For Comic-Con 2009 I made myself a promise: if i can purchase a book/DVD/toy/t-shirt at a local store, I will not buy that item at Comic-Con, regardless of how good the deal is.
My goal was to get things I can only get at Comic-Con. It’s all too easy to get sucked in the 50% off graphic novel bins and waste what is the world’s best opportunity to discover new creators and their work.
This meant that a LOT of my comic-con time was spent with exploring Artist’s Alley and the small/indy press areas and picking up things I wouldn’t get any where else.
My luggage was full on the return trip (so full, I had to give some stuff to a friend to fly back for me), so it wasn’t easy picking a top 5, but here they are:
#5 Pancratia by Ryan Benjamin
Pancratia is a new motion comic from Ryan Benjamin, and while I’m generally not a fan of motion comics, it’s because generally, they consist of original comic art that is later animated. Pancratia is built from the ground up to be a motion comic – and it makes a HUGE difference.
The book is filled with behind the scenes sketches, character art as well as some insight into how Ryan works 3D into his work.
If you check out Pancratia and like it, you can’t go wrong by ordering the book direct from Ryan – if you ask nice, he might even throw in a sketch.
#4 Seductive Espionage by Kevin Dart and Ada Cole
If you follow the online art scene, chances are you’ve come across a character known as Yuki 7. A lot of different artists have been contributing and adapting Kevin Dart’s creation over the past year.
I am a big fan of Dart’s pulpy retro style and the book was on my ‘to get’ list for Comic-Con. I was expecting a basic art book and when I started flipping through the book, I was very surprised by what I found.
Seductive Espionage is so much more than an art book, it reads and feels like a retrospective on the Yuki 7 movie franchise, filled with fictional movie posters, advertisements and fashion shots. Yuki’s fiction run’s so deep that she’s even got her own trailer on Youtube. I’ve only begun to read the book, but I can’t wait to fully explore Yuki’s world.
If you want your own copy, you can order it direct from Kevin at Fleet Street Scandal.
#3 Spread the Cheeks by Sean ‘Cheeks’ Galloway
I remember first seeing Sean’s work at Comic-Con five years ago. You’ve probably seen his character designs in the Hellboy cartoons or the new Spectacular Spider-man Series.
His lines are confident and filled with energy and the designs themselves are both contemporary and iconic.
Spread the Cheeks is a collection of Galloway’s work from the last year and includes the character design test he did for the Spider-man series and more ‘behind the scene’s’/process work than his previous books.
Click here for ordering info for Spread the Cheeks.
#2 Original Invisibles Page by Philip Bond
Collecting original comic and animation art is a slippery slope and up until this year I had resisted the temptation, but this original was simply too good to pass up.
Grant Morrison’s series The Invisibles is my favorite comic series of all time. A psychedelic blend of urban magic, science fiction, horror and conspiracy, The Invisibles introduced me to a world unlike any other.
The variety of artists who contributed to The Invisibles was very eclectic and Philip Bond’s runs on the series was a high point – and when I think of many of the characters from Volume 3, I see Bond’s interpretations in my head.
The opportunity to own a piece of original art from my favorite comic with my favorite artist on the book was too good to pass up. Add to that buying it from Bond himself was the icing on the cake. (buying from ‘random art dealer’ isn’t quite the same)
#1 – Water Tribe by Johane Matte
Johane Matte was a storyboard artist on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Water Tribe was an alternate reality comic that Joane produced. It was released on Deviant Art, but I never thought in a million years it would be collected (you know, copyright and all).
Johane collected it in two volumes and added the 4 nations pins as a bonus – and then she went ahead and gave all of the proceeds to charity.
With Avatar being my favorite anything of all time – getting a comic unavailable anywhere else + the 4 Nation pins – well, that’s pretty much impossible to beat and an easy #1 on a trip filled with goodies.
Comic-Con 09 was filled with an abundance of awesomes. Time to start saving up for 2010.