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Physical Comics Purchased at FlameCon
I took ARR for a Saturday afternoon at FlameCon in Manhattan and had a grand time. We had to wait on line about half an hour to get in (which wasn’t the best) and it was $60 for the two of us, but we got a few hours of entertainment out of it. We spent most of the time doing a tour of the massive dealer’s room/artist’s alley, which was a mass of artists, crafters, pins, keychains, stickers, pin-ups, comics plushies and even a cookie vendor. And it was pretty much all indie and freelance creators—no big comic dealers or discount bins. We found a bunch of interesting new books, some for both of us and some just for me, and Alex got a wax rainbow dagger and a set of Zelda: Age of Calamity stylized stickers. (There were more adult-oriented books I would have stopped to check out if Alex wasn’t with me, but that’s fine.) While there wasn’t anything I would outwardly call adults-only, there were a few artists who went a little more horror or a little more risqué than I’d necessarily pick out for him. (I’m relying on the generally-tenable idea that he’ll ignore anything he’s not ready for. That said, he lingered an oddly long time on a few of the beefcake displays.) The costume contest was great and featured a bunch of characters he knew, and costumes that he thought were cool even without knowing the characters. (My personal favorite was the pair dressed as Miguel and Tulio.) And I saw James Emmett in person for the first time since the last I-Con...a decade ago. Absolutely would go again, and maybe next time we’ll have a little more stamina and can check out the games room.
And the books:
Adulting, Sort Of! By Luyi Bennett - Humorous tips at adulting from an introverted, probably neuroatypical artist who’s really good at it, she swears. The second-to-last chapter then details her serious depression and subsequent semi-recovery. Kind of upsetting how often that appears in collections like these. Very cute, overall.
The Legend of Brightblade - A stylized, hand-painted standalone story about the aftermath of the heroes defeating the dragon: The great hero’s son wants to be a magical bard and a hero in his own right, not just a well-behaved prince. As you can probably guess, he sneaks out, finds friends, discovers a disaster the adults don’t see coming, and saves the day. Formulaic? Oh, yes. But cute, with some wit. And I suspect ARR with like it if I can convince him to read it.
The Deadliest Bouquet - On the other hand, this is very much not for ARR. It’s a murder mystery featuring a hefty dose of violence, as three sisters (with flower-themed names) who apparently had a very disturbing childhood try to solve the mystery of their mother’s death. It does not end happily. I got this specifically because James Emmett was the editor on it, but it does make me curious what else Erica Schultz has put out.
Pandora’s Legacy - A mish-mash of Greek myths (and a few unrelated monsters thrown in for flavor) as we watch three siblings accidentally break Pandora’s Box, which it turns out their family was charged with guarding. Fortunately, the titan Prometheus possess their cat and is there to help out as they figure out how to capture monsters and re-seal the box. I particularly appreciated that the “descendants of Pandora” call their grandparents Yaya and Pappu. This has some pacing issues, but it’s decent.
You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife - While it suffers from the usual anthology problem, this is a fun collection of shorts, some mythology-based, some personal, some…a little obtuse. Generally pretty good, a decent collection.
And the books:
Adulting, Sort Of! By Luyi Bennett - Humorous tips at adulting from an introverted, probably neuroatypical artist who’s really good at it, she swears. The second-to-last chapter then details her serious depression and subsequent semi-recovery. Kind of upsetting how often that appears in collections like these. Very cute, overall.
The Legend of Brightblade - A stylized, hand-painted standalone story about the aftermath of the heroes defeating the dragon: The great hero’s son wants to be a magical bard and a hero in his own right, not just a well-behaved prince. As you can probably guess, he sneaks out, finds friends, discovers a disaster the adults don’t see coming, and saves the day. Formulaic? Oh, yes. But cute, with some wit. And I suspect ARR with like it if I can convince him to read it.
The Deadliest Bouquet - On the other hand, this is very much not for ARR. It’s a murder mystery featuring a hefty dose of violence, as three sisters (with flower-themed names) who apparently had a very disturbing childhood try to solve the mystery of their mother’s death. It does not end happily. I got this specifically because James Emmett was the editor on it, but it does make me curious what else Erica Schultz has put out.
Pandora’s Legacy - A mish-mash of Greek myths (and a few unrelated monsters thrown in for flavor) as we watch three siblings accidentally break Pandora’s Box, which it turns out their family was charged with guarding. Fortunately, the titan Prometheus possess their cat and is there to help out as they figure out how to capture monsters and re-seal the box. I particularly appreciated that the “descendants of Pandora” call their grandparents Yaya and Pappu. This has some pacing issues, but it’s decent.
You Died: An Anthology of the Afterlife - While it suffers from the usual anthology problem, this is a fun collection of shorts, some mythology-based, some personal, some…a little obtuse. Generally pretty good, a decent collection.