Pictures from the 2015 Comic-Con International, part 7: the Aftermath (convention sketches, comic shops, EMP and more!)

Well, Comic-Con 2015 has ended. But no reason to look wistfully off into the sunset, because I'll be returning in 2016 with more comics and, for the first time in a while, some table space in the small press section. More on that later. Let's finally finish up the pictures form the '15 version (next up, NYCC, I guess).

After the show ended and after-hours cleanup took place, I slept the sleep of a thousand warriors. Many people pack up and leave San Diego right after the show is over, which is just unfathomable to me. I mean, I guess some people go right back to work on Monday morning, but I need at least 24 hours to enter the real world again, so I enjoy spending a few extra days in San Diego after the show.

This time, I stopped at the Cat Cafe in downtown, which is ADORABLE and a good cause.

It seems like a nice place for both people and cats. I guess that cat cafes have been working their way over to the US from Japan. It's a great idea and I hope to see more in different places.

On Monday and Tuesday, the big items came down, such as this Conan O'Brien banner. Who knows what happens to stuff this giant after the show. Maybe they just throw it into the ocean or something.

LEGO Wonder Woman (I think this was from the Hard Rock Cafe) got packed up on Tuesday. I bet it would be pretty easy to take some of this stuff. All you'd need is a truck and some confidence. If I was in charge of cleaning up, I'd encourage it. But then again that's probably illegal, so I guess that's also a factor to consider.

I walked away from the convention with quite a few cool things. I was given - GIVEN - this incredible Tick drawing from Michel Mulipola, artist of the wrestling comic "Headlocked". How awesome is this??

I also picked up this blank Archie #1 sketch cover, and since Archie had artists sketching on said covers...I got me a new Thing cover, complete with a Jughead crown. It's an odd mashup, but I like it!

After San Diego, we took a few days and headed to the Pacific Northwest. Our first stop was in the San Juan Islands.

Listen, I wouldn't complain if I woke up and was six feet tall, is all I'm saying.

A number of years ago, I spent a summer in the Olympia, Washington area and I have a lot of fond memories from there. It was nice to get to spend a little time there and see some old haunts. At the time, Olympic Cards and Comics was in the process of moving down the road to a new building. The results (eight years later) are pretty impressive. Of course, my idea of a vacation is seeing other comic shops across the country.

Olympic Cards and Comics is owned by Gabi Shephard and Eric Trautmann, who has written books for DC, Dynamite and a number of other companies. This is one of the most impressive shops that I've ever been in, if for nothing else than the sheer size and selection. Hung from the rafters were comic book movie banners, including these from the first X-Men movie, which is actually over 15 years old by now! Time flies.

Danger Room Comics is located in downtown Olympia, and it has a more independent feel to it. At one point, they stocked my Mr. Massive and Teddy and the Yeti comics (...).

The shop is small but it has a great feel to it. I bought some back issues here, including a 3D Three Stooges comic from the '80s. It's still in my 'to read' pile, but it looks so dang cool.

After leaving Olympia, we traveled north into the Olympic National Forest...

...and finally to Seattle.

We didn't have much time in Seattle, but I made sure to visit the EMP Museum, which is located right next to the famous Space Needle.

I had never heard of the museum before, and didn't know what I was getting into when I bought tickets. But man, this is a place that every pop culture fan should visit if given the opportunity.

The museum is owned by Paul Allen, co-founded of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks (loser of Super Bowl XL, never forget). Most of the items on display are simply from Allen's personal collection. This is what rich people who are fans of pop culture do with their money. It was incredible to see. If I had a billion dollars, I'd probably do the same thing (but, you know, have Steeler imagery around the building instead).

If you can think of a sci-fi property, there was probably something on display from it at this museum. There was a Star Wars exhibit going on at the time in another wing, but there were still floors just filled with incredible items from different shows, movies, books, etc. Check out this Michael Dorn-worn outfit from Deep Space Nine!

And it's all impeccably displayed as well. Unreal.

There were plenty of props in addition to costumes, including quite a few sci-fi weapons.

Mars Attacks even had a small display. I imagine that Allen contacts the producers of these movies (if he's not a producer himself) and makes arrangements to buy props and outfits after production ends.

Check out that futuristic can of Slice in the corner! Straight from the '80s Cafe.

A Klingon ship. One of the production models! So awesome!

An actual proton pack! I hope you can see how I nearly lost my mind at this place.

There was even some Futurama items on display. I think that someone at the museum bought a 3D printer and said "what can we make?"

One Fett costume wasn't enough!

The building itself has a sci-fi design to it. What a place. If you're anywhere near Seattle at ANY point in the future, GO THERE. The end.

The 2015 Comic-Con trip was successful on a lot of fronts. I had a lot of fun. Now to start planning for 2016!

The Christmas haul, 2015

Is it weird that I post pictures of some of the stuff I got for Christmas? Maybe. But here's what I got for Christmas. I like it.

I got some great comics this year. The Gaiman/Williams Sandman prequel was collected just in time for Christmas. I'm now caught up on the Hellboy library editions. I'm very excited to read the comic adaptation of Don Quixote. And WOOOOOAH, I got the Complete Calvin and Hobbes hardcover edition, which must weigh about 50 pounds. It's really impressive.

Your pal (and mine) Larry got me some great Thing items. First up are these two figures. The first one is from Japan, and the second is part of a kid's memory game. Both are awesome (and both come apart!).

Larry also went above and beyond when he found these two gems from the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. Thing hands and Thing feet!

Check out this sticker on the Thing feet box. Was it necessary? You can see the feet in the box, and it says "THING FEET" just inches away, in big, capital letters, at the bottom of the box. The artwork doesn't fit the rest of the packaging, either. But how cool! Somewhere out there, there's a roll of these "Thing feet" stickers.

While everyone else is moving away from DVDs to digital downloads and streaming services, I am apparently doubling down on discs with bizarre additions to my collection like the Dr. Katz complete series.

I got a WiiU a few months ago, and now I have a few more games to play, plus my first Amiibo. What's an Amiibo? Why, it's a huge racket that forces you to buy toys to go along with your games. And here I am, falling for it! I think I'll get the Pac Man Amiibo next.

My Steelers sideline shirt from 2004 is nearing the end of its life. So here's my new gameday shirt, which maybe I'll wear for another 10 years or so. Let's get a picture now while it's still black.

And then there's my haul from the yearly Gallery 1988 sale. These aren't technically Christmas presents (since I bought 'em for myself), but they came in December and they are great. So we're listing them. These two Weird Al prints are from separate shows, but they obviously follow a theme. I buy a few each year in hopes that the many Weird Al prints don't sell out before I have a chance to buy them all.

This one is freaky but great.

Merry Christmas!

Pictures from the 2015 Comic-Con International, part 6: Sunday (Sergio Aragones, IDW signing and more!)

Sunday! The last day of Comic-Con. This day seemed a bit quieter than in years past, when there is usually more sprinting down the aisles, trying to buy something at the last minute. This year it seemed like a normal day, as if there would be another day to browse on Monday (maybe at some point there will be). I found that I took fewer pictures on this day as I eased out of Comic-Con mode.

How did I miss seeing this Hulkbuster Iron Man display until Sunday? 

I often marvel at seeing movie-quality outfits like these Star Trek uniforms. But then I wonder what someone would do if he or she would buy one. Would you wear these things out, to a party, maybe? What if you spilled ranch dressing on it? I bet you can't just toss it in the washer afterwards.

What a thrill it was to finally meet comic legend Sergio Aragones. Aragones is probably best known for his work on MAD Magazine, which he has been a part of since it's inception (and he's still going strong!).

Lookit this Frankenberry merchandise! I wonder if that metallic pink skull is part of the lot.

Here's some good Thor villain cosplay. The Enchantress and the Executioner!

DC had costumes from the upcoming Superman vs. Batman movie out on display. I hear that Cavill and Affleck showed up for a little while, though I never saw it for myself.

In the middle of the day, I went outside to visit the Adult Swim area one last time. I cashed in all of my carnival tickets for a Rick and Morty plush. Near the exit, they had an Aqua Teen Hunger Force memorial wall set up to commemorate the show's final season.

Everything is great with these (Extreme) Ghostbusters costumes, but I'm most impressed with the hair.

Toward the end of the day, I had a chance to sit down at the IDW booth for an Imaginary Drugs signing with Ally Cat, Eric Esquivel and Alexis Ziritt, all of whom are probably more awesome than I am. But, as we can see here, I'm the only one who wore an Imaginary Drugs shirt to the signing. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. It was a fun time and HEY, I got to sit behind the IDW booth for a whole hour and no one kicked me out. Awesome!

I wish I had a better picture of this. I have no idea what this lady is supposed to be, but wow, it was impressive.

And then, all that was left was the waiting. I went back to the small press section, and pretty soon...

...the show ended. And Comic-Con 2015 was a wrap!

BUT WAIT! There's one more batch of pictures to come. And then I can rest easy. Yes.

Denny's Thing Burger taste test...why I hate the Fantastic Four movie...and an evening with the Steelers

Last summer, I took a drive out to Canton, Ohio to try out the new Thing burger from Denny's. Okay, I didn't drive out there SPECIFICALLY for that, but still, it makes it seem like I was on a trek to eat a hamburger named after the Thing and would stop at nothing to accomplish this goal. Why not.

I was surprised to see any kind of marketing campaign come out of the 2015 Fantastic Four movie, which had tons of bad publicity hanging over it even before filming was completed. Denny's seems like an odd choice, but I guess if you're Fox and someone wants to promote a film you've put a lot of money into, beggars can't be choosers.

It wasn't long before the film was scheduled to debut that I first saw the commercial:



It was also the first time that I said "huh, the Thing doesn't look so bad!" with regard to the new film. Of all the things the movie messed up, giving the Thing five fingers and making his eyes ANYTHING OTHER THAN BLUE is probably something I could have lived with. But it still annoyed me. Anyway, seeing a Thing promotion was pretty neat in any context.

The Denny's I went to had promotional imagery all over, which was, again, a surprise.

They even had special menus with Fantastic Four logos on them. I considered putting one under my shirt and walking out, but then I simply asked the waiter about them - and he gave me four (there were four different menus, each designed after a different character). Now I have four Denny's menus at my house. What will I do with these things? I don't know. But I'm glad I got them.

The Thing burger was the item being promoted most heavily, but there were actually a number of limited-time offerings, including a Human Torch skillet and Invisible Woman...pancakes:

Interestingly enough, Mr. Fantastic was the only member of the group who didn't have a menu item specifically named after him. There was a Fantastic Four-Cheese Omelette, but nothing that mentioned Reed. There was even a Dr. Doom-style dessert!

I don't often eat at Denny's (it had probably been two or three years since I had been to one), and the FF specials were limited-time deals, so there was no way I was taking a chance on anything but the Thing burger. Here's what it looked like:

The Thing burger came on a cheddar-cheese bun and came topped with bacon, cheese, an egg, hash browns and...Thing sauce (plenty of jokes to make there) with a side of fries.

The sauce tasted rather mustard-y. All in all, I liked it for a fast-food burger. I enjoyed the egg on top and the sauce was okay. I probably would get the hash browns on the side the next time I order it, in a parallel universe where this promotion lasted more than a few weeks and I felt like making another trip to Denny's. I'm glad that I was able to try out one of these - how many Fantastic Four-themed food items have there been since the 1970s? Now I've got visual proof that I tried some out in 2015.

So, I haven't seen the Fantastic Four movie yet. Is it strange that I bought FF-themed merchandise even though I have no interest in seeing the film? Yeah, I guess. I'm sure I'll see it at some point - hell, I'm sure I'll buy the DVD in a few years, when it's cheap - but everything leading up to it put a bad taste in my mouth (and not even the Thing burger could overcome it!).

I understand that Fox wanted to do something different this time around, if nothing else than to differentiate this new film from the lackluster effort that was made a decade ago, but it seemed that everything that could have gone wrong did, from casting to filming and everything in between. My biggest beef was with director Josh Trank, who seemed almost combative when presented with a skeptical audience. At every turn he seemed to ignore and outright refuse to pay attention to anything that had made the concept so popular over the last 50 years. And yes, I'm aware that the FF aren't as popular as they were in the '60s and '70s, and I'm aware that the Avengers and other Marvel properties have leapfrogged them in recent years for a number of reasons. But that doesn't take away the core elements that can still be something great, on screen and in comics.

I bought the above magazines a few weeks ago and was amused at how downbeat everything is, from the headlines to the inside article, about the film...and this is just weeks before it was released. It all came across as "the new Fantastic Four movie! People think it'll be terrible! But maybe it won't be!" It's obvious everyone involved was hedging his or her bets pretty heavily on this thing. My favorite part of the inside article came at the very end, from Trank himself:

So Trank "insist[ed] he wouldn't do anything differently" with the film...and then, a day after it premiered, he put out a tweet that said, basically, "I would have done a lot differently".

What a train wreck. Fantastic Four was easily one of the biggest flops of 2015. And, unfortunately, I can't help but feel like everyone involved on the creative and management end of it deserved everything they got. Do I sound bitter about all of this? I guess I am, but only because I love the characters so much. Movies - good or bad - don't define the franchise, but wouldn't it be great to see an Avengers-level Fantastic Four movie? One in which the Thing gets all of the attention and exposure the character deserves? I know I'd like to see it, and so far Hollywood is 0-for-4.

Oh well. We'll always have the Thing burger.

So what was I doing out in Canton, anyway? Why, I went there to see Pittsburgh Steeler great Jerome Bettis finally get inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame.

It was a great evening. Steeler fans outnumbered others by at least nine-to-one. It was raucous and lots of fun.

There were lots of pro football players at the event, including a number of Bettis's teammates. Here's James Farrior.

And here's Brett Keisel! What an impressive beard.

What else have I been up to? Oh, I made it into the trailer for the Christmas movie "Love the Coopers" with Olivia Wilde. In this scene I'm reading my copy of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vol. 3. How...exciting? Sure.