Curicon had its first meetup this week at KINGS Comics, we counted about 70 in attendance so thanks to all who came!
Here are some of the photos of the event (others have also been posted on the Curicon Facebook account). If you couldn’t make it or found out too late, don’t fear! We will be holding another similar event hopefully soon in the new year.
That’s Rich on the left – the super excited one!
Proof that good things come in small (And loud. And funny.) packages, Rich Cassidy is one of those responsible for the awesomeness that is Aggressive Comix. A nerd from an early age, he reminisces about the green figure with the wicked fashion sense that made him the nerd we love today
Power Rangers were definitely everyone’s first taste of ‘Pokemon Syndrome’ in that we had to catch ‘em all.
Power Ranger figures were probably one of the most difficult sets of toys to get as a kid. They were so popular that, they even decided to make a motion picture based on it. (See Turboman).
If your parents were badass enough, they some how managed to get you not just the entire set, but they got you the Green Ranger. Now the Green Ranger came with not only a removable “gold plated” shield (aka, a spray-painted piece of plastic with gold-like paint and add a gloss finish… close enough) BUT it also came with the Dragon Zord!
The Dragon Zord was one of best of the entire collection. Even though the Green Ranger started off bad it didn’t matter. He was still by far one of the BEST figures in the ENTIRE set! I remember playing with that toy for hours and hours on end. ALMOST as much as I played with my foot cruiser! (Who remembers that toy?! F*cking Hot-Rod that Shredder from TMNT drove). Either way, nothing beats old school toys. My basement is filled with ‘em, so many at this point that I actually opened a box yesterday and I’m shocked I even owned some of the toys I have in my collection.
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Think about it. Nothing, right?
Wrong.
You may not have heard of them yet but rest assured you will. Matt & Rick Klimenko, of Find Your Collectables, are the talent behind some of the most amazing costume designs we have ever seen. Covering a (really) wide gamut of cosplays such as Iron Man, Venom and Carnage, along with the aforementioned characters above, these Sydney-based designers are set to raise the bar for designers everywhere.
The most fascinating aspect of their story is that they are completely self-taught. Working from their workshop in Sydney’s Vaucluse, Matt, and his brother Rick, spend their days designing and creating custom costumes for avid cosplayers attending conventions
The Curicon team was lucky enough to bump into them at Supanova Brisbane where they were showcasing some of the amazing costumes they design. Check out our gallery of pictures below and be amazed!
Photos credit: Mike Robins
They can, and will, design almost anything. All you need to do is give them the idea. If you’d like to see some more of their awesome work, check them out on Facebook or email them here for further details
Frank Kozik, graphic designer extraordinaire known for his awesome KidRobot figures and exceptional posters, tells us how Kamandi was the first comic to blow him away as a kid.
Frank lives in San Francisco with his wife Sharon and their four cats.
I was 9 years old when I bought the first issue of Kamandi…everything about it totally blew my mind…. the cover image, Kirby’s insane brutal style, which I had never really noticed before, the crazy future world, the whole bit. I think I have to credit Kamandi with my since them obsession with dystopian landscapes, science fiction, and a certain warm comfortable feeling when I think about a post-apocalyptic future. I also have to say that since I grew up in Europe (I obtained American comics at the local us military base PX)…Kamandi also sort of constructed a fantasy image of the USA that I still sometimes see below the surface today.
One of my great daydreams would be that once I made a few billion dollars, I’d blow a huge chunk of it making a series of films based on Kamandi. Fuck yer Hobbits.
You can find Frank on t’interweb at http://www.frankkozik.net/ making cool posters and awesome toys. There’s nothing not to love about this guy.
You can also become a fan on Facebook and follow him on Twitter because he rocks!
Patrick Purcell is the co-writer of Winter City Comic Book Series. Here he sits down and tells Curicon what he loved as a kid, what still causes him to nerdgasm and his former plans to take over the world with a Super Robot
When I was a kid, what was my favorite thing in the world? Well, for starters, I like to think I am still a kid. In the very least I am at heart. All the things I used to enjoy, I still enjoy. Maybe even more so.
I could honestly write endlessly about my great geeky pleasures, but I don’t want to bore everyone to death, so I think I will cover just a few of the things that I thought were super great, and still do! For starters, I love super robots. The Japanese kind. Voltron, both lion force and space force, were the absolute best. My intense infatuation naturally expanded into Voltus V, Transformers G1, and Grendizer.
My love for robots went so far that at ten years old I designed my own Super Robot. And I don’t mean I drew my own version. I actually created blue prints. Each component in intricate detail. Engines, cogs, cables, wheels, wings, fuel tanks. It was all there. I spent hours flipping through the pages of engineering books copying the systems that “appeared” to do what I wanted. It was awesome!
I’m still a big fan of a good super robot story. Neon Genesis Evangelion stands as one of my favorite Anime and one of my favorite stories. When discussing childhood obsessions, there is another that stands out for me. Superman. Oh, how I loved Superman. You name the toy; I had it. I spent probably the first six years of my life wearing a Superman costume under my clothes.
Even under my school uniform. Superman really is the purest of super heros, and I have no shame in saying that even today, at thirty years of age, I wear Superman shirts, board shorts, and underwear. Finally, just because it probably wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make one last shout-out to a character that had me engrossed, and that is Astro Boy. Robot, plus super hero, plus a small boy dealing with, well, boyish issues. Astro had everything. I was never quite as obsessed with Astro Boy as I was with Voltron or Superman, but he still, and always will, hold a special place in my heart.
Ah… The memories!
You can check follow Winter City Comic Book Series on Facebook and Twitter
Eaglemoss publications, who are already known for their award winning DC Superhero collection, recently released a DC Chess Collection which holds massive appeal for any comic book fan.
We were really excited to open the package up when it arrived and take gazillions of photographs, just for you guys! The first special edition included Batman and The Joker, complete with a 16-page magazine detailing Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns
Hand-painted, metallic resin, the pieces are a nice weight and a good size. They’re not too heavy but solid enough that they don’t feel cheap. That being said, I did think the paintwork could have been better. Batman’s crest in particular was lacking in some detail I thought but maybe I’m just being pedantic.
It still wouldn’t stop me from collecting the entire set though. The chess set would be an amazing addition to anybody’s collection, albeit a bit expensive. But when did expense ever weigh on a collector’s mind?? :D
Here, for your viewing pleasure are pictures of the first issue pieces.
The North End of the World mixes historical, biographical and anthropological elements concerning the changing culture of the Kwakiutl Indian tribe of British Columbia in the early 1900s and one man’s obsession with documenting their way of life at all costs. Yet publishers of The North End of the World, Black Watch Comics are adamant that the graphic novel is not a biography, a history nor an anthropological work. Rather it is the fictionalized account of Edward Sherriff Curtis’ doomed foray into the world of the Kwakiutl Indian tribe of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Colombia.
Curtis, was one of the most famous portrait photographers in North America when he sailed to Fort Rubert, BC, in 1914 to film his groundbreaking silent film “In the Land of the Head Hunters”. The film, although received well by the critics was a commercial failure. Consequently, Curtis never again owned his own home, had much money or kept the fame he had achieved in the early part of his career.
This captivating story, based on the real Edward S. Curtis, is written by Dave Hunsacker and accompanied by absolutely stunning artwork by Christopher Shy. The story stands on it’s own merit as a tale of one man’s journey into the depths of his own soul, however coupled with Shy’s atmospheric art, the result is a tale of epic proportions.
228 pages of Christopher Shy’s stunning artwork is reason alone to own this book. In many ways, it seems less like something that should be contained within a graphic novel and more fitting for an art gallery wall. The artwork sets the tone beautifully for the haunting story detailing the end of Indian culture on Vancouver Island.
Hunsacker’s skill as a storyteller lies in his ability to generate empathy for the characters, in particular Curtis, even if they’re not always likeable. Although the reader may at times struggle to understand Curtis’ determination to find the cannibal at the North End of the World, it’s the eternal tale of man’s struggle with internal and external demons that readers will have the most empathy for.
Readers can order a copy of The North End of The World directly from www.thenorthendoftheworld.com
