Big Apple Con Appearance Update

Due to the huge amount of work I have to finish up today, I will not be able to stop by the Friends of Lulu table today at Big Apple Comic Con for a couple of hours as previously planned.

But I will be there all day tomorrow.

On that note, if you have any original art, comics, or etc to donate to us to give as gifts for donations for Friends of Lulu, please feel free to drop by with it at our table tomorrow (Saturday). I think we're going to have a quarter bin! :-D

Seen and Heard: The Big Apple Convention

me and Jamal Igle

Did you ever hear one of those big rumors that just jumped the shark of all rumors? I got several of those bombs tossed on me at the Big Apple Con in NYC, most of them by RICH JOHNSTON. Most will, I assume, make their way to his new column, and a few will continue to hover over the collective consciousness of the comic book industry at large. Alas, I am not a rumor blog. But I have pictures, charming anecdotes, and the sort of folksy charm you have come to expect from my fine postings. Come with me, won't you?

My first stop was, of course, to see the illustrious DAN SLOTT. I preface this by saying that Dan does not simply tell you a story -- he acts it out, complete with fine voice work and special effects. He recounted, in detail, a possible storyline for The Thing's solo book had it not been so untimely ended. I cannot give you specifics, but it would have been mind-blowing, gritty, and even a tad controversial. Luckily for us, we still have Dan's star-studded Amazing Spider-man run to look forward to, as well a his continuing work on Avengers: Initiative (my BF's favorite comic book, by the way).

Then he took us on a trip, with commentary, through Greg Horn's covers for She-Hulk, and we both agreed that the one with Awesome Andy was our absolute favorite. A presidential pardon for Dan's "Star Fox" storyline was also discussed.

Sidekick's Chris Moreno

Next up was Sidekick's CHRIS MORENO. Chris's design for Paul Jenkins's loser lead character in that hilarious comic is one of my all-time favorites; it's like I can even smell the tuna fish and french fries coming off of Eddie Edison as he bungles crime fighting and complains about his lack of respect. Now dat's talent!

Dennis Calero

DENNIS CALERO, always great to see at the cons, has a big, big project coming up. I realize the last time I reported on Calero he still had that big, big project, and I still couldn't announce what it was. Well, that's what you get when you have big projects with high-profile characters. Hey, maybe if you know him you can weasel it out of him. But by the beginning of the new year the news will definitely come out. Maybe an interview with OS as well? Maybe...

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- JAMAL IGLE in a couple of years is going to be the next high-profile comic book artist. I've been following his work since co-editing him at Acclaim Comics about ten years ago and he just gets better and better. His pencils are amazing. I really don't know how you can compare the care and detail and delicate characterization he puts into his figures with some of the empty, flash-in-a-pan artwork that's out there.

I just saw some of Jamal's pencils for an upcoming issue of Teen Titans and you could die how lovely this stuff was. His gorgeous Tim Drake will be the envy of many a fangirl. Thank God he's doing an issue of Countdown as well -- I may actually buy this one instead of reading my Scans Daily recaps. And he has an intriguing new project, yet to be announced -- I think when you find out about it you'll be pretty excited.

C-C-C-COMIC MIXXXXXX!!! (free comics, good conversation, and knitting)

Comic Mix's MARTHA THOMASES, MIKE GOLD, and ELAYNE RIGGS are like my most favoriteist people on the face of the Earth. Pity I'm not able to go to Mid-Ohio Con this year, to follow Gold's Comic Mix Road Trip through the convention season. It's people like them that really make the conventions and the industry a family-like environment. If you have a minute to check out the free comics on their site and give 'em a holler, please do. They'll treat ya good.

Stormin' Norman Breyfogle

Why isn't NORM BREYFOGLE currently working at DC or Marvel? This, to me, is one of the great riddles of the comic book industry. The man produces great work, interesting page compositions, consistent high-level quality, has an eye for design -- and does it fast! I co-edited him on The Spectre and he was always easy to work with and gave 110 percent, never late. And whenever I needed a fill-in, he would jump right in and turn it around. There is just no excuse for some of the substandard art I see on books with "deadline issues" when you have talented people like Norm who can do the work and do it well.

I mean, with Norm is it a "name cachet" issue, an age issue? Is having a younger penciller turning around crap work because he's got a tight deadline and truly doesn't have the chops to hack it better than hiring the artist who had one of the most beloved runs of Batman? And look at his picture -- he's really not that old!

Currently Norm Breyfogle is excited about his work in First Salvo's The Danger's Dozen, the first issue of which should be coming out soon, and the second issue being currently solicited.

Sean Chen perfecting his "Norma Rae" impression

SEAN CHEN is another talented artist I remember from Valiant/Acclaim Comics, and always a cool person to stop and chat with. He's currently collaborating with Fables' Bill Willingham on DC's Salvation Run, and invited me to go check it out.

Bernard Chang perhaps not doing so well on his own "Norma Rae" impression, but giving it heart

I've always been a fan of BERNARD CHANG and it was pleasure to see him at the show. He was one of the first people who e-mailed me to congratulate me on the Friends of Lulu presidency, and I really appreciated that. He's got an assignment coming up about which I am totally jazzed and he is totally modest. All I can say is -- I think it's a really good fit for his work, and I hope it leads to more things along that vein.

Me and Rich Johnston

Ah, the infamous RICH JOHNSTON! I got to meet him for the first time at the con, where he apparently did a live show/interpretive art piece for the convention guests involving twine and Alan Moore. Obviously, him and me needed a quick chat about things, but then talk quickly evolved into Doctor Who episodes, the ins and outs of pitching comics, the advertising industry, and, as I mentioned at the top of this post, tons and tons of gossip. Some of the revelations he will be dropping in his latest column will be -- especially to readers of this blog -- well, pretty mind-exploding.

I'm a big supporter of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and was happy to see they got some priiiime real-estate at the Big Apple Con -- right on the way to the Adam Hughes/Tim Sale/Darwyn Cooke Bermuda Triangle of massive amounts of fans.

Speaking of which -- wow, I totally didn't expect to see Darwyn at the convention! Always great to chat with him and, as you can imagine, lines for his work were ginormous.

Grounded's Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta

MARK SABLE and PAUL AZACETA are two up-and-coming comic creators with some impressive work already under their belt and a bright future ahead of them. The two collaborated on Image's Grounded, and Mark currently has Fearless out (also from Image) and Paul does the amazing art on Potter's Field with Mark Waid (Boom Studios).

I cannot end my convention spiel without mentioning the lovely and talented BRENDAN MCGINLEY (pictured below), he of the neato comic book Dose (with exclusive Evan Dorkin story!).

After the show I couldn't decide whether to attend HEIDI MACDONALD's birthday party or hang out with my old Valiant/Acclaim cohorts -- luckily for me, both parties sort of mutated into each other over at Stout. It wasn't quite a sleep-the-next-morning-until-three-in-the-afternoon type party for me, but definitely B vitamins and Motrin were employed the following day. Alas, I'm pretty much a one-to-two beer maximum kind o' gal these days -- so I apparently went home before the karaoke started.

Dose's Brendan McGinley and this unidentified rather handsome fellow

I would be remiss if I failed to mention another attendee of both the comic con and party, one Mr. David Gallaher. He has a neat werewolf western webcomic over at Zuda.com called

High Moon
You should read it. ;-)

Until the next event!

The Hard Core Comic Book Convention

Last weekend's Big Apple Comic Book Convention in NYC -- also known as "The National" -- was as hard core an old school comic con as you can possibly get. You know that little comic book store you frequented near your house when you were a kid, the one crammed to the gills with dusty boxes full of back issues and lined with glass cases containing old election buttons and trading cards? It was that times 1000 plus the cast of Heroes. And Adam Hughes.

It's no surprise that, at least to me, the Big Apple Con hearkens back to the small comic shops of my youth. The event's organizer, Michael Carbonaro, was a legendary figure on the Brooklyn comic book scene when I was in my teens...sort of the Donald Trump of comic books, the King of Komix. And that flavor of Old Brooklyn comic collecting was all over the convention -- as well as, I would imagine, many of the same people who frequented those little local shops.

Standing next to me in the guest pass line was the Village Voice's Michael Musto. My first thought upon seeing him, other than the impression that he was far taller in person than I thought he'd be, was wondering if he was there to merely cover the "Heroes" angle or to do one of those ironic pieces on comic cons. Or both.

The venue, at the Pennsylvania Hotel in midtown New York City, was too small to absorb a crowd that was no doubt bolstered by holiday tourists and those eager to gawk at Hayden Panettiere and Kristen Bell. Several times during the convention I had to immediately leave to go outside and "get oxygen" -- something I've done several times at Chiller Theatre in New Jersey but never at the larger cons like San Diego.


Bottlenecks erupted at many key points at the show, most notably at the Bermuda Triangle of Adam Hughes, Tim Sale, and Darwyn Cooke. There were two "Artist's Alleys" -- the Hughes/Sale/Cooke trifecta plus many more on the first floor, and a larger one on the second. Both seemed like cattle calls or assembly lines, multitudes of fans with wheeled carts, baseball caps, and heavy winter coats waiting for a chance to get a sketch or signature from their favorite comic creator.

Much like the comic shops of my formidable years, the Big Apple Con was very much a "place where wimmens dare not tread." It wasn't a hostile environment for females by any means, but it was also an event that had little, outside of several celebrities, to offer them. Most women that I know personally would not jump into one of those bottlenecks in Artist's Alley even if you paid them, even if their most bestest comic creator was sitting there waiting to sign their book.

I mean, picture it -- you have two artist tables within several feet of each other. You're a woman standing between those tables waiting for so-and-so to sketch for you. A constant stream of male convention attendees -- a portion of which are, to be frank, somewhat large -- are pushing past your buffeted body. And you're dressed in your Cosplay outfit of Morrigan from Darkstalkers. It's a a recipe for disaster.

The T&A brigade, in terms of artwork & models, was still there, though not as big a presence as in past shows. Of particular note was one table that featured a zoftig female character who was naked except for a gorilla suit that was cut away so you could see her naughty bits. If you're taking your child to a convention such as this -- as many many people were -- it should be remembered that there will be a selection of nude images such as this presented at your rugrat's eye-level.

To be fair, "gorilla bits" and a few of the more raunchy tables were grouped with what I refer to as "softcore alley," where all the pinup stars and centerfolds sit. It goes without saying that there was a bottleneck around that section as well.


Lastly, I want to touch upon the celebrities in attendance, especially the phenomenon known as "photo-op pre-sales." For a certain fee above and beyond one would pay for a standard photo-op at these shows, you can reserve your photo-op with a certain celebrity -- in this case, Hayden Panettiere and Kristen Bell.

Unlike the celebs in "autograph alley," Panettiere and Bell were whisked away to the 18th floor in a special room designed just for the photo-ops. Looking at one of the advertisements for the photo-ops, I spied an image of Kristen Bell being embraced by a middle-aged fan with his head almost resting on her right boobie and both of his arms locked around her slight frame.

What goes through the minds of Panettiere and Bell when they have to participate in these things? And what goes through the minds of the men who purchase the photo-op? Is it merely a fan thing -- "hey, I got to meet Claire from Heroes!" Or, for the brief few minutes of the photo shoot, are these women their girlfriends?

To sum up, the Big Apple/National Comic Con is very much a place of acquisition -- whether it be Golden Age comics, statues, signatures, sketches, or photos with imaginary girlfriends. It is not a place of discovery -- in terms of new books, talent, ideas, etc. It can be a place of socialization -- but only within the group you know. In all those senses, it is an echo of Ye Olde Comick Shoppe. And it will either have to change and expand its scope in order to outlive its aging clientele -- or get more photo-ops. Perhaps Britney will be available next year.