Just how did a cat wearing a pop tart who propels himself with a rainbow get so popular, or did I just answer my own question?

That was me this year, actually. I couldn’t afford to go to ConnectiCon this year, despite having gone the last two years. ConnectiCon isn’t just a convention, it’s an experience. Even if you didn’t go to the panels, everyone just had so much fun, it was like a playground for older kids. I like to think of it as a celebration of storytelling and beloved characters, and that’s not counting the various games and activities that take place there.

That’s not the only convention this year. And since I was a bit busy to collect the latest storytelling news (plus it was my vacation, as will next week, so that makes focusing on this a bit harder) I’ll tell you about them. We’ll still have Best Scene of the Week and the Clutter Reports and Cracked links as well.

I will not only be attending ComicCONN this year, a comic convention with some big names appearing there, but I will be doing so with a media pass. That means I have a better shot at reviewing said big names. Look at the guest list: you’ve got independent artists and more famous ones. There’s sure to be some good interviewing, and I’ll hopefully bring back plenty of webcomic you’ve never heard of before. However, one of the reasons I wanted to get the media pass was to make it easier to interview this guy.

While Adventures of Captain Marvel and Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam! have all gotten much praise on this site, I sadly haven’t said enough about Filmation’s live-action series, my first introduction to Captain Marvel and a bit part of my childhood. Getting to interview Michael Gray would be a highlight of my ComiCONN experience. Luckily I’m getting tips from Siskoid (of Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery–check the footer) who has done this before. Hopefully it won’t suck.

ComiCONN will take place on Saturday, August 27th at the Stamford Hotel in Stamford, CT. I need to seriously get some of my junk auctioned off or sold in the hopes of affording a room…and if I’m lucky a better camera than the one I have. So I’m going to try to get that going this week. With any luck I’ll see you all there and I won’t be tired from hours of driving.

There are a couple of other smaller comic conventions taking place in the state as well. July 31st will see the Brass City Comic Convention at the Naugatuck Valley Community College (hosted by my LCS, Legends of Superheroes) and there’s another one in Waterbury coming in September hosted at the Coco Key Water Resort. I’ll have more on that next week, as I forgot to grab the flyer on the way out of the store.

But while I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself (if I’m not to busy trying to score interviews with creators, they’re all one-day events), it’s not going to be the same atmosphere and experience that ConnectiCon was, at least not according to every piece of comic convention footage I’ve ever seen. Still, if you see me there, say hello.

The Clutter Reports: Last week we saw one way of making a do-it-yourself photo studio and I mentioned that you didn’t have to follow their instructions to the letter. As proof, I demonstrate how I made my little studio and why I changed what I changed. It still works, though.

This Week’s Cracked: We all remember the Taco Bell dog and the California Raisins. What you may not know is why they’re part of the 5 Famous Ad Campaigns That Actually Hurt Sales.

Best Scene of This Week’s Reviews

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #4

{click for the only good "light" satire moment in the story}

What, you say? Super Dinosaur had TWO offerings? Like I could choose between them, and they’re mostly best “concept” of the week, not exactly best scene.