Chicago Comic Con Preview Night - Daily Updates

[IMJ]

So I just got home from the preview night of WWC '09, and I can't emphasize enough how much of a turn for the worse this show took this year.

Neither Marvel nor DC showed up there, and none of the other major publishers have floor setups (i.e. Top Cow, Image, Hasbro, etc). It's pathetic!

The story I hear on the floor is that all of the major publishers jumped ship to attend the show next year that has somehow been born of the New York comic con and will be at McCormick Place downtown. This is pretty much a Greek tragedy for Chicago (number xxx00000 something in a long list of recent domestic Chicago losses), and Wizard doesn't even have their names on the banners at the convention center anymore.

I also know that it was only preview night, but attendance seems way low today from the last few years preview nights. The Convention catalogue indicates that there was also supposed to be a convention debut of a new Iron Man mini mates set at the Metal Toys both (or some name like that). When we got to that booth we were informed that several things went missing and they don't know what happened to the new Iron Man mini mates set.

Essentially there is no resource this year for any Iron Man news from this show. I am hoping though that the Mondo Marvel Panel will yield something for me to present for the “Cosmic Book News” site. Odd however, that there’s a Mondo Marvel panel when they don’t even have a booth at this show.

Looking up a bit, I did manage to land some $5 Iron Man trades, including the essentials vol. 3 which I needed. I also got some great cards from artist, RAK, who does some awesome super deformed cards every year and solicits his cards for a buck. Spend a bit more and you can get a hand drawn sketch card, complete with the authentic USPS Iron Man stamp on it, and also a lithograph Iron Man card with a great chalk drawn border!



Additionally, year after year I have great luck at the Hero Initiative booth and today was no different. Last year I picked up a great (albeit pricey) print of Iron Man vol. 1 #1, authenticated and signed by both Gene Colan and Stan Lee. This year, I was able to add George Perez to my AI 71 signature jam cover. Later on at the show I also met Billy Tan and nabbed his autograph too! Certainly two relevant signatures on this jam already consisting of Quesada, Favreau, Layton, Ellis (!), Granov and John Jackson Miller!





I also got a great deal on the Marvel Classic Figurine Collection Mandarin. I love these pieces and the Mandarin will look great next to the modern and clunker armor pieces of the same design.



Lastly, as an added bonus for us Valiant folks, I did luck out and pick up the new Harbinger trade (which I didn't have yet), still sealed for five bucks!



I’ll be back at the show over the course of the weekend. However where I’d usually be interviewing someone or garnering news for all of us, this year I’ll be bargain bin digging to fill wholes in my collection because this convention has pretty much nothing to report on.

I’m hoping that the Marvel & DC panels yield something news worthy – not only for A.I. but also for Cosmic Book News...

[Chiclo]

Marvel didn't show up to WWTX last fall and DC basically phoned it in.

Go check out Dynamite Comics. They are hungry for your business and attention.

[Dr. Solar]

C2E2 seems like it will be the new big Chicago event. I'm tempted to go myself, just because it seems like it is gearing up to be a major national comics show.

[IMJ]

So day two at the convention and I changed my strategy a bit. I don't typically hunt for signatures or original art, but as Wizard World Chicago has changed, I thought I'd follow suit and change with it. Today I attended more panels, and walked artist alley more than normal.

Ultimate Marvel Panel w. Mark Millar
I started by going to the Ultimate Marvel Panel with key speaker Mark Millar today. It was a decent panel where they outlined the upcoming Ultimate Marvel stuff. My only interest was for Ellis' Armor Wars book, as well as noting that War Machine is part of Jeff Loeb's new Ultimates book. Millar states that there is a major new super villain debuting in Ultimate Armor Wars, although it's most likely this awful "Tony Stark's brother" thing. Apparently Ultimate Avengers is Millar's Superhero book, but the new Ultimates book is Loeb's black ops team story.

The new design for Ultimate Red Skull was shown, and it looked really slick actually. However, my interest took a huge nosedive when Millar revealed that Red Skull is actually Captain America's illegitimate son, conceived before Cap's mission which put him in the drink for 50 years.

Original Art

Picked up some cool, cheapo Iron Man cards again today.

And added Iron Man vol. 3 artist Keron Grant to my signature jam (Gold signature on the left).

I wanted to get an inked Iron Man drawing from Keron, whose art has evolved quite a bit from his fan-angering volume 3 days with writer Frank Tieri. However, he wanted 50 bucks where as guys like the awesome Jason Sobol were pounding out commissions for me for like 25 bucks, so I passed.

Sobol is a great guy who has artwork and original sketches appearing on the recent Indiana Jones sets, as well as the Marvel Masterpieces sketch cards. He did a great, inked drawing for me at the show:


I’ve got additional Iron Man drawings that should be ready tomorrow. One from Matt Hansel which should look awesome as it’ll be done in a great Dick Tracy style (that’s what he draws), and also a pretty special commission from….

James O’Barr & The Crow
I attended the James O’Barr Crow introspective panel, which was both informative and fun. It was a very small group (reminiscent of the Valiant panel from San Diego ’07), which made for good conversation.

O’Barr stated that he has a new project called “The Ride” about a guy with a killer ’67 Camaro. I mentioned to him that as a nod for Crow fans, he should make the cars license plate read “Godzilla”. He replied stating that there is stuff like that in the book, actually.

He noted that there are plans for a 20th Anniversary hard cover of the Crow graphic novel in the works. I asked him about the older plans for the Editor’s Cut, and also about the missing pages that were eventually placed in Death Rattle. O’Barr corrected me stating that the Death Rattle pages were actually “Abandoned Pages” that he never intended on featuring in the book. He followed that up explaining that the material for the new graphic novel are actually new story pages that expand on things like Draven’s relationship with Albrecht and so on. He also noted that the new GN would have a new cover as well.

Someone asked about his artistic influences and he inexplicably cited Will Eisner’s work on the Spirit, and noted that he’d love for Eisner to draw the Crow someday.

I later caught up with O’Barr at his booth in artist alley, and by tomorrow he should be done with an Iron Man commission for me as well! If I have extra cash after that of course I’ll ask if he can complete a Draven by the end of the weekend. But, I’m dying to see what he does with Iron Man, as that request takes him out of his element a bit; possibly leaving me with a really fresh take on my favorite character! James also signed this for me, which was great:



Comic Book Hunt
Of course, there was some bargain bin hunting going on as well, and I really cleaned up on my GL volume 3 run, as well as several Ultraverse stragglers that I needed as well. I’ll probably be on the book lookout more on Sunday than anything however, as the best deals are typically found on the last day of the show. I’m still mourning the fact that the days of the quarter bin are over – even at Conventions.

All said and done, today was a better day at the show than preview night, and I’m glad that I jumped on the commission band wagon a bit.

[daydreamscomics]

stop by my booth and say hi!

#2502.

i talked to the guy in charge of the show about marvel bailing, he said they had planned a huge iron man 2 exhibit, but pulled out and are going to do it at C2E2 instead...looks like Wizard and Chicago are going to be no more after this year...

[IMJ]

Made it back to the con, feeling a bit burnt out. I did some mild digging in various .50 bins for filler and came out ahead on my want list.

Sat through the Marvel Mondo Panel, which was informative enough to do some blogging on, but not captivating enough to really juice me up for the next year of comics. Wanted to go to DC Nation, but didn't want to struggle with the line to get into the room and went to check on my O'Barr Iron Man illustration instead.

James hadn't started the pic yet and tells me he'll get to it tomorrow. Definitely getting a bit worried about it, considering I paid him up front, but I'm hoping it'll be a pleasant surprise tomorrow morning at the show. Speaking of commissions, awesome Dick Tracy artist Matt Hansel did manage to get my Iron Man done in his very classic style. This was a great drawing and I'm proud to own it:



On another note, I approached Calafiore for a drawing as well, although he asked me to check back for his availability tomorrow because he was booked. His rate is a pretty steep bill for the shot I want. Not that I expected him to remember me from San Diego as a Valiant guy or anything, but seriously I could buy Iron Man art pages on the bay for that kind of money! Yikes!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to pick up two more drawings, one of which is the O'Barr Iron Man. Also planning on making some bigger Silver Age buys after taking some notes on the books on the floor. Then, am going to try to make my way to DayDream's comics booth (I'm pretty sure we met at one of the last two years Chicago shows... IIRC pretty down to Earth guy).

[Crow331]

Can't wait to see O'Barr's Iron Man I have a few Crow sketches James has done for me over the years.

[IMJ]

Can't wait to see O'Barr's Iron Man I have a few Crow sketches James has done for me over the years.

If you've had experience with him, do you think he's going to get the drawing done? I'm only asking because I had some issues with Bill Reinhold a few years back with a con drawing that I pre-paid as well.... Hoping I'm not coming off as problematic at all - I'm just asking.

[Crow331]

To tell you the truth, EVERY TIME he has done a sketch for me he has always said "I didn't start it yet, will you be here tomorrow?" ... LOL .... but by the end of the 3 day con he has always gotten it to me. He's very detailed and kind of slow so he always ends up taking on more sketches than he probably should. I think he's done 3-4 for me, but I would bug him fairly early on tomorrow because sometimes he "forgets". He'll probably do the sketch in the hotel tonight, I think that's what he did for mine one time

[IMJ]

To tell you the truth, EVERY TIME he has done a sketch for me he has always said "I didn't start it yet, will you be here tomorrow?" ... LOL .... but by the end of the 3 day con he has always gotten it to me. He's very detailed and kind of slow so he always ends up taking on more sketches than he probably should. I think he's done 3-4 for me, but I would bug him fairly early on. He'll probably do the sketch in the hotel tonight, I think that's what he did for mine one time

Awesome. Thanks for the input, man.

[IMJ]

Just got back from the Sunday romp at the convention. I pretty much showed up today to pick up some drawings I had been waiting on, and do a final autograph run as well. While meandering the floor, a few deals starting turning up, as .50 bins became .25 bins. So, I knocked off a chunk of the want list fairly cheap and then did some Silver Age hunting. I was on the lookout for a Silver Age Silver Surfer #1. There were several, and do the various dealers credit they were all somewhat comparable in price and grade. However, the flaws were the same on every copy - the glued binding (this was a square edge book, not a stapled book) was splitting at the tips of every copy I saw on the convention floor. I passed them all up because that's a Persian flaw in a book that I avoid like the plague on my investments.

Creator of The Crow, James O'Barr was able to finish my Iron Man request, and my God is it an awesome piece.....

He had asked me what I wanted when I requested the drawing. I told him I felt it was better for him to do what he was comfortable with, knowing that I’d get something that was truly indicative of his work (in both line and tone). I am not disappointed. This piece really conveys that whimsical, yet sinister tone that I love in O’Barr’s work, and I’m really proud to own this. And, looking past the satire from this piece, the lines are incredible here for a full figure drawing.

I also picked up a headshot that Daniel Leister completed for me for a great deal. This piece has a very Byrne-esque feel to it and I like how it fills the 9” x 12" sheet…



Ultimately, this was a decent little weekend getaway for some pop culture. It started off a bit slow due to the lack of news, but changing my habits to fit the con helped make the rest of the weekend a fun time. Lots of cheap dumpster diving books, some fantastic original art and new signatures on my Advanced Iron cover signature jam made me eager to go each day. I’ll definitely be gearing up for C2E2 though, and be back in convention reporting form, rather than conventioneer mode for that event.

[dellamorte]

That O'Barr Iron Man rocks. Very cool.

[xodacia81]

Yeah, that Iron Man is sweet.

[Mike J]

DC & Marvel didn't show up to wizard world philly this year either.

[xodacia81]

DC & Marvel didn't show up to wizard world philly this year either.

Perhaps they were too busy making yet more dreadful crossovers that no discerning reader will ever purhcase?

[geocarr]

Awesome O'Barr art!! Congrats!!