Garden City Comic Fest: June 2025

Comic-book convention Garden City Comic Fest was held this past weekend of June 28th & 29th at the Essex Center Codey Arena in New Jersey. My friends and I went on Sunday the 29th. This is our first time attending it, and we had a blast!

The first of the two people I met that day was the lovely and multi-talented Jo Armeniox. She is an actress and voice over performer having appeared on Boardwalk Empire and done voices on Pokemon the Series: XY and XYZ as Shauna and Red Dead Redemption, among other projects. She was really sweet and down to earth in person.

I also met comic-book artist Nikkol Jelenic. She has done work for comic companies Top Cow, Marvel, and Dynamite. The later includes the covers for the horror/ fantasy franchise crossover Red Sonja Vs. the Army of Darkness. It's that that caught my eye at her booth. I picked up the first issue and got it signed by her. She was really cool and nice, in person (as well as being beautiful). I asked her if she was a fan of both. She said she was and that she only works on stuff she's a fan of. She also told me, that while she likes Red Sonja, she is more of an Army of Darkness fan. This only made her even more awesome in my book!

Here are some of the cool sights I saw at the convention:

Comic-book artist Fred Zorn signs his comic for my friend.

Being Sunday, there was probably less cosplay than the day before, but there was still some. Here are some of my favorites that I saw on this day:

If you are wondering why I didn't do any cosplay, this was honestly a last minute thing. And, also it was too hot. My anxiety would have killed me if I was all dressed up. As we had to walk to and from the venue from my friend's house. Anywho, I have four days in October to cosplay for NYCC. 

Here is the swag that I bought at this con:
Funko Pops:
Universal Monsters Walgreens Exclusive: The Invisible Man
Jurassic Park Anniversary: Tyrannosaurus Rex (both were 50% off, so essentially 2 for $15)
Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #1 (which I got it signed by cover artist Nikkol Jelenic at her booth)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #30 (which was 50%)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #36 (which was in the $1 bin)

The reason that I go some of these great deals us cuz it was Sunday.

On a side note, I'm looking for old issues of the Marvel run of  G.I. Joe or any of the trades that collect them. But, being low cash I don't have a lot to spend on them, so if you wanna help a brother out, or at least point me in the right direction, please don't hesitate. Thank you.

Anyway, we had a great time. I loved the way that it felt and looked like an old comic-book convention with celebs. That's something you don't see in NYC, really, so we loved it. And, will definitely be back for it next year!

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Another Batch of G.I. Joe Classified Preorders Are Ready!

It was only a few days that I told you guys about Budo and Hawk with the M.S.S. being available for preorder. Well, now we have a couple of new G.I. Joe Classified figures also up for preorder, including one never before available in the original line!

That figure is the G.I. Joe Trooper on Retro Cardback. Affectionally known as the "Green Shirts" by fans these guys were the generic troopers in the Joe team. They were really only seen in the earliest seasons of the Sunbow cartoon. They weren't in the comic., cuz the idea was if the Joe team are all elite specialists, why would they also have grunts (not talking about Grunt, himself, obviously)? But, I think they are needed as cannon fodder. After all, you can't kill main characters, but like nameless Vipers, you can blow these guys to the great beyond!

 

I love the swappable extra hands and heads, and that he is well armed with a knife, pistol, sub-machine gun, and the classic Sunbow laser rifle. I definitely would like to have him, especially cuz good guys gotta die in the battlefield, too.

These guys are of course great for troop building. Are you guys gonna be getting him? Are you gonna use him to troop build? Let me know in the comments section below. Either way, you can get him by preordering here. 

Up next, we got another troop builder figure, this time for Cobra. It's the classic B.A.T. figure also on a Retro Cardback. I did have the original B.A.T., and he was one of my favorite figures as a kid. He was so cool. I played with him a lot, deploying him against my Joes countless of times. Funny, thing is I have all the variants in the current Classified line (Crimson Guard, Python Patrol, and Iron Grenadier. The Artic one has been on preorder for me for two years, I think.), but not the regular Classified B.A.T. So, I definitely NEED this one!

I absolutely love the blaster FX included here. You get fire for the flame thrower and a laser effect for laser blaster. It looks like you could also affix it to the pistol. Though, I always imagined that was a regular bullet firing gun. Either way it's an awesome feature and what really sold me on this one! The damaged front piece and head are always nice addition, as well.

Are you guys gonna be adding him to your collection? You can do so by ordering him here. 

If you want both of them you can get a SET OF 2 by preordering them here. Or, if you wanna troop build, you can get of 2 OF EACH, FOR A SET OF 4 TOTAL by ordering them here. And, since the total of those four comes out to more $79 ($99.99 to be exact), you get free shipping! Free shipping is cool as hell!

The final preorder is for a two-pack of Sgt. Slaughter & Felix "Mercer" Stratton. As a wrestling and Joe fan, Slaughter has always been one of my favorites in the line. I already have the the version of him from Mad Marauders, which is an AMAZING figures, and one of my favorite Classifieds. This one looks to be based on the version that came with the Warthog in the Real American Hero line, which I owned and loved. He comes packaged with Mercer, who in the classic line was one of three in a pack of Slaughter's Renegades. While, I never had that set, he was always my fav of them. I love his backstory, as he is a former Viper. He looks so cool, with his visors and his no-Cobra patch on his vest!

Both of them come armed to the teeth, with a combination of a revolver, sub-machine gun, M-16 with rocket launcher attachment, grenade launcher, and knifer for Slaughter. And, for Mercer, we got a knife, pistol with suppressor,  and two assault rifles. On top of that, we get alt-heads (LOVE the head with the whistle!) and hands, hats, and more!

Man, what a set! I definitely need this! You guys feeling this way, too? If so, you can order them here. 

Which, of these is your favorite? I think the B.A.T., is mine. Which ones are you guys getting? Let me know in the comments section below! And, Yo Joe!!

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