Pictures from the 2015 New York Comic Con, part 2: Saturday (THE THING, KFC comic, Valiant panel, Small Press Commandos and more!)

I think I'm finally done with convention pictures after this batch. That is, until the next con rolls around. Professional badges for Comic-Con in San Diego are up for grabs tomorrow...so I'll be glued to the computer for a while in attempts to grab a few. Wish me luck. (I said do it!!)

These pictures are from the Saturday at New York Comic Con. I apparently took a lot more pictures on this day than the day before! There were just a ton of great costumes to be seen - maybe not quite reaching SDCC levels, but it was close. NYCC impressed me this year. Let's take a peek.

For a cartoon about a man with a horse head, Bojack Horseman is one of the darkest shows I've seen in a while. It's really deep and at times incredibly depressing. And there are jokes, too! Princess Caroline here did a great job with her costume.

Here's a lonely picture of Gambit.

I hear that this version of Angela won the top costuming award in at least one category later this night. It's easy to see why - this person did a fantastic job. Really well done.

If you ventured outside the convention hall, chances are that you saw what appears to be a TSA repository for the magically inclined. No one was really safeguarding any of these, either. Anyone want a Captain America shield?

I assume that these were taken from people who tried to enter the show because they might have posed some kind of hazard...though I saw plenty of people inside with swords and other big, potentially dangerous items. Who can say?

I loved this silver age Brainiac and Lex Luthor combo!

RIIIICHAAARDS!!! The Fantastic Four costume fragment was a nice touch.

The Lich with some light reading material. 

Jean is kind of blocking Scott here, but that's okay. These costumes are mostly comic accurate, except for Wolverine, who just shows up uninvited all the time anyway.

Here's some more X-Men. Jubilee's finger sparklers are a good solution!

This Jurassic World display was the bane of my existence. They brought out animatronic raptors every hour and people swarmed the display. They had fog at times, too, which made it even more annoying. I guess you gotta use the space that's available, but man!

Check out zombie Cap's teeth. Nicely done!

The entrance to the show was re-done with the Jurassic World branding, too. Not as annoying.

Oh, did you know that there was a guy who dressed up like THE THING at the show? He wasn't the only guy, either. What a terrific costume. I bet it was hot as all get-out in there. But this guy suffers for his craft, and for that we're all grateful. Oh yeah!!

Of course, I had to get a picture with Mr. Grimm here. It looks like he took some battle damage. That's okay...I'm sure he came out a winner.

Tom Servo!

Supergirl and alternate universe Supergirl.

This costume had wings that retracted and expanded.

Gorilla Grodd! Complete with gilded human skulls.

DC, which hasn't had floor space the last two years for some weird reason, set up at one corner of the convention center. It took me forever to find this place, because who sets up in the lobby? I was looking for this:

...which I understand is completely ridiculous, but I had to get this stupid promo comic from Kentucky Fried Chicken, especially after picking up KFC's offering at SDCC. This one had nothing to do with the earlier one, which was a shame. Also, Flash's new outfit is terrible. The story inside has an evil Colonel Sanders from - no kidding - the Crime Syndicate's Earth 3. I'm still happy that I was able to find this book.

One of my last stops during the show for the day was at a Valiant Comics panel. Everyone's good friend Rafer Roberts is writing the upcoming Archer and Armstrong relaunch for the company, and this was one of the first big brouhahas surrounding that.

After the panel, Rafer had a signing at the Valiant booth (with Jody Houser)! Really happy for the guy.

Artist alley stays open for an hour after the show floor, so I spent the last hour there. It seemed that it cleared out pretty quickly, though, for whatever reason. Once again I ran into Karin Rindevall and managed to cajole her into drawing in the Thing sketchbook! We squatted at the table of an A-list artist who left early (a legend, really) and Karin left her mark on the book. I've scanned 'em all in and will show them off soon...maybe the next post?

Afterwards, it was a Small Press Commandos dinner at a local Irish Pub with Jeff McComsey, Will and Michael Perkins, Andrew DelQuadro, Oliver Mertz, Dom Vivona and others! It was a great way to end the night...

...but then I decided to walk six miles at night though the streets of New York City to find some Mug Cream Soda. But find it I did, and boy, was it good.

NYCC stepped up its game in 2015. And with the upcoming expansion of the Javits Center, I hope that it will only get better. I'm looking forward to the 2016 version already!

Impromptu signing at Comic Book Jones this Saturday, 12/14/13!

The good folks at Staten Island, New York's Comic Book Jones are celebrating their store's sixth anniversary this weekend, and they were gracious enough to invite me and some other talented gentlemen to sign as part of the festivities.

Comic Book Jones is a shop near New York City, and I've heard lots of good things about it.  In the past, they've hosted a number of FUBAR creators, and I've been regaled with stories about the fun time had at this store.  I'm excited to experience it myself and I'm especially excited to get to hang around in the same forum as the other comic guests.

As you can see from the CBJ newsletter, there are a number of professionals attending over the weekend.  I'll be joined on Saturday by FUBAR art director Steve Becker, along with Fred Van Lente,  Ryan Dunlavey and Charles Soule!  Sunday brings to the shop Evan Dorkan, Jacob Chabot, Chris Giarrusso and Frank Tieri!

I'm also listed as "newly added", which I think means that they had to work very hard around my extremely busy schedule, pulling lots of strings to get me to agree to make a public experience.  Either that or I didn't set this up until almost the last minute.  Also, my name does not have its customary "D" on the end, which I always thought was superfluous anyway.

If you're in the NYC area this Saturday, I hope you'll stop by to say hello.  I'll have some FUBAR and Tick books with me and I'll be happy to have a staring contest with anyone who comes in and wants to step up to the plate.  I'm not certain as to what times I'll be in the store; Steve and I are planning on coming in early, but we don't have a time locked down yet.  I'll try to update that information here or on my Twitter feed.  Here's some official info for the store!

Address: 2220 Forest Ave. Staten Island, NY 10303
Webpage: www.comicbookjones.com
Phone: (718) 448-1234
E-mail: ComicBookJones@gmail.com

And yes, I've already checked.  There's a place that sells Mug Cream Soda right across the street from the store.  Very exciting.

Free Comic Book Day is here with the Tick and FUBAR!

Happy Free Comic Book Day, everyone!  Today's a day that I've been looking forward to for quite some time, as I get to pick up some great free comics...and also a couple that I did a little bit of work on.  I hope that we all get a chance to make it to a participating comic shop today for the event - and if you're out there and you happen to see a copy of the Tick or FUBAR specials, well, I hope you'll grab one of those as well.  As a personal favor to me.  I'll owe you.

I got a peek at both books a few weeks ago, but now they're out in the wild and I'm pretty excited about it.  I drove up to Boston yesterday and I'm set to sign some books at three different New England Comics locations this weekend.  My schedule is as follows:

NEC Quincy: Saturday 11-2
NEC Cambridge/Harvard Square: Saturday 4-6
NEC Malden: Sunday noon-2

I was able to write a two-page editorial piece for the Tick special.  Here is proof that I mentioned Franks and Beans in a publication being distributed around the world.

If anyone picks up the book and finds this page as a result, I hope you'll let me know what you thought of it, good or bad.  According to the above screenshot from Reddit (sent to me by FUBAR EIC Jeff McComsey), someone is preparing to bring things to one of the stores for me to sign.  This is pretty bizarre, but of course I will sign anything (car tires, dog collars, liquid nitrogen) that anyone brings my way.

And speaking of FUBAR, today's the day for a pretty big release for this book as well.  The FUBAR: FCBD Special will reach more readers than all of the other publications combined, so we're all crossing our fingers with this one in the hopes that it leads to some new exposure and interest.  Judging from the picture below, it might be working:

This is the stack of the newly-released FUBAR: American History Z that Beyond Comics in Maryland ordered in anticipation of either the apocalypse or some brisk sales.  There's nearly 200 books piled up here.  AHZ came out in stores last Wednesday - just in time! - and hopefully they're in a prominent place come tomorrow.

And as we all know, Mug Cream Soda is hard to come by in Pittsburgh for some ungodly reason, so whenever I take a trip that takes me anywhere near New York City, I stock up.  Suffice it to say that I'm stocked up for a little while, now.

Some quick news items:
- NPR has a handy guide to Free Comic Book Day, and the author of this article lists the Tick as one of his "Best Bets"! http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/05/01/180290321/which-comics-should-i-get-your-free-comic-book-day-cheat-sheet
- Rue Morgue has a pre-FCBD interview with a number of FUBAR contributors here:
http://www.rue-morgue.com/2013/05/free-comic-book-day-2013-an-interview-with-the-creators-of-fubar/
- IGN also spends some time talking about the FUBAR special here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/03/a-guide-to-free-comic-book-day-2013

If you're in the Boston area, stop by tomorrow or Sunday and say hi.  If not, you can still, as incredible as it sounds, enjoy Free Comic Book Day without seeing or coming into physical contact with me, so I hope you still make it out to grab some free books.  I'll post some pictures from the day here soon, so you can wait in staggering anticipation until those arrive.  It's a big day.

Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash comic store in Red Bank, NJ

I took a trip this weekend to visit some family near Allentown, PA (famous for the Billy Joel song and NOTHING ELSE), and while I was there we managed a little day trip to New York and surrounding areas.  My brother-in-law, great guy that he is, mentioned that the Kevin Smith owned comic shop, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, was nearby, so an impromptu side trip was quickly undertaken!  Below are some pictures of the shop, which was a pretty neat place.

While I'm not Kevin Smith's biggest fan in the world, I have seen most of his movies and I've enjoyed more than a few (the night before, thought, I watched Red State and MAN was it dark!).  I also think that, despite the fact that he does tend to reuse plot points and character traits, and despite his lack of ability to stick to a deadline, I think he's good for the comic industry and I have enjoyed most of his work.  His Green Arrow run from, what, 10 years ago (?) remains a favorite for me.

You've got to admit, however you feel about the man, it's pretty cool that he owns his own comic book shop.  The above two pictures are, of course, from outside the shop in Red Bank, New Jersey.  Red Bank was a pretty hip place all around, it seemed, and we spent some time in town afterwards.

One of the first things you see when entering the shop is this sign from Clerks.  There were props and memorabilia from a number of Smith's movies all over the place, which was pretty neat.  It beats storing them in some garage for years on end.

Here's the front of the store, complete with New Jersey Devils banners and framed Batman comics.  Smith supposedly works in the store from time to time (i.e. whenever he feels like it), though he wasn't there this day.  I wonder how often he does come in with the amount of time he spends directing and filming.

The store seemed pretty big for a comic shop, which allowed for the showcase areas with movie and comic props.  There was a hefty supply of comics written by Smith at the front of the store, some of which he had signed.  These were on sale for no extra charge, which I thought was pretty thoughtful of the guy.

The back of the store was a little more unorganized, with comics and props in random places as if this part was still under construction.  Even so, there were some neat, bigger items in the back such as outfits from Clerks II.

And look!  Here's Mooby the Golden Calf from Dogma and a number of movies.

I'd like to think that Jesus is my buddy, too.  I wonder who designed this thing.

In Mallrats (featuring an appearance with Stan Lee, in which he's asked about the Thing's junk), Jason Lee's character hangs out at the local comic shop and eventually owns one (if I'm remembering correctly...it's been a long time since I've seen it).  Surrounding this display were lots of comic book parodies from the movie, such as the one directly below...

...yep.  I'm not sure what else needs to be said about it.  But since it's a Fantastic Four parody, I had to take a picture.

On one side of the store, above the back issue bins of comics, there are what I assume to be original Alex Ross paintings.  Smith currently writes a Green Hornet comic for Dynamite Entertainment and Ross does the covers, which explains the connection.  It was pretty cool to see these, which were placed so inconspicuously that I almost didn't see them.

I ended up buying a couple things, including these two autographed Batman comics.  I said it before, but it bears repeating: it's cool that the guy comes in, signs some of his stuff, and then sells it without marking it up in price at all.  This was a cool, unique shop, and I had a good time looking at all of the original comic art, movie props and general merchandise.  And the place was jumpin' when I was there, too!  If you're ever near Red Bank, NJ, stop in and see it for yourself.

Oh, and I found lots of Mug Cream Soda in nearby Staten Island.  I bought a lot of it.  Dear Pepsi, sell Mug Cream Soda in the Pittsburgh area so I don't have to travel to New York to buy it!  Love, Jeff.