:

It's hard to have a "battle" with results like that.

After finally getting a couple out of their plastic cocoons, it was game on...and here's the playing board:

At first glance I'm sure we all had the same reaction: "Wow, that looks like blood splattered human flesh." Hungry, yet?

Ok, so the rules, as I understand them, are simple: Tear your "Batman Battle Rolls Fruit Roll Ups" in two (for some reason). Then add up each character's points and whichever side has the most points "wins."

Also, in the game's defense I spent about four seconds trying to figure out how to play so I could have just completely fabricated the above rules. So how did I do, you ask?

Round 1:
Evil: Joker Bomb, 5 points vs. Good: Gotham City, 1 point
Evil: Scarecrow, 7 points vs. Good: Batarang, 7 points

WINNER: Evil!!!

Round 2:
Evil: The Joker's Motto, 6 points vs. Good: Rachel, 0 points (The box seems to indicate that Rachel has 4 points but for the life of me I couldn't find any kind of points on the actual fruit roll up. Plus the character always seemed pretty pointless to me so, zero it is.)
Evil: TwoFace, 8 points vs. Good: Batman, 10 points

WINNER: Evil!!

At this point in the "game" I was pretty bored and thought I had more than enough to fill a blog entry so I called it quits. What can we learn form this? When it come to Fruit Roll Ups, evil always wins.

BONUS: By the way, I also came across a new case of Batman Bottled Water, so here's one for your "looking at" pleasure:

Petrified

One of the single most driving forces in humanities' quest for knowledge and understanding is the yearning to understand the origins of man. While scientists and theologians may snipe and bicker about the details of early man, a bold theory has been put forth in Custer, South Dakota. A re-creation showing not just primitive man but his social structure, community and, yes, his foot-powered cars.

Welcome to Bedrock City.


The Black Hills area of South Dakota has always been a huge draw for tourists with Mount Rushmore being the main draw. But, while impressive, four faces alone can't hold the attention of today's traveler for more than an afternoon. So the area surrounding the monument has a dense amount of attractions and whatnots all competing for the tourist dollar.

Sure Gator Farms and Mystery Spots abound but for my money, stop #1 revolves around the modern stone age family.


Flintstones...meet the Flintstones. Yeah the gang's all here at this 30 acre park and campground. As far as attractions go it's a little odd in that the main activity is to walk around and look at stuff. But since that's really the only thing I like to do anyway, I was pleased.


Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty and the kids are all present and accounted for in fiberglass form and sometimes in "hand shaking costumed character" form. But Bedrock is a much larger and bustling metropolis than I recall from Saturday morning viewings. And characters and locations that you might not remember are also there. Like the Bedrock City Fire Hall:

I don't remember too many episodes of the Flintstones where stuff caught on fire...especially since everything in town seemed to be made of rock...but that doesn't mean that BCFD doesn't remain eternally vigilante.

Now as I mentioned before, the area's main draw is Mount Rushmore and there seems to be some type of South Dakota state ordinance that every tourist attraction in the area must pay homage in some way to the monument. Bedrock City is not exempt so let me introduce you to Mount Rockmore:

Fred? Check. Barney? Check. Dino? Ok. Some random guy? Well, he's there too. It seems sexism was rife in the stone age. Surely Wilma or Betty deserve a place on the Mount Rockmore more than the family pet or...some guy.

I guess cave women still had a lot to prove back in the day. You've come a long way baby.


As I visited I wondered how popular the Flintstones are with today's kids. There was a theater there that showed non-stop Flintstones cartoons but it seemed like the not-so-sublte nods to the Honeymooners were lost on the Harry Potter crowd. Their loss I guess.

The one cartoon I wanted to see wasn't shown though:


Now that's some smooth stone aged flavor.

Find Bedrock City online at:
http://www.flintstonesbedrockcity.com/