Midwest Comic Book Association’s Fall Con

Posted in Life Lately by

I’m grateful to be living in a place that has a strong geek presence. I became aware of this community when I started writing for Twin Cities Geek in the summer of 2015. Three years later, Twin Cities Geek has allowed me to become comfortable in this geek community. Every year, Twin Cities Geek tables at Midwest Comic Book Association (M.C.B.A)’s two comic-themed conventions; Spring Con & Fall Con. Last weekend was Fall Con and I had the pleasure of attending this volunteer-run convention.

[Image is a picture of a convention book and a badge. It says MCBA Fall Con 2018 - 30 years. It shows two superheroes with lightning coming out of their eyes holding up part of the sign]
MCBA Fall Con Guide & Pass

As I mentioned, this convention is run 100% by volunteers. This isn’t a for-profit show and the M.C.B.A. wants to highlight all of the Minnesota comic talent living and thriving in the Twin Cities area. This is a spending convention meaning it’s designed for people to show up, bring cash, and support local creators. However, I only brought $20 in cash, and I still left with two comics I’m looking forward to reading. You don’t need a lot of money to be able to support creators. $20 goes a long way.

An extra added bonus is the M.C.B.A. volunteers provide lunch to everyone who tables at the event. They always have hot dogs and pulled pork to share along with chocolate chip cookies and hot coffee. I gravitated to the hot coffee because I happened to be running on 4 hours of sleep. It’s especially appreciated by creators who are at their booths for hours. It’s easier to grab something quick to eat on site than to leave their booth to get food which risks losing sales.

Another nice feature of the con is the M.C.B.A. always gives away free stuff. They do raffles and draw tickets fairly often. In fact, when I received a ticket, it was automatically the winner. I could choose from coloring books, comics, and complete comic series. I ended up picking Spider-Gwen #2, Mockingbird #1, and Scarlet Witch #1. At Spring Con this year, I won a Lois Lane Bombshell figurine along with a graphic novel. It’s fun leaving the convention with free comics and comics I originally paid for.

A lot of my readers probably aren’t from the Minnesota or Midwest region of the U.S., however, if you are, this is a con you have to attend. Everyone is incredibly friendly and I have never had a negative geek experience at any of the M.C.B.A. conventions. I cannot wait for Spring Con to happen in May 2019.

Spider-Man: My Favorite Game of the Year

Posted in Gaming by

It’s been a while since I had been anxiously waiting for the release of a new video game. Now I can afford video games unlike when I was a college student. It wasn’t appealing to look forward to a video game I couldn’t afford. Gaming is an expensive hobby to maintain, but worth it for me. When I watched E3 footage of Insomniac’s Spider-Man, I was blown away. I am happy to say Spider-Man is amazing and it’s my favorite release of 2018.

Spider-Man takes place eight years after Peter Parker received his powers. He quit the Daily Bugle to do neurological research with Doctor Otto Octavius. He assists Aunt May with volunteering at F.E.A.S.T. which is a soup kitchen in Peter’s neighborhood. Finally, Peter is trying to maintain a friendship with his ex-girlfriend Mary Jane. Peter has experience fighting crime, but he has so much to learn with regard to maintaining great relationships.

The game begins with Spider-Man taking on Wilson Fisk aka. Kingpin. This is also the tutorial that demonstrates how to fight as Spider-Man. Learning the controls for Spider-Man’s combat was more difficult than I had thought it would be. He’s weak because he hasn’t been leveled up yet. Ultimately, Wilson Fisk is put behind bars, but a new crop of criminals arises known as The Demons. It’s clear The Demons have some sort of supernatural power because they emit black & white energy from their weapons and bodies. Over the course of the campaign, Peter has battled The Demons while also fighting many of his previous foes.

Being able to explore NYC as Spider-Man is fantastic. I had just visited NYC for the first time in August and I felt I was reliving the trip throughout this game. Another positive to Spider-Man is the story itself. I love the intro to Miles Morales and Mary Jane Watson. I wrote my thoughts about MJ in a separate post which I have linked in case you missed it. Miles Morales had a big role in this game and I was happy about it. If there ever is a sequel, I would love to see Spider-Gwen included, or even Silk.

I could go on forever about how much I adored this game, but I have to end this post. Spider-Man deserved a great video game and this game does him justice. I’m excited to hear there are 2-3 more DLCs planned for this game including one released at the end of this month starring Black Cat. Spider-Man by Insomniac Games was everything I wanted it to be.

October Bucket List

Posted in Uncategorized by

This is the moment I wait for all year: Halloween and the arrival of Fall. Everyone at my work knows how much I love Halloween and I keep ranting about how great Fall is. It’s gorgeous outside with a nice breeze in the air which means it’s time to break out the funky pattern rain boots and cozy cardigans. I wanted to set up an October / Halloween / Fall bucket list to keep me on track. This is a rather ambitious list so I’m not sure how much I will accomplish, but I wanted to keep myself organized during this Fall season. Check out my Fall To-Do List:

[Image is of me wearing a Jack O Lantern theme sweater]
Target has a super comfy & cute clothing line right now.
  • Watch the Classic Horror Movies! I own Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy.
  • Watch Rocky Horror Picture Show *the original* which I have also never seen before.
  • Visit an Apple Orchard
  • Attend a Halloween Costume Party
  • See the new Halloween movie in theaters
  • Carve a Pumpkin
  • Watch Nightmare Before Christmas on Netflix
  • Play a Horror Themed D&D campaign
  • Attend the Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl

What else do you want to accomplish in this spooky season? Once the season ends, I’ll publish a follow-up post to see how accomplishing my list went.

Trip to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival

Posted in Life Lately by

Last weekend, me and two of my friends went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This is my second Renaissance festival this year and even though I had to wait about an hour to get parked, this was my favorite Renaissance trip. Not only was it my friend’s birthday, but my other friend had never been to any Renaissance festival before. They both had a great experience filled with shopping, eating, and watching Fandazzi perform their annual fire show.

As I mentioned, the worst part about the Renaissance Fest is waiting to park the car. I saw more volunteers leading cars into the lot this year versus the other years I have attended. The line seemed to move quickly and I think it helped our group go on Sunday versus a Friday or Saturday.

[Image is of my friend, they are smiling wearing a cowboy hat]

Their first Renaissance Festival

[Image is of another friend wearing a fancy hat]
The Birthday Girl!

One of my favorite parts about the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is all the vendors. Unlike the Bristol Renaissance Festival, I think the Minnesota Ren Fest has cooler items to purchase. I purchased a leather cup holder for my coffee thermos and it looks like Cthulhu. It’s green and it has a huge octopus on it. It was an automatic purchase for me because as soon as I laid my eyes on it, I had to have it. I also purchased two necklaces: one is a Cthulhu/octopus carved into metal and the other is two unicorns joined on top of a purple gem. Renaissance festival jewelry always adds something unique to my closet and I like being able to wear geeky jewelry at work with my professional attire.

Part of the reason I attend the MN Ren Fest is to eat good food. Every time I go, I always order the chicken wild rice soup in a bread bowl. It’s filling and extremely satisfying. I also tried the calzone for the first time which wasn’t too bad. Finally, to finish off the day I drank an apple cider float with cinnamon ice cream. It’s way better than a root beer float.

Ultimately, the more I think about it, the more I prefer the Minnesota Renaissance Festival over the Bristol Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin. This is an event I try to attend every year even though I was unable to attend last year due to being overworked. I can’t wait to start wearing my new Cthulhu necklace to work. 😛

[Image is of me sitting on an Iron Throne replica from Game of Thrones]
Fighting for the Iron Throne

Marvel’s Spider-Man is flawless, especially with the addition of Mary Jane.

Posted in Gaming, Reading/Books by

The real reason I haven’t blogged in a week is that I have been too busy playing through the new Spider-Man game. My last post was entirely dedicated to my first impressions of the game which again, I can’t stop raving about how great this game is. One huge reason I’m enjoying the game is being able to play as Peter Parker, but also as Miles Morales and Mary Jane Watson. Mary Jane is an interesting addition to the game though some may not agree.

*Mild Spoilers for the upcoming Spider-Man game. Personally, these aren’t major spoilers, but if you want to be completely surprised, I would stop reading*

Mary Jane Watson is notably known as the hyper-sexualized, super-hot girlfriend of Peter Parker. Peter Parker is gawking over her in Sam Raimi’s trilogy which to me was boring to watch. I never liked Mary Jane’s character because she seemed too one-dimensional for me. If we are comparing comic book love interests for Peter Parker, I’m a Gwen Stacy fan myself.  Mary Jane in this game is smart, driven, and independent while her overall look is polished, professional, and put together compared to her comic book counterpart. All of these characteristics shown in the game are what Peter Parker needs in a potential girlfriend.

Six months before the game begins, Peter Parker and Mary Jane have broken up. We later find out it’s because of Peter Parker’s obsessiveness with protecting Mary Jane. On the one hand, I understand Peter’s point because Mary Jane doesn’t have superpowers or any fighting skills to protect herself. However, why should Mary Jane watch Spider-Man fly around and risk his life while she’s stuck behind a desk not investigating a potential story? I think a major flaw in Mary Jane’s character is how naive she can be. Many of her playable missions are her sneaking into a base with armed guards and trying not to get caught. That’s clearly a bad idea.

In fact, SyFy Wire wrote an article about how annoying Mary Jane is in the new game which was interesting to read. I personally liked her role, but I can respect where the writer is coming from. Again, she’s naive and that’s a serious character flaw for her. I’m glad that’s included though because it depicts Mary Jane as not being a perfect person which adds dimension to her character. In this article, a potential suggestion to make the new Spider-Man game better would be to cut Mary Jane out entirely and include Gwen Stacy instead. Maybe even make a Spider-Gwen reference? That would have been amazing.

Overall, I personally really enjoyed Mary Jane’s addition to the game. I like this portrayal of her and even though her decisions may not be the best, I think it gives me more of an understanding of her character and why she does the things she does. I’m interested to hear what any of you think about this. If you have played the Spider-Man game, do you find her incredibly obnoxious? Or are you a fan of her too?

Spider-Man PS4 First Impressions

Posted in Gaming by

This weekend I stayed at home playing video games and watching shows on Amazon Prime. For the past month or so, I had been gone almost every single weekend and the introvert in me just needed a recharge. The timing is perfect because I had pre-ordered the new Spider-Man game for PS4 made by Insomniac Games. I had never been more excited for a video game release in my life. I had seen E3 footage of the game and the way Spider-Man flew around NYC was breathtaking. I wanted to share my first impressions of the game since I’m a couple hours in. I will not be providing spoilers for the story, but if you are someone who wants to play the game without any knowledge about it, this blog post may not be for you.

One of my first impressions of the new Spider-Man game is the graphics. The city of NYC looks amazing and after visiting NYC a month ago, this game allows me to explore the “Big Apple” again. Spider-Man effortlessly glides through NYC allowing for him to travel to each neighborhood quickly. It takes getting used to swinging around the city, but after playing for a couple hours it becomes easier.

This game is detailed specifically with Spider-Man’s suits. There are numerous suits to unlock including his suit in Secret Wars, the wrestling suit and so many more. With each suit, I can craft mods to the suit which provide benefits for combat. One suit allows Spider-Man to build focus faster so he can heal quicker while another suit protects him from melee attacks. Besides suits, the game provides plenty of detail with its collectibles. One of my favorite collectible items so far is Spider-Man’s backpacks which contain clothes and other memorable items he has stashed with his webbing across the city. I won’t list what any of these items are, but they tell his story whether that’s growing up in high school, memorabilia from fighting villains, or Spider-Man merchandise. It’s been fun to collect the backpacks and hear Peter’s explanation of what they mean. As a Marvel fan, this adds to the experience of the game.

This post is only meant to list my first impressions of the game, so I don’t want to go into too much detail. Honestly, I’m loving every single minute of this game! Spider-Man deserves a great video game and I feel this is it. If you haven’t purchased the Spider-Man game and you have a PS4, you’re truly missing out on the ultimate comic book/video game experience.

Bristol Renaissance Faire + Uncovering Old Comics

Posted in Life Lately, Reading/Books by

Last weekend was Labor Day weekend signifying the end of summer and beginning of fall. I usually don’t do a whole lot for Labor Day, but this year was an exception as me and the boyfriend drove to visit his family in the Milwaukee area. We also decided to go to the Bristol Renaissance Faire which his parents had never attended. Additionally, we were exploring his parent’s basement and found some old comics belonging to his grandfather which we took home with us. I wanted to share the highlights of my Labor Day weekend.

[Image is the entrance of the Bristol Renaissance Faire" A sign is shown on a few older looking buildings]
Entrance to Bristol Renaissance Faire

I had never been to any other Renaissance Faire out of state before as I had only gone to the Minnesota Renaissance Fest. One irritating part about the MN Ren Fest is how horrible the parking situation is. I’m not sure why it’s the case, but every year I go, I’m stuck waiting to get in and get parked. The most I have ever waited was two full hours which leaves me impatient and annoyed. At Bristol, parking was easy as they had it completely figured out. You could pay $5 to go into the closer lot which was worth it. After an exhausting day, I don’t want to walk a mile to my car in the farther lot. I was impressed with Bristol’s parking situation versus the Minnesota Renaissance Fest. 

One reason why I like to go to the Ren Fest each year is to shop. I love buying handmade jewelry at the different vendor booths. I didn’t buy any this year, but it’s something I’m always on the lookout for. The Bristol Renaissance Faire had a lot of unique vendors and the boyfriend bought a handmade vase for our apartment. It’s really pretty and adds to the decoration in our space.

[Image shows a Jousting field. There are white lines and rail guards.]
The Jousting Duel *Photo Taken by Me*
[Image is a picture of a bagged comic. It appears to be a Road Runner comic]
[Image is a Scooby Doo comic in plastic wrap]
[Image is a Woodpie Comic in plastic]

While staying with the boyfriend’s parents, I was in the basement with his dad going through some of the boyfriend’s stuff. Me and the boyfriend are at that age where even though we have technically “moved out” of our parent’s house, we still have a bunch of our stuff there that doesn’t fit into the one-bedroom apartment. I pulled out a box filled with newspapers and buried underneath it all were old comics.

The comics found in the old cardboard box were: Star Trek, Man from U.N.C.L.E, Uncle Scrooge, Woody the Woodpecker, Roadrunner, Daisy & Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Scooby Doo. Some of the comics are a little worn, but many of them are in pretty good condition. I’m planning on reading most of them, but I might check and see how much some of them are worth. I’m not a Man from U.N.C.L.E. fan, so I have no issue getting rid of those.

Labor Day weekend was a fun surprise. Did you do anything fun this past Labor Day weekend? Let me know in the comments below!

Young Justice Season #3 Outsiders

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by

One may argue DC’s live-action movies are a mess, but they do an excellent job with their cartoon series. One of my favorite cartoon series DC developed was Young Justice. Young Justice is remarkable in the sense that it’s aimed at kids, but it’s entertaining for adults although Young Justice was canceled after airing season #2. This left fans disappointed and because of their outcry, season #3 was announced titled Young Justice: Outsiders. There has been some footage of Outsiders I wanted to share my reaction to, but I also wanted to share a little more information about Young Justice and how if you haven’t seen it, you’re truly missing out.

[Image is a graphic novel cover of Young Justice. It shows 6 superheroes. One is flying, one is Superboy wearing a t-shirt with a Superman logo on it. There's Kid Flash off to the right running. There's Aqua Lad who shoots water. Robin is near the cover. Finally, Artemis is holding a green bow and arrow]
If you’re looking for some reading material… 😀

Young Justice stars the apprentices of the major DC superheroes including Robin (a young Dick Greyson), Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy. Speedy ultimately acts like a teenager and leaves the group in the beginning episode with appearances later on. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash investigate Cadmus Labs where they discover Superman’s clone nicknamed Superboy. After this mission, Batman gives permission to create Young Justice the superhero training team to run their own missions with connection to the Justice League.

The first two seasons of Young Justice are exciting for any DC Comics fan. I found every episode to be engaging and the storylines easy to understand. There’s a special place in my heart for Dick Greyson’s Robin and we even get to see him evolve into Nightwing in the second season. I also grew fond of Aqualad as I think he serves as a great leader for the team.

Recently, IGN posted a clip from Young Justice: Outsiders to their YouTube channel.  In this clip we see Nightwing heading into a warehouse which is a front for a meta-human trafficking ring. He is able to gather evidence with the help of Oracle and analyze that evidence to see where the meta-human trafficking ring started. My first initial reaction to viewing this clip is the appearance of both Nightwing and Oracle. I love both of their characters and the relationship they hold for each other so already I’m pumped for this season. I also think the meta-human trafficking serves as a great plot device for the season.

DC’s Young Justice: Outsiders will be exclusively available on their streaming service sometime in 2019. I plan on pre-ordering their service because I also want a chance to watch some of the older Justice League / Batman Animated Series episodes. It’s a little obnoxious how major companies are creating their own streaming services. Young Justice used to be on Netflix, but DC removed it to add it to their service. Young Justice is available for $25 dollars on Amazon and that’s probably the best way you can watch it. Buy an episode and see why all the fans like myself are truly connected with the show.

The Woman in the Window Review

Posted in Reading/Books by
[Image is a book cover. It's black with blinds being pressed open. Part of the title of the book sits on the blinds. It says "The Woman in the Window"]

When I flew to NYC two weeks ago, I packed the boyfriend’s Kindle because I wanted to pack light for the trip. I was debating which book I wanted to read before settling on  The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I finished reading this book yesterday on my lunch hour and I liked the book, but I wasn’t blown away by the story.

The Woman in the Window begins by introducing the reader to Dr. Anna Fox. She’s a psychologist who adores old black-and-white movies, drinks plenty of merlot, and is an expert at playing chess. Additionally, she’s agoraphobic meaning she has a huge fear of leaving her house. She’s trapped within the walls of her home due to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) based on a horrific event in her life. This is kept secret from readers until the middle of the book. Being confined in her home, Anna develops an obsession with spying on her neighbors.

As she spies on the neighbors, she befriends Jane Russell who lives in the house next door with her husband Alistair and son Ethan. One night she looks into Russell’s window and sees Jane Russell being stabbed. Anna calls the police, but they don’t take her seriously with her mental illness and a drinking problem. Anna insists there was a crime taking place, but then Jane Russell walks into the room only it’s not the Jane Russell Anna met. Anna and the police start to question what is real. Is Anna hallucinating her version of events because of the medication she’s on? Did she actually meet Jane Russell or did she invent the whole thing? What happened to Anna causing her agoraphobia? I’m not going to provide spoilers in this post, but some of the answers to these questions will be surprising.

One point I wanted to make about this book is how annoying it is to read about Anna’s drinking. For every chapter, the author writes a paragraph about Anna pouring wine or she finished a bottle of merlot or she’s drunk walking around her house. I feel in a psychological thriller it’s a common theme for the female character to have a drinking problem. I’m pretty sure Girl on a Train had themes of this as well.

My final thought with this book is how some paragraphs aren’t necessary. For example, Anna sleeps with her tenant, David who lives in her basement. I don’t care who Anna sleeps with, but it’s odd because there’s no built-up chemistry between the two characters. The publisher could have said “There needs to be more sex in this book” so the author added a sex scene, that’s how random this scene was.

The Woman in the Window is a quick read with a bit of a shocking twist at the end. However, I will say most of the other “reveals” in this book I did predict which is fine, but slightly unsatisfying. I would recommend this book especially if you’re a fan of Gillian Flynn because this reads similar to how she writes. If you have read the book, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I <3 NYC

Posted in Life Lately by

Two weeks ago I visited New York City with my best friend. I had never been to NYC before and I didn’t know what to expect. I try not to create expectations about a certain city or country because I find if I do, I’m going to be disappointed. Case in point I visited Nashville last summer and was disheartened when I didn’t like Nashville as much as I perceived I would. Visiting NYC was an amazing experience and I cannot wait until my return trip.

We flew into JFK airport at 11:30 PM and we didn’t get to our Air B&B until 1:30 AM – 2:00 AM. JFK airport is past Brooklyn and Queens as our Air B&B was in Harlem located in upper Manhattan. If you look at Google Maps, you can see that it’s a long trek from the airport to our Air B&B. Plus we took the wrong subway which was our more direct route to getting to Harlem and took the longer route which went all the way through Brooklyn and up through Manhattan. My biggest advice for visiting NYC is to download the NYC Metra Subway app. It can give you detailed directions on which subway to take to get to a tourist area. We tried to use Google Maps which doesn’t work since you’re underground with no cell service.

[Image is a orange flower with a yellow hornet on it]
[Central Park. Image is a green hedge maze with a skyscraper in the background]

On Friday, we explored Manhattan by walking around Central Park, visiting Times Square, and walking through the 9/11 memorial. Central Park is massive! We probably only walked around a fourth of the park and it’s easy to get lost. It’s mesmerizing in a city filled with millions of people lies a park filled with trees and beautiful flowers. Times Square is probably one of my least favorite parts of New York because it’s a tourist trap. There are people everywhere and it takes forever to walk around because of the groups of people that stop in the middle of the sidewalk as you’re trying to walk.

[Image is of a wall. At the top of the wall it says In Memoriam. It shows the names of everyone who passed away on 9/11]
[Image is a series of photographs on a wall. It shows the people who lost their lives that day]
[Image is a picture of a description at the exhibit. The picture is dated and it shows the twin towers and a street with cars driving on it. There is text it reads "When my children were young and they started to travel by themselves, I would give them the advice that if you ever feel that you're getting lost just look for the two Trade Center buildings and you'll be able to find your way home" quote by Lois Eida Battery City Resident"

My favorite attraction we did on Friday was the 9/11 memorial. I was in 2nd grade when the two planes hit the Two Towers. My 2nd grade teacher had the footage on our TV set and my parents had the news on in our living room. If you’re ever in NYC, please visit the memorial. There were so many brave individuals who lost their lives that day to help save anyone they could from the towers. I was looking at all the items on display and my eyes welled up with tears thinking about how many lives were changed on that day.

[Image is a picture of me in a dress with sneakers on. I'm sitting on these stairs in front of The Met art museum]
[Image was taken from the 2nd floor of The Met. It shows people waiting in line below to access the museum with huge white pillars holding the floors together]

On Saturday we visited the MET Art Museum. The MET Museum is also the site for the MET Gala where celebrities get together in fancy outfits and have dinner. My friend wanted a picture in front of the big steps of the MET because of the Gossip Girl TV Show. The pictures are neat because they show the big steps and the MET banner in the background.

[Image is taken from the ground looking up at the Brooklyn Bridge]
[Image is a picture of me wearing a Tardis dress. I'm smiling at the camera. This was on the Brooklyn Bridge]
[This is a picture of me posing in front of the full length of The Brooklyn Bridge]

On our last day in NYC, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge and explored Dumbo a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s right along the water separating Manhattan and Brooklyn. It reminds me of Minneapolis in a way because of the brick streets and the brick buildings. It’s a different side of NYC than just seeing Manhattan.

NYC is such a vast city and there’s so much to see. It’s overwhelming trying to see everything in the short time we were there. I’m envious of anyone who’s attending New York City Comic Con this year as I would love to go. I’m thinking next year of trying to purchase at least a day pass so I can explore this city one more time.