Super Day Trip To Metropolis- Pt1 KRYPTON

Jun24
by on June 24, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Posted In: Blog

This year is filled with Super-anniversaries- Superman’s 80th birthday, 60th birthdays for Brainiac and Adam Strange, 40th anniversary of Superman: The Movie, 30th anniversary of the Superboy TV series, 25th anniversary of the Lois & Clark TV series, and the 40th anniversary of the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL. I’ve been going to Metropolis for the Superman Celebration since 1999, and so far have only missed one year. Some years I was an artist guest, but this year I was just there enjoying the event as a fan again. It’s a 4 day long event, but my wife Nicki and I decided to do a day trip up and back on that Saturday. It’s about a 3-3 1/2 hour drive for us.

There were many celebrity and artists guests again this year. I got to see two of them- SyFy’s Krypton TV show stars Blake Ritson and Shaun Sipos, and took a few shots of the two “men in black” in front of the giant Superman statue in town square.

I got there a few minutes early to get a good spot for my shots. Usually I end up having to try and shoot over the crowds and fight the sun. Not always an easy thing to do- especially at my height. This year there were more clouds than normal, and I got a good position. Used my iPhone and Nicki’s digital SLR. Had to go manual for the shots with the digital camera. It kept wanting to focus on the statue, and I’m not familiar enough with the settings to change anything…D’oh! Definitely need more practice.

Shaun (L) plays Adam Strange, and Blake (R) plays Brainiac. Blake is MUCH younger than I expected after seeing him in the Brainiac make-up.

The two were cracking jokes with each other and the crowd for a few minutes while posing for fan photos. This usually happens before or after each of the main Q&As. (Hint-hint!)

Following the traditional statue photo op, the two walked over to the main tent for the Krypton TV Q&A. It’s one of the first times I have seen someone doing sign-language for the hearing impaired audience members. I would love to see more events do this!

The Q&A was emceed by Comic Book Central‘s host Joe “Stuberman” Stuber. I’ve been listening to Joe’s podcast for a couple years now. I like to listen to episodes while working on comics and updating my websites in my Batcave studio. I’m listening to his latest Metropolis Superman Celebration episode right now (Ep.229). He also does The Indy Cast and has had several guest appearances on other podcasts.

The two Krypton stars gave some insights on being cast for the show, behind the scenes stories, traded quips/jokes, how they prepared, what comics they studied for their roles, and some other personal info during Joe’s interview and when they turned the mic over to the audience to ask questions.

Again I shot some with my iPhone and some with Nicki’s digital camera. Shot manual again because the camera kept wanting to focus on the tent in the background. The lighting was kind of bad under the tent, but Nicki was nice enough to help correct them some in Lightroom for me. There are several photographers I’ve gotten to know in Metropolis, and once I get my own digital camera again I want to pick their brains for some advice on shooting events like this.

I stood on the left and right sides of the tent, and used a zoom lens to get most of my shots. I didn’t want to get in the way of others or up in the faces of the panelists. Tried to be more of a fly on the tent wall. Blake mentioned wanting to play a couple of Batman villains- the Riddler or Joker..! I would totally approve of that casting.

There were thunderstorms rapidly approaching Metropolis so they went ahead and wrapped up the session before the weather got nasty. I remember the 2004 storm all too well!

It was a fun Q&A, and Joe will be posting the entire event on CBC next week. Looking forward to listening to that panel again. I missed a bit here and there just trying to focus on taking pics!

One super-fan audience member got to go home with a special prize- an official replica Superman cape that Shaun and Blake signed at the end of the Q&A. He won it for asking the best question during the Q&A when he asked Blake what types of things did he collect. Great question for Brainiac!

That question inspired a couple HGWT comic strips for me- I made sure to write/sketch those ideas down before I forgot them!

The Brainiac one is now up, and I’ll be posting the Batman one to go along with one of my future Hollywood trip blog posts. LOTS of stuff to share from that trip.

I’ve typed back and forth with Joe Stuber for a while now about his podcast, the Superman Celebration, comics, hockey, and his time living in Memphis. He lives in Ohio- the birth state of Superman. This was the first time I’ve gotten to meet up with him in person. Like most of my encounters that day it only lasted a few minutes. Hope to actually get to sit down and talk with him, instead of just saying hi/bye in passing to him and his wife. This trip we ran into them as we were leaving Fat Edd’s and they were heading there. I swear I think there was a 5min time limit on most of my conversations that day..!

Back before my heart surgery I did a special Flash/Trickster sketchcover to celebrate Comic Book Central’s 4th anniversary. Joe mentioned me and the giveaway in a teaser on CBC Ep.196, and then made the big announcement on Ep.197. Have talked with Stuberman about doing another one for Batman’s 80th birthday next year.

I’ll be back soon with more recollections, reviews, and photos from the event. Nicki and I crammed a lot of stuff into one day, so I’ll be breaking my trip up into a few different posts. You can read about my past trips to the Superman Celebration by checking out my HGWT archives page.

Stay \S/uper!

Lin

 

Links for this blog entry:

Superman Celebration

Metropolis, IL Tourism

Comic Book Central Podcast

The Indy Cast

SyFy’s Krypton TV show

Blake Ritson on Twitter

Shaun Sipos on Twitter

Fat Edd’s Roadhouse

HGWT comic strips

HGWT archives page

My Flash/Trickster cover how-to

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“Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam..!” – ‘Spamalot’ comes to Covington, TN in March

Feb25
by on February 25, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Posted In: Blog

A HEAPING HELPING OF SPAMALOT AT THE RUFFIN THEATER WITH A SIDE OF LAUGHTER

Find your Grail, along with a bevy of inept knights, a vacuous king, a killer rabbit, and taunting Frenchmen as the musical comedy Spamalot takes the stage at the Ruffin Theatre in Covington, Tennessee beginning March 2nd.

Lovingly “ripped off” from the classic 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical will delight not only diehard fans of Monty Python, but also audiences of all ages.

With book and lyrics by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame and music by John Du Prez, and based on the original screenplay of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, Spamalot is a hilarious retelling of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they haphazardly search for the Holy Grail amidst a symphony of odd and silly characters that is guaranteed to serve up an evening of laughter and fun.

Serving as a departure from their usual fare presented at the Historic Ruffin Theatre in the square in Covington, Spamalot represents a broadening of the scale and scope of the type of content the presented by The Tipton Arts Council. Director Rick Perry and his production team have taken on the task of presenting a large-scale musical that can be enjoyed on many levels by a multitude of theatre-goers, tackling modern themes while keeping Spamalot solidly family-friendly and surprisingly intimate despite the large cast.

Spamalot features Tim Brown as King Arthur, Becca Lipscomb as The Lady of the Lake, James Cacy as Sir Lancelot, Steve Rhodehamel as Sir Robin, Jay Perry as Sir Galahad, Mike Murphy as Sir Bedevere, Roman Ziegler as Patsy. Also in the cast are Jeremy Armstrong, Rodger Beasley, Rachel Brown, Megan Bryant, Austin Cacy, Ava Christopher, Jacob Christopher, Aric Delaschmit, Frank Deslauriers, Ethan Figgins, Michael Guetschow, Bryan Huffman, Robyn Medeiros, Joe Moore, Rebecca Moore, Keith Moschitta, Emily Porter, Luke Smith, Madelyn Taylor, J.D. White, Rheanne Williams, Justin Word, and Aubrey Zurhellen. It is directed by Rick Perry, with costume design by Tim Brown, scenic design by James Cacy, choreography by Aubrey Zurhellen, and music direction by April Mackey.

Spamalot runs March 2nd & 3rd, 9th & 10th, and 16th & 17th at 7:00 PM at the Ruffin Theatre, 113 W. Pleasant, Covington, TN. Tickets are $10 each and can be obtained at www.ruffin.theater or at the theater box office before the show.

 

You can follow the historic Ruffin Theater on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/TheRuffinTheater/

 

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“A Dickens Of A Christmas”- Our Visit To Franklin, TN

Dec25
by on December 25, 2017 at 9:41 am
Posted In: Blog

 
Earlier this month my wife and I made our annual trip up to Nashville to catch the Predators play hockey at Bridgestone Arena.

The Preds were playing the Las Vegas Golden Knights for the first time on Friday, December 8th. It was an exciting game, but we didn’t get a win (or even free Wendy’s Frostys). The team got a point for the overtime/shootout, and we got a great surprise the next day…

Nicki did a search for places near our hotel for breakfast. She found a few, but one a little bit further out in downtown Franklin, TN really peaked my curiosity- The Frothy Monkey! It was only a few minutes drive, and traffic was pretty light. We really liked the look of the downtown area- reminded us of more yuppie/less hippie cleaner Midtown Memphis. We noticed one of the streets near The Frothy Monkey was blocked off, and we saw lots of tents lining the street and even some folks walking around in Victorian style costumes. We drove down a few side streets until we could find a place to park. It was around the corner and up a bit, but not too far of a drive.

The weather was VERY cold that morning, and the Monkey was packed. Didn’t see any open tables to sit (other than outside in the cold), but did notice a staircase. We got in line and placed our breakfast order and went upstairs to wait. We both got a large Mexican Hot Chocolate to drink. It hit the spot, and had a bit of a kick.

  

The upstairs area had plenty of seating. Most folks were sitting in a large side room, but there was only a few in the section to the right we sat in. Downstairs they gave us a table number/letter shaped like a ‘K’ monkey, and while we were waiting in line Nicki bought me a Frothy Monkey button and coffee mug. It came with a bag of “Festivus” coffee.

We both ordered the “Bob” (2 whole grain pancakes, house-made syrup, choice of 2 sides- $8.50). Nicki got eggs over easy with fruit, and I got scrambled eggs and sausage. It was just what was needed for such a cold morning.

After we finished breakfast we walked up the block back to where we had seen the street festival going on. It was packed with vendors on either side and lots of attendees walking, shopping, and talking. I recognized a couple of the artist vendors from the River Arts Fest in Memphis, TN this fall. I didn’t see any signage to point out to clueless out of town folks like myself just exactly what festival this was. Finally I stopped and asked one of the ladies in costume what we had stumbled across. She replied with a smile, “A Dickens Of A Christmas!” Well, that made a lot of sense..!

 

We saw lots of Father Christmas (and Mother Christmas)- each with extremely detailed costumes, which looked much warmer than what we were wearing!

 

There were folks playing bells in front of a church, there were town criers, and we encountered a Jacob Marley and the chains he forged in life!

  

We saw several street musicians and street performers, and even the local police officers got into the act!

 

Actually, everywhere you looked folks were getting in on the act- and we were feeling under-dressed, and not just because of the biting cold wind..! Oh, and lots of delicious food smells were in the air as we strolled down their main street.

It seemed to go on forever, and even when we got to the town square with the large Christmas tree we saw more vendors and visitors down each of the side streets.

  

It was a very family friendly event, even for the four legged members of the family. You may want to bundle up some of the less thick furred ones- especially when it gets as cold as that weekend did.

I really would love to attend this festival again, but I also want to go back just to visit this theater and many of the shops, galleries, and restaurants we saw while wandering the streets of downtown Franklin, TN.

If you’re in the middle Tennessee area I highly recommend checking out The Dickens Of A Christmas celebration and many of the other events happening in Franklin, TN– it’s worth the drive!

I hope you all have safe travels, stay warm, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Lin

 

Downtown Franklin website- downtownfranklintn.com

The Frothy Monkey website- frothymonkey.com

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What am I up to..? Giving away a sketchcover!

Oct15
by on October 15, 2017 at 12:08 am
Posted In: Blog

Hey gang, I know- long time no post.

I did do some traveling this summer, but with long, hot days at the day job I haven’t been blogging like I should. I did start a few drafts of some of my traveling adventures, but will post them soon in future Flashback Friday blogs. Hit several shows and took lots of pics. Today I’m going to do a bit of cross-promoting and talk more about my art and something special coming up.

If you check out my art site LinWorkman.com you can see that I have been doing some drawing over the summer- mostly sketchovers.

I love working on them, and have a few for sale at Comic Cellar  in Memphis, TN and will have more available there soon after they move to their new (and bigger) location at the end of this month.

  

I hand-draw the art on blank comic covers (they have a white background with the masthead/logo on the front) in pencil, markers, and ink. Each one is a unique work of art, and many I draw wrap around from front to back.

Well, here’s some good news news (and I know we all could use more of that these days)- I’m going to be giving one away for FREE with to help celebrate the 4th anniversary of the Comic Book Central podcast. Be sure to listen to the show’s host Joe Stuber to find out more info on which character(s) from this past year’s CBC interviews will be featured on the wrap-around sketchcover, and how you could win it for yourself. Joe mentions me and this upcoming contest towards the end of Episode #196.

It’s not hard to find the CBC lair. Just go to iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, or to the show’s website- comicbookcentral.net

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy checking out Comic Book Central. I listen to it all the time while working in my Batcave studio, and have been while working on this giveaway!

Type at ya later,

Lin

PS- I’ll give you a hint…it’s none of the sketchcovers I’ve shown here. 😉

 

*UPDATED!

I can now show you what the giveaway sketchcover looks like..!

You can see how I did it over on my art site – LinWorkman.com

Check out Ep.197 of Comic Book Central to learn how you can enter to win my sketchcover!

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Hitting The Pavement For Free Comic Book Day 2017

May07
by on May 7, 2017 at 5:42 pm
Posted In: Blog

Free Comic Book Day 2017 has come and gone. My wife Nicki and I had a blast spending the day geeking out around the Memphis area all day yesterday.

I put on my Rorschach costume, and Nicki put on her Wonder Woman tee, necklace, and Chucks. We headed out early that morning and stopped by the donut shop near us for some quick breakfast before driving up to Memphis.

We stopped by Comics & Collectibles on Poplar Ave. first. Normally when we get there around their normal opening time of 10am there’s a line out the door. This year they opened up at 6am! Didn’t want to get up that early so we figured we’d shoot for 8am. When we drove up there were no people or even cars in front of the shop. We thought the shop was closed until we saw a girl walk out carrying a bag with her. Apparently they had opened up this early before and it helped make the morning rush much more manageable. There were a couple other folks that pulled up right after us, and the folks we knew who were already there had parked in the side parking lot.

We said hi to friends, picked out our FCBD books, and did some shopping. You could get one free FCBD comic for just showing up, and if you purchase $5.00 or more in merchandice you are entitled to one of each they had available- and there was A LOT to choose from! They also had a 20% off sale on merch.

Since the crowd was kinda light during that time it didn’t take us a long time to shop or pay. That was great, but we didn’t see any cosplayers or run into as many friends as we normally do there. There were families there, so that was great to see kids picking out comics with their parents.

Jason at Comic Cellar (on Austin Peay) had invited us to set up at his shop. We were scheduled to be there at 10am, and were done at Comics and Collectibles shortly after 9am. We had a lot of time to kill so we stopped by the bank for me to pick up some change, and then slid by Target to check out the toy, movie, and geek sections. Didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without, so we grabbed some Starbucks on the way out and headed to our next stop.

Was going to try to slide by 901 Comics in midtown, but wasn’t sure about their hours.

Had thought about trying to hit Jupiter Comics while we were out that way to go to the bank, but wasn’t sure what time they would open, and we just didn’t have time enough to get to Collierville and back out to Raliegh by 10am. Glad we didn’t- Jupiter closed that location and is currently opening a Jupiter 2.0 shop even further out in Moscow, TN. Supposed to be a much bigger space with more to offer like a cafe, arcade, bigger gaming space, and mini-golf. They had to skip FCBD this year, and looks like they  are open weekends only right now. I will make the trip out and do a review once it’s fully open.

We made it out to Comic Cellar on time and got set up in the front of the store. I brought some tees to sell and some “Bushi Tales” comics and promo postcards to give away. I recently was cleaning out the garage and found TONS of the comics, so I thought I’d make room in the garage and celebrate FCBD by giving away some of my overstock.

Whenever someone walked up and got one comic, I told them that the rule is the comics are free but you have to pick up at least one of each of ALL three issues! They would laugh and agree, and then I would tell them to enjoy them, and if they didn’t- well, at least they got their money’s worth. 😉

I really wish print-on-demand was better and faster back when we were doing the BT comics..!

The shop would allow customers to pick out up to 5 FCBD comics for attending. They had lots of other freebies (like buttons and other comics), $1 and $.50 comics, and lots of trade paper backs, graphic novels, and comic bundles on sale at various discounted prices.

  

I brought a Star Wars sketchcover to work on, and Nicki was there to motivate me to keep drawing and giving away comics. Got to talk to a lot of friends, and met some new folks. (Got some good news from Jason I hope to be able to share soon.) 😉

  

Another local artist, Charles Ettinger (president of the MSCA/Mid-South Cartoonists Association) was set up next to us. He was selling some of his art prints and doing sketches for fans.

I worked with Charles waaaaaay back in the late ’80s and again briefly in the ’90s doing t-shirts, along with long time friend and fellow MSCA member Greg Cravens. It’s hard to believe we’ve become the “old guys” in the club.

  

I took a break and did some shopping for trades and comics. Paid for my pull list comics in our hold box, and picked out a few FCBD comics I had missed at Comics and Collectibles earlier.

The shop normally opens up at noon on Saturday’s, but the doors opened at 10am yesterday. There was a good constant flow of traffic in the shop. Lots of people in cool comic themed tees, hats, and hoodies, but didn’t see any other cosplayers while we were there, which was very unusual for a FCBD. 🙁

Comic Cellar and Comics and Collectibles are where I get most of my sketchcovers, and Comic Cellar has some finished ones for sale up by the register, including several of mine.

Charles Ettinger has some of his covers for sale there as well. He’s got a fun cartoon style.

After I got home last night I saw on Facebook that someone had bought my K-2SO sketchcover after I had left the shop! Always good to see that folks like them.

I changed out of my costume and we left a little after 2pm and headed back down south. We grabbed a bite to eat at Pyro’s Pizza, and then headed up the street to see “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2“.

  

Of course we had to get our Guardians popcorn bucket and cup with topper. Unfortunately for me they had run out of Groot and Rocket, but Nicki got a Gamora topper. We really enjoyed the movie. I think I liked the first one better, but this one was a lot of fun and had some great moments- especially those with Rocket, Groot, and Yondu/”Space-Merle”. The ones between Drax and Mantis were hhilarious, too. Lots of great cameos and guest stars, and stay through the credits- there are 5 additional scenes and lots of goofiness during the credits.

After the movie we stopped by Books-A-Million in Southaven on our way home. I picked up Nicki a small birthday present I had been looking for, and found a “Justice League/Suicide Squad” comic for me. They’ve moved from their old location towards the back of the Southaven Towne Center Mall up to the front in the old Hancock Fabrics location at Airways and Goodman. They have a great selection of Funko POP!s.

I picked up several FCBD books. Really looking forward to reading the Boom/Mouse Guard, TMNT, Dr. Who, Tick, WW, Guardians, CBLDF, Buffy, and Colorful Monsters issues.

The comics I bought at both stores- a few from my hold box and a few comics off the rack including a few new sketchcovers.

These are the trade paperbacks I bought on sale. There were LOTS to choose from, but didn’t have these in my collection. Had somehow missed the Dan Brereton one in the middle when it originally came out. Have the single issues of “Batman: The Cult“, but couldn’t resist a TPB of Bernie Wrightson‘s Batman work. Have been collecting Iron Fist and Heroes For Hire TPBs for a while now.

Nicki picked up several trades and comics, as well as a Streaky The Cat plush doll.

I bought two toys on sale- a Play Arts Rorschach action figure and a Funko Iron Fist POP! action figure. I bought a few other things, but they are birthday presents for Nicki and I can’t “show & tell” them yet. I ordered her main birthday present a while back and it said it would ship in time, but just in case I wanted to have a back-up plan.

Free Comic Book Day happens every year on the first Saturday in May all over North America and in several countries. The comics are free for fans and each shop celebrates differently and has different hours. If you missed this year’s FCBD then definitely make plans to attend and shop at your local comic book shop(s). And spend a few dollars while you’re there. The comics and goodies may be free for us fans, but the retailers have to pay for them. Show them you appreciate them supporting Free Comic Book Day by showing some support for them in return.

Thanks again to all the retailers, and to Jason and Comic Cellar for inviting us out. Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Lin

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