This is a marvelous month to be a geek, starting this week! This Wednesday was Star Wars Day; May the Fourth be with you always! This Friday one of the all-time great superhero films opens. This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! Next Saturday, Fanboy Expo comes to Music City. And a weekend trip to Atlanta Memorial Day weekend gives you two great options – MomoCon and/or TimeGate! What a Marvel-ous May!

Star Wars Day. May 4, 1979 when Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister of the UK, her political party, the Conservatives, placed an ad in The London Evening News, saying “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.” In 2011, the first organized celebration of Star Wars Day took place in Toronto. Since 2013, The Walt Disney Company has officially observed the holiday at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. And last year, astronauts in the International Space Station watched Star Wars. May 5 is also “Revenge of the Fifth”, ala Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Read my article about Free Comic Book Day in the April 22 print edition of the PRIDE, or online, for details about the annual event on the first Saturday of May.

Fanboy Expo makes its maiden voyage to Music City Saturday, May 14 (10:00AM – 7:00 PM) and Sunday, May

15 (11:00AM – 5:00PM) at the Nashville Fairgrounds. Meet actors Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite); artists Jonathan Glapion, Jacob Rougemont, Joseph Kelley, and more. Deets at: fanboyexpo.com.

Two conventions Memorial Day weekend in the ATL: MomoCon runs Thursday, May 26th – Sunday, May 29th, at the Georgia World Congress Center, 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, 30303. With 22,696 unique and 67,369 turnstile attendance in 2015, MomoCon is one of the fastest growing all ages conventions in the country. Fans of Japanese Anime, American Animation, Comics, Video Games, and Tabletop Games celebrate their passion by costuming / cosplay, browsing the huge exhibitors hall, meeting celebrity voice talent, designers, and writers behind their favorite shows, games, and comics and more than a dozen African American guests. Anime fans, gamers, comic readers, all are welcome at MomoCon.

Appearing at MomoCom

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Book your room now at the Marriott Century Center, 2000 Century Boulevard NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30345 for TimeGate – “Atlanta’s Premier Doctor Who & British Media Convention” Friday, May 27 through Sunday, May 29. Convention rate is only $94.00; you can’t get a room in Nashville for that! Meet Paul McGann, Terry Molloy, Nick Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and others. Deets at: timegatecon.org.

Final word: Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War… I saw it Tuesday. It is spectacular, epic, amazing, awesome, and more! YOU MUST SEE IT … Now… at your local Carmike Cinema on the big screen. Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus: “Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes.”