My day at the NY COMIC CONVENTION

MikeFromInhuman - 4-22-2008 at 10:08 AM

I went on Friday, and was there from 8:30am to about 7:00pm.
Retailers had a free breakfast care of Diamond Distributors, the company where every comic store in America gets it's books from, so I got my ass there early. I live for this shit (along with music and movies) being there all day was just fine for me.

At 10:am the doors opened for professionals and one of the first booths I cum across is the Harper Collins Books display/set-up. A guy is putting books out and I see he has a few copies of Clive Barker's "Arabat" and Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" in hardcover. The guy says to me "those are FREE, you can have them". "Really? Thanks a lot man", I say. "No problem. Those books are SIGNED too", he says. I open up both books, from 2 of my favorite authors, Barker and Gaiman, and yes, I was just handed SIGNED hardcover copies of the books for free! I literally grab the books, thank the guy again and almost run the hell away for fear of being punked or the guy changing his mind!

Nice start to the con huh?

Walking around, I see yet another book company table, Dorchester Books. They put out some great horror stuff from authors I like such as Jack Kethcum, Ed Lee, Richard Laymon and one of my new faves Brian Keene.I buy a bunch of new horror books at $5 each and the guy at the booth asks me if I like Jack Ketchum. I tell him I love his books. He tells me to give him my address and info and he will send me SIGNED books to my store! So I will now be getting several Jack Ketchum books signed sent to my shop!

Who's having a better con that me?

It gets better.

It's around 12pm now. Mind you, the con is still only open to retailers and professionals until 3pm. I am at the "Autograph Alley" section and rather surprisingly, Mike Mignola, the man who created HELLBOY is at a table with like 2 people at it signing books! In all honesty, I am not a big HELLBOY fan. I dont read the book at all and never have.
But, Mignola is a huge talent and my brother Jon's girlfriend Jen (who manages my store) is a big fan of HELLBOY and even has HELLBOY tattoos. I go up to a nearby dealer table, buy a radom back issue of HELLBOY to get signed for Jen. I then go over to Mignola's table and he was cool as hell. I tell him about my shop and ask if it would be ok if I called my friend and had him say hello. He was cool with it and we call up Jen at my shop. He talks to her, freaks out and then signs my comic.
He also tells me he will visit my shop the next time he and his wife are in NYC. Nice huh?

It gets a better.

I met ALEX FUCKING ROSS!
Alex Ross is my favorite artist of all time and he hardly ever does comic conventions. I stood in a line for about an hr and half for the "possibility" of getting a tix to see him. I was the LAST PERSON HANDED A TICKET to meet him, no one else did. Then stood on another line for an hour to really meet him. It was worth it, he was friendly and signed the 8 books I handed him, plus 2 Wonder Woman figures that my girlfriend handed me.

I also met and got shit signed by:

S. Biancchi (Wolverine)
A. Copiel (Thor)

So yeah, I had a good time.

M.

PS: Geoff Johns can SUCK IT! That dude wasnt at his table at all on Friday! Went there about 15 times and he was soo not there.
Oh well.

bombidol - 4-22-2008 at 10:13 AM

Sounds good man. We were talking about possibly heading over for it but it never happened. Maybe next year when we have more stuff out. I like Alex Ross but I'd totally kick him in the balls and walk over him to talk to Mignola. He actually draws comics.

XHonusWagnerX - 4-22-2008 at 10:14 AM

that sounds awesome!! Definitly a great day!

I'm really big on Terry Moore (I have a Strangers in Paradise tattoo) & Ed McGuiness. I have stuff signed by them, including some Terry Moore sketches, but I've never gotten to meet either of them.

BDx13 - 4-22-2008 at 10:22 AM

i don't know the first fucking thing about comics, but man, it really sounds like you had a blast.
congratulations.
how's the store going?

Dave - 4-22-2008 at 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
that sounds awesome!! Definitly a great day!

I'm really big on Terry Moore (I have a Strangers in Paradise tattoo) & Ed McGuiness. I have stuff signed by them, including some Terry Moore sketches, but I've never gotten to meet either of them.

have you read ECHO yet?

it's a pretty good read.

Dave - 4-22-2008 at 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeFromInhuman
I went on Friday, and was there from 8:30am to about 7:00pm.
Retailers had a free breakfast care of Diamond Distributors, the company where every comic store in America gets it's books from, so I got my ass there early. I live for this shit (along with music and movies) being there all day was just fine for me.

At 10:am the doors opened for professionals and one of the first booths I cum across is the Harper Collins Books display/set-up. A guy is putting books out and I see he has a few copies of Clive Barker's "Arabat" and Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" in hardcover. The guy says to me "those are FREE, you can have them". "Really? Thanks a lot man", I say. "No problem. Those books are SIGNED too", he says. I open up both books, from 2 of my favorite authors, Barker and Gaiman, and yes, I was just handed SIGNED hardcover copies of the books for free! I literally grab the books, thank the guy again and almost run the hell away for fear of being punked or the guy changing his mind!

Nice start to the con huh?

Walking around, I see yet another book company table, Dorchester Books. They put out some great horror stuff from authors I like such as Jack Kethcum, Ed Lee, Richard Laymon and one of my new faves Brian Keene.I buy a bunch of new horror books at $5 each and the guy at the booth asks me if I like Jack Ketchum. I tell him I love his books. He tells me to give him my address and info and he will send me SIGNED books to my store! So I will now be getting several Jack Ketchum books signed sent to my shop!

Who's having a better con that me?

It gets better.

It's around 12pm now. Mind you, the con is still only open to retailers and professionals until 3pm. I am at the "Autograph Alley" section and rather surprisingly, Mike Mignola, the man who created HELLBOY is at a table with like 2 people at it signing books! In all honesty, I am not a big HELLBOY fan. I dont read the book at all and never have.
But, Mignola is a huge talent and my brother Jon's girlfriend Jen (who manages my store) is a big fan of HELLBOY and even has HELLBOY tattoos. I go up to a nearby dealer table, buy a radom back issue of HELLBOY to get signed for Jen. I then go over to Mignola's table and he was cool as hell. I tell him about my shop and ask if it would be ok if I called my friend and had him say hello. He was cool with it and we call up Jen at my shop. He talks to her, freaks out and then signs my comic.
He also tells me he will visit my shop the next time he and his wife are in NYC. Nice huh?

It gets a better.

I met ALEX FUCKING ROSS!
Alex Ross is my favorite artist of all time and he hardly ever does comic conventions. I stood in a line for about an hr and half for the "possibility" of getting a tix to see him. I was the LAST PERSON HANDED A TICKET to meet him, no one else did. Then stood on another line for an hour to really meet him. It was worth it, he was friendly and signed the 8 books I handed him, plus 2 Wonder Woman figures that my girlfriend handed me.

I also met and got shit signed by:

S. Biancchi (Wolverine)
A. Copiel (Thor)

So yeah, I had a good time.

M.

PS: Geoff Johns can SUCK IT! That dude wasnt at his table at all on Friday! Went there about 15 times and he was soo not there.
Oh well.

sounds like an awesome day, me & my buddy who owns a shop are toying with the idea of going to next years.

What's the name of your store? i visted a bunch when i was last in NYC.

XHonusWagnerX - 4-22-2008 at 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave

Quote:

have you read ECHO yet?

it's a pretty good read.

yeah... Ive only got issue 1, not sure if 2 came out yet, but I really liked it. I actually got a large print of the issue 1 cover signed by Terry Moore too.

MikeFromInhuman - 4-22-2008 at 02:50 PM

My store: www.myspace.com/brooklynmonsterfactory

Brooklyn Monster Factory
493 7th Ave
Brooklyn NY 11215
718 840 5840

2 Yrs in Biz this Month!

Thanks
M.

bombidol - 4-22-2008 at 03:01 PM

Mike, you guys do in store shows at all? We are 100% stuck for a NY date on May 31st.

MikeFromInhuman - 4-22-2008 at 03:30 PM

I wish I could have shows at the store!
You can come by and hang though.

defstarsteve - 4-22-2008 at 03:40 PM

mike that's awesome
I hate diamond they can suck it...

but that con sounds awesome

I had some people there scouting out for some of the stuff we are doing
and found out there is a new musical in the works...

toxic avenger the musical...coming this summer
they are planning on selling the shirts we are doing in the lobby....

as for diamond
It's weird being both a supplier and retailer from them...
I see how fucked they are from both sides...
it's amazing they have such a hold over the industry

bombidol - 4-22-2008 at 04:02 PM

Dont get me started on Diamond. But Mike yeah, I'll be in NY hanging out for a few weeks after the tour and will deffo drop in. If I have some copies of our comic I'll bring some in for you guys.

Dave - 4-23-2008 at 01:11 AM

hey i need to buy your comic when it comes out , remind me when its in previews would you (if its not ill just order it from you)

Dave - 4-23-2008 at 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeFromInhuman
My store: www.myspace.com/brooklynmonsterfactory

Brooklyn Monster Factory
493 7th Ave
Brooklyn NY 11215
718 840 5840

2 Yrs in Biz this Month!

Thanks
M.

what kinda back issue supply do you have?

there are a few that im looking for....

bombidol - 4-23-2008 at 04:12 AM

Will do. Being printed at the moment and Diamond take 5 months to approve comics so its gonna be a while.

clevohardcore - 4-23-2008 at 08:47 AM

I have no idea who any of those people are but you got me hyped about it. That sounds like a once in a life time experience for ya and thats great to be able to do shit like that. If I am ever in your area I'll stop by and check your place out. Best of luck with everything.

MikeFromInhuman - 4-23-2008 at 09:21 AM

Dave, I have TONS of stuff.
Send me a list. ANY of you can: mscondotto@smithhanley.com

thanks!
m.

bombidol - 4-23-2008 at 01:09 PM

Did you see my "Thanks to Gar Cummins" in Kick Ass ish 1?

Dave - 4-23-2008 at 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeFromInhuman
Dave, I have TONS of stuff.
Send me a list. ANY of you can: mscondotto@smithhanley.com

thanks!
m.

Cool i will, some is from the past few years, (walking dead, Goon{albatross issues}, Kinder Nacht, ASM 441, etc.... i'll come up with a list and send it along to you, soonish...

but i'm always a sucker for a silver age book, i still need like 40 issues of ASM below 100.

hardtone - 4-23-2008 at 11:34 PM

From one geek to another, Alex Ross is awesome. I like the way he uses photos as references for his art. Mike Mignola is cool also, Hellboy is the shit IMO…

I would like to get Jim Lee’s signature his X-men & Batman was legendary.

Plus I dig these artists:

Bryan Hitch
Jim Cheung
Steve McNiven.
Don Figueroa.

So many good artists out there…

bombidol - 4-24-2008 at 04:16 AM

We had Jim Lee over last year for the Dublin comic convention he was a real cool dude. Literally just sketched the whole time he was there for everyone. We'd be in the pub drinking and he'd have his pad out doing a batman or something for one of us. We had Steve McNiven over too and hes real nice.

MikeFromInhuman - 4-24-2008 at 09:02 AM

Met Steve McNiven too, 2 yrs in a row @ NYCC. He is really cool actually.

Dave - 4-24-2008 at 09:58 AM

i'd love to meet Eric Powell, or Mike Allred.

i have a sketch from eric powell, from the san diego con from two years ago, my buddy went and got me one.

other favorites for me artist/writers

Darwn Cooke (who lives here)
Brian K. Vaughan
Brian Wood
Mike Mignola
Jim Lee