Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back!

Tuesday night I attended Star Wars In Concert – one of the coolest Star Wars events I’ve experienced since my dad took me and my sisters to see Star Wars at a small twin movie theater near Graceland here in Memphis way back in ’77!

This time I went with my girlfriend Nicki (thank you Uncle George) and it was AWESOME! Each time I hear the opening fanfare and see the Star Wars logo on-screen I feel like an 11 year old kid again.

This time Mama Howe chaperoned us two kids.

We joined several thousand other Star Wars fans downtown at the FedEx Forum.

Including some of our fellow SMT/Memphis Fan Force crew.

There were a lot of props and costumes on display in the lobby of the forum.

Some were very still…

…and others moved around a bit more like this 501st member.

Our narrator for the evening was Anthony Daniels, also know as C-3PO.

The concert was a great mix of live orchestral music and choir, lights, movie footage, production art, and more!

Kids of all ages attended and enjoyed it!

Last night Nicki and I attended the SMT Drive-In Night for a showing of The Empire Strikes Back at Memphis Fan Force members Tim and Traci Brown’s backyard.

Timmy fired up the digital projector…

…hoisted up his new and improved (and of course bigger) screen…

…we all kicked back in our lawn chairs…

…and enjoyed a screening of a pre-special edition Empire!

Nicki and I had a great time and are looking forward to the next SMT Backyard Drive-In Night- “Return of the Jedi“!

Don’t forget the Topp’s Empire Strikes Back 3-D Widevision cards hit stores this week.

I’ve got 100 artist sketch cards in the set- and 6 artist returns (above).

May the force be with you!

Lin/Dork-Vader

Hey gang-

Yesterday was a busy day. It started off with me working on some cartoons for our vet’s new web sites, then we walked down to the A’Fair down in town square here in Hernando.

Started it off with a footlong corndog and a lemonade for breakfast. Man that was good! Bought a bag of pork rinds, some Banana Butter and Piña Coloda jams, and some cool flattened wine bottles that are wall art and a cheese cutting plate. We decided to try the new Italian restaurant Vennie’s Place for lunch and decided we’ll definitely be back for dinner soon.

Then after lunch we adopted a new kitty- Harley! (Named after Harley Quinn from the Batman rouges gallery- she’s got a white face and black mask, and is very mischievous!)

We got her at the DeSoto County Animal Shelter‘s adopt a pet booth- same shelter we got Zayne and Jarael from.

We saw Harley (then “Tillie”) with her sister “Millie”, a cute gray cat with markings similar to Zayne’s. I thought about adopting Millie, but decided to walk and talk about it some more with Nicki. I thought, “Ok, if she’s still there after lunch when we’re ready to go back home I’ll get her.” Well, when we got back I saw Millie being adopted by a little girl (with her face painted like a cat) and her mom. I went over to the trailer and saw that Tillie (our future Harley) was still there.

She came over to the window and then began to play. I didn’t feel bad about breaking up the two now and knew she was perfect for us. Apparently a lot of other folks felt the same way because they stayed busy filling out adoption papers, doing shots, and micro-chipping many of the animals there.

We took our Harley home and she and Jarael started chasing each other all over the house. She’s a real cutie and a great snuggle-kitty. So far she and Jarael have gotten along really well and are respecting each others’ space.

Well, except for when Harley trespassed in Jarael’s “escape pod”  and Jarael had to dish out some kitty smack down.

Later we left the kids at home and headed to downtown Memphis for the “Escape From The Asylum” art show at Marshall Arts, just down the street from Sun Studios.

It’s a Batman themed art show by artists John Bullock, Jamond Bullock, Patrick Fabor, Tony Brown, and Joseph Boyd.

John A. Bullock and his Jokers.

Digital Catwoman by Tony Brown.

DaMarco checks out one of Patrick Fabor’s Scarecrow drawings.

Nicki with Jamond Bullock’s Harley Quinn painting.

Poison Ivy Pumps by Joseph Boyd.

We had a great time looking at bat-art and talking comics with everyone.

Although I felt a bit overdressed with my bat-hat.

More pics from the show on my Facebook page.

Show continues through May 29th.

Now if you will excuse me I have a new kitty to go play with.

Lin

Hey gang- got some more pics from this year’s Cape-Con to share with you.

Kids costume contest.

Ethan Van Sciver drawing Wonder Woman.

Close up of Ethan’s WW sketch.

Antone Wade’s WW marker sketch.

Me drawing WW in Nicki’s sketchbook.

Close-up of my WW sketch- still got a bit to finish.

Cape Girardeau Roller Girls

“Mike and the Ninja” creator Brian Rhodes and…the Ninja.

Nicki’s favorite part of the con…comic long boxes!

Ghost Rider gives me and Brian Morris his “penance stare”.

Jetta’s Janet and Antone Wade.

Ken Murphy talking to Janet and Antone Wade.

Jack-Jack makes a hat out of his new book.

Superboy and the Insect Queen.

Nicki at my booth.