FanX is back again!  I’m so excited!  Hall E is currently open for registration so you can get your wristbands if you waiting too long to buy your ticket like I did.  The panels start running at 1p this afternoon.  I haven’t gotten a clear answer as to when exactly the event floor opens but I would imagine by 1p at the latest.  Per usual, I have a few dozen panels on the docket that I’m very much looking forward.  The fun is already brimming.  

Obviously, I can’t say who among the celebrities are here yet.  A few I’m wanting to meet like Stephen Ames, Steven Weber, and Tim Daly.  It’s always nice to see that name working out well for someone.  I’m really looking forward to finding my muse again.  It’s been so long since I’ve managed to get off my ass and do anything.  Redstone Diaries is coming back.  I’m putting together a team of on-mic, on-screen talent as well looking for technical teammates to operate the equipment.  We have video capability and soon I’ll figure out a more efficient venue for live streaming.  We’re getting there.  

Well, I just realized that I left my tripod and microphone in my car so, I’m going to go grab those and get back here before things get going.  Stay tuned for updates.  EXCELSIOR!

We get a new title coming out from Valiant Comics, The Harbinger.  Well, not ‘new’ exactly.  The Harbinger has been the flagship title for Valiant since 1992.  A fascinating question posited in this story is “ Can you make the world better if you can’t be better?”  I’m not familiar with this story or title but I’m looking forward to reading this new iteration going forward.

Reading the press sample, the main character seems to have super powers.  We don’t know yet whether he’s a hero or villain.  On page one, he wakes up with amnesia as he recounts this experience to a second party.  My first impression was that this second party is a therapist or confidante of some sort but after a moment that seems less likely the case.  So far, he seems to have the power of flight and I’m sure super strength as well.  The name Harbinger is of course ominous, and the conversation between the two voices becomes less than friendly so, the potential conflicts we could see stemming from this moment can a lot of fun and pretty interesting.

The art has a unique aesthetic.  The style is closer to a pseudo-realism but the coloring isn’t what we would call ‘usual’.  Much of the lighting among the backgrounds use more yellow and greens while we have darker blueish purple contrasted with brighter pink to convey an uncomfortable sensation within the main character as his powers are trying to manifest.  I get that this pallet may be just used in this instance as the dialogue is expressing thoughts in the past tense but I’m digging the colors indecently of the overall art style.  That said, the overall art style is exceptional in and of itself.  The colors certainly add to the experience but the storytelling holds its own.

There are going to be a few different variant covers available for this one.  Three beside a blank cover, a 1/250 Metal cover by Robbi Rodriguez and Travis Escarfullery, and pre-order cover by Damion Scott.  The pre-order deadline is October 4th.  The Harbinger #1 hits newsstands October 27th at $3.99.  Call your local comic book guy today!

We got FanX this year! The convention was cancelled last year, like many conventions, concerts, and large events what with the world ending in 2020. Like others, I was sad the show didn’t happen last year. I’ve been super-excited for this event happening for aaaaawhile. I’m sitting in a corridor while my phone charges and it feels like the roar of the crowd is a little dulled compared to what I recall from previous shows but I could be, at the very least, misremembering all of it.

We’re into day 2 now. I’ve sat in on some really interesting panels so far. I have photos and video I’ll get up somewhere after things wrap up for the weekend. Just now I got out of the panel titled It’s the Law: Sinister Legislation in Comics, where Dane Johns explained a few bigger pieces of legislation from comics and broke down the mechanics, legality, and real-world correlations. Things that had always interested me. A lot more to come.

I’m going to keep this one short because I keep getting distracted by pretty girls dressed like cartoons and there’s still more to do. I will be getting photos and video of great costumes and whatever else I can. And I’ll probably cut together a mashup of everything get here. Also, we’re going to start releasing our own video content from the Quiet Treats Studio and more podcasts. We have some content recorded and I will be getting things posting again soon. Stay tuned and nanu nanu.

HEY!  OK, I know I’be said this before…a few times.  But we’re comin’ back!  We have episodes, we’re recording more, and we’ve got new shows down the pike.  More than that, we’re going to start doing more video content.  Live streams, previously recorded video, maybe even some animated stuff if I can figure out the apps I downloaded.  I’m getting there.  I’m starting to figure out the 3D stuff so we can start printing figures for our characters.  When I do that we’ll even have some merch to sell.  We have some fun things on the horizon is pretty much what I’m saying.

  We’ll be kicking off things with Ben and Tim walking through the character creation process of Top Secret: S/I.  A game we’ll be playing more so as bonus content.  Yeah, I know that logically for content to be bonus there has to be baseline content for bonus content to be bonus.  I told you, we’re working on it, get off my ass.  We’ll also have a new player joining in our reindeer games.  It’ll be a lot more fun for everyone!  

  We also have FanX coming up soon!  September 16-18 this year.  I’ll record a special extra episode that I’ll release with our next episode and I’ll go over the guest list that has been announced thus far and see if I can contain my excitement.  There was an announcement this last weekend that got me SUPER stoked!  In short, a lot of the guests that were announced for last year are making down here this year.  I can’t wait!  I’ve missed the convention more than some dead relatives.  Turns out, this has been a really long year.

  Back to business.  I need some feedback from you folks.  We have a Patreon page and I’m deciding what kind of content to put on there.  First, I’m figuring out how to use it but then I need to know what content to put on there.  Obviously, we’ll have bonus episodes.  Playing games like Top Secret: S/I, Redstone Heroes, and from time to time, other games.  I have more players available now to draft and review new sets for Magic the Gathering as they release.  We’ll be making videos of those games, ideally live streaming them.  Another thing available to Patrons will be printable character sheets of NPCs I make for our games as well as ultimately figures to accompany those sheets.  Again, when I figure out the whole 3D printing thing.  What I need to know is what do you folks want?  Is there something you wish other podcasts would do?  Something else you wish we’d do?  Let me know and I’ll see what we can work out.

  In the meantime, keep listening.  Get ready to watch.  And have fun, we will again soon.

Tomorrow, the morning of March seventeenth, Valiant Entertainment is releasing issue 2 of Savage!  Kevin Sauvage is new to London.  Having lived his whole life on a remote island inhabited by dinosaurs, he’s getting used to city life.  Unfortunately for London some of these great beasts followed him over.  Number two picks up with a more formal introduction with a group among their other activities seems to catch unusual creatures, ya know, like dinosaurs and unkempt, wild children.  

The art throughout the first few pages stays light and a little more cartoony in style to balance the somewhat dark humor in the writing.  However, when the tone turns more ominous, the style changes to compliment very well.  The only thing that felt unnecessary by way of writing is an overtly forced moment of dialogue that was a bit of a stretch making it chauvinistic just to shout it down.  Save for that, the writing is intelligent and fun.

All said, I’m enjoying this.  I’m liking the little things like balloons strewn through the jaws of a T-Rex, the self deprecating humor of the Professor, and I’m intrigued to see Kevin’s table habits.  I’m looking forward to seeing where this story goes.  If you need a scale, though, 3/5, I guess.  I don’t normally rate things on scales like that.  So, there.