Sunday Fly-By to Emerald City Comicon 2015--The Shopping Spree

(Image:  Emerald City Comicon 2015 Banner)

After our Jimmy Johns lunch break, Alex & I returned to The Show Floor for our shopping spree.  We revisited booths that interested us during our initial walkabout.  Alex bought a T-shirt and several postcards and prints.

Meanwhile, I blew my budget on a bunch of books, games and artwork.

Books:

(Image:  New books!)

The first author I revisited was Brad Guigar.  I was hoping to start off my Evil Inc collection with a signed copy of his Annual Report (Vol 1).  But no such luck.  Volumes 1 & 2 of were sold out and Brad said he'll be compiling the first three Annual Reports into an omnibus.  So I picked up Vol 3, pictured above, which Brad not only signed, but drew a quick sketch for me.  (As I wrote this I got on Amazon.com and ordered Annual Report Volumes 1 & 2).

One author/artist team Alex & I stumbled across during our initial walk-through was Ben Thompson and Manny Vega creators of Badass of the Week.  

I've loved reading military history since I was a pre-teen.  However, even books about bloody battles can be boring to read.  Not to mention how history is taught in our K-12 education system.

From my preliminary inspection, Ben Thompson dispels the doldrums with a pulp-fiction style of narrative, while Manny Vega's art adds comic book-style action.  So I bought two books:  Badass and Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch. 

Games: 

As a wargamer, and a role-player, I found several items that I immediately put on my Must Buy List.  

(Image:  Game supplements and a Badass card game!)

The first item was the Badass Team's card game Spades & Grenades, which came complete with a Badass Handbook. (Ben & Manny signed all my books and the handbook).

I was happy to see a Flying Frog Productions booth in the Gaming Area on Level 2.  Copies of all their games were available for sale including their new one--Shadows of Brimstone: City of the Ancients.  Not only that, but they had a plethora of convention-exclusive/mail-order-only supplements for the following games I just happen to own:  Last Night on Earth, A Touch of Evil and Fortune and Glory.  

There were five scenario supplements for Last Night on Earth, along with a campaign deck and a pack of radioactive zombies.  I bought all the supplements available for A Touch of Evil, and Fortune and Glory (two each).  However, I only bought one of the Last Night on Earth scenario supplements, along with the campaign deck and radioactive zombies.

Which scenario to buy wasn't a hard choice for me.  As a retired TACP member, there was no way I was going to pass up the new Airstrike Supplement:

(Image:  A closer look at LNoE's Airstrike Supplement)

Artwork: 

There were plenty of books I wanted to buy, but shelf space in our house is becoming a rare commodity.  There is however, a lot of empty areas on our walls.  So I figured some additional artwork was just décor our home needed:

(Image:  Various prints & things)

Starting with the top-right section of the above photo, I revisited Ron Randall and bought a large print of Mercy St. Clair (aka Trekker).  Ron also gave me a signed Trekker post card.  Right below the Trekker prints is a Player vs. Player (PvP) game mat/large mouse pad, I bought during my revisit to Scott Kurtz's booth.

As to the two Firefly postcards to the right of the game mat, I'm afraid I can't remember who I bought them from.  Alex & I were hustling alone, when I spotted them, grabbed a copy of each one and paid cash.  Despite my haste, I did notice this booth sold Claddagh Rings and showed the cashier my own Claddagh wedding ring.

Even though my entertainment focus is predominantly military/action/adventure, I've found myself enjoying some of the slice-of-life stories out there.

One of the first I stumbled across was Girls With Slingshots, by Danielle Corsetto.  Sadly Danielle ended "GWS," to take an art class, but I told Danielle I liked how she concluded the series.  She's now re-posting the early strips in full color.

Reading webcomics can truly be a trip down the rabbit hole.  Once I got hooked on GWS, I was then introduced to another slice-of-life comic Questionable Content (QC), by Jeph Jacques. I complimented Jeph on his work and explained to Alex that often ventures into near-future sci-fi, which feature some android characters and a space station. 

My wife and I seem to live by dry-erase boards.  So I thought Jeph's "Angry Bird Board" would be a great addition to our collection:

(Image:  Jeph Jacques' Angry Bird as a dry erase board)

"Angry Bird" makes his (her?) appearance with snarky comments on Holidays, or when Jeph is travelling, ill or somehow indisposed to post a comic. 

The Angry Bird Board came with a marker and magnets.  However, our refrigerator already has a dry-erase board, and besides, I had other plans for Angry Bird.  I tried sticking it the door to my studio with double-sided tape.  Either the tape was too old, or wimpy and the board dropped after a few minutes.  So I'm hoping the heavy-duty double-sided tape I just bought will do the trick.

I'll also be on a quest to find suitable frames for the prints I bought--not only from this year's ECCC--but from the 2013 convention that I just re-discovered in a storage box.  (After I attended the 2013 ECCC, my wife and I got married and then we moved).

Meanwhile, I've had no problem finding a spot for the PvP giant mouse pad...

(Image:  My new PvP mouse pad)

...along with a final word from Jeph's Angry Bird: