It was a dealer’s con, mostly. For every celeb from Friday the 13th part 2 signing autographs there were three tables of guys with bootleg DVD porn, 50 cent comics, and books that cost more than I make in a year. That’s an interesting thing about dealer cons - you can’t ever find what you’re looking for. Either it’s a dealer with 30 boxes of unsorted, beat-up crap, or it’s a billion boxes of golden/silver age stuff that 90% of the con can’t afford. Completionists like me either walk away empty-handed or spend an extraordinarily long time searching through garbage for the 1988 Manhunter #7 that I needed to fill out my run. And a lot of the con, seriously, was flea market stuff. The bootlegs, the overpriced bad condition comics, the bins of broken toys, that’s a flea market.
Luckily, the artists were awesome. Everyone was happy to talk and sell sketches, although there were many empty tables and a few missing names (Ice T and his wife were supposed to show too, but saw neither hide nor hair of them). I got a few more of my Mad Hatter commissions too, and as always I’m happy to show them off here.
Here’s a pencil sketch from Patrick Gleason, the artist extraordinaire for Green Lantern Corps and Robin. Super nice guy, one of the big rising stars in comics. His version of the Hatter is creepy and I love it.
Rodney (not Humberto, as his sign stated) Ramos, inker for Transmetropolitan, 52, and Countdown, gave me a brilliant ink sketch for my wall. He’s dandy and evil!
And finally, cartoonist Kev Toons gave me a cuter version of the Hatter, which will go well with my Art Baltazar crayon sketch.
So how was it? How was the con? It’s hard to say. I walked out of it with autographs, sketches, memories of conversations, photographs, and issues that completed my Manhunter and 1980 Moon Knight collections. But the heat of a 90+ degree day got into the building, making things hot as anything, and when you’re in close contact with enormous men who prize their NM copy of Punisher 2099 #1 (with holo-foil cover!) more than regular hygiene…well, if you’re not waiting around for a commissioned sketch, it’s very hard to justify staying around for too long. And for all the great stuff I got, at the end I think I might have stuck around just a little too long.
OH! There were also celebrities! More than just sexy Barbara Streisand.
Doug Jones, from Hellboy I & II, Fantastic Four II, and the Halloween favorite Hocus Pocus was in attendence, with the longest line of the con.
Super nice guy, I got to talk to him about his work and can say nothing but good things. Jason Mewes, “Jay” from the Kevin Smith films was there too, but I didn’t say hi. I don’t know why I didn’t say hi and had to snap a paparazzi-style photo instead.
And the Village People cowboy! Can’t stop the music!
And Cyclops even did his awesome pop and lock routine!
The big guest of the day was Malcolm McDowell, star of A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek: Generations, Time After Time, and now appears on Heroes. He is a charming man, very gracious and subdued, and I wasn’t afraid to admit I’d dressed as Alex for Halloween when I was in high school. Picture was taken.
Toys were around the con. I talked with Phil Nannay at Applehead Factory, who produces the Teddy Scares line of dolls, a toy line that I think it pretty neat.
One of the Applehead guys and I talked at NYCC two years ago and I like keeping up with what’s going on with the company. They’re pursuing a new zombie license to go with their new Vegan Zombie line (which looks hella cool, but was not in attendance for me to snap a photo). They did, however, have the 8″ Ned Kelly bear, which was an exclusive sold on a historic Pennsylvania prison’s Halloween tour.
Teddy Scares!
Sadly, there were other toys.
Belt buckles! Not the most conspicuous of items, at all. And I’m sure that when you’re getting down to it with a lady and she sees your 3-inch, blocky Darth Maul buckle, you’re in for a night of fun and games. Alone, with your XBox.
Oh, and there was this thing. I have no idea what it is, but it’s Star Wars, so it’s attractive to the aforementioned large guys with fanny packs. It might be a laundry hamper, but I’ll be damned if I can say that positively. But it’s Star Wars! Buy buy buy!
On the other side of the fence, there was this display of Heath Ledger shirts. The best Dark Knight shirt I’ve seen so far, and there was a wall of them!
Pictured are Lindsay Kraemer and Stephanie O’Donnell who were both panelists at the “Women in Comics” panel. The CAG hooks artists up with writers, editors with writers, artists with publishers, and all manner of combinations thereof. Good deal, I think I might be joining them for the $25 fee! Go CAG!
New York is called the Big Apple, mostly because in the early part of its existence the entire island was overgrown with one giant apple tree known as “Milbojog,” a Dutch word meaning “the killer apple tree.” It’s a totally cool story, and I’ll be sure to tell you more about it once I make some more of it up.
The Big Apple is also the name of the New York City comic convention, now held twice a year (down from 5 of previous years). And I, being a servant of the comic people, decided to report on this event for Wizard (at length, so feel free to read some and come back later). Now, I’m not much of a reporter, I’m more of a snarky jackass, but with everything there’s an upside and a downside and I shall try to be fair and balanced.
As much as I can.
The Big Apple Con is not big, despite the name. It’s three floors in Penn Plaza and the main floor is a tightly-squeezed combination of comic and toy dealers, DVD bootleggers, artists, celebrities, and only the occasional costume. Yeah, usually there are about 4 slave Leias, nine Jokers, and more anime characters than you can shake a fur-covered stick at, but since this was a dealer’s con, not many outfits.
Still there were a few.
I thought that Sora (from the Nightmare Before Christmas level of Kingdom Hearts) was a clever costume, especially since my girlfriend Katie and I just beat the first Kingdom Hearts game. Clap clap clap, I applaud.
Then there was Snake Eyes who didn’t get the memo that you’re supposed to leave your books in your locker before going out on a mission.
Oh, and then there was fanny pack Venom. Just like the real Venom, except needs to keep his change and maybe his insulin close by.
In fact, it was kind of like the costumes were an afterthought. The con attendees weren’t the cute fanboys and girls who bop around bigger cons, these were mostly large (in girth) dudes who were more than happy to yell at creators for art choices they didn’t like. Even the Stormtrooper costumes were kept to a minimum.
So if you’re in the city this weekend, check out the Big Apple Comic Con. Lotsa guests, lotsa dealers, lotsa signings and lotsa me, Ethan Kaye, liveblogging from the convention floor. Yep, I’ll be there to pick up on the weird and the wonderful from Penn Plaza and buying Moon Knight back issues (I’m only missing like 3 from the original series!).
And if you’re there and you see me taking pictures of B Sharp’s Funny Foam, or the lone dealer trying to unload cell phone batteries, come up and say hi! If nothing’s really happening at the con, I’ll probably blog about meeting you!
I have a few odds and ends from the post-Con afterglow. Yeah, it’s four days later, and thankfully my memory of people poured like chunky potato salad into Snowtrooper uniforms has subsided, but there’s something to be said.
About women.
Yes, there were ladies at the Con. There was also this gentleman, who had plastic tubing emerging from his fly:
But he’s not the one I’m talking about here. I’m talking about women in skimpy costumes, proving again and again that comics are drawn by men. I’m talking about the sense of shame not visiting the Javits Center that weekend.
And golly, if that’s what America is all about, then slap a flag on me and call me Uncle Sam.
We ran into Mystique near the back of the convention center. I’ve always been a fan of blue women, so the picture was taken. This was to be my nerdwife.
Yet, while my heart was captured by Girl-Playing-Mystique, my attention was captured by an improv show called “Star Trekkin’”. Being an improviser myself, with about 5 years of performance under my belt, I stuck around for the show. It was…well, what you’d expect from an improv show revolving around non-continuity Star Trek.
But alas! There was a cast member in red!
Enter nerdwife #2! Sigh. I fall in love too quickly.
So what’s an upwardly mobile blogger like myself to do? The girl in blue or the girl in red? Well, I couldn’t make up my mind. So I went with the mutant in green.
He never lets you down.
Oh, and speaking of letting down, here’s day three of the New York Times booth.
This is by Antonio Clark, an up-and-coming artist who’s more than friendly and more than fast at drawing.
This is by his art partner Shawn Alleyne. Both of them are incredibly nice guys with the best attitude I think I’ve ever come across. I hope we see more of these guys soon.
This one’s by Daniel Bradford. It’s a different take on the character, but he was so happy to do something that wasn’t “Iron Man on drugs” or something dumb, and the piece turned out really nice. Next year, I’m saving up cash and getting a ton of these done.
Sorry about the title of the last blog, I was going to include the “Grillz” candy in it, but got distracted by something, probably this:
Anyway, here are the Grillz candy
It’s like wax lips, but it has fake teeth which you can put in front of yours! I didn’t buy any because I thought it was a stupid idea! Exclamation points because I’m trying to point out how dumb these are! Hella dumb!!!!
!!!!!!
I ran into Wonderbread He-Man at the Mattel booth.
Wonderbread He-Man, for those who don’t know (which is more than those who do), was a He-Man variant that no one knows where it came from. There are a bunch of them out there in collectors’ hands, but Mattel has no records of producing one or distributing one. It’s become a hot collectors item with an air of mystery around it, and he got his own shelf at the Mattel booth. I also did a really good article about him in a previous issue of ToyFare. Now, today, I met the figure.
Plus I bought a bunch of back issues and I’m not looking forward to standing in line for the ATM.
It’s day three of the Con! I’ve survived assaults from greasy chicken fingers, overzealous people handing out flyers, and those guys with huge backpacks that take up the entire aisle in the dealer’s back issues!
One of my favorite things is where people put a lot of seriousness behind an idea that’s supposed to be fun and light. Fr’instance, the Duncan yo-yo booth. Yo-yos are as old as the hills, and their presence at the con is kind of reassuring - the old ways are still viable. However, they released a DVD, How To Be A Player:
this, of course, should not be confused with the Bill Bellamy movie of the same name:
I don’t think that the name and gravitas of the cover properly frames the product: a guide to doing yo-yo tricks. Yo-yos have their time and place, but are they meant to be this intimidating? No. There really is no way to make yo-yos badass, I mean, just look at the name. There may be a chance if you get rappers to start playing yo-yos (I mean, dominoes are still hip), but you are dealing with the stigma of many years of being endorsed by Tommy Smothers before you get that baaaaadasssss status.
