C2E2 and the Thrill of the Comic Book Hunt!

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Back in my junior high and high school years, I admit to being a pretty serious collector of comic books. This was back in the early ’80s and well before The X-Men, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Batman, and The Avengers would all become modern day pop culture & box office phenomena (as I write this post, Iron Man 3 just pulled in $175M on it’s opening weekend here in the US). Unfortunately, back in my day a guy needed to downplay his love of super heroes lest he receive daily wedgies from the school bully while consistently repelling members of the opposite sex.

I discussed my comic book history back when I reviewed The Avengers movie last year (seen HERE). This year I decided to use the C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) occasion to not only cover the Return of Svengoolie (see last post) but also as an opportunity to reconnect with my comic book past.

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THE RETURN OF SVENGOOLIE!

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1Svengoolie with True Blood’s Janina Gavankar!

It was just after 3pm last Saturday when my friend, Steve Gill, and I began plowing through a juggernaut of fans (and even fans dressed like Marvel’s Juggernaut) in an effort to get to “Table 12.” C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo) is a popular annual/weekend event here in the city and this was clearly their “prime time.” It was little wonder that it took us over ten minutes to navigate a single aisle.

Of course it also didn’t help that I was stopping every few yards to take pictures of costumed fans either but I’ll cover that portion of the event in an upcoming post. Today I’m going to cut right to the chase and focus on my main objective for being there…the return of Svengoolie! And, while conventional wisdom states one should always save the best for last, I have no desire in prolonging what we fans have waited long enough for as it is.

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Svengoolie’s New Coffin Knocks Fans Dead!

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I was attending a Brookfield Chapter AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) meeting at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo late last year when the subject of our annual Vital Grounds spaghetti dinner/fundraiser came up. As they’ve been doing this event for several years now, they’ve pretty much got it all down to a science (food, auction items, ticket info, etc).

There was one aspect of the occasion, however, that wasn’t quite so clear…namely the entertainment. For the past several years, Chicago-gone-national horror host, Svengoolie, had been their featured guest which guaranteed a strong turn-out & much-needed funds for the cause. However, with Sven’s health scare in November that was no longer a certainty. Everyone at the table turned and looked at me…

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2013 Horror Host Hall of Fame…a Downright Shame!

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Unlike the last few years, 2013’s March Horrorhound Weekend featured only a sparse number of horror hosts which, in many ways, seemed like a “last stand.” After the Vampira Tribute in 2010, Jason Hignite continued the Horrorhound Weekend/Horror Host tradition with a Zacherley Tribute in 2011 along with “inducting” at least ten horror hosts into the Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Horror Host Hall of Fame. The tradition of choosing ten random hosts for induction would continue in 2012 and, despite the lower turn-out, took place again this year.

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2013 Horrorhound Weekend Part 1: That Crazy Opening Night!

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It was around 3pm on Friday, March 22nd when I arrived in Cincinnati for Horrorhound Weekend. Brian Maze from monkeygoatboy.com graciously asked me if I’d like to save expenses and room with him. This was in lieu of the person he was originally supposed to be going with cancelling due to an injury. Brian was staying at the Livinn Hotel which, while across the street from the event’s official hotel, was actually right next door to the Sharonville Convention Center and closer. Rather than seeking out my press pass, Brian saved me a LOT of anguish by also giving me his fallen compadre’s “vendor pass” which was even better. This act of kindness can not be understated as getting inside that convention center was like storming the gates of Mordor.

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The Secrets of Acme Design Revealed!

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During last October’s amazing “Nightmare on Chicago Street” event (see first of several blogs detailing that experience HERE), I was introduced to the great Elizabeth Haney via our mutual pal, Rich Koz/Svengoolie. Since that time, Elizabeth and I have become good friends and she is a genuinely wonderful person who also has a knack for working at the coolest places. I’d first seen her years before working at “Horrorbles” in Berrrr-wyn, though we’d never actually spoken during that time. She’s now employed with Acme Design inc. a.k.a. the talented folks responsible for creating Svengoolie’s new coffin! The prototype for this new slice of Horror Host History was unveiled at the aforementioned event.

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