Monday, August 19, 2019

Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 3 (Thursday, 7/18)

Let's look at some pictures from Thursday at Comic-Con!


This may sound hard to believe, but I actually spent a decent amount of time at my booth this year - certainly more time than any previous year. This happened for various reasons (I'm responsible, maybe??), but because of this, I didn't get to see as much of the floor as I might usually see. I only ran past the LEGO booth a few times, but I'm glad I did - their displays were as impressive as ever. I really liked this Iron Man from Avengers: Endgame.


The backdrop for this Detective Comics #1000 Batman was even cooler than the life-size figure, I thought.


And here's a red Stormtrooper - I think they're calling it a Sith Trooper? They has an exclusive bust of this guy for sale.


Right before the doors opened in the morning, I passed by the Star Wars display.


By far the most popular costume choice at the convention was the Stranger Things "Scoops Ahoy" outfit. I had just finished watching the third season before flying out to California, so I especially appreciated this choice. I'll have a separate post with all of these costumes, back to back!


This is a video game reference. I'm fairly confident of that.


What a great Sabrina costume!


I also spent some time at the New England Comics booth this year, promoting and selling our new Comic-Con special edition Tick comic. It sold very well! Here I am with Ian Nichols, artist on this year's issue.


I absolutely loved "Into the Spider-Verse" and I'm thrilled to see every costume inspired by it. Now let's get Spidey 2099 in the mix!


Various Avengers, assemble!


Thursday seemed like a slower day than I was used to. It was still incredibly busy, and it picked up considerably at other times. It was nice to be able to walk the aisles at least for a little while.


DOOOOOOM


Around 1:00, I left the convention hall and went out the back exit. There I found some fencing going on, behind a rope, of course.


This Batman '66 boat was in the harbor directly behind the convention center.


What's this? Is the Taco Truck back? THE TACO TRUCK IS BACK! It returned for another year, and I couldn't be happier. Love the Taco Truck.


While in line, I met this gentleman, and we talked loudly about Star Trek for a solid 20 minutes. I had a great time!


TACO TRUCK SELFIE!


After eating, I took a stroll along the harbor, behind the convention center. Adult Swim had the only major display directly against the water. This site was just opening up for the first time of the show, and I was able to walk in without much of a wait - this was good timing and nothing else, as this was as busy as ever at later times. The Rickmobile was just getting set up!


Most of the activities were not up and running yet at this time. Here's a relatively empty shot of the main stage.


The one site that was open was the "Rickflector" a VR-like Rick and Morty experience. Once you got your face scanned (no chance that'll be used for marketing purposes), you entered one of these chambers, where you tried to dodge ray-gun fire.


It was an interesting experience, but I don't think all of the bugs were worked out quite yet. I'm glad I did it, but also glad I didn't wait too long to do it.


By this point, I had gotten as much sun as I could handle without bursting into flame, so I went back inside. I love this shot of the convention floor!


While at the booth, I saw some great costumes. People wear costumes each of the five days, but this was a good Thursday, I thought.


I told this guy to go chase a bike after I got his picture.


I'm not sure how the Joker fits in here, but I'll take it.


Later in the day, I walked to the other side of the main hall, into the gaming section. I don't know what these pictures were being taken for, but these guys were ready for it.


I got some trading cards at the Upper Deck booth, which had this Sam Raimi-era Spider-Man hanging above it.


Mid snap, even!


These are impressive. I don't know what they are. But they're impressive.


Daken, one of Wolverine's many, many children.


I saw a number of these statues around the floor.


At the end of the day, Ian and I met up with Zander Cannon briefly.


And then the convention closed for the day! After meeting up with my group, I had one more thing to see this evening...


...the stairs! (Not really.)


Around 8:30, I headed back to the Gaslamp district.


Okay, here's Harvey Birdman.


Finally! I made it to the Jean-Luc Picard: His First Duty offsite. I had been to the same location in previous years for other Star Trek-related displays, so apparently they've got a corner on this particular building. There were a lot of really cool props on display in anticipation of the new Picard series.


It's the flute from "The Inner Light"! Wow!


And here's a model of the movie Enterprise.


At the back of the room, they had a big "Captain Picard Day" banner draped just below the ceiling.


Was the bat'leth sharp? No, it was not. Dishonor!


And here's a formal uniform from the Insurrection movie.


Jessica Cruz also stopped by to check it all out.


And that was pretty much it - on the way back to the car, I saw this Watchmen banner; the display wasn't open yet.


And some old friends dropped by, too. Can you believe that I was able to make it through the entire convention without having the ending of Game of Thrones spoiled for me? Please, uh, don't take that as an invitation to spoil it in the comments. Larry, don't spoil it. Don't do it!

More pictures soon!

Friday, August 16, 2019

Someone got a tattoo of a Teddy and the Yeti character


I was talking to my friend Karin Rindevall a few days ago, and she passed on a link to something I never really expected to see - it appears that someone has decided to mark his body with some Teddy and the Yeti artwork for the rest of his life.


Back in 2010-ish, I made a set of (very popular) Teddy and the Yeti trading cards. The original set contained 18 cards, though I've added a few to it in the intervening years. One of the last cards was of a character from the cover of Teddy and the Yeti #3, which I named "The Space God". It was an obvious homage to a Jack Kirby Celestial-like creation, and it was originally designed by Tom Scioli in his Kirby style when he drew the cover. Anyway, I naturally liked the design, and even though I've never published an actual sequential story with the Space God (there's a script), the character got a card, and Karin drew it. The art is above.


And here are some further shots of the tattoo. The new artist made some changes, flipping the image around and giving the character a can of spray paint, but the overall image is, well, pretty clearly based on the original card art. It's part of a larger space scene that goes down the person's arm, including other more recognizable characters like Earthworm Jim and Bender from Futurama.


The picture was on a Facebook page for a tattoo parlor in Australia, of all places, apparently run by an artist named Steve Yoda. This was the info Facebook had for me. I suppose I could send the shop a message to try and get more info if I'm ever up late at night pondering the meaning of the universe.

This is not to say that I'm upset about having the image used without my knowledge - I'm honestly just curious to learn how the person found the image in the first place. The Space God is a pretty obscure character by any definition, and I'm a little surprised that Teddy and the Yeti, even with the marvels of the Internet(s), has ever filtered into Australia at all. It's a pretty cool image and I hope that everyone involved is happy with it - the guy has to live with it forever now. That's pretty crazy!