I maintain a separate site just for toys. If you have a thing for 70′s toys, Doctor Who, The Rat Patrol, or vintage board games, you should definitely head over to BugEyedMonster for a quick peak. The toy below is, hands down, my favorite from the show this year.

Moon City circa 1970

The first comic series I wrote was Resident Evil. I think it ultimately took almost 2 years for the 6 issues to come out. DC and Capcom had planned a trade paperback but with all the delays I sort of assumed it was a dead as the BOWs of RE.

Until today. Got a box in the mail filled with RE trades! It was fun going back through and re-reading it after such a long hiatus. The art work by Kevin Sharpe and Jheremy Raapack really is awesome.

Buckaroo Banzai is one of my all time favorite movies right up there with Big Trouble in Little China (the movies share a writer).

To my ongoing dismay, there isn’t a lot of merch associated with BB that a mega fan like myself can glom onto. That hasn’t stopped some other enterprising individuals from making their own. Today I was doing a task completely unrelated to BB when I stumbled across the model below of the Red Lectroid ship. It was so cool I just had to post it.

Matthew L. Johnson of Grand Rapids, Michigan: Red Lectroid "Living Scout Ship" from Buckaroo Banzia

SDCC From the DC Comics Green Room

Another year, another great ComicCon.

I’m always a little depressed when I leave San Diego. I have a bunch of friends I only get to see once a year – at SDCC. Most of whom are working a lot more than me at the show so I don’t get to see as much of them as I’d like.

For me, SDCC is part vacation, part marathon, part work. But all fun.

This year I was promoting the comic book I wrote based on Alganon, the free-to-play mmo game and Gods of Justice, the anthology of original super hero fiction to which I contributed a story. I was also there to suck up to comic book editors to try and score some more writing work! Still, I got to hand out with a bunch of people I affectionately call “con buddies.” Many of whom I met at SDCC.

There’s always tons to see and do, but below are some highlights.

Doing signings for the Alganon comic

Doing signings is always fun. Especially when I am giving away free comics. This is me at the DC Booth supporting the comic. It seemed to get a pretty good receptions. I love that this is a picture of somebody taking my picture…

Another Dalek

Daleks seem to follow me wherever I go. This wasn’t the best Dalek I’ve ever seen, but I respect the effort. Especially trying to get something that ginormous into SDCC.

Gods of Justice at SDCC

Gods of Justice is the other project I was pimping. This is me at my good friend Joel Gomez’ table promoting the book. He actually did the picture that accompanies my story.

My favorite costume...

There are always TONS of great costumes at SDCC. Last year I got a picture with a full line up of Leias…But this year, my favorite is this absolutely perfect Tinker Bell. The woman in the picture is probably just 5 feet tall and so petite. Mostly. Ahem. Anyway, she is exactly the way I like to think Tink.

Jedi Elvis

No trip to San Diego is complete without a stop at the House of Blues. To my delight, the house band the evening I was there was none other than Jedi Elvis and the Rebel Alliance. He’s a Star Wars themed Elvis impersonator who is absolutely brilliant. He changes the lyrics of Elvis songs to match up with Star Wars lore. My favorite? Suspicious Minds, his tribute to General Akbar…

We’re caught in a trap
There’s no flying out
Because they built a second Death Star baaaaaby!

I like all things derivative of Elvis generally, but this may well be my favorite.

The Outer Space Men

Then there are all the toys! Man I love toys. Don’t believe me? Look here. Anyway, some of my favorite toys are the old Colorform Outer Space Men. In particular, Orbitron, who is the unofficial mascot of my toy site. These are repros. I don’t usually buy repros, but I may have to get these.

Dr. Grordbort's Guns

If you have a thing for steam punk or retro ray guns (and I do) then Dr. Grordbort is the hands down go to place for your fix. They always have some great stuff to show at SDCC and this year was no exception. If I were rich (which I’m not) I would have a wall of these bad boys…

Ray Tate over at ComicsBulletin just posted his review of Gods of Justice, the super hero anthology from Cliffhanger Books that I contributed to. Definitely the best overall review of the book to date. Ray goes story by story and checks off what makes each entry in the book good or bad.

“Death and Life of the Hero” got a special nod, see below:

Finally, Ricardo Sanchez contributes my favorite tale in the book, “The Death and Life of a Hero.” I’m a sucker for such an uplifting story in which the hero receives his due from the people he has saved. I loved that same theme in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as well as in Early Edition, and I love it here, too. Sanchez also should be commended for creating a unique Superman-like figure that never once actually imitates the Man of Steel. The archetypal Hero really does seem like a different man here.

I am embarrassingly flattered. I definitely had Superman in mind when I was writing my story, specifically the Christopher Reeves version. There is just something about the way he portrayed the Man of Steel that has always resonated with me. Made me feel hopeful. I wanted to re-create that feeling. Seems like, for Ray at least, I did. As a writer, it just doesn’t get better than that.

So go check out the full review then go buy the book. If you believe Ray, you won’t be sorry!