San Diego Comic-Con: Part 1 – Intro and Art

As you may have gathered from all the SDCC related messages on WCBR’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, I was lucky enough to attend all four days of the San Diego Comic-Con. It takes place yearly right in my backyard, but this was my first time attending (and it was only my second convention ever–the first being ECCC ’11 earlier this year.

Overall Impressions: “Overwhelming” is the first adjective that comes to mind. Unlike ECCC, which–although quite large–maintains a very relaxed and genial atmosphere, SDCC felt extremely impersonal (with some exceptions, which we’ll talk about) and quite difficult to navigate both physically and cognitively. Was it fun? Absolutely! But it was also extraordinarily draining in a way that ECCC was not. ECCC was pure recreation and joy for me; SDCC made me work for the fun.

Emerald City Comic Con: Day 3 report

After staying up far too late the night before (albiet having an awesome time while doing it), dragging myself out of bed was not the easiest thing this morning.

Then it hit me: oh yeah! I’m at EMERALD CITY COMIC CON! That realization was better than a cup of coffee, so I was out the door, checked out of the hotel, and ready for day three in a flash.

This was easily my personal favorite day of the con. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Saturday, and I wasn’t feeling the sense of overwhelmed lost-ness that I had been on Friday. It was a nice, low-key day comprised mostly of buying things I had had my eye on, talking to Kirby Krackle, Adam WarRock and the H2Awesome guys, and finally–after two days!–starting to understand why Artist’s Alley is such a sacred and integral part of any con. The largest portion of my day was spent browsing sketchbooks and artwork and just generally being blown away by the fact that all this talent was under a single roof.

I also bought–over my wallet’s protests–my very first piece of original comic book art! It’s a page from the wonderful mini series Captain America: Man Out of Time (which I review, by the way.) The artist, Karl Kesel, had tons of wonderful pages for sale–including some awesome stuff at more than reasonable prices–but when I saw this piece, I knew instantly that I had to own it. Not only is it one of my favorite scenes in the series (so far), it has beautiful drawings of Iron Man and Captain America–easily my two favorite Marvel characters. Wroth every penny:

Next, it was off to visit the guys who had entertained me so much at the concert the night before. Kirby Krackle was, as always, a blast to talk to, and Kyle Stevens (lead singer) helpfully pointed me in the direction of Adam WarRock and H2Awesome.

Adam, sadly, was out of CDs (ordering one is the next thing I do after finishing this report!) but it nice to be able to shake his hand and thank him for the show. I was smart enough to have bought H2Awesome’s CD the night before, though, so that I had in hand. Only problem: the cover was empty! No CD should have an empty cover! Fortunately, Charlie LaGreca, lead singer (and noseflute player extraordinare) came to the rescue!

“What would you like the CD to be titled?” he asked me.

I was a bit taken aback–since when do fans get to pick their own name for a CD? “I dunno,” I answered. “I think my favorite song you do is ‘Avatard’…so I guess I’d call it Avatard.”

That was all he needed to hear. 30 minutes later, I had a beautiful pencil and watercolor piece for my CD:

Better than some corporate-approved, computer-generated image any day of the week!

Sitting right next to the band was an exceptional artist named Hamza Pecenkovic. Now, I’m a huge fan of the Bat-family, so you can imagine how I reacted to this piece he had on display:

Yeah, that needed to be mine. And now it is. 😀 He also threw in a lovely sketch of Batwoman with the purchase, which I stupidly forgot to get a photo of, but trust me: it’s nice.

On my way to the Sunday Morning Conversation with DC, something catches my eye in a display. Is…is that what I think it is?

Emerald City Comic Con Report: Day 2 (part II)

Phew! I’m actually in the airport waiting for the flight home, so I thought I’d kill time by finishing my day 2 report! (Day 3 should be coming later tonight or, depending on how exhausted I am, and how much I need to prep for Monday, tomorrow.)

So! When we last left the intrepid SoldierHawk, she had survived a marathon of panels, reported a few cool tidbits of info, and saw some pretty cool creators. In addition to creators, there were more awesome costumes to be seen:

And my personal favorite, Halo Dude playing Halo:

I also stopped by the Comic Geek Speak booth again, because I was in complete fangirl mode when I initially met them yesterday, and had completely forgotten to get a picture:

Seeing the faces behind the voices I know so well was really a treat. I’ve discovered that that really is one of the most wonderful things about this convention for me as a whole: finally getting to put faces and voices to people whose work I’ve loved and admired for so long. Creating comics isn’t like acting, where everyone instantly knows you. It’s not even like writing a book, where you get an author photo somewhere on the cover or flap. Unless you’re an absolute superstar, it’s likely that not many people could pick you out of a lineup. (And frankly, I’m new enough to the medium that I didn’t even recognize all the superstars on sight. Matt Fraction looks completely different than I imagined, and I nearly walked right his booth–and would have, if I hadn’t seen his sign!)

After the con was closed for the night (or more accurately, a little before, so I could grab dinner first) it was off to the Hard Rock Cafe for KRACKLEFEST!!!!!

Emerald City Comic Con Report: Day 2 (part I)

Forgive me if this wrap up doesn’t always seem 100% coherent…it’s almost one in the morning, and it has been a very long–but very, very epic–day.

First thing I come across when I hit the con floor is an amazing, unbelievable piece of comic history:

That, friends and neighbors, is an original copy of Avengers #1, from 1963. Not only is it in Very Fine condition…it’s signed by BOTH Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Sells for a cool $1200. (Which, all things considered, doesn’t actually seem unreasonable.) I’m just honored I got to hold it for a few minutes!

Next, it’s off to grab an autograph from Max Brooks (of Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z fame) before the marathon of panels begins. While in line for Mr. Brooks, I meet a gentleman, James Ward, and his son. James goes by the stage name Jimmy D in his work as a comedian, and is an extremely cool guy. He and his son are huge Star Wars fans, and made final plans to attend the con when they heard that the 501st Legion (see yesterday’s post) were going to be here:

After getting my copy of World War Z (a highly imaginative and well-researched book, by the way; I very much recommend it) signed, it’s off to panels. But I’m sidetracked on my way out…who would say no to these faces?

These are members of an extra curricular cartooning class that meets after school, and is comprised of kids from two local (Seattle) middle schools–Madison and Aki Kurose. These students learn some of the fundamentals of drawing and discipline, and spend part of their class putting together a one-shot giveaway comic book to take to cons and shows. I picked one up of course (along with a donation to the program.) I even got mine autographed! 😀

I gotta say…I LOVED meeting Greg Rucka and getting his autograph. Brubaker? Amazing. Matt Fracton and Ron Marz? Incredible. But this might be the single most special set of autographs I get all con. These kids are very much the future of the industry and hobby we love so much. Not that all of them, or any of them necessarily, will grow up to become comic creators…but through this kind of class, they’ll at least come to understand the value of the medium, and have a much better chance of not dismissing comic books out of hand as an artistic medium as they grow up. You go, kids!

NOW it’s panel time. First stop: Vertigo! They had the misfortune of being scheduled opposite Max Brooks’ zombie survival panel (and honestly, that’s where I would have been too, had I not been covering the major companies for this site) so the room was rather sparse. Still, everyone involved was enthusiastic and clearly happy to be there. Major takeaways from Vertigo:

– The new arc of Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth will be called “Endangered Species.” It involves Gus and company finding a sanctuary where it may be possible for them to settle down in safety. The group is split between those who want to stay, and those who want to continue with their quest Northward.

-House of Mystery #36 hits next month, and will be an excellent jumping on point for new readers. (It’s set to contain some newbie-friendly recap pages.)

– Jack of Fables #50 hits next month. It will be entirely comprised of splash pages. Sturges says that, “many characters will fight, few will survive, but we promise not to kill off EVERYONE.”

– Babe the Blue Ox one-shot is coming out later this year

– Don’t hold your breath for Daytripper hardcover editions. No plans for them as of now.

– When asked about the reason for Vertigo’s success as a brand, Will Nesh cited the early precedent set by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, as well as the strong and consistent guidance of Karen Berger. Vertigo tries to tell mature, intelligent stories, they don’t simply try to shock or titillate and call that “mature.”

– Jeff Lamire’s OGN “Underwater Welder” is still scheduled to come out this summer through Top Shelf

And photos:

Next up, the Top Cow panel, in the same room. I found it hard to contain my excitement as the Beef Barons arrived…I love Top Cow and almost everything they do, as anyone who’s been following my Witchblade/Artifacts reviews already knows!

Emerald City Comic Con: Day 1 Report

Going into this assignment, I was excited (obviously!), but also a tiny bit nervous. I’ve never been to a con before and–although I felt I knew something of what to expect thanks to all the reports I’ve heard and read for other con goers (especially the Comic Geek Speak podcast), I still wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Just how crowded would it be? Was there any chance of actually getting a seat for the panels I wanted?

Some of these questions and concerns remain unanswered after today, but quite a few were laid to rest as well. While it’s my understanding that Saturday will probably be much more crowded, Friday was actually a lot more sparse than I was expecting. Definitely not in a nobody’s-here kind of way, just in an I-wasn’t-expecting to-get-through-the-aisles-easily kind of way. It was just the right amount of people, actually, and it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I had feared.

Since ECCC didn’t start until 2pm today, I had the morning to do some sightseeing around the con’s lovely host city. This included a trip to the Space Needle (of course), and the Sci-Fi Museum/Experience Music Project. An odd combo to be sure, and the Sci-Fi museum was under renovation except for a small Battlestar Galactica exhibit, but it was a good time all the same. They also have the single best sign for any museum I’ve ever seen:

Then, finally, it was time for the con itself. In spite of printing out the wrong part of the confirmation email, and thus having to run 10 blocks back to my hotel to print out the attached PDF file I was supposed to have, I did finally get my badge and get in the queue to enter. Immediately, I made a beeline for the booth of one of my heroes, Greg Rucka. While beaming in what must have been an incredibly foolish manner, I got him to sign my Batwoman trade, along with a copy of his latest novel, The Last Run (spoiler: it’s really, really good.)

Fangirl needs assuaged, it was time to explore the rest of the con floor…and be completely and utterly overwhelmed by the size. Rookie that I am, I made the mistake of not having a plan. I knew, generally speaking, who it was and what it was I wanted to see…but no route in mind, and no clue where they were in relation to each other. The solution? Wander aimlessly!

Lucky for me, I wandered directly into Matt Fraction! And wouldn’t you know it, my tpb of his Eisner winning Invincible Iron Man is in my backpack. Autograph please!