By this point if you've been reading my blog much you'll know I am a huge fan of the
Toyman Shows that happen multiple times a year (sometimes they fall monthly, sometimes every two months). Anytime I go to a show I bring stuff to trade or sell to my favorite vendors and I end-up with some awesome items of my own to take-home and treasure. This show was no different than any other in that it was jam-packed with amazing vendors, stellar creative guests, and was otherwise a splendid show. As I enjoy talking about all the people I saw and stuff I got I shall now discuss how much of a ball I had...
I started the show as I generally do, on the first floor where I walk around to all the numerous vendor tables and see what amazing goodies I can find. I saw the cool folk of
Bigfoot Comics and Collectibles who were more than happy to cut a deal with me for some of my comics. I also saw Eric of
STL Comics who has the
Geeky Extravaganza coming up November 9th (which is sure to be awesome fun as well)! I was able to trade him some of my knick-knacks and comics for a cool old Atari cartridge of Pac-Man that I thought would make a good decoration on my bookshelf, perhaps. I also picked-up a cool old comic of, "The Flash," from a random table that just looked like a good issue. Observe:
As I continued exploring all the great wares on the the first floor I saw my friend Spike of
Lost in Space Toys and Collectibles who had some impressive items this show. He had some incredible vintage, "Star Wars," stuff I imagine sold pretty quickly. As I looked around on the first floor I also was able to trade some of my older comics for a really cool, "Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook," which is full of old Disney-related songs and pictures of retro Disney gear and clothing. I am always intrigued by old collectibles and this book is full of images of them! Check it out:
Before I went upstairs to the ,"Artists' Attic," I said hello to my friend, Steven, who sells a lot of toys. Last show when I saw him we talked about postcards and how he had an assortment. He was willing to trade a big collection of movie-themed postcards he had for some of my Funko Pops. I was excited to do this as I like sending my friends and family postcards, so having these cool ones celebrating famous movies is really neat and will allow me to send some snazzy postcards to my loved ones. Anyways, I went upstairs and one of the first folk I ran into was
Jessica Mathews who had just released her latest cool children's book, "The Lazy Vampire." I eagerly bought a copy to read to my son! Here is a picture of the copy I bought:
The book's illustrator and talented artist
Jennifer Stolzer was there too and always a pleasure to chat with! I next ran into my chum
J.E. Nelson whom has her next book soon-to-release for her, "The Power Within," series that follows the story of a young girl with autism in a post-apocalypse. I asked her to keep me informed when the book is out and she said she would! I proceeded to walk around Artists' Attic and saw friend of the blog,
Leigh Savage. We talked about the number of shows she had been at selling her erotica novels and spoke about some upcoming releases that collect her, "Quickie," short-stories into a big anthology book once she completes a couple more tales--it sounds like she'll be having a busy November of writing and I look forward to her upcoming books!
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| Leigh's author logo. |
I also saw the always-awesome
David Gorden who spoke with me about how his, "Inktober," had been crazy as he made a new drawing (pencils and inks) every day for the 31 in October. We discussed how he planned to release it as a collection sometime soon and I told him that sounded like it would be a fantastic book! In addition, my buddy
Lorenzo Lizana was at the show where he was hard at work on a number of gorgeous commissions. One he had done for a client of Wonder Woman was phenomenal. I would've asked to take a picture, but generally it is rude to snap a pic of a commission someone else has paid for, I feel, so I did not request to do so. I ran into my friend Lonnie Johnson who was selling items to raise funds for the non-profit,
Heroes for Kids. Heroes for Kids always does great things for the community and I'd encourage everyone to read-up on it!
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| A great group! |
I also had the chance to meet famous sculptor/artist/super-creative guy Randy Bowen, who was a treat to speak with! Before heading downstairs I also met for the first time Kevin Kessler of Kazolf Comics, who had two copies of his comic, "
Universilent," of which he is the writer and artist. The comic sounded really cool as it is set in a Sci-Fi Universe where a number of the characters are deaf and sound is nonexistent. Kevin was inspired to create the comic as he is deaf. I bought a copy of each issue and he told me he'd love for me to read them and review them on my website sometime, which I plan to do! Here are the two issues I purchased:
This Toyman show had an incredible array of vendors, a number of fantastic creators, and was just as much fun as I always expect--and I expect a
lot of fun! I would encourage anyone who is able to attend the next Toyman Show on December 8th. Parking is free and it only costs $5 to get in, with anybody 16 years-old or younger free (there is early-bird admission at 8AM for $12 as well if you are the type to wake-up early). I just want to thank the man in charge, Chris McQuillen for without fail putting-on such great shows. I was literally just at Toyman yesterday and now I'm already counting-down for December 8th, that is how great a time I always have!
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