NYCC '09

Been a while since my last post, but here's why... New York Comic Con! Rod and I made the trip up to NY early Saturday morning and stayed through Sunday evening. We had a really great time!

It was our first time at the NY con, so we just walked around, taking everything in (maybe next year we'll see about getting a table). It was packed on Saturday. It got to be very difficult to move around and it immediately reminded me of the horror/frustration of San Diego last year. Once we got into Artists' Alley it was a little more manageable, though, and we went over and annoyed Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau for a bit and talked Perhapanauts (which you should be reading if you aren't already!!).

It was also very cool to finally meet up with Chris Zaccone, artist of After-School Agent (which you should all also be reading!), and say hello again to Gino Patti. The After-School Agent guys were our booth buddies at Heroes Con last year. They are cool people.



It took me forever to find the Mattel booth because we were so turned around, but once we found it I bought a few Faker figures for myself and a couple friends and checked out all of the new toys Mattel had on display. My favorite (besides the Stratos figures, of course) was this new Ghostbusters Egon figure-- awesome!



On Saturday I hooked up with my friend Kevin Conn, aka Unemployed Skeletor, and Skelly was good enough to interview me about my art and thoughts on He-Man in general. More on that sometime soon!



Also on Saturday we walked past this incredible Watchmen chalk drawing someone was working on. I never did go back to see it when it was finished, sadly...



As we were walking past one of the Doctor Who booths (the Chicago Tardis guys, I think), we saw Colin Baker-- the 6th Doctor-- sitting there signing autographs and greeting fans. I didn't have the nerve to walk up to the guy, so I admired him from afar.



Saturday night Rod and I went out to dinner with Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, Kelly Yates and Rich Woodall. We all had a great time and lots of laughs were had, especially after Rich told an insanely funny story. And then Todd topped it off with another, similar, tale. It was like icing on the cake. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. And apparently I was the only person to get a dinner photo in which the television was smiling along with us.



After dinner we headed out to catch a taping of Saturday Night Live courtesy of After-School Agent writer (and all around awesome guy), Scott Weinstein. On the way there Todd and I almost got run over because we were talking and not paying attention to street signage. Good times. But SNL was great and very funny. I was especially thrilled because when we went backstage Darrell Hammond and I stared at each other for a good four or five seconds (Darrell is my fav!). And, of course, I was in the presence of the great James Lipton, though I never saw him up close. Thanks again, Scott!!



After a round of drinks at a nearby bar, Rod and I headed back to the hotel.

And then Sunday was upon us. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon doing some sightseeing, since this was Rod's first time in NY. We checked out Times Square and the massive Toys R Us, then went to Strawberry Fields. As always, I bought and left a rose for John while we were there.



Afterwards we went back to the con and found it was much easier to walk around than it was the previous day. I dropped off some portfolio packets and handed off some business cards, and we walked around and spent some money. We saw a few cool costumes (as there usually are at these things), including Plaid Spidey and a kind of scary looking Iceman.




We hung around the After-School Agent guys and finally got to semi-hang with Scott as things were winding down. I'm currently working on an After-School Agent story for Scott that looks to be a lot of fun, so details on that soon. Chris took this shot of Scott, Rod, me and Todd before Todd and Craig took off for the day.



All too soon the convention was over, so we said our goodbyes and I managed to catch Rich Faber before we headed out to catch our taxi and head to the train station. I always appreciate what Rich has to say about my work and any suggestions he has to offer. Thanks again, Rich!

And that about sums up my NYCC '09 experience. It's always sad leaving these things after getting to hang out with such great people, and it's making me look forward to Heroes Con in June that much more. Bring it on!