While Ben’s gone I’m going to do what I can to fill his shoes (after odor eaters of course). I came across some great comic concepts while over yonder that I’d like to share, upcoming video games, a film review and whatever piques my interest.

In addition to those things my posts will have our exclusive photos of Lara Croft’s Manhattan Adventures. Below is a photo of Lara walking into Ellen’s Stardust Diner hoping to get a job so she could fund her dream of becoming a Broadway star (yes, she may be loaded, but have you seen the NYC real estate listings?).  

Technorati Tags: sith, light sabers, lightsabers, jedi star wars, new york, comiccon, geeky

Technorati Tags: comiccon, comic con, lara croft, beautiful, legs, guns, central park, tiffanys, new york, geek

Technorati Tags: star wars, comiccon, comic con, stormtrooper, storm trooper, chubby, snow trooper

It was really amazing to be in a room with all of these greats!  Our one wish was that the panel could have gone on much, much longer.

Thanks to the efforts of Editor Dawn we were lucky enough to capture it on film.

Technorati Tags: stan lee, comics, comiccon, new york, joe simon, joe kubert, dick ayers, irwin hasen, legends, panels, spiderman

I know all good things come to an end, and perhaps it’s just a beginning, but in the meantime the return is sinking me.

I fell in love with NYC. Head over heels in love and it’s going to SUCK having to communicate with Ben in different time zones again! I don’t wanna!

Today wasn’t quite as exciting or eventful as the previous days. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were so unbelievable that I feel anything today could not even come close to it. I guess it *is* quite a bit for NYC to keep one upping itself. I think the city was begging for mercy, or maybe it was my aching feet.

We started off by seeing the NYC Jedi (the much cooler version of the SCA) Choreographed Jedi fighting with lightsabers (although I wanted to stand up and protest- YOU CAN’T JAB SOMEONE WITH A SABER AND YOU CAN’T CAUSE SOMEONE TO BLEED!!! IT’D CAUTERIZE!!) <- and that’s why I’m a dork. Then there was an hour of getting separated from my party by a sea of people (I should have gotten the watchie talkies).

Thankfully we found each other (with the help of security) just in time to get to the IGN theater. It was awesome seeing quite a bit of Wanted and listening to Timur Bekmambetov discuss the upcoming film and answer questions pertaining to the film (if they wore costumes then everyone would know they’re assassins- SO DON’T ASK!! Yes, that was a duh thing, but TWO people inquired!!). Seth Green and Matthew Senreich had us cracking up with a look into the Robot Chicken Star Wars (I can’t wait!) and then it was a definite treat to listen to the panel discussion of Hell Boy 2 with Guillermo Del Toro and the crew (Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss etc. Guillermo Del Toro is truly a genius and one who does enjoy straying far from his roots in Independent film. It sucks financially, but creatively it’s worth the suffering.

We truly have a summer of delights coming our way.

The disappointment came when we tried to get into Zombie Survival 101. Now I’ll never know how to survive a zombie uprising. I bet half the people who took our spots probably thought it had to do with how to survive sitting through a Rob Zombie film (creative genius- but he needs to quit trying his hand at full length films… please Rob, I’m begging you). If the long wait and bad jokes on our part was a test, then we definitely failed. We weren’t fast or aggressive enough to push and shove our way through a ton of other people who had to wait equally long… yet fortunate enough to wait closer to the door.

The saving grace was when our Media Queen (Jenn, she’s been completely awesome- and yes… SHE… media queen is not a stage drag name) managed to get Ben to meet one of his favorite authors Terry Brooks along with a book signing. This entire trip she has done an outstanding job making sure Jonathon met his mentors and ensured we didn’t get lost!

Dinner was at Pomodoro on 9th Ave. Great food and service- make sure you stop in. You can say “Arsgeek” sent you, but that really wouldn’t do anything but cause them to smile and nod at you politely.

Tonight I’m resting up for a day of saying good bye to my friends and the city by seeing as much as we can before the evening separates us and signals the time for our departures.

Ben of course will have his say on the days events (and pictures- I left my camera on by accident and drained the battery). Until then, good night everyone and a continued thank you for your support and encouragement in making this trip possible. It’s been great getting to meet and introduce Jonathon to the many people we could who have helped to make this all a reality and being able to say “Thank You”  face to face. Sadly our last few thank you’s have been drained mumbles of appreciation because our bodies just cannot keep up with all we’ve wanted to do and see.

Dawn

Technorati Tags: Wanted, Hell Boy 2, Robot Chicken Star Wars, Terry Brooks

It’s been four amazing days! Four days of amazing events, wonderful people, the city of New York, walking everywhere, seeing everything, doing whatever we could do and meeting tons of wonderful folks who both attended and worked ComicCon.

Tired is what I am right now, so this post will be a short one. We saw footage for the new Star Wars Clone Wars CGI movie/series, we saw Robot Chicken in the form of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, watched amazing footage of Hellboy 2 - the Golden Army along with The folks from Hellboy 2 (lots of swears with that one - in a good way!) Caught a new movie preview about Wanted from the directory that brought us Nightwatch and Daywatch and hung out with a few Jedi.

While certainly hard to top meeting such folks as Stan Lee and Joe Simon, today was a great day. We’ve had a great week! And thanks to my wife who we now call Media Queen (our media editor extraordinare) , we were able to meet more people than we imagined and see more sights than we had hoped for.  She was able to get me to meet Terry Brooks, got Stan Lee to have a quick one-on-one with Jonathon, got Joe Simon to sign and speak with Jonathon, managed to talk the folks at the IGN Theater into getting Jonathon (and us) a lot closer and her big personal payoff was getting to meet Irwin Hasen who worked on such great 30’s and 40’s comics like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

Technorati Tags: robot chicken, jedi, jonathon, comic con, comiccon, comics, hellboy 2, wanted, star wars

After a press panel about the new Ultimo project that Stan is involved in, he was whisked away by staffers and brought to the back of the convention center. My media Editor Jenn was quick witted enough to grab one of the staffers and call attention to Jonathon as we followed behind. As Stan was lead into the back, out of the public area, we found ourselves. . . invited along!

Stan was kind and gracious enough to talk with Jonathon for a bit, sign not only his autograph page in the program but also one of his Spiderman books and essentially made this whole trip completely 100% amazing. Thanks Stan, for making Jonathon’s dream come true and giving us a crowning moment (one of several!) for this trip. Here’s the raw footage which still gives me goose bumps to watch.

Technorati Tags: comiccon, comic con, stan lee, jonathon, video, comic books, spiderman

EDIT:  Catch all of the pics at our Flickr photo stream! 

Our first full day of the Con is over and what an amazing day it has been. Every day seems to get better and better! We arrived at the con at 10am sharp, swung by the press room to pick up our programs and press kits and hit the convention floor.

The show floor was wonderful to behold. The convention opened today at 10am for press, exhibitors and professionals. The public was allowed in at 3pm. That gave us 5 hours to enjoy the convention while it was relatively uncrowded. We managed to fill up several bags with interesting things given to us, meet lots of cool people and see a ton of artists, publishers, comic shop booths and much, much more.

Above is Jonathon making some new friends. After we hung out on the floor for a few hours and got some lunch, we went downstairs for one of the most amazing panels I, or ComicCon has ever seen. The Legends of Comics Panel. Who was there? Well many of the greatest of the greats. Dick Ayers, Nick Cardy, Irwin Hasen, Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, Stan Lee, Jerry Robinson, John Romita, Sr, Joe Simon, Joe Sinnott and Mort Walker to name a few.

How to talk intelligently about a once in a lifetime comic book chance? WOW! Here are the people who turned comics into an art form, a literary form, a magical way to escape the world. These are many of the folks who dragged this industry into the forefront from the ground up. They were great to listen to and it was a privilege for us to be in the room as they talked about their lives and careers.

Dawn, Jonathon and Jenn stayed in the room a bit after the panel to hobnob and get a few autographs while I scurried next door to get seats for us all. We were lucky enough to get an invite to a press only event which featured Stan Lee in his newest project, a brand new comic book character Ultimo, created in cooperation with the Manga great Hiroyuki Takei. As all of us ArsGeekers assembled the press conference got under way. After learning that this would be released in Japan and shortly after in the US in English, Stan and the folks took some questions from the press.

Then, the magic happened. But we’ll get to that in the next post.

After the magic, we also got to say hello to Lou Ferrigno, of the Incredible Hulk fame, although a bit less green.

Technorati Tags: stan lee, comics, comiccon, legends, joe simon, xmen, captain america, new york

Today we all took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. We had to be at Javitz around noon to pick up our press credentials. As we strolled through the convention center, we goggled at all the ComicCon related things going up left and right. Superheroes, villains, aliens, dudes from Hell - it was all here, and so were we!

Having hung out at Javitz for an hour or so and gotten our press passes, we decided to take in the sites. We had a tour of the Cartooning department at the New York School of Visual Arts, thanks to Christopher for setting that up! From there we strolled to the Empire State Building, then to a great Comic Book store and then to the .99 cent store. Then. . . horror. Dawn went to pay for some items and her bag, along with Jonathon’s, was gone. We panicked, ran around for a bit and found our way back to the comic book store. No bag. Had we been robbed? The bags were definitely gone, and we had them when we left the Empire State Building.

Then, as we were heading down to an intersection to cross the street, an Empire State Building employee popped his head out of another store and said “Hey, did you guys leave some bags behind?” We all pretty much staggered about with relief. Dawn got everything back from a large number of great people. In fact, everyone we’ve met on this trip has been amazing. A construction crew went out of their way to stop traffic and help us through some sidewalk work and across the street. We met a couple of nice gentlemen who had come over from the UK for the convention and chatted for a bit and generally had a great time.

Times square is just as big and bright and crowded as it appears in movies and just as much fun. Lots of pictures were taken and we’ve all walked an awful lot today.

Here’s Jonathon with two of New York’s finest. We’re really loving New York - so thanks to all of you New Yorkers who’ve made our stay great so far!  Tomorrow, at 10 am the doors open to the press and professionals and we’ll be there!

Technorati Tags: comic con, comiccon, nycc, new york, nyc, javitz, just wow

Because terrorists need directions too, I guess.

But then, the awesomeness factor started to magnify. We were in Manhattan! Our hotel was easy to find and extremely vertical in nature. About 10 feet wide and six hundred tall. A nice place all in all. Jonathon has made it to NYC for ComicCon!

We hurried into our rooms, got organized and found out that we were definitely in for a treat.

Yes, that’s Teddy Atlas. And Teddy Atlas is truly an awesome guy. Thanks to the Dr. Theodore Atlas foundation who helped in a big way to make this trip possible, we are here in New York. Thanks to Teddy, Russ and the folks at ESPN and to boxer Gentleman Chazz Witherspoon, our trip, our first half day in NYC has already been amazing.

A few days ago we heard from our friend in the sports world Russ. Russ works with ESPN on the Wednesday Night Fights. Through some of the fine folks who work with him, he let us know that he was able to get us into the fight tonight. We were jazzed. We thought we’d be seeing the fights, Russ and Teddy would get to meet Jonathon and we’d all have a good time.

Did we ever! We were ringside for the fights. Not just ringside seats, but sitting right behind the bell itself, behind Teddy and ahead of the crowd. It was amazing. Teddy came right over and gave Jonathon a huge welcome, and continued to talk with him throughout the fights. He will always remain in my mind now a wonderful person. First with helping us to get here and now with just being a great guy.

After Gentleman Chazz fought (and won) we all got a big surprise. Chazz came out of the ring after being declared winner, shook a few hands, came right over to Jonathon and gave him his gloves. What a trip-defining moment - it was really amazing.

Chazz came back towards the end of our evening and signed Jonathon’s gloves for him, got some information and promised to send Jonathon some cool stuff. Russ came out of the ESPN trailer afterwards to inform us that Jonathon had been on National television as Chazz hung out with him. Wow.

I was excited about this trip before, now I am truly exhilarated! We all want Jonathon to have a good time and now I know that he’s already had a great time and we’re only on day one. I know that the look on Jonathon’s face made my week already. This whole trip has already been worth it. Here’s to an amazing four more days with Jonathon and the rest of us here on the ArsGeek crew. And thanks again to everyone who made this trip possible. You all rock in a big way.

-Ben

Technorati Tags: sheer awesomeness, chazz witherspoon, teddy atlas, jonathon, comic con, comiccon, boxing, amazing, amazing, amazing

The ArsGeek Team

Right now, at this very moment, Dawn and Jonathon are in an airplane flying somewhere over the US - that was the doppler effect “weeee!” you just heard from on high.

We’re in our car as well, and through the magic of time-delayed posting you’re reading this right now!

We’ll have much more to report about ComicCon in the coming days.

The ArsGeek Team

The super villain is the most interesting, humorous and inventive piece of the hero/villain relationship. One that is overlooked and under appreciated.

I scoured the web for some decent homage to the villain but I came up short. Everything is devoted to the hero and it felt a little unfair!

I tried to track down some super villains to get their take on all the praise and tribute to the heroes but I came up empty handed. I guess I have to give them props on having really good secret lairs. If they’re in a high security prison/mental ward, I think I can guess what their answer would be… bitter. If deceased then they wouldn’t have been able to answer anyway. Do they have memorial services for super villains?

Since I couldn’t track one down my next strategy was to become one. If I became one then I would be able to answer my own questions.

The first step was picking a name. Something that would strike fear in the hearts and minds of others and let the superheroes know I am truly a force to be reckoned with.

“Blind Date”? Yes, that’s scary but it doesn’t sound very tough.
I’ve always thought “Centripetal Force” sounded like it should be a super villain name. Besides, being called Centripetal Force would give me tons of options for my world domination or destruction plans. I have a sinking feeling though that by the end of my reign, they’ll just call me “Geek Girl.”

I looked around my apartment and noticed that I already have some of the villain requirements:

An evil pet. I have two cats and a betta fish. Check.

A decent back story. I don’t know if my real back story is good enough. There’s no angst. No revenge. There’s nothing but me having a question that needs answered. I guess I can make one up. “I grew up in a typical dysfunctional household and used film as an escape from my daily life. The more Hollywood crap I viewed, the more cynical and angry I became. Upon taking in my surroundings I noticed the public repeating the lines and actions of various films that had filled me with disgust. I had struggled for years to maintain my goodness and love of film, not to take the mediocre stories out on those around me. Then, after the long awaited Star Wars prequel came out, I left the theater and my soul remain in aisle 3 seat 10.” Backstory… Check.

Dark Clothing. Several black dresses, blouses, and slacks. <-essentials in being a stealthy villain! Check.

Secret Hideout. I placed a sign on my door that reads “Neither Dawn or Centripetal Force/Geek Girl lives here.” Check.

An awesome laboratory. Well, I have some food in my fridge that should have been thrown out weeks ago… I’ll go ahead just put check.

Minions. This one I’ll have to work on a little. I’m a female in a small city full of dorks. I think a trip to a bar around nine on any given night is all it will take. Check.

Weapons of mass destruction. I’m not *quite* there yet. I have a hair dryer, an old crockpot and a computer gathering dust in my closet, I’m sure I can figure something out.

Now the next step is finding a superhero to taunt. Considering I will be in NYC at the end of the week at a Comic-Con… Check.

I don’t *really* have a dark side and I feel bad if during a bout of road frustration I flip someone off… and they actually see… I feel horrible. This might be something I’ll have to work on. I can picture the battle now… I’m standing atop some mountain with lightning striking all around me, the wind is whipping my hair around and I’m calling down to the superhero who has fallen into my trap “At last we meet! Your demise will be the death that becomes legendar… Oh jeeze… are the shackles too tight on your wrists? They look tight, like the circulation is being cut off. You do know that’s not *you* per se. I mean I’m sure in any other circumstances we’d be friends. Granted NOW it’s probably too late… but… God… Lenny… cut him down please and give him some ice and Neosporin. I’m going to call it a night.” I may need to work on that a little more. Unchecked.

I spent a few days working on my laugh, “Mwa ha ha!” and then “Bwa ha ha ha… ha.” (I never know how many ‘ha’s’ I need.) In the movie theater I received quite a few looks during the more comical parts of the film as I test out my maniacal laugh, “Mwa ha ha.. ha ha… ha” When my family came over and father told a joke, my maniacal laugh was met with more arched brows and confused looks… (note to self, save meniacal laughs for evil plan making and battle victories).

I may not quite be a super villain yet or even *a* villain, but the more I tried to become one I have to admit I DO feel a little hurt and jipped that there are so many superhero films and comic books out there. The scale is tilted a little more towards their side and it *is* unfair.

… now to work on my laugh a little more. “Mwa or Mua… Mewa..ha ha..ha?”

Technorati Tags: super villain, supervillain, mwa ha ha

5. Wonder Woman, the men are going to hate me for this, but you’re never going to get the awesome gadgets and gizmo’s dressed like that. No one will take you seriously! I mean how long can you fight evil with “the lasso of truth”? “Stand down villain or I will lasso you and force you to tell the TRUTH!” Oh no! Not the TRUTH- well Wonder Woman, can you handle the truth? I can imagine the real truth coming out, “Well, first of all it looks like you’re getting a little bloated, did you have too much sodium today?” “Up late last night, your crows feet are distracting me from global domination.” And please- those bracelets… a bad guy has never pointed a gun at her back?… legs… cap her in the knees and she’s done for.
6. Give yourself a little room to binge. Imagine you’re a superhero and things are pretty quiet for awhile. You’re enjoying your time being “normal”, going to ball games, concerts, eating hotdogs, downing the ale and all of a sudden you get the Bat Signal or whatever. Scenario: You rush to your super secret hidden closet (the one with the plant in front of it because “Who would ever look in a closet that has a plant in front of it?” You start to put that skin tight piece on and you can’t get it on past your ankles. 
7. Pick more subtle colors. Batman has it right- as do more villains. Unless you’re just a “hero” for popularity you’d think you’d want to blend into the background a little more. You don’t want to wear something a bad guy could see coming a mile away, although I guess it might have some advantages… “I give up!!! Your costume is blinding me with its loud and obnoxious colors!!! JUST MAKE IT STOP!”
8. Boots. The boots do tend to go with the rest of the ensemble, but I don’t see a lot of traction on the soles. Yes, they try to coordinate in the footwear, but it’s not very fashionable to slip on a patch of ice and wind up flat on your back, now is it?

We love you superheroes and I sleep well at night knowing I can wear make up that won’t cause a lethal smile, an asteroid will be destroyed before it reaches our surface and you make for some giggle inducing dreams, but please: Know yourself, know your colors and dress appropriately. You can’t fight crime if you’re committing crimes against fashion.

Technorati Tags: Superhero Fashion Advice

Earlier I wrote about mothers being non-existent in the upbrining of future superheroes- I forgot about Wonder Woman! She had a mommy (although wasn’t her mom killed later on?) I knew I had to be wrong and there *has* to be others.

The following was found on Youtube while I was researching a crush that a friend wants me to give his number to (and no, his crush isn’t Olivia… well he likes her as well and probably wouldn’t mind if I passed out his number to her as well.)

The annoyances of being a superhero!

Technorati Tags: Wonder Woman, Olivia Munn, superheroes

When the Hulk movie came out I was THERE! I took the boy and while he’s smiling and doing the “YEAH!” thing- I had to creatively splice my straw from my 32 oz beverage and use it to prop my eye lids open. I found myself doing the same when I watched the trailer for the upcoming film.

I feel Incredibly Bad because Comic-Con is right around the corner, the Hulk is spot lighted, Jonathon LOVES this green angry guy and I’m worried there won’t be enough straws around to prop my eyes open (I equate Hulk with nice, warm, cozy, deep sleep).

“Oooh… I was in an accident… I can’t live a normal life… I’m so angry and when I’m angry I can destroy stuff and people… and all my girlfriends die… and that sucks…” I think they should do a Hulk musical. (imagine Hulk singing) “Me so angry… you don’t like it when I’m angr-yyyyy… all crushes get dead… and that really sucks!!” Then he can dance and destoy! Give him a little catch phrase or something and instead of green… let’s go with an amish blue. Smurf on steriods.

Hopefully the Con will turn me around and take me to the Hulk side… or I’ll just fly back with sleep drool stains on my chin and straw shards in my eye balls.
[tag]The Incredible Hulk[/tags]

Just one week until ComicCon New York 2008!  In six short days, four of us will descend on New York City from all corners of the Earth (not counting the lower left or lower right corners) to enjoy three days of geek amazingness.  We all hope to see you there!

Technorati Tags: convention, comic books, comiccon, new york, nycc, iron man, pumpkin bomb, geeks

Reasons like Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones! Universal is coming to ComicCon. So aren’t a bunch of us, so if you can’t make it yourself, we’ll have cameras, camcorders, voice recorders, and aura photographing materials handy to make it feel like you’re there.

But really, it’s $45 for the entire weekend - so if you’re going to be anywhere NEAR NYC between April 18th through the 20th, you owe it to yourself to stop by. And find us to say hello!

Technorati Tags: hellboy, del toro, universal, salma blair, doug jones, ron perlman, comic con, comiccon, nyc, april

Jonathon’s been hoping this would be a reality since August of this year. Yesterday I got to tell his Mom (and AG editor Ghic Chic) that we had everything we needed to make his dream come true. The hotel room has been reserved, the airline tickets purchased, the tickets to the Con secured and lots and lots of well wishes passed on.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Teddy Atlas and the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation for matching our existing funds and in one great act moving us from half way to our goal to achieving our goal. The foundation does lots of wonderful things, not the least of which is granting Jonathon’s wishes. If you’re still interested in donating, I suggest you stop by their site and make a donation to them. Also, a special thanks to Russ for putting that all together.

Here’s more information about the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation. The Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation was founded by boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas, with the purpose to honor the memory of his father, Dr. Theodore Atlas

The main mission of the Foundation is the awarding of scholarships and grants to worthy individuals and organizations based upon scholastic potential, community service, athletic achievement and economic need. The Foundation is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) organization.

Since it’s inception in 1997, the Foundation, thanks to the generosity of it’s supporters, has been able to give in excess of $1,000,000.00 to worthy causes. These have ranged from scholastic athletics to scholarship funds; from community service groups to after-school programs; and from families and individuals in financial need to those simply needing to be told someone cares.

The Foundation is a 100% volunteer organization. It has no administrative costs. There are no professional fund-raisers, no paid employees, and no fashionable office space that would drain away any funds from the Foundation’s only purpose; to give help to those in need when they need it.

The Foundation’s biggest fund-raising event occurs on the Thursday before Thanksgiving when it’s annual “Teddy” Dinner is held. Many celebrity guests have attended, including: Bill Parcells, Danny Aiello, Steven Baldwin, Willis Reed, Lou Duva, George Foreman, Gerry Cooney, Larry Holmes, Willem Dafoe, Max Kellerman, Bob Papa, Brian Kenny, Jack Newfield, Chuck Wepner and Jayson Williams. The Dinner includes both a raffle and an auction of sports memorabilia as well as the appearance of a celebrity guest speaker.

Technorati Tags: comiccon, jonathon, wicked freaking awesome, see you there

Please do stop by and say hello to the folks at Virgin Comics and check out their new titles. I’ve got a bunch of them and they’re great!

Jonathon was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. he’s spent his life in a wheelchair and although he has the mind of regular 15 year old, he is unable to utilize his body and has difficulty speaking. Jonathon has a wonderful mind and personality trapped inside his body.

One of Jonathon’s dreams is to attend ComicCon New York in April of 2008.  We’re working hard to help this dream come true.  You can help as well.  Send your comments and well wishes his way!  If you want to help him out financially, please use our paypal buttons in the upper right of this site to donate - every bit helps!

Technorati Tags: comics, virgin comics, comiccon ny, awesome

Occasionally I come across something that makes me pause in my pursuits and take a step back. It’s even rarer that I break with my protocol and actually publish something that is not technologically based, funny or an editorial based on the previous two.

It’s no secret that the internet is a place where anyone can voice their thoughts and opinions. Many people choose to do this loudly and in a manner that isn’t really becoming of civilized conversation. We are all often reminded that anyone can say pretty much anything and they often do so just to get a rise. What we do not see so much are people acting in ways that make all of us proud. It’s out there, and it happens but it tends to be a lot less visible for some reason.

Over the past two months we at ArsGeek have been working to raise money for what we believe is a great cause. We’re working to get a very deserving young man from Oregon to New York to fulfill a dream of his. In this time I’ve also had a chance to interact with some of the kindest, most generous folks I’ve yet to meet in my time online.

I’d like to take a little space to personally thank these folks who have helped us out with our quest and I hope you stay with me for just a few more lines.

Thank you to everyone who’s left an encouraging comment or sent me a personal email. Each comment and every email is read and appreciated. Thanks to every individual who has donated some of their hard earned money to help us reach our goal. We’ve received donations ranging from $1 to $200 and every single donation gets us closer to our goal and every single donation is a big step forward.

Thank you to every individual who is part of a small business, a trade organization an international corporation or PR firm who have stepped up to the plate for our cause and acquired something from their organization to help our cause.

In two months you have all restored my faith in this vast community we call the Web and you have made my journey through it vastly more worthwhile and enjoyable. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far and to everyone who will lend a hand from now until Jonathon returns home from New York. I know I speak for everyone associated with ArsGeek when I say this. You all should be proud of yourselves – you, not us, are making this happen!

Starting today, our official Superhero Sidekick t-shirts are available via our Cafepress store.

Why buy a shirt? Jonathon was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. he’s spent his life in a wheelchair and although he has the mind of regular 15 year old, he is unable to utilize his body and has difficulty speaking. Jonathon has a wonderful mind and personality trapped inside his body.

Jonathon has a true love for all things superhero. Comics, movies and video games, they have all given him joy and strength and he would like nothing more than to meet the people behind his passion.

We hope to do two things with these shirts.

1. All profits from these shirts ($6.00 a shirt) goes directly into the fund to get Jonathon to New York for ComicCon ‘08.

2. We’ll be looking for these shirts at the convention! Not only can you show your support buy purchasing one but we’ll know who to go up to and thank once were there.

You can purchase a shirt here, at our Cafepress store. Standard black T-shirts are $25.00 each. We’ve also got a number of other shirt types, from kids to long sleeve T’s available.

As always, you can also donate via our paypal button to the right. Any and all donations and purchases of shirts are greatly appreciated by us all and doubly so by Jonathon!

Technorati Tags: comiccon, comic book, jonathon, cerebral palsy, new york, sidekick, superhero, hero

Lots of people have stepped up and given their support in the form of encouragement, ideas and donations. At this point we’ve raised $760! That’s a great milestone. It’s enough to purchase two tickets to fly them to New York and back! Our first milestone has been met!

Another huge thanks to Casio, who graciously donated an Exilim EX-Z77 so Jonathon can remember his trip through photographs and video.

The folks at ComicCon NY itself have also agreed to give us two tickets for Jonathon and Ghic Chic!

The folks at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art have given Jonathon two tickets to visit when he’s in New York!

Now we’re working on raising money for (or the donation of) lodging at a hotel close to the convention center to make it easy for Jonathon to get to and from the convention!

To learn more about Jonathon, what we’ll need to accomplish this and how far we’ve come, read on!

Jonathon was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. he’s spent his life in a wheelchair and although he has the mind of regular 15 year old, he’s unable to utilize his body and has difficulty speaking. Jonathon has a wonderful mind and personality trapped inside his body.

Jonathon’s use of his body is limited to some use of his left hand. He’s enriched his life through the idea of superheroes - people who can literally do anything. His love for superheroes and all that they stand for has helped him through some very rough times, for instance by taking on their persona’s before and after operations.

Jonathon has a true love for all things superhero. Comics, movies and video games, they have all given him joy and strength and he would like nothing more than to meet the people behind his passion. We’re going to do the best we can to see this dream come true.

Technorati Tags: comic book, comiccon, new york, comics, quest, help, worthy cause

We did it!  Thanks to EVERYONE who contributed, sent well wishes, donated equipment or spent some time spreading the word!  And a very special thanks to the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation for matching the funds we’d raised and making this possible!

First, a little background. Jonathon was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. he’s spent his life in a wheelchair and although he has the mind of regular 15 year old, he is unable to utilize his body and has difficulty speaking. Jonathon has a wonderful mind and personality trapped inside his body.

Now available! Official Superhero Sidekick T-shirts!

Jonathon’s use of his body is limited to some use of his left hand. As such, he’s enriched his life through the idea of superheroes - people who can literally do anything. His love for superheroes and all that they stand for has helped him through some very rough times, for instance by taking on their persona before and after operations.

Jonathon has a true love for all things superhero. Comics, movies and video games, they have all given him joy and strength and he would like nothing more than to meet the people behind his passion. We’re going to do the best we can to see this dream come true.

Through our paypal button (upper right) we’ve raised $60 $110 $210 $230 $490 $500! $600! $700! $885 $1500! We now have the funds necessary to fly them out to New York. Next we need to raise money for lodging, food and some transportation costs. We’re shooting for $3,000 in funds total.

Thanks to the folks at Neuros Technology for providing Jonathon (and his geek Mom) with a Neuros OSD DVR. They know how much he loves superhero movies!
We’ve reserved hotel rooms - we now have a place to stay less than a half mile from the convention center!

Big news coming soon! We’ve just taken a huge step thanks to some very generous folks. More soon!

huge thanks to Casio, who graciously donated an Exilim EX-Z77 so Jonathon can remember his trip through photographs and video.

We’ve received a number of encouraging emails - thanks to everyone who’s sent thoughts our way!

A big thanks also to SciFiChick and MadMovieGuy for mentioning our story!

To see what we’ll need to get Jonathon to the convention and to read about our mission, have a look here.We’ve been talking to the folks over at BBT magazine, who attended the convention last year. We’ll be talking to them more about advice on going to Comic Con and possibly joining forces.

Jonathon is getting really excited about this event and also sends his thanks to everyone!

Update #2 - Hi folks, thanks to everyone for stopping by. We’ve gotten a few more donations and some kind folks have linked back to us, which I think is great! If you link to this article we’ll link back to you as one way of saying thanks.

Update #3 - We’ve had a number of donations come in which is really great and has pushed our money raised almost up to $500. We’re looking at about $800 in travel costs and about $1800 in lodging. Add to that money for food and other items necessary for the trip and we’re looking at raising a total of $3000 or having some of the big ticket items (room/travel) provided as a donation. $500 that we’ve raised so far is great! That’s 1/4 of the way there in just a few short weeks. Thanks to everyone who’s donated, commented, linked to us or emailed friends about this.

Update #4 - It looks like we’re going to need about $3,000 all told to get Jonathon and Ghic Chic out to New York, into a hotel and able to eat. We’re on our way to that goal!

Update #5 - We’ve go the money needed to fly Jonathon and Ghic Chic out to Florida. Thanks to all who’ve donated so far! Out of $3,000 we’ve raised $700 - leaving $2300 for us to come up with for food, lodging and other things, such as possibly renting an accessible van for transportation around the city.

Update #6 - A big thanks to Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan who’s helped us take a huge stride towards our goal! I’m hoping we can go into the holidays and raise even more funds towards our goal. We’re more than half way there!

Thought Hammer, purveyor of fine board games have provided us with 4 copies of the board game Manhattan to give away! Our contests includes linking back to this post.

Another huge thanks to Casio, who graciously donated an Exilim EX-Z77 so Jonathon can remember his trip through photographs and video.

The folks at ComicCon NY itself have also agreed to give us two tickets for Jonathon and Ghic Chic!

The folks at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art have given Jonathon two tickets to visit when he’s in New York!

Check out SF Signal.com and SciFiChick.com. Two great sites in their own right, who are bringing a bit of attention to our quest. Also thanks to Don over at Scatterworlds.com!Thanks also to our friends who’ve donated! We’re getting there!

Technorati Tags: comic, comiccon, new york, jonathon, be awesome, stan lee, x-men, spiderman, superman, superhero

Check here for updates to our Quest to get Jonathon to ComicCon NY!

Three editors, four people, one trip. Ghic Chic and ArsGeek are currently working towards attending Comic Con New York 2008. We’re planning everything from traveling to New York city through covering the convention and perhaps most importantly helping one 15 year old boy with limited use of his body meet some of his real life heroes.

Jonathon’s use of his body is limited to some use of his left hand. He’s enriched his life through the idea of superheroes - people who can literally do anything. His love for superheroes and all that they stand for has helped him through some very rough times, for instance by taking on their personas before and after operations.

Jonathon has a true love for all things superhero. Comics, movies and video games, they have all given him joy and strength and he would like nothing more than to meet the people behind his passion. We’re going to do the best we can to see this dream come true.

Jonathon was born with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. he’s spent his life in a wheelchair and although he has the mind of regular 15 year old, he’s unable to utilize his body and has difficulty speaking. Jonathon has a wonderful mind and personality trapped inside his body.

He’s had 13 surgeries- 7 of those were major, the rest were just muscle
releases in his back, hips, feet, and eyes.

Our currently list of things we need to do:

• Arrange transportation of some sort for our two West coast folks to hit the East coast.
• Find wheelchair accessible accommodations for four people near the Javitz Convention Center.
• Secure press passes for our team.
• Secure equipment to do high quality interviews, photographs and live blog throughout the con.
• Get some autographs for our friend.

Want to lend a hand in getting Jonathan to the con? Here’s what we need:

• Funds to get Ghic Chic and Jonathan from the West coast to NYC and back. Flying, the most expensive option, may be the best as it’s the least uncomfortable way to travel across the country.
• Funds for lodging and food.
• We’ve set up a paypal donation button up there on the right. Go for it!

It’s not just money that will help though! Want to know what else you can do?

• Send us your thoughts and well wishes! Let Jonathan know that you’re rooting for him.
• Know someone in the airline or hospitality business? Could they help us secure tickets or rooms at a reduced rate?
• Going to be at the con? Let us know!

Be sure to check out our updates by clicking this link! Keep current on any developments!

You can also send us an email and let us know what you’d like to see or tell us about your past experiences.

Technorati Tags: comic con, new york, hero, heroes, help