NY ComicCon Day 1

Apologies for the delay in posting about this incredible weekend, but the joy and the anxiety and the exhaustion set in and I needed a day to recuperate.  The next few posts will also be picture-heavy, so I was up rather late last night resizing pictures for the web.

Overall, it was an incredible weekend. As a life-long comic book geek, I’ve been going to comic conventions since I was 12. That’s… ye gods, 24 years. Did I mention I turned 36 on Sunday?

The Warded Man badges at ComicCon seemed to have a magical effect on people, with those who got them looking deleriously happy, and those who got the Richard K. Morgan The Steel Remains badges seeming rather sad. I first noticed this phenomenon with my good friend Fotini, who first got a TSR badge, but was then able to switch to a TWM. Check out the before and after shots:

This was a theme throughout the weekend, as photo evidence will show.

I arrived at the convention at 10am on Friday with nothing scheduled and a full day to wander. The line to pick up commercial badges was quite short, was heartening, but when I went downstairs to pick up my professional badge, I was in for something of a surprise. It took me ten minutes just to WALK TO THE END OF THE LINE. It was a bizarre feeling, so see people walking two and fro wearing badges with my name and book on them, and me waiting in line for 45 minutes, alone, waiting for a blank white card that said “Peter V. Brett, Speaker” on it.

I finally got inside and check in with my buddy/partner in crime/evil twin Jay Franco, editor at large, who was working the Titan Books booth, hawking Watchmen and Tank Girl books. I then headed over to the Del Rey booth, where there was an awesome poster of my book cover, which they asked me to sign:

This was followed by a video interview with Suvudu that I stuttered through, talking about 1,000 words a minute. I have a feeling I sounded like a speed freak, but it was really just nerves. I was a bundle of them this weekend. They should be posting the vid soon, and hopefully they can slow the tape down to make me intelligible, like they have to do with the Flash sometimes.

After that, I met up with my high school friend Kim, who I hadn’t seen in like 10 years, but who I learned would be at the con via the wonders of facebook. More on that in the next post. It was great to see her, and we wandered the con a bit more before splitting up. I spent most of the rest of the day just walking around with a huge smile on my face, taking pictures. Have a look:

The guy on the right the crazy robot from Transformers: The Movie (the awesome animated one, not the steaming turd Shia LeBeouf vehicle). The TSR badge must have driven him over the edge. I’m not sure who the other guy is supposed to be, but his badge makes it clear he is a man of refinement and taste.

I’m getting old, because I have no idea who these kids are dressed as. The guy on the left has kind of a Clockwork Orange thing going on. Whatever, though. They are down with TWM.

Another costume I couldn’t identify. I am seriously losing my touch. Same goes for the next two.

This guy’s nose studs kept falling out. I though his girlfriend was in costume, too, but it turns out she was just wearing a sexy shiny dress. Show’s what I know.

Couldn’t identify these kids either, but they had weapons, so I left it at that.

I love this pic. The Bat-sidekicks are happily down with The Warded Man, but the Force was apparently not with the jedi, who got stuck with The Steel Remains.

The guys looked fantastic, but I felt kind of bad for them, glued into those heavy rubber suits all day. It must have been hot as balls. Hellboy couldn’t even talk through all the plastic.

This chick had an amazing Cry For Dawn costume that must have taken forever to make. She is holding up a Warded Man badge, though it is hard to tell because you’re distracted by the… uh… comics in the background. Dawn was super nice, though, as were her compatriots:

I think Captain Morgan was Dawn’s boyfriend. His costume (and con badge) was awesome. Poor little Shadowcat, though, was sad that she had only a cruddy Steel Remains badge. Awww, don’t cry, Kitty! It will be ok. Lockheed will torch that badge for you later.

Cutie pie Daisy Mae Scragg was all about The Warded Man, too. Li’l Abner got jealous because she left him behind in Dogpatch. Daisy was having a blast at the con, and we saw her running up to other people to compliment their costumes. ComicCon brings out the best in all of us.

These two had a third compatriot who was too embarrassed to make a frowny face over his Steel Remains badge. He was cross-dressing in a giant day-glo wig and makeup, but making a boo-boo face embarrassed him. Ah, ComicCon! You draw all kinds!

Black Cat took some time away from teasing innocent Spider-man to pose for a picture with her TWM badge.

Snake-eyes was looking as awesome as ever, and it was lucky that Jean Grey got a Warded Man badge, because if she had gotten The Steel Remains, she might have gone all Dark Phoenix on our asses and eaten the sun.

She does that. Look it up.

I asked these two girls if I could take their picture, and they immediately wanted on with me, too. I tried to explain that despite the badges I wasn’t famous, but they didn’t believe me. 

Here we have a Frank Miller All-Star Batgirl, along with her boyfriend who was dressed as… I dunno. Something.

Good thing Batgirl was safely away before I ran into the entire Batman rogues gallery. Ivy, Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Riddler and… Steve? I don’t know who the guy on the end is dressed as. Any guesses?

Scarecrow felt bad because he was in the back, so we got a good shot of him and his TWM badge up close.

Would you believe that I took even more pictures on Saturday than on Friday? It’s true. Stay tuned, true believer, for the next installment!

Posted on February 10, 2009 at 3:45 pm by PeatB
Filed under Events, Interviews, Musings, Writing
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