We're geeking out to see all the new people rolling in from Comicon! We've gotten over 25 new followers on the @azbrowncoats Twitter, as well as lots of new members on the website, mailing list, new friends on our facebook, and our Yahoo group. Hopefully we see you all at this weekend's shindig! Who'd have thought we'd still be growing five years after we organized as a local group!

Just some housekeeping for you new people though...

The Arizona Browncoats invite you to join us this Saturday for our monthly shindig:

Shindig!
Saturday, June 5th
7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
The Community Room at
Bookmans Phoenix
8034 N 19th Ave, Phoenix, 85021 (map)
(NW corner of 19th Ave and Northern, just east of I-17)

Our shindigs are very casual and really just give us a chance to hang with our fellow Browncoats. This month we're going to ...

If you were at Phoenix Comicon, you may have come across our Firefly Word Search, meticulously created by our own Lisa Richins. If you weren't, here it is for your enjoyment. For those of you eager for the answers, or to print out your own, the files are available below. I warn you though, it's crazy hard and plenty of false paths. There are also a number of extra words that aren't on the list that are mostly inside jokes. Enjoy!

So, stories and details still to come (I'm still recovering) and maybe even some guest writers joining us to give you the weekend from different angles. This was the biggest Phoenix Comicon ever, and by a long shot. We look forward to final number, but it was easily in the five digit numbers. The cosplay was on a level I've never seen locally, more great vendors, epic guests, and some pretty fun panels. Below are some embedded slideshows and videos that will at least start you on our journey. A very special thanks go out to Kids Need to Read for letting us work with them and making us feel like we were doing something of value, Bookmans for giving us opportunities to shine, Browncoats: Redemption for making us part of their clan as they promote their upcoming Browncoat film, and thank you to all the Arizona Browncoats, new, old, and undeclared who made this weekend something worth remembering!

Starting this Thursday, the Phoenix Convention Center and the neighboring Hyatt will be home to one of the largest cons in Phoenix... well, at least during my time in the active geek community. Countless big name actors, comic artists and writers, and events up the wazoo will keep those of us going VERY busy this weekend. Not to mention premiering and promoting this year's CSTS! But because we're not busy enough, it seems only natural to load up our website with live coverage. Here's a few ways we'll do it and how you can get into it!