imtheocean
Well-Known Member
(Header photo shamelessly stolen from the comic-con website)
Welcome to the August Daily Spin Challenge! This month we will take you to the capitol of all things pop culture, San Diego Comic Con. SDCC just finished up last weekend, and I’ve been fortunate to have been attending it for a number of years. To that end, prompts will come from memories that I have from the con – some descriptive, some from pictures.
Gonna try to run this in sub-themes focusing on different areas of the con that make it special for me: Comics / Artists, Movies / TV / Music and Attendees.
As always, regular rules apply. Play something related to the daily theme if you can. Or Take the description and head in another direction if you can’t. Try not to repeat what others have played for that day.
It wouldn’t be Comic-Con without a giveaway, so at the end of the month I’ll throw the number of posts in a random number generator, and the winner will get a copy of the Mondo “The Batman” soundtrack.
Theme 1: Comics / Artists
Day 1: Taking it back to where it began, SDCC traces its roots to 1970 when the first 3 day con was held, with about 300 attendees (compared to the 135k roughly estimated now). One of the special guests that year was Jack Kirby. Kirby created or co-created a number of well known characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men and was known for his dynamic drawing style. This biography of Kirby is well worth a read.
Play something with a great illustration or something iconic on the cover.
Day 2: Stan Lee was a con staple until his passing, saw him a number of times there. The ultimate hype man, I’m glad he was able to see the rebirth of the Marvel brand in his later years. I recommend this book as a good read on the history of Marvel and Stan.
Play something that was hyped up prior to its release (rightly or wrongly).
Day 3: Scott Shaw is one of my favorite people to go see every year at the Con. One of the founding members of the Con he started in underground comix in the 70s before moving to being the artist for comics like The Flinstones, Simpsons, Sonic The Hedgehog. He still has that undergound / counter culture personality and always puts on a great panel and has a biography out that my kids got autographed for me last year.
Play something that is considered counter-culture / underground.
Day 4: Andy Runton is the author of the Owly series, and one of the first people we got to know well at Comic Con as my (now 27 year old) kid was all about Owly when they were younger. A fantastic series for kids, there are no words in the books, rather the story is told through the pictures. Makes for a great discussion / interpretation of story with those that aren’t old enough to read. Check out his site!
Play something with no words – be it a single track on an album, or a full album.
Day 5: Sergio Aragones should be familiar if you read Mad Magazine – he’s the guy that would draw all the little ‘doodles’ in the margins. I used to love searching through Mad to find them. Pre-Covid he was an annual participant in the ‘quick draw’ panel where a number of artists would take prompts from the audience and create comics on the fly. His website hasn’t been updated in a bit, but is still worth checking out.
Play something with a hidden track or secret embedded in the packaging.
Day 6: Alan Moore has only been to SDCC once, but his presence is everywhere and he’s one who raised comics to a literary level with titles like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, and his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. Only familiar with the movie? Pick up the Watchmen graphic novel and be prepared to be blown away.
Play an album that makes you think or look at things differently.
Day 7: Bill Willingham wrote the series that got me back into Comics, Fables. This series is based on the premise that characters from fairy tales and folklore live among us in New York having been banished from their other worlds. Really entertaining series with a lot of heart and humor that ended up spreading over 150 issues. Also where my wife's car got it's name and personalized plate (Rose Red). Check it out!
Play something based on a folk tale or fairy tale.
