Comic Con Stuff

I didn't buy much at this years San Diego Comic Con. Just a couple of things. When I first walked into the convention, one of the first booths I was belong to Bill Sienkiewicz. When I first saw his name in print, I use to pronounce it as *Sien-ka-wicks*. I'm sure a lot of people didn't get it right the first time. It's actually pronounced *sin-KEV-itch*. Anyway, he wasn't there but had someone watching his table with a bunch of Trade Paperbacks for sale. Among them was a book called "Stray Toasters". This was a book that I've always wanted to pick up. Just never got around to it. I asked the guy how much for it and he said $25. Twenty Fiver dollars? But the retail price on the back says $19.95. Then he says, These are Bill's copies and he signed the book inside. So I opened up the book to look for his signature and what do I see? Not only his signature, but a original sketch of an elephant on the inside front cover. Pencils, pen, whiteout, the works! I dropped that $25 faster than a speeding bullet!

The other items I bought were My Little Ponys. Two of them. These are two of the same. Just painted differently on the flip side. Why two you ask? Well, I have two little daughters and that should be a good enough answer. :)

So the above were the only things I bought at the convention. The following are some stuff that were given to me.

My friends (Scott, Amber, and their son, Ethan) got me this Green Lantern action figure. They saw a line for Green Lantern and thought it was a line for the Animated Green Lantern panel. So they waited, got to the front and picked tickets. They later found out it was a ticket to be able to purchase this figure. So they bought one for their son and a extra for me since the limit was two per person. That was very nice of them. I later found out it was a real headache to buy these. People had to get in line and draw tickets. If they got the correct ticket, they would then bring that ticket to the Grafitti Booth and wait in another line to buy the figure. If they got the wrong ticket, they had to go back in line and draw again until all the correct tickets were given out that day. Which means for some, it took hours to be able to buy this guy or not being able to buy it at all. So I'm very grateful that they gave me one. Here it is... Green Lantern... In Orange. Orange Lantern? At least the packaging is green.

Now on to books. This year at SDCC, he majority of the time, I wanted to meet up with friends who I don't see every day. People I've worked with and friends in the industry. Some of those friends gave me sketchbooks and comics that they had at their table. Here's a picture of them all.

From left to right, Devilish Hardcover sketchbook by Mark Brooks, Arthur Adams Ocho, SpongeBob SquarePants by Gregg Schigiel, Tom Nguyen Sketchbook 2, Terry Moore Sketchbook 2009. Jonboy Meyers Sketchbook, G-Man learning how to fly by Chris Giarrusso, and Skullboy's Nemesis Mad Dog by Jacob Chabot.

Here we have the Devilish Hardcover sketchbook by Mark Brooks. Lots of sketches, pencils, inks, colors, concept work, completed images. I like how it's in this hardcover format. I wanted to buy this from Mark, but he wouldn't accept my money and said I get a comp because we're doing work together. What a nice guy. You can also order it at his website by clicking here. Here we have Arthur Adams Ocho. This is Arthur's eighth sketchbook. He's been making these bounded sketchbook that includes concept sketches, pencils, inks, commission pieces, and more. All in beautiful black and white where you can see every line without it being drowned in color. When I saw Arthur at his booth, he tossed one to me so I could have it. What a nice guy. Just like a lot of comic book professionals, they would say the reason they got into comics is because of Arthur Adams. I also got into comics because of him. Back in the day, Arthur use to run a comic book store where I buy my comics from. One time, I saw him packing his drawings up in a FedEx box and the FedEx guy camed to pick up the package. He used to draw sketches direct on the FedEx box too! So I asked him, what was that for. He told me he drew comics. You mean a real person actually draws comics? Do you get paid for it? Yeap. That's when I decided to go into comics. And here I am today. Then it came full circle when Arthur called me up to ink him on HULK about a year ago. Four issues of fun which ended too quickly. One of these days, I hope to work with Arthur again. I told him I miss inking his pencils. You can also buy the sketchbook here.

Here we have the SpongBob SquarePants magazine with art by Gregg Schigiel. Gregg used to be my editor over at Marvel Comics. He left Marvel to do freelance art. One time, he got me to ink his pencils on a Toy Story gig for Disney Adventures. I even got him to sign the page that he did his work on. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!

Here we have Ton Nguyens Sketchbook 2. In it, there are pencils, inks, and some paintings and renderings. I love the last page as shown below. Tom and I sorta got to know each other because of Doug Mahnke. Tom inked a lot of Doug's work. A bunch of times, DC Comics would call me to help out on deadlines and I would study some of Tom's inking to see if I could mimic some of his line work. We've meet a few times at conventions and we got to know each other more through blogging. Lots of funny stuff over there. Tom has a website as well as a blog so check it out. Sometimes I laugh out loud because of the stuff he does. He has this crazy old man neighbor that's just too funny.

Here's Terry Moore's sketchbook. He's worked on a book called 'Strangers in Paradise' and is now working on a book called 'Echo'. One of the nicest guy in comics. Years back, Terry and I worked on a Marvel Team up together. Spider-Man and Black Widow. After we got out art returns back. Terry got his 2/3 and I got my 1/3. We saw each other again at a convention. And he wanted to give me money. I asked him, "Why do you want to give me money?" He said, "I sold some of the art for the project we did together and I want to give you some." I, of course, turned him down and told him that those pieces of art belonged to him and so does the money. This past SDCC, I asked him how many inkers has he ever got to ink his work. Just two, he said. Jimmy Palmiotti and myself. Jimmy on an issue of Strangers in Paradise and me on that Marvel Team-Up issue.

Here's Jonboy Meyers sketchbook. I've meet Jonboy many years ago when he was running a booth for the He-Man comics. We were just talking and he said "Hey, you're Walden Wong". We've kept in touch since and the both of us said one of these day, we'll do something together. If nothing, just a pin-up for fun. That still hasn't happened so there's still that hope. He's been busy working on a lot of Marvel Projects. When I saw Jonboy at SDCC, he signed one of his sketchbooks and gave it to me. A couple of days later when I saw him again, he was going to sign another to give to me again. Shows how busy a convention can be when you forget that you have someone something. Here's G-Man learning how to fly by Chris Giarrusso. I've been a fan of his work ever since he's done those little comic strips in all the Marvel comics. I purposely didn't order this when it was first solicited in Previews. I wanted to wait until it's published so I can buy one and get Chris to sign it. So when I saw him, he asked me if I got one of these trade paperbacks. I said not yet, but I'm going to buy one off you right now. He said no, you're just going to get one. He signed one and gave it to me and here it is. What an awesome guy.

Here we have Skullboy's Nemesis Mad Dog by Jacob Chabot. When I was talking to Gregg Schigiel, he sneaked up on me to give me his comic. What's this? It's my comic! Did you sign it? He walks back to his booth, draws a sketch, signs it, and gives it back. And here's what I got from him. Jacob and Gregg has done thing great Marvel project together. They shown me photocopies of the pages and I can't wait until that comes out. Fun stuff in the flavor of Chris Giarrusso.

And that's it. All the swag I got from SDCC. Of course I got some other freebies along the way while I was walking the convention. You can't just walk SDCC without people handing you stuff. Buttons, postcards, comics, and all sorts of freebies. A few times, I was just walking from point A to point B and ended up in a line without knowing it. I found out I was part of a line when a booth babe handed me a T-Shirt towards the end. All I wanted was to get out of that crowd. Happy Mistake.