Pictures from the 2016 Comic-Con International, part 4: Friday (Tick 30th anniversary panel, Rotten Tomatoes, Star Trek art exhibit and more!)

Thursday at Comic-Con was a big long day, so I didn't have too much planned for Friday. Of course this means that Friday ended up being one of the best days at the convention for me. Let's look at a few pictures!

I was lucky enough to get to share a space with Jennie Wood at the show. Jennie is a very talented author and I'm continually surprised at just how many people seek her out at Comic-Con. Flutter was a big hit once again. We'll have some news on the third volume soon!

I managed to snag a ticket to a Nichelle Nichols signing early on in the day (which was great). While in line, I had a nice conversation with actress Kate Comer, who has had roles in Veep, The Office, and a few other things. She made it easy to root for her career, and I hope her star blows up any day now. I'm...probably basing a Honcho character off of her.

Whoever marketed this inflatable raptor idea is a genius, and almost certainly very rich.

On Friday, I gave out my first Tick Sandwich Edition issue! This gentleman kindly obliged in having his picture taken with the issue. I'm very happy with it, and everyone else at the booth was kind of confused.

Despite the name tag overhead, this is not Neal Adams.

Here's another Spaceballs costume! I noticed a few from that movie this year.

The Tick and Arthur came to visit the NEC booth in the afternoon. They're both great guys who really care about the property (and the guy dressed as The Tick is from Pittsburgh!), and I was able to chat with them for a few minutes. They showed up when Tick creator Ben Edlund arrived in advance of his "Tick: the First 30 Years" panel that was held this day.

The panel was housed in the Horton Grand Theatre, a few blocks from the convention center. I'm not sure why Comic-Con chose this as a ticketed event, but it went over very well. I haven't checked, but if by some miracle this panel was filmed and it made its way online, it's my humble opinion that you (dear reader) should watch it immediately. It was simply humbling to hear about Ben's vision for the new Amazon series and the different stories about the character.

The panel consisted of Edlund, Townsend Coleman (voice of the cartoon Tick), Bob Polio (NEC art director) and Griffin Newman, who plays Arthur on the Amazon series. I was able to watch it with a few others from a room upstairs, which as pretty neat.

The panel had a few video clips interspersed throughout, from the cartoon and the 2001 live action series (we also got to see some of the first images from the Amazon series). Much to my delight, Ben also showed some footage, nearly lost and never aired, of The Tick's puppet theater, originally planned for the end credits on the final season of the Fox Kids cartoon.

Getting to see this panel really got me excited about the new show and about the characters in general. I hope that the show opens up a few more opportunities to put new issues of The Tick out there.

Ben and Griffin had signings at the NEC booth the rest of the weekend. I introduced Griffin to the Taco Truck.

I kind of felt like my day was over at the end of the panel, so I mostly wandered for the rest of the show day. I did see some good costumes, though.

The kid's face is pretty good in this one.

After the show ended for the day, it was time for the Rotten Tomatoes: Your Opinion Sucks! panel. I had copies of the poster to hand out and felt like I was a little part of the panel, which was fun. Grae Drake and Matt Atchity are great people and they put up with my fanboy attention every year. And Grae's costumes are worth showing up for by themselves.

This year's panel was in a much bigger room than in years prior. It's great to see this getting more attention and getting bigger.

This is the second year that I've run into Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman at Comic-Con. I guess he likes the show! He was at the Rotten Tomatoes panel and was kind enough to take a picture with me.

After the hall cleared out, I was able to get a picture with Matt and Grae.

It was 8:00 when we left the convention hall, and I was feeling it from the past couple of very long days, so we didn't do too much more this evening. I had wanted to see the "Star Trek: 50 Artists 50 Years" offsite event, but it was supposed to be closed by this time of the night. Luckily for me, the folks running the gallery apparently didn't feel like closing up, so I got to walk through and see all of the (honestly stunning) pieces in the offsite gallery.

It's hard to pick a favorite piece from the exhibit, but this cereal box might just be it.

I managed to get some sleep this night so I could get back to it on Saturday. I'll post those pictures soon!

The surprising social conscience of Teen Titans #30

A few months ago, I was rifling through some dollar boxes, picking up some flashy '90s books (Silver Surfer #50) and some silly late-80s books (an issue of TMNT) when I came across a couple early issues of Teen Titans, both from 1970 and both in not-terrible-but-not-great shape.  I'm not a big fan of the Teen Titans in any of their iterations (well, maybe Young Justice if that even counts), but some classic stories for only a buck proved to be too good to pass up.  I expected to read cramped, dated, superhero fare, but what I got was actually a bit of a surprise.  The Teen Titans of 1970 read very much like the famous Denny O'Neal/Neal Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow run in that there was quite a bit of social conscience on display.

One of the starkest concepts on display in the book was the decision to keep all of the characters out of costume for the entire time; apparently, the Titans had previously lost control of a riot in which a man was killed, so they decided to stop being superheroes, foregoing their costumes and refusing to use their powers until they learned more about their role in the human experience.  This was an interesting idea, though it made it really difficult to tell who the characters were in the book.  Which one was Wally West and which was Dick Grayson?  Who could tell?  The character might have taken their vows a little too seriously, though, such as in the following scene, when Wally West - Kid Flash! - watches a guy get hit by a car.

Okay, I mean, I guess he yelled at the guy to watch out.  But when you've got super speed and let a guy get creamed in the middle of the street on, what, principle?  Then you just might be a jerk.

Later on in the issue, the book proves that even after 40 years, people are still generally terrible as this guy recites a line that I've heard...once or twice before...in response to the Titans trying to raise some money for a charity that helps rehabilitate former criminals:

The hits kept coming, as the book moved on to more social causes, this one even more reminiscent of the O'Neal/Adams collaboration:

To be honest, the story came across a bit heavy handed.  Obviously, I understand that the times might have called for frank storytelling like this, at a time when the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, but it did seem a bit like the creators were checking items off a list.  But even so, it was fairly stunning to see such a socially progressive message in a book like this.  Just to make sure they didn't miss anything, the book later responded to an eye-rolling moment at the beginning of the story where the guys of the team told the girls to stay back while they engaged a group of thugs; Wonder Girl and...uh, whoever the other one is...thoroughly mangle a couple would-be assassins thusly:

Overall, this was an interesting look into the history of not only comics but also the socially progressive movement of the late '60s and early '70s.  If nothing else, it's pretty clear that most mainstream comics today would blanche at the thought of putting such controversial material on the shelves and in front of readers.

In other news, the letters page helped me finally learn how to say Dick Giordano's last name!

Interesting stuff!