I didn’t go to ConnectiCon just to oogle pretty girls in cute costumes (and then try to figure if they were, indeed, females). My main reason for going was to check out the comics. Then check out panels. Then buy stuff. THEN look at pretty girls. And finally because I’ve never been to a convention before. So tonight is about the things I did and the stuff I bought, including some really cool comics that I usually can’t get at my local comic store.
First we’ll take a look at my visit to “Artist’s Alley”, where you went if you weren’t cool enough for the dealer’s tables downstairs. I actually went to the dealer room first because it was on the ground floor (and you had to pass through it to reach the bathroom), and I didn’t pick up any of the comics down there. But more on that later, as I did see some cool stuff. I mostly went to the Alley because of the comic above. Or more precisely, the author.
David Willis
COMIC: Joyce and Walky and Shortpacked! (current) Roomies and It’s Walky (previously)
I mostly know David (also known as Walky online, but he’s not the character in the strips) through the “alt.toys.transformers” newsgroup. It was neat to finally meet a fellow ATTer. David is one of the founding members of the Blank Label Comics group, a bunch of “escapees” from Keenspot. He also co-maintains the Transformers Wiki. Plus he’s getting married soon. In other words, he’s pretty busy these days.
Joyce and Walky is part of a series of comics dubbed the “Walkyverse”, because of the second comic, It’s Walky. The first was Roomies, a comic he made for a college newspaper which took off once it went online. The story was about a group of college kids, but eventually aliens came into the picture and that’s when the big events really started happening. All three comics can be found via the first sight. J&W is currently a pay-to-read site for the stories, but there is also a weekly free strip with the main characters’ silly antics.
Shortpacked! is also set in the Walkyverse, but exists in it’s own storyline. Mostly, it’s meant to be a take on toy collecting and occasionally comics. Two of the characters from It’s Walky, Mike and Robin, now appear in this comic. I like it for the parodies, but much of the content isn’t really my “thing”. A lot of “adult” humor and references and our politics don’t really agree. At all. Still, he’s a cool guy and I do like his work overall. It’s Walky was one of my favorite web comics.
What I picked up: Roomies: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beer
A compilation of the first batch of Roomies online strips combined with some new material added for the original floppy printings and a series of strips that appeared in regular newspapers (none near me, mind) that numerous Blank Label contributors did. It introduces then focus characters Danny and Joe, as well as Sal and Joyce, who were main characters during It’s Walky. He also signed the inside for me:
I probably should have gotten Bumblebee (he being my favorite Transformer) or possibly Swoop (I’m still waiting for IDW to do a Bumblebee/Swoop buddy story, and I’ll even write it for free! Seriously, I would.), but what I asked for was Prowl beating the daylights out of Grimlock. Probably saying “where’s your Furman now!”–because he makes Grimlock a hero no matter how he screws up, and treats Prowl like garbage. Furman actually makes me HATE Grimlock. However, it was loud in there and I’m a rather soft-voiced lifeform so all he caught was Grimlock. Luckily, this is cartoon Grimlock, who was funlovablehuggably awesome, so it’s all good.
Luke Foster
Luke had the most devious strategy to get your attention I’ve ever seen. He said hi as you walked by. Devious! And not in a “heyheylookatmei’mheretoshowmeloveLOOKATME!” kind of way. Just a regular hello. The first time I just wanted to get out and take some pictures (use the rest room, thankfully there was one on that floor as well so I didn’t have to go all the way back to the dealer’s and gaming floor), but the next time I stopped and took a look at his stuff. Pretty interesting.
Moon Freight 3 is a three-a-week strip about that guy you don’t usually think about when you watch a sci-fi movie: the ordinary working stiff. For us, the future is amazing, but honestly, someone from 1302 would find our time period just as amazing, including things we take for granted like air conditioning and electricity. It looks like a nice comic, even if it isn’t uber-amazing art. I’ve seen worse stuff in the daily paper. And for his art style, he draws pretty well. It’s not fall-down hilarious, but still amusing.
What I picked up: The “comic” he was offering was more like a bunch of papers stapled together, with only a few strips put in, plus he did an original drawing right in front of you. What can you expect for $1 at a convention, even a local one? A good intro to the comic.
And that’s a drawing, not a sketch. He actually penciled and inked it right there which, as someone looking to do this himself, was interesting to watch (my poor attention span notwithstan….squirrel!). I noticed he used disposable sepia ink pens, while I’ve been practicing with a Sharpie pen (not a marker, they started making regular pens, with the fine-point tip I like but without bleeding through the paper like the fine-point marker I had been practicing with). That may get me banned from the comics-making community, but same situation different group. You know how it goes.
If you couldn’t tell from the Poison Ivy picture yesterday, I had on a Batman hat and a Spider-Man t-shirt.
Sean Wang
COMIC: Runners. Also, The Tick & Arthur for New England Comics.
That’s right. He worked on The Tick! How cool is that? Wang was one of the coolest guys I’ve met. He was there promoting his first original comic under the “Serve Man Press” label.
Runners is about a group of smugglers who find an amnesiac girl, race unknown, during a raided cargo transfer. Now the crew find themselves on the run from cops and crooks alike. The comic is slowly being uploaded onto the website as he prepare the second arc. The first one was available in both five lone issues and one graphic novel.
What I picked up: I snagged the floppies as well as a free “sketchbook”, showcasing some of his design ideas. I just finished reading it, and it’s just fantastic! It’s so good I’ll be doing a Scanning My Collection article on it, a first for a new acquisition. Then again, the blog’s not even a year old and usually the new stuff is part of the Sunday reviews anyway. Sean autographed the first issue.
I also picked up the Tick Comic Con Extravaganza a one-shot convention special, which finds the Tick and Arthur as part of a group of super heroes brought in for a signing at Comic-Con. Sadly, none of the other cartoon supporting cast; Die Fledurmaus, American Maid, and Sewer Urchin. However, it’s a good read.
Wang was the only one I remembered I had an autograph book in my pocket when I was there. Since he’s written for THE TICK!, I asked him for his autograph (apparently two comics wasn’t enough for me, the jerk!).
That’s cooler than any of the wrestlers’ autographs I have. And the list includes Jake “The Snake” Robers and King Kong Bundy. None of them did a drawing, though. 🙂
There were some other comics I saw that had my attention, but I was out of money at the time like Power Kid, probably the only super hero comic I saw there (actually, the same guy made a couple others, but they didn’t have a mascot like Power Kid), or they didn’t have a hardcopy version, like new comic White Rose, which has a very interesting art style, but only four comics online thus far. I’ll be keeping an eye on that one.
Finally, I made one purchase that wasn’t comic related.
Encore Ratchet! The original version of Ratchet, the Autobot medic was one of my holy grails when it comes to my Transformers toy collection. Finding the original in decent condition is near impossible, especially on my budget. Luckily, I found the Japanese reissue for $30 at the Mugen Toys display, which for it’s rarity and the import costs seemed like a good deal to me, when you factor in that I didn’t have to pay shipping and handling.
One of my favorite Transformers comic stories comes from the original Marvel run in which Ratchet must outsmart Megatron and rescue his comrades from Decepticon control. #7 and 8 also feature some of the best art the series ever produced.
Famously, the original version of the figure never had a head. Japan’s “Diaclone” line, which was one of the toy lines Hasbro converted into the Transformers was supposed to be human-piloted mecha, not a sentient robotic lifeform. So Hasbro added a sticker that goes behind the windshield to act as a robot head. The Takara “Encore” figure includes this sticker, but also a punch-out piece that serves as the head designed for the cartoon. For some reason, Floro Dery (the guy who designed the character models for the cartoon) decided to make the robots more human-like, and “cheated” on the designs. The comics adopted this mostly by issue #3 and completely by the fourth issue.
I actually like the more robotic designs, even if Michael Bay and ILM overdid it when designing their more “believable” designs for live-action.
I was going to put the panels here as well, but the post is already hours late and almost 1700 words long, so I’ll make a special post alongside the Friday Night Fights entry tomorrow. Hopefully I have some videos other con goes took as well.
EDIT: Thought about it over breakfast and since there are videos I decided to make it a special editon of the Saturday Night Showcase instead.
BW Media Spotlight 