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.

Pictures from the 2015 Comic-Con International, part 2: Wednesday (Art of Comic-Con exhibit, the Walking Dead and more!)

We're back with more pictures from Comic-Con!  It's September!  Whatever.  Here we go!

Wednesday night in San Diego is Preview Night.  Lots of people arrive in the city on this day, but in doing so I think they miss getting a chance - a few hours, anyway - to see some of the other things going on in conjunction with the convention.  There's never enough time to see everything at Comic-Con, but arriving a little bit early gives you some time during the buildup to the big storm.  Before getting in to the convention center, I stopped by the new San Diego public library, located on the other side of Petco Park.

The library is barely a year old, but they're already coordinating events with Comic-Con, and I can see the location becoming more ingrained in years to come.  There were a few panels and exhibits there this year, but I'd imagine that will increase greatly in the near future.

One exhibit that coincided with the convention was "The Art of Comic-Con", the library's rooftop display of original art and items related to the last 45 years of Comic-Con in San Diego.  The gallery is small, but it still held a number of great, rare and what I imagine to be very expensive pieces, such as this giant original drawing from Sergio Aragones.

Original cover art from the different programs took up the better part of one wall.  This was one of my favorites.

Here's a shot of one side of the gallery.  On the far left are some light pole banners from years past.

I saw this weeks after the UHF screening in Pittsburgh.  Nice.

The new library is such a beautiful place.  I can't wait until there are more events held there.

After leaving the library, it was time to head back to the convention center.  I was able to get into the hall a few minutes early, thanks to some friends with exhibitor badges.  As you walked in to the lobby, you could see one of these photo opportunities right along the wall by the Hall D entrance.  It was a popular spot and I'm sure there are about 100 other pictures similar to this one.  I'll accept it.

The convention center surprisingly - and without much warning - opened a half hour early this year.  This caught me off guard and I was scrambling to get to where I needed to be as attendees flooded the area.  My wife and brother-in-law, incredibly enough, made it into the elusive Hasbro line on Preview Night for the first time in four years, despite having early entrance to the hall in three of those.  I made my way to the Mattel booth, where I was able to pick up the coin you see above, a "Skeletoken", which served as an entrance fee to the He-Man-themed "Skeletor's Lair" offsite store.  It's one of the coolest things I brought back with me from the show.

It wasn't long before the convention hall was packed.

The Walking Dead once again had a big presence at the show, including this recreation of a particularly gruesome scene from the fifth season.

And like last year, zombies roamed the display area, and followed those brave enough to wait a while in line into the trailer in the background.

Here's a diverse group of sci-fi fans!

Nintendo took up a bunch of space near the end of the hall, with a big display and playable versions of the new Mario Maker game, which looks like a lot of fun and probably means that I'll be getting a WiiU at some point before the year is over.

Adult Swim had a bean bag toss game for prizes on the floor to go along with their outside space.

And, of course, the Tick booth had set up again in its usual spot.

The booth was busy for most of the convention, which was nice to see.  The newest Tick issue debuted at the show and it did well.

The day was over at 9:00, and then it was time to explore the city just a bit before heading back to get ready for Thursday.  The line for Skeletor's Lair was incredibly long (people waited upwards of five hours to get in), so we decided to put that off until later.

This is my brother-in-law.  It kind of looks like he's eating bugs off the grill of this Jurassic Park vehicle.

This was an interesting piece of street art we saw while walking back to our car at night.  As I'll show later, there were these different variations on Bart Simpson painted on a number of different objects on this street corner, with the phrase "Bart Club" on most of them.  I've tried to look up something about them since then, but I haven't had any luck.  It's weird, but neat.  I wonder what it's all about?

That's it for Wednesday.  Thursday is coming up.

2012 Eisner Awards

The nominees for this year's Eisner Awards have been announced, and - surprise! - I got a ballot in the mail recently.  This is pretty cool.  On one hand, I wonder if this is an indication that I have maybe "arrived" and am involved in the comic book industry in earnest.  On the other, I wonder if these things just get sent out to anyone who ever published a comic or had a booth at Comic-Con.  Perhaps I'll just let ignorance be bliss in this case.

The nominees can easily be found online, but here are a few observations on my part:

- Daredevil got nominated a whole heck of a lot, and I'd say the book and those involved deserve the praise.  It's a great, fun book that I look forward to every month.

- Princeless got nominated twice, including for "Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)".  The folks from Action Lab press, the studio behind Princeless, were booth neighbors at the Pittsburgh Comicon, so it's cool to have a face to put to one of the nominees that many probably haven't heard of.  I hope they bring home a trophy.

- Sergio Aragones' Funnies wasn't nominated for a "Best Humor Publication" award?!  This title from Bongo Comics is a fantastic book that, while it certainly doesn't push any boundaries, is funny from cover to cover.  I'm a big fan of the title.

- FUBAR didn't land in the "Best Anthology" category, but there is a place to write in your own choice.  I wonder if it's petty to vote for a book you worked on?  It probably is.  To verify "voting eligibility", I'll need to write in some of my credentials, which naturally include FUBAR.  Conflict of interest?  Or just a very strong opinion?

Here's an interesting line from the ballot regarding the ceremony, held on the Friday of Comic-Con International: "As a professional, you will get preferred seating at the event."  Ooo!  Look at that!  My own seat, right up front.  This is something I'll need to consider attending, if only because it'd be fun to do once.  I'll certainly vote...maybe I'll even show up!  Whether or not I steal an award will remain a mystery until then.