Tag Archives: Star Wars

Happy Free Comic Book Day and May the Fourth 2024!

May 4, 2024 By in Comics/Lit, Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
11 different free comic books, including two Star Wars titles.

The second half of my haul, alphabetized — i.e., the half with the Star Wars comics in it. Happy May the Fourth for those who observe!

It’s that time of year again! Today marked the 23rd Free Comic Book Day, that annual celebration when comic shops nationwide offer no-strings-attached goodies as a form of community outreach in honor of that time-honored medium where words and pictures dance in unison on the printed page, whether in the form of super-heroes, monsters, cartoon all-stars, licensed merchandise, or entertaining ordinary folk. It’s one of the best holidays ever for hobbyists like me who’ve been comics readers since the days when drugstores sold them for thirty-five cents each and superhero movies were a rarity and an embarrassment to the genre.

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 3 of 5: Actors!

April 29, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Us doing jazz hands with Mads Mikkelsen! He wears a gray cap. I crouched down to Anne's height, so he leaned down to meet us there.

Hey, kids! It’s Mads Mikkelsen!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

My wife Anne and I just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back…

…where they brought in new actors for us to see in person from stuff we’ve watched!

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 2 of 5: Saturday Cosplay!

April 28, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Two characters from Fallout video games: happy blonde mascot boy who gives everything a thumbs-up, and one-wheeled robot with no head and a black-and-white TV in its chest.

Fallout-mania is sweeping the nation, and Vault Boy and Yes Man are here for it!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

My wife Anne and I just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back…

…and we took more cosplay pics! Please enjoy one more gallery of cosplayers who brightened our second day around the show floor. We regret we can only represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay wonderment that was on display this weekend. We’re clearly not professional photographers, journalists, costume designers, or Oscars red carpet commentators. We’re just an aging geek couple doing what we can for happy sharing fun. Please feel free to identify any characters we failed at recognizing!

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C2E2 2024 Photos, Part 1 of 5: Friday Cosplay!

April 28, 2024 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Two women in red, black and white costumes with staves. C2E2 sign is in the upper-right corner.

The first cosplay pic we took this weekend: Vaggie and Alastor from Hazbin Hotel.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Each year when there isn’t a pandemic fully raging, my wife Anne and I love attending entertainment and comic conventions throughout the Midwest and occasionally a bit beyond. We’re fascinated by the spectacle of each and every in-person nexus of geek cultures that presents a confluence of comics, artists, cosplayers, hobby artifacts, rare collectibles, IP-inspired handicrafts, talented performers and celebrity guests with fandom connections of varying levels of dedication and/or awesomeness.

We just got home from the latest edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Exposition (“C2E2″), a three-day extravaganza of comic books, actors, creators, toys, props, publishers, freebies, Funko Pops, anime we don’t recognize, and walking and walking and walking and walking. We missed the inaugural edition in 2010, took a break starting in 2020 even before the pandemic came a-ragin’, then returned to the fold in 2023. We were undecided for months because this year it was scheduled the same weekend as one of our hometown shows, Indy Pop Con. Ultimately Chicago lured us back.

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Heartland International Film Festival 2023 Screening #5: “A Disturbance in the Force”

October 14, 2023 By in Conventions & Events, Movies/Films/Flicks Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Cartoonish poster for the documentary at hand, with various "Star Wars Holiday Special" stars drawn in a pyramid.

NEVER FORGET.

Longtime MCC readers may not be surprised to find this very special miniseries found a path toward Star Wars. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

Unfortunately this also led to the worst theatrical experience we’ve had in years. For the record, this was not the filmmakers’ fault, but this entry was unwritable without being candid about that part.

Speaking of unfortunate viewing experiences…

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MCC Q&A #9: Who We’ve Met – The Master List (so far)

September 30, 2023 By in Conventions & Events, Meta Tags: , , , , , , , , 7 Comments
Us doing jazz hands with four cast members from "Star Trek: Picard" -- Michelle Hurd, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, and the late Annie Wersching, who wore a paper crown.

That time at Star Trek: Mission Chicago in 2022 when we met Star Trek: Picard season-2 cast members Michelle Hurd, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, and Annie Wersching (RIP).

The topic at hand was suggested by a Facebook discussion in the wake of our Fan Expo Chicago weekend back in August. In a private group for fans of that con, Heather S. asks: “Do you have a master list of all the people you’ve met at cons?”

Well, now we do! We do love brainstorming, listing, and cataloguing. Frankly, we couldn’t believe we hadn’t done this sooner without prompting.

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Cincinnati Comic Expo 2023 Photos, Part 2 of 2: Who We Met and What We Did

September 25, 2023 By in Comics/Lit, Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments
Us doing jazz hands with Neal McDonough!

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Neal McDonough! You’ve probably seen him in things, especially if you’re among the 600 million viewers now watching Suits on Netflix!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This past Friday my wife Anne and I drove two hours southeast of Indianapolis to attend the thirteenth annual Cincinnati Comic Expo in the heart of their downtown that’s not so different from ours. At first it felt odd to return to a “normal” comic-con contained within a single convention center after our recent Dragon Con adventure and its downtown-sized sprawl. By the end of our weekend we’d forgotten any such reservations and were thrilled at how, in at least one respect, Cincy succeeded where Dragon Con had failed us…

And now, the rest of our weekend besides cosplay.

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #8: Cosplay Parade Presents the Walt Disney Family of Companies

September 9, 2023 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Mandalorians marching, one in the foreground who's red with gun pointed to the sky.

Hey, kids! Mandalorians! This one’s from the Mandalorian Mercs cosplay group.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. As one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America, Dragon Con had received rave reviews from our internet friends over the past two decades, some of whom recommended it to us more than once and, according to my notes, would never shut up about it. We had so much of a blast that we returned in 2021. Third time was the charm this Labor Day weekend as we repeated the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis to that amazing colossal southern spectacle…

Hi-diddly-ho! It’s our fourth gallery from D*C’s annual Saturday morning cosplay parade, always one of our favorite events. The starter exhortations in Part 5 still apply here: if you recognize any characters we didn’t, by all means please let us know! We like meeting new faces, broadening our knowledge, correcting errors, and bridging the gaps in our aging memories where those character names used to be. Between us we took over 600 photos and couldn’t possibly have known everyone. Related note: if you or someone you know was in the parade and you’re hoping for shots of them, pretty-please let us know! We’re taking requests! We’ll be happy to search our files and post ’em if we got ’em. You might come away disappointed, or you might not!

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #4: Saturday Cosplay (Non-Parade Edition)

September 5, 2023 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
cosplay: four What We Do in the Shadows characters

Nadja, Nandor, Laszlo, and Guillermo from What We Do in the Shadows. Bonus points for bringing Laszlo’s witch-skin hat and Doll With the Spirit of Deceased Human Nadja Inhabiting It.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. As one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America, Dragon Con had received rave reviews from our internet friends over the past two decades, some of whom recommended it to us more than once and, according to my notes, would never shut up about it. We had so much of a blast that we returned in 2021. Third time was the charm this Labor Day weekend as we repeated the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis to that amazing colossal southern spectacle…

…and the cosplay photos march on! Here’s all the costumes we had a chance to photograph on Saturday between 11:15 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. around the various hotels, show floors, and walkways whenever we weren’t trapped in long lines. This gallery does not include the staggering number of pics we took at the annual major cosplay event earlier that morning. Those’ll star in our next few chapters, however many it takes. Once again we beg forgiveness from the thousands of cosplayers that we missed throughout our 12-hour day, but we celebrate those who crossed our path and willingly braked for us. Enjoy yet again!

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Indiana State Fair 2023 Photos, Part 4 of 9: The Year in Lego

August 27, 2023 By in Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
a massive Lego black Star Desroyer, which had to have taken a few thousand bricks.

Lego Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer, which first appeared in the Star Wars Expanded Universe graphic novel Dark Empire.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

It’s that time again! The Indiana State Fair is an annual celebration of Hoosier pride, farming, food, and 4-H, with amusement park rides, cooking demos, concerts by musicians either nearly or formerly popular, and farm animals competing for cash prizes without their knowledge. My wife Anne and I attend each year as a date-day to seek new forms of creativity and imagination within a local context…

When we were kids, the Midway’s amusement-park rides and rigged carnival games were the most important part of the fair. The adults who brought us to the fair wanted to see the exhibits a lot more than we did. We’re now older than they were at the time, and have come to enjoy the opportunities for art appreciation across the fairground exhibit halls. It’s fun seeing the latest round of multimedia works from artists of all ages, skill levels, and facilitating organizations, be they 4-H or local collectives. One of the commonest media among the younger demos is Lego, that blessed sculptor’s tool that’s rigid and flexible, comes with instructions and lends itself to freewheeling flights of fancy.

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