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Hal C. F. Astell |
Michael Flanders |
Jim Miller |
Alyssa Provan |
Britt Rhuart |
Who We AreThe Awesomelys are a group of pop culture fans who host panels at conventions to re-introduce audience members to the guilty pleasures and underrated gems of their childhood. We're talking movies and TV shows, the ones you know suck but love anyway and the ones that you know absolutely rock and show to your friends so they can share the magic. 2013The concept was conjured up by the Brass Bells, a pair of twins who hosted our first Awesomely Awful panel at Phoenix Comicon 2013 with Hal C. F. Astell, Jim Miller and Heather Rice. 2014When the Brass Bells moved to Portland, Hal took the lead and doubled the panels at Phoenix Comicon 2014. Jim and Heather continued on and we added Michael Flanders to make four. 2015We expected to roll straight into 2015, but Heather Rice passed away suddenly and we struggled to find a replacement for Heather after her untimely death. Nick Perillo kindly joined the other regulars that year and we bulked up to three panels, introducing an Awesomely Bitchin' for the first time, dedicating them all to her, still in shock that she was gone. 2016We kept the three panels for Phoenix Comicon 2016 and introduced two new faces. Liz Manning took over from Nick as our regular fourth and Britt Rhuart acted as a super-sub, ably filling in for Jim on two occasions, doing a great job with zero notice. 2017We held our now traditional three panels at Phoenix Comicon 2017, with the same line-up sans Liz who was busy with school. What made 2017 extra special though was the addition of a further panel at Westercon 70, a fresh event, with a different time span for our material. Finally we got the opportunity to step outside the nostalgia point of the '80s and '90s, covering instead every decade from the '30s to the 00's. 2018We expanded again in 2018 with four panels at the renamed Phoenix Comic Fest, the new one containing our selections from recommendations made by the audience in 2017. Because Jim and Liz were both busy, we also debuted a new Awesomely, Alyssa Provan. Sadly, a fire alarm incident meant that two of these panels didn't happen, except in impromptu form outside, as we waited to get back in. We expanded to other events in 2018 too, firstly with another Through the Decades panel at the inaugural CoKoCon and secondly with a couple of panels on specific anniversary years, 1988 and 1998, at Tucson Comic-Con. The idea there was to select films that were released in those years and TV shows that were still on the air during their original runs. 20192019 was our busiest year yet, as we worked four events: LepreCon 45, Phoenix Fan Fusion and CoKoCon 2019, plus a new one for us: Phoenix FearCon, at which we presented an All '80s Horror, All the Time set. FearCon is also where we introduced a new Awesomely: Sarah Anne Stubbs. 2020Shocking absolutely nobody, 2020 was not our busiest year because the COVID-19 pandemic. We did nothing. Well, nothing Awesomelys. 2020Shocking absolutely nobody, 2020 was not our busiest year because the COVID-19 pandemic. We did nothing. Well, nothing Awesomelys. 2021We didn't do a heck of a lot in 2021 either, because COVID was still a thing. The only con we did was a virtual one, where we connected in over Zoom for a Through the Decades panel at Virtual CoKoCon 2021. 2022Mimicking the year before, our only panel in 2022 was a Through the Decades panel at CoKoCon 2022, this time back in physical mode. Phoenix Fan Fusion was held but it's a huge event that had the potential to serve as a superspreader event, so our panelists chose to sit it out. Our friends got COVID there instead. With Jim away, Dee Astell joined us for the first time. 2023Things opened back up by 2023 for us and we did four panels at Phoenix Fan Fusion and another Across the Decades panel at CoKoCon 2023. We had a new panelist for both events in Cyn Shepard, who's been a consistent fixture of the group ever since. What was new for us here was an anniversary. We'd started out in 2013 at what was then known as Phoenix Comicon, so we held an Awesomely Awful's Greatest Hits panel at what was now Phoenix Fan Fusion in 2023. We talked through much of what you see on this page, with a trailer for every panelist across our history and some additional material for fun. Five of us attended, joining the stage at the time they joined the group, and two more sent in video messages to be played, as they now live out of state. 2024We had planned to do four more panels at Phoenix Fan Fusion in 2024, but ended up only doing two on Friday evening as half the panel had to go a family graduation on the Saturday evening. However, we added a third panel during the day that was new for us: Awesomely Awful Videogames. There was no CoKoCon as it was on hiatus. 2025Thus far, we're only scheduled for Phoenix Fan Fusion, where we'll venture into the Awesomely Awful Noughties and return to Videogames, in addition to our regular '80s, '90s and Bitchin' panels. We hope to see you there!
What We DoOur format has remained similar from the beginning, at Phoenix Comicon 2013. Each Awesomely selects two titles for each panel from the decade in scope. For Awesomely Awful panels, that's usually one movie and one TV show; for Awesomely Bitchin' and Through the Decades panels, it's usually two films.
We don't tell the audience what they are; instead we play the movie's trailer or TV show's opening credits first and let the crowd react! Then we talk about that choice, bouncing our opinions off each other and bringing in the audience for their thoughts too.
What Else We DoWe generally tend to keep busy. Here's where you can find us (in order of ascension to the Awesomelys): The Brass Bells moved to Portland after Phoenix Comicon 2013. You can find them doing panels at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. Hal C. F. Astell runs the Apocalypse Later Empire. He publishes his books and zines through Apocalypse Later Press. He writes film reviews at Apocalypse Later Film, music reviews at Apocalypse Later Music and book reviews for The Nameless Zine. He ran the Apocalypse Later International Fantastic Film Festival (ALIFFF) in Phoenix. He curates short film sets at conventions across the southwest through the Apocalypse Later Roadshow. He co-chaired CoKoCon. He also documents the past, present and future of Arizona fandom at AZFandom.org. Jim Miller runs the Crit Hit! gaming retreat and other gaming events throughout the year. Heather Rice passed away suddenly in 2014. We miss her. RIP. Michael Flanders is a blogger, podcaster and event runner who runs Bloody Ramblings, Inc., the Frightening with the Flanders YouTube channel a Nick Perillo moved to California in 2016. Liz Manning is an actress, comedian and podcaster. She performs with the [sic] Sense Comedy Troupe. She Dr. Britt Rhuart has a degree in exploitation film from Bowling Green State University and works as an adjunct professor at Maricopa Community College. Alyssa Provan doesn't like Labyrinth but we like her anyway. OK, she does now. She currently lives in Minnesota. Sarah Anne Stubbs co-founded and co-runs Geeks Who Eat and runs the Spooky Sarah Says website. Dee Astell chaired Westercon 70 and LepreCon 45 and co-chaired CoKoCon. She runs Countess Chaos Creations, which hosts craft workshops at a number of conventions. Cyn Shepard owns iCreate Studios Inc. and is an award-winning screenwriter and author. She cosplays as Harley Cyn. |
Other EventsClick on the Program Guide covers to check out what we've picked at each of these events:
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Last update: 16th January, 2025
