Went to Comic Con and All I Got Was MY MIND BLOWN

EDIT: Christopher Jones, one of DC Comics' artists, got a pic of me at Comic Con in my cosplay and posted it to his Facebook.  Have a link: www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi… .

A tad late to be doing a Comic Con follow-up, I know, but I'm still much timelier than I was writing about last year's.

As anyone reading this already knows, Oct. 10th-13th was New York Comic Con 2013 and I was on it like limbs on a leper...Wait.

I was excited about going ever since last year and the Con didn't fail to impress this year.  It had a few downs, but it was mostly ups.

The Downs

- Marvel's panel, Cup O' Joe, really didn't impress.  I've been a die-hard fan of the House of Ideas since I was a wee lad in the 90's, but even I can't defend this one.  For those who've never attended one of these panels, Marvel's former editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, and a few other creators at Marvel give you a little presentation on what Marvel's got cooking.  While news that George Romero is working on a comic with Marvel was well-received, they really didn't tell you ANYTHING ELSE.

Want some info on this live performance Marvel's putting on?  They roll a 30-second clip that amounts to "I'm the stunt coordinator for Marvel Live.  Look at some artwork of characters you've already seen."  Joe says they have an exclusive clip of the show!?  More like 30 seconds of "There's an artifact!  Evil people want it!  Good people want to protect it!  We have no footage to show you!"  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf0QMU…

Of course, Joe and the others always take a Q&A during the panel and they had some pretty good answers for people who wanted to talk to Romero or had questions about breaking into comics.  If you wanted to know what movies they were working on or if they had any plans for the comics though, Joe's blanket answer was, "You'll have to watch/read to find out."

Considering DC had a panel immediately after Marvel where they showed you what they're releasing next month, this was really a poor show for Marvel.  To top it all off, unlike last year, I didn't even get a Rocket Raccoon button.  Wah.

- I had to skip a few panels or come in to others late...But that's nobody's fault but mine.  All worked out anyway, considering there were so many great costumes to see.

The Ups

- DC's panel was pretty cool.  Never heard of their series Earth 2, but I actually wanna look into it now.

- Saw a Darkhorse panel.  They're working on a few stories that really caught my attention.  I can't remember most of their names, but here's a few:

Grindhouse is a throwback to the grittier days of comics with gratuitous violence.  The writer shamelessly admitted that "It's the comic your parents told you not to read."

Veil is about an amnesiac woman who seems to be at the middle of a dark conspiracy that involves plenty of people dying in "horrible, horrible" ways.  I really can't do it justice right now, but the "dying in horrible ways" sounded awesome.

Lastly but not leastly, they're adapting Edgar Allen Po's The Raven and Masque of the Red Death.  I can't wait for those.

Darkhorse panel was also very funny.  I don't read anything by them, but it was good to expand my mind.

- Marvel had another panel specifically geared towards helping people understand the business and how to get started working on comics.  It was very helpful and, unlike Cup O' Joe, they actually told you stuff!  Gasp!

- They premiered the English dub of Evangelion 3.33 on the 11th.  Some movies you get excited for and they disappoint you.  Some movies you get excited for and they meet your expectations.  Some movies you get excited for and they surpass your hopes and dreams...And then there's Evangelion 3.33.  I was excited to see this movie ever since I saw 2.22 in May, and this thing still blew me away!  The most action-packed anime I've ever seen and all of the characters kick so much ass (as a story and, of course, literally)!  After the movie, they recorded peoples' reactions for the DVD.  Hopefully my bit makes it on there (albeit, I had to cut it short since the convention center was looking to close down for the night when my turn came).

- THE COSTUMES!  Of course, that goes without saying.

I spent the better part of the year working on my costume of The Shocker from Spider-Man and it got great reactions.  As an added bonus, I was the only Shocker at the Con and the first one most people there ever saw!  Living up to Shocker's reputation as one of Spidey's lowest-ranking villains, I got a lot of pics of super heroes punching me out.  I'll prolly upload them as a collage or something.

All of the costumes were great, but special mention goes to this giant freaking robot: youtu.be/zG-AaUlL4hA?t=34m35s

Artists

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few of the artists I rand into a Artist Alley this year.

- At the top of my list is Mark Texeira.  Mark Texeira is an artist who specializes in painting rather than traditional pencils and inks.  I came to know him through his work on Ghost Rider in the mid-to-late 2000's and he was the first artist I was actually disappointed to see leave a comic (given how much he loves Ghost Rider, I don't think it was by choice).  Mark's a funny guy and always talks to his customers when they swing by; he, another guy and I even got into a bit about how you could smuggle beer into Comic Con by pretending to cosplay a Public Drunk and calling your public urination a "performance art" (that was my line).  He also signed a few of my favorite issues of Ghost Rider for a low, low price and posed for a picture with them for free!  He really misses drawing for Ghost Rider...I should start a petition to get him back on the book.

Mark also has a Kickstarter for an indie comic he and Ricardo Sanchez are working on.  Check out the Kickstarter here: herokickstarter.com/

- Christopher Jones, the current artist for the Young Justice comic, was taking pics of passersby cosplayers to post to his Facebook and my Shocker was one of them!  I haven't been able to "Like" him or look through his pictures yet, but here's his page: www.facebook.com/christopherjonescomicart .  While I didn't buy anything from him, I DID finally make a Facebook so I could tag myself on his gallery, something I've been avoiding ever since the creation of Facebook.

- LivioRamondelli, better known as Livio Ramondelli, is the current artist for IDW's Transformers: Monstrosity and its upcoming sequel, Primacy.  His artwork has been impressing me since I first saw it and he was very approachable at the Con; he even let me get a photo of him!  While I was there, I bought a kick-ass poster of Soundwave from him.



- Vinnie Tartamella (VinRoc) is another artist who caught my eye last year and this year.  What REALLY made his table stand out this year though was what his friends did for me.  After I bought some posters from him, I couldn't find my wallet.  I walked all up and down Artist Alley before it dawned on me to check the last table I was at.  When I finally found his table again, his friends were guarding my wallet!  My wallet has the Punisher Skull and they saw a Punisher walk by and almost thought it was his, but they held onto it long enough for me to reclaim it.  Vinroc and his crew are bros and a half.





- Abraham Lopez (ArtistAbe) has a very fun and energetic style that fits characters like Harley Quinn like a glove.  Naturally, I wanted to snag one of his posters before I left Comic Con on my last day.  Unfortunately, I was a few bucks short.  When he heard I wasn't gonna be at the Con the next day, he thought about it and eventually sold it to me for a few bucks short of his price.  I was very happy to land one his Harleys, so that made my night.  Abraham Lopez is also a bro and a half.



Wrapping Up

I've been typing longer than anyone's been reading, so I'll close by saying that NYCC was a blast.  Can't wait for next year.  As far as my cosplay goes, I think next year's gonna be The Year of the Pyg, for you DC fans who catch my drift.

Look for me to upload a crap-ton of pics of me in costume over the next few days.  If you see yourself or your friends in any of them, let me know!

Dr. InSean
Ph.D Going to Comic Con (It's a fun course to take)