For reasons that still kind of elude me, this weekend involved cramming more stuff into 72 hours or so than is really possible or advisable, but a lot of it was quite a bit of fun. Still, I’m finding myself dragging a bit, largely due to sleep deficit and a few aches and pains as a result of being a bit of an old man.

Given what today is, there were a couple of parties to be attended to; each interesting and unique for their own reasons. Friday’s was certainly the more raucous one, though there were many pockets of semi-sanity to be found, if you allow for definitions of “sanity” that include a live MST3king of 1954’s The Creature from the Black Lagoon in the company The Flash, Robin Hood, and a five-foot beaver, as well as the host’s frequent freestyle MCing about murdering prostitutes in Whitechapel while dressed in proper period finery as “Jack the Rapper.”

Saturday’s fete was a little more mellow, as it involved more children and less debauchery. Still a good time was had by all, and my costume’s concept was more specifically defined. I spent most of the weekend as an anonymous member of the judiciary, though I ended the evening as former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (with apologies to the actual Justice who I’m almost certain doesn’t posess such copious facial hair). I provide photographic evidence below, in the company of pirates and Little Red Riding Hood:

Other adventures included a short stopover between obligations at the VA Comicon, where I spent some time chatting with the always entertaining Dan Nokes of 21st Century Sandshark Studios (whose Adam and Eve: A Bizarre Love Triangle in the Zombie Apocalypse I picked up and am looking forward to reading).

However, the real highlight of that particular activity was the opportunity to spend a good twenty minutes or so chatting with comic artist legend Herb Trimpe, who, among other accomplishments, is the co-creator of Wolverine (in the pages of his signature title The Incredible Hulk), and one of the key pencillers for Marvel’s 80s GI:JOE series (my copy of GI:JOE #1 is now signed by the writer and the artist!), the series that got me into comics as a kid. it was a real thrill to talk with him about his work in the comics industry and his feelings toward the current revival in film of many of the characters whose legacy he helped develop. Also, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only aging geek who nearly wet himself when Mr. Trimpe casually dropped “yeah, I was talking to Stan a couple of weeks ago…” in conversation.

So yeah, a pretty full weekend (and I’m leaving most of the non-fun stuff and the Halloween themed GURPS session to which the title of this post refers on the cutting room floor here), though I’m hoping for a coming week that’s a little less eventful – I could use a bit of a break.