New York Comic Con 2009: Some Photos, Some Walking, and Fanboys Minus Deodorant

Two things that stand out: Blue He-Man and Boba Fett. Never bet against the Fett-man.

So I went to Comic Con today and thoroughly enjoyed myself, although by the end I really wanted to actually get several specific issues relating to the X-Men reboot in 1991. Maybe tomorrow? Probably not, although I could certainly surf for them on eBay or just get myself to a comics store. I also walked too far to the point where I entered the New York Times Travel Show, which actually was really cool but unfortunately was overshadowed. First person I saw? Scott Adsit. 458th person I saw? Grizz.

I got to see the nice view from the Newsarama sky box, where the crew was doing a Venture Bros. interview. They basically talked about random stuff here and there, and of course, about Ken Plume (you can find his site here).It's a great forum for those guys not just on paper, but I think a great thing about comics culture is the amount of referencing made somewhat charming by the fact that most of these "facts" are about made up worlds. They know their material and what they want to pull from. Referencing stuff in the genre can be a lot of fun both in and out of context, either in earnest or in jest. It makes for a culture that is misunderstood but at the same time, totally up front and honest. Just take a look at the costumes...

Enjoy the pictures and the captions!

From the Mattel section; she's gotta have implants

Crack Doll could be appropriate as well (they were all in garbage cans, serves 'em right....so ugly....)

She wouldn't turn around for me. It's 'cuz she CAN'T HEAR in that thing

The behemoth of NY comics

Yeah I didn't really know he was still around either

Oh Yeah!! I mean Malin Ackerman's ass

People were winning stuff from this booth, notice how Green Lantern is point directly at yours truly, he knows what time it is

Steve works for Harry Abrams, should I have bought? Most definitely

View from the Newsarama sky box overlooking the event

I didn't like the trailer the first time I saw, now I'm a bit more excited...ish

Why is he blue? Because the cutie in the Batgirl costume didn't finish, and since he's He-Man, well, his body gets blue. That's not a good explanation.

The Marvel area was crowded with lots of people for no particular reason but then someone took a mic and everyone collectively got a boner, even the women.

This kid was nice enough to take time out of this dueling something something and pose

He took the head off, and I couldn't believe it was a fake. Han Solo looked more like Han No-lo. Ok that was bad.

Mixing Marvel and DC. There were also mixed drinks.

Grand Theft Chinese...Way to tap into THAT market...although they probably should have done Grand Theft....Tokyo

Trading cards just got better? I just got boner

Steven Saj-dak: "If you tap me in the back of the knee, I'll probably crumble...been here since 11". Dork.

Most Serious Person In Costume Ever


Samurai swords so that the men could fend off women. Samurai swords so women could look even more ridiculous. I'm talkin bout you Pirate Lady.

Galactus is a gajillion times larger than Silver Surfer in size, and yet is nearly half the price? oh COME ON

Yeah well, this is to be expected....Superman costume circa Superman I?

Unfortunately there were no Babe of the Day video footage

Toadstool didn't know the two Asian kids. Thus her facial expression.

Breakdancing AND that's not a condom on the ground

Here's the pitch: www.fusionfall.com. It's a massively multiplayer online game for kids. Think World of Warcraft for kids. Creepy hitting on virtual women not included.

An Ugly Doll. Again.

A flagship brand, not sure if it got a lot of attention (it was kind of off to the side)

They're doing the robot. Maybe doing each other later as well. Wheelchair man will watch that too.


Artists booth section, where you can meet the artists behind the comics, excuse me graphic novels, excuse me they're different

Tony Stark is smirking. Dunno why, cuz he HAS NO LEGS

Pic from the floor

Tons of gaming toward the south side, and plenty of nerds hogging the controls

This guy's favorite word was "debaters" so he obviously loves Denzel Washington

Actually this is what he was really talking about

Nerder at 1600...2700

Emo band name?

I wish I had more time to comb what I need to comb. I did manage to comb my hair in the bathroom though.

So Caprica is coming out...excited!

You can tell my photos are getting worse when I have a side shot of Predator. A 5'8" Predator.

They weren't free. I uh, I didn't realize that. JK JK

The English Beat (aka The Beat) with Bad Manners and Big D & The Kids Table @ Irving Plaza (aka The Fillmore) 2.6.09

I apologize as I only had my crappy camera phone with me to take any semblance of a picture. But, I make no apologies for enjoying ska as much as I do. Doesn't matter if it's from original rudeboys, two-tone, or 3rd wave, I love it all. Well not all of it (Five Iron Frenzy anyone?) but there's something so sprightly about the guitar clicks and marked drumming, sometimes with horns, organs, etc.

Taking influence from some great influences like soul and slyly spreading out and evolving (or de-volving as many detractors would probably want to note) into different directions, you can still see the movement's inspiration to artists today like Lily Allen. I say movement, because as my colleague from Marvelous Observations pointed out at the show yesterday, there's no niche quite like ska in terms of its audience, and a movement like the variations of punk and hip hop because it incorporates not only music, but oftentimes a lifestyle and values. Now that may sound conformist, but it really isn't that serious; it's more like a "have fun, love life" mindset, and to hell with people who say otherwise. Great ska is like a blast of funk and jazz without the pretention mixed with the cathartic nature of soul. My college roommate would say it's "circus music" which it can be, but I'll take it over most music any day.

Another basic thing is that having a whole crowd dancing organically to bands that really incoporate a bit of showmanship is a great site to see, the vibe can be unparalleled.

Anywho, so when I saw that The English Beat were coming around again, and this time with Bad Manners and Big D, I immediately picked up a ticket, put on the braces, and told my feet they were going to hurt afterward from all that bouncing around.

Big D

After a Newcastle, Big D started things off. Now I'm a Big D fan from years ago and I kind of prefer their old stuff off of albums like Good Luck because I thought it was the baddest-ass verison of them, 10 members, back and forth vocals, and wicked breakdowns (oh Boston). They've changed a bit, and their recent album, Strictly Rude, which I have somewhere in my possession, is all ska and less punk. It's a nice album, and doing a couple bigger cuts like "Noise Complaint" certainly were agreeable. But I'm not sure if they are consciously tired of their old stuff, don't have the manpower anymore, or wanted to concentrate their opening slot on newer stuff, but the energy level just wasn't quite there this time. I've always thought bands should do what they do best and to hell with the rest of the bill. I felt like Big D could have brought out the big guns with songs like "Can't Be Caught" or "51 Gardener" and blasted the crowd to pieces. Their energy is most unique like that I think, a very hectic feel, as lean and skinny as frontman Dave himself but having this pop to it. It was still good to see them again.

Bad Manners

The crowd got considerably packed for Bad Manners. It was the shit. Really. Buster Bloodvessel of course took off his pants somewhere around the 3rd song, and by the time they ended with their version of "Can Can" I'm sure the front row may have gotten a nice view of the jewels every time he kicked. Bad Manners kind of takes the most precisely hepped up feel to mid-tempo two-tone without adding much to it unlike other bands of the late 70s and 80s. It's part of the reason why they are the most fun, and probably also the reason why they are a bit less known than The Specials or The English Beat as well (we could even stretch it to the Police), in that canon of bands. With great rompin' stompin' covers of "Sally Brown" and "You're Just Too Good To Be True" (I wished they played "Skinhead Girl") everyone was sweating balls and the place was just HOT. Knees up, elbows swinging, torsos twisting and gyrating, chants on the offbeats of "pick it up pick it up" and "hey hey hey hey".

English Beat

Now I think I prefer last year's concert that English Beat put on with one of my favorite bands, the Rx Bandits, as I think this year with a longer concert and really, an almost unbeatable Bad Manners performance (it will be their last one on this tour), it's hard to keep the audience's attention. Dave Wakeling is the only original member touring with this version of The Beat, so no Ranking Roger, but hey, we'll have to take more of his General Public-ness to get to the good stuff? Sure why not. The Beat really melded 80s pop into their ska machinations anyway, without the kooky charm of Madness. Their traditional pop and great harmonies really shine on great hits like "Save It For Later" and "I Confess" on their later material but for me, as a ska fan, it's really anything off of I Just Can't Stop It which they played most of again that really gets the place moving. The highlight was actually after you thought they were just starting to settle in and hit a dry spot, when they got a roar of energy back to back from "Mirror In The Bathroom" to "Ranking Full Stop". At one point they snuck in Pearl Jam's "Better Man", which was a bit odd but it's great to see the over 45 crowd react. Speaking of which, the crowd was on average much older; I'm going to say there were two averages: 25, and 45. Not much in the middle. With their marathon sets, The Beat put on a great show, albeit just a bit long on their outros. Dave Wakeling, all scruffy voiced and constantly referring to copious amounts of pints, his pick shaped guitar, was all smiles as he took the crowd back about 30 years.

The skins were out in much fuller force this time, I half expected there to be a line of scooters around the corner by Galaxy. The crowd is always enjoyable to peruse, because I just think that you get more niche and it's interesting to see how music and fashion, culture, etc. get blended. Oh pork pie hats! Oh bald heads! Natural or shaven! Skank!

Magnet Theater: The Really, Really, Stupendously Nice Person

I had the pleasure of catching my first show, a graduation show, at The Magnet Theater on 29th Street in the city. As a huge fan of UCB and knowing of The People's Improv, I was interested to catch the vibe from this place as I had not heard about it previously. They have 3 dollar Red Stripe, so it's gotta be good right?

Turns out, it's very unassuming. In fact, I'm kinda charmed by it. There's just an air about it that says they are under the radar, and not even in a hip way. There's a weird empathy that I have for it, as well as sympathy for some reason. Just as makeshift as most small theaters, with a table for a bar and a podium for a box office, a small lobby for people to hang, and one, ungodly one, unisex bathroom, the stadium seating is really nice and comfortable. The instructor for the class, Mr. Armando Diaz, is somewhat older and more experienced than many of the improv performers I've seen, and as well, seems really encouraging. Like taking a class is actually tempting for someone like me with limited ability. The stage is a box in front with two doors to the back, and there's a good view from any seat as members of the class sat by the bathroom to the side.

Even their website, which can be found here, is quite low-key comparatively, there's no padded patting-themselves-on-the-back or hard sell sort of thing like some of the other sites do. Doesn't seem to carry as many variety of classes as The People's, but hey, that's just fine.

With shows nearly every night, including mixers (chance for people to get, you know, really improv-y and drunk) and Thursday Night Out special (one 5 dollar ticket gets you in for the night, dollar beers), you can't get much cheaper than Magnet Theater for stripped down fun entertainment.


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Hot Dog on Pizza? Get The f$#(%k Out

You know Atlantic by Court Street? Yeah I never gave a crap either until I saw this digestive disaster....


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Umm, so Slice NY (which got their tip from Eater) posted about Reginella, a pizzeria which opened up recently at 193 Atlantic. The Reginella Special? Yeah it's got cut up hot dogs and french fries on it. One of their photos, I just kinda wanna throwa upa onto someone else's face.

Check out these photos from Slice:


Wait for it.....



Wait for it.....




Wait....


for....


it....


BLAM!!!!



This will be bet on in the near future...

Not So Full Coverage of New York Comic Con

So I'll be there with my new old Canon D60 that I'm still figuring out (new to me, old to Eric Westpheling) to scope out the scene at this year's Comic Con New York at the Javits Center. As a pretty strict Marvel fan, I fell off about 14 or 15 years ago but still love dusting off the old stories for another run through every time I go home to my twin size bed upstate (and they never cease to amaze me). I was hoping to make the show presented above but I already got tickets to the English Beat/Bad Manners/Big D show.

Comic Con over the years has certainly expanded (cast of Fringe? Chuck? Torchwood?) but I'm told that New York is where the real costumes come out (eat it San Diego). It's NYC: everything is more excessive here. I'll be taking some photos and getting some stuff done like completing some story arcs....from 14 or 15 years ago that I never picked up issues for. Or I could just spike my hair up and pretend I'm a Dragonball Z character. Or I could fart and I'm sure it would smell better than some odors flying around. See the thing about events like this, and the way they've expanded as they grow more popular and businesspeople get wise to it, is that added exposure is always good, but at what point does it really get too much? Shit like Sundance is a joke nowadays (well now I just sound really bitter about not being famous...), but on the flipside, Comic Con, which is a different brand, a different genre even though movies are creeping in to supply fanboys and girls with some great material, seems to get cooler in it's bloated form. The New York version might not be as trendy, but hell, I'm sure there'll be some really colorful cats and kittens.

Anywho, a lot of action from Cartoon Network/Adult Swim (boy do they love James Harrison now) has come out of the city and Brooklyn, including the guys from Superjail!, which is about as twisted as TV gets. Here are SOME of their panels (and a free party on the night of the 6th which you may or may not want to check out featuring John Glaser and his new Adult Swim live action show, Delocated, filmed here in NYC; see below). Oh and a Venture Bros. panel, of which Season 3 comes out on March 24th.

All times and schedules subject to change, so be sure to double check while you are there to get the very latest schedules. Especially if Breckin Meyer's signing times change.

PANELS

SUPERJAIL!

Friday, Feb. 6, 4:45 – 5:45 p.m. (ET)

Location: Panel Room 1A08-12

Heavy animation and violence run rampant in Superjail! Created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick and Ben Gruber, the series uses flash animation to create traditional animation gags that move at a dizzying pace. Superjail is the most intense and complicated jail in the universe, residing on a remote island under the tedious eye of the mysterious and slightly delirious Warden. The psychedelic landscape of Superjail! features dangerous criminals, fantastic creatures and frequent riots. The Warden watches over every square inch of the jail like a crazed big brother in his chaotically crafted prison. Criminals may escape from time to time, but their heinous crimes undoubtedly bring them back to Superjail.

The panelists include:

· Christy Karacas, creator / executive producer, Superjail!

· Stephen Warbrick, creator / executive producer, Superjail!

· David Wain, voice of The Warden, Superjail!

· Ted Cohn, voice of Jared, Superjail!

· Richard Mather, voice of The Twins, Superjail!

Moderated by Keith Crofford, Vice President of Production for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim

ROBOT CHICKEN

Saturday, Feb. 7, 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. (ET)

Location: Room 1A08-12

Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken: Seth Green and Matthew Senreich (creators/executive producers) speak about Adult Swim’s original series, Robot Chicken. Now in its fourth season, the network’s Emmy-winning series uses stop-motion animation to bring pop-culture parodies to life in a modern take on the variety/sketch show format. In Robot Chicken, no pop-culture target is safe. Legions of action figures are used to spoof everything from The Hills to James Bond to “Composite Santa Claus.” Throughout the series, Green and Senreich have enlisted the help of numerous guest voice actors, including Tila Tequila, Seth MacFarlane, Conan O’Brien, Hayden Panettiere, Hugh Hefner, Carrie Fisher and George Lucas, among others. In addition to the series, Green and Senreich have also created two Star Wars-themed specials: the Emmy-nominated Robot Chicken: Star Wars from 2007 and its follow-up, Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II, which premiered last November.

The panelists include:

· Seth Green, creator/executive producer, Robot Chicken

· Matthew Senreich, creator/executive producer, Robot Chicken

· Breckin Meyer, writer/actor, Robot Chicken

· Kevin Shinick, writer/actor/creative director, Robot Chicken

· Geoff Johns, writer, Robot Chicken

Moderated by Keith Crofford

THE VENTURE BROS.

Saturday, Feb. 7, 6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. (ET)

Location: Room 1A08-12

The Venture Bros. is an animated comedy series that follows the adventures of Dean and Hank Venture, the twin sons of famous-but-flailing scientist Dr. Thaddeus S. Venture. In August 2004, viewers were introduced to Hank and Dean, the all-American boys oddly out of place in today’s world. The twins live in a high-tech compound where their father, the world-renowned Dr. Venture, carries out his scientific experiments. But it’s not all reading, sports and goofing around in dad’s lab for these fraternal twins. Once the boys leave home, they inevitably find themselves in danger. Doc Venture’s work takes the family everywhere from a space station to the Bermuda Triangle to the slums of Tijuana. And when your father has enemies like The Monarch, there is bound to be trouble. It’s a good thing that muscle-bound Brock Samson, the family’s bodyguard, is around to deliver his brutal form of vengeance.

The panelists include:

· Jackson Publick, creator and voice of Hank Venture, The Monarch, Henchman 24, Pete White and Sgt. Hatred, The Venture Bros.

· Doc Hammer, creator and voice of Dr. Girlfriend, Henchman 21 and Billy Quizboy, The Venture Bros.

Moderated by Keith Crofford (yup him again)

ADULT SWIM SIGNINGS

Saturday, February 7

· 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Breckin Meyer, Kevin Shinick Robot Chicken, Rm. 1A01

· 7:45 – 8:45 p.m. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, The Venture Bros, Rm. 1A08-12

ADULT SWIM EVENTS

Adult Swim Presents Jon Glaser, Cheeseburger & Andrew W.K.

Friday, February 6, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St., NYC

A free fan event hosted by Jon Glaser, of the new Adult Swim show Delocated!, including performances by Cheeseburger (Superjail! co-creator Christy Karacas is Cheeseburger’s guitarist) and Andrew W.K.

For more on Santos Party House, go here.