Ah HA! In tribute to the forthcoming return of Battlestar Galactica, may I say that the FRACKING ISSUE is finally out on TIME! That took some planning, but made it happen. Whew!

 

Cover Lovin'

Had to go back to David Enciso this time around, and I wanted to stick with the Omniverse theme Bill started last time. So here in all her glory--and living up to her name--is Dream Girl, from "Tag & Dream Girl, Freelance Heroes" fame. This is just my little way to get reinspired (already am thanks to Martin's recent Lodestone/Tag & Dream Girl team-up) and hopefully get back to finishing my Del Oeste page and getting back to their second chapter. And then, hopefully, using that as an excuse to get the all-new Omniverse site started! Don't hold your breath, but don't write it off...

 

It's a...nice day for a...'Times wedding...

Jeni and Aaron. Having it and eating it, too...

And the BIG 'Times news this time around is oh-so-marital in nature! Got a couple of 'Timer knot-tyings that went down!

First off, I was fortunate enough to be in Seattle in September for the long-overdue wedding of long-'Timer Aaron "Wingboy" Storck to his gal Jeni. They needed to keep the ceremony small, so there were only two guys standing up for him and two gals (okay, a guy and a gal...) for her, and maybe 60 people, I think, in attendance. Which made for a great, cozy ceremony in a near-perfect Washington day.

I flew in on Thursday, as most others did. I was there, as were our pals Russ (the groomsman), Tony, and former 'Timer Greg Johnson with wife Anna and toddler Ellie. We got to meet up at Aaron's AWESOME new house (two-car garage, split level, huge back yard you could run your own LARPS game in ("lightning bolt!")) for some barbecue courtesy of the groom-to-be grill man and some good times meeting everyone involved. Friday was the last-minute running around, and the rehearsal dinner, followed by the bachelor party night. Wasn't your traditional lap-dance scenario, as that wasn't what Aaron wanted (whereas for Tim, that's considered the main reason TO get married...), but instead a night on the town with the boys, drinking up and causing trouble. Russ's pal Dan, who lives in the area and knows most of us, joined up with the bachelor crew, and after drinks and cigars at our hotel, we headed out to Tacoma to end the night at a brew-pub there (with tales not to be told. So I won't mention the girl with the "Five inches? Woo hoo!!!" line. Oh, wait, I just did...). We somehow made it back to Aaron's house for some cigar and bonding time on his patio, where Aaron gathered slurred marital advice from the experienced husbands there. Good times. Despite Russ's nuclear flatulence.. And if you ever see a product called the "Unreal Tournament Headboard" ("Money shot...") hit the market, just know it was born that night. Everyone was in pretty bad shape the next morning, but muddle through.

The bachelor party boys...Tony, Greg, Russ, Dan, Aaron and Mike

Saturday was the big day, and we all got there early to the lovely outdoor site with attached building for the reception for set-up. That's when the near-disasters went down. Someone had left the liquor license at home (like, 45 minutes away) which would keep any of the wine from being served, so someone had to drive like a maniac to get back with it before the ceremony. And there was the deal with the caterers. They were supposed to be there at 2:30, half an hour before the ceremony. Well, that time came and went, and they weren't. 3:00 came. Still no caterer, and the ceremony began. Finally, at about 3:30, right about the time of the "I do's", the van came racing up. Whew! Turns out there were 7 different weddings going on at that park, and they'd managed to stop at every single one before finding the right one. All was well.

Bonds. James Bonds. Tony, Russ, Mike and Aaron at the big event

Wonderful ceremony, made extra fun by two very fun people being the bride and groom. And the reception was a blast. Talk about a sign of the times...the music for the whole thing was on Jeni's iPod, plugged into the sound system (operated by Tony, The Man from Apple). The caterers got all the food and drink together in record time, and it was all grand. And after the meal, it was time for the toasts. I, being Aaron's best man, had to be first. I should point out that with my schedule, I hadn't been able to work on one until I actually GOT to Seattle (handwrote three pages worth frantically before the rehearsal dinner and tried my best to memorize it over the next 24 hours). When the mic got passed, I pulled the pages out and had them in front of me, because I was sure I wouldn't remember a bit of it. But to my surprise, it was all there in my brain. For those of you who weren't able to be there, thought I'd include at least the print version here:

http://michaeloconnell.com/bestmanspeech.htm

Me and Aaron. See? I TOLD you we weren't gay! He married a GIRL!

Everyone there had an amazing time, thanks to screw-wedding-planners, we-got-this-monkey couple Aaron and Jen, who put together, on their own, a memorable and fantastic day for everyone to share with them. Soon they were off in their decorated Mini Cooper (Jeni's gift to Aaron was renting that for him for the weekend) to catch a ferry to their island honeymoon, leaving all of us in high spirits and with lots of great memories. Congrats again, Aaron and Jeni. The 'Times wishes you 3d6 of luck. Persistent. Zero END. Perhaps armor piercing.

Jill and Will on the big day

And while I wish I had MORE details to share (I wasn't AT this one), those of you checking the board found out that Will "Suffice to Say, 'I Do'" Geiger got himself hitched over the summer! A very, VERY big congratulations to Will and Jill. Not only do you guys rock, but you rhyme! We all feel like you two have 10d6 of Joy, area effect, no normal...okay, that joke was old the first time, wasn't it? Many happy years and showers of blessings to you both, my friend, from all your pals at the Clobberin' Times.

 

CONfound it!

Thankfully, not that many people came to Comic-Con this year...

Okay, didn't manage to find the time to do a full 2006 Comic-Con report this year, so I'll settle for a summary here.

As Martin's report last issue stated, this year was a little scattered. This thing's getting tougher. Used to be we were all the only reason we all showed up, and there was plenty of time to hang out together, run a couple of games (or three, even), see all the sights... But times do change. People get married and have kids. People, like myself, have several different groups of people to see, and business to conduct there. Just getting there is hard enough for some people...finding the time to hang together is a big challenge, too.

Joel, me and Rebecca hanging out at the Valentine booth (Dan Cooney's not just a fellow comic creator...he's a drinking buddy...)

But, we made due, and had some good times. For 'Times roll-call, those in attendance were me, Tim, Jeff, Joel, Martin, Ben and Kaye. As usual, Ben and Kaye were only able to make it for Saturday, but this time got to bring both their boys to experience the ultimate in geek nirvana! Martin, too, turning the trip into a family vacation, got to introduce both wife and son to the wonder...and the stench...

My trip began at the end of my L.A. van trip. After 5 days in Van Nuys, I loaded up the new van (nervous as all Hell, because it was my first time driving it solo, and still wasn't used to it) and headed for San Diego the Friday before the Con. Which gave me time to see Russ, have lunch with Rebecca, hook up with my old GEICO buddies, and have drinks with my pal Summer, which Tim made it in town in time to be part of (they got to meet two years before at our first Nice Guy Comic-Con). So got SOME of it out of the way, which helped. Then on Tuesday, Tim and I spent too much money at a fancy restaurant for lunch to celebrate the week, and then got back to our hotel to meet up with the arriving Maenza family and Joel (who had to grab a cab over from his hotel to join us) for dinner and relaxation and catching up. Wednesday was badge day, where we got to meet up with Jeff as well. And then the shuffling began!

Joel, Tony and Russ waiting for the B.G. panel to start

Everyone had their own agendas going (with some crossover), and things they needed to see. I needed to hook up with Rebecca and my friend J.D. on Thursday, who were coming down to check out the Con again, and Joel and I gave them the tour. I also had to hook up with Russ and Tony, and find my Browncoat buddies Suzi and Jessica (who got me into the Serenity premiere last year). Part of our agenda (for me, Tim and Tony, at least) was making it to the screening of "Done The Impossible", the documentary about Firefly fans that Tony and I had done interviews for at the premiere. Turns out my interview made the film! They cut to soundbites of me several times. Way cool, especially seeing it with like 1000 people. Some other Browncoat fun was had when Tim and I found out Joel had somehow NOT seen Serenity yet! There was a screening going on in the Con film room at the Hyatt (I'd never done a Con film before, after all these years), so we hooked up with Joel there and got to experience it, one last time, with 1) a crowd and 2) with a Firefly fan (Joel) who had NO idea what was coming in the film. That was a blast.

A shot of MIKE TAYLOR and Tim! He DOES exist! We weren't making those stories up!

I bought too much Con art, of course. I hadn't meant to, but it happens (me=kid. Con=candy store). Got some great stuff, as you saw in my zine last time. Met a lot of good artists, and got to hook up with a couple of eBay artists I'd used and got to meet them in person (and hopefully lay the groundwork for working with them one of these days...). Got to do some paneling. The one for the upcoming film adapting Frank Miller's "300" was AMAZing. They had this trailer that they put together just for the Con, and the crowd made them show it three times. Could be one of the manliest films ever made. I noticed that the trailer made it online, but now that I tried to search for it, Warner seems to have made everyone take it down. Ah, well. Guess you'll have to wait...or be better at Googling than I am. My personal favorite panel was catching Scott McCloud's one about his upcoming book promo tour with his whole family. And his whole family's, like, really involved. His wife and his two young daughters proved that public speaking/stand-up-comedy genes run in the McCloud family. They entertained the hell out of us. If they come to your town, don't miss out. Joel and I joined up with Ben and Kaye for a great win-lose-or-draw-type panel (forget the actual name) that was a total hoot (Sergio still kicks ass), one that K.C. had introduced Kaye to before that she now never misses. The must-see panel for many people was the Battlestar Galactica one, and we were there. But that big news of that one was when I was sitting there with Joel, Russ and Tony and someone walks by and says "Mike?". Mike freaking Taylor. You may know his name from the old 'Times roster (he never actually submitted), but he's a very old friend of mine from way back in the 80s who went to L.A. and disappeared. Haven't seen him in almost 20 years, I think. And there we find each other, in the middle of 100,000 people at a Con. Had to get Tim on the cell real quick, and the three of us had to catch up on old times. I LOVE when that happens! My favorite part about it? Recently, he happened to be doing a web search for "The Clobberin' Times" and found this online zine. :) That's the second time I've heard that lately (same thing happened with Greg Johnson). I love the internet!

The whole Bellot clan making the Con scene on Saturday

A frenzied and scattered but satisfying Con this year, but man, what a chore trying to balance everyone I had to see. Guess I'd better get used to it. Maybe next year it'll get easier and Tim and I will have a Nice Guy table again, so I'll be stuck there all day long and people will have to come see me. :) It was great getting to see everyone, and spend what time I could with them. Always the best week of the year, that trip.

Jessica, Suzi, Tim and me at the "Done the Impossible" screening (three of these four people were in the film...)

And while I also don't have time to create a separate Con photo page just for the 'Times, I did get a page up on my personal web page, so I'm just going to link you to that. So have fun checking out some shots (I took a lot less than normal, actually). If it seems like there are a lot of shots of Rebecca? Um...it's Rebecca. I think the reason kind of speaks for itself. Joel knows what I'm talking about... Would you rather look at her or a bunch of aging geeks sitting around a gaming table? :P

http://michaeloconnell.com/sandiego2006pix.htm

 

Founder's Day!

Birthday boy Tim making the moves at last weekend's Browncoat Ball in San Francisco

Oh, and in case you didn't know, this deadline day also happens to be the birthday of one Tim Watts, who you just may know as the founder and first CM of the Clobberin' Times! So happy birthday, Mr. Watts! Old fart. And other 'Timer birthdays in October, off the top of my head, include Aaron "A.T." Thompson, me, Ben Bellot and Aaron "Going to the Chapel" Storck. Happy birthday to us!

 

Next Issue Deadline

Deadline for the next CTO issue is November 30, 2006, for inclusion in the December 1, 2006 issue. Just put your stuff on a web page (or in a PDF) and e-mail the link (or the file) to me at:

oconnellmd@aol.com

As always, any questions, drop me a line, or post on the board. Happy Halloween, everyone. And happy Thanksgiving, for that matter. In the 'Times, we shall see ya!

Michael O’Connell
Central Mailer, The Clobberin’ Times Online