On Handing Out Comics on Halloween

Not every year, but when I see they are available via Discount Comic Book Service, I always order these short, inexpensive, undersized comics that fit into your standard candy sack.  They're always kid friendly and from a character or company whose characters I don't need to worry about.

Yeah, when I was a kid, I thought anyone who gave out pennies or pencils was kind of missing the point, so that's why we give out candy, too.

To comics fans, the cheap, floppy format is called an "ashcan" comic, but I'm not clear on the source of the name.  I do know its a format from the old days used either to create a copyright on a character before it goes into heavy print, or to give away as a promotional item.

This year it was Casper the Friendly Ghost, Donald Duck, Scary Godmother, and Roger Langridge's Snarked.

There are logistical concerns.  

• We don't know how many kids will come by, so ordering is a crap shoot
• I always hope the comics are gender neutral and I think this year's selections managed to do that.  Boys do not want a Barbie comic, but girls are will take all your Spider-Man comics, so you might as well order heavy on the "boys" side, if there is one.  
• And, of course, the kids take the comic and immediately forget about the nice lady standing there with candy, and every single parent has to say "there's candy, too", and the kid looks totally shocked and turns around to secure some candy.
• I also have no idea what kids like.  Do they know who Donald Duck is?  They certainly have no affinity for Casper as I doubt the Harvey cartoons have aired in 15 years, and the comics have a very limited release, as far as I know.  But I'm not a parent, and I don't know what the latest fad is for wee ones.

Welcome to November, Everybuddy

Tricks or Treats at League HQ - A Photo Review

This evening was a raging success at League HQ. We had over 100 trick or treaters, handed out tons of candy and comics, and generally had a good time.

Signal Watch Pal, HeatherW joined us.

Our haunted manor

Our merry jack 'o lanterns

In addition to bowls of candy, we offered a selection of comics

The reason the jacket is there is because Nicole wore it for a costume thing on Friday

Superman sez:  The first one's free

We don't like to do Halloween alone.  Here's some of our pals.

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Or, as I like to call it, "The Day Before We All Start Freaking Out About Christmas".

We'll be checking out for the evening as we prepare to dispense candy and comics (!) to the neighborhood boys and ghouls.  If you're in Lower Austin, do not hesitate to stop by for candy, comics, tricks or treats.  I believe pal HeatherW is joining us on the porch this evening.

Before we check out, please feel free to send in your pics of you or your kids!  We'd love to have a gallery posted of our beloved Signal Corps and their offspring at the most ridiculous time of year.

Email pictures here.

Here's an index of our Halloween posts for 2011.  OOOOOoooooooooo....!!!!

Halloween Interactivity! Day 8: The League - Part 2 ("Count Dracula, Jr.")

My brother will readily point out that, especially as a child, I'd pursue an idea right into the ground, based upon the promise of the idea far, far more than whether the idea were practical or matched up with reality.  In the manner, I went to college and got a film degree.

Insert drum fill.

So it came to pass in 3rd Grade that, after having been a "cute" character for Halloween in 2nd Grade, I was ready to be something a bit more scary in 3rd Grade.  

That prior year, we were all riding high off the release of ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, and my grandmother, having no idea what an ET was, sewed me an ET costume.  I was freaking cute as hell, but it was also a warm autumn in the Spring, Texas area, and I'd mostly remembered sweating through the shirt I'd work under the costume and wanting to take the mask off at every opportunity so I could release some of the heat building up inside.  It was like wearing a ski-mask in 80+ degree temperatures.

So, somehow the summer before 3rd Grade, I began considering going out as Dracula.  Both The Wolfman and The Mummy seemed to have the same "mask in humid Houston" issue, and I couldn't figure out where to secure a Frankenstein head except via a paper-mache project I was fairly certain I'd just sweat through, anyway.  

I made a list of what I'd need to become Dracula, looked at pictures, and was certain that my Dracula would not be a plastic-apron-costume variety with those pokey plastic face masks.  But...

1)  Dracula's opera-tuxedo costume was not something one could easily get their hands on, and 

2)  the more I looked at Dracula, the more I felt he was a bit of a dandy in our modern, 80's, Casey Kasem-driven-era

And so was born my own, unique, concept - Count Dracula, Jr.

Today - The Admiral Retires

Today isn't just Halloween, its also The Admiral's final day as a working stiff.

For a guy who started working before he was 16, I imagine its time to put up the feet and start relaxing a bit, and maybe coming over and washing my windows.  You know, if he has time.

I tip my hat for the The Old Man.  He's a credit to the sort of thing people talk about when they discuss opportunity, and while he hasn't got a particularly charming story, between he and The KareBear, I always knew where the bar was set, and how easy I'd had it when I put together his story.

My dad didn't actually finish high school.  He got a GED, joined the Air Force and somehow wound up in electronics, where he served a few years working on radios and electronics on the tarmac and in trailers in tropical locales half-way around the world.  He served in Vietnam during the early days of the conflict, and upon returning home wound up at a tiny airbase in Michigan where he met The KareBear.

Upon exiting the Air Force, he returned to Florida, enrolled in junior college while working, then enrolled at The University of Florida, continuing on to receive an MBA.  Somewhere in there, he married my mom.

He worked for companies like Martin-Marietta out of school, and eventually took jobs with Great Lakes Steel and Ford up in Michigan.

In the 1970's, he found work in Texas, and did a stint in Dallas.  In about 1981, he landed a job with a large corporation based out of Houston which made everything from hammers to spark plugs to oil tool equipment.

Eventually he wound up working in the finance arena within oil tool manufacturing, at different shops in Austin and Houston, lasting from 1984 until today.

Between he and KareBear, he managed to put us through school, put clothes on our backs and provide the sort of life you generally want for your kids and family.  And he managed to do it while showing up for games and plays, supporting my mother's extra-curricular activities as well (be that attending elementary school assemblies or the soccer games of kids he couldn't pick out of a line-up) but still managed to remain upwardly mobile within a multi-national corporation and travel the world, making the world safe for financial managers and accountants, I suppose.

The Admiral is a funny guy.  He does all of these things, and all with a sense of modesty utterly sincere and unaffected.  We do not talk about what we accomplish.  We talk about what needs to get done.  And we talk about the good things that happened yesterday and dwell on the mistakes of the past only to tell us how we can do better tomorrow.

Its a high bar, and were we all so lucky to just make it a matter of course.

As I grew up, school, work and geography conspired that it became rare I could visit his office.  However, it wasn't that many years ago that I had a chance to tour his then-office and get introduced to suites of colleagues that I knew reported to him or who were in his chain of command.  It was still great to see not just how he clearly was happy to show us where he spent his days between 8 and 5, and show such great pleasure in the place he worked and the people he worked with.  He'd never trumpet his own horn, but I know he was a VP of something-or-other.  A suit.  But he was still more or less the same guy you might see helping out at the Church bake-sale figuring out a better way to sell the pastries, and the one who merrily led my cub scout troop through making decorative eagles out of clothespins.

Anyway, here's a salute to The Admiral.  Captain of Industry.  Capitalist.  World Traveler.  Colleague.  Friend.  My Old Man.

The thing is - He's not going to slow down.  I know this guy.  Sure, the KareBear will have him running, but he's not one to just sit back.  He's going to have so many plates spinning in six months, I'm just nervous about what tasks I'll have assigned to me, and that's all right.  Its been a while since me and The Old Man were accidentally breaking something together.

Salut, Dad.

We'll see you in Austin.

Dressin' Up for Halloween - The League puts on capes

So, Friday night Austin Books and Comics had a costume party.  I haven't seen too many pictures surface from the party (I didn't take any, but I know others did).

The concept was "Arkham Asylum" - the insane asylum where Batman sticks all his villains.  Well, I couldn't figure out how to come as Mr. Freeze or Killer Croc, the two villains my size would probably have sold best.  And I'm a Superman fan at heart, so...

Good-Bye!

For years and years I've wanted to dress as Bizarro, but I always knew it would just confuse trick-or-treaters, and I didn't want to explain myself at any Halloween parties.  But at ABC, I knew these were my peeps.  Sure enough, people seemed pleased to have Bizarro in their midst.  And, yes, I was emulating "New 52" Superman.

And last night, Jamie decided we were having a Halloween Party.  Sort of impromptu.  I did nothing to organize this shin-dig, but basically we were supposed to be going to a party that didn't happen, so we bought some booze, and... instant party.

I went as "Low Budget/ Drunk Batman".

Monday night I'll wear the Superman get-up.  Its apparently a neighborhood tradition now, so I'm happy to do it.  I'll post a few pictures Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 7: The League (Part 1 - Movies)

Hey all!

I hope your Halloween weekend is going swimmingly.

Here in Part 1, I'll discuss an underrated SPOOOOOOOOOOOOKY movie.  And then in Part 2 - we'll talk costumes.

My favorite spooky movies are probably:  The Haunting, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula, followed by The Shining and The Thing.  None of these are particularly poorly-known movies.

And, as I've said, I didn't really have an affinity for horror movies growing up.  It was hanging out with our own JAL, Michael Corley and CarlaBeth that I finally saw some real horror movies.

Here's a quick rundown of some movies I think should get a mention.

Halloween Interactivity! Day 6: The Admiral

One funny thing about The Admiral.  Growing up, it was always impossible to come up with a scheme where he wasn't five steps ahead of you.  No matter what sort of bad idea you had, he'd done it first, and he'd done it worse.

The email I got from my father:

Oooo--K,

Not sure if this qualifies, but - in the category of poor taste --> In the late 1950's my best friend Bryan and I came up with the brilliant idea of costuming Bryan as Adolph Hitler and me as a US Army officer.  I carried a toy pistol which I pointed a him every time we went up to a door for treats.  Needless to say the reaction was mixed - at best.  

Dad

Well done, Admiral!  You get most f'd up costume story by a country mile!

Halloween Interactivity! Day 5: Horus Kemwer

Our own Horus Kemwer of Against the Modern World chimes in with his Halloween entry!  I think you'll enjoy, especially if you watch the clips.  

Underappreciated monster movie? Perhaps. Have you ever heard of it? Probably not. Bizarre, inexplicably nutty, yet strangely compelling cultural artifact from across the border? Definitely.

It's Caperucita y Pulgarcito Contra Los Monstruos (1962) from "the other Roberto Rodriguez."

The title is usually translated as "Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. The Monsters," but like everything else about this movie, it works better in Spanish. (Important tip: if you watch it, do so with subtitles, not the by all accounts atrocious dubbing.)

The film pits the tiny tots Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb (along with their trusty, and extraordinarily annoying skunk side kick) against "all the monsters we have known in fairy tales." These monsters apparently hang out in a castle together in "The Kingdom of Evil" plotting against our two heroes. Their sheer goodness (and their apparent ability to sometimes convert monsters from the path of evil) is enough to incur the wrath of the combined monster forces from all fairy tales (and classic novels, apparently, as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula are amongst the bunch).

Another category of "fairy tale" appears to be Disney movies, judging by the appearance of characters both good . . .



. . . and bad.



Still, the camps is hilarious, the kids are charming, and the songs good for a laugh. You won't be scared, but you will be astounded. And let's not forget the fight scenes:



And, as with all genre-crunching artifacts from foreign cultures, there's much that seems oddly out of place—e.g. sexual innuendo between Dracula and the Witch, torture scenes, and an invocation of Satan. Have no fear though, the movie is still resolutely G rated, aimed squarely at children from the planet Mars.

[Sorry, no costume stories - Horus doesn't wear costumes on Halloween.]