Fan Expo Canada 2017 – Day One

My very first trip to Canada went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. For some reason, I imagined quite a few hiccups and setbacks for a solo trip: forgetting some vital thing for travel, getting lost trying to find my gate, having some issue in customs because I haven’t been through anything like that since I went to the Bahamas when I was 13 and 15, both times my mom was there to take care of everything. Needless to say, when my mom and brother dropped me off at the airport, I was a bit nervous.

However, breaking in my passport on my own was an interesting experience. There was a blend of anxiety from just being by myself, and also a strange sort of relaxation from it. By the time I arrived in Canada, got my phone working, made it through customs and had my money exchanged – I felt like I had the hardest part of the trip over. I made my way to the train with ease, boarded and stowed my luggage, and took the peaceful 25 minute trip from the airport to Union Station – just across from my hotel.

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The Fairmont York Hotel in Toronto

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“You Have a Trip Coming Up”

This is a reoccurring reminder every time I go shopping before any trip.

You have a trip coming up.

Yup. I do. So, tell me, how’d I go to buy some jeans for my trip, and end up with all this?

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Okay. Let’s reason, a bit, here:

There was a sale at All the Rage comics (which I need to do a proper post on, sometime), where everything I bought was either 50% or 25% off. So, the three comics toward the bottom were 50%. Then the 1986 trade paperback of The Dark Knight Returns was 25% off, and I ended up paying less than $10 for it. Then that copy of Metal was 25% off, and I’d been wanting that particular cover. Decent and fairly inexpensive haul, there.

The Lil Gotham issues were $2.99 at V-stock, and actually came with a second issue behind each one. So I walked away with issues #1-4, plus my mom bought them for me. So, zero spent on those four issues.

I needed to buy a small purse, and planned to make this purchase, because I don’t want to haul my con bag around outside of the con itself. I mainly just needed a place to shove a few items in that zips. So, I went into Hot Topic to have a look. They were having a sale: if you bought any bag, if you put anything into the bag, you’d get 25% off the bag AND the item. So, the Tiffany Pop! from Bride of Chucky got shoved into the Harley bag. I left paying less for both than I would have for just the bag, itself. SCORE!

I did get my jeans and other miscellaneous clothing items I needed for my trip. But the point was showing that I could still make a haul like the one above, save a bunch of money, and still be ready for a con that is now ONE WEEK AND ONE DAY AWAY! Whoa. I should finish packing…

~Angel

STL Comics Summer 1 Day

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I first heard about the STL Comics Summer 1 Day show when I saw a flyer at Villainous Grounds, a while back. It sounded awesome – a con focused on comics, with loads of vendors, and only $5 admission for adults. THIS was something I severely needed in my life, since our area feels like it’s lacking this sort of event. That was one of my huge complaints about Wizard World St Louis this year – where the hell were the comics?

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Con Essential: The Comic Book Stor-folio

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The Comic Book Stor-Folio is a handy dandy little box that opens up for you to slide comics into, either to carry around in your normal life or shop trips, or for cons. I was wanting one of these bad boys for a while, and just before Wizard World St Louis, I decided to order one to give it a proper go.

IT WAS AMAZING!

My first time out with it, it was for the con. It fit perfectly into my new con bag, and it’s super light (well, when it’s empty), so it isn’t like I’m hauling around some heavy duty thing. Enough junk has to get stuffed into my con bag as it is, so light was definitely a plus.

This was really beneficial to me in two ways:

  • Putting fancier books into the Stor-Folio to protect them a little more, even if they were already bagged and boarded.
  • Putting things that aren’t bagged and boarded, like a decent haul from a 15 for $10 booth, in for protection, so they didn’t get all banged up and destroyed in my bag.

The Stor-Folio can hold around 15 current or silver age books, and has this fancy little slot on the front, where you can put in some art to make it look cooler, or store an extra comic. I’d like to put some nifty art in there, myself. Just need to decide on something.

Anyway, I’ve obviously used this for con, but I’ve taken it to shops a few times so I can store my books in my bag and know they’re well protected. It’ll probably go with me the next time I go to New York or anywhere similar, where I go into a lot of shops.

This little baby is currently full of books that are heading to FanExpo Canada with me in roughly three weeks. I’m so excited! Expect a post on my packing progress within the next few weeks.

~Angel

Wonder Woman Day

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This is the year Wonder Woman gets the respect she’s deserved. A solo movie, and now her own DAY?! YES!

While I thought Wonder Woman day was cool all on it’s own, I was more excited for two little girls:

They’re out of school, and I took Friday off from work, so we caught an early showing of Wonder Woman on Friday (after I had my first, child-free viewing on Thursday haha) – and they LOVED it. Obviously, they come from a family of nerds, and their grandma is a HUGE Wonder Woman fan, so they were already familiar with Wondy. But they came out of that movie gushing about how amazing she was, and how they wanted to be just like her. So, it was well timed that the next day, they’d be heading to Wonder Woman Day events with their grandmother and I.

We picked Barnes and Noble over a shop because 1.) it was closer and 2.) we knew there were activities for the girls at Barnes and Noble, which we weren’t so sure about for shops. Either way, we grabbed our special Wonder Woman day freebies, did some coloring, and grabbed a few Wonder Woman things to bring home. My mom made a pretty decent haul:

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I bought this pretty little lady for my desk at work:

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Now, some spoiler free chat about the movie:

Last week was an AWFUL week for me, personally. By Thursday, I was sort of dreading the movie, just because I anticipated it would be ruined for me by the unending bad things going on. But I was completely taken into the film and given the escape I desperately needed, and came out feeling somewhat better despite the fact that everything was still a mess in my real world.

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The movie left me with a reminder of my own strength, and a feeling of empowerment despite how helpless I’d felt before. Maybe it was the escaping, itself. Or maybe it was watching Gal Gadot kick major ass, or knowing how significant all of this was.

There were several times I caught myself smiling. Not because of something funny or sweet specifically happening, necessarily. But just the general enjoyment of what I was watching. It wasn’t just me loving it, though – it’s my mom’s new favorite movie, and my 6 and 7 year old nieces couldn’t look away. The 6 year old sat perfectly still, the entire time, her eyes wide.

When we left the theater, she told me she hopes to be as brave and kind and strong as Wonder Woman, some day. I wanted to cry. This is the role model my nieces, as well as other girls like them, have needed. Someone that they look to their morals and strength before mentioning their beauty. Someone that even I can look up to, though I’m closing in on 27.

To put it simply: Wonder Woman was… wonderful.

~Angel

FanExpo Canada: May Update

Well, here we are. Another month closer to FanExpo Canada. Time for another update post! This time, let’s focus on the comic guests announced so far that I’m most excited for:

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This is a massive line up, and it isn’t even all of them. I’m absolutely dying to meet these guys, especially Tom King. But wait, there’s more!

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One of my faaaaavorite artists, Adam Hughes, is going to be there! I can’t wait. I’m going to take some Catwoman books to get signed. Plus, I have this gorgeous poster I picked up at con last month:

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Which also sort of leads me into a new side project…:

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Recently, a group was formed on Instagram called The Cat Force ( @_thecatforce ), a page branching off of The Bat Force. The members currently include myself and four other ladies (Gen, Cheri, and Naj) – SUPER dedicated Catwoman fans. I’ve been playing catch up, with my recent comic haul:

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The current plan is that I’ll be covering con stuff for our page. Exciting, right?!

I’ll have an update post next month with more goodies to share.

Anyone else going to FanExpo? Who are you most excited to see?

~Angel

Free Comic Book Day 2017

Free Comic Book Day comes but once a year – the first weekend in May, to be exact. It’s a time where new fans and old fans comeFCBD2 out from all over to grab free comics, check out some deals, and all around enjoy some nerdy good times.

This was the first time in a few years I’ve decided to participate in FCBD, but I knew this year I had to not only for myself, but because it was the first year my nieces both seemed ready to participate. They’ve been working on their own comic collections, and when I told them about FCBD, they HAD TO GO. Plus, my mom wanted to go, and my best friend joined us last minute. Nerd Girls, unite!

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