Cricket, Agent of U.N.I.C.O.R.N

"Cricket jumps out of the pages of Critter as she takes on a Russian terrorist cell as well as tackling her own internal conflicts. Cricket has choices to make like any other super powered person, but has her life of crime and her desire to see the heroes of the world punished for her father's death been worth the struggle?

Villain or hero is a decision she has to make on her own - or with some careful nudging from Paradox."

Sometimes, in life, you just drop the ball. That's what I did with this review. I was handed this book by its author back at the end of September and I read it the very same night, while sitting in a hotel room. I was so excited about it that I told people about it and somehow, my brain turned that into I wrote about it. It wasn't until this past weekend when I realized that I hadn't. My sincere apologies to Keith Thomas on that one. I goofed. Now, on with the review...

The Good:
If you're familiar with the Critter universe, you might recognize this little gal. In this book, we find out a little more about the girl who becomes Cricket. The story is fast paced and keeps you turning pages as fast as your eyes can take in the art and your mind can absorb the story. Big Dog Ink has a history of good artists and this book is no exception. When you combine it with the writing skills of someone like Keith Thomas, this book is sure to please not only fans of Critter, but fans of superheroes (and villains).

The Bad:
If I have one complaint it would be a continuity issue that occurs late in the book. Cricket is recognized on one page and then when she is "revealed" on the next, we're supposed to believe that everyone is surprised. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it doesn't take away from the story. It just made me pause for a moment.

The Summary : Fans of Critter and even those who aren't familiar with this book will want to go out and pick it up. If your local store doesn't have it, tell them to order it. It will be worth the wait. Unfortunately, this book is a one shot. It's honestly my opinion that this little girl could carry her own title and it's one that I would add to my pull list. The combination of Keith Thomas and Corey Zayatz is a winner and Big Dog Ink would be smart to keep this pairing and keep this story going.

For more information on this title, check out Big Dog Ink on Facebook and on their website.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book in exchange for this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual authors. 

Con Recap: Wizard World Ohio Part 1

Like any con that I attend, this one started out with travel. I am thrilled to report that my 5 hour drive to the Columbus area was uneventful. Pretty exciting start, huh? Don't worry. I promise it gets better.

My first stop was to check into my hotel room. Now, since we're still pretty small, we went with a pretty small priced hotel. Someday though, we'll be among the awesome who stay at convention hotels. Luckily, I don't mind a bit of adventure when it comes to staying in a hotel. Besides, quite often I walk away with a story to tell. This con choice? The Microtel on Stringtown Road in Grove City. Yep, Stringtown Road. I think I giggled every single time the gps told me to get off there. It's just such a fun name. I figured a fun name was a good start for what would hopefully shape up to be a fun weekend.

Getting to the hotel was a bit of a hassle. The directions said to go past the hotel and make a u-turn. The only problem? U-turns weren't allowed at the next intersection so I ended up pulling onto the street, into a shopping center, driving all the way around the shopping center, coming back out onto the street, turning onto the correct road and then into the hotel. Whew! Check in was a breeze, even if the girl at the desk didn't seem to really love her job. She wasn't rude, just sort of bored. I managed to get everything inside and down to the room...opened the door to find...1970's porno room! Woo!


These pictures honestly don't do it justice. It was just beyond weird to me that the mirrors were placed like that. Ok, it's kind of weird to have a giant mirrored wall to begin with.

After getting over the shock of the mirrors, I headed down to the convention center. My directions were pretty clear which as y'all know means absolutely nothing when the very exit you're supposed to take no longer exists! I tried following signs that said to convention parking..that didn't help. Luckily, my phone has a built in gps app and it saved my buns! I even got super lucky and found parking in the tiny lot that was right next to the entrance!

After parking, I headed in and stood around  hung out with other fine folks waiting to get their press badges. Right on time, they were handed out and even came with an offer of an introduction to any celebrities and artists that I might want to talk to. It felt really good to be appreciated for what I was there to do.

Once I received my press badge, I got to hang out with two of the volunteers and an on site security guard while I waited for the doors to open. It turns out that the security guard was from Flint. We talked a bit about what it was like and had a great time joking around until it was time for me to get to work.

First stop? Zenescope. I didn't mean to. I'm not addicted to them. Really. Actually, I stopped by because Keith Thomas was standing at their table. If you're not familiar with Keith, you should be. Not only is he a great guy but he wrote one of my current favorites, Cricket for Big Dog Ink. Cricket is a one-shot that should be turned into a mini-series with Keith at the helm. Seriously, it's good stuff.

Tyler Kirkham with the awesome Keith Thomas. Watch out for these two!

Since he was standing there, I stopped by and said hi to him and the Zenescope guys. After some chitchat, it was time for me to really get to work so business cards in hand, I worked my way around the convention floor.

This convention is much smaller than others that I've attended but that didn't prevent it from having some seriously quality people there. I confess to sighing longingly at the Doctor Who store and finding it very cool that there was a booth/table where you could go and they would make you fangs that were quality and would last a lifetime if you took care of them.

Since the con was pretty small, I actually managed to cover all of the floor and about half of artist alley on Friday night. I even had the chance to stop by and say hi to friends like, Dirk Manning (author of Nightmare World).

At the end of Day 1, my feet were tired and I was tired from a long day, but content. I wrapped it all up by being brave and grabbing some White Castle for dinner before relaxing on the bed at the hotel. Why brave? I haven't had White Castle since our whole house got food poisoning in 1996 from some frozen burgers gone bad. All in all, I'll give them an "it's ok." They're not my favorite, but they were ok.

Make sure y'all come back tomorrow where I'll fill you in on the rest of the convention and share lots of pictures that I stole totally took with permission from Keith and Blair.

Geek-o-Rama received press passes for the purpose of this con writeup. All thoughts, comments, fan girling and porn room photos belong to the author. All other pictures belong to their respective cameras.