Content-wise, it was a really good year. After blowing most of Saturday last year, I decided to join in on a block of panels this year (with my mom in her first SDCC attendance!) including Futurama, The Simpsons, Dean Koontz, Dollhouse and BSG. Not knowing much about Dean Koontz’s novels, I found him to be the most surprising entertaining. I guess a good storyteller can both write stories as well as talk about them to an audience. Overall, Futurama was my favorite of the set of panels with the voice talents of John DiMaggio, Maurice Lamarche, Billy West and Katey Sagal on hand to liven things up.

In the exhibit hall, Paramount returned with their free t-shirts but added a collection of Star Trek items including posters, construction crew badges by email and drawings for goodies. Warner Bros. beefed up their bag selection, held the usual group autograph sessions and had a lifesize Watchmen Owlship on display. Fox had what was probably the most useful schwag: a poster tube with strap. Everyone was giving away bags but I think Fox had the lock on the popular poster tube. Now if only someone will start giving out art portfolios next year.

More convention notes after the jump…

I was plesently surprised to see Todd Nauck in the artist alley. He wasn’t listed in the program and I guess was a late addition. As much as I read and collect comics, I’ll admit I’m pretty ignorant about the creators. For whatever reason, his art in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man last year stuck in my head and I was happy to collect a Betty Brant sketch and original art from an issue. My wife and I made the usual rounds to pick up ash cans, art and other goodies from the likes of Adam Hughes, Frank Cho and Dan Brereton.

Speaking of Dan Brereton, his wife (whose name escapes me right now) makes Cuddle Monster Toys, a series of cute, hand made dolls, baby / kids clothing and accessories. Each one is unique with variations in cloth color and positioning of the elements. I picked up a shirt last year with a monster on the front and we added a little teddy bear (with a sort of worried look) to our collection. The teddy has a hard time competing for affection with a two foot tall Snoopy we also picked up at the Con but I think it’s adorable.

Cosplayers get better and better each year with continually impressive displays of imagination and craftsmanship. There was a very detailed Bumblebee making the rounds near the masquerade photo area on Saturday. I made it to a couple of cosplay meetups including the Marvel one which had a great selection of Avengers, X-Men and Runaways. The masquerade itself was good but started even later than usual. The combination of missing out on a chair in the photo area and too many elective late nights / mandatory early mornings meant that I retired early this year and missed the best acts. I think I made up for it in my other pics during the week. See the previously listed photo link at the top for the photos.

I didn’t do too much shopping this year, economizing on space since there’s so much family gear involved in the trip. My main pickups were the Toynami Robot Santa and Santa Bender combo pack and various bits of art including the Todd Nauck page and a couple of cels from Golden Boy. A big shout-out to Nichibei Anime Club where I’ve been buying cels from for eight or nine years now. Interestingly, I didn’t pay for one comic this year. Considering the severe damage I did to my wallet at past conventions, that’s probably a good thing. I also didn’t use my incomplete web comic DB application that’s been in limbo for months. I have new motivation to make progress by the end of September so hopefully I’ll have an update in a few weeks.

That’s my brief wrap-up on San Diego Comic-Con 2008. If I have time, I’ll try to expand on some of the topics over the next week. And if I don’t make the time, just enjoy the photos!

If you’ve not yet seen the Battlestar Galactica mid-season cliffhanger “Revelations”, you’re missing out. While not the most emotionally moving episode nor the most action packed, it does reveal a lot to the show’s characters as the clandestine final four of five cylons are brought out to the open. The results range from shocking to devastating to the Galactica crew. More importantly, its final minutes hit hard with an unexpected final revelation.

Spoilers after the jump…

Not only does the Galactica fleet learn the location of Earth due to the final four of five and not only does the fleet make it to Earth but we actually get a glimpse of the homeworld in the concluding minutes. To be honest, there was only a couple of ways this could’ve played out: Galactica is taking place in pre-historic times or it’s taking place at some point in the future. Anything else just wouldn’t work. Right now it looks like a “Planet of the Apes” twist has been added as the Galactica and Cylon main characters head down to check out Earth only to be greeted by bombed out rubble and radiation. Zing!

The characters were pretty depressed and quiet in reaction to all this but I wouldn’t have minded someone pounding their fist into the ground crying, “You maniacs! You blew it up!”

Thinking of Planet of the Apes reminds me of Power Records from my childhood. Power Records were great… the 1970s was not the best time for animated superheroes… Super Friends, BatMan and maybe the Fantastic Four with HERBIE. Power Records filled the gap until the 1980s revitalized the genre. Power Records came in both 33RPM records generally standalone and 45RPM records bundled with an original or adapted comic. I had a decent collection of records with representatives of the classics: Six Million Dollar Man, Space: 1999, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, some superheroes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. I knew the story of Beneath the Planet of the Apes long before I saw the movie. I was a bit disappointed that the movie ended with a fade to white and not with the Earth pulling and Alderaan. The back cover of the Apes series had an ape pointing at the reader like Uncle Sam with the text “Power Books & Records wants you to… Go Ape!” Cute.

I also had The Incredible Hulk at Bay which was okay but actually a little light on the Hulk action. The only thing the Hulk punches is a wall and the main villains end up knocking each other out! A little weak but I guess it needed to send some kind of positive message to kids. The Hulk at Bay story featured The Abomination as one of the villains. Unlike the movie version, the classic comic Abomination was distinctly reptilian, though from the previews it seems like the movie version has its own disturbing features.

Unlike Iron Man, I have mixed feelings from the previews of The Incredible Hulk movie. On one hand, I’m glad that it recalls themes from the TV series and features adversaries from the comic book. On the other hand, the Hulk if fundamentally challenging in the need to balance the tormented Banner with the enraged Hulk. It’s also difficult to make a realistic Hulk: even if the CGI were a real model of what a Hulk would look like, I think the human mind would still reject it at some level from not quite being able to relate such a creature to the real world. In any case there’s little chance I’ll make it to a theater so I’ll have to wait for it to arrive on disc from Netflix.

As a kid, I loved the idea of Iron Man. He was like a pocket version of the giant Japanese robot toys I collected. While it would be great to have a giant robot and fight against giant monsters, it just seemed more practical to have a briefcase with power suit easily on hand. I mean, I could never hope to have a Mazinger or a Combattra in my closet… but IronMan armor could work! Yes, it would fit right next to my t-shirts and Luke Skywalker Dagobah fatigues. I would pour over the Marvel Universe entries for IronMan and all the other powered armor heroes and villians: Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, Guardsmen and so on. My quest for fictional stats would even spill over to ever loosely associated tech like the Avenger’s Quinjet, Ultron and Alpha Flight’s Guardian. When I wasn’t reading about Iron Man, my Mego and Secret Wars series figures got a lot of use, right up there with Spidey.

Still, for some reason, I never invested in really collecting any of the Iron Man comics. I had several issues when I was young… evidenced by ballpoint pen outlines on the covers and the usual wear-and-tear of a heavily read comic. I picked up various annuals that featured Iron Man and special issues like the premier of the silver-and-red armor. Through chance contest winnings, I’ve ended up with more Blue Devil and Power Pack comics than I ever had of Iron Man. Maybe I just couldn’t fit in another title during those formative years when I was collecting Micronauts and Star Wars on a regular basis and starting to pull in the Spidey titles of the day. Maybe in my later years there was always some special or other series of the moment that grabbed my attend more than then ol’ Shellhead.

Someday I might get around to picking up some issues or starting a collection–if I can get past Stark’s role in Civil War and what’s followed. Until then, I always have my fond memories from childhood and the new found joy that the latest movie incarnation has provided.

Brand New Day continues to bug me. The artwork is fine. I actually rather like Salvador Larocca’s more realistic style and prefer it to some of the other artists’ work. “Spidey’s Braintrust” of Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim, Dan Slott and Zeb Wells are doing a good job at trying to restore a classic Spidey story feel. The bits and pieces do harken back with the right verbal punches, JJJ squirming to get out of the hospital, things just no going right for Peter one way or the other… but all together it’s hard to get invested in Brand New Day.


The new Menace villain isn’t that interesting and in a weird play they even make fun of the whole “look, there’s another goblin in NYC” aspects of the character. What connection does he have to the other goblins and does anyone really care? The next villian, Freak, is similarly silly… let’s take a low-life thief nicknamed Freak and have him transformed into a real freak of nature. They even did a misdirection with Jackpot, revealing her secret identity to be someone who doesn’t seem to remember her life as the superhero… except I don’t think anyone really believes that she’s not somehow related to MJ. And ultimately there’s still the feeling of just how long will things go on until something returns us to the status quo ante.

On the positive side, Ultimate Spider-Man continues to be good. In that respect, it’s probably better that Bendis stayed on while Bagley left ensuring story continuity. Issues 118 and 119 establishes Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in the Ultimate universe with Peter’s classmate Liz Allen breaking out in flame and then pursued by Spidey and Iceman to sort out what to do next. This is certainly a break from any past versions. Of course, Firestar herself started as an original character in the cartoon series and only later introduced as a mutant in mainstream Marvel continuity. I’m just waiting to see where things go… will there really be an Amazing Friends team in the Ultimate universe or is this just a typical story arc and they move on to the next one?

Last Spidey topic is the new Spectactular Spider-Man cartoon. The series is fun, integrates a lot of the standard mythology from various incarnations into a new variation, and it actually has Gwen Stacy as the female protagonist. I also think this the youngest incarnation of Spidey for the small screen… the 1960’s, 1980’s and 1990’s and early 2000’s MTV versions all had Peter in college. A high school Peter seems more appropriate for kids to watch and probably provide better lessons as he learns from mistakes both as a superhero and as a teenager. The show’s Wikipedia entry indicates the classic rogues gallery and even Mary Jane showing up later in the season. Very spiffy.

WonderCon has become mostly a TV and movie panel show for me while I concentrate on shopping and autographs at Comic-Con. Compared with the insane lines at Comic-Con, it’s relatively easy to get a good seat and see actors, writers and directors of current and upcoming genre shows. This year had well known television shows and movies like Get Smart, X-Files 2 and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles represented. Actors and creators like Steve Carell, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Chris Carter and Anne Hathaway took the time to show up and answer audience questions. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.

Pictures from the panels and the exhibit hall are available for your enjoyment.

I really need to put more time into this as I’d like to get it up and running in time for field use at WonderCon next month.

Here’s what I wrote:

Hi “True Believers”,

Mixed feelings. That sums up my reaction to One More Day and the first three issues of Brand New Day. I’ve been reading Spidey comics for a quarter century and in that time there’s been a lot of changes, ret-cons and other funny business. This has especially been true in the last 15 years as “major events” to drum up sales often have trumped solid story telling. I’ll say I’m probably in the minority of not being upset that Mary Jane is out of the picture romantically. When I started reading Spidey comics, both Peter and Spider-Man had girlfriends or other entanglements and that was certainly more interesting for a pre-teen kid to read about than a really grown up superhero with a wife.

For the negative, if it was just a memory wipe and Aunt May making a recovery in the hospital that would be one thing, but clearly there’s a new timeline where some key events either didn’t happen or happened in a different way. From the minor like the Queens house still standing to the major like Harry still alive and apparently never married to Liz and never having little Normie. It makes me wonder what other changes will be woven in just to accommodate the editors’ and writers’ desires. Also, how will the loss of knowing Peter’s alter-ego affect Black Cat, Daredevil, future Venoms, and others formerly in the know? So much of their stories hinged the a more personal relationship gained from know Spidey’s secret identity. It’s easy enough for writers to say “all those stories still happened” but clearly going forward the dynamic will be different. Lastly for the cons, resorting to a deus ex machine solution just feels like a cheap way out. On one hand the new direction wants to re-affirm that Peter got his powers “through a miracle of science” and dismiss JMS’ challenging move of Spidey into a new mythology these last few years, and yet resorts to the supernatural deal with the devil to get Peter there.

On the positive, the Brand New Day stories feel like the stories of old: easy to slip into, Spidey fighting crime lords while protecting the innocent and a variety of drama in both Peter and Spidey’s lives. These first few issues remind me of the the stories when I first started collecting Spider-Man in the early ’80s. There are some things that seem a bit off, like some random guy being able to use the web shooter (maybe you should check the official entry at http://www.marvel.com/universe/Spider-Man%27s_Web-Shooters) but in general it’s a return to the kind of story telling that used to be a Spider-Man staple.

In any case, this latest change still wasn’t more headache inducing and stomach churning than the ’90s Clone Saga. And, if as a result of the deal with Mephisto we find out the Clone Saga never happened, all the better.

For now, still make mine Marvel,
–David

There are so many outraged fans calling for the head of Joe Quesada. I’m not one of them. I’ve been reading Spider-Man stories for a long time… if I count the my brother’s Amazing issue #100 and an issue of Spidey Super Stories, it’s been almost my entire life. Writers come and go. Editors in Chief do the same. It’s almost like an over the top rule by dictatorship where when someone new comes to power, they strip away all that they don’t like and just keep the basics which people recognize and demand to be there. Anyone who’s been reading for a long time must surely know that the latest changes and ret-cons are necessarily permanent. Someday, someone else will be calling the shots and might decide that Spider-Man’s identity should be known by some other characters, that he maybe should hook up with Mary Jane, that Harry Osborn needs to die a tragic death, etc., etc. That’s the nature of a long running franchise and that’s the only way to keep stories moving, even if the illusion of character growth needs to be reset along the way.

I ultimately decided to just go with CakePHP. For the reasons listed before, it ended up making to most sense based on what I’ve already had experienced with and what seemed to be installed by default with my ISP. I just followed the Cake Blog Tutorial, recasting blog postings into comic book titles with the appropriate field changes. Some retyping of code and minor editing of values and voila! a complete web application was born.

As I explained previously, my comic database has been more or less unchanged for the past two decades. While I introduced some relational aspects in the last few years by tracking individual issues (sometimes) along with the titles, my main use has been just to catalog issue numbers. To support my comic logging activities, I just need the following features:

• add, edit & delete a comic title
• browse all the comic titles
• browse only the “active” titles, those that I’m currently most interested in
• search for a specific title, generally based on the comic title’s name

Since I routinely see people at conventions doing similar activities with hand written lists or printouts, there isn’t much more that’s need. Of course in the future I’ll get fancy with issue specific data and tweak the interface with AJAX features or optimized for mobile device viewing, but that’s for another time.

Such a simple requirements meant my schema could be pretty simple:

title VARCHAR(128) UNIQUE,
publisher VARCHAR(64),
time_frame VARCHAR(64),
series_type ENUM('limited','maxi','one-shot','normal'),
main_issues TEXT,
annuals TEXT,
specials TEXT,
missing_issues TEXT,
comments TEXT,
is_active BOOLEAN,
is_complete BOOLEAN,
is_subscribed BOOLEAN


There are of course other columns for tracking and maintenance of titles, but this gives the basic idea of a comic title’s structure. With a table based on this schema added to a little MySQL database, it was relatively painless to stitch together basic CRUD operations using CakePHP’s MVC approach and sample code. Afterwards, I easily added in some other functionality like a dedicated link that filtered out everything except comics marked as active. Getting more daring with my increasing confidence, I dropped in pagination support and even filter functionality. I thought I’d be slogging through data dumps to the browser and looking at SQL queries executed throughout the weekend but, given it was so trivial, it more or less worked without much debugging. I had a few problems because I didn’t read method and function documentation and didn’t realize from the error message that some calls were expecting an array but just receiving a single object. Easily corrected with a quick print_r call.

All in all it really was as easy as cake. Next on my agenda is to tweak the UI and perform some more serious testing with larger data sets.

I’ll have more in depth to say after I’ve finished my reviews. I might settle on CakePHP if for no other reason than to be able to apply increased PHP knowledge to my blog at some point.

I have a lot of comic books… when I stopped counting years ago I must’ve had around 3,000 by estimate. With many short boxes added in the last few years, the count should be over 3,500, maybe even 4,000. Since I’ve long stopped remembering comics by issue number or cover, I’ve turned to databases over the years to keep everything organized.

My first database was a card filing application call Atari Home Filing Manager on my Atari 800. It used a 3″x5″ index card metaphor and I entered a series on each line with issues numbers following. When my mom took me to comic conventions, I printed out the files and took a hard copy with me.

When I was in junior high, I got more serious and used Timeworks’ Data Manager on my Atari ST. I could dedicate whole records to a comic and set up the basic fields for information like title, publisher, issues owned, notable mission issues and so forth. As a side note, I really liked all of Timeworks software and used their Word Writer word processor into high school until I made the jump to Windows 3.0. The New York Times has an old article on Atari computers which mentions Timeworks.

My longest lasting database choice has been FileMaker Pro, starting with FileMaker Pro v2. I made a couple of updates over the years before settling on FileMaker Pro v6. One benefit of using FileMaker has been the availability of a Palm OS client, which I’ve used on various Palm compatible devices the last few years. My standard operating procedure has been to sync up my active comic list with my CLIE UX50 before attending a convention, make updates as new comics are added and then sync back. It works pretty well… except that it usually doesn’t remember who the FileMaker user name is requiring a reset before synchronizing. Since I’ve waited so long, upgrading pricing isn’t available but moving to a new version is a requirement if I were to get a more modern Palm. Since I’m undecided (or maybe slightly decided against) getting a new Palm, Treo or Centro, I’ve been looking at alternatives that would work with other devices.

There is comic book management software for the Mac OS. Many like xidiar Comics is issue oriented and not series oriented. This means I have to individually enter in each issue. If I was so inclined it’s actually a really nice piece of software with fields for every detail one needs on an issue. It’s also got a nice Mac-feeling UI. But there doesn’t seem to be any way to import / export the data. Others like Books are more flexible but also single issues / book oriented. And apps like Collectorz Comic Collector sound like they’d work but don’t have a Mac OS version. Gah!

Now I’m thinking just to write my own using MySQL with a PHP frontend. I’ve done some “hello world” PHP applications and there’s no shortage of PHP and MySQL how-to’s available. My database needs are simple. I can start with a flat table and expand to add a per issue table later on, which is how my FileMaker database is. One problem with most of the other solutions is that there’s no easy way to host on my provider, just import and export of data. With MySQL, it’s easy enough to create the tables on my hosting provider’s server and have them run there. With my database publicly available, I don’t need to sync with a handheld device. Of course… my next handheld device would need a readily available network connection to be useful. And, I’d have to figure out a solution if I wanted to have multiple copies of the database available, one on my laptop when I’m on the go and unconnected and one on the web where I can access it. Those discussions are for another time.