Emerald City Comic Con 2013: What I Got

Real talk: Emerald City Comic Con was an amazingly fun show. I feel like every time I go to a show I really love, I end up saying "This was the best show I've been to in ages," but this really was the best show I've been to in ages. I already went on a Twitter rampage talking about all the amazing people I got to catch up with, but I'd also be remiss if I didn't run down all the amazing comics I picked up.

Unlike so many media-focused cons that exist these days on the scene, there were no annoying people hocking mashmallow guns or Ugly Dollz or wrestler's autographs on the floor at ECCC. There were just rows and rows and rows of comic publishers, retailers and artists plying their wares. Since I'm contractually obligated by Uncle Money Bags to spend most of my time in panel rooms typing quotes, I didn't get to spend nearly as much time on the floor buying from people (artist's in particular) as I would have liked, but I did get some primo stuff from retailers that I'm excited to show off.

 The Steranko History of Comics, Vol. 1

With absolutely no embellishment, I can say that I've been looking to buy this book for a decade. Probably more than that. Jim Steranko's self-published history of the medium never got past two issues on its proposed six-issue run, but the volumes he did complete loom large amongst comic history nerds like myself.

I spotted this gem sticking up in a gathering of mid-70s Marvel treasury magazines, and immediately asked the vendor how much he wanted for it. It was a steal at $10, but I almost didn't get away with the book because when I handed duder the money, he stopped for a moment, looked at the cover with mournful eyes and went, "Can I just flip through it one more time?"

The guy proceeded to pour over page-after-page for about ten minutes, pointing out to me which Golden Age splash pages and Jack Kirby pencil recreations he scanned to make t-shirts with when he was younger. I can't laugh at him for this reaction. I'll likely be doing the same with some young turk in 2053.

 Palooka-Ville #s 10, 11 & 12

For years when I was a teenager, Seth's iconic series was one of my perpetual holy grail purchases at any con I attended, and I'd often only find a scattershot issue here or there. I think it took me two years to assemble the entire Kalo saga (he'd probably balk at my calling it that) in one place.

Today, I own all the material in these tree issue as reprinted in the Clyde Fans Vol. 1 collection, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap these bad boys up for a quarter a piece!

Helheim #1, Fatherhood #1 & The Sands #1

Considering my job, I should probably come home from cons with a lot more new releases from publishers and creators alike, but as it stands, most of my purchasing of new books happens at Challengers. Still, I was very excited to pick up a copy of Cullen Bunn and Joelle Jones' new Oni series Helheim as I feel both creators have done their strongest work at the publisher. And Fatherhood was an ECCC print debut from writer Ryan K. Lindsay who I've gotten to know online as an infrequent CBR contributor (fun fact: I had no idea he was Australian until I heard him speak!). Thinking picking up books like these will be my #1 goal come WonderCon.

Meanwhile, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm just getting to know Tom Hart's work after picking up the amazing Daddy Lightning last year from Box Brown, so I was very happy to find some of Tom's early work at a steal.

Darkstars #s 4, 7 & 8

All Travis Charest art is worth owning, even early "Jim Lee clone" era Charest work. In fact, I'ma go ahead and call early Charest the greatest Jim Lee clone that ever lived. Thank God he outgrew that, but I still have a soft spot for this series in my heart after seeing its covers in DC house ads when I was young, being blown away by them and then never being able to find the book in my LCS.

Critters #s 2, 4, 6, 7 & 37 and A*K*Q*J #1

I've always been curious about the early funny animal comics put together by Fantagraphics' Kim Thompson (who we just learned has lung cancer. All thoughts and prayers for a strong recover, Kim. We need you), so it was great to find so many issues of Critters and related books in a quarter bin. Not only does the series feature some of Stan Sakai's earliest Usagi Yojimbo material, it also has some dynamite cartooning from the likes of Sam Kieth and people heretofore unknown to me like Mike Kazaleh. But maybe the artist I'm most excited to get to know better is Danish cartoonist Freddy Milton, whose Thompson-translated strips channel Carl Barks without being part of Disney's universe/corporate control. Why in God's name don't more people do stuff like that?

The Flash #347

For the past five years or so, I've been absentmindedly picking up issues of "The Trial" – the epic/lamented/seminal Flash story that brought Barry Allen's original run towards its final days. I can't honestly tell what most people think about the quality of this story overall, but I'm looking forward to chewing on my own opinions of it now that I've got this final chapter in hand. I do know for sure that I LOVE me some later Carmine Infantino work. The thin geometric lines he uses on everything including people's hair just does it for me, man.

Comic Shop Stop: Catching Up - Part One

I used to do these every week - run down what new comics I'm excited enough about that I spent monies on them. But the less I bought the last few months, the less I could post, and I just fell outta the habit. So here's the first post in a series of posts catching up on some stuff I bought since the summer ended that I wanted to share. It's all rad and I recommend it 100-and-12 percent.

From October's Wizard World New York

- 2099 A.D #1 - Clear chromium cover with art by Joe Quesada! I don't know a ton about the 2099 world, but the more important issues like this kick-off to the storyline about Dr. Doom taking over the world just scream at me. And only 50 cents!

- HOOK MOVIE ADAPTATION - Snapping up quarter-bin movie adaptations has been a ball for me lately at cons, and this one has a script, cover and a bit of interior art by Charles Vess, among others. It's so fun looking for how these differ from the films. "My God...the children..."



- DOOM PATROL #13-14 - I have the rest of this quirky series, but finally found these two issues drawn by the late Seth Fisher. Fisher only had a handful of work available when he passed away, but it's all so wonderfully bizarre and distinct, so it's a treat to find issues I never owned. Plus? Written by John Arcudi! Like Major Bummer, this series is an under-appreciated blast.

- BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #54 - Mike Mignola Batman story with the supernatural! Only a buck!

From October's New York Comic-Con

(SPECIAL NOTE: I was insanely sick at NYCC and could hardly work, much less shop. Sorry to everybody I missed or barely talked to and sorry to that CKT reader who stopped by the booth - I wasn't very energetic.)

DEATHLOK / KAMANDI / OMAC ART FROM MIKE PERKINS! - Can I tell you how amazing Mike Perkins is? The guy's got talent to burn, is mega-professional, and loves talking about great comics. All that, plus he's GOT to be one of the the nicest guys in comics. He's always smiles and positivity, and "Hey, man, it's great to see you!" So imagine my blown mind when he surprised me with this STELLAR original art portrait of 3 of my all-time favorite comic characters.
Mike, if you're reading this, you took my breath away - I literally didn't know what to say when you handed it to me. Sorry I was so sick, or I'd have hugged you way longer than would have been comfortable. You're genuinely a good friend.

RETURN OF THE DAPPER MEN HC - Writer Jim McCann and artist Janet Lee had "the book of the show" in this beautiful all-ages story from Archaia Studios Press. Jim's a friend and Janet's a positive, talented-ass lady so I'm super stoked for the two of them. I see lots of awards in their futures for this gorgeous epic that's unlike anything I've ever seen.



FANGORIA #40 - With a Return of the Living Dead cover story, a Slimer poster, a feature on Night of the Comet and tons more, I couldn't pass up this old issue of Fangoria. Especially since the seller was cutting 75% off selling price!



OMAC ACTION FIGURE - I had to stop and buy some supplies for the DC Booth at K-Mart when I came into Penn Station and I stopped by the toy aisle to find THIS badboy waiting for me! I had no idea these were out and forgot they were even getting made. But I bought it right away. So, yes, I bought a comic toy at a store on my way to a large convention. Professional.


And that's it for Part One. I'll have Part Two up soon. Just wanted to say it was great running in to all my friends at the shows. More and more, I love going to the cons more to see the people I love than for the comics. Thanks Kiel, Matt, TJ & Emily, Dave, Ben, Ryan, Jim, Mike, Laura, Caleb, Anna, Mel, Cotton, Walker, Dan, Alex, Jordan, Ashley, Josh, Adam, Brett, Eric, Darren, Rick, Jonah, Paul, Jon, Aubrey, CB, Michael, and all the others I know I've forgotten to list.

Florida Supercon 2010 Picture Show

Heya folks! Kevin here with a few of my pictures from the Florida Supercon! Before we get into that though, my thoughts on the show itself:

This was my first year out to this particular convention and let me tell you, I did not expect the amount of people I saw there to actually be there. Between the overall small size of the show floor itself and the amount of attendees, it felt like San Diego Lite. There was a lot of cramming and my friends and I lost each other constantly. That said though, the costumes were AMAZING. Besides meeting up with my comic buddies--shout out to the always awesome Jim McCann, Fred Van Lente and Filip Sablik who attended this year's con--checking out all the rad costumes is easily my favorite part of going to conventions. At lot of these people put in some serious time and effort and their costumes come out looking really great. What really sucks though is that with so many costumes and so many people I missed a lot of opportunities to nab some pictures, including one of a really awesome Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers. Anyway, check out the pics I did manage to capture below!

Above, my friend Amanda who made her very own Hawkgirl costume, which not only looks amazing, but she also looks amazing in

Here are my friends Bridget and Jose as one of comics' greatest couple, the Joker and Harley Quinn

Tifa from Final Fantasy VII. Alas, she is unfortunately not my friend

Wanda and Cosmo! "Two wrongs don't make a right." "But three rights make a left!"

Save the mask, this guy made the entire costume by himself--including that Gatling Gun, which is ridiculously awesome and in fact spins

That Nemesis guy also hand made this Flash helmet. And the picture really does no justice on how spot on the helmet turned out. Seriously, Jay Garrick himself wouldn't be able to tell the difference

And finally, Invader Zim crew! The Gaz is even playing a DS!

Tasting the Big Apple Comic Con

What's a fun activity on a rainy, poopy Sunday? A comic convention! That's why Sam and I decided to go ahead and hit Wizard's Big Apple Comic Con today in NYC. The show was a hike from the C line, but we don't go to the piers on the west side of the city very often, so it was a nice change of scenery thanks to the show being located out there.

After a quick bite to eat with a buddy of mine from DC, we all hiked over and got in with fairly little hassle. I'd heard some people had to stand in line for a while on Saturday, so I was kinda worried we'd have to, too. Nope. Got right in.

The scene outside when we rolled up:

The wind-blown banner out front:

Once inside, we knocked out the exhibitor area in about 15 minutes. The low ceiling and mopey crowd sort of was uninviting at first, but it was a definite improvement from previous National Shows, which I'd attended in the past at the Pennsylvania Hotel.

There was a big Nintendo booth where we played the new Super Mario Bros. game thanks to a really excited Nintendo booth employee inviting us over. Sam posed when we finished:


The celebrity autograph area was kinda neat. Seeing so many people I recognized in one place was slightly surreal. Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong were next to each other. Todd Bridges looked happy. A bunch of the Battlestar Galactica people were next. I spotted the guy who plays Pete on "30 Rock," but he was just walking around, not signing or anything. Matter of fact, we saw him about 80 times in the 4 hours we were there. We've seen him at all the New York Comic-Cons so far. And seeing him chat it up with John Schneider was great. John Schneider's a handsome man, by the way. Also, Ernie Hudson:


Someone had a Delorean all gussied up to look like the one from Back to the Future. But I was so smitten with the car that I didn't look to see what it was there for. The Adam West Batmobile and some blue Chevy were also spread out on the floor, but I dunno why.

Scared the girl at the booth is gonna say we can't take photos:

Artists Alley was super-duper small. But Paolo Rivera instigated a short conversation with us and I saw Jacob Chabot from afar. I left my Watchmen book at home, so no dice there. Paolo was so nice, I went right to his blog when I got home to try and find a shot of this art he had on display which he did with the very talented Joe Quinones.

Yep, that's Paolo on GL and Joe on Spidey.
Hopefully Paolo spreads some of that Marvel talent on some DC properties soon.

The big fun dopeness was all the crap we got for cheap. The dealer area at the National Show was always big and easy to find deals at, and that was no different here. We spent MOST of our time in the retailer area and it occurred to me that even though most of the show's guest were non-comics folks, this dealer area went a long way to validate calling this thing a COMIC con. Here's what we found:

• INFINITY INC. #1, #2, #5, AND #7 - And all for just a buck each!

• PUNISHER: WAR ZONE #5 - I missed this issue at the store last year and have been searching for it ever since. Good thing I never found it, cause I got it for just a dollar, too!

• PROGRAM GUIDE - Features art from Joe Mad's video game, which had the show's door-located booth. The flip cover has art for some graffiti art company who, I think, made posters and vinyl toys. I just know THEIR booth had ladies with their boobs hanging out who kept trying to hand us posters and were dirty dancing to the pop music the Nintendo booth was playing.

Next Picture:

• AWESOME 2: AWESOMER - I meant to grab a copy of this all-killer no filler anthology at MoCCA this year, but missed it. Then I didn't see it at SPX. But at Big Apple? $4!

• THE COLLECTED DOUG WRIGHT - This massive, shiny volume edited and designed by Seth and featuring early work from Wright, an underrated Canadian cartoonist is usually $39.95. But without the paper band normally wrapping the book, I nabbed it for 4 FUCKING dollars. And there's literally nothing wrong with it. Looks BRAND NEW.
  

• ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY #19 - The newest issue of Chris Ware's ongoing series only cost $4, too. :)

• ASTRO BOY BUTTON - Sam wanted this cause it has a little robot dog on it. Free.

• SPINKS! - Sam also wanted this cute mini about chubby monsters. Only a dollar.

• MINIMATES - We got Golden Age Flash, Wildcat, Sabretooth and a Skrull. $5 total for all 4.

• THE NEWEST WIZARD - Free as we left the floor.

At some random booth, I found this Transformers shirt with a drop of Watchmen blood, which was neat:


And that's pretty much it. Whole thing took about 4 hours. We got to see Mel and Justin and Cotton and Dan. And I spotted Rich Johnston tappity-tappity-tapping away on his tappity machine:


It was a fun day. But what can I say? I'm easy to please. I wish there was a comic convention in town I had the opportunity to go to or skip EVERY week. And to cap it off, Sam backed my move to buy a 6-pack of Bud Light Golden Wheat. This is what love looks like in your fridge:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 2009

We hit Wizard World Philadelphia this past weekend and, again, it was a sexy show.

When I wasn't busy posing in front of posters of Bon Jovi, I was at the convention center in downtown Philly or at a bar. And my girlfriend Sam and my buddy David were lovely enough to walk booth-to-booth on Saturday with me to dig through quarter and dollar bins (which is one of my great joys to do with a group of friends). Here's the little bit of stuff I grabbed:

A NextWave issue I was missing, a copy of the final issue of the Prisoner adaptation, Hickee #4 and the first 3 issues of a cute SLG book about a kitty called Ubu Bubu. All of these were a quarter!

A copy of Lauren Weinstein's Girl Stories (only 4 bucks!), a copy of Let's Hit the Road - a roadtrip book by Rich Tommaso I'd never heard of - for only $4, the first two issues of Comic Book Comics at Ryan and Ben's recommendation for a quarter each and a copy of the newest issue of Twisted Toyfare Theater from my friend, and Toyfare editor, Justin Aclin (Volume 10 is out in July, people!). Also pictured up there is the show's con program with a pretty little cover by Joe Quesada.


Justin also hooked me up with a customizable figure from Shocker Toys and then I bought some movies. I can't FUCKING tell you how excited I am about these!

• I snagged a Drive-In theater video from John A. Russo, the co-writer of the original Night of the Living Dead. I'd been looking for it online, but it was always, like, $30. I was so psyched when I got it that I forgot to ask if he'd sign it. I dunno why he was even selling crap, but I'm glad he was. That reminds me, TJ hosted a panel on Friday with Tom Savini! Just wanted to say that. :)
  

• I also got a copy of the BMX classic "Rad" on DVD! I first watched this with TJ on tape about 2 years back and David somehow got the soundtrack, so I've been looking for it. Now I gotta get this shirt, and I'll be set.

• And prolly my most exciting buy: "Summer Camp Nightmare." Oh man oh man OH MAN! I love summer camp shit and I love horror movies and looking at the back of this box, it appears that this film is about campers killing their counselors and taking over a camp! As TJ put it, "So it's like Camp Nowhere with gore?" And as Katz put it, "Holy shit, you're gonna love this." And he knows a thing or two about horror movies.

Also on the floor was the original art to all 12 covers of Watchmen.

(issues #1-6 above and #7-12 are below along with color separations for issues #1 and #12)

FUCKING MADNESS.

Anyhow, we ate at the market across the street from the convention center as much as possible. Emily and I grabbed cookies from an Amish booth, TJ and I grabbed beers from the beergarden in the back, I had a cheese steak with Justin and Sama nd David and I ate crepes for breakfast TWICE!

NUMMERS!

On Friday the floor was more busy than I would have thought for a Friday and was crowded Saturday, which made shopping a little tough. Still, we made it across the whole floor in one day. Sunday was fairly slow from what we saw, but we were only there to say goodbye to people, so I wasn't really paying attention.

Back in artist's alley, I didn't find much that I was interested in, but artists like JG Jones and Rags Morales were around, which was neat. I ran into a table where Mike McKone was sitting and the guy was selling original art pages from only $10. TEN BUCKS! It was mostly stuff with no major characters in-costume, but it was still cool stuff. And the stack was something like 12 inches tall. For only $20, I grabbed the following two pages from JLA: A World Without Grow-Ups #1 because they feature Bart Allen.


So, I guess the theme this weekend was CHEAP DEALS.

Saturday night, we went to a Kaiju Big Battel match, and if you ever get a chance to go, you should. We headed over because 1) we heard there was an open bar, 2) it was only a couple blocks from the convention center and 3) we had VIP tickets, so we got to sit in the balcony. IT WAS NUTS FUN as guys dressed in ridiculous monster outfits out of some Power Rangers fever dream jumped around a wresting ring and hit each other as they fell on top of cardboard buildings.


Seriously, if you get a chance to go to one of these in a refurbished, 140-year-old theater with free beer and tons of friends, THEN GO.

But the most carefree, genuinely enjoyable, feel-good-in-my-heart event was the gong show karaoke with Skeletor following the monster wrestling. It was hot and we were sweaty, but no one cared as people took the stage to sing their hearts out in goofy hats until Skeletor was done listening to them and gonged them off the stage. And Skeletor looked GREAT:


Yes, that's a PBR with a straw in it.

Apparantly he does this once a month around Philly. I want to move there for him.

Follow that with drinks in the hotel lobby and Saturday became my favorite night there. The weekend was amazing once again because of my great friends showing up. So I just want to say it was great seeing you Matt (Get well, dude), David, TJ and Emily (thanks for letting us stay over and for the ride), Andy, Cotton (thanks for the ticket), James, Justin (thanks for your help with the room, I was glad to see you kick ass Saturday), Jim, Jordan, Alex, Ashley, Kiel (I don't remember what we talked about on the phone), Dan, Adam, Jeff, Shane, Isis, Sean, Paul, Shawn, Rob, Eric and so on and so on and so on...

And even though I had to wait an hour in the parking lot at the end of the show because our battery was dead and we needed a jump, the show was still dope. Hopefully it sticks around, and I get a chance to head back next year.