Lord Vader assembles the troopers for another Toy Fair Invasion The 109th American International Toy Fair
Wow, a year has already gone by since Kenny Pierce and I first reported on the magical realm of The American International Toy Fair. If you’re old enough to remember the Sears “Wish Book” catalog that arrived at your house right after Thanksgiving, offering a mind-blowing plethora of choices for your Christmas list, then think of Toy Fair as a living breathing representation of what was on those pages.
Covering this industry conference is like participating in a media-skewed Olympic event but we’re prepared with energy bars, comfy shoes and a dogged determination to give you an inside look at the great things coming your way in the next year.
If you missed the 2011 postings or just want a re-view, follow these links.
Tom Morello fires up Black Spartacus @ NYCC Special Concert New York Comic Con 2011 offered Press, and those willing to spring for 4 Day passes, a chance to get a 3 hour event “sneak peak” in advance of the inevitable onslaught of fandom sure to descend on The Jacob Javitts Center on official day one.
They’ll be plenty of images to peruse here on SkeletonPete over the next few days. Along with Piercing Metal’s Ken Pierce I’ll do my best to give you a healthy overview as well as a closer look at things that draw my attention. From the small taste we got today it looks like it will be an “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” weekend. It’s a veritable storm of dazzling sights.
Capping off the evening on October 13 Rage Against The Machine’s guitarist Tom Morello, AKA “The Nightwatchman”, treated post preview attendees to a sterling set at the venue’s IGN theater space. Morello, with Freedom Fighter Orchestra cohorts, lauded the NYC grassroots “Occupy Wall Street” movement for their resolve with “Save The Hammer For The Man” (co-penned with Ben Harper). He introduced his new guitar “Black Spartacus” with a tune of the same name and mesmerized the crowd with quiet (“Garden of Gethsemene”) and thunderous (“Ghost of Tom Joad”) moments, including some of his patented guitar abuse.
Tom admitted surrendering to his inner sci-fi and comics geek. “You gotta embrace it”. The set also served to herald the release of Orchid, a graphic novel written by the guitarist. The story cycle will be presented by Dark Horse Comics in 12 installments, the first of which was made available at the convention kick-off concert by Mid-Town Comics. Morello describes the titled teenage heroine as “part suicide girl, part Joan of Arc, who becomes the Spatacus of whores”. Interior art is by Scott Hepburn, with a special convention variant cover rendered by a SkeletonPete fave, Shepard Fairey.
