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I love that the Jeb Bush bio comic has a page dedicated to Skull & Bones secret society!

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"And boom goes the dynamite. Deadpool wins!"

Comic-Con Recap: Toys, Comics, & Cool Kids
words and photos: Bonnie Burton

So you've already seen all the Star Wars stuff I loved at Comic-Con 2008, but I also got giddy over comics, monster toys, geeky t-shirts, cute boys, costumes, celeb sightings, art and even corsets. Here's my recap of all the other stuff that made me smile.


Jessica and the Emily Strange booth
Let me start off by saying a big Jessica groupie. Every time I see her at a convention I get all happy and excited. She's always fun to chat with, and she makes the Emily Strange booth the coolest place to hang out. You just feel hipper by proxy. Also I love Emily Strange stuff, and when I'm old and gray, I'm still going to wear all my Emily stuff. It's so obvious that my fellow Lucasfilm employees were nicknaming it the Bonnie Strange booth.


Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's
Last year was Jane's first Comic-Con, so I'm glad she had so much fun she decided to come back. She's dressed as her comic book character Lady Robotika. Jane is a blast to hang out with. She always has fun wherever she is. Jane was a presenter for the Eisner Awards so I help hook her up with the 501st Legion so she could get a stormtrooper escort to the stage. I can't wait to hang with her the next time I'm in Los Angeles.

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I've been to more comic book and sci-fi conventions than I can count. I rarely turn down the chance to spend the weekend geeking out with fellow comic book fans, writers and artists, so on Sunday, May 18, I attended San Jose Super-Con 2008. Plus I got to geek out with some rather awesome geek icons -- Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin, actor/author Wil Wheaton, Bongo Comics Creative Director Bill Morrison and Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan.

As far as conventions go, must admit I had a lot of fun! For once I got to be at a convention that wasn't uber-crowded with smelly, noisy, rude, obnoxious fans. Super-Con was more like what Alternative Press Expo and WonderCon used to be before all the corporate guys discovered it. I got to have full conversations with artists like Adam Hughes and Allison Sohn about their Star Wars art, and with pinup artist Jim Silke about his illustrations of the rare photos in his new book Bettie Page Rules.


(Photos by Bonnie Burton)
Jane Wiedlin’s new comic Lady Robotika and posing with Yoda and Predator!

As always, I had a blast hanging out with Go-Go's guitarist and geek goddess Jane Wiedlin! She and Bongo Comics Creative Director Bill Morrison were at the con to promote her upcoming comic Lady Robotika which is about Jane being "abducted by aliens and transformed into a sexy cyborg superhero!" For Jane's birthday, the Super-Con folks had a Lady Robotika cake decorated for her, which they presented at the end of her Q&A session. I also gave Jane a little Yoda doll for her birthday, since I know how much she loves that Jedi Master.


(Photos by Bonnie Burton)
Bill Morrison poses with his velvet Krusty portrait, and his comic Roswell.

Bill Morrison also had this fantastic velvet painting he made of Krusty the Clown wearing an Elvis-inspired Las Vegas jumpsuit -- truly a thing of beauty! Being a die-hard Simpsons fan (I'm the dork who listens to all the commentary tracks on The Simpsons DVD box sets), it's such a thrill for me to see Bill's work. I mean, the guy is an amazing writer and artist for "The Simpsons," "Futurama," and his own comic creation Roswell for crying out loud!


(Photo by Bonnie Burton)
Actor/Author/Web Celeb Wil Wheaton reads from his book The Happiest Days of Our Lives at the San Jose Super-Con comic book convention.

Another highlight of convention for me had to be finally watching actor and author Wil Wheaton read from his latest book: The Happiest Days of Our Lives. In a chapter about conventions, Wil told the crowd about some rather memorable and hilarious events attending cons as a kid and as a Star Trek actor. He also read his "Star Trek: The Next Generation" review of "Datalore" that he wrote for TV Squad which had everyone in hysterics. When you see Wil run around the stage as Wesley Crusher screaming "Weeeeeeeeee!" you can't help but be entertained. Fans will be excited to hear that he's publishing all his "Star Trek: TNG" reviews from TV Squad in two books! Yay!


(Photo by Bonnie Burton)

Wil also answered questions from fans during Q&A about his favorite episodes on "Star Trek: TNG" and why he wishes his character had more of a chance to show his angsty side like a normal teen. He also chatted about how much fun it is to play evil and crazy characters on TV shows like "C.S.I." and "Numb3rs," as opposed to the usual nice guy roles. Of course, Wil also had plenty to say about Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, acting and writing.

Do yourself a favor and go see Wil Wheaton speak at conventions and book signings near you. The guy is beyond entertaining and is super-nice to his fans. In fact, I was lucky enough to get him to chit chat with me about "Trekked" out hybrid cars at his booth while he signed all three of his books for me, and gave me a book of Star Trek: The Manga for one of my buddies!


(Photo by Bonnie Burton)
Actor/Author/Web Celeb Wil Wheaton has torrents at San Jose Super-Con comic book convention.

Wil is one of those guys who not only loves to write about geek pop culture culture, but lives it. He had an online radio show -- Radio Free Burrito -- long before podcasting was the norm. His work with the Video Toaster 4000 was nothing short of revolutionary for would-be mobie makers. He had a blog long before everyone else, and his books read like a primer on all the cool things we love -- roleplaying and arcade games, sci-fi books and films, and so on. He's a true geek in the best possible sense of the word. Plus his Star Wars stories are hilarious. Be sure to read his story about Star Wars action figures here: "Blue Light Special."

In fact, it was his blog that motivated me to write my first book Never Threaten To Eat Your Co-Workers: Best of Blogs. Wil gave me permission to republish his essays "Spare Us The Cutter," "Reflections - Artificial Sweetener," and "When the Waiter Came" for the book anthology. I also interviewed him about why he loves to blog, in an interview for my book as well. While my first book wasn't a huge success, I thought it was pretty dang cool of Wil to take the time to answer my questions and offer his help. So thanks, Wil Wheaton. You rock!


(Photo by Bonnie Burton)
Bongo Comics plus Gypsy, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo!

Other highlights of Super-Con included spotting the Mystery Science Theater 3000 robots and saying howdy to Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan, seeing Jorge Garcia (Hurley from "Lost") and of course hanging out with Bill, Jane, Adam, Allison and my pal Kate afterwards at the hotel bar drinking Cucumber Martinis.

Check out my photos San Jose Super-Con 2008 here!

(C) 2008 R. Stevens -- from DieselSweeties.com

Artist R. Stevens dedicates his #1977 numbered strip of "Diesel Sweeties" to a Star Wars debate some of us hold near to our hearts --
Why didn't Chewie get a medal at the end of A New Hope?

Ironically, the girl who loves Wookiees just so happens to be my Diesel Sweeties Doppelgänger!!!
No, really -- see for yourself.

Check out the Star Wars debate on Diesel Sweeties.

I've been obsessed lately with the evolution of Transmedia storytelling -- storytelling across multiple forms of media like Web sites, blogs, zines, video games, comics, TV, film, and so on. Great examples of this include "Lost," "Alias," "Heroes," and Cloverfield. Shouldn't be a shocker that J.J. Abrams is big on this kind of storytelling. And of course, so is Lucasfilm. Expanded Universe is exactly what transmedia is -- we have Star Wars movies, comics, video games, novels, toys, role-playing games, fan films, and soon TV. And it will be exciting to see what we do next online as well.

Recently TV producer, writer, and all-around cool creative guy Jesse Alexander came to our work for a lecture on Transmedia and how to have fun with it to further the story. His talk not only inspired our group to brainstorm some exciting new ideas for online, but it jumpstarted a few old ideas I had bouncing around about projects outside of Lucasfilm I'd like to get started on -- a comic for one, and another screenplay for another. So I'm excited to get started on it. Jesse also reminded me that anything really is possible if you just go for it and stop second guessing your chances.

Case in point, he recently wrote in his blog -- The Global Couch -- about a friend of his -- Javier Grillo-Marxuach -- who had a great idea for a movie. It had secret agents, robots, aliens and talking monkeys. Sounds rad, right? Well, he had a tough time convincing his agents that it was worth pitching as a film or TV show, so he shelved it and went back to work writing for "Lost."

But then he couldn't help but tinker with it more and more and more and decided to go for it anyway. So he made it into a comic called The Middle Man and got a publisher interested. And ya know what? It got a good following and great reviews. He hired a girl to dress up as his main character and walk around Comic-Con to promote the comic. He created buzz on his blog. He put up art and kept his fans interested. And eventually, he had a property that his agents couldn't argue with. And he just sold the comic idea for a TV show on ABC Family. So yeah, he did it.

And now I'm thinking, what the hell am I waiting for? I need to get my act together and get my comic book idea out of my head and on to paper. I need to convince one of my artist pals to join forces with me and make it rock. I need to just freaking do it already. And so I am.

Comics, zines, crafts, art, UFO propaganda, renegade robots and fighting monsters
were in abundance at the Alternative Press Expo 2007 in San Francisco this weekend.

Here are the APE 2007 highlights:
+ Kaiju Big Battel!
+ A ton of cute t-shirts like the "You're My Bitch" coffee cup!
+ My favorite artist Brandon Bird was in attendance, and selling some awesome prints!
(I bought prints of his Rod Stewart Clone trooper and SEGA Harrison Ford!)
+ Another favorite artist of mine -- Shawn Barber -- showed off his latest art, painted on the spot and gave us a glimpse at his brand-new tattoo from Ms. Kat Von D.
+ Said hi to the talented Gloomcookie and Nightmares and Fairy Tales creator Serena Valentino! Be sure to read her blog here: bratty_princess
+ Shook hands with monsters and robots!
+ Met Crater on the Moon comics publisher Keith Curtis as he was doing his best 300 impression.
+ Bought really cool clothes including a geeky-cute sweater from Toxic Peache!
+ Met a new talented artist Joshua Ellingson -- who I hope I'll be seeing more great stuff from soon!

Check out my Flickr blog here of the event: APE 2007