Report From NY Comiccon, and More - So Much More by Lucien Spelman

The great J. Michael Straczynski, award winning creator of Babylon 5, and current Marvel Comics writer for Amazing Spider-Man, with a message for one of our editors...

Kennedy Smith and I recently returned from the NY Comiccon, which is really more a Geek con, and had a truly wonderful time. This is only the second run of this annual event, and from our POV, it's likely to give the San Diego Con, and DragonCon a run for the money. They managed to pull in some real heavy-weights from a variety of industries such as Stephen King, Wes Craven, John Landis, Stephen Colbert, Hayden Panettiere (from Heroes), James Callis (Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica), Tricia Helfer (Number 6, from Battlestar Galactica - yeouch), Kevin Smith, and just about every comic industry bigwig you can name including the iconic Stan Lee - 'Nuff Said!

We came bearing press passes, and were lucky enough to have a sit-down with the director John Landis, director of such films as, The Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London, and Animal House. We were also fortunate enough to be able to have long chats with some of our favorite authors such as George R R Martin (author of Song of Ice & Fire, truly one of the greatest series to come down the pike in a long while) & F. Paul Wilson (author of the Repairman Jack series, possibly some of the most fun you can have between the covers - book covers, that is) both of whom were generous with their time as well. all of these interviews will appear in future issues, as well as coverage on the blog of such events as the Stan Lee panel, and Kevin Smith's interview with The Battlestar cast.
All of this should fit in nicely with our Joe Hill (author of Heart Shaped Box, a book I have sitting across my leg right now, because I have simply been unable to put it down for any length of time) interview.
Keep on eye on us for here at BBT Magazine, and we'll keep trying to give you the best content available including great Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror with a satirical twist, and Geek Culture at it's finest.

Here's some photos and a little commentary from the con:

Lucien & Kennedy posing with an exceedingly Germanic Wonder Woman. Lucien is the good-looking one on the left. No... your left.

Kevin Smith at the Battlestar panel being guarded by a member of the Rebel Alliance who appears to be from the distant planet of Queens. I didn't have the heart to tell him his phaser didn't actually work. I'm sure Kevin felt safe however, and that's whats important.


George R R Martin signing our copy of Ice Dragon, after the interview. He and Parris had been sick the previous few days with a stomach virus and he upchucked a small amount next to the table. I have had it encased in polyurethane resin, and it now serves as a paperweight.


BBT Magazine has proven a big hit with Bananas, and although in test runs, tiny versions of The Mighty Thor have been a bit confused by the content, we are offering a "dumbed-down" Norse version of the magazine in the near future.



One of the highlights of our trip was being able to get this little fellow backstage to meet his idol Stan Lee backstage after the show. Here he poses with a timeline he painstakingly compiled to show Stan.



Here his mother explains to Stan the impact he's had on the young man's life, and how, if it weren't for Stan, he might be out on the street dealing uppers to his classmates or perhaps an armed mercenary.



I know this little guy will remember this moment for the rest of his life. I know I will.
The fellow behind Stan, btw, is Joe Quesada, current Editor-In-Chief at Marvel Comics. Please send your complaints about Civil War to him, not to us.


I was sad to see this happen to Skeletor, but there was really nowhere for him to go but down.


I watched this for over 20 minutes, and I must confess I haven't the foggiest notion what the hell it was. It appears to be cheerleaders of some kind having a swordfight with middle-aged men set to music.

The Long & Short of the NY Comiccon by Earl B Morris

I recently was an honored guest journalist at the NY Comiccon in NY (or New York to those in the know - also sometimes referred to as The Apple, or simply Appletown, by the Greeks and Armenians that frequent the food stalls and houses of ill-repute in nearby New Jersey).

A convention of the unconventional - comic collectors, cosplayers (people who dress as super-heroes or fruit), artists, writers, inkers, one letterer, filmmakers, actors, publishers, etc - The NY Comiccon was a colorful and interesting diversion from my current project, a delightful musical adaptation of Sophie's Choice to be produced at the Murlfeesboro, Tennessee Jazz players.

I also had the opportunity to meet two of the people on the staff at BBT Magazine with whom I had previously communicated only via the World Wide Internet (which I access on my compumax by mashing the buttons labeled with three W's, and waiting for my processing unit to begin screaming and making puffing sounds to another compumax which screams and puffs as well, at which point I know I'm connected), Lucien Spelman & Kennedy Smith. Both were delightful in "real life," and Lucien seemed clean and articulate. Kennedy I'm sure is a nice man outside of the stress of a comic book convention.

We were sitting at the bar high above the throng, peering down at the conventioneers when Kennedy began slurring remarks to female passersby, many of whom were costumed or in desperate need of a tan. In order to avoid the impending confrontation with a rather menacing looking version of Ms. Marvel, we made our way through the crowd to begin collecting interviews and/or hair samples.

Frankly I am a little behind the times, and haven't seen a film since 1965, and while I like funny books, once the cover price exceeded 20 cents I was forced to leave off the reading of those by my great aunt. With those things under consideration, I parted ways with Lucien & Kennedy, leaving them to do the majority of the interviews.

I wandered for awhile, sipping at a pineapple colada (which I'm certain did not have real pineapple juice in it and for some reason was made with red wine), and just as I was about to leave for the water closet, I spotted a small crowd around one of the tables at the far end of the room. As I got closer, I noticed a small fellow with dark skin, who at first glance appeared to be a child but on later inspection was revealed to be a very short man. A small notice in front of him declared him to be Gary Coleman, an actor, and I presumed super-hero funny book collector.


The small crowd left, and he resumed eating his salad. I fumbled with my recorder, and after changing reels (Kennedy had earlier been singing racy limericks at the top of his voice, and demanded I record him), I made my way over:

"How long will it take you to rid the world of evil?" I asked.
He begins to laugh, a delightful churlish sound, and clearing his eyes he said,"I don't know, a few lifetimes maybe,"
"Are you off to a good start?" I asked. I seemed to be picking up this journalist thing quite handily.
"No. I have not killed my quota yet this year," he said, still grinning.
The grin threw me for a moment. There was a slight menace to it, as though there were more to this man then there seemed. At a loss, but not wanting to waste the opportunity for further dialog, I scanned around the room for inspiration. I noticed a young man with a t-shirt bearing the word "fanboy" scrawled across his chest. Unable to think of anything better to say, I blurted out "Are you a fanboy?"
"Ahhh," he says, and raises his finger to his lips in a rather dynamic gesture. "What's a fanboy?"
"I believe it's someone who likes comic books." I said, a little unsure.
"I used to like Robotech" he said.
"Very good," I say, happy to be off the hook.
His smile fades a little, and we both falter for a moment. The uncomfortable moment of silence is broken by a man in his thirties who begins to pick through a small pile of autographed photos on the table. He chooses a seemingly odd image - in it are two black children, (One of them Mr. Coleman, the small fellow I'm speaking with), a pretty freckled girl, and an older white gentleman. Mr. Coleman is sitting on his knee, offering a sideways glance to the camera. The title below declares it to be a photo from The Different Strokes, an offputting title to be sure. Money is exchanged, a handshake offered across the table, and the man leaves poking his new photo into a plastic bag with a picture of a Japanese schoolgirl sitting atop a police car, and smoking a cigar in bold colors on either side.
Mr. Coleman turns back to me, expectant.
I'm at a loss for words for a moment, then:
"Anything new coming up?"
"Not really, no," he says, but I'll probably be at an upcoming... uh"
"Comic-book convention?" I offered.
"Yeah."

I shook his hand and make my way back to the bar, hoping to find out from either Lucien or Kennedy the nature of the celebrity I had been speaking with, when I was struck by the fact that they seemed to be lining up the guests in this room by height, for a giant of a man with a long head of curly hair was at the far end of the wall from where the small dark fellow was sitting. I was also struck by the fact that he was reading the latest copy of our new publishing endeavor, BBT Magazine, and he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.


I snapped a photo for reference, and later on that evening I showed it to Lucien & Kennedy. Kennedy spat a series of impolite euphemisms at me, and said it was a man named Peter Mayhew, and told me he had played a gorilla or something in The Star Wars, a 30 year old space film. I left to let the two of them sober up a bit, as they were clearly upset about something. I looked him up on the Interweb, but all I could find was this page: www.petermayhew.com with you may also find by typing into your googlemax and mashing the buttons on your mice. Please be sure you wait for the computers to begin screaming at one another, however, to ensure connection.