TERRIFICON 2018 Review! In a word…. TERRIFIC!

TERRIFICON 2018!

Books I picked up at this year’s terrific Terrificon at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conneticut!

 

Man, we had such a great time at this year’s Terrificon two weekends ago. We just made a weekend of it in Connecticut, and only spent one day at the con, but what a fun day. My better half, who is not the comic head I am at all, was surprised by how much she enjoyed it.

Part of it is the convention is very well laid out in the simply massive Mohegan Sun Casino Complex. The Con which was huge in terms of space, only took up a fraction of this massive Casino Complex. And there was huge room between booths and areas, so while well attended, you didn’t feel crushed in a crowd, like Awesome Con or New York Comic Con. Also the emphasis here was very much on Comics, so you just had a very laid back, yet fun crowd. The writers and artists were very much the superstars here.

Another part of the success is the panels. While the shopping was great, and I found great deals; walking around and shopping to me, is not enough reason for me to go to a con. And I am not really interested in getting anyone’s signature, and shopping alone I can do online and save the hotel fees and travel expenses.

I am someone who likes great panels, informative conversations with those creators who created what is best in this hobby, and their interesting behind the scenes stories . So I did my homework and new the panels to attend, and the time to get there for them.

The Black Panther panel was a definite hit, being able to see three generations of Black Panther writers on the stage. Don McGregor and Christopoher Priest were the name draws, and were excellent but I think everyone was wowed by newest Black panther artist and writer Afua Richardson. She was just a joy, and her talk of how she laces symbolic and linguistic meaning into the covers she did for Black Panther has I think everyone who left that talk.. on the hunt for her work.

 

The girl power vibe in the room was strong. 🙂 But so was the Christopher Priest vibe, this guy is one of my favorite writers, the only monthly DC book I buy anymore is his Deathstroke, and he has written some of my favorite runs. Quite frankly he was a huge reason I attended this con. Him and Roy Thomas. Getting to hear both of these legendary crreators speak, a win, win.

In addition there was the mellifluous John Suintres (from the WORD BALLOON podcast) as MC, Jim Starlin the always stoic Larry Hama, the slightly bemused Michael Golden, and Paul Kupperberg.

So a fantastic set of panels oh and some great food and shopping. The Mohegan Sun Casino offering world class food and shopping options. We stopped at Bobby Flay’s Burger and it was awesome.

And without futher ado, onto the comic book shopping. Here are some of the books I got at Terrificon 2018. All of my shopping for the con was between 50 cents and $2.50 per book. The following books averaged $2 a book, and as you can see are in great mid-grade condition. Fine  to VF condition. Why on earth would anyone pay over $3 for new books, when you can get great bronze and silver age comics , with great stories and art for that same price or less???!!!!. Shame on you Marvel and DC . Instead for new comics replace Marvel and DC with Canadian company Chapterhouse and American company Alterna. And preorder from Image, Dark Horse,  IDW to also get their new books for less than $3.

All in all just a great experience. Along with Heroescon and Baltimore it is considered one of the best, most enjoyable true Comiccons.

I definitely look forward to going next year.

Go ahead and like and subscribe to this post. I have pics of the panels, with Christopher Priest, Roy Thomas, Jim Starlin, etc…so if this post gets enough likes, and new subscribers I’ll add additional pics and content.

And definitely support this post by buying items from the blog sponsor below:

 

http://www.amazon.com/shops/aseller99

https://www.ebay.com/sch/aseller99/m.html?

 

Thanks and be well out there!

AMAZON and Food Network chops CHOPPED!!

CHOPPED as any of you long term blog readers know, was one of the best shows on AMAZON Prime, and seemingly one of the better reasons to have AMAZON prime… to view the seasons for free. Well Amazon has responded to the popularity of the Food Network show, very poorly, by making none of the seasons available for free.

Add to that that Food Network has, for reasons completely inexplicable, chosen not to release any of the seasons on DVD, and that makes for no cost effective options to see this show, if you don’t want cable.

It’s unfortunate that Amazon chose to remove all the free seasons of the show, and even more unfortunate that Food Network has not yet put out DVDs of CHOPPED. It’s a show crying out for DVD extras and extended episodes, etc.

One reviewer referred to Amazon’s decision as “BAIT & SWITCH”, and I can see that. They lure you into Prime with content, that becomes unavailable at no set schedule. It’s antics like this that make streaming at best a try before you buy medium.

It’s great for sampling a bunch of content, however for shows or movies you love, or intend to watch again, DVD/Blu-Ray is the only way to

• a/get the show in a quality format, not subject to variable quality due to connection speeds and
• b/ensure you have it available when you want to watch it and
• c/get the show with quality extras such as Director’s commentary or making of features.

So for these reasons streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are great alternatives to cable, and great for sampling tons of content, but DVD and Blu-Ray are still the name of the game, when it comes to a quality viewing experience in your home. And here’s hoping someone at Food Channel gets wise and decides to put out CHOPPED dvds.

 

Recommended On-Demand TV Show of the Day : CHOPPED

There is a lot to strongly dislike if not outright hate about the proliferation of reality television. Prominent among the bullet points are the devaluation of the role of writer, and the lowest common denominator nature of the ‘reality’ that is provided as entertainment.

However thankfully there are exceptions, and gems that rise against all probability from the mire. One of those gems, is the Food channel flagship show… CHOPPED.

It avoids the cartoony caricatures and idiocy of shows like IRON CHEF and just plays it straight, as a solid cooking competition, with worthy contenders and judges you can respect; and is just incredibly entertaining because of it.

At only half an hour it is the perfect length, and is completely addictive. It’s a great show for the girl or guy in your life to watch with you, especially if you are both fresh food and healthy food eaters, and constant cooks, like we are here in house Heroic Times. 🙂 .

We have steamrolled through seasons of the show, thanks to Roku and Amazon Prime, and they just get better and better. In addition to being entertaining, CHOPPED is very informative to anyone who cooks or aspires to be a better cook. A great show!

This show appears to be on its 17th season, I say appears because how it designates a season seems to be a bit arbitrary and haphazard, but on the whole you get four seasons per year. Another failing is the show is not available on DVD or Blu-Ray. A failing because I think a DVD with special features, and extended episodes would be great. I would buy a nice DVD collection of a full year of shows. But till then we are stuck with on-demand and streaming.

The Big Scoop [HD]