Annihilus's Phoenix ComicCon Mini-Report (not as many pics as Brian's!)

[Annihilus]

I only went one day (today - Sunday), mainly for the Stan Lee signing which Brian touched on, I will talk a little about it too. Took quite a few pictures, but most of them will be either dupes or different versions of Brian's, so I'll only show the ones that differ a bit from his.

 

To begin with, I heard a lot of bad things about this con from past years (though I just moved to Arizona, so had never attended). After reading up on the changes made this year: different venue, more vendors and the Stan Lee signing, I made a last minute decision to head up and check it out. I didn't have a chance to co-ordinate and meet any boardies, but hope to next year.

 

Apparently in the past this convention was 90% anime/manga, and while there was still a strong showing of that crapola, there was enough comic-related stuff there to keep me happy for the five hours that I was there. I didn't attend any of the panels or anything, so can't speak to the quality of those. There weren't a ton of comic vendors there, maybe a dozen, none of them with super GA or even SA walls. Most of the walls were small (6' or less) with the usual stuff. Harley Yee's booth had some cool stuff, including a Captain America's Weird Tales that I could've bought if I sold my car.

 

I didn't pick up a lot of stuff, only a few SA Doctor Stranges, a couple modern lots I've been looking for (Matt Grendel Batman Mini-Series), a couple of Con-Exclusive posters, a great little sketchbook from Nat Jones and an interesting spiral bound comic from a guy named Ryan Quackenbush. More on those and some pictures to follow.

 

There weren't a ton of artists that I was interested in talking to, but the couple that I did engage were very friendly and talkative. I talked to Nat Jones for about 10-15 minutes about his book ('68: zombies in Vietnam) and drawing zombies as he did a quick sketch for me in the back of his con sketchbook. He seemed pretty geeked about the upcoming series, and I'll definitely pick it up when it comes out. I loved his sketches and really wanted to buy a couple of them, but my budget was pretty much blown on the Stan Lee sigs.

 

I also stopped by the Blacklist Studios booth and talked to Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford about R13 (Robot 13) and their upcoming series 'King' (Jessie King: Former Mexican wrestling bad turned supernatural hitman). They are a small indy publisher without a distributor and their books are quarterly, but I really like their stuff. Daniel's art is reminiscent of Mignola as you'll see in the print I bought below (I also have a page of his OA hanging in my office from the first issue of R13). Unfortunately their books only come out quarterly. According to Bradford it's because he does everything but write the book (layouts, pencils, inks, letters, colors) and he has 3 kids. He did mention an R13 one-shot coming out soon with a guest artist. King will come out starting this summer, so R13 will be on hiatus when that happens.

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

Ok, The Stan Lee signing. I would have loved to be in the room when they planned that. Here is how I imagine it:

 

Guy 1: "Ok guys, we're going to sell a shartpot of tickets for $50 a pop for this Stan Lee signing. Any Ideas how we want to do it?"

 

Guy 2: "Well, we should have a big room and maybe snake the line around so we can fit everyone in at once."

 

Guy 1: "Hmmm...."

 

Guy 3: "WAIT! I GOT AN IDEA! Let split the line up. We'll have a room the size of my living room that we can put a couple dozen people in. Then....get this....We'll put the OTHER 300 people OUTSIDE! We'll have them line up out in the the sun in Phoenix at the end of May. That way when they get up to Stan, they'll all smell like, well, un-showered comic geeks!

 

Guy 1: "Dude, that is the best idea I've ever heard. By the time Stan gets done, he'll need to be de-loused!"

 

Guy 4: "Where are we going to put the people waiting to submit their books to CGC?"

 

Guy 3: "Oh, I've thought of that too! See that hallway over there?" (points to a dark hallway that is about 3 feet wide and 10 feet in length, the type of hallway that single women avoid after 10 p.m.).

 

All the other guys: "Yeah....?"

 

Guy 3: "They all go in there. All of them. We'll pack 'em all in there. Tell 'em to line the walls.

 

All the other guys: "WIN!"

 

So anyway, it sounds like a nightmare scenario, and it was a little bit, but the line actually did move pretty fast (mostly because of the rules that Brian mentioned in his con report). I did say hi to Stan and he said hi back, I thanked him for his time and he smiled and seemed genuinely friendly - which is really all I was hoping for to be honest.

 

Joe Pierson had a crazy job with the people submitting sig series stuff, and probably could have used a little help, though he did a pretty good job with the organized chaos. He was nice enough to let me use my collector's society coupon for my three books, so that was excellent! (Thanks Joe!) I subbed ASM 1, Silver Surfer 4 and Marvel Zombies 1. How he kept all that sh.t straight is beyond me. As long as I get my books back, I'm good

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

So while it was a bit Anime heavy (with a good dose of Star Wars), it was still nice to go. I got some fun stuff, got some Stan Lee sigs (who knows how many times that opportunity will come up again in the coming years), talked to some cool creators and had a pretty decent time for a spur of the moment trip.

 

A few pictures coming up!

[Annihilus]

Kickazz walking into the con.

[Annihilus]

One of the bazillion Star Wars bounty hunters.

[Annihilus]

Can't go wrong with some Greedo!

[Annihilus]

Harley Yee's booth. One of the guys in there was kind of an azz (the one I talked to, naturally). Guess that's what happens when you know the guy you're talking to can't afford most of your books.

[Annihilus]

Kickazz poses with the '68 zombie and some little kid.

[Annihilus]

Some moar Star Wars poseurs.

[Annihilus]

This chick. Dunno who she was supposed to be and I missed a couple of good shots of her, but you get the general idea .

[Annihilus]

This Storm Trooper had a sign on him that read 'Do Not Touch The Display' and he stood real still, so people would walk up to pose with him thinking he was a statue or something and he'd move and freak them out.

[Annihilus]

Wonder Woman....there was a better one that I didn't get a picture of, but this one wasn't too shabby either.

[Annihilus]

The Man. 'Nuff said (other than: my camera sucks).

[Annihilus]

Now to the loot portion of the program. I didn't spend a lot or get a lot, but I am happy with everything that I did get.

 

First up are just some various things that I had been looking for for a while. Some Doctor Strange and a couple of modern Batman mini's by Matt Wagner.

[Annihilus]

A couple of signed/numbered con versions of '68 by Nat Jones.

[Annihilus]

Probably my favorite piece that I picked up today (besides the Stan sigs) was a Zombie sketchbook by Nat (the guy who did '68 above). He did a sketch inside the back cover for me as I jabbered with him about the new series and zombie art in general. Nice guy, good artist and really sweet sketchbook!

 

[Annihilus]

I picked up this quirky item from a guy named Ryan Quackenbush. It's a kind of noir-ish spiral bound comic that has artwork right up my alley. It's not for everyone, but I dug it quite a bit. It's oversized 11" x 14" or so. The cover really doesn't give you any indication of what is inside, and I never would have even looked twice at it if they didn't have one open on their table. I've included pics of a couple pages to give you an idea what it's like.

 

[Annihilus]

A con-exclusive poster (48 of 50) featuring Deadpool in a Dawn of the Dead spoof poster by Victor Moreno. I tried talking to the guy a bit, but he couldn't be bothered so I just took the poster and went. I'm not a Deadpool fan by any stretch, but I like zombies and the art was good, so I took it home.

[Annihilus]

Last but not least is another print, this one of Robot 13 signed by Thomas and Daniel. You can certainly see the Mignola influence in the art. If you haven't picked up R13, it's very entertaining and I think you can still get all 3 issues from their website. A couple of good guys to boot!

[Arcade]

Thanks for sharing all the great photos. (thumbs u

[Annihilus]

Aaaand, that's all she wrote for my first con report! I'll post the Stan Sig-Series books when I get 'em back in a month or so.

[dupont2005]

Cool sketchbooks