Ok, not comic book related: A Call to Arms: Squad training for 2014 Korea begins this Month!

Taekwon-do friends: Train hard, smart and aim to be competing for your country. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces, and perhaps the new breed of overseas fighters, breakers and proponents of the General's Art, down on my old "Base of Operation", the Central Coast NSW for a great weekend towards the end of November with Senior Master Jamie Moore, Head Coach Sabum Gary King (5th Degree), and some other experienced International Competitors who I believe might be making an appearance ;)

If you're keen to shoot for Korea next year (on an island no doubt...'Enter The Dragon', anyone?), I can assure you the other countries are squad training every weekend already. Hell, I hit the gym the day after the UK Worlds. Don't let our vast geography be a factor in your prep, and come have some fun with your TKD family ;D

I believe even if you're still "on the fence" towards making it over, join in and expand yourself physically and mentally. Gradings, Self Defense, fitness, self improvement...all these benefit from the specialist training, knowledge sharing, notion of competition, and learning from others outside your dojang/comfort zone. Be a sponge for knowledge, have a will of iron, and fists and feet of fury ;)

Taekwon,

Boosabum Paul Mason
Australian Competitor, Assistant/Sparring Coach, "Death Bringer" ;P

Worldwide Taekwon-do/Authentic Taekwon-do

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=541633402580640&set=a.154429714634346.38872.115132501897401&type=1&theater

Squad Training for Korea 2014

Senior Master Jamie Moore & Sabum Gary King are holding Squad Training in NSW at the WOY WOY Dojang weekend 30th November-1st December 2013.

Please contact Sabum Gary King on Mobile 0405134631

Sample of Taekwon-do World Championship pics- UK July/Aug 2013

The Team at the venue: Day 1 comp. I'm on the right somewhere.

Training nonsense

Senior Men's team. Shake 'n' Bake.

Team "Shrink" Debbie.

"Da Boyz".

Roommate and Veteran Competitor: Mr Burn, 6th Degree.

My Central Coast family. The juniors, Matt and Heather, began Taekwon-do at my school about 8ish years ago, and continued on at my best mate's school (Gary) when I left to study at QCA in '06. Very proud of them.

My "Big Brother" Gary.

The Australian team, Master Moore, support crew and coaches, early Day 2.

My stuff.

2nd Fight.

A tough fight; was humbled to hear from Master and several competitors it was the bestfight of the division, and an unlucky draw to get the eventual gold medalist so early, and off his Bye. 2 Judges awarded it to RED, 1 to BLUE and a Draw. Haven't lost a fight in years. It was tough,  the rules were different, but not as good on the day. It's been a big year. Regrouping begins.

The nice Hyper weight guy from Ireland who requested this photo "...of the bloke who knocked me out". 5 seconds into our team sparring match, he was asleep on the mat. Sorry mate. Was still a little agitated after the last loss.  Discovered later this gent got the Bronze medal in Hyper weights, so I felt a little better about the day overall. All the best, mate.

Coach, Veteran competitor and mate Scott Bower with "some" of his medals. Every Aussie came away with at least 1; and I believe we took 68 (?) overall. 

America's big Hyper-weight, Chad. Nice dude.

"Big Sister" Penny scores a small pile of veteran medals. World Champion :D

World Champion Power Breaker Gary King.

Vets Scott Bower, and close friend Andy Smith with Grandmaster Hwang, being presented with Overall winner's trophies for their age groups (Veterans).

Mr Bower, Mr King, with other close mate, Mr Nigel Paul. 

My Aunty Lin and Uncle Terry from Birmingham drop in to say hello.

Matty and his Medal.

Scotland competitors (with Australian team nurse Karen) The gent on the right was who I fought in the first round. Nice guy, albeit not too happy here :P

A smattering of photos from the Unified ITF Taekwon-do Open World Championships, held in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK in July/Aug. I recently attended it straight after San Diego Comic-con. A tonne more photos, but this is probably more than enough reminiscing on a great trip for now. 4 world championships, 5 teams...mixed emotions in general, but opportunities to continue in the future, and perhaps a coaching role on the Australia team too. Life is turbulent enough at the moment to think ahead. Will bury myself in the next challenges and see if the sun comes up tomorrow.

Naaw, kids are awesome... Scribbles and comic readers at Extreme Martial Arts/Authentic Taekwon-do Central Coast Gym

Some of the Adults and Juniors from the training weekend. Fantastic junior fighters too. Well done, kids!

Some Australian Taekwon-do team training last weekend on the Central Coast, a shotgun trip to get some more training in before London next month. The event became a bit comic-orientated at the end,  thanks to head trainer at Extreme Martial Arts, Sabum and Assistant coach Gary King. Gary has promoted and sold copies of 'The Soldier Legacy' at his school, and a bunch of the juniors really enjoy the Aussie-themed heroics.

Thanks for smiling, Deeyon ;P

Some awesome kids were keen to come by afterwards to get their copies signed, grabs some cheap prints, and also get some head sketches as there favourite Superheroes. One mum said "Your comics encourage my boy to want to read", and I'm totally bragging when I say this, but f*** it: I was so proud of that. It might mean absolutely nothing on the grand scheme of things, but the world to me. And, that's comics, man. They did the same thing for me as a kid, and I do wish more comic books remembered their audience isn't always the die hard, continuity-loving older audience. Another kid had googled details mentioned in the book like the war, the places etc. to learn more about it- mission accomplished ;P (though it's a mental note to keep bleeping the language- he thought the "swearing" was awesome, too :P I guess hash tags and squiggles aren't enough for the imagination and new world playground talk of primary school kids hahaha.)

Anyways, some pics snapped from the tale end of the sketching for those who stuck around.

Thanks again to Senior Master Jamie Moore, Sabum and Head Coach Scott Bower, Sabum Gary King, Sabum Penny Childs-King, Sabum Robert Graf, Boosabum Paul Daniels, and the rest of the team members who attended, the juniors, and those that came alone for some extra training.

God bless Hollywood action men like Bruce Willis or Jason Stathom, otherwise I'd have a serious complex :P #Balding

Gary and student Josh: the boy with 1000 questions :P Love it!

Josh likes Aquaman! A first! ;P

No, I'm not dead: Free Comic Book Day, and other stuff

Ok, super brief update for those who give a damn.

Paul Abstruse, GFTG's Darren Parker, and me, with the exclusive GFTG "Judge Dredd #1" variant covers.

Huuuuggggge thanks to the boys and girls of 'Gifts for the Geek' for flying us down for 'Free Comic Book Day' on the 4th of May in their cool store in Geelong, Victoria. Loved all the kind folks who came and got their Soldier books signed, or grabbed a copy- you are way too kind :D

One of the sketches that keep us busy, from open to close- Congratulations for a successful day, GFTG!

FORCES of GEEK's BIG ON JAPAN Article part 2 dropped at some point, with Soldier Legacy stuff:
http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/05/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html
and Part 1, just in case ;)
http://www.forcesofgeek.com/2013/04/big-on-japan-fistful-of-international.html

Umm, not much else; last squad training for full Aussie team last weekend in Canberra (before we head to the UK for the World TKD Championships), and I managed to pull another 2 x Golds at the latest tournament (NSW/ACT titles)- happy with progress so far, despite going into the weekend with hamstring strains. I hope to continue working through my program (and schedule to keep my brain in check while I find the time to train, courtesy of good friend Candice Land of Enitor Health and Performance), and continue the good fortune when fights roll around in London come the beginning of August. Big, big thanks to my "brother" Sabum Gary King, and Sabum Penny King for their help and hospitality, my "other" family "The Greigs, and Master instructor Jamie Moore in particular, plus the Central Coast contingent, Sabum Scott, Andy, Nigel, Dave and the rest of the Aussie team.

Photo courtesy of John Sutherland.

What was weird was my worlds mixed for a moment when a nice young dude from the Central Coast Authentic Takewon-do branch, caught me between events to get a copy of "Soldier Legacy's Strange Tales #1" signed :P When he asked for a photo, I said " did you smile?" "Uh-Huh"...tricked me :P

Anyways, gotta run. The grind of the day job, prepping for UK, US, drawing and colouring some prints for Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne July, and getting 'the Soldier Legacy' back into gear post- 'New Adventures of the Human Fly #1'.

Lots to do, and barely keeping the head above water. I have Arnold Schwarzenegger's quote in front of me at the computer: "What are you really made of?" When I feel like I've made lousy life choices every day when my alarm goes off in the morning, I try to think of where I started, and where I'm trying to go. I might feel like I'm the invisible guy trudging on to hit these personal milestones, but I do know I have a handful of close people, family and friends giving genuine praise and encouragement, and genuine readers who dig the comic stuff too. Thank you guys- I hope not to let you down.
12 plane flights this year so far, 6 Australian states (including ACT and my home state); it's been busy and my bank account has suffered. But I've had a lot of fun, met and caught up with a lot of people; I guess I'll dig all of this when I'm older and looking back at my stupid a** in these photos and convention schedules, right?

Cheers, Diggers.
Paul.

When Worlds Collide! Worldwide Taekwon-do reads 'The Soldier Legacy!

Sabum Gary King -5th Degree and V.P of Worldwide Taekwon-do, Me and Senior Master Jamie Moore- 8th Degree and President of Worldwide Taekwon-do and Australian Delegate for UITF.

In preparation for the World Taekwon-do Championships in Korea in July, I recently got back into my TKD training, and sorted out something I was due to do about 6-7 years ago...my next Black Belt testing. Happy to say I survived and successfully promoted to my 3rd degree a week out from this month's Supanova madness.

https://www.facebook.com/worldwidetaekwondo

In the meantime, Senior Master Jamie Moore and 'brother from another mother' Sabum Gary King were keen to get pics with the latest and upcoming 'Soldier Legacy' comicbooks, including 2 "litttle Diggers" who have been readers for a while. Awesome when the comicbook medium reaches an audience outside of your regular comic readers.

All the above, plus Matthew Greig- Soldier Legacy Comic fan and 2nd Degree, and Deeyon Garland- another Soldier fan and 1st Degree.

Cluey Soldiers out there might also recognize Sabum Gary from the Soldier Legacy comics themselves- as "Barry", the Young Soldier's instructor from issue 4 and 5, and highlighted in a recent post: http://pm-comic.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/a-firefighter-indeed-real-life.html

Until next time, punch on Soldiers!