adw ART DEPARTMENT WEEKLY ISSUE 77 VOL. 6
FIGHTING MACHINES PAGE TO SCREEN TODD TALKS
nycc COMICS COSPLAY CREATORS COLLECTIBLES
You are here
cover
ed letter
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2
You have to want to be there
locating your passion
What to expect
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8
lego, bandai, wrestling
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10
mini board
mini board
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4
around the block
around the block
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the Four the Four happiest days happiest days
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megabots
take home
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dc
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space wolf
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(nyx booth)
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shopping for girls
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5 things marvel movies
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popcycled
lego adventure, bricks & boards
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gimme some relief
westeros jewelry
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forge studios
otaku twins
oscars from page to small screen
just dance 2015
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photo policy
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ender toys
high fructose zombies
night spirit
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summer jobs
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Must-see at Nycc
dealers
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artist alley
coverage
eslinger
madeulook royal treatment
cliff chiang
how to train your dragon oculus
Fun on the floor godo wood nyc
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ideas panel
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costumes!
cosplay
marvel
game deisnger
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todd mcfarlane
star power
todd mcfarlane
booth babes
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Major announcements amy reeder
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49
50
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infinity
Luis loves Jim Lee
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Art Department Weekly is published by Dinosaur Girly Productions, 1468 W 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204. The entire contents of ADW are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without expressed written consent of the publisher. ADW accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and/or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. ADW reserves the right to edit, rewrite, refuse or reuse material, is not responsible for errors or omissions and may feature same in other mediums for any and all purporses.
In this issue 3 Editor’s Letter 4 Mini Board 6 The Four Happiest Days
An intro to NYCC, You Have to Want to Be There, That’s the Way Things Are, Expectation Chart Madeline Vega
10 Locating Your Passion
Wrestling Icons, Building Action, Bandai’s Hero
12 Around the Block
In photographs Madeline Vega
14 MegaBots & Booth Babes 16 Todd Talks Todd MacFarlane interview and toy review Luis Vega
18 Comic Publishers 20 Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Star Power 22 Must-see at NYCC Game Designer’s Take
24 Come as You Are
Cosplay photography
38 Artists Recap
Artist Alley, Kevin Eslinger, Cameron Stewart, Space Wolf, Good Wood NYC
40 Vendor Recap
PopCycled, Forge Studio, Bricks & Boards, Megan Rothrock, Ender Toys, Night Spirit, High Fructose Zombies
44 Royal Treatment
Great hair, NYX, round-up, MadeUlook, Westero Jewelry
48 Gimme Some Relief
How to survive, NYCC policies, Art and Comic Dealers
50 From Page to Small Screen Oscar Nominees, Marvel Movies
52 Five Things
Art department weekly Luis Vega Chief content officer Madeline Strum Managing Editor Credits Madeline vega (Cover, Pages 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45), Courtesy
reed pop (Page 3, 21), Luis Vega (Pages 10, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 42, 48, 49), Courtesy (50-53, 54)
comic craziness New York Comic Con is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love everything about it. The costumes, the creators, the panels, the announcements. You name it, I’m about it. This year was more special for me, though. Last year, I had taken most of the year off of comics. My time away made me appreciate the comics and creators more. The combination of art and written word is simply not achievable in any other medium. That, on top of having an identity crisis regarding my art. I sat down and basically gave up on my dream of ever drawing in comics. Then after years of reading about Dare2Draw events, my wife talked me into going to one. Cliff Chiang was set to be the special guest speaker/mentor for the event. My wife had heard me rave about Cliff’s art for years. So my wife talked me into going, and boy am I ever glad I did. I was reinvigorated. His speech and demonstration reignited my passion for comic art. That and my recent dive back into weekly comic purchasing had me anticipating Comic Con more than ever. I’ve been reading comics since I was 6 years old. Superman has always been my favorite character. In fact my love of comics inspired my love of art, which has led to my 20+year career in publishing. Simply put without comics I wouldn’t have this career that I love (most days). I had never been to a comic convention before 2010 when I went to New York Comic Con for the first time. I was completely and utterly blown away. Every
year seems to get bigger and bigger, yet it still always feels like it’s about the comics and their fans. There might be more movies, TV shows, video games presence than in years past, but it’s the largest (and growing) celebration of comics on the East Coast. These are my people and I love it. Besides being around like-minded (usually costumed) people, I find Comic Con to be incredibly inspiring. I love to walk the aisles of Artist Alley and mingle with comic creators. I love to pick their brains and hear what makes them tick. To learn about their processes and what their inspirations are. You’d be surprised how articulate and gracious most of these artist are. Ron Garney, Cliff Chiang and Amy Reeder are always highlights of my trips to Artist Alley as they make themselves readily available and love chatting with their fans and offering insight and texture to any questions you might have. If you’ve never been to Comic Con, take a look through this issue. Comic Con has something for everyone. Great costumes, amazing hair and makeup, hands-on game demos, major announcements, amazing panels, and best of all (at least for me) creator meetings. For me, it’s without a doubt the most inspiring time of the year.
mini board
too soon? Not everyone is about to go up to Harlem and interview the men on the street like Complex did when they tried to learn more about the thinking behind the blurred out men of the “10 Hours Walking in NYC as a Woman” video Hollaback! released as a PSA. While it might seem insensitive to make parodies of the PSA, I think it is actually kind of a creative way to expose the main issue the PSA is questioning—are women only here for men? Is the only purpose they serve to please men?
If not a ginger, why not a woman? Buzz Feed Presents “Why The Doctor from Doctor Who Should Be a Woman” is a concise take on how absurdly blind people can be to their own sexist (and racist) thinking. All the haters showed up for the comments to say a female Doctor would be terrible. They don’t explain why, but I’m going to assume that “female” to them means helpless, manipulative, and over-emotional. The video even includes a clip where the Doctor looks terrified he might be a woman because his hair is longer.
Walking in Skyrim, she is confronted by men, women, and even a dragon.
“What is the point of a fantasy show that takes place in all of time and space if you’re just gonna adhere to modern day sexist standards?” asks the blonde in the video. “It’s like Jane Espenson said: The whole reason you write fantasy is because anything can happen. ... You’re telling me that in a show starring an alien who can look millions of different ways, all thirteen times just turn into a different skinny white guy?... It would have meant so much to me as a kid to see a female Doctor, to know that I was more than just the sidekick. ... Men can’t have female role models? That’s just sad.” While the Whovians on the Facebook comments claimed that the companions are not just sidekicks, Tumblr fans seemed to debunk that theory with all of their dreams about how the next companion should be normal “and the doctor never has to kiss them or sexualize them at all—in fact they are not even attracted to the doctor.”
Walking in NYC, Princess Leia is accosted using lines from the movie.
Whether or not you believe Mary Poppins is a Doctor (“He says his name is Susan”), arguments on both Facebook and Tumblr seem to end in fans not wanting the Doctor to change for the sake of pushing an agenda but they do want Donna back. —MV
super flemish The picture of Iron Man with an Elizabethan ruff inspired me to click this story on Esquire. For his new series Super Flemish, photographer Sacha Goldberger imagines how famous characters would have looked had they taken time to be painted as 17th-century Flemish models. According to Esquire, Goldberger worked with an enormous team of actors, hair and makeup artists, costume designers, and digital imaging specialists. But don’t go to Esquire to see the work—they might have Batman and Spiderman there, but Catwoman and more great pieces are on http://sachabada.com/portfolio.
Walking in Battlefield 4, the soldier is silently followed by a tank for too long.
Walking in World of Warcraft, Jaina hears the same “greetings” heard in NYC.
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r a e rh
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an attempt to make things normal Professional prop maker Eric Hart’s son has been in the hospital since being born prematurely in July. When Halloween rolled around, Eric decided to dress him as Iron Man “because he’s been hooked up to all those machines and wires,” he told TODAY.com. “This is something we could actually do and say, ‘We may not be normal right now, but this is our new normal.’” Hart hopes his child looks back on this one day and see there was joy.
troll fest 2014 When this picture and tweet combo went viral in August, ADW snapped the screen shot and then wondered how @dogboner could be so dumb. There was no evidence on his Twitter feed that he might know who Neil deGrasse Tyson is. Months later, The Village Voice has named @dogboner “Best Twitterer New York 2014,” claiming that, when “a chunk of the internet exploded into rage as hot as planets forming,” it highlighted an account that’s been funny for “about five years.” This of course provoked the Voice’s commenters to point out that @dogboner now lives in Nashville. As @dogboner explained on Gawker, he received replies from two groups of people: Those who were angry he had taken a picture without consent and those who were anxious to prove their love of sceince and superiority. Scrolling through “How I Became Thousands of Nerds’ Worst Enemy by Tweeting a Photo” on Gawker, I think my favorite screen shot he included is when one Facebook commenter calls out the haters: “Man a lot of people fucking love science I can tell because they can identify the science man from TV you are all doing great work.” —MV
“it was crowded. it was loud. it was smelly.” -Colleen
“it’s not like you invented drinking” -Roxanne
“she found him on the wrong end of a blowjob” -Eric
“you know you have an infant when ... you have to go to vegas to sleep” -Chrissy
“i’ll never get drunk and make a drunk drop again” -Brian
“all of a sudden the gingy becomes the hottest girl at the dance” -Luis
“movember is like being in a 30-day ice bucket challenge that’s also a ’70s porno” -Dan
WHAT’S HALLOWEEN OR CHRISTMAS COMPARED TO THE FANGASMS OF BIG REVEALS, ORIGINAL ART, AND MEETING THE CREATORS?
the four happiest days
At first glance, it might be easy to mistake New York Comic Con as nothing more than the gathering place for a bunch of smelly guys who live in their moms’ basements with nothing to speak of in life other than some rare book. madeline is here to argue that is not the case. It’s true—in the past the NYCC survival guide has suggested attendees remember to shower and wear deorderant, but that’s not what this convention is really about. There are two completely different ways to approach this event as someone who would never stand in line for hours to get a signature and still walk away awe-struck. odd thIngs Are tAken serIously
I never give compliments because first I worry it won’t sound sincere and then I worry that it makes me superficial. But at NYCC, this is the place to walk around all day saying, “I love your T-shirt” and “Where
did you get those shoes?” and “How did you make this?” People are happy to tell you because this the place that we all know our weird interests are taken seriously—that I’m asking because maybe I get it. Or at least I’m not a hater. Artists are happy to go on and on about the things their own moms might not support. It’s all inspiring, feeling like if you can be brave enough, so can I. promotIons Are At theIr best
Everyone is handing out a business card, every booth has a pop-up banner, everyone is trying to gather your
information if they are not trying to sell you something. So it’s endless fodder for deciding what’s good promotions. There are countless activations to be considered. Would this make you stop? How many other people are stopping? Did this work better on a Sunday when the professional crowd was minimal? The case studies from some of these activations are readily accessible because ReedPop helped create them, like Chevrolet’s King of the Road digital and onsite campaign and Coty Beauty’s sponsorship of NYCC speed dating.
BABY PRINCESS LEIA It’s possibly never too soon to start grooming the next generation of fans. When asked how old, her parents said “7 weeks, 8 weeks.” The dad was more concerned about the stadium-style double stroller knocking people over “with the chopper in the front”—her big brother’s legs.
You have to want to be there On the previous spread Madeline argued that NYCC is the most amazing place to be if you are looking for some inspiration in an art or marketing career. But you really have to want to be there. There is a reason the 2013 survival guide asked attendees to shower and the 2014 rules state that you should keep your hands to yourself. This is still a place where people are wheeling dollies full of bagged and boarded books. This is still a place where creeps are looking to feel up accurately and scantily clad women in costumes. Not everyone is here to make you feel better about yourself. timing your ticket purchase
First, you had to know they were going on sale. Then you had to commit to which days you wanted to be there. If you waited, the available tickets quickly sold out and you had to get tickets to another event, such as Special Edition, where you could purchase tickets for NYCC. There are a lot of know-it-alls
The worst part is that they don’t even know anything. The guys who are going to kill 20 minutes in line by boasting their opinions on why this movie or that game were the worst things to ever happen.
set your priorities
I’ve spoken with women who have grown children who attend the cons in costume every year. They seem slightly embarassed, but at the same time they get that I am not judging and neither is anyone else NYCC. The more they talk, the more they kind of want to attend, too, because there is going to be a Once Upon A Time panel or something of that nature. If you are only attending the con for one panel or to meet one person, that has to be your laser focus. Getting a wristband for the Main Stage and then actually getting a seat for the Main Stage is a humongous time commitment. be prepared
Phones die quickly in the Javits Center because of a lack of signal. There are hardly any outlets. You might have downloaded the app to help you stay on top of that amazing schedule you worked out for yourself, but your phone might die before you even have a chance to think about getting in line.
sunday is not thursday
The energy changes as the week progresses. Reed Pop is expanding Super Week, but Thursday is still very professional compared to Sunday, which is very much for families and hang-overs. be ready to walk (slowly)
Everything is spread out: ATMs, bathrooms, concessions, Artist Alley, video game exhibitions. It all seems that much farther when the place is crowded.
you’ll see Your first con? Don’t be caught unaware...
expected
chatty creators
You might have always dreamed of telling a particular guest just what you thought of his or her work, but, if the guest is at a booth and ready to talk, you will be sharing that cozy face time with more than a few strangers. Just enjoy the moment. Lines You are not the only fan. Everyone wants to see the same thing as you. Especially if what you want to see is a bathroom or concessions.
that’s the way things are radio chips in convention badges
Walking out of the Javits Center in 2013, I wondered aloud if they would run the numbers to see that all the attendees had left. The sculptor I was walking with said that someone had hidden in the convention one year to steal genuine prop proto types. So, yes.
cosplay is not consent
This year, NYCC clearly defined harassment when it invoked a zero tolerance policy. The signs at the convention reminded us that we should all keep our hands and snide comments to ourselves. In 2013, a video crew blatantly humiliated cosplayers, bringing the change.
Entering nycc means agreeing to be filmed
Comradery Anytime your badge is spotted away from the Javits Center, people will talk to you like you’re in a secret club.
The legal terms are a little unnerving: “for exhibition and exploitation by any means in all media now known or hereafter devised worldwide in perpetuity.” Sunday’s crowd seems to forget this.
Construction The walk to
the Javits Center from Avenue to Avenue is not glamorous or magical. Just really long. political messages
unexpected
Planned Parenthood and demonstrators in Guy Fawkes masks? With political posters lining the construction sites?
locating your passion Hearing that NYCC is a pop culture gathering doesn’t mean much until you start to look at the list of booths and guests. It’s not just artists who want to sell works inspired by science fiction, but jewelry inspired by television shows and toy companies that have licensed characters from video games. The way comic books and video games have invaded our lives creates a humongous opportunity for products that showcase fandom—and an interest in revisiting the work that originally inspired our new favorites. NYCC is a chance to celebrate just about everything parents and coworkers might not understand. live action origin
Once Upon a Time Has Frozen Over! Empire Stage 1-E Anna and Kristoff arrive at Storybrooke to help Elsa escape
Women in Comics 1AO1 (panel) Erica Schultz, Becky Cloonan, and Amy Chu on working in comics and their heros
Birdman Screenings Empire Stage 1-E Did anyone know then how huge this movie would become?
Xena, X-Files, WWE, Arrow, Star Trek, The Walking Dead Autographing Area Photo ops and gawking
Crazy Taxi outside Javits Center An actual taxi with vinyl wraps to promote the new installment
origin in writing, drawing, or CG
One of the highlights of the McFarlane booth were his incerdibly sculpted and detailed WWE ICON statues of Macho Man Randy Savage and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Each of the pieces stand at over 17.5 inches tall and are limited to a production run of under 1,000. Both pieces capture iconic top rope poses of both superstars. The Macho Man statue is currently available on ToyWiz.com for $599.00.
Bantha & Tusken Raider Itty Bittys Hallmark #1554 In case you wanted something cuter than the exlcusive bloody Wampa ornament
Captain Action Supergirl Tonner #341 Supergirl outfit convention exclusive
Symphony Blush #2568 Special effects makeup demonstration with a really good chapstick premium
wrestling icons
Inside the Kà #1336 Photo ops and an exclusive performance of the MGM sensation
Batman: Arkham Origins Deathstroke Square Enix #1813 Exclusive action figure
Custom Lego Figures Bricks & Boards booth Exclusive figures and re-creations of exclusive figures
buy collectibles
meet people
Tomorrowland Main Stage panel George Clooney made a surprise appearance
building action Lego reboots Bionicle in 2015 If you’ve walked the Lego section of a Target or Toys R Us in the past year, it might be hard to believe Bionicle was the big reveal at Comic Con. Lego seems to have a license for every nerd franchise on top of the Chima and NinjaGo brands advertised through weekly cartoons. Why relaunch Bionicle? Boys are clamoring for this, according to Rob Johnson, a Lego Brand Manager on site. (To prove the point, a recent college graduate practically had his face pressed to the Bionicle display glass in longing.) The line originally launched in 2000 as a subset of the Technic series. Bionicle was replaced by the Hero Factory line in 2010. Johnson assured me the new Bionicle is vastly different from Hero Factory with 25 unique pieces created just for Bionicle.
bandai’s big hero The Bandai booth historically is all about the Power Rangers. Their partnership with the Power Rangers franchise has been going strong for over 20 years. This year, Bandai had a new star, Baymax. Their collection of Big Hero 6 collectibles were a huge hit with young fans and collectors alike. The Deluxe Flying Baymax with lights, sounds, and Hiro seemed to be one of the biggest sellers of the show. The line also included sharp-looking sculpts of the rest of the characters of the movie. I wish they had more action features and articulation, but I understand wanting to keep the price point down and make them more accessible to their younger demographic.
The attractive colors and ease of building are meant to allow younger kids to crash the pieces together and help older kids unleash their imaginations when creating monsters and vehicles. Johnson assured me 7-year-olds had no trouble building the sets in focus groups. “Durable” and “easy-to-build” were Johnson’s go-to expressions for describing Bionicle—both incredibly appealing terms to someone who has spent hours putting together Chima and superhero movie playsets just to watch them hopelessly fall apart minutes later. —Madeline
Around the block Photographs by madeline vega
While people everywhere at NYCC are trying to make connections and be memorable, The Block takes it to a different level. Colorful and textured booths to break up all the black draping and draw you in activations and premiums that are too good to resist—you’ll gladly tap your badge and give away your information more likely to find a booth dedicated to something that doesn’t really say “comic con” but at the same time you want to know more, like b.duck and their giant dancing duck the indie artists in this section have completely nailed their branding with spaces designed to make you question if they actually are indie artists
Smaug, the dragon, at Weta Workshop would wake up every few minutes to stare you down, guarding the cases of collectibles and merchandise created by the same artists who work on movies. Not far away, AT&T offered two kinds of much-needed charging stations—outlets for phones and places for weary fans to rest.
Outside the Block, fans could record their own audio in the Nickelodeon booth or snap selfies at the NYCC photo booth stations.
GroupMe attracted long lines with its colorful set up, big photo booth, and chances to take home some swag in exchange for tapping your badge (and sharing your mailing information). Younger fans check out the special effects laden video they just shot at the Podcaster green booth while more fans stop to watch interviews with a positive take at BeTerrific.
At the Wacom booth, wannabe Stjepan Sejic’s could test out an array of products for creating digital illustrations. (What the aisles of expensive statues and rare books are to some fans, the Cintiq is to me. I could not get that close to the table...) Meanwhile, Beer Defender returned to NYCC, shaming bland tastes and flavorless swill. Check out Amy Reeder’s video on the Brooklyn Brewery site.
live fighting machines Megabots debuts what will one day become 15-foot robots, destroying each other for the entertainment of humans. Madeline has to know more... Concept art of a MegaBot by Alex Iglesias
quICk megAbots With legs, the robot will stand 15 feet tall, weighing 15,000 pounds Two humans will sit inside the robot, acting as a pilot and a gunner MegaBots will move about 3.1 mph, firing 3-pound paint balls at 120 mph, destroying the steel armor of opponents Game styles might include capture the flag, team death match, and king of the hill The 5-year goal is to have a league where corporately sponsored teams field professional pilots and develop robotic technology on their own—custom weaponry, faster and bigger robots The creators have backgrounds in humanoid robots and defense contracts
It must hAve been somethIng funny Autodesk, which provided the 3D the barker called out at the moment I modeling software for creating the robot walked past the MegaBots display and trip pto NYCC The original concept art for to a MegaBot, a 1turret, 5,000 funded pound hMegaBots’ umanoid robot iloted by two make me stop becausepeople, all I saw was a and plans to bring them to Las Vegas in with interchangeable pneumatic weapons for arms. hunk of metal. Without looking past its December for Autodesk University— File available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/alh44nbql5giw3y/megabot3.jpg?dl=0 one-armed and legless status, I would another opportunity to shape minds and have missed what was probably the take engineering to the extreme. biggest reveal at the convention. Carl Bass, the Autdodesk CEO and a “A majority of the people were like, ‘Oh, “huge advocate” for Megabots, has been what a great prop,’” Andrew stroup of instrumental in helping the team with MegaBots told me after the con. “It’s a resources and making introductions, pretty big leap to where we want to be in according to Stroup. a short amount of time.” “Everyone in the entertainment industry Stroup created MegaBots with gui has money signs in their eyes,” Stroup Cavalcanti and matt oehrlein. “Tony said, but the MegaBots team is being Stark is never going to be a single person,” cautious. There are basically two models Stroup said. Once curious people are able to follow when creating a new league: to see these guys know what they are NASCAR, which owns the name and rule doing, the question then is ‘Why this?’ book, or UFC, which owns everything. “We’ve all worked at the government Neither one was created overnight. agencies, military contractors, and research The MegaBots team brought the robot labs,” the team responded on Reddit. “The to NYCC because, as Stroup said, “It made honest answer is that all of that tech gets a lot of sense.” With the massive number built, then a key decision maker decides that of people in attendance and the array of it’s too expensive, or too risky, and all of that robots in video games and comic books, hard work and technology gets filed away. MegaBots’ presence created a viral sprawl. “We wanted to change that. We wanted While MegaBots is hiring in an official to inspire a generation by making the most capacity now, closer to NYCC the guys were public appearance of incredible engineering using YouTube for a pilot search. People designs we could possibly imagine.” sent emails saying, “We will do anything! If Stroup explained their philosophy is we die, it’s cool. We will be pioneers.” “sports today have taken the human “It’s really endearing,” Stroup said. “Like body to its limit. This is the next the first jet plane. Someone had to have evolution—giant robots done right.” the tenacity to get in there.” adw
booth babes Generally the best way to get any male convention-goer to stop at your booth is to have an attractive woman hawking your goods and shilling for you. Bonus points if she’s in a costume. Do you think anyone had any idea what nerdglam.com was or what books rothic.com puts out when they stopped at those booths? Did anyone care that marissa Jade was the model for destiny queen of thieves? Did anyone want to sign up to be on the costumesupercenter.com mailing list?
The answer to all of those is “probably not,” but once you have an attractive costumed woman in your booth, the boys are more likely to show up. In the case of costumesupercenter.com, they generally had a large line all day long waiting to meet cosplay star Ani-Mia. Proving over all other things, girls = crowds. Maybe that’s why the dedicated bank of cosplay booths from 2013 dispersed into cosplayers working booths across the entire show floor. —Luis
BOOTH BABES IDENTIFIED Anna Vamp at the rothic.com booth, Chelsea at Nerdglam.com booth, Marissa Jade, Cara Nicole aka AZ Powergirl as Black Widow, Ani-Mia at Costume Supercenter, Bandai Namco games booth
other things that get us to stop live demonstrations colorful booths free stuff people behind the table who make eye contact amazing prototypes great artists big crowds celebrities crazy costumes
Todd Talks At NYCC 2014, Luis had a chance to sit down with Todd McFarlane and talk about a myriad of subjects. From Spawn to toys to inspiration to how he met his wife (she was the bat girl on the opposing baseball team), we got a peek into the mind of this amazing creator. As a lifelong comic fan (and wannabe artist) I’ve been most greatly inspired by three creators—John Byrne, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane. In the late ’80s McFarlane took the comic world by storm first with his art, and then with his writing skills. He then challenged the status quo at Marvel and broke away as one of the original founders of Image Comics. With the success of his creator-owned Spawn and seeing a hole in the marketplace, he created McFarlane Toys. His toys took the world by storm and completely elevated the game. He aimed his figures at the overlooked teen market with the simple question “Why can’t the toys just look cooler?” “People like to ask us how we did it,” McFarlane said. “It’s simple. We have this device called a camera. We shoot the subject (or look at lots of photo references), then sculpt it really well. We really pay attention to the details. We try to match tattoos and things like that.
We’re not going to tuck in a shirt to skimp on color applications. The details matter.” When I asked McFarlane about his next evolution, he said, “I simply want to move into a new toy aisle with The Walking Dead building sets. Why do building sets need to be blocky? They don’t. They can be smoother, they can look better, they can have better textures, and I’m going to prove
it.” McFarlane went on to describe the flexibility his building sets provide. McFarlane will be able to create a much larger roster of characters on a micro scale. At the 6”, 9”, and 12” scales, you are limited to the number of characters you can produce (roughly between four and 10 a year). At the smaller scale, your possibilities are endless (there are upwards of 20 figures at the launch of The Walking Dead sets). One of McFarlane’s early influences for how toys should be done was HotWheels. As he explained, “We were on a family trip to California, when we went to the store and bought some Hot Wheels. We didn’t have them in Canada at the time and they blew my mind. We had Matchbox cars, but Hot Wheels were cooler. They were more detailed, had better paint jobs. They were just sexier, and sexier sells.” At the inception of his original toy line, McFarlane says he did an analysis of Fortune 500 companies and realized there were a lack of companies that featured art at the forefront. No one was giving a priority to the art. He realized the market was wide open and he dove in. He wasn’t creating kids toys, he was aiming at the slightly older demographic. The kid who is buying toys for himself. Who will pay a little more for quality. McFarlane said, “I can’t really beat the big boys on price, so I have to beat them with quality.” Also for the office worker, someone who wants to display a piece in his cubicle or office to show a little of his personality. That’s the McFarlane consumer. McFarlane’s sets were available exclusively at Toys R Us, but, due to great
building Blocks drawing for the building sets and the other figures.” He also still frequently posts art and advice on his Todd McFarlane Facebook fan page (which I highly recommend). On the subject of Spawn, he said that, in his eyes, “Greg Capullo drew the definitive version of Spawn, but people will be blown away by JonBoy’s take.” It was important to McFarlane for Spawn to reach #250. “At the least, it’s 250 months. That’s 20+ years of my life,” he said. The trend in comics of late has been to go with smaller numbers and constantly relaunch books at #1. McFarlane has held strong with his original numbering. “As a CEO, the data doesn’t show that doing
“Never blindly accept that the prior generation is always right, because they’re not. Challenge them. sales, are now being carried by all the major retailers. (Check out the sidebar for my hands-on review of these building sets.) He said he would love to revisit some of his former products through building sets, Spawn and Dragons being top of mind. We even talked about potentially spilling this out to his SportsPicks line. However, as McFarlane said, “No one in Massachusetts is going to buy a Yankee Stadium building set, so that’s challenging.” He did hint they are close to getting another major license to sign on board, but couldn’t reveal what was in the works. I’m hoping for Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, fingers-crossed. McFarlane also spoke about the misconception people have about his lack of art. “I still draw just as much; people just don’t see it. They actually see my art in the products I put out. I do all sorts of
that works. You get a single issue spike and then the numbers regress, often below what the original numbering was.” McFarlane might have found a way to please both camps by keeping his original numbering but also offering Spawn Resurrection #1 (by the creative team of Paul Jenkins and JonBoy Meyers) followed by the new team continuing on in Spawn #251. “That number and that book fill me with great pride.” When asked what he would tell the younger generation of artists, creators and entrepreneurs, McFarlane advised, “Never blindly accept that the prior generation is always right, because they’re not. Challenge them. There are great people in my generation but I encourage the next generation to prove me wrong. The competition is good for all of us.” ADW
Luis purchased a few of McFarlane’s building sets. He shares how that went. First, these sets are beaultiful. The finished pieces look amazing. The characters likenesses are spot on with the actors who portray them. Second, I have a hard time calling these building sets. While the base and peg size are similar to Lego, the similarities end there. I personally thought the sets were closer to the Revel model kits my brothers would build in my youth. Definitely not as customizable as Legos. Third, the sets (Daryl on the Chopper for example) were tougher to put together than I expected. I had a hard time snapping in the smaller pieces of the chopper and getting the fauna to stay in the pegs. My fingers are just a tad large for this, which is a problem if you are aiming at an adult collector. Those gripes aside, I was really happy with the sets (I loved the light up fish tanks in the Governor’s Room). They look great as set pieces, but, while I can’t wait to add Dale’s RV to my collection, I won’t be fully replacing my Legos anytime soon.
year of the bat
DC’s influence omnipresentr Walking away from the convention, one fan asked, “Where was DC?” Everywhere. Convention-goers were greeted daily by amazing, giant Teen Titans Go balloons. Cosplayers were dressed as the Joker and other Batman characters. An original copy of Action Comics #1 was on display in the collector’s section. DC wasn’t loud, but it was everywhere. For the second year in a row, DC eschewed the conventional show floor space for the area below the main entrance. There they displayed all of the cinematic Batman costumes in honor of batman year 75. There, DC also had a hands-on demo of their Infinite Crisis MMORPG. Fans seemed to enjoy the game experience and the alternate takes on the characters. In Artist Alley, DC writers were signing their books and artists were sketching at a dedicated DC booth. This was easily my favorite place to be as I was able to talk art with Cliff Chiang and all things Batman with scott snyder. —Luis
my favorite things about nycc by publisher Dark Horse
IDW
Image
Indies
discovering The Fabulous Killjoys
marvel Covers Artist’s edition
robert kirkman’s The Walking Dead panel
promised celebrity appearances
david mack’s kabuki library Alex maleev Archie Meets Predator becky Cloonan brian wood on Eve: Valkyrie video game Comics: Tomb Raider, Halo, Mass Effect, Drago Age
Skylanders: The Kaos Trap written by ron marz karen traviss on G.I. Joe Cartoon network Crossover: Super Secret Crisis War teenage mutant ninja turtles free garbage pail kids Ashcan
Amy reeder & brandon montclare’s Rocket Girl Wytches Morning Glories study hall telltale’s The Walking Dead game franchise roc upchurch I is for Impact
the future of self-publishing Wolves, Demeter, The Mire Amy Chu The Bunker wayward press ComiXology support
make mine marvel Live tour and costumes galore at the merry Marvel booth
Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) excitedly takes a selfie of the crowd below.
As far as breaking news or major announcements, the Marvel booth was not the place to be. The convoluted comic summer tentpole secret wars had already been announced, so Marvel didn’t have a lot to talk about on that front. Even though I feel like I would have loved someone to walk me through how Secret Wars is going to unfold, and what, if any, long-term ramifications will come from it. Marvel’s biggest comic announcement was the upcoming Spider-Gwen series. Spider-Gwen has been a runaway success since her book debuted in early 2015. Beyond that, the big hit at the Marvel booth was the star power that the cast members of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. provided. It was impossible to walk the show floor when Clark gregg stopped by the booth for photo opps and signings. The atmosphere was electric, and Gregg truly looked like he enjoyed himself. Marvel’s other major announcement
came from marvel universe, a traveling live action show. Think Disney on Ice with heroes instead of princesses. Marvel seemed to be holding a wellattended costume contest literally every few hours. Fans seemed incredibly excited to be on stage in large groups, taking photos in front of the giant Secret Wars back drop. There was also a rather large roster of creator signings and artists sketching. The writers were some major Marvel classics (peter david, Chris Claremont), but the artists seemed to be on the lesser-known range. The lines were pretty long, though, as fans literally had long boxes full of books to sign. I personally received a Cap sketch from Korean artist younghoon ko. Nothing major really announced, but when you’re the biggest dog on the block, sometimes just showing up is enough to scare the major players into thinking you have more going on. —Luis
Younghoon Ko sketching Captain America. Below is the finished sketch.
Above, a fan snaps pictures of winning costumes on the Marvel stage.
Where do you get your ideas? What is an idea? Webster’s Dictionary defines idea as “a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. A plan, scheme, design, proposal, proposition, suggestion, action point, brainchild, vision” In comics, an idea is the genesis of any story. During NYCC I attended the Ideas Panel with the all-star lineup of Becky Cloonan, Scott Snyder, Brian K. Vaughn, and Amber Benson (as seated above). Scott Snyder kicked off the panel and talked about his Batman run. He talked about being terrified when he was handed the reigns to DC’s flagship title. He got his start on the character writing backup stories to Paul Dini’s features when he was called into the DC headquarters. He was sure he was getting fired when in fact it was just the opposite, he was being offered the lead writing gig on Detective Comics. At the time Dick Grayson was Batman, and Scott’s initial arc (the Black Manor) completely blew me away. I was not alone. When DC relaunched it’s universe they knew they already had a star in place to lead their main title. Snyder’s Batman run is consistently DC’s top-seller. Snyder talked about how fear is a great motivator for him. He talked about how when he is working on a licensed character (like Batman) he tries to make a personal connection with that character in order to humanize them. Whereas in a creatorowned project (ala his brilliant Wytches)
he can create a new universe and make things completely his own, that’s not possible with an existing franchise. His main advice for up-and-coming creators is to never take a character or job to simply get ahead. Always work on something challenging. Amber Benson was up next (she had to be brief as she had another panel to run to). Amber talked about writing lots of bad gothic poetry. She then stated that her work as an actor (she was Tara on Buffy) helped her find her voice. The Willow/Tara comic for Dark Horse was her first stab at comics. Although she is a control freak who wishes she could just draw everything herself—she enjoys the collaborations with the artists. She still gives tremendously detailed scripts with notes for artists as to where splashes and insets should be. She is heavily influenced by the fellow creators and costars she has worked with (Ben Templesmith and Anthony “C3P0” Daniels were specifically named). Becky Cloonan then spoke about how she got her start in comics as strictly an artist. Publishers wanted her just to draw, but she wanted more. She talked about how she injects herself and all her experiences and attitudes into her stories. Her biggest successes to date have run the gamut: artist on the Fabulous Killjoys; writer/artist on the award-winning Wolves; writer on Gotham Academy. She is absolutely one of the rising stars in the comic-medium. Last but not least, Brian K. Vaughan was introduced. Brian is one of the most prolific writers in all of comics. Brian spoke about how his stories are all influenced from his life and his inner fears. He and his wife were expecting, so was born the amazing Saga. (His excact quote was “Oh Shit, we’re parents!”) His fear of the ever expanding digital cloud
led to the creation of The Private Eye. He says he walks into every project frightened and confused, he starts shaping his ideas, and then he finds an amazing artist who pulls it all together and makes it magic. He said ever since he was a little boy he’s had big expansive universes in his head. Mostly they were influenced by G.I. Joe and Transformers. Besides letting their inner fears lead to their ideas, all of the writers had another aspect of their ideation that was consistent: They all like to know what the ending is to the project they are working on before they start writing the opening. They claim it helps them to see the entire picture, and they can then build a better arc from there. Brian K. Vaughan then ended the panel by telling everyone they shouldn’t fester on ideas. Festering leads to stagnation. There isn’t any time for that, you just have to get it done. Write your story, because, at the end, we’re all just soap opera addicts looking for the next story and idea. —Luis
star power NYCC is generally a haven for comic fans and their creators. TV shows and movies have been represented, but not like at San Diego Comic Con. Whereas studios generally spare no expense showcasing talent at San Diego, they usually have shied away from NYCC. That seems to be changing.
Amazing amy One of my favorite artists to visit at NYCC is the Amy Reeder. She is humble, friendly, thoughtful, uber-talented and one of those rare creators that remembers fans from year to year. (She remembered sketching Supergirl for me three years earlier.) This year we spoke about RocketGirl (pick up this book—it’s so good), the book she creates with Brandon Montclare. Reeder happily signed my books and showed off her new RocketGirl stamp and bookmarks. She genuinely seems as happy to be interacting with fans as they are to be meeting her. Reeder is also very active in social media realm. On her old blog, she would often
share insights as well as links to overlays she uses when trying to figure out perspective. She truly tries to help up-andcoming artists. Her tumblr site (amyreeder. tumblr.com) replaced her blog as the place to get updates on book releases as well as the spot to listen to her podcast. Reeder continues to be one of my favorite creators in the industry. Her linework is clean, her design aesthetic is great, and her action scenes are incomparable in comicdom. Hands down, one of my favorite artists (male or female) in comics. It also doesn’t hurt that she genuinely seems like a nice person. You want to root for her success. —Luis
George Clooney kicked off things off with a surprise appearance on the Main Stage as Hugh Laurie trash talked him at the Tomorrowland panel. Though, it was actually Clooney who offered up that it was the first Comic Con he was allowed at after Batman & Robin. Michael Keaton and Edward Norton answered questions about Birdman.
Patrick Stewart (and the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation) were on hand for a panel.
inspired by cliff Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve wanted to be a comic book artist. I believe I was 6 when I told my mom that. Even though I’ve been employed on the art side of publishing now for 20 years, I’m still not a comic artist. About a year ago, I had decided my dream was over. I was done. I stopped drawing entirely. Then I saw that Cliff Chiang was set to be the mentor for a Dare2Draw event at the Society of Illustrators. Having never been to Dare2Draw but always wanting to go, I decided to buy a new sketch pad and go see the process of one of my comic idols.
I was incredibly happy I did. He completely blew me away and inspired me with his process stories as well as the artwork he shared. I started drawing regularly again, and, even if I never publish comic work, I love the way I feel when I draw. I shared this story with Chiang at Artist Alley. He autographed my copy of Greendale while sketching unsolicited in it. We talked about his redesign of Orion (one of my favorite redesigns of the New52) who he then sketched for me as well. If it’s possible, I became an even bigger fan of Chiang. —Luis
Orlando Jones entered the Sleepy Hollow panel to huge applause. Lyndie Greenwood, Sakina Jaffrey and the executive producers rounded out the second season panel.
All in all, stars were definitely on display in a trend I can only see expanding. —Luis
game designer’s take At the security tables my first
morning of NYCC 2014, I was more than a little flustered that I was going to lose a lens cap or drop something because I had already shuffled my equipment to start shooting cosplayers before getting in line. Just past the tables, on the way to actually tap in, a fellow attendee asked me about the badge and all the equipment. Scott Tongue, level designer, gave me his card, so after the con, I decided to check in and ask him a few questions. —Madeline
must-see at NYCC The cast of The Walking Dead stopped people in their tracks. The group pictured above is watching the televised coverage of the panel through the VIP section—much less comfortable than grabbing a seat to watch the Twitch.tv crew film anything. Marvel debuted the trailer for Contest of Champions and had a hands on beta of the fighting game. Geico had a bullet time photo booth. Watching other people jump was quite entertaining. Madame Tussaud’s unveiled its newest Marvel wax figure: Hawkeye.
Did you see anything completely new and different? On the gaming side of Comic Con, not much new, as many of the games on the show floor I already saw at this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in June. I was surprised to see Resident Evil: Revelations 2 on the floor playable as it was just revealed at this year’s Tokyo Game Show event and not at off site event. Was there anything particularly inspiring? The Dreamwork’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 flying Oculus Rift was really neat with the use of a motion seat that would rumble as the dragon flew through the sky. I personally have worked on three Oculus Rift projects— one was a recreation of an art museum, another was an equine first responder training sim while in undergrad. I am currently working a VR art museum project for the museum at my current master program at LIU post. Did you network much? Ran into few developers I have met in the past and got in contact with few others that I hadn’t met before. Did you visit any panels or spend a lot of time at any particular booths? I did explore the expo floor a little bit. There weren’t as many game related exhibits this year compared to the last time I was at Comic Con in 2009. Will you go back next year? Of course. It’s only a short train ride on the LIRR.
soaring to new heights Dreamworks uses simulation to promote new movie “Dizzying as fuck” is how one
attendee put it when walking away from the How to Train Your Dragon 2 ride, which used Oculus Rift headsets, wind machines, and a seat that forces a hunched over position while moving and vibrating with the animation to give every user the experience of flying on the back of Toothless, the protagonist’s dragon.
Riders at the four stations turned their heads, giving people in line even more reason to hold out hope that the 90-second ride would be worth the wait. The handler I talked to on the floor said the wait was only 15 to 20 minutes, but convention-goers were saying it was more like 2 hours. When I walked by at a different time, the line snaked back and forth around the display—a giant viking ship. The handler said he didn’t know if it was just for Comic Con or going on tour. What is for sure is that Facebook plans to put Oculus Rift games in every home. Gamers pave the way for new technology. According to studies, though, we’ll all need the vibrations and wind machines to help us not suffer from motion sickness when playing fully immersive games.
entertain or go home With costumes and dancing, this might have been the most entertaining spot on the floor
Just Dance 2015 is the sixth
installment Ubisoft has published in the Just Dance line. While there doesn’t seem to be any reason to exhibit this game at NYCC, I found it to be a welcome addition to the floor. There was plenty of space to sit in front of the stage, the combination of costumes at times was ridiculous, and
the crowd felt free to boo the people on stage who could not figure out how to select a song—which just made them dance that much harder when the song finally came up. To earn points in the game, players mimic the on-screen dancers in an array of modes and songs. The Brotherhood
of Asssassins (pictured below) chose “I Love It” by Icona Pop. If nothing else, it was fun to guess which song a group would pick and see which players from any given group would end up being the most enthusiastic. Some people were ready to leave it all on the stage for a little applause. —Madeline
photographed by Madeline Vega
NYCC is quite possibly the largest gathering of cosplayers on the East Coast aside from Katsucon. While some come to ogle scantily clad costume wearers (Starfire, Slave Leia, Witchblade always draw large crowds) or to mingle with cosplay allstars (Yaya Han, Jessica Nigri, Stella Chuu), even more come for the sheer fun of dressing as their favorite characters. Cosplay is for everyone!
OPPOSITE: Baby Doc Ock watches Fiona adjust Spidey’s costume. THIS PAGE: Ms. Marvel and Helvetika Bold strike a pose; Adam West-inspired Batman
photographed by Madeline Vega
OPPOSITE: Nightwing soars for cosplay photographers near the underpass; Man-Bat (Ruby Rinekso)can’t scare sexy Pikachu (Ireland Reid). THIS PAGE: Joker, Bane, and Catwoman pose for Harley; Prince Robot IV from Saga; Catwoman on set in the underpass.
photographed by Madeline Vega
OPPOSITE: Armored Nightwing with Queen Helene as Wonder Woman; Victorian era Winter Soldier, Captain America, and Black Widow. THIS PAGE: Harley Quinn outside coat check; Batgirl, in the new Babs Tarr/Cameron Stewart costume, with Shazam and Commissioner Gordon.
photographed by Madeline Vega
OPPOSITE: Hit-Girl (Emily Concepcion) demonstrates her fighting skills; Raven poses on the show floor; cosplayers waiting to shoot in the underpass. THIS PAGE: Elsa was a popular costume; Loki poses with black costumed Superman; Red Lantern Meera and Black Lantern Wonder Woman on a break outside the Con; Kitty Pryde tries to capture Spider-man and the Black Ranger.
photographed by luis Vega
Princess Zelda with Nabooru; gender bending Mario and Luigi; another amazing costume we can’t name; Prince IV with a working screen; gender bending Merle from The Walking Dead ; Daenerys Targaryenn protects her egg; Slimer photobombs a Ghostbuster.
An amazing costume we can’t name; Ultron struck some fierce poses in Artist Alley; Fiona turns some heads.
photographed by Luis Vega
Arrow; Batman; Blankman; Schumacherinspired Mr. Freeze and Burton-inspired Penguin with a couple hangers-on; Wreck-itRalph and Fix-It Felix Jr. outside; Iron-Fist is ready for this con; Red Son Wonder Woman and Superman.
Nightwing and Stephanie Brown Robin in Artist Alley; Harley Quinn and her mallet; Silk Spectre (Tiffany Chavous from superheroinemagazine.com); Zatanna; Snow White shows off her poisoned apple; Bombshell BatWoman; AME-COMI Wonder Woman; Arrowette.
photographed by luis Vega
Star-Lord with baby Groot, on his way to Artist Alley, and up on the Marvel stage; full-size Groot; Assasin’s Creed with Rocket; Rocket shares the stage at the Marvel Booth with the Collector and Gamora.
Arsenal, Emma Frost, and Arrow; Bishop, Psylocke, and Cable; Mary Jane with a Spidey backpack; Link; Black Widow.
walk around artist alley Artist Alley is always my favorite place to visit. I never purchase any art, but I love to speak to the creators and learn about their processes, their inspirations, or simply what’s on their minds. —Luis
paintings on the show floor In a world of digital everything, Madeline finds something real Valentine DeLandro catching up on some sequential work.
A Batgirl helmet holds Babs Tarr’s place while she is away from her station. She was easily one of the stars of the con.
When you start to walk around the Show Floor, it can be inspiring to see that people are working as artists in realms besides pencils or color for comic books. One such artist I stopped to speak with was Kevin Eslinger who brought a pop-up version of his gallery filled with abstract and minimalist takes on characters that abounded at NYCC. Eslinger has always operated in pop culture, but it wasn’t until he felt like his job as a creative director had left him with too little hands-on work that he decided to quit and become an artist. That was, unfortunately, right before the economy tanked. As Eslinger said, he learned to live the artist lifestyle quickly.
All of the work on display in the Eslinger Art Gallery originated in water color, acrylic, and oil paint. While reprints were available, potential customers clamored to get a closer look at the original canvas for “Street Gang,” his painting of Sesame Street characters. Eslinger studied art in Pasadena before going to work in toy design and creating replicas. The subjects of his paintings are the characters who left a lasting impression on him or have currently captured his imagination. While Eslinger does have a gallery in Denver, he said he had taken his art to a lot of outdoor festivals. You can find his newest work at kevineslinger.com.
New art for new costumes Cameron Stewart recognized ChuBear and Stella Chuu on their way back into the convention after posing for pictures under the overpass. They were dressed as Yuri and Yuki, the Jawbreakers, Batgirl’s new villains, that Stewart drew for Babs Tarr’s Batgirl.
Rafael Albuquerque chatted with us about his amazing work on American Vampire and his upcoming project EI8HT.
The Jawbreakers are “the annoying cosplaying otaku twins. That’s right, Chubear Cosplay and I cosplayed some cosplayers,” writes Stella Chuu in her Facebook caption to this piece of art Stewart sent them afterward. The real life cosplayers received breakdowns from Tarr ahead of the convention and the Jawbreakers’ debut so they could be the first to do the costumes, according to Chuu, and shoot pictures with a third cosplayer in a new Batgirl costume.
good wood When Madeline heard two convention-goers talking about the wood comic covers, she had to go see for herself
space wolf coast to coast Probably one of the most entertaining people for me to talk to was the artist Space Wolf. A self-described redneck with a background in advertising, Space Wolf creates “limited edition laser engraved wood posters, journals, and really anything else that would be cool to own” and sells them online. At the time, he was based out of Brooklyn and a complete mystery to his buyers—so much so I debated whether to describe him as a “he” when writing this piece. “They’ve never seen me except maybe my hand in one photo,” he told me.
There are multiple people on his team to help oil, sand, and clean the pieces before shipping them, but Space Wolf sketches, inks, and readies each piece for the laser engraver. Commissioned pieces are rarely created because of the tremendous cost associated with production. Space Wolf does try to mix up the genres of art available for purchase. At NYCC, he specifically brought pieces that were not available online. A maple skateboard was also on display—a piece from a new artist he had begun to work with.
What I found really fascinating was how willing Space Ghost was to adhere to the idea of a limited run. Once a set number of pieces are engraved, he destroys the plate. No more will be produced.
The Space Wolf booth itself was so sleek it was hard to imagine Space Wolf had no interest in a gallery presence—until you hear him explain how his background in advertising is all he needs to help him sell his work. He credits having grown up around country and redneck lifestyles with his success as Space Wolf. Each Spring the team has headed out of Brooklyn to plant cherry trees to replace those used during the year. In 2015, Space Wolf heads out of Brooklyn for good to Los Angeles. You can still find his work on spacewolflimited.com and pictures, like left and below, on Instagram. —Madeline
The team at Good Wood NYC, based in Brooklyn, started with one artist in 2007 who said she fell into wood through her classes at FIT. Wood jewelry really spoke to her. From there, the business took off. Companies wanted bracelets with their logos. Now Good Wood NYC creates a variety of commissioned premiums, including pendants, boxes, and cases. Once they began creating commissioned pieces all the time, she purchased the laser engraver. The covers on display are not simply a scan that’s digitally etched into the wood. Another artist from the team assured me they take the time to redraw the cover and make it their own. The goodwoodnyc.com site lists more than a dozen major clients, such as Adidas and Heineken, and more than a dozen collaborators, including Wu Tang Brand and Nike 6.0.
new life for old books One fan tells Madeline how she turns comic pages into collectibles I started talking to Shaun at the PopCycled booth because I couldn’t believe everything on display had been created from the pages of comic books. As far as I knew, everyone is supposed carefully turn the pages of a book, then board and bag them for storage. These people cut the pages and coated them with resin?
PopCycled is completely committed to only using real pages—no scans, no art taken off the internet. While this can create some problems in finding the right art for a given piece, Laura is committed to her authenticity and credibility. “All it would take is one piece created with a print from the internet, and I couldn’t stand by my claim,” she said.
Shaun directed me to Laura, the recycle mistress. The company started with a Batman pendant she made for a friend’s birthday. At the time there just really wasn’t anything for girl fans, according to Laura, so people noticed. They would say, “I love your necklace. Where did you get it? Can you make one for me?”
Five years ago PopCylced started on the convention circuit, which is a completely different challenge than selling pieces through a comic store or Etsy. It’s one thing to read comments on Pinterest, it’s another to have conventiongoers walk by and sneer. Laura’s putting her heart out on the table. (And she’s maybe a little tired.)
Pointing to the R2-D2 dress she was wearing that day, Laura said, “If I wanted this dress five years ago, I would have had to make it myself. There might have been a pattern online, but I couldn’t just go buy it.” Yet here we were on the floor in 2014, surrounded by stores selling T-shirts and hoodies cut specifically for feminine shapes. Someone—Laura—had to prove that the demand was there. But where did Laura’s passion for comics start? “Give me credit. You better give me credit,” Shaun said. Laura laughed and explained how he had given her the collected issues of Sandman. She read all four trades non-stop and just kept going. “I ate Ramen to pay for comics. I spent way more on comics than any 18-year-old should.” Her philosophy is that we spend hundreds of dollars a month on comics just to have them sit in a closet. Why shouldn’t we turn those pages into pieces that show off our love for those comics?
The load in for NYCC was slightly insane. The PopCycled crew drove up from South Carolina and hadn’t slept in 36 hours, with load in starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 7 p.m. And while there are all kinds of enegry-sapping tasks associated with running a booth, there is also a lot of passion and excitement coming through their space. “Even guys want pieces,” Laura said. Of everything on display—pendants, coasters, business card cases—Laura’s favorite are the resin baubles, which involve a lot of time and work and cursing and love. “They’re so difficult because they can be wrecked so easily,” she said, “but then they are just sitting there drying and it’s all ‘Oh, they’re so lovely.’” While anyone could find a tutorial online and learn to create baubles and trinkets, PopCycled has achieved a rare level of fandom and ethics. ADW
bricks & Boards Lego’s proper, customs and imports were everywhere. Luis talks about this growing trend.
forge studio With multiple stations set up at their booth, ForgeStudio was ready to scan anyone who wanted to see what a statue of their likeness would look like. The scan was free (and pretty entertaining to watch), so there was no shortage of people to be found around the booth. Are these guys just humongous fans of cosplay? The rep I spoke with on the floor said the company founders had actually wanted to start a bar. I wasn’t as interested in confirming that story as much as learning about how else they planned to market personalized statues. The rep said personalized cake toppers for gay weddings were actually a big deal for them. —Madeline
I’m crazy about Lego minifigures. I’ve been known to buy a giant set just to get the few minifigures that are packed in.
displays they had set-up of all the other characters. If you could dream up the characters, they had them.
The past few years have seen an explosion of the amount of licensed characters under the Lego umbrella. Gone are the days where the only license offered was Star Wars. Now a trip to the Lego aisle will have you encounter superheroes (both Marvel and DC), pop culture movie icons (Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters and Back to the Future), video games (Minecraft)and TV stars(Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
The bigger revelation was the presence of the international imports. Decool, Sy and Lele figures were everywhere. These are individually boxed Lego compatible minifigures. They were on the pricier side, but I was able to pick up a Fantasic Four 8-pack at a decent price ($24).
There is no shortage of new characters. Of course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for more. At NYCC there was a multitude of tables which were selling individual Lego minifigures as well as customs and international imports. I didn’t want to buy a large Joker steamroller and get yet another Batman, but I wanted the Batgirl that came packed in the set. Bricks & Boards, an awesome Lego shop from New Orleans was on hand to help me out. i was able to purchase Batgirl (as well as the Winter Soldier and movie Jor-El) as well as peruse the various
If you’re as big a Lego minifigure fan as I am, NYCC was the place to be. If you can’t make it out to NYCC and you are in New Orleans (or Florida, B&B now has 2 locations), give these guys a visit, they’re awesome. Bricks & Boards 1008 North Peters St New Orleans, Louisiana (504) 451-8522 10 Harbor Blvd Destin, Florida (850) 424-0600
personal adventure As I walked down the aisle of independent publishers, I suddenly saw something that looked familiar— a bunch of Lego samples featured in a book I’ve read multiple times. Megan Rothrock author of The Lego Adventure Book series was on hand with the physical Lego builds of the playsets in her book, including a tiny version of herself. She was excited to hear how my boys are big fans of her book. Pictured here is Rothrock with Megs and a few of the builds. —LV
whole family If there was one thing I needed to take home from the convention, it was a Stampy Cat toy. I bought Lee Bear and Amy as well, or “the whole family,” as the guys at the Seus Craft Ender Toys booth said. Creating and shipping 3D printed toys and decals are their whole lives when they are are not creating apps. While they do game (and do have permission to create Stampy), they were not about to gush over every last amazing deatail of Mincecraft awesomeness. —Madeline
night music On the edge of The Block, where the walkway seemed to be packed with people like me—trying to figure out which way to go, what they should be looking at—a friendly face at a sparse booth smiled at me. Now I had to know about the music video playing on the screen next to him... Joe Melluzo explained how the album he’s working on ties into the Night Spirit comic he is creating with Inbeon Studios artist Eric Hutchinson. “I need someone to draw up what I see in my head. I envision characters and scenes, and him and I discuss it,” Melluzo said. “The comic won’t be out for a while because the album is taking priority.” Melluzo anticipates the next single to be out in early 2015. “The next [video] will start combining the music with comics.” NYCC was great in Melluzo’s words, not only for the number of people who picked up cdbaby cards, but for how willing they were to listen to his idea. “I came away with more of an understanding of my audience.” —MV
The Night is alive, protector of all dreams of man. Lately, there has been a shift in power. Night must call forth a champion. A single voice cuts through the darkness—bite marks on his neck. “Among the musical group, are members from Blue Oyster Cult, and those who have graced the stage with Within Temptation, Bumblefoot and Epica. Night Spirit is going to conjure up things that really do go bump in the night, and show you that these children of night know how to take you on a midnight joyride.” Find more on http://www.thenightspirit.net/
A frighteningly sweet proposal Buy a booth before you have anything to put in it? Madeline talked to one couple who did just that Many of the vendors I talked to in The Block and elsewhere on the Show Floor had started at outdoor festivals or at least on Etsy. But that wasn’t the case for High Fructose Zombies with a bright green table and some eye-catching sculptures. The man behind the table, David Phillips, started to give me the pitch for the comic: When a brand new candy bar, Snakatak, starts turning people into zombies in the small humble town of Sweetooth, it’s up to Clea Brown and her ragtag group of friends to stop the evil Yumzy Corporation from reigning down the sugarpocalypse. Because I already had my notebook out and didn’t want to waste his time with a sales pitch, I launched right into asking if he was the comic creator and how he got started with that. He did not give me an answer I was expecting at all. Phillips and his bride-to-be, Sarah Braly, had always been creative people. Just days before their wedding, Braly sat Phillips down for a serious talk. “I have something important to ask you,” she said. “I think we should buy a booth at Comic Con.” I’m not sure I was able to appropriately convey my awe. Planning and executing a wedding is already a major hurdle—and this couple did that and then turned around, went into lockdown, and not only created a comic book but also a branded space for their first trade show weeks later in 2012. It was a lot of nights and weekends, a lot of collaboration, according to Braly and Phillips. They wrote specifically for the boxes, coming up with the story together. Phillips said they knew it wasn’t going to be perfect—it was the first issue. Braly had created custom figures for other comic entities. The Yumzy Corporation lends itself to all sorts of Zomrats, Zomcakes, Zomfloats, and more. You can find links to all of them and the comics on highfructosezombies.com. There are also some pretty amazing work-in-progress photos at facebook.com/HighFructoseZombies. ADW
royal treatment With so many hair and makeup options to emulate from TV and movies, it’s hard to believe there was only one booth dedicated to applying every day makeup in a heroic style. What Madeline wouldn’t do for a station with curling irons and stylists who know how to braid...
The best examples of great hair I found on the floor were helped by a wig or stylist (or both). Queen Margaery (above left) said she styled her wig, flew from Ontario, and styled it before coming to the Javits Center—maybe 90 minutes of work. A friend of the the red haired queen (top right) offered up that she actually did have red hair under the wig. And Queen Daenerys, sporting some extensions, pointed to her hair stylist boyfriend when I asked how she did her braids. While there are booths on the floor that sell wigs, there was nothing for hair quite like what NYX created for makeup application. A large open space with multiple makeup stations allowed both male and female convention-goers to take a seat and let a professional give them a bolder look. There were free samples for participants, a how-to post card for those without time, and even a body painter to show how far one can take every day makeup. NYX, which was acquired by L’Oreal before NYCC, is one of the fastest growing color cosmetics brands in
the U.S. Coming to NYCC was a chance to be in a different space, according to Mehdi Mehdi, director of online operations who was at the booth, and to put their cosmetics in the hands of consumers. “The line never stops,” he said, attributing the apparent lack of things for women to do. “You go do your thing, I’ll be here.” About that time, some guys walked by and loudly made fun of the presence of a makeup booth, but I couldn’t shake the image of Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier) with smudgy blackened eyes in the Captain America sequel. NYX was more focused on pop art than haute couture. The team had been trained to create vibrant and well-defined looks, like the Captain America pictured above on the makeup artist. Some guys had sat down to touch-up Hulk makeup and get domino masks, according to Mehdi. With a line winding away through The Block, it’s hard to imagine L’Oreal won’t figure out how to implement one of their hair brands at NYCC 2015.
i feel pretty powerful With more products for female fans entering the sports and video game markets, Madeline set out to see what NYCC offered. While it’s easy to promote Ashley Ekstein’s Her Universe, which expanded to include Doctor Who and Nerdist, it’s not as easy to gauge how well something like Nail Candy might be received. Especially if the idea is that everything on the floor should be targeted at males 18-34. But, come Saturday and Sunday, there were plenty of fangirls on hand—moms and daughters who could shop for themselves rather than wait for a guy to pick up something cute on their behalf. While I specifically looked for female shoppers at booths with wigs and jewelry, there were plenty of males shopping for themselves at these locations. The females also weren’t only gravitating toward pink and frilly items. Everyone at the convention is trying to show how much of a fan they are in an authentic way, whether that’s a ring or a T-shirt.
It’s hard to search the NYCC guide with a completely sexist frame of mind. Booths with wigs sell short wigs and long wigs. Guys paint their nails, too. Little girls don’t need T-shirts that are cut for an hourglass figure (and maybe they just want the blue shirt because it’s the best). If you love My Little Ponies, there’s no getting around what the My Little Ponies look like—and you will proudly wear that Pinky Pie backpack. Even more difficult to categorize are leather journals in a variety of colors at Poetic Earth or pewter jewelry at Martha Rotten. The grumpy sheep at Tasty Peach Studios are cute, but are they girly?
nyx booth madeulook For two days, one model let Alexys Fleming transform her into superheros with body paint and a lot of details created with every day makeup When I talked to Alexys Fleming at the NYX booth on Sunday, I was very focused on just hearing what she planned to do and how she planned to do it. But then it Screenshots of the finished looks on turned out she stands for something @jilliebean15 from the NYX blog more than making girls look pretty. The plan was to cover Jillian Onorato (@Jilliebean15) with enough black body paint and then transform the look into a detailed version of Batgirl. On Saturday, Fleming turned Onorato into Gamora, adding extra texture and depth to the look with NYX products. She even did this while giving an interview at BeTerrific.com’s video booth. We talked about applying the paint and makeup so the look would last all day—a struggle for novice cosplayers—and how helpful this installation might be to them. Not only can they stop by NYX to get makeup re-applied, but also to learn how to do a more expert job of applying it. Yet, there’s something a bit more important going on here with Fleming and Ornorato and NYCC’s new campaign that “Cosplay is not Consent.” Onorato tagged her Batgirl pictures with #datcape, a play on how she was previously known for the meme #datfin where a boy is oggling her Ariel costumed butt. Somehow with even more skin exposed this year, she was more powerful. “Makeup is more than just a perception of beauty, it is used to make people feel confident, or make them into a completely new character,” Fleming writes on her site MadeULook (madeulookbylex.com). Fleming became more and more interested in makeup throughout high school as a creative outlet to cope with bullying. She had Grade 3 acne and was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 13. “Makeup can be used to restore injuries, or tragic events that happened. It helps heal the mind, as well as make someone feel beautiful (or scary) inside and out.” Fleming is using her company to raise awareness, creating the superhero The Injector. As Fleming says, Diabetics have to be their own heroes every day in order to avoid villainous complications later in life. “You can be whatever you put your mind to in the world of art, but most importantly, always be yourself,” Fleming writes. “Unless you can be something with a super power. Always take the super powers.”
Alexys Fleming paints Batgirl’s costume
A screenshot from MadeULook on YouTube, where Fleming applies makeup to herself in dramatic fashion.
Declare your loyalty in style While Westeros Jewelry was news to me, Meghan, the owner, opened her shop on Etsy in 2010 already successfully running a vintage clothing shop. When she began reading A Song of Ice and Fire, she was so inspired she saw Westeros everywhere. Some designs are insprired by props in the Game of Thrones TV series, but “I try to be really creative,” Meghan said, holding up a Heart Tree leaf to her hair. A guy looking for House Greyjoy explained he wanted a ring for every finger. Meghan said, “Some people have no idea [what Westeros is], that’s why I have a sign.” There are mugs, hats, and bags with slogans only fans will understand on her shop www.etsy.com/shop/Westeros.
gimme some relief In a place where every few feet something new brings you joy, it’s hard to imagine that things that bring you relief are few and far between. Madeline and her heavy camera bag look for a place to sit down.
This page: Attendees block a stairway; a cosplayer looks like real medical personnel outside his booth; the best super power might be the ability to produce a bathroom; ReedPop banners add some humor to the long walk between sections of the convention; coat check will store giant props if you tire of carrying them; Finn and Fiona rest on the floor of Artist Alley. Opposite page: Food trucks bring more options; your picture can be taken at any time.
If you had a VIP pass, you could travel to the top of the convention, past a staircase full of people who don’t know where to go, grab a seat, and watch panels on a televised feed from the comfort of a couch. I did not have a VIP badge, but my press pass got me close enough to take pictures of other people looking longingly through the curtains at the VIP space. Was this place so magical the bathroom lines were short and food and drink options abounded? No, not at all. One year the line was so long for the bathroom press, vendors, and VIPs were using, a woman who felt sorry for us said we could sneak out past some flimsy barriers and find an enormous empty bathroom. The year after that, security guards sat in front of the flimsy barriers. This year, NYCC seemed to be overtaken by men in uniform. There were so many sherifs and soldiers that my first instinct was to ignore the genuine medical personnel making their way across the show floor. So, I had to ask a genuine security guard how often people were ignoring him—he had just asked everyone to clear the stairs,
announcing it was not a place to sit. His tone implied he was tired of announcing this to possibly the same people he had already told a short time before. The security guard did not blame the amount of Rick and Carl Grimes in attendance. He laughed at my anecdote (which I took to mean people had been ignoring him all weekend) and said, “There are plenty of tables on Level 1.” But ReedPop’s own survival guide tells attendees to bring your own snacks and refillable water bottles, citing the long lines and high cost. So, maybe all these people crowding the stairs think they look like they know what they’re doing (even if what they’re doing is creating a fire hazard). Those who are really in the know, though, head outdoors. There are places to sit and people watch in the underpasses and just outside the convention doors. Plus, if the food court isn’t appealing to you, food trucks with more exotic offerings, such as Korilla, are parked in front of the Javits Center. None of this helps those who need to use the bathroom, though. You can try timing out the bathrooms near panels—the basement bathrooms supposedly have more stalls. Artist Alley is also a good bet because they’re hidden behind the artists booths. One thing I found more often than I expected were information tables. As soon I was really at a loss to find the booth I wanted, I’d see the giant stack of guide books. Magic. ADW
for real The idea of attending a comic book convention is already daunting to people who don’t consider themselves to reach the level of fandom required to enter such a venue. The deeper you go into the Show Floor, where the dealers and mega-collectors interact, the more you might question how you fit into this convention. But the people behind the tables can actually be quite welcoming. My first stop in this section was to ask about oil paintings at the Pop Culture Vault booth. Jason Cornely rattled off the major licenses his artists carried and was happy to explain how legitimate their paintings were compared to fan art. My next objective was to see if Action Comics #1 was still on display. No luck. With that book stuck in my head, though, I stopped at the Comic Book Certification Service booth to ask Steve Borock how this all really works. I’ve been to signings at Midtown comics and taken a picture of Jim Lee signing the book. Plus Midtown gives you a certificate. Is that enough? According to Borock, he could ask his friend, Lee, to verify it in a pinch, but the company scans the signature like a fingerprint. “If you go to Midtown and receive a certificate, you still have to overnight the comic and certificate to CBCS to authenticate.”
Smile you’re on camera I don’t think it can be stated enough that the price of admission to NYCC is agreeing your likeness can be captured and used “for exhibition and exploitation by any means in all media now known or hereafter devised worldwide in perpetuity.” This covers everything from a $12,000 video set up to an old flip phone with a camera. As a press photographer, I love this rule. Consent? I don’t need you sign anything. I like to be polite, but I’m also not about to ruin a moment to alert you to the fact I am taking your picture. I can tell you afterward and give you my business card. Come Sunday, people everywhere on the Floor seem to have forgotten this because all the professional announcements have been made and this is Kids’ Day. When I tried to make the most of the fact that I was completely lost but, oh look, there was a guy looking at original inked pages, I snapped a picture. The dealers came around from behind the table to yell at me. “I can’t take pictuers of people looking at pictures?” I was so offended, I went to security to show them there was absolutely no way I could be reproducing the art and selling it online. When it came to complaints, harassment was security’s focus. We talked about how many complaints were registered through the app but how few provided enough information for follow up. Every complaint was read, though. Before ReedPop created the harassment policy, cosplayers were complaining online about people taking pictures without asking. The policy doesn’t cover that because a badge means you’ve already given consent to be photographed. It’s only against the rules if someone won’t stop taking your picture or simply humiliates you. Not all photography and video equipment is equal. While one guy has an umbrella and flash on mounted on his shoulders, it might be a phone pic that goes viral. —MV
That sounds like there’s no fun in the dealers section, but they all seem to appreciate just who their businesses cater to. Borock posed with the only comic signed by a sitting president.
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small screen We truly are in a golden age of comic properties on television, according to luis. If your favorite network doesn’t have a comicbased show currently, one is on the way.
It used to be that comic-inspired shows were limited to the cartoon realm. While there are still great comic-based cartoons (Teen Titans Go!, Spider-Man Web Warriors, Avengers Assemble), that simply is no longer the only option. Marvel has done a wonderful job of tying their cinematic universe into their TV world on ABC (of course). Both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter picked up on threads that originated in the movies and then played out on the small screen. While S.H.I.E.L.D. has been relatively uneven (they should resist the temptation of spinning off a Bobbi Morse show), Agent Carter was really strong. Tonally, it picked up right where Captain America left off. My personal pet peeve is the fighting scenes in S.H.I.E.L.D.. Ming Na generally seems wooden and, as much as I love Clark Gregg’s Coulson, I just don’t buy him as the physical badass. They should take a cue from the fight scenes on Arrow and speed up the choreography and editing. It might also be a bit difficult to get lost in the storytelling when I know that everything on TV is tied to what’s happening everywhere else in Marvel—especially the handling of what word will replace “mutants,” which Fox Studios owns.
While I have enjoyed the Marvel shows, the DC shows on CW have been better. Season 1 of The Flash has been incredible. In fact, I would go as far as saying it’s the best first season of a comic adaptation. Grant Gustin (Sebastian on Glee) originally seemed like an odd choice, but he has been tremendous. His Barry is the emotional epicenter of the show and the reason everything works so well. He is spot on. If you’re a comics fan and not watching The Flash you are doing yourself a disservice. Almost as good as The Flash has been Season 3 of Arrow. This is another show where the lead actor is perfectly cast (Stephen Amell) and sets the tone. Three years in, the relationships between the cast are set and we can simply build layers—which the show has done perfectly. Every character has grown from season to season, and even the most convoluted of stories seem to work. Oliver as Ra’s? I didn’t see it at first, but I loved the way the whole season played out. On top of that, just like they spun out Flash from season 2, Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/Atom has been greats so I can’t wait to see him in his own show. This year also saw the debut of iZombie on the CW. This Vertigo title seemed like a
weird choice, but once I viewed the show I was hooked. Rose McIver is great as the lead (Liv Moore). Tonally the show is like a Buffy/Veronica Mars hybrid. Witty dialogue with a well-fleshed out supporting cast also raise the Buffy/Veronica comparisons. iZombie was recently renewed for a second season, which, with the addition of the Arrow/Flash spinoff Legends of Tomorrow, will bring the CW comic show total to four. Quite the lineup and comic support indeed. NBC launched Constantine this year as an attempt to embrace the comics craze. Sadly, it did not last. While comics fan thought it was a worthwhile adaptation, viewership never took off. I know the fans are trying to save the show on some other media (Hulu, Yahoo, etc.), so far nothing has been announced. The most polarizing of the network shows has got to be Fox’s Gotham. Diehard Batman fans (like my brother) seem to
love it. The general public (and myself) seem to view it as a show with a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a comic book adaptation? Is it a police procedural? Who knows. It was never clearly defined. I loved Ben McKenzie as Gordon, but the show plays fast and loose with the mythology. I didn’t love the different takes on characters (Penguin and Edward Nygma) but thought the little easter eggs (Flying Graysons poster at the circus) were fun. Hopefully their identity crisis is solved and we get more even story-telling in season 2. CBS enters the fray next Fall with Supergirl. Melissa Benoist (Marley on Glee) plays the title character in the same universe as Arrow and Flash. I’d be interested to see if a crossover would be possible. AMC continues to break cable ratings records with it’s excellent The Walking Dead. While I still prefer Kirkman’s printed Dead, the show is excellent. It’s popularity is so strong that the spinoff Fear the Walking Dead launches next year. AMC is also finally bringing Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher to television. At one point HBO was rumored to be involved, but with the success of Dead, AMC seems to be capitalizing. Preacher has a huge fan base, and I think it will be wildly successful. Marvel also launched the first of its announced Netflix slate with Daredevil. The show was amazing. Easily one of the best things Marvel has produced. Everything about it was spot on. It felt real. Charlie Cox and Deborah Ann Wall were great as Matt Murdock and Karen Page. It has been such a runaway hit (over 4 million views in the first month) that Marvel has already greenlit a season 2 for next year. (This wasn’t in the original plan for the Netflix slate was Daredevil, AKA Jessica Jones, luke Cage, Iron-fist, and then the defenders.) I can’t reiterate enough how good the show is. The Sony Network also launched Powers based on Brian Michael Bendis’ creator owned series. I haven’t seen it as of yet, but I hear its very good. The viewership was strong enough that it will have a second season next year. The sheer amount of comics properties on TV is staggering and growing (there are a ton of properties in development like Titans, Riverdale, Scalped, Lazarus and more). Between the network success of Arrow and its spinoffs, the cable success of The Walking Dead, and the Netflix success of Daredevil, every entity that delivers small screen properties is being taken over by comics. The rabid, loyal, and fanatical consumers who flock to their local comic stores every Wednesday are supporting these shows. When you start with that base and good word of mouth, you start to have some of the recent runaway hits. Comics are taking over, and are here to stay.
the oscar goes to... Comic books were well represented at the 2015 Academy Awards The biggest win came from Disney’s Big Hero 6 (my favorite comic film of 2014). Baymax and crew picked up the award for Best Animated Feature. While those who were upset that The Lego Movie (with Will Arnett playing a great Batman) was completely snubbed took to Twitter immediately, I have a hard time arguing with the choice. Big Hero 6 was a great film loosely based on a Marvel comic. I wonder if Marvel will be inspired to re-introduce these characters in these new incarnations into the wider Marvel universe. Guardians of the Galaxy was defeated by Grand Budapest Hotel (Makeup and Hairstyling) and Interstellar (Visual Effects) for both of its nominations. X-Men Days of Future Past and Captain America: The Winter Soldier were also nominated in the Effects category. —LV
thanks all for the outpouring of love for the lego movie today. We didn’t make it for awards, we made it to be a trending topic on twitter -Chris Miller @chrizmllr
marvel’s summer at the movies While comic shows are dominating the small screen, they also stand to be some of the largest movies of the summer as well The comic movie landscape skews heavily towards Marvel this summer. Avengers: Age of Ultron is poised to be the largest money-maker of the summer if not the entire year. While not as strong as the first film, the movie is very good. The movie suffers a bit from being too heavy. It loses some of the witty Whedonesque banter that was filtered throughout the first film. Everything seems a bit too serious. On top of that they seemed to take the criticism of perceived civilian casualties in Man of Steel too seriously. Every subplot seemed a little heavyhanded in making sure civilians were being kept safe. We get it, the Avengers care. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie. The action was ramped up. The Vision and Ultron were visually spectacular. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were ehh. The interplay between IronMan and Captain America should have been the anchor for the film, especially with what Marvel’s film slate looks like moving forward, but they seemed to be so caught up in Big Budget Sequelitis. Later on this summer Ant-Man joins the Marvel cinematic universe. I’m very much looking forward to this movie as I think Paul Rudd was an inspired choice as the lead. I wish we would have gotten the Edgar Wright version of the film (Whedon says its the best Marvel script he’s ever read) but I still think this version will be a fun Guardians of the Galaxy-type romp. In August, Josh Trank’s much maligned re-imagined Fantastic Four hits the screen. The previews have not been well-received from the comics community. I’m reserving judgement until I actually see the film. Trank, you may remember, is the brains behind the amazing Chronicle which was basically an ode to comics and the misuse of powers. I think this could be a potential sleeper hit. —Luis
five things YOU’LL SEE IF YOU TUNE INTO THE DUBB’S NYCC VIDEO RECAP Madeline created this awesome sizzle reel of the goings on at NYCC. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=qmrmeHHiwN8 Here are some of the higlights. deAdpool
The merc with a mouth was literally everywhere. I only see this trend growing with how good everything coming out of the Ryan Reynolds movie looks. AngrybIrds trAnsformers
Sunday brought out the Rovio stars in their latest licensed garb. dAnCIng sIlkIe
No frills costume based on the dream sequence of the Teen Titans Go! “Dreams” episode. Ame-ComI supergIrl
Stell Chuu with this alternate anime-style maid of might costume. two fACe
Really impressive makeup on this costume.