Infinity surprise

This week Infinity Inc. #1 was released and although I've enjoyed Peter Milligan's writing in the past, I wasn't really expecting this book to be good at all. Firstly, it's a title that sprung from last year's 52 and I was always yawning my head off when this new version of Infinity Inc. would be a part of that story. I think the new team as launched being members of Lex Luthor's everybody with super powers concept was a good idea, it's just the execution didn't go into any interesting new directions in 52. Also I think Lex Luthor is overused at DC, especially in the Superman titles and if I were running the DC show, I'd put a lid on the character and not use him for something like three years (and pay Superman writers extra to come up with some good new villains).

So I read Infinity Inc. #1 just to see how lame the first issue would be and was quickly surprised with how much I enjoyed what Peter Milligan and new artist sensation Max Fiumara produced. A person doesn't have to have read 52 to get into this new Infinity Inc. and if Milligan and Fiumara's future issues are along the same lines as the first issue, this will be one of the new super hero titles that'll have people talking. Just don't let the uninspired cover scare you away!

Why, Y, why!?

No spoilers in this entry. So after reading Y The Last Man #58 yesterday I wished I'd read this comic last because any other comic I read was going to pale in comparison. There's only two more issues left and I can't begin to guess how things are going to wrap up, but I'll be on the edge of my seat waiting for them! The last time I felt like this on a monthly basis was when Preacher was coming out. This week's Y The Last Man also had my favorite bit of dialogue with Yorik saying: "I knew I wanted to keep living in any world that you were a part of. but that was hard to admit to myself...and not just because it ended with a proposition." Those of you who haven't read this issue yet, will know why this entry is titled as such.

Anime Vegas pt.3

Evil bunny!!























Kate and Ralph saying good-bye (and good buys!) to another fantastic Anime Vegas!

Anime Vegas cosplay pt.2

Anime Vegas cosplay pt.1

The gal with the broom is cosplaying as Kiki from Hayao Miyazaki's excellent anime Kiki's Delivery Service.






I'm going to let the rest of the photos here speak for themselves partly because I don't know who the characters are.

Anime Vegas 2007!

Anime Vegas 2007, from my vantage point was a huge success and fun time all around! The person in this photo gets my vote for best cosplay of the show. She's dressed as Black Jack, a renegade doctor character created by the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka. I don't know if she entered the costume contest, but if she did she should have won something. Sadly, I'm going to guess that most of the attendees don't know who Black Jack is or even are familiar with the other works of Osamu Tezuka.

Tezuka is most known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimbo The White Lion (which Disney's Lion King "borrowed" heavily from). Some of Tezuka's greatest mangas are: Buddha, Phoenix (of which there's apparently an anime series which I didn't know about before this year's Anime Vegas - I'll have to look that up), Apollo's Song, Ode To Kirhito, and Adolf. Tezuka was very prolific and did mangas in every genre, and manga and anime as we know them would look very different if he hadn't paved the way. In 2001 there was a great anime called Metropolis based on Tezuka's 1949 manga of the same name (in my opinion Tezuka's Metropolis manga isn't very noteworthy) and Fritz Lang's 1927 silent movie Metropolis.
Anime and manga fans get into cosplay (dressing up as their favorite characters) much more then "regular" comic fans and this makes anime / manga conventions really colorful / energetic places. The gal in this photo is dressed as a character from the hugely popular series, Naruto, which is a manga / anime about ninjas in training. The other most popular characters that fans chose to dress up as were from the anime / manga / video game Kingdom Hearts.
I don't know who this character is supposed to be, but well done anyway!

I want to give a huge shout out to Richard Stott, founder and chairman of Anime Vegas! For many years, Rich has had monthly anime screenings at the West Charleston library where he works and four years ago he got even more proactive for the local anime scene by starting up Anime Vegas. Every year has been bigger and better and I think the reason Anime Vegas is such a success is because Richard Stott started small and let it grow from there. I couldn't be happier being a part of this show for the last three years because everyone who goes has a lot of fun and the quality of the guest lists and programming has been super. This year I was a little concerned about my booth placement because I didn't sign up as fast as I meant to (the last two years I was right at the front of the main entrance), but actually with my booth being directly in the center I was able to experience more of the excitement going on around the dealer floor so even though I don't think there's really a bad place on the dealer floor, the center is where I'm going to shoot for next year! Also wanted to say big big thank you to Racheal, a good friend of mine, for helping me set up each day!
This guy is dressed as Tuxedo Mask, from Sailor Moon. This year, besides there being more people at Anime Vegas, there seemed to be more people cosplaying also. I didn't make it to the masquarade contest, but I heard there was 36 entrees and that there were a lot of amazing costumes. Well, that I can attest to from seeing all the cosplay people on the dealers room floor!

Yoko Ishida stops by my store!

So I'm having a Tuesday afternoon here at my store when much to my surprise, Yoko Ishida comes in (with some other people)! Yoko Ishida is a huge J Pop (pop / rock singer) sensation from Japan and she was in town for AnimeVegas this weekend. She gave an afternoon performance Sunday afternoon at AnimeVegas, but I didn't make her show as I was working my booth. I heard it was a packed show with every attendee getting a program book with lyrics so that they could sing along (which they did). Two of the biggest animes that Yoko Ishida performed themes for are: Ah! My Goddess and Ai Yori Aoshi.

A staff member from AnimeVegas was showing Yoko Ishida around town and they were somewhere on Maryland Parkway when he had the brilliant idea of taking her to my store! Yoko Ishida and her friends were checking out my store and I saw her looking at some manga (specifically Oh My Goddess) so I dashed in my backroom where my cd's are and frantically looked for the cd I had of hers (and my Ah! My Goddess movie soundtrack). She looked delighted that I had cd's by her, well I was delighted that I found them and that she graciously signed her "Sweets" cd for me! Pictured above is Yoko Ishida (of course!) and myself in front of my store. She was especially pleased to see that part of my window (the bottom portion) features characters from Oh My Goddess and she also had her friend take pictures of her in front of the images.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for the day, I got to talk to a guy from England about the genius that is Alan Moore (and he bought Eddie Cambell's excellent Fate of the Artist and Ellis' Hellblazer Haunted trade on my recommendations) and my friends Todd and Brandy called all the way from China where they're picking up their daughter Meridith! And I also sold a lot of good comics to some regulars that stopped by! I think this may be the most international day at my store, with Yoko Ishida stopping by from Japan, my friends calling from China, and visiting with a customer from England!