Author: Gareth

Random Update

According to a post in the comments of the Lawrence LJ Community, there’s a new comic book store opening this Thursday, apparently called “Astro Kitty”, right above the Java Break. I’ll definitely be checking it out. It’ll be nice to get another store in town, apart from the dark hole-in-the-wall that is Kwality Comics. I remember at one point in the mid-90s, there were 4 comics-and-games places here in Lawrence. Now we’ve got 2 games stores which are both sub-standard (which is why I make a 30-minute drive to Tabletop Games in Lenexa), and at the moment, only 1 comic book store. I hope that “Astro Kitty” is a good one.

Birthday was uneventful. Laura and Allie gave me The Director’s Cut of HELLBOY, which is just chock full of goodness; and the hardcover collection of Neil Gaiman’s 1602 (which apparently is officially titled “Marvel 1602”), which is also Teh Niftay. (For the uninitiated: 1602 is a comic book miniseries that moves all of the classic Marvel superheroes to the Renaissance. Mutants hunted by the Inquisition, Dr. Strange as Queen Elizabeth’s “astrologer”, fun stuff like that.

This is aimed at you folks in the KC/Lawrence/Topeka corridor:

1) I’m a comics geek whose habit is now down to just the occasional trade-paperback purchase, which isn’t nearly enough.

2) I’m a gamer.

3) I’m a games publisher, who specifically will soon be producing adventures for the Mutants & Masterminds D20-based superhero RPG.

4) I’m gonna need playtesters for said adventures….

So, here’s the deal. I want to do some gaming this summer, and this would be a good chance to kill multiple birds with an area-of-effect energy blast. Anybody out there interested? Time and location is flexible…I just need willing victims participants….

and I went out to dinner (and ice cream!) with last night, which was Aces.

Quick clarification which came out of that conversation: For those of you attending a wedding next Saturday, please be aware that The Manor’s Midget Tiki Luau Birthday Bash is not limited to the afternoon. It *STARTS* at 2-ish, because we’re going to be doing cook-out-y stuff….but if you can’t make it until the evening, we’ll still be there, and would love to have you show up. As the invite says, until “whenever we steal your things and force you to leave.” I expect a late, late night. And Presents.

Speaking of presents: Got to spend the birthday check from Mom & Dad last night. Last year, it got me a scad of Hammer films on DVD. This year, I picked up: Three SIN CITY trade paperbacks (A Dame to Kill For; Family Values; and Booze, Broads, & Bullets), two Bernard Cornwell “SHARPE” novels (Sharpe’s Prey–which I used to own, but never finished since I lent it to ‘s ex-wife–and Sharpe’s Havoc), and the biggie: a 500-page tome called Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. Keen.

So, now, I can delete those from my wish list. (at least my US one. Goddamn Amazon doesn’t let you put stuff from their international stores on your wishlist. How the hell am I gonna list the Region 2 Blake’s 7 series DVDs?)