Travel Blog: SDCC!

Day 5: The Recap!

Hey all!

WOW! It's Monday and we are finally home, posting my recap of Sunday (and the Con as a whole) from the comforts of my own Internet connection in my very messy office. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling, sad that another con has come and gone (number 17 for this old guy) and happiness that I am back at home. I will post up a quick Sunday recap, and then my thoughts on Comic Con as a whole.

Sunday is children's day at the Con, with most of the panels and large signings set up for the youth in attendance. As such there isn't a lot of panels or events going on and Sunday makes a great day for shopping, trying to find out those last second deals and key purchases. We only had two thing son the agenda today, one being my best friend Jason getting the chance to work behind one of the tables in the small pres area. Josh Howard, who creates a book called Dead at 17 (currently available through Image Comics) left the con a day early and Jason, along with his friend Matt Hebb (a really great penciler and friend) got to sit behind his booth and do sketch cards. They both turned out some really great stuff (Matt drew an excellent Spider-Woman [in COLOR!] for me) and Jason turned out some really intense cowboy and zombie cards, a bit of a tease for our (hopefully) upcoming collaboration. They hung out at the table and drew and talked to people so that was really cool.

The second was to get Autumn through James Jean signing. I had waited yesterday but Autumn had a panel to go to so she got in line today. James Jean is a wonderful illustrator of books, best known for his work on Fables as the cover artist. Autumn had picked up his new art book as well as his new book of prints. It was a pretty quick line, about 45 minutes, but he signed everything she had taken and even did some small sketching in the book. I also got to chatting with one of the very wonderful ladies from Tara McPherson's booth while in line so that was cool. We talked about art and music and general thoughts on Comic Con so I enjoyed that a lot. Being such a huge fan of Tara it was nice not to be looked at as weird by someone as close to her as she is, to be just a fan and be kosher.

I spent the big part of my day searching for some comic books. It wanted to get back to my Con roots and buy some comics. Over the past few years I have mostly bought imports or hard to find stuff, this year I wanted to dig up some old X-Men and Spider Woman comics, which i did doing one of my favorite comic con past times, trolling through the dollar bins. Well in this economy the dollar bins are closer to $2.00 bins but still I managed to load up on some seriously great X-Men, from the mid to late 100's and nearly complete my Spider Woman run. Don't ask me why, but my two favorite Marvel characters, Dazzler and Spider Woman, both have had series published around the same time ans both ended about the same time. The books were not teh greatest quality in terms of art of story, but it's more about the character and the times, rather than the content. The X-Men hold up really well, coming from the peak of writer Chris Clairmont's epic run.

We ended the day browsing for souvenirs for work folk and trying to get some last second discounts from some of the vendors. Overall it was a great experience and a wonderful reminder of why i love coming every year so much. Con started out for me as an excuse to meet the writers and artists of my favorite books, and it still is that to an extent. Then it became about finding all the cool stuff or buying things that I couldn't get anywhere else. For a time, it was even about just being with my friends. Even the last year it was about checking out the vinyl toys. Con is constantly changing what it means to me, and this year, more than others, it reminded me of why I love Comic Con so much. Its the only place, and the only time, in the world where you aren't judged for what you like, what you read, or how you dress. Someone else is into the same things you are, likes the same people, and has the same interests. It is really one place where I feel welcomed.

I had a great time at Con overall, I am going to post up some of my favorite pics from the annual Masquerade and from out on the floor. Every year they run a great costume contest and put it on Saturday night, plus I'll add on some of the folk I saw just on the floor. Enjoy!



James Jean, one of my favorite artists.



The ruthless, terrorist organization Cobra. Great group work at the Costume Ball.



And the other great toy of my youth, He-Man's enemies Skeletor and Evil-Lynn. Great work on both of these costumes, using a vinyl based paint instead of a body stocking.



A really detailed Minotaur costume that impressed Jason and I a lot.



Next to Dazzler, Spider Woman is my favorite character.



Silk Spectre, of Watchmen. there where a lot of them this year but this was one of the better ones.



My all time favorite costume from Comic Con. The Comedian and Original Silk Spectre, as shown during the rape sequence in Watchmen. It was wildly inappropriate and wrong, and I thought it was genius. They posed for some really wrong, but funny pictures and even had blood on Silk Spectre's face. It was horribly inappropriate and wrong, but the black sense of humor worked for me. Is that wrong?

Well, that about sums up the end of Comic Con. There is still another branch of Travel Blog though next week as I leave for Chicago Sunday! Thanks for reading and I'll be back tomorrow with Sunday's missed Flash Fiction post.

End of Line.
Gerrad!