Showing posts with label Marvels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvels. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Alex Ross at the Warhol Museum


Looking for something fun to do in Pittsburgh?  Looking for something fun to do in Pittsburgh that's also comic book related?  Looking for something fun to do in Pittsburgh that's also comic book related and takes place starting October 1st?  BOY that's getting specific!  But in a major twist of fate, there's something happening that fits the criteria for all three of those descriptions.

I learned recently that The Andy Warhol Museum on Pittsburgh's North Shore (right next to PNC Park, home of the nose-diving Pirates!) will soon feature the exhibit "Heroes & Villains: The Comic Book Art of Alex Ross".  This exhibit runs from October 1st all the way to January 8th of next year, but those who show up on opening day can catch some additional programming.

The exhibit itself will obviously feature Ross's work as the main attraction, but it'll also showcase some of the work (comic and otherwise) that inspired Ross, including paintings by Norman Rockwell and Ross's mother, Lynette.  I'm sure that Warhol Superman painting will be there in a prominent location, too:


Tickets for this show are $15 for adults, but if you've got scads of money lying around ($250), you can be one of 30 people to take a private tour with Alex Ross himself around the museum on October 1st at 1:30.  For $35 extra, you can go to the "Unmasked" afterparty from 8:00-11:00 (the museum is apparently anticipating having people show up to this in full costume).

For exactly zero dollars (woo!), Ross is having a signing from 3:00-5:00.  This is pretty exciting, as it'll probably be the best chance I have to get an autograph from him - if you've been to a comic convention where Ross appears, lines are always egregiously long.  There's a two-item limit for this signing, which is a great thing; it's always incredibly annoying to see someone wheel up a crate of 500 comics for a creator to sign, especially when that person stands silently as the creator signs for half an hour.

Of course, when you're limited to two items, it becomes difficult to decide on what to bring - there's the seminal Marvels and Kingdom Come, the newer Project Superpowers or Kirby: Genesis, or some of Ross's art books like Mythology.


The description on the museum's website mentions an uncompleted Andy Warhol film that will be screening for the first time since 1964...Batman/Dracula.  I'm sure it'll be a nearly incomprehensible, no-budget mess, but just the idea of a Warhol Batman movie...featuring Dracula...is pretty interesting.

I'm planning on going but will opt for the standard $15 ticket.  And yeah, I'll probably give Alex Ross a copy of Teddy and they Yeti...just in case he looks at it and decides, "holy crap, I need to paint a cover for this series."  I guess I'll let him if he wants to.

Here are the appropriate links for the various events:

- main exhibit page: http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=2869
- private tour: http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=3971
- "Unmasked" afterparty: http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=4095
- autograph session: http://www.warhol.org/webcalendar/event.aspx?id=3977
- hours and admission information: http://www.warhol.org/visit/


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Birthday swag


The past few weeks have been, in a word, busy.  It's midterm time at school, my brother-in-law got married, I sent Teddy and the Yeti #3 off to the printer (forgot to mention that, huh?), filmed another episode of Franks and Beans, and what's my reward for all of this?  Apparently lots and lots of comic book related presents, courtesy family and friends.  Oh, and it was my birthday, too.

Among the awesome things I got are those pictured above.  My buddy Larry got me a Marvels hardcover, a Fantastic Four plug &; play video game and (as a gag, I assure you), the first issue of the Madballs comic series from Marvel's Star Comics imprint.  They've started to reissue Madballs since their heyday in the 1980s and, as I had a bunch of the originals, I plan on getting some of the new ones.  But I haven't yet.  But I will.  Maybe.

I also managed to snag the next book in Scott McCloud's instructional series, Reinventing Comics, and a Time Capsule backup for the Mac.  Now I can actually save my progress and not kill myself if the computer ever crashes and I lose all of my comic book work for the last three years!

My wife got me Funko's Thing bobblehead, which is AWESOME, a "Weird Al is my homeboy" shirt (which has nothing to do with comics but I'm showing it anyway), and a yeti keychain that you can see below:


The key ring comes off to make it like an action figure.  I'm not sure which way I'll use it yet.  Finally, Batman: Year 100 came in the mail on Saturday, which rounded out quite the haul for me on my...uh...19th birthday.  Right.

Oh, and I got an ice cream cake that had "Beast Wars" written on it.  Dairy Queen was pretty confused about that one.