Photos of my Spider-Man Costume!

I know these are about a month overdue, but this is one of the costumes I got delivered to me, the day before Halloween, and of course it's the one I chose to wear to work.  Black suit Spider-Man was well received by co-workers and the general public alike at my library, and it was great fun to wear.

It's a full-body zentai suit, for anyone curious.  I specified that the mask be removable, so I was able to take it off when needed (like whenever I was eating).  Another zipper was also put in so I could use the restroom without too much trouble.

Typing through the gloves was

interesting.  Not something you 

want to try every day though!

Strike a pose... at the library!

One thing I ended up asking myself at the end of the day was, how does Spidey make it through all that web-slinging and wall-crawling and crimefighting without any shoes on?!  Seriously, by the end of the day, my feet were not happy with me!

In any case, I can guarantee you I've got plenty of cosplay material for future cons now--not to mention, future Halloweens!

Hey, who's this dude in the
poster next to me?

Christmas Time on All Hallows' Eve

So, I can't help but feel like the holidays have already started for me, personally, as a bit of a miracle happened today.

For those of you who've read my posts from earlier in the year, I've basically put forth two goals for this year, my comics and cosplay New Year's resolutions, if you will.  They were:

1. Attend a comic convention outside of Houston; and
2. Get my cosplay together!  Essentially get a couple of costumes this year, for both Halloween and cosplay purposes.

For the sake of timeliness, I won't say here what costumes I've been working on.  I will say, however, that I finally had to break down and just order them, as I'm lousy at assembling costumes, and expect I always will be.  So, I did.  In the middle of this month.

Ideally, I would have gotten them in time to wear to Wizard World Austin, which I was just at this weekend (and which I will talk about in more detail later.  In short, it was AWESOME!).  That, however, didn't happen, and I wasn't surprised about it.  I was secretly hoping, however, that they would arrive in time for Halloween.  I wasn't optimistic about it, given how late in the game I'd waited, and the likelihood that most costume companies are probably backlogged with last-minute or semi-last-minute orders like mine.

And then, score!

I got a call today from someone trying to deliver a package.  My heart virtually skipped a beat, and I went home far more excited and upbeat than I'd expected.  The package ended up being BOTH of my costumes, and with Halloween tomorrow, it was a Christmas story for the annals of Halloween.  I tried them both on, and they both fit great and look great.

Expect pics tomorrow.

In the mean time, I'm just happy. :-)

Comicpalooza Picture-rama!!!

I haven't played Assassin's
Creed, but I recognize the look
immediately.  Not a bad fan effort.

This will be both an enhanced and slim post.  There's plenty of pictures, but not much that I'll be writing tonight.

I figured I'd take a few choice pictures of all the excellent costumes and looks that people have put together for today's trip to Houston's comic convention, Comicpalooza.  It was quite the feast for the eyes, as it seems every geek, nerd, dork and dweeb from Houston was there, and in proud form.  I unapologetically count myself among their number!

I've been here all weekend so far, in both a professional and fan capacity.  The presentation about libraries and the comic book industry went well, and there were plenty of interested hangers-on afterward who wanted to talk to me and my co-panelists.  It was a nice feeling. :)  We worked the HPL table afterwards, and helped customers register for library cards and showed that the library carries plenty of graphic novels.  We got quite a few applications, which was wonderful.

The Doctor was there, along
with his wife, the TARDIS. :)

After that, I had purchased a 3-day pass, and wandered to all the various events and exhibits at the con.  As you can see below, there was plenty to see, and my phone actually ran out of power from taking so many pictures, among other reasons.  Take a look and enjoy the images!

I was particularly struck by two things: first off, the costumes looked great.  Everyone obviously put their passion and effort into their presentation, and there were so many people asking and posing for pictures that it was very heartwarming.  Also, everyone in costume was very accommodating and cheerful about posing for pics.  There was nothing but happy reactions to picture requests, and I think that says a lot of good about this particular culture of Houstonites!

Possibly very amusingly, I'm looking forward to the day when I can be the big geek someone stops and asks to take a photo with or of.

Come on, Nightwing costume...

Wonderful Codex costume effort from a photogenic con-goer!

Possibly more pictures for tomorrow's post!

Insane he may be, but this Deadpool was very eager to pose for
pictures!

There were many exhibits, but I thought this Tentacle Kitty booth was particularly adorable-yet-disturbing.  

Contrary to public perception, Rorschach turned out to be
completely gracious and polite in public.

A Dalek and K-9 display... :)

Cap and Iron Man!

A completely silent, but totally expressive Portal Companion
Cube!

The most awesome Harley Quinn at the con today!  Not only
did she look the part, but she was completely in character, with
the voice and everything!

An excellent Riddler costume!   Disagree?  Play Arkham City!

A bird's-eye view of the exhibits from the second floor of GRB!

And a corresponding look at the stage floor!

April Successes and Failures

April was a fairly significant month on the writing front.  As you may or may not recall, I mentioned that I'd be doing a whole lot of writing during that month.  Essentially, I was going to write 100 pages of scripted material through Scriptfrenzy during the month, while still maintaining my daily posts here in the Comics Cove.  As it turned out, I managed to crank out about 37 pages, little more than a third of my goal, while still maintaining at least one post per day here.

So, it didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but it helped me understand where my limits were, while I still managed to get some scripted material written.

I don't know what it is about creative writing that really seems to take it out of me, but I truly do have a harder time with fiction than I do with reviews, observational posts, and other nonfiction.  I'm actually really surprised at how I've managed to hold on to the streak I've created here--at the end of this month I'll hit six months of posting every day--but I think for now, it's probably the thing I need to do to keep myself writing on a consistent basis.  Not that I plan on abandoning fiction--that's the end goal, eventually--but it's going to be on a sporadic basis for the time being, until I can find a way to cultivate the time and creative energy to do both regularly.

Speaking of time, there were a couple of other factors that played into my ability to write extra on top of my regular posting, including a conference, and a convention--at the latter of which I was a moderator all day.  They really didn't suck up extra time so much as displace my work schedule and routines enough that it was a challenge to add extra writing work to what I was already doing.  I don't there's ever going to be a good time to add to the writing load I do, but April was perhaps a more challenging time than I should have picked.

In any case, I'm glad I tried, and glad I had the good sense to not overextend myself too much.

I'm a little behind on the cosplay side of things as well, but some progress has been made.  I'm basically focusing on the Nightwing costume, which is proving to be a difficult challenge.  I've recently bought material for a latex mask, which eventually I'll need to have fit, painted, and sculpted to my face.  My girlfriend, incidentally, is the one who suggested this method, and the one will be layering the thing over my face in the coming days.  At this point, I'm in unfamiliar territory, and trusting her suggestions here.

What remains at this point are gloves and a top, and these are where I'm really hamstrung.  Ideally, I want the blue hawk pattern on a black top, the ends of which extend all the way down the sleeves to two fingers of the gloves.  Of course, I have no clue how to go about making this happen that doesn't involve buying something that's already made with this design in mind, which I don't want to do.  I could go with black gloves and forego the blue on them for the time being, but I'm not sure what to do about the top.

In the meantime, Comicpalooza approaches, which I'm really excited about.  I'd love to have the costume completed by then, but am not gonna hold my breath for it.  Hopefully I'll see some cosplayers there who might have some suggestions about what I could do to get a decent home-made look for the Nightwing costume.  We'll have to see.

Update: Comics New Year's Resolutions for 2012

I figured I'd give a quick update on the comics-related resolutions I made for this year, since I actually have made some progress on one of them and think I have a good shot at pulling both off this year.

A little over a month ago, I posted about New Year's resolutions, and how most of mine have failed miserably whenever I made them.  I decided to tone down the seriousness this year, and made two New Year's resolutions that were specifically comics-related.  They were to attend at least one comics convention that occurred outside my current hometown of Houston, and to construct at least two different cosplay costumes this year.

Nothing too serious, but fun goals for me to reach for in the coming year.  Well, I'm proud to announce that I've started taking the first steps to creating one of my cosplay costumes, specifically Nightwing.

One of the steps I've resolved to take in conjunction with this particular resolution is to purchase or otherwise acquire some part of some costume at least once a month.  At the tail end of January, I put in an order for a black pair of boots that I thought would make good footwear for my Nightwing costume.  I received them a few days later, and present a few choice pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Please forgive any quality issues, I shot them on my phone camera, and am a noob when it comes to photography in general.

These boots were about as close as I could find to approximate Nightwing's look in the footwear department.  They come up to about the middle of my calves, and have a smooth appearance that I think works well enough for the costume's overall look and feel.  In concert with some black tights, I think they'll do a good job of emulating the bottom half of Nightwing's costume--you know, the easy part.

The biggest problem I have with these boots is that their smallest size, advertised essentially as idea for size 8-9 shoe wearers, is still slightly loose for my legs and feet.  I can walk around in them just fine so far, but there's a definite difference from the snugness I'm accustomed to when wearing shoes that fit properly.  Still, there are worse positions to be in, and there are ways to coax a little more mass into them to fit better.  We'll see what happens, but in the meantime, if any cosplayers out there know how to deal with this particular predicament, please feel free to let me know.

One other item of interest: I've taken a 4-ft dowel rod and cut it in half, with the intent of taking black duct tape and wrapping it around both sticks to approximate the appearance of the escrima sticks Nightwing sometimes uses.

The next item on my list would be black tights, both for this costume and for symbiote Spider-Man.  Again, being new to this whole cosplay creation thing (well, to this level of detail, anyway), I'd appreciate any advice from cosplay veterans who've done this before and have any suggestions about where to look, what materials to consider, what retailers have worked best for them, etc.  In the meantime, I'll continue to shop around and muddle about as best I can.

On the convention front, Wizard World Austin remains the easiest way to fulfill that particular resolution for this year.  It's scheduled for the end of October, and I definitely want to go if I can get these costumes off the ground.  In the meantime, Comicpalooza comes to Houston in May, and hopefully I can get at least one costume finished by then.  If not, I can probably go as either a Jedi, the Tenth Doctor, or maybe the Crow.

As always, time will tell!

Comics New Year's Resolutions for 2012

I'm always of two minds about New Year's resolutions.  On the one hand, they're a good way to try to improved and better yourself personally as a new year dawns.  On the other hand, they can serve as a stark reminder of how weak-willed we can be.  According to some studies, only 23 percent of New Year's resolutions are actually kept by resolution makers.  A whopping 35 percent of resolutions are broken by the end of January.

That's right.  Not even a month in, and well over a third of the millions of resolutions made putter into the oblivion.  Not very encouraging.

Most of the New Year's resolutions I've made in past years have dealt with specific issues: writing (I will commit to writing 500 words per day for the whole year, or 182,500 words for the year); exercise (I will develop an exercise routine for muscle tone, strength and endurance, and I will stick with it the whole year); and sleeping (I will get up earlier in the morning and make use of the extra time I have.  I will get by with less sleep than I currently do.).  I've failed at these resolutions in the past, and have basically given up on trying to whip myself into shape over them when the new year emerges.

I have found, however, that time and necessity often do for me what arbitrary resolutions have failed at.  When I was diagnosed with high cholesterol a few months ago, I changed my eating and exercise habits, because my long-term health was on the line.  When I realized I was nearing the limit precipice of my credit cards a few years ago, I committed to paying down all that debt as soon as I possibly could--and, I'm proud to say, I've hacked away the majority of that particular beast.  This blog, of which I'm particularly proud, was not part of any resolution I'd planned for the end of the year, but rather the realization that if I ever wanted to be a writer, then I'd better get off my ass and do some serious, consistent writing, each and every day.

None of those changes required, or even were part of, any New Year's resolution.  They were due to particular circumstances that had emerged in my life naturally, over time.  I am therefore convinced that any meaningful changes I want to make to my life will not be the result of any commitments I make arbitrarily at the end of a year.

So, in light of that realization, why bother with them?  Well, because if nothing else, I think I can use the New Year's resolution to commit to some of the less serious, more fun areas of my life.  Since I've had a few things in this category that I've never tried to work on, I figure it's about time to do so.  And here's the great part: both of the resolutions I've made for myself this year revolve around comic book related goals.  Without further ado, my two resolutions for 2012 are as follows:

1. I will attend at least one comics convention that takes place outside of Houston.  I'm already planning to attend Comicpalooza this year, which is the fastest-growing and most awesome con that Houston has hosted since its inception some 5 years ago.  But it's easy to get to them if you're already living in the city where they're hosted.  I want to go to another town and meet comics fans who've come to somewhere other than my current city, even if it's just a few hours away.  At this point, likely candidates are Austin (Wizard World Austin) and Chicago, but things could change.  We'll see how time, budget, and energy affect where I'll end up this year...
2. I will attempt to construct at least two different costumes for cosplay purposes.  I've already got two that I could use at a moment's notice, a Jedi and a Tenth Doctor getup, both I need to become a comic book character.  My two marks for this year are black-suit Spider-Man, and Nightwing.  Both are characters I've identified with in the past, and still enjoy reading about in the present.  You could also argue that I even look a bit like them.  Can I pull them off?  Probably, but again, I'll need to start looking for costume pieces and start putting them together while I've still got the time.

So, there you have it.  My resolutions for this year are more fun, more comic book-oriented, and nothing for me to feel horribly about if I don't accomplish them (though why I wouldn't want to is currently beyond me). If anyone has any advice or can help me reach either one this year, please don't hesitate to speak up.  In the mean time, I'll wish luck to anyone who's made New Year's resolutions and still stuck with them at this point.  I hope you have as much success with them as I have fun with these resolutions of mine.

See you (hopefully) on the convention scene!