Silver Ranger for our Silver Anniversary

"Power Rangers in Space" star Justin Nimmo to appear on Free Comic Book Day in May

Welcome, readers and subscribers to the new Word Balloons and other Nerdage. I’m still working out what this newsletter will look like, so feel free to drop me a note and let me know what you’d like to see! 

First off, I hope my fellow Normanites and others in Oklahoma are safe and putting things together as best they can following the tornadoes earlier this week. I’ve already seen that some friends of mine took some damage to their homes; my thoughts are with everyone dealing with the situation.

The rest of this is a little less serious, but hopefully fits with what you came here for.   

Silver Ranger for our Silver Anniversary 

As part of our Silver Anniversary celebrations at Speeding Bullet Comics, we are going to welcome the Silver Ranger himself, Justin Nimmo, to the shop on Free Comic Book Day, May 6, 2023. 

The Oklahoma native played Zhane, the Silver Ranger, in “Power Rangers in Space” in 1998. His character has recently appeared in the “Power Rangers” and “Power Rangers Unlimited” comic books from Boom! Studios, as well as the anniversary issue “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” #100.  

Nimmo also appeared in the films “Pleasantville” and the TV series “Saved by the Bell: The New Class.” 

You can find out more about Justin, his time on Power Rangers, and how Oklahoma education shaped his life, in this 2020 video from the Oklahoma SDE:

Speeding Bullet Comics is located at 614 N Porter Ave. in Norman, OK. 

More Speeding Bullet notes: 

Silent Auctions

We’ve got double the fun in silent auctions this week. We’ll end our current silent auction at the shop at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, and start a new one at 11 a.m. March 2. This second silent auction will end at 8 p.m. March 10, in conjunction with another event you’ll see shortly in this newsletter! All silent auction proceeds benefit Annette Price’s run for the Norman, OK, school board. (Annette is both my spouse and the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics!) Find out about her run for school board at annetteforkids.com.  

Pictionary Showdown

Play a drawing game with fantastic artists and help raise money for Annette Price for Norman School Board! Donate to join a team and join artists Mario Wytch (“Sister Powers”) and Don Rosencrans (“Welcome to Ralton”) for the second round of our Pictionary Showdown! You can also donate to provide assistance or distractions to the artists as they try to complete their tasks. This event is set for 6 to 8 p.m. on March 10 at Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman; you can also come by and bid at the silent auction. Proceeds benefit Annette’s school board campaign.  

Comics roundup

Some interesting things happening this week related to comics include: 

The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art hosts its 6th annual Will Eisner Comic Fest, in partnership with the OKPOP Museum.

https://www.jewishmuseumtulsa.org/

The sixth annual Will Eisner Comic Fest is set for noon - 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art located at 2021 E. 71st Street in Tulsa, OK.

The “Bad Candy” horror comic book, by Oklahoma creators Robert Henry and Joe Evans, seeks funding for a short film: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bad-candy-short-film

“So what started out as a simple promo film for the comic kind of grew into something more,” the team writes at the Facebook page for the comic. 

 “Watch, share and donate if you can. This is the start of what will hopefully be the first of several Bad Candy projects this year.”

The ComicsPRO annual meeting for retailers was held in Pittsburgh last week. While I was only to attend virtually and in part, it did seem like the mood and interaction was good. I’m curious to see how the Batman, Superman and Joker manga will do with American audiences. ComicsPRO president Jenn Haines provided a good take on where things are for retailers and the organization – you can see her remarks at Popverse: 

https://www.thepopverse.com/comicspro-jenn-haines-comics-pro-2023-annual-meeting

Thanks, everyone, for checking out this new version of Word Balloons and other Nerdage… feel free to reach out with thoughts and ideas, and watch this space for more about comics, film and other entertainment!

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.