Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 6 (Saturday, 7/20)

Let's look at pictures from Saturday at Comic-Con!

I got to the convention center on Saturday morning at around the same time I did on Friday, and lo and behold, I pulled up right next to this giant truck-bed robot. Hey there, work buddy.

Who was in charge of obscuring the Comic-Con logo? Now the escalator shot is ruined!!

My first order of business on Saturday was to get in line for limited drawings. I wanted to see the Thomas Lennon panel in the Horton Grand Theatre later in the afternoon, so I took my spot in the way, way back, as usual. But I ended up getting tickets with no problem after a little bit of a wait.

Rogue was in a hurry to get in line.

Are we sure this isn't the actual actor from Deadpool 2?

Spider-Punk. Fight the power.

I enjoy both this Orko puppet as well as the emotionless stare from the puppeteer.

Conan...the Bavarian.

What I'm saying is, a lot of people in costume walked by the booth on Saturday.

This is a MEGO Batman, yes?

Here's a guy who had his entire arm covered by Steeler greats. As far as tattoos go, this is a good choice.

I met up with Patric Verrone of Futurama and Disenchantment fame! The second season of Disenchantment is now on Netflix, and I am absolutely loving it.

Okay. This is a seriously fantastic Shepherd Book outfit. Kudos to this guy.

There's something for everyone at Comic-Con.

Not for nothing, but Beaker put a lot more work into his costume for the show.

I went outside for a bit (probably for the Taco Truck) and saw the Game of Thrones group picture setup.

I'm convinced that these are video game characters!

These fine folks were one of several who dressed up as Disenchantment characters on this day. Good on 'em for getting the whole group.

Kyle Rayner is the best Green Lantern! This is a fact.

Look at these! These are great Skeletor and She-Ra costumes.

I saw a group of Batmen as I hung out at the New England Comics booth. Apparently I decided to get all of their pictures individually. Here's Batman Beyond!

Movie Batman!

Marionette Batman! Or is this supposed to be Bat-Mite?

Catwoman!

Oh, and here's a bejeweled Stormtrooper.

Mixed media!

A Terrifics-era Plastic Man!

Fiona and Cake!

By the Power of Grayskull!

As the afternoon was winding down, I went outside and walked to the Horton for the ticketed panel. We all float at Comic-Con.

Lastly, here's a crossover that would be fun to see. There are more pictures from Saturday to come!

The big Futurama post, filled with good news (everyone)

Hey there, meatbags, it's time to take a look at some Futurama-related items from the past few months. I will forever have the softest of soft spots in my heart for Futurama, the Fox-turned-Comedy Central sci-fi/comedy cartoon that has meant so much to me since it first launched back in 1999. I've had some fun and interesting moments surrounding the show both in and around Comic-Con, and well, I guess this is the place to talk about it.

I suppose I'll start off with the biggest item on the list. When I was at Comic-Con in July, I purchased some original animated art from the show, as seen above, from the episode "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television". I had hoped to get it signed by co-creator Matt Groening at his Bongo Comics booth appearance, but I wasn't able to get one of the randomly-distributed tickets when they were handed out.

As I was leaving the booth, I ran into Futurama writer and producer Patric Verrone, and we had a nice conversation. Quite unintentionally, I had bought some eBay items from Verrone a few weeks earlier, and it was an incredible coincidence that not only did I unknowingly make those purchases and exchange a few messages with him after seeing his name on the return address label, but we also just happened to be in a similar space at a convention with over 100,000 people.

I'm leaving some details out of the recollection, but the short of it is that Verrone took my animation art and not only got it signed by Groening, but also co-creator David X. Cohen and voice of Bender, John DiMaggio (Verrone signed it, too!). Needless to say, I was pretty stunned that this all happened, and I'm naturally pretty grateful to all involved, but mostly to Patric Verrone for the incredibly kind gesture. I love that the signatures are personalized, and oh my goodness, check out the original Matt Groening Bender doodle! How unbelievable is that?

After speaking with Verrone, I learned that he, Groening, Cohen, DiMaggio and many other Futurama alumni are creating a new cartoon for Netflix titled "Disenchantment", which will air in 2018. I can't wait to watch it, and I continue to hold out hope for a Futurama revival before too long.

Now let's look at some Futurama related pictures from Comic-Con!

Here's me with Patric Verrone after we met at the Bongo Comics booth. I keep pitching ideas to Bongo for their Simpsons-related comic book titles, but haven't had any luck so far. Maybe some day.

That's Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening in the yellow shirt, arriving at the Bongo booth for his signing.

Near the end of the day on Saturday, I got a picture with Phil LaMarr, voice of Hermes and a number of other characters on the show.

There were a few Futurama-themed costumes at the show, including this Leela...

...and this Bender.

In other news, I finally managed to find and buy some Futurama Comics original artwork! This series was published in print form by Bongo Comics until very recently. Like a few of their series, Futurama Comics moved to a digital-only platform in the past year.

This artwork is by Tone Rodriguez, who shares a last name with Bender - maybe they're related. I'm a big fan of Rodriguez's work...even his 'on model' stuff has his signature style. He's my favorite Bongo artist because he always brings a touch of Kirby to his work. 

I bought five pages in total - kind of. The art you see here is for a five-page short story, as per the description from the seller of the pages. Pages 1-2 and 3-4 are drawn side-by-side on the same pages, so these five pages are drawn on a total of...three pages. If that makes any sense.

Most Futurama Comics stories are contained to a single issue, and they're all drawn in the same basic style, so they tend to blend together after a while and 80+ issues. As such, I'm still trying to figure out exactly where this story saw print. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Check out that sound effect!

I've written a few more Futurama-themed recipes for the "Eats Like A Duck" food blog, including one for these Futurama sugar cookies! I made the above cookies recently and they turned out really well.

Lastly, Futurama kind-of-sort-of returned as a Nerdist podcast double episode with the entire cast and some of the writing staff in September. Have a listen! 

Pictures from the 2017 Comic-Con International, part 5: Saturday, 7/22

Here are some pictures from Saturday at Comic-Con! This was another big day, as Saturdays tend to be.

The day started out at the New England Comics booth, where Ian Nichols and I signed some books and waited for the big guns to arrive. Other people hung around, including the Mad Bomber What Bombs at Midnight, which is such a cool costume that I can barely wrap my head around it...

Not too long after the hall opened, Ben Edlund and Griffin Newman came to sign at the booth. Ian and I got a quick picture with Ben before clearing out. This was such a big weekend for The Tick, and I'm glad that I got to see Ben briefly to tell him how excited I was for everything.

A few other Tick luminaries came to the booth around this time, like the wonderful Yara Martinez, "Ms. Lint" on the show. Ms. Lint steals every scene she's in. What a fantastic character.

I also had a chance to chat for a few moments with Michael Cerveris, who plays Ramses IV!

There was a nice crowd at the booth, so eventually I headed elsewhere and saw some more great costumes. Here's Wonder Woman with Etta Candy!

I wonder how Hela managed to fit through doorways with that headpiece on. This was a really impressive costume.

Samurai Iron Man and regular Shredder, who I guess is also a samurai.

Here's movie Thor and Loki!

I spent some time at the Bongo booth tying to talk to some people there when I ran into Patric Verrone, writer and producer on my favorite show of all time, Futurama! I had talked with him a few times before, but this was the first time I was able to meet him in person. He had just bought some original Dr. Seuss artwork(!). At the end of our conversation, Patric did me a gigantic favor, which I'll write about soon.

Stormtrumpers. All right.

It wouldn't be Comic-Con without at least one really monstrous costume. Hulkbuster Iron Man always attracts a crowd.

This absolutely wins "best group costume" for me. Krang is the icing on the cake.

Here's original Gamora, complete with weird skull codpiece.

I'm always impressed at anyone who can make Leela's giant eye work.

Soon after seeing Leela, Phil Lamarr, who voiced Hermes on Futurama, walked by. I was able to leap over the table (almost) and grab a picture with him.

The show ended for the day soon after, and it was off to Petco Park for a special Rick and Morty screening.

Everything about this Summer Smith costume is incredible. She got a picture with the voice actor who plays the character later on this evening.

I waited in line for a long, long time to get into the stadium. The Rickmobile had closed down and Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland were addressing the crowd. They screened the first episode of the third season this night to a boisterous crowd.

These inflatables, positioned in the "park" section of the ballpark, were bigger than the picture seems to indicate.

Inflatable Morty was getting pulled away by a tentacle monster. People soon used them to sit on.

Afterwards, it was time to walk back across the bridge to the convention center parking lot. A nice opportunity for a panoramic night shot of the convention center and surrounding area.

I don't know why I get one of these every year - the convention center looks exactly the same - but I do.

And here's the other angle, back toward Petco Park.

This movie Batman had a light-up costume. Cool.

One more day to go for Comic-Con. I'll post again soon!