Florida Supercon (Miami), Tampa Bay Comic Con and Fanboy Expo (Tampa) Cons

Time to catch up!  Over the last few months, I have attended a few smaller conventions, all within driving distance of Orlando.  I attended Florida Supercon in Miami in July (about 4 hours away) and two that were in Tampa (hour and a half away), one in August and one this past weekend.  I am very surprised how many cons have popped up in Florida over the last few years.

 

Though small cons, I was able to add a few more sketches and writers to my collection...and even started a new "collection".  More on that at the end of the blog...

 

Here is a summary of what I accomplished.

Daredevil "Foes" Artists (6 sketches so far)

As with other DD villain sketches, I usually let the artist choose their favorite DD villain for them to sketch.  But in the case of Clay Mann, who I met in Miami, I asked if he would sketch Lady Bullseye as he was the artist for her inaugural issue.  He obliged as shown below...very well done.

 

At the first Tampa con, I again met with one of my favorite artists, Paolo Rivera.  He decided to choose Stilt-Man (a classic!) as the villain to sketch. 

 

I still like the way I added outlined boxes to make the sketch area more linear and comic panel-like.

 

 

 

Spider-man "Foes" Artists (10 sketches so far)

As with DD, the Spider-man villains are done by Spider-man artists as they sketch their favorite villain (as long as their favorite is not the same as another artist!) or a villain that they have drawn many times over the years. 

 

The sketches I received were The Vulture (super cool sketch) in Tampa in August by Bob McLeod and this past weekend I received a Carnage sketch by Spider-man artists Angel Medina.

 

 

 

 

Amazing Spider-man Artist (41 sketches so far)

 

I was able to add three Spider-man head sketches over the three cons.  On the inside back cover, I added Al Milgrom (a legend) in Miami, Scott Kolins in Tampa in August (in the right corner) and in the inside front cover Angel Medina this past weekend in Tampa where he sketched a cool upside down Spidey with a little spider too.

 

 

 

 

Amazing Spider-man Writers (17 in total so far) Just one signature added to the Writer collection this time - the aforementioned Al Milgrom, joining Joe Keatinge on the back cover.

 

 

 

Thor (1 sketch so far)

 

I have recently discovered Thor comics, which is funny because in the past I was never much of a fan of the character.  It was through the purchase of some Thor Marvel Masterworks a few months that I realized what great stories have been told over the years with this character.  So I decided to now add Thor head sketches to a blank cover variant of "Thor, God of Thunder" #1.  Over the past three cons, only one Thor artist was in attendance, Keith Pollard, so I asked him to be my inaugural Thor sketch artist.  Excellent job!!

 

 

 

Well, that should be it for 2014 conventions - I discovered a new con in Ft. Lauderdale in February that will probably be the next one I attend and one of the greatest Spider-man writers of all time will be in attendance - Gerry Conway...can't wait!

 

Emerald City Comic Con Seattle - 2014

Wow, Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle was one of the best comic conventions I have attended.  Great guests, efficiently organized and a large enough venue so it never felt crowded (despite 60k+ attendees).  The distance from Orlando to Seattle was not a short trip but I was lucky enough to have some kind relatives put me up and get me around Seattle for a few days!

 

Overall, this one had many guests who mainly do West Coast cons so this was a chance to meet them for the first time.  This was the 14th year for ECCC and I can tell it is a fan favorite.

Here is a summary of what I accomplished.

Daredevil "Foes" Artists (4 sketches so far)

 

To continue my Spider-man and Daredevil sketch collection, as mentioned in the post below I decided in Megacon to continue the villain trend and collect sketches of the Daredevil villains. 

 

I asked the Daredevil artists to sketch their favorite villain (as long as their favorite is not the same as another artist!) or a villain that they have drawn many times over the years.  I even outlined boxes to make the sketch area more linear and comic panel-like.  While at ECCC, I added three villains to my collection, Bullseye (Klaus Janson), Typhoid Mary (Paul Azaceta) and Man-Bull (Stefano Gaudiano).

 

Stefano wanted to sketch an obscure DD villain and was debating between Man-Bull and the Matador.  If you can see the detail on Man-Bull, he went the extra mile and did a full figure of the character running through an alley...you can even see a garbage can being knocked over!  Even funnier is he wanted to put the sketch on the back cover as he did not feel such a character deserved to be on the front!

 

Daredevil Artists (33 sketches so far)

 

For my additions to my "Daredevil sketch collection", I was able to add four Daredevil artists.  On the front cover, the small quick sketch at top was done by Mike Avon Oeming and Michael Allred mentioned that he does not sketch at conventions so he signed his name at the bottom in red and added devil horns around it in lieu of a sketch.

 

On the back cover, I added Terry Dodson (dead center) and the newest DD artist Jason Copland (middle far right).

Lastly, as the above DD cover was full on the  back and front, I had Stefano Gaudiano start a new cover...I love the radar sense around the head.

 

Daredevil Writers (11 in total so far)
I was only able to add one writer to the Writer collection this time but what a great one it was Ann Nocenti!  She had an extensive run on DD and was so nice to talk to!  I also had her sign three book covers, her first and last DD issue and the issue where she introduced Typhoid Mary.

 

 

 Spider-man "Foes" Artists (8 sketches so far)

As mentioned previously, my other "project" is to have Spider-man artists sketch their favorite villain (as long as their favorite is not the same as another artist!) or a villain that they have drawn many times over the years.  I even outlined boxes to make the sketch area more linear and comic panel-like.

 

The sketches I received at ECCC were Kingpin (Mark Bagley), Doctor Octopus (Erik Larsen), Boomerang (Steve Lieber), Morbius (Matthew Clark) and Shocker (Matthew Southworth).  I did break my "rule" of letting the artist choose who to sketch with Morbius as I liked the way Clark sketched him in Amazing Spider-man issue 679.1 and requested that sketch and since Lieber is the artist on "Superior Foes of Spider-man" which features Boomerang, that felt like a natural thing for him to sketch.

 

Amazing Spider-man Artist (38 sketches so far)I was able to add four sketches this time.  On the inside back cover, I got a Randy Emberlin sketch (big eyes!) and on the back cover the remaining space was filled by Darick Robertson (top right), Erik Larsen (middle right) and Matthew Clark (bottom right).

 

Amazing Spider-man Writers (16 in total so far)
Just two signatures added to the Writer collection this time - the aforementioned Ann Nocenti and Joe Keatinge (lonely signature on the back cover).

Great experience!!!  Great con!!!  Great guests!!!  Not sure how I can top this one..but I will sure try.

Megacon - 2014

I attended Megacon today here in Orlando - this is a con I have been attending for many years,

But as are usually the case with annual cons, the same creators appear on a regular basis so I was only able to add two sketches to my collection this time.

Spider-man "Foes" Artists (3 sketches so far)

 

As mentioned in my last post I decided to start a new "project" - having Spider-man artists sketch their favorite villain (as long as their favorite is not the same as another artist!) or a villain that they have drawn many times over the years.  I even outlined boxes to make the sketch area more linear and comic panel-like.

 

The sketch I received today was Sandman by George Perez.  Great job drawing him in "sand flowing mode" (or that is what it looks like to me).

 

 

Daredevil "Foes" Artists (1 sketch so far)

 

To continue my Spider-man and Daredevil sketch collection, I now decided to continue the villain trend and collect sketches of the Daredevil villains.  I began with a character who may truly not be a villain but since artist Bill Sienkiewicz  was at Megacon I thought he would be the perfect person to sketch her...and I was right!  This is a very mesmerizing sketch and the first one ever done in color - his choice.

 

 

 

That's it for Megacon but I should have a huge update next weekend as I will be attending Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle!!

Tampa Bay Comic Con - August 23, 2013

Today I went to Tampa Bay Comic Con (about 1 hour 15 minutes from Orlando) in their new venue at the Tampa Convention Center.  Huge improvement over the hotel ballrooms where they used to hold the convention.  Though they had about a dozen artists in attendance there was only one new artist that I had not met at a prior convention.

 

Daredevil Artists (28 sketches so far)

 

For my additions to my "collection", I was only able to add one Daredevil artist, Geof Isherwood.  I had a bit of space left on the back cover and he asked if he could fill it all in as he likes to take his time with his sketches and make them as big as possible and of course I said "yes!".

Here is his sketch below (lower left) - excellent!

Spider-man "Foes" Artists (2 sketches so far)

So I decided to start a new "project" - I recently started reading "The Superior Foes of Spider-man" book and as usual bought the white blank variant.  Based on the theme of the book, I thought it might be fun to have Spider-man artists sketch their favorite villain (as long as their favorite is not the same as another artist!).  So to make this cover a little more linear I outlined boxes for the artist to fill in the villain.

 

The first two sketches were done by Mike McKone (Rhino) and Alex Saviuk  (Kraven).  Both artists have contributed to my Spidey head sketch covers and in fact the first artist to sketch a Spidey head for me was McKone so as he was at Tampa today I thought it fitting that he sketch the first villain.  Aren't these cool sketches???  Funny thing is I thought they would draw a head within the white box with space around it but instead their work looks like a true comic panel!

Looks like no more cons for the rest of 2013 but March 2014 seems to be a busy month with another Tampa con, Megacon (in Orlando) and maybe a trip to Seattle for Emerald City Con????  We'll see how that last one fits in budget...

HeroesCon (Charlotte) - June 2013

I recently came back from Charlotte and HeroesCon 2013 - a three day comic con which specializes in comics creators only without any pop culture guests.  This is my second year attending this con and I definitely recommend it for comics fans.

 

Here's a look at how my "Amazing Spider-man" and "Daredevil" collection is coming and a look at a couple other sketches I received.

Amazing Spider-man Artist (33 sketches so far)

I was able to add a Paolo Rivera sketch (top left) from whom I have been wanting to get a sketch for awhile. I had met him before but this was the first time I asked for a sketch.  I even sent him a message a few days before the con to make sure it would work out.  Great guy and I love his style.  At the bottom is a sketch by Rick Leonardi who is credited with co-creating the black costume so I thought it fitting to request a black Spidey sketch.

Daredevil Artists (27 sketches so far)

 

Coincidentally, the only two artists I was able to add to my "Daredevil" collection were Paolo (top right) and Rick (bottom right).  Again, great sketches and still amazed how fast they draw.

Amazing Spider-man Writers (14 in total so far)

Just one signature added to the Writer collection this time - John Layman.

 

Daredevil Writers (10 in total so far)

Similarly, just one signature added to the Writer collection this time - Greg Rucka.

While at the convention, I added one more Hulk sketch to my "Indestructible Hulk" cover - that of the newest Hulk artist - Matteo Scalera (bottom sketch).

 

Lastly, my 9 year-old son asked me why I never have any sketches done of Green Goblin since that is my favorite Marvel villain.  So I took his advice and got my first GG sketch - from one of my favorite artists, Mark Bagley.  Came out perfect...

 

 

Great convention all around - but I do realize that with most of these cons they get similar creators back year after year so unfortunately that means I may not get any new additions.  But still lots of fun!!

Orlando Comic Expo - May 18, 2013

I went to Orlando Comic Expo here in Orlando this weekend.  A relatively new convention that is held in a DoubleTree ballroom...a few vendors and a few comic artists.

 

But even though only a few artists I was able to meet and get sketches from Keith Pollard on Daredevil as seen below (excellent sketch but it took the loonnggeesstt of any artist that I have met so far - I even had to leave to run an errand and come back later - luckily it was only 20 minutes away).

 

 

Additionally, Keith did the top right Spider-man sketch (also excellent) and I also met another artist, Bob Hall who did the top left Spider-man sketch (and that one only took 5 minutes!).

 

 

So to date I have gotten 31 sketches from Amazing Spider-man artists and 25 sketches from Daredevil artist.

More to come at my next stop - HeroesCon in Charlotte in early June.  Can't wait!

Tampa Bay Comic Con - April 6

It's funny that I attended Megacon a few weeks ago and out of the large number of creators in attendance I was only able to get one artist signature for my collection.  However, today I went to Tampa Bay Comic Con and out of eight artists in attendance I added three more sketches to my covers.

 

Tampa Bay Comic Con is a twice-a-year hotel ballroom con that in the past mainly featured comics for sale.  I recently discovered it and within this past year, they now invite comic creators and even a few pop culture celebrities (this one had a couple cast members from "The Walking Dead").  And it is an hour or so from Orlando so not too far for me.

Amazing Spider-man Artists (29 in total so far)

I added one sketch today to "Amazing Spider-man" cover - that of Luke McDonnell - his is the one on the left.

Daredevil Artists (24 in total so far)

In addition to Luke McDonnell doing the Spidey sketch above, he did the bottom left Daredevil sketch.  The other artist I met, Rich Buckler, is known for "Daredevil" mainly for a number of covers he did in the '70's.

 

 

I really like the way the Rich Buckler sketch turned out - it is the one on the top right.

 

The organizers of this con also do a twice year Orlando ComicExpo.  The next one is in May and it looks like I will have a few more sketches to add - more on that in my next blog post....