I almost had to ‘Runaway’ from Lita Ford!

Posted on by

The seeds for attending the 2026 New Jersey Horror Con were sown back in March and after I saw the original KISS drummer, Peter Criss, would be in attendance. My friend, Jason Schoolcraft, in Rhode Island, isn’t so much a KISS fan but has done Flashback Weekend and Days of the Dead (Chicago and Indianapolis) as well as Horrorhound Weekend with me. Since he lives closer to this event than I do, I thought it would be a nice opportunity for us to meet up. The last time I saw Jason was when he flew out to Chicago for Flashback Weekend 2024. He agreed, and I started making plans.

1 2

V.N. Thompson’s “Deadly Nature” …  Harmful Humans Making Mutant Mongrels!

Posted on by

I finally got around to re-reading an ‘80s horror paperback I’ve had in my collection for years, V.N. Thompson’s “Deadly Nature.” As with most books from this era, it was the cover that initially drew me in, and I remember purchasing it at local Crown Books when I was in high school, spending $4 of my hard-earned money bagging groceries at a local store. Cut to nearly forty years later, I now own two copies of this book: a nice, crisp collector’s copy, along with my old, worn one that not only qualifies as a “Paperback from Hell” but effectively looks like Hell. In fact, it’s so beaten up, I used one of its fallen pages as a bookmark.

1 2

Joliet “KISS Expo” More Like a Peck on the Cheek

Posted on by

On Sunday, May 3rd (the day after FREE Comic Book Day), I joined my friend, Jason Lucas, for a KISS Expo in Joliet, Illinois. This event should not be confused with the much larger KISS gathering that took place last month in Indianapolis and featured the band’s frontman. Paul Stanley, as a guest. Although we had both planned on attending that event, we bowed out at the last minute. For my part, I have a road trip coming up in a couple of weeks where I’ll be meeting up with yet another Jason (Jason Schoolcraft) in New Jersey, which also has a bit of a KISS theme. More on that later, as today we’ll be focusing exclusively on our “poor man’s” KISS Expo, instead.

1 2

The Ins and Outs of FREE Comic Book Day

Posted on by

Last Saturday, the nerd world celebrated FREE Comic Book Day, an event I’ve participated in since my kids were little. Now they’re all grown up and have sufficiently outgrown me, so what was once a family outing has morphed back into solo ventures. No worries, I’ve been collecting comics on and off since before they were born and can now take part without worrying about what’s ‘kid friendly.’ Thanks to YouTube, I can also approach things strategically, armed with a specific list of what I’m looking for. FREE Comic Book Day kicked off in May of 2002 and has been observed every first Saturday in May since then. I haven’t done all of them, but I did this past one, and here’s how it went…

1 2

Svengoolie & Squad Make Costumed Debut at C2E2!

Posted on by

The train dropped me off at Chicago’s McCormick Place around 11. Svengoolie and the Squad weren’t scheduled for their first signing until 12:30, which gave me the opportunity to mosey a bit on my way to their signing booth.  I snapped some photos of cosplayers and enjoyed seeing some old school STAR WARS stuff. STAR WARS as an Intellectual Property may have lost its way, but for many of us Gen Xers, the Original Trilogy will always be a part of us.

1 2