Dragonriders of College Station

AggieCon 43 took place this past weekend (March 23-25, 2012). Now, at any convention, there will almost certainly be some things that happen which are in poor taste. But there is no point in talking about any of them, because they absolutely pale in comparison to the outcome of Saturday’s “Draw-Off” panel. In said panel, Marty Whitmore (evil illustrator and proprietor of the webcomic Tasty Flesh) squared off against the creative team of Mel Hynes and James L. Grant (writer and artist, respectively, of Two Lumps) to draw the deranged ideas of the audience under extremely tight time constraints.

Gentle reader, if you are of a delicate disposition… if you have any affection for the Dragonriders of Pern and don’t want it Ruined Forever, then I entreat you in the sternest possible way to not read beyond the jump. (While the following content is only NSFW in the mildest possible sense, it is poison to the brain.)

Duncan and Mallory

As you know, Bob, Duncan & Mallory is a collaborative comic created by Mel White and Robert Lynn Asprin. Set in a not-quite-Earth fantasy setting of ambiguous place and time, it concerns the adventures of one Duncan (disgraced human warrior) and J. P. Mallory (small silver dragon temporarily between jobs). Released in 1986 by Starblaze, it never achieved the notoriety widespread recognition it (IMHO) deserves.

What you may not know (comma Bob comma) is that it is now being re-released, on the web, a bit at a time, for free. More details after the jump.

There are moon-letters here.

Return of the King, 1st US Edition Cover
Return of the King, 1st US Edition Cover

Did you hear the one about the Aggie who had a truly first-class library of science fiction and fantasy?

The denizens of Texas A&M University take a lot of stick, some fraction of which they may perhaps deserve. As I’m a Rice alumnus, you may believe me when I say I’ve heard (and repeated) my share of the dreadful jokes.

But this post is about one of the places where not only have the Aggies excelled, but have done so within the realm of unqualified, unabashed flat-out geekishness — one of my personal favorite sorts of excellence, and one I deeply admire.