Pictures from the 2016 Comic-Con International, part 3: Thursday (Michael Rooker, "Weird Al" Yankovic, NerdHQ and more!)

It's time for more pictures from Comic-Con! These ones are from Thursday the 21st.

Because I was meeting some people, I got to Comic-Con pretty early this day - around 7:00am. Even though there are always people in lines no matter what time it is, there wasn't a big crowd outside at this point in the day. I dropped some things off in the convention center and got to see what Comic-Con looks like when almost no one else is there.

After a few minutes inside, I started the walk back to the Spreckels Theater a few blocks away. This was one of the few times that I got to actually take a look at some of the things happening outside of the convention center.

Right outside of NerdHQ at the Children's Museum was a Star Trek display (I think they had a fashion show here later on) with an original series bridge and transporter replica. If you were willing to wait in a (very long) line, you could get your picture on stage.

The new Star Trek makeup line was being advertised at a number of locations during the convention. Wouldn't this just be...regular makeup? Oh well.

After waiting in line to get tickets for this day's Conan O'Brien filming, I tried (and failed) to pick up my Mattel order at the adjacent hotel. But I did meet Spider-Man there.

Then I went back to the convention hall...and Spider-Man was there, too!

I mostly stay away from the biggest booths at the show as they are difficult to navigate...but the DC booth did have some show costumes on display.

It seems that fans are willing to really go out to make a good Hawkman/girl/woman costume. The wings really make it.

Here's a rather suspicious Black Widow.

Do they sell these giant Spaceballs helmets somewhere?

This guy is really pulling off the look.

My friend Nick dressed up as X-Man Quentin Quire.

Thursday is the first day for the world famous Taco Truck...which I guess is now called "Tacos Mexico". Thank goodness for the taco truck. It's one of the things I look forward to most every year.

After eating a burrito, I saw Michael Rooker from the Walking Dead walking briskly through the convention center. This is the picture he was willing to take with me - I'm pretty happy with it. It looks like I'm sneaking up behind ol' Merle.

Conan filmed in the early afternoon on this day, so I missed a few hours of the convention for it. It was worth it, though, because "Weird Al" Yankovic was performing on this episode. I even had a chance to meet up with drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz a little bit before the show. I gave him a few of the "Weird Al at Comic-Con" prints that I made. It was a good time.

The show was set up much like Wednesday's taping. This time around, Bruce Campbell, Nick Kroll and the WB superhero lineup (Supergirl, Green Arrow, the Flash) made appearances.

Al came out last and performed "Foil" from the "Mandatory Fun" album.

They crammed so much into this show. When Al was done singing, he ripped his apron off and leaped over into a seat to do a quick interview with Conan.

There was a lot of walking done this day. After filming ended, I grabbed the Funko they handed out and ran back to the convention center for the last two hours.

I signed some books at the New England Comics booth and ran into Kumail Nanjiani from "Silicon Valley"! We talked about the Tick for a while, which was fun.

After the convention closed, it was off to the races - Weird Al was playing at nearby San Diego State University. The campus was, of course, beautiful, and their outdoor theater was very impressive. I handed out the rest of my Comic-Con posters, which went over pretty well.

The seats were great, the weather was cool and the concert was fun. It was a good time.

BUT THE NIGHT WASN'T OVER YET! This was a busy day. I ended it by heading back downtown to Nerd HQ's annual dance party, which is always packed.

While I was there, I met some friends. I have no idea who these people are. They are also not this much shorter than I am.

The NerdHQ photo booth is a yearly tradition. That's Flutter's Jennie Wood on the right.

More pictures to come. Looking back at these pictures, it's hard to believe that I did so much in one day. But I guess that's what Comic-Con is.

Watch Amazon's "The Tick" RIGHT NOW! (and vote and comment!)

This day has been a long time in coming, but I think you'll agree that it's been worth the wait. The Tick has returned to television in the form of Amazon's Pilot Season program. What's best is that you can now stream the very first episode for free (available here)!

I was able to first watch the pilot last night and I loved every second of it. I am, naturally, very biased, but I hope that you'll believe me and give it a shot. And as someone who occupies just a tiny part of the Tick's universe, I know for a fact that the people involved in this production gave it their heart and soul in bringing the concept back.

There are a lot of reasons to love this new series, but for me it's how resonant the characters are, even in just the first episode. Griffin Newman is the focus of the pilot and he plays an empathetic, nuanced Arthur that provides a perfect balanced to the bombastic, aloof Tick, played by Peter Serafinowicz. One of the great additions to this show is a new spotlight on Arthur's sister, Dot, played by Valorie Curry. I for one cannot wait to see how her character grows and eclipses the character's appearances in previous iterations.

If you take the time and watch the pilot, I hope that you'll also vote for the show and leave a comment with Amazon - you can do both from the amazon.com/pilotseason homepage. Amazon will be streaming this episode for the foreseeable future and will be taking fan feedback for just about a month - we should know sometime near the end of September if the show will get picked up for a full series. We need to make this happen! So please, if you like the show (or just The Tick in general), watch it, tell your friends about it, vote for it and comment on it!

The above picture is from this year's SDCC panel and was probably my favorite moment at the convention. I know that this series can be a force at Amazon for years to come. Please help make this happen!

OTHER TICK STUFF:

I have (of course) been searching the Internet for mentions of The Tick over the last few days, and I found a couple fun items. The first is an article about the original live action show from back in 2001.

The second is a really cool sketch cover drawn on the 2015 Comic-Con exclusive book. I'm glad that we finally printed some blank sketch covers for 2015 and '16 and it's neat when these pop up every once in a while. The person who owns this even got it graded and everything!

That's it. This was an obligatory post, but I mean it when I say that the show is worth your while. I hope you'll check it out.

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 2016 Comic-Con International, part 1: Tuesday (the day before!)

It's time to once again check out some pictures from the recently concluded 2016 Comic-Con International in San Diego! There's a lot to get to, but let's start out slowly with some pictures from the day before Comic-Con, Tuesday the 19th. I usually arrive in San Diego the day before the convention in an attempt to function like a human being once things start on preview night, but this year was a little different in that for the first time since 2012, I was able to do some setup on Tuesday.

Getting to enter the convention hall a day early is a lot of fun, if for nothing else than the fact that it's an experience not many other people get to have. Comic-Con instituted some changes with their badges this year, sending them in the mail weeks before the show rather than having on-site pickup. This eliminated one of the long lines to enter and I appreciated that. Not everyone is a fan of the new RF tagged badges, but I had no problems with them and thought the process went smoothly.

Another cool thing about getting to enter a day early is getting to run around the convention floor before it opens. A lot of sightseeing happens on this day from exhibitors.

There was no air conditioning inside the hall on this day, which was fairly terrible as the first few days of the convention were hot and sunny. So I didn't do too much inside other than getting the boxes where they needed to be and getting the appropriate lanyards and tags.

To the left of the above picture, you can see the new electronic monitors at the entrances. Other than having to go in and out of specific doors, it wasn't too much of a hassle.

Here's the inside of Comic-Con while setup is still happening at a furious clip. In the above picture we can see DC Comics on the left and Sideshow Collectables on the right. Lotsa freight to unbox on Tuesdays.

Comic-Con sprawl continues, and on Tuesday afternoon I went to my first Comic-Con panel...before the show officially opened. This was the Lindley Lecture on Law & Comics, held at the San Diego Central Library. I signed up to attend online, and when I entered the auditorium, I was asked to write down my name and bar association number.

Apparently, a vast majority of attendees were practicing lawyers (this probably counted as some sort of continuing education lecture), but the panel was nonetheless enjoyable for someone who was there as a fan. Terry Moore (and his entertainment lawyer) was the featured speaker and it went well. It was also nice to get out of the heat for a bit.

The banners adorning the light posts this year had Dr. Strange branding. These stayed up until several days after the show ended. Maybe you can just take one? Let's find out next year, shall we?

This was easily the busiest Tuesday that I've experienced at the show in the few years that I've been attending. I had a lot of fun but it did make the rest of the show a little tougher to get through, as I didn't relax nor did I go to sleep early this night. And Wednesday came early this year, too! But I guess that's what to expect with Comic-Con. More pictures to come soon!

"Rotten Tomatoes: Adrift in Space" Comic-Con poster

My love for the folks at Rotten Tomatoes should come as no surprise. Ever since Larry and I were interviewed by EIC Matt Atchity at Comic-Con in 2012, I've been a big fan of not just the website but of the people behind it as well. This year, I decided to put together a comic strip with artist Ian Chase Nichols and I was able to hand it out to the participants at the "Your Opinion Sucks!" panel at Comic-Con.

I've got pictures from the event, but for now I thought I'd just post the comic strip itself, which I had printed as a 24"x36" poster. As you can see, I went back to the well one more time and set the strip in space, but I think it works.

As with the Weird Al print I made, I might have tossed in some recognizable characters, ones that had some history as movie critics of sorts. I think Jay Sherman turned out especially well.

I might try to elbow my way into doing another one of these for the New York Comic-Con, but we'll see. For now, I'm happy that I was able to write my own little love note to the folks at Rotten Tomatoes.

"Weird Al at Comic-Con" poster

I'm back from another fun time at Comic-Con, and before the inevitable deluge of pictures, I thought I'd share this image from a poster I created just for the event. "Weird Al" Yankovic made a few appearances in and around Comic-Con, so I decided that it would be fun to mark the event with my own tribute in the form of a poster, itself a tribute to a 1905 "Little Nemo in Slumberland" strip by Winsor McCay.

I gave the posters away on Wednesday and Thursday of the show, and before Al's Thursday-night appearance at the Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre in San Diego, about ten miles away from the convention center.

I took the opportunity to, I suppose, skirt the edges of legality and toss in some of my other favorite fictional characters, such as the Thing, the Tick, Spider-Man 2099 and others from Futurama, the Venture Bros. and the like. This is me living on the edge.

Artwork on the print is by none other than Duane Redhead, who did a lovely job at squeezing a lot into a little bit of space. I'll talk more about this in a future post, but it went over pretty well and I was able to get a few copies to Al and his band during the convention. It was a lot of fun to put together.

Tick exclusives at SDCC! Plus a Tick panel!

I'm leaving for Comic-Con in...about 15 hours, but that doesn't mean there's not time for a new blog post, right? ...right? Well, anyway, I just wanted to point out that there will be a brand new issue of The Tick on sale in San Diego! Duane and I put this book together a few months back and I'm excited to see it in person. It's limited to 260 copies and it'll be available exclusively at the New England Comics booth (#1807) during the show. I'll also be signing books there at various points during the convention!

There's a blank sketch cover as well! This one is also limited to 260 copies. I'm pretty sure it's not 250 this year so I can get some copies for myself, ha. Each issue will cost $7.99.

And if you're coming to the convention, don't forget to check out this Tick panel with creator Ben Edlund! It's happening on Friday, 7/22 from 2:30-3:30 at the Hornet Grand Theatre. This will be a ticketed event, as space is very limited. Tickets are free, but you have to grab 'em in the Sails pavilion the day of the event. Good luck!