Indie Squid Kid

You shouldn’t have looked behind you…, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

Please remain calm.

Dragon*Con has been over for nearly a week, which is plenty of time for the Internet to help me find all (well, nearly) the cephalopod-themed costumes from this year’s menagerie of the weird. Enjoy.

photo by vladeb

Davy Jones ( Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) from the Dragon*Con parade.

photo by Hueyatl

Netherworld squid monster.

photo by sarberry

Ursula the Sea Witch from Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

photo by Clockwork_Dandy

The Fruity Oaty Bar commercial from Joss Whedon’s Serenity come to life!

photo by TheKingInYellow

MINDstyle’s “Stephen Le Podd” con exclusives.

photo by Sarcasm-hime

Cthulhu bustle!

photo by sudrin

Victorian cecaelia!

photo by Petrona09

It’s this guy! He’s back!

Ligo Brand “Fancy Quality” Squid (in natural ink), originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

People tend to give you the strangest things when they know you have a, let’s say…unusual fixation with squid…

Ligo Brand Squid

And in case there was any question about it, yes, “Fancy Quality” is fancier than regular quality.

The Sea Devils (not to be confused with the Doctor Who foes of the same name) are a team of marine adventurers from the Silver Age of DC Comics. They were created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Russ Heath, and the team first appeared in 1960 in three issues of Showcase (#27-29). This was followed up by their own series, beginning in the Fall of 1961.

Sea Devils #1 (October, 1961): Sea Devils vs. The Octopus Man!

The series would run 35 issues before being canceled in 1967, but they have continued to appear sporadically in DC continuity ever since—most recently in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #42 (July, 2006). At this time, DC has yet to offer any of the Sea Devils’ Silver Age stories in reprint collections.

Sea Devils #21 (February, 1965): The Forty-Fathom Doom!

The original team was made up Dane Dorrance (the handsome and intelligent leader), Judy Walton (Dane’s girlfriend, eventual wife), Nicky Walton (Judy’s kid brother), and Biff Bailey (the lovable tough-guy). Fans of Marvel Comics may find this team demographic eerily familiar, but it is worth noting that Fantastic Four #1 came out a little over a year after the Sea Devils’ debut. Unlike the more famous Marvel foursome, the Sea Devils have no powers. They are normal human adventurers…who just happen to encounter sea monsters, aliens, marine gorillas, and giant cephalopods with alarming frequency.

Sea Devils by Marc Laming

American Apparel men’s or women’s tee—$25.00 from SquidFire.com

This design is also available in blue on a long-sleeve tee, like so…

Or in green on a hoodie…

Look! Bubbles!

Leviathan is a young adult steampunk alternate history novel by Scott Westerfield. If the book trailer can be believed, it will feature a plethora of awesome things, such as war squids and zeppelin whales. It is being published by Simon & Schuster and comes out on October 6th.

Preorder Leviathan from Amazon.com.

Like I said yesterday, Dragon*Con is this weekend, and I am rather bummed not to be in attendance this year. The con is more than just a science-fiction or comic book convention, it is a chaotic multi-media/multi-genre extravaganza celebrating every corner of geeky popular culture. Here is but a small tentacled taste of Dragon*Con from the past few years. All photos are from my Flickr account, unless otherwise noted.

Doctor Octopus (Dragon*Con 2008)

Stygian Depths booth (Dragon*Con 2008)

"Doctor Cthulhu" (Dragon*Con 2008)

Photo by Foenix

Cthulhu and Ichigo (Dragon*Con 2007)

Photo by Futuregirl_LeahRiley

"tentacle monster" (Dragon*Con 2005)

Dragon*Con begins this weekend in Atlanta, GA, and for the first time in almost 10 years I will not be attending. That’s tragic for a number of reasons, including the fact that I will miss my chance to score the limited edition “Stephen Le Podd” figure from MINDstyle. Designed by Doktor A, “De-Commissioned” is limited to 100 pieces, and they will be available, first-come first-serve, on Friday, September 4 (tomorrow!) at 8:30 PM. (As for exactly where to get them and how much they cost…I’m not actually sure.)

I love this dapper steampunk cephalopod, with his jaunty pith helmet, tentacle moustache, and dilating aperture eyes. If this edition is anything like the 2009 San Diego Comic Con exclusive (“The Entertainer”), it comes with a few alternate hats—ready for any occasion!

Welcome to the first installment of Wednesday Comics, the newest Indie Squid Kid weekly(ish?) theme day! You may not know this, but all across this great land of ours, Wednesday is New Comic Book Day—the day that comic shops get their weekly shipments of new titles. Cephalopods have been a mainstay of comic books pretty much since the beginning of the genre, as demonstrated in the following images from DC Comics’ Golden Age that all feature classic superheroes battling giant octopuses.

The Flash vs. octopus: Flash Comics #44 (1943)

Via Poulpe Pulps, an impressive archive of vintage covers of comics, pulp magazines, and sci-fi novels that all feature cephalopods.

Captain Marvel vs. octopus: Whiz Comics #115 (1949)

Via Everyday Is Like Wednesday, the home of the occasional Monday Morning Man vs. Cephalopod.

Starman vs. octopus: Adventure Comics #65 (1941)

Via The Absorbascon, your online source for sweet, sweet octopus love.

design by Alvaro Arteaga

Sometimes you just can’t win.

Sometimes you have to let the monsters eat your boat.

Buy it from Threadless (Currently sold out!)

Also, this reminds me of something…