Warner Media House at SXSW 2022

Like many things, SXSW is back for the first time since 2019. Since leaving my digital media agency life where I got a LOT of SXSW perks, I have generally avoided SXSW as much as possible because it's intensely crowded ad overwhelming and exhausting. There are always some really fun, free things to do, but without shelling out the money for wristbands or badges, the lines are typically not worth it. I've been happy to stay in and relax and was fully ready to do that this year until I heard that Robert Pattinson's Batmobile was in town at the Warner Media House. I'm a sucker. If anything's going to get me to brave the downtown crowds during SXSW, it's Batman.

For those who weren't able to attend this activation from March 11-13, check out the photos from the experience below!

The displays were free and open to the public. For guests without wristbands and badges, you could enter just to see the props on display from a side entrance. When you initially enter, you head toward the back of the room to grab some free swag which included a Funko Pop from The Batman, The Batman Batmobile LEGO Technic set, some comic books, and also some Hro hybrid NFT trading cards. They had team members explaining the NFT trading cards. It was... interesting. Not really my speed, but might be of interest for others if you'd like to check them out below! Depending on when you entered the event, you may have received a different Funko Pop. My husband and I each received Battinson, but I ran into a coworker who received Kravitz's Catwoman Funko Pop. We were able to trade so we had one of each.

They had a giant The Batman Funko Pop box photo op as well as a ton of The Batman collaboration items from brands like Puma and Carhartt on display. My favorite display items were the Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Batman costumes. They were also promoting Peacemaker.

After you took photos to your heart's content inside the building, you could walk around the building and into an alleyway where they had the Batmobile available for photo ops. I was very excited to the see it in person right in Austin!

If SDCC happens as planned this year, I anticipate a lot of this will be available for fans to view then as well, but really glad we got to experience it at SXSW first. What was your favorite of all the things at Warner Media House I shared above? SXSW goes through March 20 this year. Are you attending and what else are you looking forward to this week?

Austin Books and Comics (and Half Price Books) Haul August 2021

It's interesting to look back at how I've grown as a Batman collector. When I was in my teens, I spent a couple of dollars here and there on Batman magnets, stickers, etc. As I started to make my own money, I went on to buy Batman stationery, dolls, t-shirts, some action figures, DVDs, a few graphic novels. Then came the Funko Pop wave which I've since grown out of (thank goodness). As I've grown financially and mentally, I now found myself investing more in Batman art. This includes prints, original art (which I would have never dreamed of affording as a teenager), and even more comic books based on the artist.

I almost never bought individual comic book issues growing up because I didn't want to have to follow release schedules. I thought the entire comic book collecting experience was overwhelming and didn't want to be sucked in. I stuck with tradebacks because they were easy one-and-done experiences. This means that I would miss out on a lot of cover art on the individual issues. To be honest, I still primarily buy tradebacks, but now I find myself buying individual issues mostly to support my favorite artists or, very specifically in this case, Dustin Nguyen. As a Batman fan today, it feels like more and more the best use of my nerd money is on those people who create the content.

All that to say is that I bought a lot of comic books this weekend, all featuring Dustin Nguyen art, across 1 trip to Half Price Books, and 2 to Austin Books and Comics.

We dropped by Half Price Books right before lunch just to browse and I ended up with some great finds, Batman Beyond #39 and Batman: Streets of Gotham #5-6. I'm late to the game on both of these runs, but since I knew Dustin Nguyen worked on them and we were just a block from Austin Books and Comics, we decided to drop by to see what else we could find. At the end of the day, I ended up with Batman: Streets of Gotham #1-16, #20-21, Batman Beyond #39, and Dustin's variant of Super Sons #6. The Super Sons variant was a nice find since I already started buying some, but I'm missing a few. Check out photos of the full haul below and let me know which is your favorite cover.

I also bought the final issue of Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen's Ascender, issue #18 on a separate trip to ABC. If you haven't already, make sure to pick up both Descender and Ascender (the sequel). They're both wrapped up now so you can binge-read them!

Let me know if you've read any of the above and your thoughts. I'm sure this won't be my last comic book haul or Batman haul in genreal so hopefully be back here again soon!