Pictures from the 2019 New York Comic Con, part 1 (Thursday, 10/3)

So I guess one of my hobbies is taking lots of pictures at comic book conventions. I don't know why I always feel compelled to do so. But it's just one of those things, I guess. I went to the New York Comic Con earlier this month, so let's see some pictures from it!

I think that this is the first year that I went to the show on a Thursday. Since there are always tickets remaining for this day, I expected it to be less crowded than usual. It was decidedly not the case. I arrived around 1:00 to find a meetup of the spider people. Wait who's that on the edge there, to the right?

IT'S SPIDER-MAN 2099, EVERYONE!!

Then it was off to the Javits Center on another gloomy October day. It had just cooled off the day before and felt like fall.

In years past, professionals had a specific entrance they could enter through, but it seems that it was open to everyone this year. Lines were longer than I had expected.

And the inside was pretty crowded.

Look, it's more folks dressed up in Scoops Ahoy costumes from Stranger Things! I considered trying to track down as many as I could find, like I did in San Diego, but...I decided to let it go. It was for the best. There were a lot of them.

This guy knew that he could pull this Mr. T look off. He was correct.

I was able to sneak into the Marvel exclusives line toward the end of the day. This Spider-Man costume was on display, which is apparently used at theme parks? While I waited in line, I was regaled by an incredibly annoying sales pitch from the main stage that talked all about the new live action Marvel productions happening at theme parks. And yet, I did not once see someone in a Thing costume. So I do not care about them.

Legendary FF creator John Byrne made a rare appearance at the IDW booth.

This was an impressive, albeit somewhat unsettling, costume.

It's the Saga crew!

Captain Marvel!

Look at this thing. Just look at it! The Arcade1Up folks have really struck gold with their affordable video game cabinets. I saw a TMNT one the other day and man, I'm tempted to get it. I think I have to get a game room first.

For the last hour of the show, I hung out at the New England Comics booth, which was located in a new spot in the publisher's section on the floor. Ian Nichols was there with the new Tick NYCC special, which I wrote. We signed a few copies before the show closed!

One nice thing that NYCC does is that it keeps artist alley open an hour after the show floor closes. A lot of the artists set up there, though, head out at 7:00, which kind of defeats the purpose. Ah well. I think that the construction happening at the Javits Center is supposed to be done - let me check - ah, hell, not until 2021? Sheesh. One more year, I guess. Wait, the expansion is set to include a one-acre rooftop farm? Huh. That's interesting.

Anyway, I did make my way to artist alley before calling it an evening. And this person challenged me to a game. What's the harm?

I found Supergirl and She-Hulk before I left.

That's it for Thursday. More to come.

Pictures from the 2017 New York Comic Con, part 1 (Friday, 10/6)

The Tick's tour de force continued in October of 2017. After the first six episodes landed on Amazon's streaming service in August, the team prepared for the next batch to arrive in February by setting up at the New York Comic Con, just a few miles away from where the series films most of its scenes. After being dumbfounded at how incredible the Tick setup was at Comic-Con in San Diego, I wondered if there would be any promotion at the next big show in New York. Short answer: there was.

It's hard to compare NYCC to San Diego's Comic-Con, in large part because of the space available for the two shows. SDCC sprawls out over the city, while NYCC is mostly confined to the Javits Center in Manhattan (though there were a few offsite locations and events this year, notably at the New York Public Library). The weather contributes to this; San Diego has sunny July days ripe for outdoor events, while it's tough to judge what the weather will be like in New York in October.

At any rate, The Tick had a large presence on the main show floor with one of the bigger displays of the show. Once again, Amazon stepped up with their promotion of this show. Near the row-100 area of the floor were banners and signage, an area for a lineup and...a full-size "Dangerboat" replica. Naturally, this is the first thing I did upon entering the building on Friday, my first day at the show.

The line took about 45 minutes to get through, and as I was approaching the front, I started to notice some of the people just ahead, behind the exhibit ropes. I lucked out quite a bit as I was getting in just as a number of actors and producers were arriving to get a peek at the exhibit. I managed to get a picture with Scott Speiser, "Overkill" on the show, and Barry Josephson, one of the show's executive producers! Josephson asked if I was a fan of the show. I said "yes".

Dangerboat itself looked a but unassuming on the outside (maybe that's the point), but the inside was just incredible!

Here are a couple shots of the inside, which included a lot of interactive screens. You could get an ID sticker printed, steer the boat, and grab a can of Fo-Ham.

Thanks, Dangerboat.

The Dangerboat AI could also be found on board! It followed you around and talked to you at various points. It tried to poke fun at my Steelers hat, but as we all know, that's a futile pursuit. They're going to win their seventh Super Bowl in a few weeks, just FYI.

The Overkill uniform could be found as well!

I wonder where you buy carpet that simulates ocean water.

Naturally, I grabbed a bunch of the free Tick swag on my way out, which was precipitated by the arrival of talk show host Wendy Williams (who was in full Wonder Woman gear). I then hit the convention floor, where there were a lot of great costumes to be seen, including Pickle Rick.

Ghost Riders!

I wonder what makes you decide to put a television screen on your head. Kudos to this guy in any case, and great job with the group Saga costumes.

Here's one I didn't expect to see - it's Captain Telsa from the Image Comics Descender series!

I've always enjoyed the Robotman (from Doom Patrol) design. Hey, Cliff. Oh, and Telsa makes a second, background appearance.

I wonder how Psylocke got her sword through the entrance?

And Dr. Doom got his blaster through as well. I guess Doom gets what he wants.

Check out this kid in an honest-to-goodness Sewer Urchin costume from the Tick animated series!

I think I've seen this guy as Bloodshot before, but hey, if it works, go with it. Great job.

Here's Black Panther with blurry motion action!

Yondu and Mary Poppins was a popular choice this year.

This gentleman retrofitted what looks like a snowboard with wheels to make a pretty neat Silver Surfer costume!

I'm pretty sure BoJack and Princess Caroline were actually taking a moment and not posing as their characters, but they inadvertently relaxed in the most BoJack poses ever.

Rick's gon' give it to ya.

Well, the hammer placement is a bit unfortunate, but that's still a pretty great Steel costume (Power Girl is good as well).

DC had their regular setup spot at the far end of the convention hall. This time they put their Justice League costumes on display.

On the way out for the night, I ran into DC's Scott Snyder, who was gracious enough to take a picture with me. Snyder is writing the (pretty enjoyable) DC book, "Metal", and he managed to stay on brand for this picture. Pretty savvy, guy.

That's it for Friday pictures! More to come!

Pictures from the 2013 Comic-Con International, part 7 (Nathan Fillion @ Nerd HQ, Game of Thrones and more!)

We're nearing the end of my store of Comic-Con pictures; I find that I probably took more pictures last year, but in 2013 I did more things and took in more events.  If that meant that I didn't use the camera as much, then I suppose it was well worth it...though I did get some pretty cool pictures.  All of these pictures were taken on Sunday of the event, when everything was supposedly winding down.  Even though it was the last day of the show, fans were still out en mass, events were still happening all over the area, and the goodwill that seems to pervade Comic-Con was still felt.

I've only been to Comic-Con three times at this point, but the changes that have happened since attending in 2006 and 2012 have been measurable, to say the least.  The number and scope of off-site events is pretty astounding, to the point that I wonder if outside Comic-Con will be different than regular Comic-Con in another 10 years.  Hours of events have expanded, too.  Case in point, at 5:00, after the convention officially closed and I said goodbye to another great year, people were still pouring into a video game site, just across the tracks, that was staying open until 7:00.  So even when Comic-Con was over, it was still going on!

It's been a real privilege to get to attend this show, first as a small press exhibitor and now as a professional.  I realize that Comic-Con is really unlike anything else, and I hope that more people get to experience it in the coming years.  It's difficult to really define or explain unless you've been there for yourself.

But enough pontificating...let's see some pictures!  At top, you might recognize the cast from Saga, probably the best book being published right now.  Even the baby had a costume!  Brian K. Vaughan has a signing for Sunday morning, and these guys lined up to meet him.

We had our own event picked out for Sunday at noon, so we had to head over to Nerd HQ shortly after arriving at the convention center for the day.  On the way there, near the incredibly packed Game of Thrones off-site exhibit and store (people were waiting two hours in line just to get a t-shirt), I ran into none other than John Bradley, otherwise known as Samwell "the Slayer" Tarly, in his own mobile Iron Throne.  He was filming some bonus material for an upcoming DVD, and I'm sad to say that I didn't get the chance to run in the background during any of it.  That would've been something.

At noon, I was lucky enough to get into my second Nerd HQ panel of the weekend.  This panel was Nathan Fillion's and wouldn't you know it, fellow Firefly cast member Alan Tudyk was there to host it.  I can't express strongly enough how great the entire Nerd HQ experience was this year.  It was absolutely worth it to buy tickets to these panels (the proceeds from which went entirely to charity) and just experience the ambiance of the event.  Zachary Levi puts on a tremendous show and I can't wait for next year's lineup.

I learned at the previous Joss Whedon panel that if you want to ask a question, you've got to ask for the microphone right away.  I was able to ask a question in the Fillion panel because hey, Firefly.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate my question as, let's say, a 6, but it's one that I had to ask.  I'm sure it came out as something like "Uh, Firefly Firefly Firefly Firefly Firefly!" followed by weeping and sobbing.  I'm sure it got a good response from the stage, as this is the look - one of INTENSE CONCENTRATION - that came back to be:

YES!

After the panel, Fillion and Tudyk (seen here hiding behind Kung-Fu-Fillion) came out and took pictures with fans, raising even more money for Operation Smile.  Keep in mind that Fillion is a bonafide super-celebrity and cult figure in the world of television.  That these two guys came out and put the time in to meet people was pretty exciting.  Also, I almost ended up accidentally stealing Alan Tudyk's glasses as I left the event (true story!).

I was able to get Tudyk and Fillion's signatures on a couple items this day, which by all accounts is a difficult feat to accomplish.  Both were gracious and more accommodating than they needed to be.  The panel, pictures and signing were definitely highlights of the entire weekend.

And of course, no Comic-Con is complete without the obligatory Chewbacca sighting.

There were only a few hours left of the show by the time we got out of Nerd HQ, but we managed to make it back to the convention center to do some last minute shopping and signing.  Here's the A-Team van, parked near the Mattel booth!

Hannah Nance Partlow, Boom! Studios letterer, artist and designer, added this new image to the ol' Thing sketchbook!  It's the first inclusion of Miss Thing in the book, and one that I was hoping to get (it'll keep the one drawing of She-Thing company).  Hannah did such a great job that I had to get a picture of it right away.

I spent the last hour or so of the convention at the New England Comics booth, signing and handing out copies of the Free Comic Book Day Tick book.  While I was there, I spied some holy grail items for Tick fans - original Ben Edlund pages of artwork!  Ben had given a few to the art director's nephew (seen below), much to the envy of everyone else at the booth.  How great it'd be to own a page like this, and what a classic scene!

Here I am with Gabe Crate, Tick alumnus and screenwriter.  Benn and Liz Robbins stopped by before too long as well, and Edlund himself made one quick stop as the show was winding down, so it was a mini Tick reunion for about 15 minutes at the booth.  The table saw brisk sales the whole weekend, from what I was told, which is a great thing.  There needs to be more Tick in the world.

After the show ended, I walked past the Godzilla Experience one last time, and I took this shot of the outside of the building.  I wonder how long this warehouse will just have a painted Godzilla on the outside?

This takes us to the end of the show, but I've still got a few more pictures to share from the remainder of my trip to the West coast.  Look for those soon!