On Saturday, we went into Bristol with the intention of going to Grillstock for the day. A few days before hand, we realised (read: the boyfriend told me) the Bristol Comic Expo was in town on the same weekend. We realised we could quite easily go to both, as the expo started and finished earlier in the day than Grillstock did. And then the other half asked me why the name Anne Stokes was ringing a bell, as she was one of the guests at the expo. Once I finished squeeing at a pitch normally reserved for non-human hearing, it was decided we absolutely definitely had to go.
And it was awesome. I got to meet Anne Stokes and get a bunch of stuff signed by her. (And if you're not familiar with Anne Stokes, go check out her artwork on her website by clicking here. No, seriously, go now. This post will still be here when you get back.) She was very tolerant of me and my extreme fan-girl-ness. I have two amazing new signed prints to hang up on the walls, and a gorgeous dragon pendant that will no doubt become my favourite necklace ever.
We had a great walk around the expo, got to talk to a lot of cool people, see some amazing costumes (even had the kiddo pose with a stormtrooper and a clonetrooper for a photo!), and get some amazing stuff. I picked up an awesome print of Chel and Wheatley facing up against a dragon (I know it makes no sense, but it combines two of my favourite things, so that makes it awesome) from ReaperWorks. I also was introduced to a brilliant artist, Jess Bradley. Her stuff must be seen. (That's a hint that Jess's website is another one of those that you must go look at right now, and this post will still be here when you come back.)
The other major highlight of our time at the expo was meeting Mark Buckingham. For those of you who don't have a clue what that name means, he's an artist - in fact, the artist of one of my favourite graphic novel series, Fables. I not only got to have two of my books signed by him, but we got to sit and listen to him talk about various Fables and The Unwritten stuff in a panel straight afterward. He's a really nice guy, and it was a real pleasure meeting him.
Now, you may notice something missing from this post: pictures! I'm sorry, I meant to sit down and take a bunch of photos of all the stuff from the day, but haven't gotten around to it yet due to other life stuff. Pictures will be coming soon! Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Diablo: the game and its comic counterpart
Sometimes I write articles for the Proud Lion blog. Most recently, I wrote an article comparing the five-part comic series based on Diablo, and the popular game that inspired it. To check it out, click me!
You can check out the main blog by clicking me instead!
You can check out the main blog by clicking me instead!
Friday, 14 September 2012
Awesomeness: xkcd, GU comics
This week's awesomeness is brought to you by xkcd and GU Comics.
Simply put, xkcd is an amazing webcomic that focuses on pretty much everything that says "geek", including maths, language, computers, gaming, science, and so on. Oh, and it's also entirely drawn with stick figures.
The beauty of its limited, simplistic art is that the content of the comic has to be that much better. The humour of it must stand for itself, rather than relying on pretty images to carry it to the next page. I will admit, there are sometimes jokes that go right over my head - quite a few of the science ones, and the more hard-to-grasp maths ones - but most of them can be enjoyed by just about anybody. There's also the occasional romantic page, which helps balance the overall feel of the comic quite nicely.
Oh, and don't forget to hover your mouse over the strip itself to get additional commentary and jokes.
Moving on to GU Comics! This one, interestingly, I've not been aware of particularly long. I love gaming, I love comics (well, certain comics are not good friends with me, but that's not really the point here...). Yet it took me ages to become aware of this one, which focuses entirely on popular video games, the game industry, and the gaming community.
While reading the various pages, I find myself nodding with some, grinning at others, and genuinely laughing out loud at a few. Then I find myself nodding yet again when I read the blog posts that accompany each page. All in all, it's a great place for game enthusiasts to read a good comic and some clear opinions about the industry.
That's it for this week! More awesomeness to follow next Friday.
Simply put, xkcd is an amazing webcomic that focuses on pretty much everything that says "geek", including maths, language, computers, gaming, science, and so on. Oh, and it's also entirely drawn with stick figures.
The beauty of its limited, simplistic art is that the content of the comic has to be that much better. The humour of it must stand for itself, rather than relying on pretty images to carry it to the next page. I will admit, there are sometimes jokes that go right over my head - quite a few of the science ones, and the more hard-to-grasp maths ones - but most of them can be enjoyed by just about anybody. There's also the occasional romantic page, which helps balance the overall feel of the comic quite nicely.
Oh, and don't forget to hover your mouse over the strip itself to get additional commentary and jokes.
Moving on to GU Comics! This one, interestingly, I've not been aware of particularly long. I love gaming, I love comics (well, certain comics are not good friends with me, but that's not really the point here...). Yet it took me ages to become aware of this one, which focuses entirely on popular video games, the game industry, and the gaming community.
While reading the various pages, I find myself nodding with some, grinning at others, and genuinely laughing out loud at a few. Then I find myself nodding yet again when I read the blog posts that accompany each page. All in all, it's a great place for game enthusiasts to read a good comic and some clear opinions about the industry.
That's it for this week! More awesomeness to follow next Friday.
Friday, 8 June 2012
Awesomeness of the Week
It's not the greatest title, but it'll do until I can think of anything better. There are so many awesome things on the internet, and I want to be able to share them with anyone who has not yet discovered them. You may find them just as awesome, you might hate them, but they will still be here. So let's get started, shall we?
Ctrl+Alt+Del
This is a webcomic I've been following for quite some time. What I love about it is that the author doesn't stick to strictly gag-of-the-week humour. He often has long-running plot lines, even if they are incredibly over the top and ridiculous (talking penguin, anyone?). He also is not afraid to take the comic to hard places, as he showed when one of the main characters suffered a miscarriage. I remember that particular strip as one of enormous impact, largely due to the lack of any dialogue in that page whatsoever.
That said, most pages are aimed to entertain, and he usually succeeds. The current storyline sees Ethan, who is normally off-his-head crazy, suffering a concussion due to electrocuting himself. The result has made him into a perfectly normal guy - possibly the strangest thing this comic has ever seen - and turned his housemate Lucas and his wife Lilah into... well, crazy-Ethans. The switch is, in my opinion, highly amusing, especially when Ethan's only aid comes from his talking X-Box.
Ravelry
This one is aimed at anyone who likes knitting or crocheting. Ravelry is an enormous website designed to help people find patterns, yarns, and like-minded people online. It's such a simple description, but I promise you the site is so much more than that. Just about every published pattern you can think of is listed somewhere in Ravelry's database. Many of them are free, many of them are available to download straight off the site instantly. You can purchase some patterns from Ravelry directly, or if the pattern can't be gotten from the site, they can at least tell you where to find it. It also has a massive database of yarns. Got a question about the particular thickness of a yarn? Not sure if it will work for the pattern you have in mind? Look up the yarn in the database, and check out other people's comments about it. Doing this has saved me from using a beautiful yarn that falls apart as soon as it's knitted, amongst other mistakes. It's also introduced me to new yarns to look out for.
But beyond the incredible database, is the amazing community. There are millions of Ravelers, as some call them, from all over the world. The forums are constantly active, which is brilliant when you have a question or need help with something. There are smaller groups to join as well, such as Nerdy Knitters, or groups aimed at people in particular local areas. You can find just about anything in the forums - and the few things that aren't there already won't take long to be discovered and discussed! If you have any interest at all in the world of knit and/or crochet, go have a look. You'll love it, I hope.
That's it for this week's awesomeness!
Ctrl+Alt+Del
This is a webcomic I've been following for quite some time. What I love about it is that the author doesn't stick to strictly gag-of-the-week humour. He often has long-running plot lines, even if they are incredibly over the top and ridiculous (talking penguin, anyone?). He also is not afraid to take the comic to hard places, as he showed when one of the main characters suffered a miscarriage. I remember that particular strip as one of enormous impact, largely due to the lack of any dialogue in that page whatsoever.
That said, most pages are aimed to entertain, and he usually succeeds. The current storyline sees Ethan, who is normally off-his-head crazy, suffering a concussion due to electrocuting himself. The result has made him into a perfectly normal guy - possibly the strangest thing this comic has ever seen - and turned his housemate Lucas and his wife Lilah into... well, crazy-Ethans. The switch is, in my opinion, highly amusing, especially when Ethan's only aid comes from his talking X-Box.
Ravelry
This one is aimed at anyone who likes knitting or crocheting. Ravelry is an enormous website designed to help people find patterns, yarns, and like-minded people online. It's such a simple description, but I promise you the site is so much more than that. Just about every published pattern you can think of is listed somewhere in Ravelry's database. Many of them are free, many of them are available to download straight off the site instantly. You can purchase some patterns from Ravelry directly, or if the pattern can't be gotten from the site, they can at least tell you where to find it. It also has a massive database of yarns. Got a question about the particular thickness of a yarn? Not sure if it will work for the pattern you have in mind? Look up the yarn in the database, and check out other people's comments about it. Doing this has saved me from using a beautiful yarn that falls apart as soon as it's knitted, amongst other mistakes. It's also introduced me to new yarns to look out for.
But beyond the incredible database, is the amazing community. There are millions of Ravelers, as some call them, from all over the world. The forums are constantly active, which is brilliant when you have a question or need help with something. There are smaller groups to join as well, such as Nerdy Knitters, or groups aimed at people in particular local areas. You can find just about anything in the forums - and the few things that aren't there already won't take long to be discovered and discussed! If you have any interest at all in the world of knit and/or crochet, go have a look. You'll love it, I hope.
That's it for this week's awesomeness!
Friday, 4 May 2012
Tomorrow: Free Comic Book Day!
Yep, it's that time again! Tomorrow marks this year's Free Comic Book Day! Wherever you are, whatever you do... wait, I sound like I'm going to break into song...
Anyway. Tomorrow, look for the nearest local comic shop and show your support! Each shop will probably have their own rules, but what it boils down to is completely free comic books. I personally will be showing my support for Proud Lion in Cheltenham, where there will be live music and awards for people in cosplay. There are a lot of different comics in the selection this year, from Peanuts to Transformers to Avengers to MouseGuard to... well, you get the idea. There truly is something for everybody, so please, please find the time to help out local comic shop owners!
Anyway. Tomorrow, look for the nearest local comic shop and show your support! Each shop will probably have their own rules, but what it boils down to is completely free comic books. I personally will be showing my support for Proud Lion in Cheltenham, where there will be live music and awards for people in cosplay. There are a lot of different comics in the selection this year, from Peanuts to Transformers to Avengers to MouseGuard to... well, you get the idea. There truly is something for everybody, so please, please find the time to help out local comic shop owners!
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