The Rundown: New York Comic Con 3.

This past weekend I spent two days at the New York Comic Con which will be called the NYCC from here on in. This is the third year I have gone and like the past two years it was great. It's is a surreal place to be. The god's of comics walk among us, a place where you can dress like what ever you can imagine and only be judge slightly (fat girls in Gold lemme not good.) This is the place where the Comic book is celebrated like it is the fuckin bible.
Friday afternoon I left the JC to hit the Path, to make my way to the land of sequential art. it was a gloriously warm day in Gotham as I hopped in a cab and we headed to the Javits center. The line this year was way better then the past 2 years, thank Christ. Within 15 minutes I was inside. Dark Horse, DC, Marvel, Image, and tons of small press co. all commingling. I was all a twitter I did not what to see first or look for, my head was on overload.
Now This year there were three things I really wanted to do Meet Stan "the Man" Lee, Alex Ross, and hopefully get to meet the cast of Hellboy 2 and the man with one of the most amazing visual style in the game Guillermo Del Toro.
well I missed the Stan lee ticket giveaway, but hey I will still be there for Alex Ross on Saturday. I also picked up my my raffle ticket for the Hellboy 2 signing that was going to happen on Saturday afternoon, there was gonna be limited placed in the line and the raffle was going to be picked Saturday morning afternoon. I walked around did some shopping (my list of purchase will follow in another blog.) Now I knew that legendary writer/ artist Kyle Baker was gonna be on hand so I made sure that I took the Joker magnet off my fridge cause he did the art for it years ago. I approached him with it and asked him to sign it. He looked at it said "so they turned this piece into a magnet too, you know them corporate will pay you for your art and then just run with it" he was very nice and friendly we chatted for a bit and then I moved on. did some more looking around just having a good ole time. it was getting a bit late so I was sore (I think I packed my bag a little too heavy) and besides it was 7ish so time to wrap it up I had Saturday to look forward to. I sat in a panel for the Marvels Secret Invasion, say what you will about Marvel Comic Editor in Chief Joe Quasada, that's one funny guy. fun panel (filled with a lot of real Geeks the guy sitting next to me had the greasy hair combed tight to his head wearing a Canadian tuxedo (see super troopers, the guy even had the nerd laugh and voice to go along with everything else this guy was really right out of revenge of the nerds.) and now it was time to take on more walk through and head home. As I made my way to the exit I decided to pick up some graphic novels, hey 25% is a great discount. So I went to the Jim Hanley's Universe to grab a few Graphic Novels I settled in with Garth Ennis' Preacher (I have the G.N. But I can't find them in my long boxes so it a great Read fuck it get them again.) While I was there looking at all the stuff they had I turn around and who else is buying Graphic Novels with my but Bill Hader (SNL, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) I asked him if he would Pose for a picture he was like sure. I said you know we have to justify to the non-believers that this is a legitimate art form and cool people are into it. At this he replied Where are the cool people? we all laughed he went his way I left the con hopped a shuttle bus walked to the path and headed back to the DT/JC.

Day 2: woke up at 9pm, with a bit of a hangover, walked to Paradise grabbed a breakfast sandwich and some drinks for the day, then hit the path, cab and goto the Javits. Surprising there was no line just walked right in...amazing. First thing I did was get a scetch from Beetle Baily Creator the great Mort Walker, what a truly nice man. walked around again took the sights in. Saturday the room was packed. Walked around picking up a few t-shirts (brutal) and some more Preacher Graphic Novels. I went to the Alex Ross area and asked the guy when Alex was doing his signing he said around 3 or 4, I then asked if you needed a ticket he said no...awesome.
it was now around 1:30 when I went to see if I made it into the HB2 Signing they picked 80 numbers and 20 alternates. My number was the last number on the alternate list. Fuckin Great. I have to see if the first 80 don't make it and then have to deal with 19 alternates and then I just may get to make it in. as the day wore on I went to get in line for Alex Ross when someone told me they gave out 75 tickets earlier in the day. FUCK! No Stan Lee, No Alex Ross, and 99 numbers to contend with for the hell boy signing. around 3:30 I went back to the Dark Horse Area and lo and behold it was 45 mins to go till the signing and not all of the numbers had been taken, I went up showed the lady my number and she said well there you go her is your wrist band...HOLY SHIT I was gonna meet the Cast, director and creator of hellboy! I took my place in line when I found out that 100 numbers had been picked from over 3000 tickets give out I really got lucky on this one. As I stood in line Zack from pops called he was in the house I meet up with him he found me on the line, we shot the shit when Alex my boss from work rolled in, wow 4 is the time to be at comic con I guess. It was 4:22 when the cast came out. the crowed went ape shit! as I stood there I ran in to my old pal Soppy, I have not seen him really since NJCU Days, we talked and then it was my turn to meet the actors and get them to sign 1 thing. shit I really wanted to get them to sign my Hellboy DVD booklet, first up was Doug Jones (Abe Sapian) really nice guy they each had a comic from the movie with their respected Character on the cover he signed that and my DVD book, awesome. next was Selma Blair(Liz Sherman) wow what an amazing beauty in person...she was stunning I really did not talk to her as my tounge had become tied. when I asked her to sign my DVD book she had no problem wow 2 down! Next up was the Big Man Himself Ron Perlman(Hellboy) I have more or less grew up watching this guy. My parents always watched Beauty and the beast when I was a kid, plus he always pops up in interesting shows and movies. This is not a small man by no means. I asked him to sign the booklet and he said "you got it pal" what a Nice guy, after him was the Father of Hellboy Mr Mike Mignola. nice guy who also had no problem signing my DVD, last but not least was Mr. Guillermo Del Toro...I walked up to him and said "You sir are a Genius" he said "nah I am just a man who makes movies for people like you. he signed my DVD book and told me good luck. It is only a matter of time before this guy wins an Oscar and I got to shake his hand. it was amazing.
after all that I had to catch my breath and ran in to Soppy again he asked if I would like to join him in going to the Quick Stop entertainment Panel at 5 or something like that I said sure we killed some time got in line and had a blast in the panel. They showed us some behind the scenes stuff from Kevin Smiths New project Zak and Miri Make a porno starring Seth Rogan (knocked up) and Elizabeth Banks (40 year old Virgin) gave out some prizes good time. It was now time for me to take off and head home. I look forward to the NYCC next year. till then don't forget to put that comic back with it's bag and board. (P.S. PIC's will be up this week somewhere)