Pictures from the 2012 Comic-Con, part 5

Here we are again with another batch of great pictures from this year's Comic-Con International!  All of these pictures come from Friday, which might have been the busiest day of the convention, sales-wise.  Saturday was big as always and Sunday brought on a number of surprise impulse buys, but Friday stood out and exceeded my expectations.  Let's look at some pictures!

On Friday morning, my wife and I got up at 6:00 in the morning and made our way to the exhibit hall to wait in line for the highly-anticipated Firefly panel, which kicked off at 12:30.  Little did we realize that people camped out the night before for a chance to see it, and that everyone in the world was dead set on getting into the convention hall.  This picture is a shot from our place in line - and you can see the dozens of people trailing in behind us.  There were easily 7,000 people waiting in a line that stretched from the convention all the way down to and along the water.

We waited in line until 12:30, but we ended up a few hundred people from getting into the convention hall.  For the many great things that the people behind Comic-Con do, they could learn a few lessons from the Firefly and a few other panels.  Namely, they could anticipate the popularity of their panels a little better than they actually did, and more importantly, they need to clear the halls between panels.

There were two panels before Firefly, but fans of those programs had no shot of seeing them.  Firefly fans filled the room as soon as it opened and waited through earlier panels until 12:30 rolled around.  I'm not going to throw any stones, because I would have done the same thing.  But clearing the halls - and I realize that the time it would take to do so would be lengthy - would give others a better chance of seeing a panel they were excited to see, and it would keep fans from having to line up in excess of 12 hours in advance to see a program.

There!  That's my rant.  Dammit, I wanted to see the cast so badly.

This costume cheered me up a little.

Despite the low-riding pants, Aquaman didn't make it into the panel, and neither did texting Blackest Night Wonder Woman.

This hench is taking a break from...you know...henching.

This guy had a spot-on Adam West Batman costume.  The pit stains were part of the costume and a very nice touch.

Check out Dr. Killinger's magic murder bag and trailing oni!  I didn't spot too many Venture Bros. costumes at the show this year, but those I did see were pretty great.

Mattel really went all out with He-Man promos and merchandise for the 30th anniversary of the line.  This She-Ra was pretty convincing.

Thanks to some timely ticket grabbing by Larry, I got to meet the Hoff!  David Hasselhoff was there promoting the Knight Rider anniversary, and he seemed to be having a great time.  I asked the guy behind me in line to take my picture with Hasselhoff, who posed with me and everything.  But then, instead of snapping the picture, the guy turned the camera off.  So this was the best I got.  But it was pretty neat anyway.

Here's Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  His line was hours long all day as he was sketching, but I managed to sneak a quick autograph while he was taking a break.  The turtles influenced my childhood so greatly...I guess I still like 'em today, too.

I wonder if he had to have each individual arrow inspected when he came in the door?

Girl Loki and...someone else.

You never see many good Star Trek costumes at conventions anymore.  Thank goodness for this guy.

Look at that Captain America costume!  Such detail!

And speaking of Star Trek, here's LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner!  Wait, $30 for an autograph?  Wow.  Cool to see these guys, though, and they certainly drew a crowd.

Another great Venture Bros. costume.  The VB panel was this day, and I hear that it was a good time.

This guy gives Danny Devito a run for his money.  The mask is really nice.

Ah!  The three-boobed lady from the new Total Recall.  As I said before, I won't be going to see the remake, but I was nevertheless impressed by the booth at Comic-Con.  This lady was quite the spectacle.

Geez oh whiz.

Nickelodeon had a huge TMNT display.  I posed with it several times.

Duct tape Bender!

I was lucky enough to be in the area of the New England Comics booth when Ben Edlund showed up. And when Edlund showed up, the Tick and Arthur (attendees, not people associated with the booth, by the way) weren't far behind!  These guys pulled off the TV show look quite well.

Hawkman goes shopping.

Robin...with Joey from FRIENDS seemingly photobombing.

Outside of the convention hall had plenty to offer as well.  Every single movie Batmobile was on display and all of them were impressive - even the one from the Clooney disaster of a movie.  Check 'em out!

Nearby, as the sun set, we caught a little bit of "Extra at Comic-Con".  On Saturday night, the Bacon Brothers played a set.  This night, I listened to Kevin Smith as he interviewed Bruce Timm of Batman: the Animated Series fame!

Someone had the job of painting this van.

San Diego was picturesque the entire time we were there.  The city is as beautiful as I remembered.

There are still many more pictures to come!  Because you haven't seen enough already.  You haven't!!

So...what's next?

It's about time for me to start thinking about the upcoming convention season.  Actually, it's past time for that, but what can I say...my decisions need some time to properly...age?  Like cheese?  Maybe I'm not on top of my metaphor game today.  Oh well.

In any case, as conventions are not only the lifeblood of a small press publisher like Wagon Wheel Comics but are also a lot of fun, I'm going to try to make it to at least two convetions this season.  There are a lot of options, especially on the east coast, so I'm trying to weigh each one and figure out which would be best.  As much fun as the New York Comic Con was in 2010, it was unbelievably expensive and logistically challenging.  I also think I'll skip out on the Pittsburgh Comicon this April as I might not have enough new material out by that time...and I have no intention to exhibit coninuously with just the same old stuff as before (not that there's anything wrong with the old stuff...I just want to give people something new to check out besides my face, aged one year since the last time they saw it).

I'm looking for suggestions - can anyone out there on the Internet(s) suggest a good show at which to present?  I think that maybe I'd prefer to keep it to the mid-range shows this year, and stay on the easern side of North America if at all possible.  That's not to say that if the right opportunity came along that met neither of those criteria I wouldn't jump at it.  I would, I would.

Some shows I'm thinking about as possibilities:

Baltimore Comic-Con (August 20-21) - I've actually applied to this show already (shock!) and, as the folks over there have found it in their hearts to cash my check, I'm going to say that there's a fair chance that this will happen.  I hear lots of good things about this show, especially in regards to the small press guys, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Motor City Comic Con (May 13-15) - I'm on the fence about this show.  The application fee is very reasonable, the dates would work well with the Baltimore show (it'd be nice to space out these appearances a little over the summer, and the Baltimore con takes place in August), and I have lots of good memories of Detroit from the Steeler victory in Super Bowl XL.  I worry, though, that this might be too small of a show - that I wouldn't stand a chance of making up any of my expenses over this weekend.  Money certainly isn't everything when it comes to conventions, at least not to me, anyway, but it has to be considered.

FanExpo Canada (August 25-28) - I would honestly LOVE to go to this show, but the dates make it pretty difficult.  I'd have to wrap up in Baltimore on Sunday and be in Toronto, ready to go, on Thursday.  I'm not saying it'd be impossible and I would like to go to this show one day (it's a fairly big show - number three or four in North America)...I just don't know if THIS year would work out.

Mid-Ohio Con (October 22-23) - The Mid-Ohio Con, located in Columbus, was actually recently purchased by the Wizard World circuit, and I really don't know if that makes this show more or less enticing to go to.  On one hand, and despite the fact that Wizard recently announced that it would stop publishing the magazine, the name does have some clout in a "you know what to expect" kind of way.  On the other, Wizard Worlds seem to cater more and more to fans of tv shows and movies than to those of comics.  Of course, yes, I would like to get to meet Adam West some day.  I suppose that all of this would be true for Wizard World Philadelphia (July 17-19).

So - what does everybody (anybody?) think?  Are any of these shows more worth it than others?  Anyone with a different con to suggest?  There are lots more - Dragon Con, Emerald City Comic Con, APE...plenty to choose from, but I'm looking for two or three.

Help me out.