Pictures from the 2019 Comic-Con International, part 3 (Thursday, 7/18)

Let's look at some pictures from Thursday at Comic-Con!

This may sound hard to believe, but I actually spent a decent amount of time at my booth this year - certainly more time than any previous year. This happened for various reasons (I'm responsible, maybe??), but because of this, I didn't get to see as much of the floor as I might usually see. I only ran past the LEGO booth a few times, but I'm glad I did - their displays were as impressive as ever. I really liked this Iron Man from Avengers: Endgame.

The backdrop for this Detective Comics #1000 Batman was even cooler than the life-size figure, I thought.

And here's a red Stormtrooper - I think they're calling it a Sith Trooper? They has an exclusive bust of this guy for sale.

Right before the doors opened in the morning, I passed by the Star Wars display.

By far the most popular costume choice at the convention was the Stranger Things "Scoops Ahoy" outfit. I had just finished watching the third season before flying out to California, so I especially appreciated this choice. I'll have a separate post with all of these costumes, back to back!

This is a video game reference. I'm fairly confident of that.

What a great Sabrina costume!

I also spent some time at the New England Comics booth this year, promoting and selling our new Comic-Con special edition Tick comic. It sold very well! Here I am with Ian Nichols, artist on this year's issue.

I absolutely loved "Into the Spider-Verse" and I'm thrilled to see every costume inspired by it. Now let's get Spidey 2099 in the mix!

Various Avengers, assemble!

Thursday seemed like a slower day than I was used to. It was still incredibly busy, and it picked up considerably at other times. It was nice to be able to walk the aisles at least for a little while.

DOOOOOOM

Around 1:00, I left the convention hall and went out the back exit. There I found some fencing going on, behind a rope, of course.

This Batman '66 boat was in the harbor directly behind the convention center.

What's this? Is the Taco Truck back? THE TACO TRUCK IS BACK! It returned for another year, and I couldn't be happier. Love the Taco Truck.

While in line, I met this gentleman, and we talked loudly about Star Trek for a solid 20 minutes. I had a great time!

TACO TRUCK SELFIE!

After eating, I took a stroll along the harbor, behind the convention center. Adult Swim had the only major display directly against the water. This site was just opening up for the first time of the show, and I was able to walk in without much of a wait - this was good timing and nothing else, as this was as busy as ever at later times. The Rickmobile was just getting set up!

Most of the activities were not up and running yet at this time. Here's a relatively empty shot of the main stage.

The one site that was open was the "Rickflector" a VR-like Rick and Morty experience. Once you got your face scanned (no chance that'll be used for marketing purposes), you entered one of these chambers, where you tried to dodge ray-gun fire.

It was an interesting experience, but I don't think all of the bugs were worked out quite yet. I'm glad I did it, but also glad I didn't wait too long to do it.

By this point, I had gotten as much sun as I could handle without bursting into flame, so I went back inside. I love this shot of the convention floor!

While at the booth, I saw some great costumes. People wear costumes each of the five days, but this was a good Thursday, I thought.

I told this guy to go chase a bike after I got his picture.

I'm not sure how the Joker fits in here, but I'll take it.

Later in the day, I walked to the other side of the main hall, into the gaming section. I don't know what these pictures were being taken for, but these guys were ready for it.

I got some trading cards at the Upper Deck booth, which had this Sam Raimi-era Spider-Man hanging above it.

Mid snap, even!

These are impressive. I don't know what they are. But they're impressive.

Daken, one of Wolverine's many, many children.

I saw a number of these statues around the floor.

At the end of the day, Ian and I met up with Zander Cannon briefly.

And then the convention closed for the day! After meeting up with my group, I had one more thing to see this evening...

...the stairs! (Not really.)

Around 8:30, I headed back to the Gaslamp district.

Okay, here's Harvey Birdman.

Finally! I made it to the Jean-Luc Picard: His First Duty offsite. I had been to the same location in previous years for other Star Trek-related displays, so apparently they've got a corner on this particular building. There were a lot of really cool props on display in anticipation of the new Picard series.

It's the flute from "The Inner Light"! Wow!

And here's a model of the movie Enterprise.

At the back of the room, they had a big "Captain Picard Day" banner draped just below the ceiling.

Was the bat'leth sharp? No, it was not. Dishonor!

And here's a formal uniform from the Insurrection movie.

Jessica Cruz also stopped by to check it all out.

And that was pretty much it - on the way back to the car, I saw this Watchmen banner; the display wasn't open yet.

And some old friends dropped by, too. Can you believe that I was able to make it through the entire convention without having the ending of Game of Thrones spoiled for me? Please, uh, don't take that as an invitation to spoil it in the comments. Larry, don't spoil it. Don't do it!

More pictures soon!

Thing sketchbook, part 17

So many great Thing sketches in this round of the Thing sketchbook show...thing.  This might be the best grouping of five consecutive sketches yet...though I suppose I've said that before.  There are some great ones, though, to be sure.  Check 'em out!

Zander Cannon - Comic-Con International 2014

After pulling in a half dozen sketches at Comic-Con in both 2012 and '13, for some reason I returned from San Diego in 2014 having added only one Thing sketch to the book.  But what a sketch it is!  This beauty, done entirely in colored pencils, is by Zander Cannon, perhaps best known for his work on the graphic novel Heck! and his work on the America's Best Comics line with Alan Moore.  I know him best, though, for his short lived Chainsaw Vigilante series, a spinoff of the Tick line.  The rounded figure and the stubby arms and legs really make this piece for me - along with, of course, the beautiful bright orange and blue.

Dani Grew - Toonseum 2014

I worked with Dani Grew during my time volunteering at the Toonseum in Pittsburgh.  Dani is an artist in residence at the museum, and she does a lot of work in coordinating the various exhibits as well.  I was hesitant to ask her to draw something in the sketchbook as I wasn't sure if she's want to do it or not...but as always, my desire for Thing sketches overrides any semblance of manners or couth.  And this time, my lack of social grace paid off in the form of this great sketch.  I love the subway figures to each side and how expressive everyone is.

Katie Cook - Pittsburgh Comicon 2014

One of my big regrets of going to Detroit's Motor City Con was forgetting to take the sketchbook with me.  I partially made up for it by buying a blank cover and having Katie Cook draw on it, but it's just not the same as getting something in the ol' sketchbook.  When I saw that Cook was coming to the Pittsburgh Comicon in 2014, almost four years after the Detroit show, I knew that I had to add a sketch and I was lucky enough to grab this great, tiny watercolor before I ran out of pages.

Let's check out that sketch cover!

Okay, obviously the scrapbook joke is a theme of Cook's, but I'll go with it.  Now that I think about it, I have a few of these blank covers with sketches on them.  Maybe one day the world will be ready for a sketch cover post.  Who can say?

Christopher Peterson - New York Comic Con 2014

I made it back to the New York Comic Con in 2014 and was able to spend one day at the show.  NYCC is always packed to the gills with people and it's hard to see everything in one day, so I try to make a point to add one sketch into the book when I go there - there's usually not time to get more than that unless that's what I want to do all day.  Anyway, this year I was able to get a sketch from Christopher Peterson, a fellow FUBAR alum who has gone on to work on some fairly high profile books.  Here we see another appearance of the Thing with a trench coat, which I am always grateful for.  This is a very moody piece!  I think Christopher was happy with it and I certainly am as well.

Don Simpson - Pittsburgh Indy Comix Expo 2015

It's pretty difficult not to just stare at this piece when I look through the book.  It's a full-figure drawing, it's in wonderfully rendered color, it's by Megaton Man creator Don Simpson...and it's the Thing!  It's hard to find fault in any of those reasons.  It's difficult to rank the drawings in the book, but if I absolutely had to, this would certainly occupy one of the top spaces.  Not only did I get to strike up a conversation with Don, but I at least hold out a little bit of hope that one day we may work together on something fun.  For certain, he drew one of the signature pieces for the book, and I couldn't be happier with it.  It's, in a word, incredible.

It'll be hard to top these five as a group.  We'll see what I can do with the next batch, some of which have yet to be drawn!