Photos: New York Comic Con 2009 - Friday

Friday was Geekanerds "lazy day" at Comic Con. No stress, no running from panel to panel...just a stroll around the floor, chatting up creators and PR people, trying to get free stuff, and watching a bunch of uncensored episodes of Shin Chan.

I did manage to take a few pics of some of the more extraordinary sights...

Like this for example!

The ladies of Valve! This is Zoey from Left 4 Dead and Chell from Portal, but of course you knew that. I suggested this pose, and I saw them using it again later on the floor. This is because I'm a director, and when not blogging, I help the world by directing it to be more funny and visually pleasing.

Sketches, booths, Leias, and the requistite Storm Trooper, after the jump...


Look up in that window...see that? A Stormtrooper. He was watching me. Probably thought I was a Jedi. A lot of people make that mistake.


This was the best promo booth I saw. It's for a Showtime Show about clones (the name escapes me) but they were giving people a chance to watch clips of the show on those movie-goggle things while standing in cool sci-fi tubes. There's no reason these people had to be in tubes - it's purely for visual effect of the passerby. Get it, they look like clones! Eh, maybe you had to be there.

Mario seems genuinely surprised to see that Hunter. I guess when you're used to dealing with like, evil mushrooms and turtles, killer zombies are a little above your paygrade. I was genuinely surprised not to see more Left 4 Dead cosplay...there was a general lack of interesting costumes over all...I'm hoping it will pick up tomorrow.

Nice booth, Squaresville! What was the New York Times doing at Comic Con in the first place? I think they just unpacked their table, looked around, and left at around noon.

I guess this sweatshirt is old news, but it was the first time I've ever seen it. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I know it's not cool to like Boba Fett ever since Lucas killed that Golden Goose of Coolness with overexposure. But honestly; this is cool. The sweatshirt is by Ecco and can be purchased online for a Ben, and I don't mean Kenobi. I have to say, the dude in the picture did a good job accesorizing it, I think it was a smart purchase. I love cosplay that doesn't replicate a costume, but creates a cool outfit BASED on a character, like this.

Hey, remember this panel from Cleaners #2? It was the recipient of the Banana Randomizer Award in Panel Dicussion a few weeks back. I had the opportunity to meet the creators of Cleaners, who were both super cool and happy to talk about their work with a nerd like me. They had a book of the original inked pages, so I took of picture of my favorite scene. Artist Rahsan Ekedal was even good enough to sign a copy of issue #1 for me with a little picture of a shark fin.

Free fortune cookies in the press room! And possibly a free book? Honestly I didn't even notice anything beyond the cookies.

Okay this photo is blown out, sorry. But still - two slave Leias! Eh? Ehh?

More to come tomorrow!

Snap Judgements: Detective Comics #850, Cleaners #1, Batman Cacophony #1

Short comic reviews based on initial, lizard-brain opinions. Arranged from BEST to WORST. Beware some potential spoilers.


Detective Comics #850 gets an A from AHR

This was one of the best Batman stories I've read in over a year. The ending resolves every storyline with an emotional gut-punch and a few surprises as well. Dini has weaved Hush and Ventriloquist II so well into the fabric of the Batman universe, I'm dying to see where they'll turn up next.

Cleaners #1 gets a B from AHR

If there's anything that my film school writing classes taught me, it's that people LOVE a procedural drama. This story explains the largely unexlored world of trauma scene cleanup, and that subject alone will keep your attention in a Discovery Channel sort of way. But the characters are also subtly written, which is a nice change in a storytellng medium that tends to rely so heavily on over-the-top archtypes. There's also some really horrific indications of the things to come, which leaves you feeling so anxious I feel almost obligated to get the next issue. Well played.

Batman Cacophony #1 gets a C from AHR

Dude writers like Kevin Smith and Judd Winick really love writing the Joker with lots of gay jokes. Objectively, this is fine (all's fair in love and Joker characterizations) but at a certain point this issue, it feels like Smith is using gay-sex jokes not just for cheap laughs, but as a shorthand for perversion. Plus I think we all know that the Joker is only gay for Batman. Anyway. This issue is mostly just cartoonishly violent, low-calorie fun. Low points include a weakly characterized Deadshot and a new villain that has a lot of 'splainin to do if Smith means for us to take him seriously.