Where we last time? Oh yeah!
NYCC 2009 Day Two (continued)
As stated last time, the program book was an absolute mess, and as a result I missed a bunch of panels that I had hoped to catch. Though there was one I made sure not to slip past by, which was Chip Kidd’s talk about Bat-Manga. When I ran into Miss shortly beforehand, she was down with running around and trying to figure out when and where the super secret Watchman panels, as also previously stated, so she came along. And it was so awesome!
First he shared a taste of his favorite cartoon as a kid, a black and white Japanese import call 8 Man, created by Jiro Kuwata, who would go on to create original manga based on the character of Batman, which had become popular in his native land when the TV show made its way over there, which Kidd would later attempt to compile and present to America. Which was no easy feat considering that none of the stories were compiled, so each individual installment had to be tracked down in Japan, where it was already supremely rare. Eventually a number of issues were collected and made part of a presentation that Kidd did for the president of DC Comics, Paul Levitz, to okay the project, who had absolutely no idea that such things existed. Later, Kidd would come in contact with Kuwata, who he was pleasantly surprised to find out was still alive. Who also was “… happy to hear that people in America was interested in the Japanese Batman manga!” Though Kidd’s response would be “Well, they’re not… yet!”
What followed a was presentation outlining it’s brief life (the thing only lasted about a year), highlighting its unique qualities (such as how Batman in Japan had his own set of enemies, as well as how they all very much wanted to kill the guy with mostly guns and not put him in sticky situations like their American counterparts at the time), what made Kuwata’s art so amazing, as well as look at some of the amazing Batman themed toys that came out at the time (mostly awesome tinker-stuff, with the best one being the Bat Tank, which predated the one in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns by quite a few years).
Though the highlight was easily how Kidd, early into the project, asked Kuwata to ask his publisher if any original artwork still existed. At the time, the very idea seemed crazy since that kind of stuff was rarely kept for long, if at all, and this was again many years ago. But I believe by the time the collection had wrapped up, or perhaps shortly afterwards, some original pages were uncovered, and thus the crowd got a very special look at a few…
… Apparently, Kidd is hoping for a follow-up, where these and rest will shared with the rest of the world!
Immediately afterwards was the Penny Arcade panel, or at least I thought it was. Instead, the thing had actually started an hour prior… oh well. Once again, I guess it worked out fine that I wasn’t reporting for anyone else that weekend. Next up was the Robot Chicken panel, which was on my radar, but the killer line was a deal-breaker, plus I was hungry. So off to the cafeteria I went, where I hooked up with Joe, June, and Joe’s pal from back home John who was once again in town. That’s also where I spotted this dude dressed as the gothic lolita-bot from Soul Calibur 4…
Next was one of many Baronesses at the show, but this one was easily the best…
Though easily my favorite costumed crazy from the entire weekend was this dude running some booth, dressed like a band member of Winger that had been magically transported to the bride of the starship Enterprise and somehow became a crew member…
Unfortunately, by this point, the show floor had become so packed that it was getting tough taking pictures, mostly of folk in costumes (since it involved asking people to stop and pose, which often time leads to congestion around them). That and I was basically on auto-pilot the entire weekend, hence why I totally missed the chance to take several shot that I’m still kicking myself over for. Like… remember a couple of years ago, when I witnessed some dude dressed as Batman on some stage, eating a bat, as part of some comedy act. Well, when I thought I saw the same exact dude, I simply had to find out if he was. And his response? “I’m sorry, you have me confused with someone else.” The best part? HE DELIVERED IT THAT STUPID GROWL THAT CHRISTIAN BALE USED IN THE DARK KNIGHT. Amazing, simply amazing.
Then you had the angry Starbucks employee. This wasn’t someone make believing, it was an actual Starbucks employee, giving out coupons to attendees for some reason, and acting like a real a**hole. He’s offer coupons to whoever passed by, and if they refused, he’d have some sarcastic/snarky comment about. Like “Well at least I don’t look like a f*cking idiot.” Oh God, so awesome. But it didn’t dawn on me how truly awesome it was till it was too late; by the time I realized that I had to talk to this dude, he had disappeared. I would later find an actual Starbucks booth, with other employees giving out samples, but the first dude was nowhere to be found.
Here’s a brief list of other characters I wish I had been quicker with the camera:
- There was some dude dressed as Hagar the Barbarian. Talk about obscure!
- Then there was some other dude dressed up as NiGHTS!
- Along with someone else in an extremely tight Skull Kid get-up, a la Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
- It’s hard to describe, but this one kid’s get-up as Han frozen in carbonite was simply hilarious, just trust me on this one.
- As was the girl who was dressed like the crazy chick from Misery!
- I can’t even begin to tell you the number of Jokers that were seen over the course of those three days. All of whom going the Heath Ledger route, naturally. But there was this one short, somewhat pudgy fellow, also with the long-ish hair. Basically, he looked JUST like Sam Kinison… but as the Joker!
Back to actual imagery; here’s a shot of a booth set-up by Cinemax to promote some new sexy sci-fi show called Forbidden Science. All I can say is that anyone familiar with my wacky sci-fi laden sexual fantasies, about girls getting cloned and stuck in cubes can easily understand why I scrambled to get this shot…
Here we have June being accosted by a sleestack…
So yeah, I really need to catch up on my Marvel Comics, since I know Iron Man, who was being pushed like crazy, is apparently out of the spotlight, which I guess sucks, but I’m guessing that everyone was getting sick of the dude. But I’ll never be. Anyhow, I thought these busts looked pretty neat…
Though this Batman bust, inspired by Mike Magnola, is all kinds of hawt…
In addition to familiar faces, comic cons is a place where old character come to be reborn. Take The Outer Space Men for example, which was a series of toys from the 60s that’s aiming to ride the retro wave and make a comeback…
The one thing I always look most forward to at any comic show is attire, and unfortunately, almost nothing stood out. Pretty much everything was stuff I had seen before. Though these ultra cool, and somewhat creepy, tees are pretty neat. Again, I’m kicking myself for not noting who they’re from…
Here’s one being worn by a girl working the Jim Hanley booth that was so neat that I simply had to ask where it was from. Unfortunately, at some random clothing store in Florida is all she could remember…
Despite the fact that I’m so totally over Star Wars, that Boba Fett armor will never cease to look cool in my book…
It’s Chun-Li and Ryu! Check out the awesome footwear…
Even more Pokemon…
Joe was especially impressed by this one: screw Slave Princess Leia, it’s all about Cheerleader Princess Leia!
By the end of the day, it was time to head on over to where Guinness, of Guinness World Records fame, was attempting to set a record from the largest gathering of video game characters in one spot…
And here it is…
… I kid. I had obviously missed it, though the official gathering that my pal Jesse, on the behalf of MTV Multiplayer, had caught was… I dunno…. less than impressive. There’s gotta be ten times the number of video game cosplayers, easily, at any given Otakon.
At least myself, Joe, June, and John were in time for the big costume contest, which yet again, was a real mess. The four of us were too far away from the stage for my crappy camera, though my furry photographer friend was in the thick of things, like a real pro, so I’ll pass along a Flickr page when the time is right. At least I managed to capture the following before things got underway…
… That dude as the Hulk was indeed awesome. He was moving around on stilts, and quite capability might I add. Plus had a built in speaker to help him talk to others. I’m not sure if he won… the part the four of us caught was the “home made costume category”, despite the fact that virtually every girl that had dressed up as either Supergirl or Harley Quinn had obtained their treads at Ricky’s. Speaking of, there’s nothing more annoying that some “hottie” that dresses up as either of those two, along with Slave Princess Leia, and it’s abundantly clear that they’re so not into that stuff but instead only want to make nerds drool over them. Which unfortunately works. But that’s life…
Anyway, we’re coming down the home stretch! To be concluded.
