Detroit Horror Con

Hey there.  Long time, no speak.  The long and the short of it is that while I'd love to be making custom card sets on a regular basis I simply no longer have the time in my daily life.  It makes me a little sad because I've got a lot of ideas I'd like to execute but, it is and always was a hobby.  That part I'm thankful for.  I get to make cards when and how I want and not because I intended it to be a business and have to make my cards out of obligation.

These days all I'm really making are autograph card, as opposed to the vintage inspired custom cards I was making.  These are cards made solely for the purpose of getting autographs.   These are my own designs and mostly one or two offs.  The bulk of them are my horror autograph series card.  I love the horror genre and autographs, so I never get tired of revisiting these cards.  

This set also also pays homage to another thing I love, that being VHS horror slip cover art.  I love thinking of ways to up-cycle the artwork around the card template.  

This past Saturday I went to the Detroit Horror Con, which is the only convention I've attended this year.  The best I can tell is that this horror con stepped up with the Motor City Nightmares con having fallen through this year.  I don't know if that's the case, but it's what I'm assuming seeing that their site boasts being Detroit's only horror convention.  To my knowledge this is the first year for this particular horror convention.  It was held at the Oakland Convention Center which is a lot more spacious than the hotel conference room usually used for the Motor City Nightmares convention.  The convention didn't seem to be all that well attended which I attributed to it being brand new and also pretty late in the convention season.  Other than that the venue was good and so were the guests.  

I came with 4 cards for 5 different signers.  I ended up getting 3 autos, the reason was a simple one... economics.  Convention autos are more pricey these days and I like to also get horror goodies from the vendors.  I reasoned that the two signers I didn't get, Tom Mathews and C.J Graham, are no strangers to conventions, so I could probably get them in the future and I'll already have the cards made up.  

The signers I did get were Judie Aronson, Christine Elise and Alex Vincent.  

I got Judie Aronson first.  I've gotten Judie's signature a few times before through private signing mail-ins, but this was the first time in person.  Even though I've got her autograph on my cards before I was not going to pass up this chance as she's a lock for my top-5 scream queens list.  I got her to sign a customer Friday the 13th IV custom autograph card.    I actually have her auto on my version 1.0 template for this movie, but she's a fav of mine so I made a special version 2.0 with a pic from the iconic raft kill scene.

While she was signing I notice she had pics on her table from Friday the 13th, American Ninja, and Weird Science but nothing from a personal favorite of mine, The Sleeping Car.  So, I asked "nothing from The Sleeping Car"?  She looked genuinely surprised and asked "how do you know about The Sleeping Car"?, almost as if the film had never been released.  I just replied it's a favorite of mine and I find it to be very fun and underrated.  Judie said it would be a good idea if she and David Naughton did cons together and introduce new audiences to that movie.  If that were to happen, I'll be one of the first in line.  The auto came out nicely in red as I requested.  Judie's got a very nice, clean autograph.  

After she signed she automatically got up to take a picture with me.  This is something I dread because I also always feel so awkward.  I can't decline because that would of came off as rude, and besides, it was Judie-freaking-Aronson!  To be respectful I did the hover hand thing but to my surprise she got right in there for the picture.  The best part was the unintended humor that came from my Jason Voorhees t-shirt's gaze. 

I know it's a matter of semantics, but I never say I "met" a celebrity signer when I'm a paying customer at a convention, the same way I wouldn't say I met the cashier at a store who said "how are you today?" while ringing me up.   It's a transaction, not a meeting.  But, I am happy to say I now have an in-person autograph from Judie Aronson!  

The next up was Christine Elise.  First though I had to wait about 15 minutes while she and Alex Vincent finished up fan panel.  The set-up on that was interesting because usually you go to a separate room for a panel but this was sort of just out in the open over to the side as the venue is just a large single-room convection center layout.  I thought they could have walled it off  with those curtain partitions like they did for the photo opp. area.

I'll give Christine Elise credit, she has a great deal of patience for her fans.  The guy before me was pretty, let's say particular.  She re-signed his photo because he didn't like the way she made one of her letters in the long movie quote she personalized the photo with for him.  Then I somehow got roped in to taking the pic for him with her because I was waiting behind him to get my autograph.  He was then directing me in taking the pic with him; instructing me on the proper distance and making sure I got both landscape and portrait.  Then, of course, more pics when he took his long Pantene commercial-esque hair down.  It found that both odd and uncomfortable.  

Finally it was my turn.  I presented my dual auto Child's Play 2 card and pointed out to Christine which area of the card was meant for her autograph. She asked if a black marker was alright.  In my head I said "actually, do you have red?" but that retort never made its way out of my mouth, so... black it was. 

Next was Alex Vincent.  I showed him the card and he remarked that it was cool.  I told him I made it and he said I did a good job on it.  That's always more than enough for me.  Anything more would embarrass me.  I'm not comfortable with attention being drawn to me.  

He signed in black to match Christine's autograph and also added his character's name as she did.  I've always said that the only thing better than an autographed card is a dual autographed card!

Since I was wearing my Detroit Tigers cap he must've mistaken me for something more than a casual fan and asked me if they won today.  I couldn't even have told you who they were playing, so I just causally answered ya know, I've been walking around here today so I didn't actually know.  Not a complete lie.  He grabbed his phone and hit up Google.  The Tigers beat the Dodgers 2-1.  

Stalegum Shop Grand Opening

If over the years you've liked my cards but have struggled with letting that be known to the outside world, I've got you covered.  Heck, even if you don't like my cards but have a rad shirt collection that has a roster spot open, I've got you too.

Introducing the official Stalegum of Doom shirt!  

https://pcbstalegumshop.myshopify.com/

This is a high quality print with a design styled after Def Leppard's "Women of Doom" shirt from the Hysteria album (as seen being worn by Joe Elliot in the "Pour Some Sugar on Me" video).  

I've always been drawn to awesome graphic art.  That Women of Doom shirt was pretty much the coolest thing I'd ever laid eyes on, but seeing as you couldn't get that kind of thing at K-Mart, I sadly never owned one as a kid.  I thought what better way to pay homage to that design than to remix it into my custom card universe.  I enlisted the talents of the uber talented Matthew Skiff and he knocked this out of the park for me.  Could not be happier with the final result.

This actually occurred back in the wacky days of Covid.  Back then I had more free time than I knew what to do with so my card stuff was my main focus.  Things got weird and I had to shift focus to going to work-work.  I closed up the online shop and these shirts just sat in a box.  

Fast forward and I'd been talking to the awesome creators of the Santos Sisters --the best comic in the universe-- and the idea was floated to feature Jackie Stalegum in an upcoming issue.  I'd been a fan of their comic since issue #1 and even collaborated with them on a Santos Sisters card back in 2023 that was given out during a comic store signing for the release of the 3rd installment of their book.   So now, my creation ... in my favorite comic?!?  Pinch me!  In addition, there was extra space that the guys generously offered to me.  What better way to get my Gen-X centric swag to the masses!?  The timing couldn't have been better with the release of Santos Sisters #9 hitting shelves coinciding with the fellas taking home the coveted 2025 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series (and rightly so!).  We even made a limited edition limited edition Stalegum x Santos Sisters card that the guys handed out at the San Diego Comic Con done in the style of the Impel Marvel Universe Series 2 cards from 1991.

The shirt is available in white or black/white raglan baseball style in adult sizes S-3X.  

Each shirt will come with a Stalegum of Doom trading card, a 1.5" button and 3" prism sticker.

This is the first offering in my shop for now, but I'll be adding more items as time permits.

2025 Motor City Nightmare Review

This past Saturday I attended the Motor City Nightmares horror convention.  I got there pretty much when they opened at 10 am because I started vacation on Sunday and still had a crap-ton to get done before rolling in the next morning.  So, the goal was to get in and out before the Saturday crowd showed up.  

I could be wrong, but the lineup seemed slimmer than years past.  Even so, there were three autos I wanted to add to the collection.  Those being Melanie Kinnaman, Ron Sloan and Dee Wallace.  Melanie and Ron were my 7th and 8th autos from Friday the 13th Part V and getting them this year was significant being that the film turned fourty back in March.  

I headed to Melanie's table first.  I actually just got her auto on one of my horror auto cards during last year's Monroe Comic-Con that matches my other Friday V cards, but I've been messing with tweaking the design just a bit.  So this one will serve as an auxiliary to the others as a special edition "Final Girl" card.  

The main change was making the picture frame a little larger and a bit rounded like an older tv screen's shaping.  I added some other little accoutrements as well to set it apart from the regular design, but the larger picture was the main objective.  

Melanie seemed to like the card but honestly got a bigger kick out of the previous one; taking a pic and posting it to her Facebook page.  As for me, I like this one a little more finding it to be a tad more stylish... plus it's got the added coolness factor of being signed during the movie's 40th anniversary year.  

I'm one of those horror film obsessed types and I've been making my horror autograph cards for quite some time now with very little change outside of dressing it up specific to the particular movie with coordinating colors, logo and art.  I really like the design as it's an original of mine.  But, going forward, if it's a movie I've not made horror auto cards for before I'm going to start using the 2.0 template.  But, there's not a ton of horror movies I haven't covered, so I suspect they'll be few and far between.  If I've already made auto cards I'm going to continue to use the original version so it'll match the previous cards made.  I'm a bit anal about that part.  The exception would be making alternate "Final Girl" versions when applicable like I did here.  

Ron Sloan was next.  His table was three down the line from Melanie's, bookending the two other New Beginning alums in attendance; Bob DeSimone and Dick Wieand (both of which I've got cards signed from).  Ron was really, really nice and was really loving the card.  He stood there looking at it and smiling for what seemed like an awful long time.  Finally, to sort of break up the awkwardness I was feeling, I asked "could you use red to sign?" and that seemed to snap him out of his trance.  I love that he inscribed it with his character's name.  After signing he asked if I wanted to take a selfie with his Junior prop head.  As politely as I could I just declined explaining that I wasn't much of a selfie taker.  His table assistant guy piped in questioning if I was sure that I didn't want to take a picture with the head from the movie, to which I replied "that's THE head?" then getting a sly nod as confirmation. "HELL YES I do!", and just like that my shyness was remedied.  [I thought it was just a replicable prop he brings with to dress up hi table] If I had it to do over I would have also bargained for a picture of my card with the head.  Next time!

Last was Dee Wallace.  I've gotten her auto a number of times through the mail.  I've got a Topps E.T. card, one I made of 1985's Secret Admirer and The Howling.  The seventy-six year old horror icon was very sweet, like a kindly grandma.  She complimented my card.  I got the Cujo card done to match the one I have signed previously by Jerry Hardin. If I see her again I'll get a Critters card done.

Each card also has a unique back giving them provenance to the event in which they were signed at. 

Before heading out I added some DVDs, a Blu-Ray and a VHS to my physical media hoard. Then it was home to pack.

Astronomicon 8 Review

 

After my my 10 year old son's soccer game today, he and I hustled on over to the Astronomicon.  With me were three of my customer cards I was looking to add ink to.  I went 2-for-3.

The first autograph I got was Jamie Pressly on a card from my Joe Dirt set.  This in itself was exciting because it was my first card form that set I've been able to get autographed. The interaction was pretty business like.  I handed the card over and she asked if I wanted it personalized to which I politely declined.  She signed, we exchanged thank yous and she extended her hand.  The thing most of note was her grip.  She must work out.  Very happy with that auto.  Placement is good and everything.  

Next was Cerina Vincent.  I made one of my horror autograph cards from Cabin Fever which she starred in.  She really like the card, taking a picture of it with her phone.  She asked if I brought an extra, which I did.  I gave her the extra to keep and in exchange she was nice enough to let me pick something extra from her table.  I chose a Cabin Fever poster which she autographed with a quote from the movie.  She also talked up my son a bit and complimented him to me.  She suggested we check out a Disney show called In the Middle that she's in.  Neither of us had heard of it, but if I see it on I'll give it a watch because she was very kind.

I also wanted to meet Tommy Chong.  Up In Smoke is easily a top 10 movie for me and Chong is a legend.  Unfortunately we didn't see him until we decided to leave.  He must have been doing photo ops or something.  He already had a long line that had formed, so we skipped this time.  Hopefully I'll get another shot to meet him in the future.

Monroe Comic Con Review

Yesterday the wife and I ventured south for the Monroe Comic Con.  This was my first time attending this particular con.  For those not familiar with with Michigan, Monroe is about an hour south of Detroit, so about 45 minutes south of where I live.  Compared to the Metro Detroit area, Monroe is pretty rural.  This comic con is held at the Monroe County Fairgrounds at the First Merchants Bank Expo Center.  Sounds fancier than it is, it really is just a big metal pole barn.  

I'd say the venue itself was just "alright".  I say that because it's large enough to hold the event, but a major drawback is that it was really warm in there.  I don't know if it was just an issue on this particular day or if the cooling in the building is just regularly leaves a lot to be desired.  Because of the warmth in there and cons being cramped quarters as a general rule I found myself uncomfortable for most of the time we were there.  I have a thing for the humidity coming off of other humans; it causes me to not be able to be still and look at stuff for too long.  That's a bummer because, aside from autographs, the vendor tables are the best part.  I found myself not really being able to focus on the goodies due to the heat.  I'm sure most people in there were uncomfortable but probably me more than others. My wife snagged a bunch of stuff she was excited about, so that was cool at least.

As far as the autographs go, I was there for two horror guests; Tom Morga and Melanie Killaman.  Tom Morga is pretty legendary bein the only actor who has played both Michael Myers (Halloween 4) and Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th V).   He used paint pens on both of my cards.  The orange on the Halloween card looks great, the red on the Jason card ended up looking a little faded out. 

Melanie Killaman was a fellow Friday the 13th V alum.  Plus, another "final girl" for my horror autograph collection.  She really enjoyed the card of her I made, even took a picture of it and posted it on her Facebook page!  The red sharpie really popped on this one, and she's got a nice and neat autograph, so I'm really happy how that one turned out. 

I've been doing a bunch of my horror cards lately.  I really enjoy horror movies (the older and cheesier the better!).  With spooky season upon us I don't see myself slowing down.  I've got a few non-horror custom sets I've been wanting to do, but for the immediate time being I'm having fun repurposing all of the super nostalgic horror art onto my cards. 

Peter Dante was there too, and if I wasn't getting the 3 autos for that I'd planned to I would've gotten him again just because he was so fun at the Astrnomicon I attended.  Clint Howard was there as well and I actually forgot I made I card of him with my Waterboy set, but I have his auto on one of my Wraith cards.  So, that made it easier that I'd budgeted for just the 3 autographs... it can get expensive! As for the con, I'd give it a C rating at best.  It was just too damn hot and stuffy in there.

Bachelor Party

It's been many moons since I've done a set of this size.  But, after a re-watch of Bachelor Party, I was inspired to make this set based on a design idea I wanted to do for this movie awhile back, but just never got around to it.  

Having been released in 1984, Bachelor Party is among a host of classic 80's movies that celebrated a 40th anniversary this year.  Being its ruby anniversary year made me want to do the set that much more.  Like another movie, Revenge of the Nerds, I feel like this movie's content just probably wouldn't cut it today.  I say it's an outlandish and absurd movie, it's meant to be entertainment and not as a blueprint for real life.

Bachelor Party is a movie that stands out to many for running in stark contrast to Tom Hanks' otherwise PG image.  It's not hard to see why a movie with a coke snorting donkey wouldn't have gotten a trading card set, even in the '80s.  With that in mind, I wanted to play up the 'party' theme for this card set so it could at least masquerade as a funny loving romp of a comedy despite Nick's the D*cks 12" member in a hotdog bun, or a nun's head superimposed on Monique Gabrielle's D-cups.

For the template I went with Topps' 1985 Cyndi Lauper set.  I know, I know... it's not a year match like I usually strive for, but no 1984 set fit as well.  I incorporated confetti to give it that celebration feel.  I went and freestyled a place for captions as the Cyndi Lauper set did not have any.  

The back matches the tilted frame on the front of the card.  I found a promo pic of Tom Hanks swinging from a chandelier that I think incorporated really well.  My favorite part is the posthumous donkey helping out wit the card numbers.  I found most of what I wanted picture scene-wise.  I was in the mid-teens card number wise, but added in a few more to get to 18 so they'd complete two 9-pocket card sheets.

2024 Motor City Nightmares Review

This past Saturday my fiancé and I took to the Motor City Nightmares Festival.  For any that doesn't know, Motor City Nightmares is an annual horror themed convention -- much like a comic con, just a different genre of nerdery.  To tell the truth, I like it better than a regular comic-con.  Frankly, I'm into that shit.  I love horror movies.  To be more specific, I love bad horror movies with an oozing soft spot for the horror flicks that came out in the '80s.  It's one of my things.  Seems like I have a lot of "things", but it's definitely a high ranking thing.  

This year, like the last MCN I went to, I was armed with 3 custom cards for two signers.  Those being Felissa Rose and Arye Gross.  If you've read any of my other convention write-ups I've done you'll know I make a big deal out of how fucking awkward I am.  This post will not stray from that tone.

We walked around a bit looking at all the horror vendors.  My fiancé just thought I was wanting to peep all the cool horror shit.  She was only half right.  Little did she know my weird ass was literally mentally preparing myself to meet the two signers.  Most people get exciting about that, not me.  My anxiety goes through the roof.  I just want to get my autograph and go so as not to show a semi-famous person how inept I am at small talk.  

We found Felissa Rose's table first, but she wasn't there.  So, we went in search of Arye Gross' table.  Took a sec. to find because he wasn't in the main area, more out in the hallway area.  When we did spot him he was just getting up to go somewhere.  Bathroom?  Grab a bite to eat?  I don't know.  All I know is he was walking away from his table.  That gave us an opportunity to ogle more cool stuff at the vendor's tables and for me to re-encourage myself that I can get in-person autographs without being a goofy.  

Before long we saw Felissa making her way back to her table.  She was kind of hard to miss.  She was in a bright red gown and was tanner than any one of us Michiganders in attendance.  So we preceded to get into her line.  I'd say there was like 2-3 people ahead of us.  As we neared her table I noticed her signing fee included a picture with her.  Exactly what I wasn't hoping for.  You see, when you take a picture that's more interaction and more opportunity for me to be a goober.  When it was our turn I got a hug before I even said a word, so did my fiancé.  To Felissa's credit, she is super peopley and seemed to genuinely appreciate us being fans.  I laid my card on the table (so to speak) and she seemed to get a kick out of it.  She appreciated that my autograph horror card design has a designated autograph area.  My fiancé Jeni volunteered the fact that I made the card.  This is something I wasn't going to do myself because I'm not a spotlight type of guy and I already felt eyes upon us since she was making a big deal out of us for simply attending the show and getting her signature.  With that being said she did seem to dig the card and even threw in a free auto'd 8x10 for being fans I guess?  VERY gracious of her I thought.  Then it came time for the picture.  I said something like "yay" or "great", I don't recall which.  In my mind I was trying to seem enthusiastic, but I knew when it came out it sounded hella sarcastic as evidence by her handler person saying we didn't have to if e didn't want to.  I felt REALLY embarrassed.  I did say "no, I want to" and didn't belabor the point to not mind me, I'm probably on the spectrum, I just moved in for the pic, motioning Jeni over for emotional support.  I was sure to be a gentleman and do the ol' "hover hand" thing.  She was actually one of the nicest celebs I've met at any of these cons and I hope I didn't offend her or weird her out.  

I really like the was the auto came out.  I don't usually do black, but I think it worked on this one.  Plus, the inscription is cool with one of "Angela's" few lines in Sleepaway Camp.

We then went to check on Arye, still wasn't there.  We got a couple of hot dogs and walked around a bit more.  Eventually Arye was back at his table.  We waited there a few minutes behind these two guys who were just chatting him up.  I think once Arye's handler realized that we were paying customers and they weren't he sort of moved them along.  Something like: Soul Man, crazy right?  You guys getting an autograph, orrr?  This signing was more banal.  No hugs.  No chit-chat really.  I really wanted to get he House II card signed as it makes the fourth card from that movie in my horror design that I've gotten signed.  When I was young I lovvved that movie.  I thought it was pretty cool that Arye's character was named "Jesse" on top of it being an entertaining movie.  That movie is the genesis for my love of the horror/comedy subgenre.  

The Just One Of The Guys card is not officially part of the set I made.  I guess it's a bonus card?  It's another movie I love-love and I've always been proud of that set in particular.  If I'm correct, it's the 3rd card from that movie I've been able to have autographed. 

Overall we had a really fun time at MCN.  I think though they may want to look into a bigger venue maybe.  They use a banquet room in the Novi (about 35 minutes NW of Detroit) Sheraton.  With all the vendors, signers and convention goers it can be a little cramped.  Also, I'd either go on Friday or Sunday next time.  They charge a bit of a premium for Saturday.  I figure I can be just as awkward and pay less next year.  

We also picked up some horror goodies but I'm inclined to keep the post about the cards and over-stating how socially inept I am.