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Free Comic Book Day is always a great experience for fans and families alike! This year, Austin Books & Comics had a fantastic set-up for FCBD including 3 tents for the free books, refreshments, comic book artists, raffles, and more.
I waited in line for about an hour to see what new and amazing issues were given to fans this year and was not disappointed. I ended up with quite a haul of great books!
Voltron: Shelter from the Storm (can’t pass up Voltron!)
Transformers: Regeneration One #80.5 (curious even though I wasn’t big into the TF comics back in the day)
Top Shelf Kids Club (have to get my fix of Owly, Korgi and the gang)
Adventure Time / Peanuts flip book (don’t know much about Adventure Time…good a time as any to look into it)
The Guild / Buffy (curious about The Guild as a comic book)
The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel (no clue, but looked like something my nephew would enjoy, so I grabbed one)
Lock & Key (haven’t read much L&K, so I’ll try this)
DC’s The New 52 (not exactly sure why I picked this up, but I’ll give it a read)
Vertigo Preview 2012 (always good to see what’s coming from Vertigo)
Image FCBD (looks like good stuff!)
Worlds of Aspen 2012 (curious to see where they’re heading)
Graphic Elvis (the talent lineup sold me even though I know nothing of it)
Valiant 2012 (enjoyed the comics back in the 90s…figured I’d give this a shot)
Archaia Entertainment Presents HC (Looks fantastic! Amazed that this was a FCBD title already! Can’t wait to dive in!)
Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time! It was great to see so many children out with their parents, enjoying the day and exploring the world of comic books! Hope to see even more fans, young and old, out in 2013!
Last summer, at SDCC 2011, Mattel released Blazing Sword Voltron (see his road trip documentary here) and introduced the Voltron: Club Lion Force Subscription. I jumped at the opportunity to collect large scale Voltron lions with amazingly detailed pilot figures. They have been arriving every couple of months this year and look as amazing as I expected from the Mattel display at SDCC!
And here are the first two with the rest of my Voltron collection:
I’m currently working on some revisions for the Cater & Associates, LLC website and thought I’d post it here. If you notice any bugs or issues, please let me know. It was created mostly in Flash, so it’s been a bit trickier than other sites I’ve built in the past, but a good learning experience. Click to check it out:
CaterLaw.com
Thanks!
Being on a budget, I was not able to splurge on many crazy purchases this year. My one big project was to get the official 40th Anniversary HC San Diego Comic-Con book signed by as many people whose work I enjoy as possible. Here are the results of that adventure…
On top of that project, I did make a couple of purchases…most notably, this Bill Sienkiewicz sketch of Elektra:
Also, this nice drawing of Tony Chew (from the book Chew) by Rob Guillory:
I purchased Stan Sakai’s latest volume of Usagi Yojimbo (#23) which had a sketch inside:
He also gave me a remarked bookplate and sketched on two issues that I brought:
Bill Willingham was autographing printed Fables pages:
Robert Kirkman (the writer) signed and sketched in my Walking Dead omnibus:
The Flight crew drew all over my Flight vol. 6:
Mike and Laura Allred signed my copy of the Allred Vault:
Brian Wood drew this sweet sketch!
John K., creator of Ren & Stimpy, drew the 2 characters for me!
And a whole bunch of artists from ZudaComics.com were willing to draw their take on Usagi Yojimbo:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to draw, sign or just talk with me about random stuff again this year. It was fun as usual!
This is it…Sunday…last day of San Diego Comic-Con International 2009! There were just a few things that I really wanted to accomplish, and a lot of wandering around that I wanted to do just to see what I might run into at the last minute. Here is a quick recap of how my Comic-Con experience wrapped up…
The press room was a wonderful oasis of quiet in the mornings before the doors opened when everything outside was insanity:
Free stuff is available at the free stuff tables:
A hat of pickles?
Stuffed thingies:
Lou Ferrigno IS the Incredible Hulk:
A hat of roaches?
A hat of ???
Art Baltazar and Franco won an Eisner…AWESOME!
And it’s time to go…another year at Comic-Con is over:
I’ll post my random acquisitions/autographs/sketches ASAP and then in the next couple of days I’ll try to go back through my photos and post an outtakes entry here with photos that did not make the cut on my first pass. I know a few people have asked about specific things that I might have seen, so I’ll try to dig out some specific things then and post them shortly. Thanks for reading along!
Saturday was a lot of running around, seeing as much as possible that I have been missing and standing in lines that I probably shouldn’t have. Here’s a quick rundown…
John K. again? This is just getting silly…
G4′s Allison Haislip fiddling with my Japanese bubble wrap keychain. I bought the last one right as they were coming up to the booth to do a segment…they asked if they could borrow it.
Hats anyone?
Sergio Aragones signs my 40th anniversary convention book.
Tyrese Gibson loudly hawks his comic book Mayhem all weekend long…
True Blood folks…
More True Blood folks…
Darwyn Cooke, Catwoman, and Adam Hughes:
Transformers…More Than Meets the Eye?
Elvis Trooper:
Me w/Mike and Laura Allred…nice people!
Rob Guillory, artist of Chew.
Ryan Ottley, Robert Kirkman, and Todd McFarlane.
Cheetara
Bill Sienkiewicz.
Sean “Cheeks” Galloway is a nut:
One last stop at In N Out Burger…
More Con tomorrow???
I spent most of Friday in Hall H…the giant hall that holds approximately 6,500 people. I mainly wanted to try to get in to see Hayao Miyazaki who was making a rare U.S. appearance to promote his movie Ponyo, but once I spent about an hour and a half in line to get in and saw what the following panels were about, I decided to stay for a while. I will probably have additional photos to post later when I am able to sort through them, but here are a few highlights…
Before going into Hall H, there was an unscheduled signing with current Playboy cover model and G4′s Olivia Munn…it got out of hand and the SDCC staff came and shut it down, so she moved it outside. It was pretty interesting. I shot some, but here’s one where she’s giving me a crazy look:
Then it was off to Hall H and Miyazaki:
He was presented with an Inkpot Award by the SDCC folks:
One of the other panels featured Tim Burton and a film that he is (I believe) producing called 9:
Another panel included footage of the Peter Jackson produced District 9. I was able to see the first ever screening of this film on Thursday and it is OUTSTANDING! Check it out! I was surprised at how much footage they showed at the panel…kind of gave away too much info about the plot I thought. I’m glad I had already seen it, but I guess if you don’t know what’s going on, maybe it won’t hurt too much. Here’s a photo I shot of Peter Jackson moments before making his Comic-Con debut:
You never know what you’re going to see on the trolly at the end of a day at Comic-Con:
More to come…2 more days of this madness!
So, today (Thursday) is actually the first full day of Comic-Con…here are the photos:
District 9 advertisement:
Honky Tonk Man & a Bushwacker:
The Prisoner…a show coming this November:
They stole my identity at the Prisoner booth and gave me this card…I blacked out all of the info…don’t want any of my remaining identity getting out…
Robert Kirkman writes AND draws zombies!
Iron Man Hall of Armor:
Suicide GIrls…for Nathan:
Blair Butler talks toys:
BSG folks:
Green Hornet’s Black Beauty:
Sculpting Wolverine:
2 more puts me at 5…I don’t think I’m going to reach Kevin’s estimate, but I’m trying…
More tomorrow!
Interrupting the regularly scheduled guide to bring you photo updates of what has been happening while actually doing Comic-Con on the cheap. Tonight was Preview Night…just a few hours of picking up passes and running around the Convention Hall floor trying to get oriented and accomplish a few things. I do not have much time as I’m trying to get these posted and then get back out there to see more and shoot more photos, so the descriptions will be brief.
For Brad:
John K., creator of Ren & Stimpy, drew for me!
Michael Jackson’s light up glove is on display:
2 In N Out burgers puts me up to 3 so far for the trip!
More tomorrow!
The day before leaving for San Diego is important. Last minute details need to be arranged…more than with just a typical vacation. Things to remember to pack:
• Backpack – You will get free bags at many booths, but a backpack is best for hands-free exploring.
• Poster tube – Even if you do not want them, you will end up with free posters. Bring a poster tube.
• Sketchbook – Just bring one…you never know when someone will offer to draw you a doodle.
• Books, comics, etc. – Whatever you want to get autographed. Check to see who will be in attendance.
• Comfortable shoes – The convention center is HUGE! Be comfortable or be in pain.
• iPod, PDA, NintendoDS, etc. – You will be in lines often. Bring something to keep yourself entertained.
• Digital Camera – You will constantly run into people and things that you will want to remember.
The big thing is to be prepared for the event. Once you have done it once or twice, you will know what to expect and know how to plan ahead, but you will always run into the unexpected. Having generic items like sketchbooks or cameras available make for nice options in case you run into your favorite artist or actor on the convention floor and just do not have anything specific for them to sign. Instead of missing out on an opportunity, at least you can get an autograph or a photo with them.
There are lots of free items handed out throughout the convention, and it all starts to add up throughout the day. If you do not have a backpack, you will end up with one (or multiple) bags, but as they grow heavier with loot, it can be burdensome. A good, comfortable backpack is a lifesaver, especially if you are spending the whole week at Comic-Con.
One of the popular freebies tends to be the poster. If you do not bring a poster tube, buy the end of the day, your roll of posters can be a mangled mess. Very few booths have rubber bands, but a few smart ones have started selling poster tubes…at a large markup. Bring your own and save a good deal of money!
I’m leaving for San Diego tomorrow. I may or may not have an update as most of the day will be spent on travel and with family, getting established in town and preparing for Wednesday.
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