Issue #83: MegaCon 2010!

MegaCon 2010 took place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida from Friday, March 12 - Sunday, March 14, 2010. This was the third time I attended MegaCon, which has so far been the only comic book convention I have been to. Previously I went to MegaCon in 2005 and 2006 with my son, Will, as one of his birthday presents those years. Both times we only went on Saturday because that was my day off. This year was the first time I attended all three days, and I plan on attending all three days in the future. For more about my time at MegaCon, listen to my podcast: Superman Fan Podcast Episoide #118: MegaCon 2010! at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. In this issue of My Pull List I will list the issues of my comic book collection I got autographed, plus two reviews of comic books by central Florida comic book creators:

Derek Fish: The Wellkeeper Issues #0 & #1 (Half Moose Media) http://www.thewellkeeper.com/.
Wayne Cordova & Harold Jennett: M.I.M.E.S. (Mobile Initiative for Muting Evil Syndicates) (Geek Monkey Comics) http://www.mimescomic.com/.

To view photos I took at MegaCon: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&l=c6f45bc404.

Comic books I had autographed at MegaCon:

Action Comics issues #643 (homage to Joe Shuster's cover for Superman #1) & #644 (Black & White Superman costume) July / August 1989 (DC), autographed by writer and artist George Perez.

Crisis On Infinite Earths issues #7 (the death of Supergirl) & #8 (the death of the Flash) October / Novenber 1985 (DC), autographed by writer Marv Wolfman & artist George Perez.

Iron Ghost #1, April 2005 (Image), autographed by artist Sergio Cariello.

Jonah Hex #53, May 2010, (DC), autographed by co-writers Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray and artist Billy Tucci.

JSA Classifieds #1, #3 & #4 (featuring Power Girl), September, November & December 2005 (DC), autographed by artist Amanda Conner.

Lone Ranger #1 & #2 (November & December) 2006 (Dynamite Entertainment), autographed byartist Sergio Cariello.

Ministry Of Space trade paperback, 2004, (Image), autographed by colorist Laura Martin.

New Frontier trade paperback vol's. I & II (DC) and Justice League: The New Frontier DVD (Warner Premier), autographed by comic book writer and artist Darwyn Cooke.

The Pro one issue 2007 edition (Image), autographed by artist Amanda Conner.

Planetary vol. 1, 2000, and issue #27, December 2009, (Wildstorm / DC), autographed by colorist Laura Martin.

Supergirl #50, April 2010 (DC), autographed by penciller Jamal Igle.

Comic books I bought by Central Florida comic book creators at MegaCon 2010 and reviewed:

M.I.M.E.S. (Mimes Initiative for Muting Evil Syndicates) #1 Summer 2008, written by Wayne Cordova and drawn by Harold Jennett (Geek Monkey Comics) * * * *

I met writer Wayne Cordova in the green section of artist alley. I had first become aware of him through his Geek Pastor Podcast and eventually friended him on facebook. He is an associate pastor of Crosspoint Church http://www.crosspointlive.com/ in Spring Hill, Florida, which is near Tampa. It was a pleasure to meet him in person, finally, and we had a nice conversation about family, church, podcasting and comics. I was familiar with M.I.M.E.S. from the website linked above. To support a local comic book creator I bought a copy of the title's first issue. A second issue is in the works. Check the comic book's website, or friend Wayne Cordova on facebook, for more information about when that issue will be published. Issue #1 is still available at the website http://mimiescomic.com/.

To be perfectly honest, M.I.M.E.S. would not be the first title I would have picked up off the shelf. I really don't read any all ages or humor titles like Archie, etc. Having said that, I enjoyed this issue very much. It is an all-ages title in the best sense of the word. The color art has a cartoony style similar to Cartoon Network, and the stories were simple enough for young readers to comprehend, yet clever enough for an adult to appreciate and enjoy.The group M.I.M.E.S. is a group of four mimes with distinct superpowers: one can lift heavy pretend objects, another can create invisible boxes and walls, a third is a master of an invisible rope, and the final member holds the invisible book of ultimate knowledge. In other words, if the Fantastic Four were mimes, these could be the superpowers they would have. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something more lighthearted than the usual superhero fare, and if you are too, I would recommend M.I.M.E.S.

The Wellkeeper #0 & #1 written, drawn and lettered by Derek Fish (Half Moose Media) * * * *

I first met Derek Fish at the 24-Hour Comic Book Day event hosted by Acme (http://acme-superstore.com/) in Longwood, Florida back in October. I sat to his left as he inked some of the pages to the second issue, if I recall. I was impressed by the detail and the rich blacks of his art. He described the basic concept of the story, and I could tell that, brief as it was, the concept had been thought out very well. These two issues bore that out. Issue #0, titled Ebele's Tale introduces Zoe, a young girl who has received the abilities of a Wellkeeper from her grandmother, who tells her the legend of the origin of a long line of Wellkeepers. They tap into and protect the life energy of planet Earth, and are always female, passing their powers from one generation to the next. This issue establishes the main character and sets up the world she lives in very well.

Issue #1 is titled On The Run, and that is exactly the situation Zoe finds herself in. She is being pursued by a very unusual creature. Derek does an excellent job of introducing some supporting characters and fleshing them out very quickly, so that they seem very real. He doesn't scrimp on background detail either, but the eye is always drawn to the characters. Derek does what I like in a comic book, action that means something, and which develops the characters in the story. As I read the story I learned about the characters and they became more familiar to me. And they each had a different voice in my head as I read the story, which isn't always easy to do in an average story. In the back of the issue are several pages of development schetches. The Wellkeeper is an above average story, and is scheduled to be published quarterly. Derek has already finished the art for issues 2 and 3 in order to keep his book on schedule, and they were on display at his table. Check out the website http://www.thewellkeeper.com/ for more information on upcoming issues, and Derek Fish is also on facebook.

Next Issue: Catch Up Week #19! For the month of March, 2010.

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Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Expanded show notes are available at http://supermanfanpodcast.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

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