Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore

Steve Geppi is the owner of the Diamond Comic Distributors, which is the only major distribution network in all of comics. There's been a lot said about Geppi in recent months, and a number of people in the industry have some strong opinions about the man. All I'll say about the matter is that the industry as a whole would be healthier with more than just a single major distribution system for comics in North America.

I had the opportunity to share a table at the 2015 Baltimore Comic-Con last fall. After the opening night of the show on Friday, Geppi hosted an event for exhibitors and professionals at his very own entertainment museum. I didn't get to Baltimore until Friday evening, but since my hotel was right next to the museum, I grabbed my badge and went over to the museum, which is located right next to Camden Yards, the baseball stadium for the Baltimore Orioles.

Much of what the museum holds is Geppi's personal collection of pop culture memorabilia, and I was stunned at much of what I saw. I had heard of the museum before, but I never knew what kind of things it had on display. I took a bunch of pictures and thought I'd share a few here.

The layout and display of the museum is thoughtful and impressive, and there's a lot of different items to see, but I was of course most excited by the comics. As you can see at the top, Geppi has some of the most valuable comics in existence for all to see, including Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27, the first appearances of Superman and Batman. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out if these were even real copies or just facsimiles, and I overheard others asking the same questions. The staff let me know that yes, these are indeed the real things. The books were situated on a display that looked appropriate for the Constitution.

The room held hundreds of comics and pulps from various eras, all the way up to ones that were fairly modern.

There was original art from Frank Cho in one section as well. Other than time periods, there didn't seem to be a theme to many of these sections.

In addition to the obvious aesthetic qualities of this space, the movie posters that lined this hallway were simply incredible. There were posters from 80 years ago that looked brand new. How in the world were these kept for so long in such good condition? Maybe there was a sale at a movie studio lot. There was a wide variety of posters and prints to see.

It seemed like there was always another room to see, each with at least one mind-boggling piece on display.

One thing that stuck with me was just the preponderance of different items from all different eras. The different collections just seemed to go on and on.

Oh, look, Larry. He even has some Dukes of Hazzard items on display.

I saw a lot of movie memorabilia, the result of years of collecting and certainly millions of dollars spent.

The museum also had items on loan, including an entire room dedicated to Will Eisner.

There were dozens of pages on display that spanned Eisner's entire, decades-long career.

And there was even some Frankenberry artwork!

This whole exhibit was just a sight to behold. I showed up to the event toward the end, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked. I saw Geppi as I was leaving and expressed my disbelief at everything I had seen. It's hard to imagine that something like this museum even exists. If you're in the Baltimore area, you should take a few hours and take in everything that's here on display. It's impressive, to say the least.

Oh, and it happened that the Cincinnati Bengals were staying at the same hotel that I had booked for the weekend. It was odd, seeing coaches, staff and players walks the halls. My wife wouldn't allow me to run through the halls shouting "THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS HAVE SIX SUPER BOWL TROPHIES", but I did announce my presence at least once. After all of the turmoil between the two teams during the 2015 season, I kind of wish I was a little bit louder, but I'd say there would have been a 20% chance one of the players (you know which ones) would have beaten me up by the vending machines. Can't wait until the 2016 championship season is here, Steelers.

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.

Frankenberry redesigns by DC Comics

Just in time for...um...Halloween...it's a look at the new General Mills monster cereal boxes!  This year saw yet another convergence of things Jeff loves, as folks at DC Comics redesigned the three main monsters for the 2014 Halloween cereal line.  The front of the three boxes was drawn by a DC staffer: Dave Johnson drew Frankenberry, Jim Lee drew Boo Berry and Terry and Rachel Dodson did Count Chocula.  I am biased, of course, but I will say that Johnson's Frankenberry was the best of the bunch, even though none presented any major changes to the characters.

Target once again sold retro boxes.  These ones were my favorites, as they included cut-out Halloween masks on the back, but I had to get a few of the regular design to check out the artwork.  And as in years prior, the regular boxes featured brand new comics.

The 2014 version, at last, had new comics on the backs of each box, with each comic including all three monsters but highlighting the main character of each cereal.  Above is the Frankenberry comic...

...here's the Boo Berry comic...

...and here's the Count Chocula comic, which I didn't buy but took a picture of in the store.  It apparently includes some references to Twitter in it.

Each of these comics looks to be drawn in the same style.  I didn't recognize the artists offhand, but DC's press release names them (what a novel concept) as Sholly Fisch, Brent Schooner and Dave McCaig.  It's a pretty good step up from what General Mills has done in years past.  And, of course, the cereal is friggin delicious.

If General Mills is looking to expand even further on their comics theme in the future, let me suggest including a mini comic book in each box for 2015.  I'll write it.  Please let me write it.

In other Halloween news, my nephew dressed up again in superhero gear.  he actually got a Hulk costume for the big day, but here's a picture of him trying on the top half of my Comic-Con Superman outfit.

And Larry...went as Mrs. Doubtfire, interestingly enough.

A new Frankenberry cereal comic!

After years of slowly disappearing from the shelves, becoming more and more difficult to find, I'm happy that Frankenberry, Boo Berry and all of the General Mills Monster Cereals have been reappearing with some frequency over the last few years.  I long for the day when I can go out and buy a box of Frankenberry on any day of the year as opposed to just around Halloween, but I'll take what I can get.  It's a little bit inconvenient to store 20 boxes of cereal in your basement because you don't want to run out by March, but it's worth it.  This year, General Mills even brought back Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute, which was an added treat.

A few years ago, Monster Cereal boxes came with an honest-to-goodness comic on the back.  The comic ran for several years but was retired this year in favor of a brand new comic, still by an unknown artist, featuring all five cereal mascots.  The artwork is fun and interesting.  The image in the middle of Yummy Mummy is particularly well done.

Dear General Mills: if you one day decide to produce a Frankenberry comic, I will totally write it, and I'll even accept boxes of Frankenberry as payment.  Please make this happen.

Target has these cereals stocked up and on sale, and in retro boxes, even.  Time to stock up like I am.

Pictures from the 2013 Pittsburgh Comicon

The 2013 Pittsburgh Comicon has come and gone, and there are pictures to be seen.  The Pittsburgh show is always interesting, and this version was no different.  It's the first time I've brought out the Wagon Wheel Comics booth in quite a while.  I presented my first panel.  I got some Thing sketches!  It's something I'll have to dwell on a bit longer before I pass judgment on the event.  But for now, some images and commentary:

Friday night of the show was just about as dead as a convention of any repute could be.  It makes me wonder if the Pittsburgh Comic-Con even needs a Friday anymore.  In any case, it allowed me to stand in line for a great Barry Kitson sketch.

Kitson has worked on a number of mainstream books; I first became aware of him from his early '90s work on Adventures of Superman.  Recently, he drew a few issues of FF, which made him a prime candidate for the Thing sketchbook.  Kitson doesn't charge for sketches, but he takes such care with them that there's only the opportunity for a handful at any convention.  I began the show fourth in line, and waited five hours to get a sketch.  It was certainly worth it, but it was a big time commitment.  I'll post a nice scan of it in the coming weeks, but here's a shot of  the finished work with the relatively giant Kitson himself!

FUBAR chief Jeff McComsey and I had a panel about publishing small press comics - it seemed like a good idea especially for a small show like Pittsburgh's.  Overall, I'd say that it went very well!  There ended up being about 50 people in the room and it seemed to me that Jeff and I held everyone's interest for a little over an hour.  Plus Carmen Sandiego showed up to hear what we had to say!

Because I enjoy hearing the sound of my own voice, I filmed the panel and uploaded it to YouTube.  I'll embed the panel here on the blog soon!

There were a number of costumes to be seen at the show, especially on Sunday, when I believe you get in free if you wear one.  These guys knew how to do it.

I've seen these two ladies at the show before; in fact, one of them dressed as Quicksilver and one, I think, as the Flash the day before.  They both do good work.

This guy basically has the perfect build for an older Finn, and the beard looks just goofy enough to work.  Princess Bubblegum and BMO are great as well!

I saw this Chainsaw Vigilante costume at the previous Pittsburgh Comicon, were I was equally impressed.  I chatted with her this time around, and I mentioned that I had shown her picture to CV creator Ben Edlund at the 2012 Comic-Con in San Diego (which I did).  She was pretty thrilled to hear that.

Looks!  It's unfortunately-placed balloon animal Venom!  Oops.

Game of Thrones costumes continue to be popular.  This girl did a nice job with hers.  I have...no idea who the guys in back are supposed to be.  Gendry and Hodor?  No, that's not it.  I'm stumped.

This was a pretty elaborate concoction of the X-Men's Hank McCoy/Beast.  The mouth even moved!

Without a doubt, the best costumes I saw all weekend (I'm a little biased, but whatever) were these two - a real-life Frankenberry and Boo Berry couple!  Incredible!  We chatted for a while about the cereal and the costumes.  They were a friendly bunch, but of course that goes without saying.  The Frankenberry glasses were very well done.

The FUBAR booth bumped right up next to the Wagon Wheel Comics booth for the weekend, and it was a nice treat to get to talk with Jeff McComsey and art director Steve Becker for a few days.  They know how to set up a booth.

On Saturday, someone brought over this hand made piece of FUBAR fan art!

Jeff and Steve cranked out sketches all weekend long - this one was my favorite...zombie E.T.!

I managed to snap a picture at the FUBAR booth before the weekend ended and I packed up to leave.  It was a fun time despite some lags in attendance (which is something the convention will have to address at some point, I hope).  I was able to meet some nice people, buy a few things and get some sketches.

Now it's off to the New York Comic-Con, where I'd imagine things will be...a little bit busier.