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.

Status Report for April: Still Goin'

If anyone out there follows this blog with any regularity, you probably know I've set quite a few micro-goals for the upcoming weeks, months, and year.  They're all either comic book- or writing-related, and designed to get me to either improve my chances of eventually publishing something or to help bring out my inner fanboy a little more prominently (in some cases, they're both).  Since I've had a little bit of time to work on each one, I thought I'd give a quick update on each of them.

Cons and Panels
I put my meager event organization skills to the test last month and had a Houston Comics Talent Panel at the Central Library downtown.  As far as having barely a week's promotion time, it was pretty well attended.  I moderated, despite fighting back a vicious case of my voice trying to give out on me.  We had four talented individuals in the comics field speak on the panel: Nick Pitarra (The Manhattan Projects), Scott Chitwood of Red 5 Comics, independent creator Mark Nasso (Land of the Rats), and Edward Kraatz, Jr., from Shark Industries Studios.  Those who were able to attend had a great time, as did our panelists!

I've purchased a three-day pass for Comicpalooza this year at the George R. Brown during Memorial Day Weekend in May.  I also plan to be there in a (semi-) professional capacity, since Houston Public Library will have a booth there to promote its graphic novels collection and support graphic novels as literacy, and I'll be working it for at least part of the convention.  We're also scheduling a panel presentation in support of comics in libraries, and I'm scheduled to be a part of that panel as well.

While I realize Comicpalooza doesn't technically count towards my resolution to attend a convention outside my current hometown of Houston, you have to admit, it'd be kind of shameful not to attend the con that's in your own backyard.  I'm still planning to aim for Wizard World Austin this year, which is many months off, and I'm looking at Comicpalooza as a kind of spiritual prep for that particular journey.

And, since it's less than a week away, I wanted to mention that I'm one of the organizers for Teen Book Con, which will be happening on Saturday, April 14, at Alief Taylor High School.  This is the third year for Teen Book Con, and it's only gotten bigger and better each year.  I'll be moderating the graphic novelists panels, as I've done from the outset!  Our graphic novelist guests this year are Nick Pitarra (The Manhattan Projects, Astonishing Tales, The Red Wing), Lea Hernandez, Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins (Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer).

Costumes
I've made some progress since my last post about costumes, but I'd be lying if I said it's been very much.  It's also at a point where I'm getting uncertain how to proceed.  See below:

I've finished taping up two dowel rods to create a pair of black escrima sticks for the Nightwing costume.  I've also got the black boots and black tights, the latter of which could also work for the black-suited Spider-Man costume I'm also trying for.  From this point on, though, there's no real sharing in terms of whatever I acquire for the costume, since they're so different from the waist up.

For Nightwing, I still need to acquire or work on a face mask, gloves, and a top shirt.  For Spidey, I'll need those same things, though in different incarnations.  And at present, something's stopping me from taking the next step.  I'm sure it has a large part to do with my lack of knowledge when it comes to costuming and cosplay; putting this stuff together from scratch is more than a little taxing for my novice brain.  I don't want to simply buy a shirt with the symbols on them, but in terms of actually putting it together, I'm in need of knowledge or expertise from someone who could suggest a more DIY alternative to buying a costume, or the disparate parts.

One example: I'll be searching for something spandex-y for both hero tops.  Is it possible to silkscreen on black spandex a white spider or a blue hawk?  Will it last?  Will I need to buy material for these symbols and have them sewn on?  What's the most logical step for this phase of the costume?  Any cosplayers or costumers who can help me with this one, please volunteer your expertise.  I want to look as complete as possible when I go to cons. :)

Writing
Finally, there's the writing aspect.  Those of you who follow this blog can easily look and see that I've managed to write at least one post per day in this blog, since all the way back to when I started it November 30 of last year.  It's something I'm very proud of, and frankly it's unprecedented for me to do so much.  It's my intention to continue this streak for as long as possible, though I will confess that this month it will be a lot harder than previously.

The reason is that I've placed another writing goal on myself for this month.  I've joined ScriptFrenzy, and have basically pledged to write 100 pages of scripted material between the first and last of this month.  I'm making good progress so far--nearly 40 pages has been written as of today--but it's kept me from writing as much material for the blog as I would have normally done by now.  Still, I'm keeping pace, and hope to maintain it for the rest of the month.

I am about a third of the way through it, after all.  Any supportive comments or suggestions would always be appreciated.

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!