"Weird Al" Yankovic Strings Attached Tour San Diego poster

Let's take a look at the last of three posters I was involved with for "Weird Al" Yankovic's just-concluded Strings Attached tour! This is one I'm really proud of (I'm proud of them all, but you know what I mean), and I'm even happier that the venue for this one happened to be San Diego. I just missed this concert as it was held two weeks after the last day of Comic-Con! So close!

For this poster, we knew that we wanted to go for an "Another One Rides the Bus" image, so we made the decision to draw it in profile rather than vertically. I found this image of a VW bus cross-section that was very helpful in determining what it would look like.

Above you can see the sleeve artwork for the Dutch release of the original 45 - it's the only version with cover art, it's really tough to find, and it's really bizarre just to begin with (the image is of my copy, because there aren't even any good-quality pictures of it online that I know of). I wanted to do something in a similar vein, capturing the madcap quality of this version.

I contacted my friend (and Black Terror contributor) Mark Welser about working on the poster. Mark's got a very detailed style and he's a big Weird Al fan as well, so I knew that he could do a great job with the art. We talked about different ideas for what we wanted the final image to look like and what all we wanted to squeeze in there.

A little while later, he came back with some of these images. We both agreed on having Dr. Demento be the bus driver (it was only fair). Obviously, I knew right away that this poster was going to be everything I was hoping it would be.

Up near the front of the bus, you can see...well, both me and Mark. I've made it onto an official piece of "Weird Al" Yankovic merchandise. Truly, this is a great moment in my life.

Here's the inked version of the poster, in all of its detail and glory. Mark fit a ton of references into the image, including the Hooded Avenger from the Weird Al Show, one of Al's tour managers (and the guy who coordinated the whole project), a hamburger from Big Edna's Burger World, and quite a few references to the actual song.

I took it upon myself to design the bus ticket, which I hoped would bring everything together, and would serve as a good place to list tour information. I used an actual ticket stub and swapped out info that you might find on bus tickets from years past.

We had initially considered including the ticket as is, but Mark wisely decided to take the original image and draw it in a way that matched everything else.

And here's the final version with everything included! The coloring, I thought, really captured a MAD Magazine-like feeling that complemented the line work really well. Al is, of course, at the back of the bus (as in the song) and properly highlighted.

For a while, we were also considering going with a blue color scheme. I think the red and yellow version was the right one to decide on, but I do like the blue as well. After the show, we had some copies of both printed out (and because it only uses two colors, I was able to get the blue version screen printed). Are they for sale? Why, yes, they are! You can find both versions, and the other tour posters I worked on, in my new online store.

Now that I've finished taking an expanded look at my three posters, let me just state (as if it weren't obvious) that this was just thrilling to work on over the course of a few months. I'm a huge fan of Al and his work, so to get to be a small part of a big tour was a true honor. I owe a lot of thanks to Jeff McComsey, Duane Redhead and Mark Welser for helping me to make this all a reality.

Pictures from the 2016 Comic-Con International, part 2: Wednesday (Conan O'Brien, Sergio Aragones, Nancy Cartwright and more!)

It's time for more (very exciting) pictures from Comic-Con in San Diego, this time with images from preview night, Wednesday the 20th!

Just like Tuesday, Wednesday was a busier day at the show than in previous years. Usually, I'm able to wake up whenever I want to, eat breakfast, and head down to the convention at a leisurely pace. This year, Conan O'Brien returned to San Diego and I was able to get tickets to Wednesday's taping. That meant lining up to pick up tickets (and secure an assigned seat) at 10am. Through some stroke of luck, I actually had a whole gaggle of tickets (that's the proper term) and was able to trade two of them in exchange for Thursday tickets as well. After picking up wristbands and tickets, I got a picture with some new friends against the Conan backdrop inside the theater.

After that, it was off to try and score more tickets, this time for the Star Trek Beyond premiere that was taking place later that night. The line supposedly opened at noon. I got there at 11:30 and...it was already spilling out across the pier behind the convention center.

While I was waiting, I did get to see the IMDboat. That's about the extent of my Star Trek line excitement, though, as I went thought twice and wasn't able to get any tickets. Bummer.

I did score a pretty great sunburn, though, which you can start to see taking shape in this image. After the line didn't produce any tickets, I went inside the exhibit hall to finish setting up for the day. Here I am with the first cosplayer of the convention! Great job, lower half.

While setting up, I ran into Terry Moore, who I had seen speak the day before at the "Comics & Law" panel at the library. We chatted for a while and he left with a copy of Teddy and the Yeti. Then it was off to the Spreckels Theatre for Conan.

On the way there, I saw this fine gentleman wearing a 2014 Tick shirt drawn by Duane Redhead!

The theater was about six blocks away and the sun beat down on us every step of the way. When we made it inside, we waited in a gigantic line in a suffocating hallway on the second floor. There were a lot of sweaty people there that day. But we eventually made it to our seats just before the show started.

I had a seat near the front of the upper balcony, which was actually a pretty good view of the show. The cast of HBO's "Silicon Valley" was the main attraction, though there was a fun cameo of Will Arnett tossed in there as well.

I'm used to shows filming the same scene over and over again for hours on end, but this one flew by in right about an hour, which was surprising. It was a good time and when it was over, we all got Conan Funko bobbleheads. On leaving the theater, we were met with throngs of people asking if they could buy them.

I made it back to the convention center just about ten minutes before it opened for preview night, which was some good timing. I was able to jump in a line and pick up some cool items right as Comic-Con officially began. Preview night is such a feeding frenzy of buying that it's almost hard to imagine. Above are some folks who are probably wondering how they're going to get all of their new stuff into their car. Lookit all of that!

The Walking Dead had a big presence again, including this scene where you can pretend that you're about to get your head smashed in by the show's new villain. What fun!

Here's a shot of the floor. For preview night, it was fairly orderly.

Marvel, for some reason, commissioned a bronze statue of Captain America that was unveiled here before moving to a park in New York. I'm not entirely certain that a fictional character should get an official statue before, say, the creators of said fictional character, but I guess there's already one of Rocky and Robocop out there in the world. So to each his own...and the statue did look pretty cool.

You don't usually see a lot of costumes on preview night, but there were some to be found.

Leaving the show, I ran into none other than legendary MAD Magazine artist Sergio Aragones! One of the greats.

I make sure that I stop at the Chuck Jones Gallery in the Gaslamp District every year. This year had a small space devoted to the works of Nancy Cartwright, the voice actor for Bart Simpson and an artist in her own right. In the middle is a Bart Simpson bust! I also love the shadow it creates on the wall.

Apparently Burger King had an after party at an offsite location in the evening. The place was roped off and people who were dressed extremely well were entering, so I didn't make an attempt, though I probably should have. What in the world was happening in this place?

I managed to make a relatively early night of things as I had a busy Thursday planned. Look for those pictures soon!

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.

Gorilla Superman at Comic-Con International 2014

Let me start out by saying that I have sold my gorilla costume.  A gorilla costume has quite a number of uses, and one could make the claim that every gentleman should own a gorilla suit for various reasons.  I don't intend to dispute that claim (which is real and totally not just made up by me), but after wearing my own costume to the point that I thought people might start to believe that I had some kind of monkey fetish, I felt that it was time to move on.  Since buying my gorilla costume, I've worn it to a Pirates playoff game (who would have thought?), to a Halloween party, given it to Larry to wear in a Franks and Beans episode, lent it to my dad so he could wear it...and finally, I wore it to Comic-Con.  So I had gotten my use out of it, is what I'm saying.

For some reason, when I decide on a costume theme, I'm interested in dressing up as a character who is in turn dressed up as something else.  And since we were talking about Comic-Con, having an ape dress up as a superhero seemed a natural fit.  And so Gorilla Superman was born.

In 2013, I took my Frankenberry costume to Comic-Con, only to leave it in its bag to go unworn for the show.  This is because...there's a lot to do at Comic-Con.  When Sunday rolled around in 2014 and I hadn't yet unveiled Gorilla Superman, I knew it was do or die time.  If nothing else, I had to justify the inordinate amount of space this costume took up in my suitcase, so I took it out, put it on, and did a lap around the hall.

For whatever reason, kids seemed to be drawn to Gorilla Superman.  I got more reactions out of kids than anyone else.  Most of the reactions were very good, though not all...

...as was the case with this little girl with the Ninja Turtles backpack.  She was TERRIFIED of the suit, and her mom pulled her out of line when I got near.  Is inadvertently scaring children funny?  You can decide.

For the most part, I was happy to just get a chance to wear the damn costume before I got rid of it once and for all.  The Superman costume was a patchwork job, though not as intensive as the Jet Boy/Jet Girl costumes from 2012.  The Superman costume originally came as one piece, which was then cut to show off the gorilla midriff.  I bought the two embroidered emblems as the cape did not originally have one, and the chest logo was pretty terrible, and so it was replaced by this more authentic version.  The cape was attached with clasps on the neck of the suit.  Overall, I was really happy with the way the Superman part of the costume turned out.  It was a shame to have to cut it in half.

This year at Comic-Con was much hotter than usual.  Instead of the normal 72 degrees all day every day, temperatures reached up toward 90 on most days.  This led to some uncomfortable moments in line, and even inside, it was almost intolerable inside of a gorilla suit, with a spandex Superman costume over top.  This was the main reason that I didn't venture outside while wearing the costume...as it was, I was sweating profusely and more than a little delirious (seriously) when I made the loop back to the small press table.  Breathing heavily inside of a gorilla mask is not recommended on the best of days.

I ran into a really nice Superman/Lois Lane combo somewhere in the 3000 rows.  Superman had a really nice, high quality costume, and to top it all off, he was about 6'3" and barrel chested, so he fit the part pretty well.

Lois here told me that she would write about this in the Daily Planet.  Apparently the damn foot flap on this thing kept flipping up as I walked.  Also, the pants of my suit kept shifting down, but I was able to manage with it for the hour or so that I had the costume on.

There probably couldn't have been a better juxtaposition of images at the DC booth than the giant backdrop seen above.  Gorilla Superman in front of a billboard-sized image of Superman punching a gorilla.  What are the odds?

A few feet away from the Superman signage, there was a MAD Magazine display that also seemed apropos.  I hadn't planned on getting a picture in front of it (because I was about to die of heat exhaustion), but I was asked by a guy with an expensive camera to take one.  It was a weird experience.  I mean, part of the reason I wore the costume was to pose for pictures, and I took a good number of them with and for other people along the way.  But this guy kept positioning me and re-positioning me.  He must have taken two dozen pictures.  All this as there were hundreds of other, better costumes in the surrounding area.  I had no idea what to do!  Obviously, I've got no clue as to what it's like to be ogled like many women in costumes are, but perhaps this gave me a little bit of insight into that ordeal...and it was super creepy.  And I was a guy with an ape mask on.

This last experience notwithstanding, I'm glad that I was able to get one more session out of ye ole' gorilla suit, before shipping it off to who knows where, where it'll begin a new life.  We'll see what further conventions bring, but I'll be happy to take a break from costuming for a while.

Oh, and I didn't get as many Beppo comments as you might think.