Comic Cons and Books

David Mack at the SLC Library, Dec. 5, 2009

2009-12-07T00:39:00.007-06:00

David Mack has long been one of my favorite (if not my very favorite) comic artists. The Salt Lake Library, my second favorite building in Library Square, is hosting an exhibit of his original work (only a few days left go now!) and last Saturday Mack came in to give a talk, take some questions, sign some books, and just hang out for a while.

His talk/Q&A session at the beginning was great. He had so many interesting things to say about creativity and the artistic process. As an aspiring creative type I always love to hear from successful "creators" (be they writers, artists, film-makers, whatever) about how they got to where they are. David Mack did not disappoint and spoke at length about his career and what it has taken to create his art.

In this video he speaks a little about that and also discusses comic-books as a medium. When it comes to comics discussion of the form itself is rare. Most discussions are about which publisher is better and how so-and-so writer is ruining a beloved character.

Most of the focus was on Mack's "Kabuki: The Alchemy," a very personal, cerebral, and visually stunning story recently released in collected form. Here he talks a little about that.

Like I said, I love his work. For whatever reason this piece from the gallery stood out the most for me, even among other pieces that I'm more familiar with. If I could own any piece there this is the one I'd want the most.

I've left these pictures in hi-res so click on them for a huge version. It's worth it to see the detail.

Lots more Q&A in the gallery.

Then an informal reception that turned into more of a formal Q&A session as well. Here he addresses my good friend Matsby's question. Though it kind of looks like Mack is accusing him of something.

Finish is up with this fantastic Daredevil sketch he whipped out.

In the gallery he talked about the concept of talent, and how easily it's squandered and how often people mistake practice and hard work for talent. Someone said "Yeah but you have talent, that Daredevil drawing only took fifteen seconds!" Mack corrected, "No, it took a lifetime and fifteen seconds."

San Diego Comic-Con 09: Blackest Reign

2009-09-07T01:39:00.033-06:00

Amelia Earhart by MK Perker

Well here we are! It's almost two months after the fact but it's finally time to recap SDCC09, my second journey into the Omerta Sea of Humanity crammed uncomfortably into the San Diego Convention Center, the exhibit hall strained to the breaking point like the laces on a steampunker's corset.

This year's Comic-Con was particularly odd for me. Much like the Vietnam War, if you weren't there you don't know what it's like. The sensory overload is off the charts. I figured since this was my second tour of duty I'd be able to handle it better. Not true! I'm still not exactly sure how I spent those four days. Somehow I managed to miss out on almost everything and yet still not have a single moment to catch my breath.

Well whatever.

The whole experience is best summed up in this quote from Bryan Lee O'Malley, creator of Scott Pilgrim which currently stands as my favorite thing ever.

And then, yeah, by the mid-afternoon you kind of feel like you've lived at Comic-Con since you were small, and you'll live there forever. It's all you've ever known and there is absolutely nothing weird about all the weird shit you're seeing constantly and the endless crush of people.

Yep. Anyway enough preamble!

I put a lot of work into my costume this year:

Marvel was playing a fun version of the shell game at their booth, with Robert Downey Jr. hidden inside one of these costumes. Hardest working man in show business.

Always interesting to see what your favorite comic creators actually look like.

Out of the frame in this picture is "Camp Twilight," where Twilight fans camped out for days to get into the New Moon panel. Tons of comic jerks complained that Twilight ruined the convention but I literally have no idea what they're talking about. I spend four days immersed in comics and the other usual geek stuff and Twilight fans never got in my way. Besides, if a single Twilight fan got turned on to comics that's good for the whole industry right?

In any event I'll be at New Moon opening night.

Met up with the Wednesday Warriors comics podcasters at this place. I did a guest spot on one of their shows but I'm not telling which one.
Don't let the dumb name (Funky Garcia's) fool you. This is place is a glorified taco cart. I mean that in a good way as I love taco carts and I love glory. The waitress there was the best waitress ever. We all agreed on that, but were mystified as to why. Just something about her food bringing skills was really top notch.

The hotel my friend Scott and I were staying at was only two doors down from the convention center and the lobby bar was quite a scene. Thousands of people there every night, and lots of people that are celebrities in my world but not the rest of the world (although in my world Jon and Kate aren't celebrities at all so maybe you should take a dip in my pool?)

So this was me late into the night, every night.

Met some interesting people and forged some temporary friendships. Like the sleep disorder specialist from L.A. who could do a Stupid Human Trick with his ankles, or the Greek artist Vasilis Lolos who told me the truth about the Salt Lake Greek burger mafia. And Maria... I met a girl named Maria...

Michael from Wasteland by Christopher Mitten

Last year I told the SDCC tale sequentially but I can't do that this year because I'm not certain what happened on which day. But here's a typical morning, waiting to get in.

A favorite artist of mine, Dustin Nguyen, drawing me a quick Catwoman.

This guy! Jeremy Bastian! The imagination of this fellow. It can be hard to find but his book Cursed Pirate Girl is a must read, and his pencil work is amazing. And I'm not easily amazed (yes I am) (but his work is still amazing). That I had more dough I'd have spent it all at his table. He had some seriously cool stuff for sale. And I think he said he makes his own paper too? I did get an original piece from him and HERE HE IS HOLDING IT!

Click it. Make it bigger. Look at the linework.

It's a scene from a book I like and I vaguely described some elements I wanted and let him run with it. It's awesome.

This is a character from Cursed Pirate Girl, Kildanny.

So let's talk costumes. I liked this one. Cute lil' jawa.

I saw a lot of costumes this year where parents allowed (forced) their kids to dress up as the diminutive companions to their own full-size characters. That's something I hope to do one day with an heir of my own.

Mark Hamill and Frank Oz by Katie Cook

I didn't see as many cool costumes this year as I did last year, but maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough. The most common costumes were Link from the Legend of Zelda, Ghostbusters, and random Steampunkery. Oh, and tons of Clonetrooper costumes, most likely worn by people that never actually saw the Star Wars prequels.

Here's a Snake Eyes. My favorite toy as a kid.

And this B.A.T.S costume was totally righteous. As a kid, this was my favorite toy.

Marvel had a costume contest at their booth and there was this awesome Stan Lee guy there.

He did a great Stan Lee impression. Made my day.

This girl won with her Girl Loki costume. She won an Amazing Spiderman Omnibus signed by Stan Lee, and a copy of Spiderman 2099 #2 signed by the fake Stan Lee.

Interesting thing about the contest is that there are a lot of attractive young ladies running around in their underpants. That's weird right? It's a violation of the social contract.

(l-r: dweeb, dweeb, hot girl in underpants)

Out on the streets I saw this group of Watchmens. Real protester on the left, costumed protester on the right.

Brian Michael Bendis by David Mack

This is Amanda Palmer, she's some sort of rock and roll singer.

There was a panel where Terry Moore , David Mack, and Camilla D'Errico did figure drawing demonstrations using Amanda as a model. It was pretty rad seeing these artists at work. Here's the very early stages of a Terry Moore drawing.

I have a crush on everyone in this picture.

The three artists' results of the above pose.

Oh I almost forgot I put videos of David Mack drawing up on youtube. Some weirdo left awkward comments that I don't approve of though.

Amanda Palmer by Camilla D'errico.

Hey! Enough already about artists you've never heard of. You want to see pictures of celebrities right?

Stan Lee, creator of Peanuts!

Thomas Jane, Arrested Development guest star.

Jon Favreau, he played a rich guy on a three-episode arc of Friends.

That lumpy head belongs to Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Jaime Escalante himself, Edward James Olmos. Ganas!

McLovin'. Poor kid. He seems nice but someday he's going to snap. "My name is not McLovin' it's been ten years stop calling me that *stab stab stab*!!!"

Nichelle Nichols' cleavage. Look how grumpy that lady to her right is.

Amber Smith. The sign said "Amber Smith of the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Celebrity Rehab!" Sad. She was a super model. SUPER. Now she's charging $25 for her autograph and sitting in a booth next to the guy that played Bobby on like one season of Taxi.

I also rode in an elevator with Olivia D'abo. She played the older sister on Wonder Years. She was very pretty but I couldn't flirt with her because there was some weird guy in the corner eating Cool Ranch Doritos and giggling. Totally cock-blocked me.

Katchoo by Terry Moore

San Diego is nice. I like it there. For a July night the air was so cool and crisp.

This was some sort of carnival set up to promote the show Heroes. I know a lot of people that watch that show and nary a one of them actually likes it.

Death by Jamie McKelvie

I was totally bummed about it being the last day, but somehow this ridiculous thing totally made me happy.

Near the end of the day I decided to relax a little.

This kind of sums up how bat(man)shit insane the whole Comic-Con experience is. The hall was closing up, the lights were off and we were wandering out when this lady (in her underpants) got her purse stuck in her fishnets. Scott and I were near and she asked for help getting untangled. And it wasn't easy either.

The last night, hung out at the hotel bar and patio until early into the morning. Thomas Jane was there and he was... having a good time. He was smoking a cigar and I asked if I could bum one. I know that you don't just bum a cigar but he was "having a good time" enough that it seemed like, maybe? (also I don't smoke cigars but what the hey). He gave me a firm but polite lecture about how to don't just bum a cigar. I also said "Hey, aren't you the Punisher?" and he got really sad and mumbled "I used to be the Punisher."

I guess that's it. Internet Personality Brian Heater sums it up better than I could.

Can't concentrate this morning. Can someone come over to my apartment dressed as a stormtrooper and bump into me a lot?

Nuff said.

English Beat Girl by Ryan Kelly

B's Secret Invasion Part I

2008-08-12T18:47:00.002-06:00

Hey! I'm back! You're all free to resume your lives. I know that when I leave town time stops, and for that I apologize. So where have I been? Well as I'm sure you've realized by now, I have some interests that some might deem "nerdy." Though I resent being called a nerd because I'm not good at math and despite what everyone at work thinks, I don't know anything about computers other than how to use them. Anyway, this weekend I went to San Diego for the annual Comic-Con. Five days, 125,000 people. It's like Woodstock, but for comics (and video games and tv shows and movies and toys and porno).

A lot of people wear costumes. More power to them, I say. In fact I spent most of the convention as my favorite character, Dr. Blueface.

Scott and I flew into San Diego Wednesday morning. I've never been there before. Except for those other two times, but that doesn't count, it was over twenty years ago.

First stop after landing was of course to pick up an Icey Coffee (my first and only in a two week period). California McDonalds are cuh-razy!

Thanks to my connections as Bob Marriott's personal assistant, I was able to get us a last minute room at the Marriott on Coronado Island. Pretty good view from the balcony.

Had plenty of time to kill so we made our way down to the Hotel Del Coronado. This historic old bird is one of the few surviving examples of the Wooden Victorian Beach Resort architectural genre.

It's also one of the last examples of the Poison Hotel design movement.

"Oooh, look at me, I'm California. I know so much more about hazards that all the other states."

The hotel is haunted by the ghost of Kate Morgan. I'm pretty sure I got a picture of her.

Did some beach walkin'. Sand. Sand is great. At this point I was thinking of blowing off the convention, buying a swimsuit (I'd forgotten mine) and just playing in the sand all day.

There she is. The Big Soggy.

This guy thought he was soooo great, diggin' that hole.

But then I showed him how a real man does it.

I hit the Marriott's poolside bar around 2pm and really went to town. There was a cute bikini girl there with my same haircut. I said "Looks like we go to the same barber!" and she laughed so hard that she accidentally made out with me. It was awesome.

Finally, the convention center. The line was a nightmare. Also this guy was wearing the same shirt as me.

We met up with our friends Sean and Jason who had some passes we could use. Thank goodness we didn't need to wait in that line. Wednesday night was preview night, which is a little more exclusive. Instead of the full 125,000 there was maybe only 70,000.

Walking in for the first time was truly awesome. I was filled with awe and wonderment and the vastness of the convention hall and the sensory overload of the delights before me.

Also Stormtroopers.

The thing I love about regiments of Stormtroopers is that there is always at least one or two really fat ones. I guess the Empire has let it's fitness standards lapse since they've been mired in a seemingly endless war with an insurgency.

Here's that big Iron Man thing.

And the regular Iron Man, which was pretty nifty in person.

Preview Night was fun. I managed to meet a few of my favorite artists and even got sketches from some of them.

Here's David Mack, the sexiest man alive. He was so nice.

After it ended we ventured out into the real world to meet up with a couple other friends, James and Brandon. Brandon was exhibiting at the convention.

Here's what San Diego looks like, through my eyes.

I wonder if John ever gets jealous of his more successful brother Sak.

We went to a Thai place that had traditional Thai decor, save for a Beatles Abbey Road poster. I ordered the fish, not realizing it was going to be a fish.

The Thai Iced Tea was good though.

And that's Wednesday.

B's Secret Invasion Part II

2008-08-12T18:47:00.001-06:00

Thursday. Utah's Pioneer Day, and I was two states away. I had Utah on my mind though. I was thinking of the delicious buttery apples we have in Utah, as opposed to this flavorless foodstuff the California health nuts call apples.

You know me. Do you really think I could go to San Diego and pass up the zoo? After all the time I've spent watching the live ape cam on their website?

The zoo was kind of disappointing, but at least they kept the orangutans and koalas in the same place.

On the way into the convention center I spotted some Punk Ass Teens sitting in a tree. Typical.

I saw a lot of impressive costumes, but none moreso than this band of Cobra. The accuracy on these was stunning.

Ran into this group calling themselves Gotham Public Works. If you ever need people in Batman themed costumes, these are the people to go to.

I like seeing costumed people break character to attend to personal matters. I just wish I would have gotten a picture of the Incredible Texting Hulk or Darth Vader, Master of the Dark Side of the Cafeteria.

I'm a fan of the Harley Quinn character so I had to get a picture. I was hesitant at first because then I'd be the Guy-that-gets-his-picture-taken-with-the-costume-babes, but what the heck. My fate was sealed the minute I walked through those doors anyway.

On the Harley Quinn subject, this was my favorite costume of the whole deal. It's a re-imagining of what Harley might have looked like had she been included in The Dark Knight movie. Very clever.

Well look who it is, Bruce Timm, creator of Harley Quinn and the artist behind Batman: the Animated Series. (you know, from when you were a kid).

In fact, here he is drawing Harley for me.

There was some heavy promotion going on for the upcoming movie The Spirit. I got enough free Spirit stuff to open my own Spirit store and serve the needs of Spirit fans throughout the Wasatch Spirit Front. I'm not sure about this movie. It could be really awesome or really terrible. Or it could be just "ok." Or mediocre.

They had a snow machine though. That was cool.

One of the promotional gimmicks was fake tattoo kisses, applied by babes. Scott had a problem finding free space because of his beardiness.

This girl did mine.

I said "This is nice. It's been soooooo long since I've had a ... fake tattoo." and she said "Oh good, I thought you were going to say 'kiss.'" and I said "That's what I wanted you to think I was going to say!" then we made out and it was awesome.

In a nice change of pace, these girls asked to have their picture taken with me.

I was pretty flattered until the girl in the hat said "I loved you in Labyrinth!" They had mistaken me for David Bowie. I don't understand how that keeps happening.

After hours on my feet it was time to rest. I set down this sack of Dudes I'd been carrying all day and fell into a dreamlike state.

I've been off the junk for over three weeks now, so when I finally took of this it was the best Coke I've ever had.

The nice thing about security at the convention is that they had just the right balance of friendliness and intimidation.

Time to explore the Gaslamp Quarter. Home of over two thousand bars and restaurants but not a single place to get a taco.

"Hey Ricky, let's open a strip-club."

"I don't really want to be in the strip club business."

"Don't worry, all we'll do is sell steaks."

"Oh okay. But is there any way we can make it even more disappointing?"

"Yeah, we'll make customer cook the food themselves!"

[hi-five]

Ah, what have we here?

There was a big line outside of this place. I thought that was pretty funny. (get it?)

Plenty o' bars, but the only one I found acceptable was this.

I liked the basement part but as soon as I went down there they closed it. I have such bad luck, everytime I go to a cool bar they close it right up.

The San Diego skyline, in Micro-vision!

I don't even really like that picture.

Can you believe we have three more days of this crap to get to?

B's Secret Invasion Part III

2008-08-12T18:46:00.001-06:00

Friday. The thrill is gone. The novelty replaced with cold familiarity. The wonder has evaporated like so much evaporating juice. Still fun, but the sense of awe has made way for a sense of dutiful perseverance. The ever-gazing eye of Comic-Con cares not if you're tired. It cares not for the weight of your backpack. It cares not for ... well whatever.

So on the first day I posted that picture of me and David Mack. That got me a mention on davidmackguide.com, his unofficial-official website. Now I'm worried that David Mack will read my blog and see that I called him the sexiest man alive and then things will be all awkward.

I forgot to post the sketch he did for me. This is a character he created, and one of my favorites, Echo.

Friday morning I walked in and saw Tim Sale at his booth. He can be a hard guy to catch. He's always been a popular artist, but even moreso now because he does all the artwork seen on the show Heroes.

His hard-back art book was a pain to carry around for two days, but I did get this which makes it worth it and then some.

I love the simplicity.

Tara McPherson. I've been a fan of hers ever since I saw her book in a store and thumbed through it.

She handed me my sketchbook and looked up and smiled. I smiled back. Our eyes locked. I leaned in closer. Then she pointed at her shirt and then gestured for me to walk away. And walk away I did.

Skull flower!

Bigfoot!

Comic-Con is more than just comics. All the major movie studios were there getting the hype started early. There was a near riot at the Paramount booth when they gave away posters for next year's GI Joe movie (I got all five).

The crowd surged even more when they started giving away Blu-Ray DVDs. I pointed out that it was just the Nicolas Cage movie Next, and they dispersed in an orderly fashion.

Here's an inside joke (sort of) between me and Emily.

"Hey, great costume man!"

"What costume?"

Speaking of costumes, the number one theme was probably the Joker. I saw about three nurse Jokers.

Meanwhile, this fella CREATED the Joker. And nobody cared. You know, the Joker? Heath Ledger? Jack Nicholson? Caesar Romero? Hehehehehehe? One of the most iconic fictional characters around? You're all dressed like him? This guy created him? No? Not interested?

My friend Sean told me about a quote where someone said "Comic fans treat the characters like they're real and the creators like they're made of paper."

Is this Scott being interviewed by HBO? Yes, I believe it is.

It's tied into the promotional campaign for the new show True Blood. They said Scott was the best interview they've had all day. If I remember correctly it may eventually end up here, Blood Copy.

New game! Spot the Baldwin.

New game! Spot the teenage doctor.

This guy had a bug hat for no damn reason at all.

Scott is a man of the soil, so I guess he didn't mind. I didn't want that thing anywhere near me. And the bug creeped me out too.

This booth-

I guess every picture tells a story, but sometimes pictures try to tell too much story.

Ended up that night at one of the many faux Irish pubs that dot the Gaslamp. I think it was called Dublin Square? I'd look it up but I don't care that much.

Dear Cover Band at the Pub,

There are other Irishy rock drinkin' bands besides the Dropkick Murphy's. It's okay to play a Pogues song now and then. Furthermore, I question the wisdom of spinning a Dropkick Murphy's CD between sets.

Will I survive til the end?

B's Secret Invasion Part IV

2008-08-12T18:45:00.000-06:00

Alright, I've been bombarding you this week. I don't even want to know how long it takes this blog to load. Three posts in three days, each with like twenty pictures. Well this one has a lot of pictures too, but it will be the last update until Monday or Tuesday. I'd like to give you time to catch up if you haven't been following this San Diego adventure. Or if you have been reading, feel free to read it again. I hear it's even better the third time.

Faced with the thought of looking through my 400 remaining pictures and choosing a handful for the blog was just too daunting, so today I'm going to show off some of the arts I got. I've touched this topic briefly, but part of the fun of the convention is meeting comic (and other) artists and getting sketches from them. Sometimes it's free, sometimes it costs a little bit, but original art is a cool thing to have. Gotta respect these guys for doing art on their days off from their day job of doing art. Personally, I refuse to provide customer service when I'm not on the clock. I won't even give a quick "how may I help you."

So there's this comic right? It's called Local. It was a twelve issue series following this girl Meg, and in every issue she's in a different city. Before the con I got in touch with Local artist Ryan Kelly (husband of Friend of Microsuede Kat Vapid) and arranged for him to do a picture of Meg in Salt Lake City. I sent him some photos of Trolley Square for reference, and this is the end result:

Click to enlarge (the actual piece is 11X14). It's one of the coolest things I own. This is good enough to be on the cover of one of the issues, but instead it's resting in my lair. My expectations were exceeded.

I got this sketch from the writer of Local, Brian Wood. Took him about two seconds.

This is another one my favorites, from an artist I wasn't previously familiar with named Cameron Stewart. Way nice guy, and I bought his art book and was very impressed. He's maybe best known for drawing Catwoman but I asked him for a sketch of an "original lady."

J. Scott Campbell was a big score the first day because it seemed like he wasn't really doing sketches. I happened to catch him at the right time and got a quick drawing of his character, Abbey Chase. He said "it's going to be a real quick one, okay?" as if I'd complain about this:

Is this boring to anyone out there that doesn't care about comics? Too bad! Start your own blog.

This was a tough one to get, Humberto Ramos. He was always so busy but finally after a few days of trying I got this, Nico Minoru from Runaways.

One of the best series' ever (along with Local) is Alias (no affiliation with Jennifer Garner). It's a good book for non-comic fans. Especially if you like a lot of cursing. Here's the main character of Alias, Jessica Jones, by the series artist Michael Gaydos.

Nobody does curves like Josh Howard. Nobody, you hear me! I had him draw this Rosie the Riveter for me a few months ago, so this time I had him draw another American icon, Betty Page.

Did you guys know that I like The Wire? Well so does Steve Lieber, so I hit him up for a McNulty and an Omar.

And finally, the best sketch of the whole convention.

B's Secret Invasion Part V

2008-08-12T18:44:00.002-06:00

Well we're onto Saturday. Only two days of the con left. I honestly cannot distinguish Saturday and Sunday from the rest of the convention. Looking at the pictures sort of helps, but aside from that my memories are nothing more than vague snippets of capes and lasers and backpacks.

Here's some notable B. lore: this is the first comic I ever bought with my own money, back in 1992.

On that very same trip to the mall I also bought my first cassette, this single:

Back to the comic, I had my tattered copy with me at the convention and got it signed by artist Jim Lee. Now if I can just get that cassette signed by Courtney Love.

This is writer Judd Winnick, who you may remember from MtV's The Real World Season 3: San Francisco. I'm glad he's not on the Real World anymore, so he can start being polite again.

I guess Judd can read braille.

A couple Sundance's ago I saw Puck up in Park City, so I'm getting closer to completing my Real World 3 check list.

Hey wait I know this guy -

It's the guy from We Are Marshall!

I said "I'm glad you're here because I have about a hundred questions about Lost for you." and he looked up at me with sheer terror in his eyes before her realized I was kidding. Then he laughed and it was exactly like when Jack laughs!

These doppelgangers freaked me out. The resemblance is just too much.

The ironic thing is that those guys hate Star Trek, but as lookalikes it is their duty to answer the call. The call of Pretend Starfleet.

This Bender costume was great. The guy's beard kept trying to escape from the bottom of the helmet though. I think he had two costumes. If the Bender outfit got too hot he could take it off and be Tom Hanks in Castaway.

This guy wrapped himself in all the promotional garbage generated by the convention.

Doesn't it look like the guy in the black shirt is trying to fight him?

"You think litter is funny, punk?"

Hey, a sexy Joker. Someone should do a sexy Abe Lincoln next year.

Another costume from the good people at Gotham Public Works.

Alright Catwoman, you look amazing, but can you do any tricks?

Well, okay then.

My dumbstruck expression here is the result of her purring.

Can anyone venture a guess as to why this would be one of my favorite comic covers ever?

Passed this on the way back to the Island. The Island from Lost! Just kidding, Coronado Island. But remember when I met Jack? From Lost?

Holy shit, these things really exist???

Flamingos are mean. They bite.

From atop the balcony I stood, and I shouted across the bay, "San Diego! Bring forth your finest hamburger! Who will answer my call! Who will step forward and give me that which I seek?"

No one stepped forward so I had to use the internet instead. There are about three places in San Diego that make the "best burger" claim, but I chose Nicky Rotten's.

Unappetizing name for a food place, but son of a gun, it was the second best burger I've ever had. Keep in mind, I've had lots. I don't have a picture which is strange because I typically like to document my food. Man, I wish I was eating one right now.

Stayed there from burger to closing time. There's fun to be had at Nicky Rotten's.

I was fascinated by the bartendress who did not stop moving the entire night. It looks like the worst job in the world. That didn't stop me from trying to hit on her though.

"Hey, you must be a member of the Fantastic Four... specifically, the Human Torch... but a girl version... because you're so hot! Also I like to do this thing with my camera where I wobble it and the light streaks and when I edit the picture later it will look kind of like fire... um, did I mention that I'm also a Navy SEAL?"

Some things just aren't meant to be.

She may not have given in to my charms, but she was still lucky enough to get a free sketch from Scotty.

Hey, neon.

B's Secret Invasion Part VI

2008-08-12T18:44:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it's over. What are we going to talk about now? We've all learned and grown so much over the past couple weeks.

Sunday. I don't even know what to say about Sunday. It felt more crowded than the other days. I think the reason for that is that a lot of people came to check it out just for Sunday. By that point a lot of the five-day attendees had probably bagged it, and this one-dayers came in and gawked all over the place. There was a noticeable difference in the crowd too. Sunday was the only day where I experienced shoving and elbowing and charging. And there were a lot more people there that fit the "social reject" stereotype. I'm just telling it like it is.

Didn't do much really. Just walked around taking it in for the last time. It was difficult to be enthusiastic about anything. I could have walked right past Alyssa Milano gettin' it on with Yoda on top of a pile of Amazing Spiderman #1s and I wouldn't have even cared.

I picked up a couple of prints that I'm happy with.

I also met my new love, artist Molly "please stop staring at me" Crabapple. [head's up, her website contains drawings of nakedity]. Someday I will meet her again and be able to make a better first impression. I mean, things went kind of well. She invited me to her party, but unfortunately her party was the night before.

I could have had an awesome picture of this group of Indiana Joes but of course some jerk had to walk in front of the camera.

I know you've had a lot to read, but it was all unnecessary because the entire Comic-Con experience can be summed up in this picture:

Finally it's over. See you next year. Goodbye, Giant Shroom Trip Face.

Goodbye, thousands of people crossing the street trying to not get hit by a train.

We ate at an Australian themed restaurant with some unusual seating arrangements.

No offense to any Australians that may still be reading the blog, but beets don't belong on burgers. I regret not getting the optional fried egg on my burger though.

Sunday night I did something I hadn't done since Wednesday afternoon: relaxed. Fresh air and a cool breeze trumps comic books any day.

Time to finish this up, Microsuede style.

The End.