My adventure at the Chicago Comic-Con

This past month was Chicago Comic-con and it was amazing.
When I first heard that some of the major comic companies were not going to be there I was a bit upset, but once you step on the floor ans especially walk over to the artist alley you realized that this was going to be an incredible experience.

I was able to say hello to a lot of the greats in the comic industries and a lot of the up and coming artists without having to wait in long lines or go to panels.

this is my experience;



This is the First and probably the best thing I got at Artist Alley, it is a watercolor sketch from Francis Manapul artist of DC Comics' Adventure Comics.



Took my Queen and Country: The Definitely Edition Vol. 3 to get it signed by the Incredible Mike Norton & Chris Samnee which I did.



First by Mike Norton,



Then by Chris Samnee which actually drew a Tara Chase sketch in the book,
So amazing.



I also ended up buying Chris Samnee's sketchbook which is simply beautiful.



I also took my Scapled. vol 1 hoping to get it autograph by one of my New favorite Writers, Jason Aaron.



Which I Did, thanks Jason.


One of the best thing about the Con was going and just saying Hello to all of my favorite creators in the industry like . . .

Christina Strain (colorist extraordinaire)






Skottie Young (artist on Marvel's Wonderful Wizard of Oz)




Chris Samnee (artist on DC Comics' The Mighty)




And last but not least, all the great deals on all the book I bought were amazing.



The list of book I bought are as follows;

Sin City Vol. 1 & Vol. 7 (to finish my collection)

Northlanders Vol. 2 (vol. 2 of an amazing series of stories dealing with Vikings)

Myspace's Dark Horse Presents Vol. 1

The Losers Vol. 2 & Vol. 3 (finally read the first volume can't wait to read the rest)

Marvel's Eternals (been meaning to buy this for a while)

New Avengers: Illuminati (read the individual issues but wanted the HC)

Spider-man: Death of the Stacys (a classic)

Captain America: the Chosen (an excellent out of continuity Captain America Story)

X-men: Magneto Testament (A never before look at Magneto origin as a Jew in WWII)

Batman: Detective 27 (an elseworld tale about a detective in the 1920's)

The Nobody (Jeff Lemire's magnificent book loosely based on the Invincible Man)

The Clockwork girl

Legion of Monsters (a collection of new and old stories featuring classic Horror characters)


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Summer Reading week 4

This week let's put a serious tone on our reading, coming out of one of my favorite independent comic companies, Onipress comes a book about espionage, political thrillers and personal struggles.

Queen and Country : The Definitive Collection Vol. 1
Written by Greg Rucka, Illustrated by Steve Rolston, Brian Hurtt, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Christine Norrie and Leandro Fernández.



Queen and Country : The Definitive Collection Vol. 2
Written by Greg Rucka, Illustrated by Jason Alexander, Carla Speed McNeil, and Mike Hawthorne.



For Fans of : James Bond, The West Wing

Now I have been a huge fan of Greg Rucka before reading these and I never thought of picking this up even after reading the two novels based on the main character.I have also heard on plenty of podcasts (Ifanboy, Around Comics, etc) that this was a great series and I could wait any longer to pick this up.

The series is centered on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS or the "Secret intelligence Service" of United Kingdom, known as the Minders.
It shows us the ins and outs of the Agency with all the bureaucracy and politics and the occasional missions of the spy genre.

I recommend these books to anyone who is interested in a smart, exciting character like Tara and stories filled with action, adventure and intrigue.

WW Chicago: a Convention, a remembrance and a couple of signatures.

Wizard world Chicago was this past weekend and as always we had a great time,
three days of enjoyment from the world of comics.



Everyone that went with me each had a special moment at the convention, either was meeting one of their favorite creators or getting a awesome sketch by someone famous or even getting a great deal on merchandise.

Before any of that i would like to say something on a sad note,
The convention was saddened on Saturday when the news was announce on the passing of Michael Turner (Aspen founder & Comic Artist),
Michael Turner (age 37) died on Friday night after an 8 year battle with cancer.



I have met Michael Turner several times at past conventions and he was a great person, he was never too tired to say hello or to give a sketch,
he was a wonderful human being and will be missed by his many fans and friends.

This year we were a smaller group that previous years, with some of our friends not being able to either have time go or afford to make it, and one who decided to go to Disney world instead
(your loss, Louie).


My girlfriend Elaine and I Stood in line most of the weekend to get autographs from some of my all-time favorite creators like Brian Michael Bendis, C B Cebulski and Skottie Young.



I was able to get Greg Rucka's (Queen & Country, Checkmate) autograph



and David Petersen's autographs (both on the book and on the figurines of Mouse Guard)



My Brother Tony was able to complete some of his Comic book runs like fantastic four and Exiles



My sister Nancy was around getting anyone and everyone to sketch in her sketchbook with the grand prize being a sketch of Runaways' Molly punching Wolverine by Humberto Ramos



Not to mention all the books I bought and the Awesome Spider-man and batman figures i got .



Overall this was a fantastic weekend a little sad to see a great artist pass away before his time,
but we will continue to enjoy his work and the work of many others to come.
Next year Wizard World Chicago will be in August 6-9, 2009
hope to see many more people there.