Pryor Creek Comic Convention Wrap Up

This weekend was the 3rd Annual Pryor Creek Comic Convention and I was lucky enough to have access to shoot some video of it.  I think at this point, the cat's out of the bag about the next documentary I'm making.  It's about the many comic book and comic strip creators from the state of Oklahoma and shooting this con was a good step forward in the production.

Before I go any further, a special thanks to the con organizer Jimmie Tramel (seen above talking to the gentleman hold The Flash torso) who put together the convention for the Pryor Area Arts and Humanities Council.  I was able to get a quick interview with him and he's the reason I found out about the convention.

It was cold and icy Saturday morning so there was some concern about whether or not the streets would be safe enough for visitors, vendors and guests to get there.  I was close by so I was able to get there early to get some shots of the vendors setting up but it didn't take long to realize the weather wasn't going to keep too many people away.

As you can see in the pic above, the slick roads were no match for the Ghostbusting and Jurassic Parking vehicles.  They all made great photo ops which were usually taken quickly right before people rushed inside to warm up and buy comics.

I was able to get a quick interview with Oklahoma writer John Wooley, creator of the Twilight Avenger.  If you've been reading this blog then you already know I'm a fan of the Dust Bowl era Oklahoma mystery man (seen HERE and HERE).  But he let me know about another piece of his work, "The Miracle Squad," which has an Oklahoma-based story line in one of its volumes so that will probably be next on my pull list.

I was also able to touch base with writer Robert Soul whose comic "Ruined My Rhythm" is based in Tulsa.  He was kind enough to hook me up with a signed copy (thanks again, Robert!) which is now at the top of my ever increasing pile of books I need to read.  We agreed to set up a time to interview him for the documentary.

I would have stayed longer to check out more vendors and creators but unfortunately my time was limited and there were other things I needed to shoot.  But it was a great convention and I look forward to seeing it grow.

And, as usual, as I was looking back at the footage, I found something I wished I had bought.  I'll get you some day Little Debbie Hot Wheels!!!  Regrets, I have a few...

Comic Cameos

Awhile back I took a look into why Thor was the official Avenger of the state of Oklahoma.  Turns out, the big guy spent quite a bit of time in the town of Broxton, OK and the town itself was featured somewhat prominently in one of the hammer-swinging Avenger's story lines.

Ever since then I've been on the lookout for other Oklahoma comic book appearances.  The Sooner State does show up from time to time but our heroes and villains rarely stick around to take selfies with the Catoosa Blue Whale or to check out a Thunder game.

So periodically, I'm going to check in on the never ending battle for truth, justice and ever-increasing cover prices to see when there's a little Okie-love.  And we begin today with DC Comics:

Metropolis S.C.U. (Vol 1) #2 - 1994

The S.C.U. (Special Crimes Unit) is a division of the Metropolis Police Department that investigates super powered criminals and the crimes they commit.  They essentially take care of the stuff Superman would do if/when he's not around (and sometimes if he is).  This issue features a very quick Oklahoma cameo:

There's an explosion at the "Soon Mere Oil Refinery" in the fictional town of Glassville, OK.  At least, I assume it's fictional because Google hasn't told me otherwise.  There is a Glassville, New Brunswick so I assume maybe there's a hidden joke or meaning in there somewhere?  It's lost on me though.

"Soon Mere" is also lost on me.  Was the name of the refinery originally meant to be "Sooner"?  And maybe the editor changed it to avoid any issues with OU?  Or am I possibly putting too much thought into it?  There's no way to be sure.  Next up is...

Justice League of America (Vol 2) #20 - 2008

The majority of this story involves the Flash and Wonder Woman yapping at each other about the Flash's latest drama.  But they do take a break to fight off longtime JLA adversary Queen Bee.  Her target?  Tulsa!

Science and Technology Advanced Research, or S.T.A.R Labs, is the premiere scifi-MacGuffin generating factory in the DC Universe.  They have facilities all over the world where they make ray guns, assist super heroes and get attacked by super-villains .  Looks like they've got a fairly advanced campus in Tulsa that needed a bit of an assist from two of the Justice League's big guns.  Spoiler: It all worked out in the end...which leads us to our final cameo...

Supergirl (Vol 5) #35 - 2009

Supergirl finds herself wrapped up in another bloated cross-over storyline that lands this issue smack dab in the middle (Part 5 of 10) of a lot of super-drama involving an influx of Kryptonian tourists chilling out across the planet including the town of...

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma!  This issue was written by Tulsa native Sterling Gates so I'm guessing he took the opportunity to give his home state a shout-out.  Additionally, Pauls Valley is the home of the Toy and Action Figure Museum so I'm sure that helped seal the deal.

So there's our latest round Okie cameos in the four color pages of comics.  More coming soon!  And feel free to send me suggestions for issues I need to check out!