convention

I can’t say that I’ve ever had an intense desire to go to San Diego Comic Con.

I mean, NYCC was a stroke of genius, placed during the cooler months, significantly cutting down on the omnipresent geek-funk that tends to accumulate in these spaces, no matter how well ventilated – but San Diego in the summer seems to only spell a complete and devastating olfactory nuclear air strike. I don’t do well in crowds, even if it means a brief and pathetic glimpse down the costume of the chick dressed like Black Cat.

So, I’m at home in New York, and while I can’t purchase the many, many exclusive items that are now being sold to the itchy masses present at SDCC, my legions of Facebook, Twitter and blogophile friends make me feel like I’m actually there. The economy has made me cut back on my own collecting, as I’m sure that it has for many people, but there are a good handful of things which I’ll still unquestionably buy. Usually, these things have ‘robot’ or ‘Batman’ in the title. Here are a handful of collectible revelations that have come forth from SDCC and which are currently ganging up on my wallet before they senselessly beat it into a coma.

First off, I’m in love with the announcement that DC Direct has made regarding the continuation of their Batman Black & White statue line, after diverging into statues of Batman’s villains recently. I’ve collected all of the Batman statues, because they epitomize exactly why I love Batman by showcasing the many artists who’ve drawn and defined Batman, from Bob Kane to Bruce Timm and beyond. The newest addition to the collection will be a Batman by Frank Quitely, stoic and serious as the man’s artwork. The only other time that Quitey’s art has been figure-ized was in an earlier set of DC Direct figures, where his Superman and Superwoman drawings were made plastic.

Sideshow Toys is always pretty exciting, as they hold the reins to most of the greatest collectible licenses out there, but the favorite thing I’ve seen is the gloriously goofy 12” Punk Zombie from their original ‘The Dead‘ line. With original lines completely failing in the current toy market, it’s stellar that Sideshow have dug in their heels and are adding more to their ongoing collection of zombies. My Butcher only just arrived in the mail yesterday, and I’m sure he’ll look awesome with the Priest, the Prophet and the Babysitter. Ash Wood’s Les Mort 13 will lead them, and Mr. Bean will wander into their legions and, somehow, fit in.

Also on the list of ‘things you should give me’ are the full-sized Darth Vader bust with the removable helmet, and the 1/2 scale Iron Man in his movie armor. They’re only about $1200 and $2000, respectively

Mattel will continue my personal favorite ongoing line, DC Universe Classics, and by wave ten, I’ll finally be getting that Doom Patrol Robotman that I’ve always wanted – as well as a 3 3/4” scaled Doom Patrol JLU four pack, which has me just about wetting myself. I’m a really, really bad geek when it comes to silver age comics. These will all be exclusive to either Wal-Mart, Target or MattyCollector.com.

Unfortunately, a few ‘collectors’ were a bit too grabby at SDCC, and reports of one-of-a-kind designer toys and prototypes going missing seemed to flood in, the most notable two being Chris Ryniak’s Stitch custom figure (seen above), and Andrew Bell’s O-No Sushi prototype (seen below), both vanishing within moments of each other on Friday night. The news spread on Twitter and Facebook instantly, but there’s currently no word on whether or not either were recovered. This, combined with stories of stolen purses at the recent Otakon has made me really question whether or not these events are the safest places to bring things that you care about.

If Con culture does anything, it makes you want to spend money like crazy, which can only be a good thing in this wacky economy. I’ll be pumping a few bucks into the nerd sectors for the next few months, and hopefully, a few gracious patrons of the arts will pump a few bucks back into me. Hey, I had a piece in the Mez-Itz art show (upper right figure at this link), so I’m getting there. Soon enough, I’ll have the safe haven of a booth to retreat to there. Wish me luck.

By the time you’re reading this, New York Comic Con 2009 has started. A few million billion socially askew nerds have converged upon the Javits Center on the west side of Manhattan, altering the shoreline and elevation of the island itself with their sheer geekpowers, and I will be among them.

I’ve been doing the Con thing for years upon years, and it’s afforded me some perspective on what Cons mean to a collector, as a fan of entertainment, and as a sane human being.

As a collector, NYCC has begun to offer an amazing range of exclusive collectibles that were previously only available at conventions like Wizard World and San Diego Comic Con. This year, there are countless exclusive items being made available by the urban vinyl toy vendors and artists that will be available nowhere else, from Brent Nolasco’s hand-painted customs, to production pieces painted up in colors that have never been released previously. Because of the nature of these artist toys, the likelihood is that even at their high prices, their editions are so severely limited that they’ll sell out very quickly. This isn’t to say that the high prices aren’t justifiable – just think of it as buying original art, because that’s what many of them are,

Mattel will be offering their exclusive Masters of the Universe Classics ‘Faker’ figure – essentially, a He-Man painted blue, and an actual character from the classic cartoon. He’ll be the fifth released figure in the series, which began at last year’s San Diego Con with a limited ‘King Grayskull’ figure (with light & sound packaging), and has recently bee accompanied by figures of He-Man, Beast Man and Skeletor, respectively. At $20 – $25 per figure, available only at cons and via mail order from MattyCollector.com, it’s a slow, but attractive, collection.

And though the NYCC website would have you believe otherwise, Hasbro’s ‘Extreme Conditions’ GI Joe sets, featuring the Joes in both desert and snow gear, are NOT this year’s exclusive. NYCC needs to get on updating their info, as they’ve created a large mix of exclusives from all previous years without distinguishing which is which. I’m not a Joe collector (except for the silly looking ones), and it’s no SDCC Fin Fang Foom, but they’re neat sets.

Last year, I purchased a Con-only Iron Man glass from PopFun, which I’m still a little in love with and have big plans for. This year’s glass from PopFun features a classic Wolverine, no doubt to coincide with the new Wolverine movie and cartoon coming out.

Tonner will also be at NYCC, offering an exclusive Lara Croft : Tomb Raider figure in a coat and brandishing a sword. Twilight fans will also be able to pick up 1 of 100 Twilight sets of the film’s two main characters. regular readers will know that despite my undeniable manliness, I loves me some Tonner.

And of course, there will be comics abound. More than can be sensibly counted. The real merit of going to a Con and enduring the best and worst of humanity all at once is meeting the creators. I’ve yet to match up the list of guests with the list of creators in comics I might want signed, but there’s no eBaying that experience.

And speaking of eBay – there’ll be plenty of people there who are buying up these exclusives to resell them for a profit on eBay, so unfortunately, a bit of speed in getting to the things that you really want first is usually required, so map and prioritize.

Bring water. Bring comfortable shoes. Bring a lot of patience for the family-sized guy standing in front of the creator you want to meet / action figure you want to buy / space you want to walk through. Don’t bring a huge backpack to stuff full of junk – if anything, bring a rolling case, and have some kind of off-location home base to store things in when you’re becoming overburdened, such as a car or a hotel.

And remember : it’s there for entertainment. It might be crowded and frustrating, but take a breath and remember to have fun.

San Diego Comic Con is something of a mecca for anyone remotely interested in pop culture, and it’s again come and gone, and I’ve again remained firmly nestled in the green crevices of the Hudson Valley. And that’s okay. Crowds give me the screamies.

I skimmed the reports from the safety of a computer in an air conditioned room, which is a far more ideal situation than being undulated against by a tightening, after-lunch-burbling nerd crowd. While newsbits filtered in about upcoming movies and toy lines and comic stories, I was really only interested in one thing : exclusive toys. Those magical and elusive things that can usually only be obtained if you’re in attendance – rewards for making the journey and standing on long lines – and up until recently, there were only three options to get these things : go to the convention, pay a premium on eBay, or have a friend on the inside.

Alas, this collecting hassle resulted in an enormous toy collector upheaval and a surge of complaints. Unable to complete their toy collections with these rare (but important) pieces, collectors would quit their collections. Making something ‘exclusive’ would be certainly special for those who obtained it, but aggravating to those who could not, and with conventions spread across the US, someone was always going to be unsatisfied folks. Toy companies heard the collective moan, and responded using the wonders of the digital age.

There were about 300 different ‘exclusive’ items at this year’s SDCC, from comics to posters to toys and dolls and variations on existing things. Fortunately, almost every ‘exclusive’ toy that I coveted was offered up for sale on the internet by the very companies who were distributing them, and very soon after the convention wound down. Buying company-direct always a more reliable, less expensive option than eBay. Here’s what I scored online from SDCC, and how I got it.

Sideshow Collectibles was offering a miniature, metal Iron Man helmet that I needed to have. Don’t question it. Sideshow has dealt with collector demand by offering a ‘Priority Pre-Order’ system on their website, weeks prior to these events. Comic Con attendees place their orders for the limited items via the Sideshow website and pick them up on the day of the Con. However, Sideshow also opens up online orders to non-attendees at a very specific time and date, and for about five dollars more. The website shuts down except for an order page, people swarm to the site, and orders come in by the hundreds. After a few server crashes and website deaths early on, Sideshow has adjusted their technology to reflect the demand for these items, and the ordering process is a pleasure – just make sure you’re signed up for their newsletter 24 hours ahead of time, or else you’ll be booted from the pre-order line. Sideshow send my helmet, and I’m the proud owner of #100 out of 2000 produced.

Other exclusives offered by Sideshow included a Star Wars Jedi Aayla Secura in 12” scale. No, she’s not original trilogy, but she’s a Jedi AND a Twi’lek – two of my favorite parts of Star Wars, post-Lucas Insanity or not. Also, be sure to check out the Diane Kamahele Memorial Auctions being run by Sideshow this week, which include incredibly rare original sculptures, prototypes, and signed items. As someone who knew the awesome Diane Kamahele from many Toy Fairs, these annual auctions are an excellent thing that Sideshow does to help support her family after her untimely death.

Mezco also offered some exclusives via their website, among them ‘Future Hiro‘ from their Heroes series of toys, and a clear, blue version of Hellboy II’s Liz Sherman. These have not yet shipped, but were available through Mezco’s website, with absolutely no ordering hassles at all. NBC’s booth (and website) offered an exclusive ‘Painter’ Sylar figure from Heroes.

The Four Horsemen’s ‘Time Keepers‘ mini figures were available at the convention, but have yet to arrive on their website for the ol’ post-SDCC shopping rush. They’re creepy little skull-faced guys, so of course, I’m all up on that.

Of all of the summer toy exclusives, Hasbro’s and Mattel’s were the most coveted. Hasbro offered, among other things, an exclusive My Little Pony, a GI Joe Cobra Commander with a COBRA podium (in both blue and black), Mighty Muggs featuring an Indiana Jones fertility idol and a movie-based Iron Man, and an excellent Marvel Legends set based on The Savage Land, featuring Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil and the tiger Zabu. Also offered was a large boxed set of eight Hulk action figures and the mighty Fin Fang Foom, as well as a small Star Wars diorama of Darth Vader talking to a giant holographic Emperor. There was a lot to take in, and a lot to hunt for, and Hasbro never seemed to give a clear answer about whether or not they’d sell these from their website, post-Con.

At noon, on the day after the convention ended, the items appeared on the website, and hundreds of collectors descended like plastic-hungry locusts. The site was brought to a stuttering crawl, and by the end of it, after many ‘page cannot be found’ notices, I emerged with my Savage Land Set and the two Mighty Muggs. I didn’t suffer the same woes as other collectors, whose items sold out just as they were trying to get the checkout page to function properly. I commend Hasbro for making these things available, but their servers need to be able to handle the frantic refreshing of pages by their fans.

Plus, I kinda need a fertility idol. I’ve been lonely.

Mattel has offered convention exclusives in the past, but has never offered them online until this year. Responding to fan inquiries (and protests, whinings, frothings, and the occasional body part sent through the mail), they whipped up the brand-new MattyCollector.com, announced the launch date and time, and in a Hasbro-esque feat of internet power, collectors converged and pushed the site to a crawl. Mattel offered four exclusives : a He-Man figure of The King of Greyskull, A DC Universe Classics Lobo, a Justice League Unlimited Giganta, and a Pixar’s Cars ‘Lightning McQueen‘ car. It seems that everyone who was present at the launch emerged with exactly what they wanted – and MattyCollector only promises to expand. They’ve already announced a site-exclusive set of He-Man toys that’ll be produced at a rate of one per month, and more DC Universe Classics, including Adam Strange and Starfire. For a first effort at a storefront for such a popular company, it looks very exciting.

So, SDCC was just as exciting for us at home, and I’m going to keep on telling myself that. I got the stuff I wanted, got to buy it while wearing nothing but my underpants, and no one was the wiser. They weren’t so thrilled when I tried that at Target.

… or what’s left of it.

Toy Fair begins again this year on February 17th and runs through the 20th. It all happens in NYC, on the far West Side at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, as well as a few showrooms scattered throughout nearby locations. Don’t think of showing up here, though – it’s only for retailers, vendors, and reporters. It’s no secret that I fashioned my own news outlet about five or six years ago to worm my way past the screening process, and it worked. I’ve come back every year since, under more reputable means.

In that first year, it was an overwhelming explosion of everything I’d ever wanted to see and had read about in toy magazines. My fellow writer and I wandered the convention floor wide-eyed and faking our way through it pretty convincingly. Until recently, it was THE PLACE to see everything that your favorite companies were going to release over the next year, and companies reserved their new products and surprises for opening day.

As the years have been progressing, Toy Fair has been shrinking, and it was never more clear than last year’s adventure to the ‘Toy Towers’, a popular location for smaller showrooms. They’d been almost abandoned, with showrooms locked, vacated and falling apart. During this time that Toy Fair was shrinking, companies have also been vanishing and shrinking. Palisades Toys suddenly closed up shop, and ToyBiz-turned-Marvel Toys doesn’t seem to produce anything anymore. I don’t know what this says for the toy industry, as I’m no industry analyst, but the landscape of toys is changing.

This year, don’t expect to see the amazing Sideshow Toys booth reported in photographs, as their Toy Fair attendance will be entirely online, as will SOTA Toys’. Seeing Sideshow Toys’ stuff in person was usually what motivated me to spend exorbitant amounts of money on their stuff for the subsequent year, too. Still, shipping all of their new (and often very heavy) product to New York, renting a crazy-expensive Javits booth, and shipping everything back home is surely a painful expense to have to absorb, especially when there’s no actual money changing hands – just the potential for future sales.

Many of these companies have now taken to holding onto their ‘big reveals’ until one of the two major Comic Cons in New York and San Diego, where the fans can see things in person and the impact on the potential purchaser is more direct and unfiltered. Where Toy Fair in the US is fading, Toy Fairs in the UK and Hong Kong are picking up steam. I’d love to see the amazing Toy Fair in Asia, surely filled with beautiful things that we might not regularly hear about over here. Asia has a very different toy market, which actually acknowledges adult collectors.

This isn’t to say that our Toy Fair still doesn’t have a ton to offer and a lot of crazy, fun things flying around the convention floor. While potentially boring licensing stuff takes up a lot of the floorspace (like, let’s stick Spider-Man’s face on this trampoline, this ice cream scoop and this pair of underoos kind of stuff), inventors make up the rest of it – small ideas gaining momentum, some of them inspired and some of them insipid, but it’s all interesting. There’s still so much to see that I almost find it necessary to narrow my focus to action figure stuff, or else I’d never make it down a single aisle, what with all of the bright colors and flashing lights and samples to play with – which is exactly what moves the toy industry, at its core – so maybe things aren’t so bleak after all. Just for us adults who can’t let their toys go.

So, what does this whole turn mean for action figures? For one, prices are going up. The oil needed to make the toys themselves, and then to deliver them, is more expensive than ever – and it would seem that this weeds out a lot of smaller companies hoping to make limited runs on things, and major companies are absorbing more and more licenses from smaller companies. So, the field is narrowing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean better figures and quality control – just less options. There are a few outstanding action figure lines, like Mattel’s DC Universe Classics, but this quality is usually generated by collector feedback, not plain ol’ marketing research. A certain model of transparency and interactivity is being adopted by these companies, which also explains the increased interest in fan events over media events. Everything is still ridiculous leaps and bounds above what we saw at Toy Fair 15 years ago – which amounted to lines of chunky, static action figures that didn’t do anything and only barely looked like who they were supposed to be, and the idea that a few good companies are working to increase every possible figural quality (instead of just cranking out licensed junk) is enough to keep me positive about collecting.

Now, if we could only get these toys consistently enough into stores to prevent high auction prices when they’re scalped up to be re-sold by that greasy guy who’s banging on the doors of the Toys ‘R’ Us at 9:58, demanding to be let in. I hate that guy – but he doesn’t get to go to ToyFair, so I win. At life. And hygiene.

Stay tuned all week for images & news from Toy Fair 2008.

Unfortunately, that list does not include a ‘hot artist chick’, but it does include a 20 pound stack of beautiful books and comics and signatures.

As with any comic-centric convention that I attend, I brought my Bizarro Comics anthology, which had 7 signatures in it to date – Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, Stephen DeStephano, Kyle Baker and Liz Glass, Jessica Abel and Nick Bertozzi. I hadn’t really checked out the program to see who I might accost with my funny book, but I quickly found myself in the presence of James Kochalka and Jeff Smith – two writer / artists who had contributed stories to the book, which brought my signature total up to 9, with only about 50 left to go.

While I don’t usually go to these conventions to get anything but the Bizarro book signed, a great deal of the artists were happy to sign, and draw original drawings in, anything that you purchased from them. When you purchase a 40 dollar copy of ‘American Elf’ from James Kochalka, he’ll sure as hell draw you a big ol’ monstery guy on the inside with a note of thanks. And Jeffrey Brown? He mustered up the energy to draw me a bit of a robot inside one of his 30 dollar ‘Incredible Change-bots’ books, even after the fan at the booth before me had him sign about a dozen copies of one of his mini-comics to all of his ex-girlfriends.

More original art came in the form of a stack of original watercolor and ink paintings by Jeff Lemire – all beautiful, bizarre interpretations of the Justice League and other well-known superheroes. To my delight, these carried a very small price tag, and at the top of the stack was an amazing Batman that I quickly grabbed before it escaped me forever. I also bought two paperbacks of Lemire’s trilogy, concerning the goings-on of Essex County, Ontario – which Lemire also sketched and signed for me. The storytelling is slow and magical, and elegantly drawn in stark black and white, with emotive and visible brushstrokes abound – absolutely a recommended read. Thanks to Top Shelf Comics for bringing all of these great guys in!

Indie publisher Fantagraphics also had a significant presence, and are responsible for some of the higher-end hardcover collections out there. I purchased two books by Paul Hornschemeier, who was unfortunately not present for signings, but whose work I’ve admired in Mome for quite some time. Hornschemeier’s style is so clean and varied that each book almost reads like a compilation between a variety of artists, but true to indie tradition, he tells delicately sad and humorous stories. ‘Let Us Be Perfectly Clear‘ and ‘The Three Paradoxes‘ also come through as great reads.

Oni Press had a set of tables near the middle of the floor, and I was finally able to replace a set of ‘Courtney Crumrin‘ comics that my ex-girlfriend had somehow won during breakup negotiations.

Artist Gia-Bao Tran also had an attractive table set up, and was selling copies of ‘Awesome : The Indie Spinner Rack Anthology‘ by Evil Twin Comics. In addition to his story in page 195, he signed my copy and drew an picture of a cute chick inside the back cover. And speaking of things with ‘awesome’ in the title (my favorite word of all time), I also found myself buying a copy of ‘Carl is the Awesome‘ by Marcos Perez – a tale of a dinosaur-beaver lookin’ guy who in just so inherently awesome that he excels at everything he does, and don’t question it. It’s just so weirdly and energetically drawn that I was wholly convinced of Carl’s awesomeness within but a few pages.

I read Robert Ullman’s ‘Lunch Hour Comix‘ during the car ride home. It’s always interesting to read these succinct diary comics, because each artist-slash-writer always has such a unique take on which details to capture during a given day – large events like car crashes and pregnancies, or simply finding something on the street during a walk. I’m in love with these bizarre daily subtleties that we uniquely experience, and it’s always refreshing to know that I’m not the only one. A lot of artists draw these out, and it adds something to the resonance of them. I think I want to start my own.

Corinne Mucha had a table full of charming autobiographical comics too, hand-stapled and Xeroxed. I ended up buying ‘I Lived in Alaska‘ because, well, I lived in Alaska as a small child, and ‘I Hate My Mom’s Cat‘, because (as I explained to her, like a babbling moron), I hate my grandmother’s dog. I can’t help but be highly sympathetic, and be compelled to spend a few dollars, on sympathetic situations – which is what moves a lot of these great indie books. We can relate to Peter Parker, but we can’t really relate to Spider-Man, as human as he is. The indie rack has a tendency to be completely relatable, and since a vast expanse of indie fans and artists are grossly alienated from the universe in some fundamental way, I tend to latch onto anything recognizable.

Another stand-out work was ‘20 Questions‘ by WD Kirkby, which was a compilation of 20 short strips in response to questions asked to him via his LiveJournal. Not only is it always fun to speak to someone with an English accent, but Kirkby’s art style is really unique and beautiful. Check out his LJ for a great selection of art and interactivity. And, you know, you can check out mine too.

So, in summation, if you’re into comic artists, or the DIY scene, or even just good storytelling and people livin’ the dream, SPX is a great event to seek inspiration, find the otherwise unfindable in terms of obscure graphic fiction, and meet artists to discuss tips and tricks of the trade. And Bethesda isn’t too far away from our nation’s capital, so you can plan some sightseeing or picketing while you’re in town.

And please check out tomorrow’s bloggings for an appropriate visual recap of the event.

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