Dragon Con

I'd never been to Dragon Con but it's a show who's reputation always preceeds itself. As an actual comic book show, it's pretty good on its own. There's a great core of artists that make their homes in Atlanta and it's always great to see them and there's a solid group of artist alley guests and a few other name guests (J. Scott Campbell, Mike Grell and STERANKO were there this year.) It's a decent comic book show but, obviously, it isn't the comic book guests that are drawing 45,000 people to Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. The artists who were there were doing brisk business but the comic book room was probably the least packed of the rooms I went into -- except when George Perez was around, at which point it got a bit more crowded, as tends to happen when George shows up in a room.

I wasn't at Dragon Con as a fan, specifically, though, I was there to help my friend Shane run a weapons exhibit called The Armory, hosted by his friend Kevin Dockery, a military and fiction writer, who also hosted some panel discussions over the course of the weekend, that were, without fail, packed to the gills with fans of his work and expertise. So Thursday, Friday morning, Sunday night and Monday were dedicated to set-up and tear down of the exhibit which was exhausting work, especially if you're lame and out of shape like me. The exhibit itself seemed to be a big hit with people taking loads of pictures of the weapons while Kevin and a couple of his friends gave people all the information they could want about those weapons.

You'll generally hear 'you have to go to Dragon Con to understand it.' And that's true, even though Shane and last year's attendees took pictures and tried to describe it, words can't make sense of it. 45,000 people attend the show, which overtakes four of Atlanta's largest hotels and spreads over seven hotels total. Every room in those hotels is for Dragon Con guests and at night you can't get into any of them without a Dragon Con badge or room key. There are as many people in costume as not, some are obvious super hero/movie character types, while others are manga/anime characters that I don't get, or fantasy characters, some of which are of the fans' invention. At night the lobbies of the two main hotels are a sea of people that it can take an hour to wade through. The hotels are connected by sky bridges that are lined up as far as the eye can see.

Dragon Con is much more a fantasy con than a comic book con. The guest of honor was legendary writer Terry Brooks, who spent some time inside The Armory himself, talking to friends and admiring the weapons. I'm not a big fantasy fan at all, it was still pretty cool to be sitting around The Armory with Terry Brooks right next to me. Writers Timothy Zahn and Larry Correia also made their way through The Armory at one point or another, either to talk to Dockery or just to admire the exhibit.

At other comic book shows, most of the show is housed in one main room, where dealers and attending artists and guests share space and all the fans are in that same room. There might be an extra room or two for panel discussions. Dragon Con is EVERYWHERE. There isn't a central room at all. In fact, I'm not sure what fans do or where they go once they get admission to the show. The show is brokend up into dozens of 'tracks,' depending on your interests. Writers, costumers, and fans of all stripe have their interests mapped out for them in Dragon Con's 100-plus page program guide. There is a comic book dealer room but it's in a different hotel than the comic book artists. The Hollywood guests are in one hotel, branded the Walk of Fame, their panel discussions may be in a different hotel entirely. How the promoters move them from hotel to hotel without being stuck in the massive crowds is probably something resembling witchcraft.

And Dragon Con goes on 24 hours a day. Our friend Nick works out every morning at 5 am (because he's insane) and every morning as he got up to work out he'd pass attendees just coming in from the previous night's adventures. There are balls and raves and movie screenings at all hours. The Star Wars fans hosted a 'Last Night On Alderan' party, that I thought was a pretty clever theme for a party. There's a Villains Ball, there was a viewing of "Rocky Horror." Jefferson Starship gave a concert, as did several other bands, not to mention the knot of performers doing smaller gigs in hotel lobbies at any time.

There's a parade for the costumed attendees to show off. The Batmobile and Speed Racer's car were part of it. They want The Armory to get a tank for next year.

If I may get on my pedestool for a moment, regarding people in costume. Walking around dressed like your favorite super hero is not something you should do on a regular basis. And, no, not everyone at Dragon Con is the person you want to see stuffed into spandex. I will say, though, that more often than not, the people in costume were wearing costumes because its fun, no more, no less. The quality ranged from professional costumes that you almost believe were pilfered from a movie set to things that looked thrown together in a couple seconds. But, without fail, everyone there seemed to enjoy the work that goes into costumes, people were showing off, striking poses and playing around. They were thrilled to have their pictures taken and were generally taking pictures of everyone else. It's a celebration of all things geeky and I didn't see a lot of people in costume who seemed to be living in fantasy land (so to speak.) I'm sure there were people, particularly in the fantasy side of things, who may have been living too deeply in their 'character,' but overall, it's no weirder than a Halloween party, and, really, it's a lot more fun. If you don't come out of Dragon Con wanting to come up with a costume for next year, I don't know what to tell you. In fact, I was talking to Autumn Reeser, who was on TV's 'No Ordinary Family' and she wants to come back next year as a fan in costume. It's infectious, to be sure.

Luckily, Atlanta has a host of great restaurants right near the con. The problem is there are 45,000 people in the hotels who tend to get hungry around the same time. And even when we went to eat late, after midnight, the places open later were still packed and on a wait. And, yes, you'd see various super heroes and villains in full costume eating dinner wherever you went. I hear alcohol plays a part in many of the festivities -- there are mini-bars set-up everywhere. As you can expect, the price of a beer is a bit MUCH. The mini-market in the hotel had spectacular blueberry muffins in the morning, though, which I had every day.

Even though we were up to all hours most nights, we still didn't see much of the show. I'm not sure you could if you tried. The panel discussions were scattered all over the hotels, in fact, the Buffy panel I did want to go to was in the 4th hotel that I'm still not entirely sure how to find.

Dragon Con is considered geek Mardi Gras and that's pretty much on target. It doesn't feel as crassly produced as Comicon does these days, it's not a shitty Wizard World show, nor is it a straight-forward art-centric comic book show. It's it's own monster.

You should totally go if you have any geeky interests and want to immerse yourself. But don't expect to get a lot of sleep. Or to eat on a regular schedule. But you'll see things you never imagined seeing!

Con Season Begins

Ok, so Con Season generally begins for the Cranboyz in April and now it's June! But I'm gonna write about April Cons, mostly because I've been too busy and lazy to do it until now!

In April I took my nephew, Josh, to his first real comic book convention, The Pittsburgh Comic Con! Pittsburgh has always been good to the Cranboyz, so we make it a habit to attend this show as often as we can. I've been promising Josh he could go to a show with me so this seemed like a good fit.


Josh seemed to have a really good time. He Bought some Legos and a few comics and got to take in the size and scope of a decent sized Con! I think it was a bit much for him at first, but by the end, he had it down like a pro! Speaking of pro's, the creator's were all great with Josh, wanting to meet him and hear what he thought about the show!

I have gotten Josh 2 sketches in the past, as surprises. This time I asked him who he would want, and he told me Bossk, from the Empire Strikes Back! I didn't see that one coming, but that's what he wanted!

Scott James had done a Rogue sketch for me to pick up at the show. Scott's a great guy and has done some great sketches for us, so I asked if he was interested in drawing Bossk. He said he was happy to draw anyone from the best Star Wars film! Josh was pretty much speechless when we picked this up! It is pretty incredible! My sister was even impressed and ran out and got a frame for it right away.

We only went out for the one day, but I managed to pick up some nice sketches and had some time to visit with a bunch of creators that we usually only see there. Josh loved it and was ready to go to more shows! The problem is, most shows aren't as close as Pittsburgh.

Case in point, the Comic Geek Speak Super Show!

About 2 weeks after Pittsburgh, Popa and I were travelling across the State of Pennsylvania to try out the Super Show in Reading. We checking into our hotel in the early afternoon and were aware that there was a Con gathering at a local bar later, but we were tired and hungry and wanted someplace to chill before we had to be social. Well, I pulled back the curtains to our hotel room to the site of a Hooters 50 feet from our door!
We spent a good amount of time and money at Hooters, ALL Weekend! But our girl Kierra took great care of us!

We did end up making it to the pre-Con gathering and met the promoters along with our friends Comfort Love, Adam Withers, Robert Atkins and Tom Feister! They are important because they are the main reason we decided to try this show out. All four of them, at some point, asked if we were going because they thought it was our kind of show and it would be great to hang out! How could we refuse that!

The gathering was fun, but crowded, so we bailed and hung out with Atkins and Feister back at the hotel (and maybe a quick trip to Hooters). However, we had a long drive in and had to be up E-A-R-L-Y! Why? Because that's what we do at shows! Pay attention!

Saturday morning, Popa and I tracked down the Expo center and were surprised to find a couple of things. there was no real signs for the Comic Book Show, there was a Gun show going on at the same building, and no one (NO ONE) was there for the Comic Show, yet.

So we headed in the front doors to find our spot. Except the only thing in the front doors was the Gun Show! I thought this was cool, but that's not what I was there for!

We decided to make our way into this converted factory/warehouse to locate the comic show. we were sure this was the right place, but all we found were locked doors and lots of empty storage space! Popa joked that we were going to turn a corner and come out smack dab in the middle of the comic show, but that didn't seem likely at this point.

And then, we walked around a corner, opened an unlocked door and walked into the middle of the comic book show! Why aren't there lights on? Because no one was there yet! no promoteres, no dealers, no guests, just a couple of Cranboyz! First in, Last to go, Indeed!

We did find the low-key entrance that was used the rest of the day. We were also kind enough to let the dealers and promoters in, since the door was locked!

Uniquely, the Con was on the second floor. This was fine until the elevator broke! Luckily, that didn't last long! Anyway, Popa and I headed downstairs to start the line, because that's how it works.

This map of the building was posted in the lobby.

It was a fun show. It wasn't huge, and it wasn't trying to be. It was like a big, local show, for the local fans. Guess we kind of crashed their party! But Hey, we were invited! There were only a couple of dealers, but it seemed like a hand full of locals were set up just to sell what they had. There was a lot of small press-type folks and a few big names, too. How big? Tim Truman. Tony Moore. Lee Weeks. Yeah, see what I mean!

Popa and I have known Lee Weeks for years and Popa has stayed in pretty good contact with him. Popa was first in line to pick something up from Lee and I was lucky enough to get something too! I say lucky because Lee just happened to have a mostly finished piece of Nick Fury, which is exactly what I wanted, and it is amazing! Couldn't have worked out better!

We hung out and picked up sketches from our friends Adam Withers and Comfort Love, who are so busy at Cons these days, it's wonderful! They deserve every bit of attention they get, they have totally earned it!

A lot of my time was spent visiting and drooling over the GI Joe artwork of Robert Atkins. (Note: The Simek sign on the back of his drawing board is from a photo taken at C2E2, which I was not at this year!)

It seems Tom Feister had to put up with us quite a bit too, poor guy! (no really, have you seen his Booth Babe? Not pretty!) I got to hang out with Tom a little at last year's Dragon Con, but we really got to spend some time catching up and telling Con stories at this show, it was very cool!

One of the things the Cranboyz tend to do is sniff out new artists to pick-up artwork from. And once we find someone, the whole gang starts lining up and we don't stop ! Some artists say they like the repeat business and loyalty. I'm not sure they have a choice!

Anyway, amongst all the other fun we had at Super Show, we got to meet Dave Wachter. Dave is an extremely nice guy and an absolutely superb artist. Popa and I both got sketches from him and they were some of the best from the show! It seems Dave does a few of the same shows we do, and I am positive we will be collecting more sketches from him.

Dave Wachter Croc Master for Shane:

Dave Wachter Dormammu for Popa:

Super Show was also the first time we met Rebekah Isaacs. Popa had seen some of her work before and after seeing the sketches she was doing, I had to get something too! Rebekah is super nice and was a good sport about us coming back for more at Heroes, but that's a story for later!

Rebekah Isaac's Hawk II for Shane:

Rebekah Issac's Mockingbird for Popa:

Overall, it was a really good time! It was a fun show with lots of people we know and like. You can't beat that, at all! I'm glad we went and tried it out and hope that we get the chance to head back for more!

THANK YOU!!

We would like to Thank every single person who contributed to the Fundraiser, in any possible way! The Online Auction was a Huge success and the Benefit Dinner was just as successful and a lot of fun. It really turned out to be like a huge reunion, even for people who had never met before. Spirits have certainly been high throughout this entire event, and a large part of that is because so many people were willing to pitch in!

We will be leaving the Online Donation Button up, for now. The money we raised for The Cran was helpful, but this is a long, draining process. So, if you didn't get to donate, have a friend who would like to, or you would like to donate again, we appreciate it!

Thanks so much!

Gone!

We want to express our most sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the Cranboyz art auction! To all of our generous contributors, thanks for your donations! To all of our auction winners, thanks for your bids! Because of you, we were able to raise $2,800 to support The Cran!


Don't forget, there is also a benefit dinner being held this Saturday, April 2nd at the Greentown Athletic Club in North Canton, Ohio. There will be door prizes, raffles and a silent auction including more original artwork, comic memorabilia and other great items to bid on! Stop by if you're able, and you might even be witness to a rare sighting of The Cran himself!

Going... Going...

The day has finally arrived... the Fundraiser for a Friend has begun! All of the auctions are now live! Follow the link to check out all of the swag up for grabs, including original artwork, autographed books, movie memorabilia and even a set of 2 passes to the sold-out 2011 San Diego Comic Con! Place your bids now, because these auctions are up on Sunday!


All auctions are brought to you by The Cranboyz in support of John Randall and his fight with Lymphomic Cancer. 100% of the proceeds from these auctions go directly to benefit John Randall. We want to sincerely thank all of the contributors who donated to support our cause. We really appreciate your generosity!

Happy bidding!

Fundraiser Auction Art: Part Seven

It's almost here! The eBay auctions will begin tomorrow. These 3-day auctions will include all the original artwork we've showcased here (and more), as well as several comic-related specialty items. All proceeds from the auctions will benefit The Cran, helping him to meet his medical expenses as well as his day-to-day expenditures while battling cancer. So take another look at all the artwork up for auction right here on the blog, or head over to our gallery at Comic Art Fans to see them all again!

On to today's updates! First off, we have an original 16" x 26"
fantasy pin-up, by Geoff Darrow:


And next we have this beautiful 9" x 12" marker sketch of
Gwen Stacy, by Joe Pekar:


Check back tomorrow for final updates and the start of the auctions!

Fundraiser Auction Art: Part Six

The Art Auction is just around the corner... it starts at the end of next week! So, we're continuing to showcase the original artwork donated to help The Cran!

First, we have another whimsical pin-up from Scott James, this time featuring Jean Grey, The Phoenix, in a bit of an off-camera moment:

Next, we have an original 11" x 17" pin-up of the Mini-Marvels,
by Chris Giarrusso:


We'll continue to roll out the artwork right up until the start of the Art Auction, so we'll see you back here in a few days!