2019 Outlook

Last year there were a great deal of ups and downs for me personally. I'm hoping that 2019 will play out better and I wanted to give my loyal readers an idea of what's coming down the pipeline.

As I had mentioned towards the end of December, I'm considering making some major changes to how I broadcast information on both of my blogs (Zanziber's Point of View and RPG4EVR). Because I find difficulty finding time to be able to sit and write, I am thinking of moving towards a podcast based system. I have no problems at all talking about my viewpoints and opinions, and this would also open-up some opportunities to include people outside of myself to add content to what is brought here.



As of this writing, I am still working on getting the right equipment and learning more about how the process actually goes. When I begin, I plan on making the podcasts around 45 mins to 1 hour in length and will be more than just reviews. I will incorporate some additional opinions about the state of the comic book industry, role playing games, cons and other events as well as local items within geek culture. I also look forward to doing some interviews with artists, creators and people I happen to meet at events I'm attending.



On that note, I should make note of the various upcoming events that are coming to the Pacific Northwest in 2019.

We just had Fandom PDX up in Portland not too long ago. This is the second year, and I haven't gone once. For me, it's scheduled way too early in the year and all the advertising I saw was primarily anime based. Since my anime tastes run to the old school (Robotech), and I don't understand many of the series that have cropped-up over the last 2 decades, I have decided to give Fandom PDX a pass.

I recently learned that I Like Comic Con is taking a year off in order to make the next event in 2020 even better than the inaugural event in 2018. I wasn't able to go last year, which I really wished I had been able to attend, because there was some serious talent I would have loved to meet. I'm eager to see what they'll have planned for 2020.

As my loyal readers know, I was able to attend 2018's Oregon Coast Comic Con and had a fun time. Unfortunately, due to circumstances behind the scenes, it seems like that was the last time we will see Oregon Coast Comic Con. I don't want to bring-up sore issues, nor do I want to open old wounds so I will not post the information that I have learned through various sources since I have not hear the other side of the story.

And that segues into Cherry City Comic Con. It doesn't look like there will be another Cherry City Comic Con any time soon. There was a big issue with being able to actually hold the event soon after Oregon Coast Comic Con. One day, the promoter posted a video declaring that the event was cancelled, and the very next day it was miraculously saved; although many of the guests that had been promoted to be attending would not be able to.



While I'm uncertain about the actual circumstances behind this cancellation and resurrection, on the face of it there seemed like a ploy for marketing and trying to get everyone's attention to possibly motivate people to actually purchase tickets. From what I saw when I attended, and the information I have received from people who were either also attending or even a guest/vendor there, the entire event was incredibly lackluster. From what I saw personally, there were not nearly as many people attending as in years past. Also, there were many of the booths that were empty and vendors there that had no real connection to comic books.



It's very unfortunate that Salem has not been able to keep a decent show alive; between Cherry City Comic Con and Northwest Comic Fest. I know that the Facebook Group "Pop Culture Northwest" has been holding small events in Salem. Maybe if these were expanded, held on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, and received additional outside promotion, these events would be akin to the old Portland Comic Book show that used to be held at the Memorial Colosseum. IMHO, it doesn't actually have to be too fancy and have a ton of Hollywood guests to be good.

Since I am on the topic of events that have been cancelled, there has been some news that the once cancelled Walker Stalker Con for Portland will be returning later in the year. The event was scheduled for February (I believe), and I had seen many people making posts about their eagerness to attend and making plans. Then... for some reason... they cancelled. Just this past week, it was announced that they are trying to work with the venue to come back to Portland in November. We'll see how that plays out.

As much as I would love to go back to Emerald City Comic Con, it seems like it is being managed poorly. The last year I attended, it was more crowded that in years previous; and that was somewhat unpleasant to me. It seems that it has grown even more, to the point that they have moved the celebrity area and main stage has been moved to a hotel that is about 4-6 blocks away from the convention center. I understand that Seattle is working on building a new convention center (or modifying the existing site), but this level of expansion and inconvenience to the con goers is not sitting well.



The biggest issue with having the main stage and celebrity area away from the area where the other panels, artists and vendor are is the fact that there are always so many people outside of the event either trying to sell you something, scalp badges to the event, or potentially mug you. This will create an even more unsafe environment for people who simply want to go to the event and have a good time. They have already paid so much for badges, travel and other related expenses and now they're being told that they will need to go to a remote location in order to get the full experience of the event. I look forward to the new convention center opening in 2021.

For the first time, I have submitted my request to be part of the media for this years Wizard World Portland. This will be February 22-24 and should be a fun event. If I'm approved, I hope to bring my photographer friends from Chrysalis Rising Photographic Studio to help document the experience. Perhaps I will have transitioned to the podcast format by then as well and I can get some great interviews recorded. I'm very excited.

You can bet that I am looking forward to Rose City Comic Con, running September 13-15. As my loyal readers can attest, this event is my favorite from all the events in the Pacific Northwest. Early last year, I was hoping that I could get a table or booth for my non profit; Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer. Due to circumstances, I was unable to commit to this level of attendance. There are several factors that are in play for the likelihood of attempting this for 2019, so I am uncertain at this time. You can bet that it I am unable to table at the event, I will make sure to submit my application to be able to cover it again as in years past.



I am so happy that I have not only attended every single Rose City Comic Con, but that I have been blessed to be a part of the media for the past several years. If I end-up going as a member of the media again, I will work to schedule some interesting interviews with a variety of guests.

While I wasn't able to attend EUCON last year, I hear it was a blast. At the time of this writing, there has been no official announcement on when the next event will be held. When dates are announced, I do plan on requesting a table/booth for Comic Book Cover 4 Cancer. I feel like Eugene may be an area that needs to learn about our fundraising activities for the American Cancer Society.

As of right now, the next series of auctions are scheduled to begin March 2nd. We'll also have our annual Free Comic Book Day series of auctions in May. The dates for the remaining 2 series of auctions are TBD and dependent on getting more covers from artists. If you, or somebody you know, would like to donate to Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer in our effort to raise $$ for the American Cancer Society, please contact me through our Facebook page. To date, we have raised just over $9,200 for cancer research since 2013.



For those of you who have blank covers that we have sent you, please
let me know what the status is for receiving them back to us. There are
a handful of artists who have had their blanks since 2017. We can't
continue without covers to put up for auction.

If you have covers you have already worked on that you would like to
donate, please PM me and I will give you our shipping address. We are
also branching-out with sketch cards as well. All donations are greatly
appreciated.

For those that need blanks to work on, we have
plenty; unfortunately our financial situation does not allow for me to
ship anything right now. If we were to receive some donations through
the "Donate" button on our FB page, we would be able to ship some.



I will continue to post reviews here for trade paperbacks and graphic novels. I have a large section of shelf of trades that have been read, but now need the reviews to be written. Finding time to do the writing is the biggest difficulty right now. Changing to the podcast format would help greatly. If anyone has suggestions on equipment to use or best practices, please feel free to comment.



Oh.. and yesterday I picked-up 40 new trades to add to my collection. Here's what the "To Read" pile looks like at the moment:

I'm looking forward to sharing more updates, reviews and information when it becomes available. I hope you have an excellent 2019!

Status Update

I know it has been several months since I've posted a new review or anything of substance here. I would like to take this time to both apologize and explain.



This year has been a bit of a roller coaster for me, personally. At the end of 2017, we started looking for a new house that we could move into with my parents. They're in their 70's and the house they're currently living in is not suitable for them any longer. So, the first several month of 2018 were looking for houses that would accommodate all of us (5 adults total) and suit the mobility needs of my parents.



When the home we mostly thought would be perfect for us was denied, we changed our strategy to renovating our existing house into a more suitable location for all of us to live. Needless to say, this project has taken away much of what would normally be my "free time" to be able to write. Between making changes at my current home, and helping my parents with getting ready for the move, I have not only had lack of time available to me, but lack of energy/motivation to do so as well.



For this, I have only one thing to say to my loyal readers/followers...

Around the middle of July, everything should be back in order and I should have more time to devote to my writing and posting here. I hope that I can earn your forgiveness.



The positive changes that are coming from this:

• I now have my very own office where before I was sharing a small room.


• In the office are additional bookshelves so I have a better place to store/queue the trades that I have to review.


• The additional bookshelf space also means I have room for more trades to add to my collection!

Additional updates to what has been going on the past few months...

• As loyal readers/followers/supporters know, I was gifted with a booth at this years Oregon Coast Comic Con in Tillamook, OR for Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer. The event was an interesting experience, and once I have more time to devote to it, I will post a full recap.


• In May, we had our Spring/FCBD series of auctions for #CBC4C, which helped to raise additional $$ for the American Cancer Society. We are currently at just over $9,000 raised since 2013.

For the rest of 2018, here's the plan:

• Get writing reviews for the large group of trades that I've got sitting on my shelf.


• I have submitted my press applications to Rose City Comic Con and Renton Comic Con.


• I'm currently toying with the possibility of requesting a booth/table for #CBC4C at EUCON this year, but that will solely depend on finances.


• At the beginning of August, #CBC4C will hold our Summer series of auctions. The Winter series will be held either at the beginning of November or December (I still haven't figured-out which is better).


• Beginning in July, I will start a new feature on the #CBC4C Facebook page to call-out one of the great artists that have donated to our cause over the past 5 years. I hope this will help to generate more visibility to both the featured artist and #CBC4C.

What about 2019?



Who knows right now.



Thank you for your continued support. If you have any suggestions on what else you may want to see here, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm always open to new ideas.



-John "Zanziber" Rogers

2018 Outlook and Insight

As we're getting closer to the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, I'm thinking about the future and the past. These thoughts bring me to my writing now. We'll start with the future first.



Today, I was updating the layout of my blog when I realized just how many comic events are happening in the PNW in 2018. Here's the list:

These are all posted in chronological order for 2018. It will be the 2nd year for Walker Stalker Con and Oregon Coast Comic Con (which was Northwest Comic Con in 2017). I am so looking forward to going to Image Expo finally now that they've moved to Portland. Also, freshman year for the I Like Comic Con event should be incredibly fun. They've already announced Jim Steranko as the artist guest of honor. Every event should be awesome! And just to think that only a handful of years ago, there was only Emerald City Comic Con, Portland Comic Book Show and Stumptown Comic Fest.



As I've mentioned before, my plans are to promote my non-profit this year at Oregon Coast Comic Con and Rose City Comic Con at the very least. Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer is confirmed for Oregon Coast Comic Con, but I haven't hear back about Rose City yet. If not Rose City, then hopefully EUCON will have me.



2017 has been good to me in the fact that I've come closer to completing my G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Marvel collection. The Holy Grail from this year in the elusive issue # 155; the final issue from Marvel.

When I received this issue, I started to think about my future in collecting; which also turned to thoughts about my previous dreams and aspirations.



Since my early 20's, I've always dreamed of having a combination comic book and game store. Something that genuinely catered to both the gaming and comic book communities. I envisioned a space large enough to have rooms for private gaming, tables for CCG and miniature game events, shelves for trades and graphic novels and several tables with long boxes full of back issues.



There was even a time that I was considering a location that would allow for land with area for LARP events. this was back when there was a large enough LARP presence in Salem to warrant such a space. After about 20 years with the Camarilla/Mind's Eye Society, I know how valuable decent LARP gaming space is around here.



But now I can't imagine trying such a venture, especially with the news that there are so many comic shops that have gone out of business over the past couple of years. I've also noticed that the gaming store that I go to in town has been steadily decreasing the amount of inventory on hand. I'm sure that this is due to the fact that they don't want their assets tied-up in so much inventory that just sits on the shelves. The last time I went in for a specific book for a game I'm interested in, the response was "We can always order it for you." As much as I want to support local small business, I go into a store for a specific purpose and prefer to walk out with the item I came in for. If I wanted to wait, I can order it online somewhere.



I will always prefer physical copies of books, comics and trades over a digital copy. Unfortunately, I must be a dying breed of people. Another unfortunate item is that I'm running out of room to store everything I collect.



I currently have 12 long boxes and 5 short boxes full of comic books. I also have 4 bookshelves full of trades and gaming books. Most of my Funko Pop collection are in about 20+ 12 gallon storage totes in our garage.



An this makes me think about how reasonable it is to continue to collect so many things. I still read the trades and am a semi-active gamer, but the comic books get put away in the boxes, barely ever thought about. What makes matters worse is that the hard drive to my laptop crashed back in September, and I was unable to recover the database that I had all my comics inventoried in. Now, I have to inventory the entire collection again. I have figured-out which software I'm going to use to take on this task, but I still question about continuing to get new issues that I'll probably never read.



I seriously considering giving-up collecting new comics after I have the rest of my G.I. Joe collection completed. G.I. Joe started the obsession, it makes sense that it should end it as well.
















The final 4 issues I need. I would also love for Larry Hama to come back to the PNW to have him sign a few more issues in my collection... especially that #155.



No matter what I decided to do with my personal comic book collecting habits, I will continue to collect, read and review trades. I have a small stack to go through to actually write the reviews for, and I'll be going through it over the remaining weeks of 2017 and get them ready for 2018.

EUCON 2017 - My Experiences

It was great to be back at EUCON after not being able to go last year. I enjoy going to all the local events, and sometimes I wished there were a few more. If I have to be honest, I think there are almost enough for my actual ability to go to each of them.



Unfortunately for me, the photos that we took at this years event didn't turn-out so everything I use is courtesy of someone else. I feel like the last few events I've been to, I've had some kind of technical difficulty. My deepest apologies for the delay in posting this recap of EUCON.



When I arrived, I noticed that yet again the parking lot was nearly filled to capacity. I'm glad that there's not a charge for parking as there usually is for events like Rose City Comic Con, Cherry City Comic Con or Emerald City Comic Con.



Upon crossing the threshold of the entrance, I was taken back by how much larger it had gotten from the first year. And right there was Corvallis' own Matt's Cavalcade of Comics with his huge display of Funko Pops. I always appreciate stopping at Matt's when I go to events because there's always several Pops that I need for my collection. This year was no different.

First Doctor for my friend Scott, who is an avid Dr. Who fan.

I've always been a Star Wars collector from the beginning.	I never seem to find the exclusive Pops at Target.

Another good thing about the local events, I always get to re-connect with several Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer contributing artists. This year I was fortunate to touch base with Shawn & AnnMare Cruz from Corrosive Comics Studio, Robert "Floydman" Sumner from Planet F Studios, Ron Randall, Kristel Joslin from Kristel's Kreations, Randy Emberlin and even Jason Metcalf.



As I was strolling around, taking in all the sights, I noticed that Toys for Tots was even represented at this years event. As I've mentioned before, I appreciate seeing non-profit's at comic events.

Photo from KEZI.

If I had to find one thing that disappointed me it would be the fact that some of the celebrities that I was looking forward to meeting cancelled. I know this is par for any event and it isn't something that EUCON could control.



When I hear that both wrestlers Paige and Alberto Del Rio were going to attend, I was considering finding their action figures for them to sign.











The first celeb that was announced for EUCON this year was Cooper Andrews from The Walking Dead. I was hoping that my friend Scott would be able to add another autograph to his growing collection on his Walking Dead comic he received as a Christmas gift from his wife a few years back.

When I first hear that he was only able to make it on Saturday due to a filming conflict, my thoughts raced to the idea that he had to go film Talking Dead because his character, "Jerry", had died. Then it was announced that he wouldn't be able to attend at all, I was certain that I was right. Of course they wouldn't want an actor attend an event the day before their character was going to be killed off the show. On Saturday, I found this posted on Facebook and my heart sunk.

After watching the episode, I was happy that I was wrong.

I'm eagerly looking forward to next years event. I know that for as good as this year was, next years will be even better. If going to Rose City Comic Con for Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer doesn't pan out, I think that I will work to focus my attention to representing at next years EUCON. As much as I would love to be able to attend both for the full duration to help spread the word for #CBC4C, I doubt that I would be able to afford doing both. I'm just starting to work the numbers now. If I can budget for having enough for both, you will see it here.

8 years now, and making some changes

Has it actually been 8 years now? I remember having so many trades to read and review. Stacks of each. These days, the stack of trades to read is not nearly as tall and same with the stack of trades needing to be reviewed. My resources for purchasing new trades has been very limited the past few years, and I haven't been buying as much.



My biggest thrill is when I go to events like Rose City Comic Con and get to find vendors that have trades marked down to an incredible level. Buying trades for even less than what I would pay for them in a used book store is such a great feeling. Unfortunately, I have been looking at these opportunities as a collector and not just a reviewer. I've been cherry-picking for volume 1's of titles I've not read yet where most of the available stock are later volumes because they didn't fair as well as the first. I see this now as I write this article, and I am disappointed in myself.



Because of this shortage, I have been trying to find ways to branch-out to keep my blog interesting for you.



You'll notice that for several years I've been covering events around the Northwest as a member of the press. I've been blessed to be included in the past several Rose City Comic Con's, and this year I was fortunately to be able to cover the first Northwest Comic Con (now Oregon Coast Comic Con). As I'm writing this, I'm waiting to hear back from Eugene Comic Con (EUCON) to see if I'll be covering it as a member of the press.



I hope that the reviews that I've been posting for these events have been helpful to both the event coordinators and attendees. I would like to take some measure of credit for Rose City expanding to 3 days.

Looking forward to 2018, I'm planning on making a large push for Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer (#CBC4C). I'll be attending Oregon Coast Comic Con in March, and I'm going to try my hardest to get a table or booth at Rose City Comic Con. This will not only take a lot of my time to prepare, but it will also take additional resources (funding) to make sure I have enough to warrant having a table at both of these events. For Oregon Coast Comic Con, I have recently made an agreement with artist Neil Jorge to do a con exclusive print for CBC4C. I'm very excited to see what he comes up with. I'm hoping to do something similar for Rose City.



Going forward, I think I may also branch-out to start doing some interviews with people in the comics world. I'm inspired to try this because earlier this year, Warrior Innkeeper Creative publisher Benjamin Kreger interviewed me as part of a "Worthy Wednesday" piece for his Black Suit of Death #2 Kickstarter.



I'm still going to be writing my reviews, but they will only be published occasionally instead of on a regular basis like they used to be. This should be a huge issue to my loyal readers as this has been going on for the past year now... at least. I apologize for that, and I hope I've been able to make it worth the while with other posts.



Thank you all for your continued support. Please keep track of me here and on Facebook. Here's hoping for a great year 9!



-John "Zanziber" Rogers

Personal Updates

I wanted to post an update about what's going on with myself since I haven't been exactly on-top of my writing duties to any of my blogs.



I'm hitting the wall on several occasions when trying to write my reviews. I have a small stack of trades that I have read but have not yet reviewed, and I am slowly working my way through the large stack of trades that I need/intend to read for review. It seems like, more often than not, when I go to write a review about a trade I draw a blank on how I feel about it. Some call this "writer's block". I occasionally call it a lack of motivation.



I took a long break last year to try and get my head cleared to write, and I've been able to do so... sporadically.



I know that I've been trying to concentrate on so many other things in my life, and that is why I feel this way. I have my job, collecting comics, collecting Funko Pops, role playing games, and my all-consuming passion is my non-profit, Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer.



This past week, I watch a video my friend Ben Kreger did about his comic, "Black Suit of Death". Several of the things he said helped to inspire me to write.



As I believe I've pointed-out in the past, there was a time where I was actively trying to write a few different comics. It seems like every time I would work on one of the titles I had in mind, something would just fall-out and I would feel that the concept was lost... so I would shelve it.



This morning... as I am now on day 3 of my staycation from work... I awoke around 1am with a brilliant thought on how to incorporate the different titles I've been working on over the past 20+ years into something new. This has given me the inspiration to write again. Instead of 3 different and separate titles to try and write, I'm focusing on a singular title. Instead of a multi-issue comic series, I want to do a graphic novel format.



While I'm still working through getting reviews written and posted, I will also be attending a few cons this year (Northwest Comic Con March 18-19, Rose City Comic Con September 9-11& EUCON November 11-12). Look forward to my experiences from each of these, and possibly others, throughout the year.



Thank you for staying with me on this. I hope to make it worth your time.

#CBC4C 2016 and beyond!

So, 2016 had a lot of bumps along the way to the end. In the end, we made it through. We're now at just over $5600 total donations to the American Cancer Society since we began, and I consider that a big WIN!



Some of the difficulties we faced over the past year have made a significant impact on our ability to keep going at the pace I would prefer. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to attend NW Comic Fest and EUCON where we had been provided tables. This cut-down our local visibility and ability to generate some additional resources and donations. Because of this, I haven't been able to provide the level of service I would prefer.



With the changes in eBay donation system, it has become bothersome to work with them; but I'm unable to see an alternative that would provide as much visibility as eBay does. We are looking to finding an alternative forum for auctions if eBay does not start making the necessary changes that they lost due to the split with PayPal. Before 2016, we were able to manually pay the donations due to the American Cancer Society once all the auctions had been paid for. Now, we have to wait 21 days after the auctions have closed before the money is removed from our PayPal account and the donations are made. This also creates a massive amount of emails that are unnecessary, where before there was a single email with the total donation amount on it.



2016 had a huge impact on everyone's lives, and that's why I feel that 2017 is going to be better!

I'm not sure if I will be attending Wizard World Portland this year due to the timing, finances and all the issues that have come out about the Wizard World promotion. I know that CBC4C contributing artists Randy Emberlin, Keith Tucker and Jason Metcalf are all scheduled to attend, and I would love to be there to touch base with them and support them. Going in 2016 was kind of a whim decision. If I go, it will probably be the same this year.

We're going to have a new event beginning in 2017 called Northwest Comic Con. It'll be in Tillamook, Oregon and I love going to the coast! I've already connected with the promoter and have secured media passes. The list of artists attending is growing, and I look forward to seeing how this ends up.

I continue to be on-the-fence about going back to Emerald City Comic Con this year. While it is a wonderful event, it just seems too big for my tastes. I remember my first ECCC back in 2006 when it was in an exhibition hall at Qwest Field. This was my first time meeting people like James O'Barr and Adam Hughes. Such a wonderful experience. The last few years that I've attended were fun, but tiring and dreadfully packed with too many people. Also, I've found that I don't have time to go to any of the panels that I used to enjoy.



Much like Wizard World, going to ECCC was a whim choice, and may be again this year. The best part is that I have lodging available just up in Bothel, Washington. The bad part is that I don't look forward to the possibility of driving in Seattle, We'll see what happens.

Rose City Comic Con is a must go event! I have been able to attend every year, and I enjoy it every time. The past 2 years, I have been able to connect with some wonderful artists such as Chrissie Zullo, Keith Tucker, Ron Randall, Jeff Parker and Gary Martin. Last year, comic book grading service CBCS also donated 10 of their services to us that really bumped our donations up last year.



There is no doubt in my mind that I will be attending RCCC in 2017.

While I was unable to attend EUCON in 2016, I'm looking forward to the possibility for 2017. Their first year was electric, and I heard that the same can be send for year 2.



I'm still trying to determine when in 2017 we will be holding the auctions. 2016 started rough with several obstacles in our path so we weren't able to begin until later. I'm hoping for at least 4 good, solid series of auctions in 2017. I defiantly want to hit the first weekend in May to begin a series, to coincide with Free Comic Book Day festivities. Obviously there will be our final series for the year in December. When I make the final decisions, I will make sure to post it on our FB page.



I was hoping to provide some great surprise news before posting this, but I am still waiting on confirmations from a few new artists. I can say that at the beginning of the new year, I will be reaching out to artists who have overdue covers, and making an all-call for new artists to join our ranks and wear the below badge proudly:

To close, just let me say that 2016 went well for CBC4C, and I hope we can do just as well... or even better... in 2017.



Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far, and continue to support our efforts. Without you, this would not be possible.



-John