Follow the Leader: Episode 105: Holiday Traditions - Old and New!

Redartz: Merry Christmas to one and all! May you enjoy a day of rest, fun, peace, and fellowship with family and friends. Eat, drink and be merry; and if you have a moment to spare, share a thought or two. Unlike the grocery stores in our collective youth, we'll stay open Christmas Day...

Follow the Leader: Episode 104: Unwanted Festive Tunes!

Martinex1:  With all of the necessary Bronze Age fanfare...let's get today's Follow the Leader started!

I am sure somebody out there in the BitBA team has a great topic, so pipe in and let's converse!

Follow the Leader: Episode 103: Your Favorite Bronze Age Comic Events!

Redartz:  Hi gang! Welcome to another Tuesday reunion of Bronze age veterans. Once again I'm going to regale you with a recent experience before turning over the mike to you (hope you'll humor me). 

Last weekend I attended the Louisville Supercon; thought you might like a brief report. This was actually one of the best conventions I've experienced. My interest was piqued initially by the solid list of classic creators: Neal Adams, Jim Shooter, Mark Bagley, Bob McCloud, Keith Giffen, Mike Grell, Bob Hall, Al Milgrom, Mike DeCarlo and Jose Delbo.  The 'artists alley' was busy but well organized, hardly any wait for anyone. And kudos to the creators; they were all generous with their time. I had particularly nice conversations with :

Al Milgrom,  who was amused to see a drawing he did for me in 1975 that I brought along; he commented about the change in  his signature...

 Jim Shooter , who discussed at some length his thoughts about the current comic industry. Among them, that the industry today has largely forgotten the fundamental necessity of giving the reader a complete story in an issue; using 'decompressed storytelling' to spread it out over numerous issues. At four dollars a pop, that asks much of the reader. I told him that I considered the comics from the mid 70's to mid 80's to be an apex of comics creativity. He gave high praise and credit to the creators he worked with , among them George Perez, Frank Miller, John Romita Sr, Gil Kane and Walt Simonson...

 Mike Grell (from whom I purchased a very cool drawing of Green Lantern). 

The convention's 3-day schedule was loaded with panels and activites. Of course much attention was given to other pop cultural areas as well, many celebrities from tv and film were there. Gaming, both video and table /rpg was popular.


 

 Cosplayers were everywhere, with some truly breathtaking costumes on display...

And of course there were numerous back issue dealers, and booksellers with tpb's. I picked up a few Christmas gifts , and a few goodies for myself.

Oh, and you could get  your photo taken with the Iron Giant; an amazingly BIG model in which you could pose for a charity benefit.  That was impressive. All told, it was a day well spent; one worth a return next year. 














 And now, we turn to you. What's on your mind this week?  

Follow the Leader: Episode 102: Calendars!

Martinex1:  It is Tuesday! It is Tuesday!  Time for Follow the Leader! Time for Follow the Leader!

I think you get the point... what will the topic be today?  Please get us started!

Comic book series?  Comic book characters?  Artists? Writers? Editors? Movies? Auteurs? Genres? Directors? Books? Novels? Television series? Actors? Food?  Amusement?  Culture?  Bronze Age?

All good times... let's get a discussion going?  Kick us off... and Cheers!