Inland Empire Comic Expo

Inland Empire Comic Expo 

Feb. 6, 10-6 p.m.

Fox Theatre

123 Cajon St.

Redlands, CA 

$10 advance, $12 at the door. Kids under 12 FREE with paid adult. 

More info go to forbiddenpanel.com

SDCC2010 Venture Bros Panel

I was really disappointed that I missed this panel while in San Diego.
Thanks to [adult swim] I am watching it now.





We actually saw Doc Hammer at a party (mentioned in this post) though we thought it'd be a bad time to approach him and wisely did not.

Empirical Polaroids.

Kiyoshi Nakazawa

Holding up his latest print. This is my favorite one yet, but I didn't want to haul it home on the train and risk crushing it. Fortunately, I hear he'll be putting it up on Etsy soon. I will definitely alert you when that happens! I'll be 1st in line.

UPDATE: Buy now (limited quantity); you snooze, you lose. 

Eric (right) and his booth buddy.

Everyone is asking me why he looks sad here. He isn't; we were goofing around. I think? Maybe he was sad. Give him a hug if you see him.

Arbito

The artist! I didn't know his stuff and only looked it up after I came home from San Diego. I met him socially and all day only knew his real name. He does some pretty cool work though. Check it out. I think Empirical friends will enjoy.

AwesomeCon 2010

We were there. Were you? Well you should have said hello then. It was a nice day to be outside by the marina and not stuck in line for a panel.

Brian Posehn (center)

Arbito spotted him after lunch. We all ended up on the escalator together. That's when I flagged him down for a photo. He was very nice about it. That's artist Martin Ontiveros on the right. Posehn is in a lot of things and does standup, but my favorite thing off the top of my head is maybe Mr. Show. Well I guess there is also Comedians of Comedy.
UPDATE: I dunno how I forgot, but he's really funny on The Sarah Silverman Program.

More here: Polaroids

More Photos from Comic-Con 2010.

Here's the Flickr set: SDCC 2010 & AwesomeCon

And here's some handpicked faves with my commentary. Cheers!

Yes, everyone got a photo of this cute little girl with her HG costume, BUT they neglected to get her hot mom too. Love these ladies.

JAMES CALLIS

A good friend of mine who used to work on Battlestar Galactica is now a writer on Warehouse 13 was on the other side of the Ballroom during this Eureka panel. We were trading text messages throughout. I could have died when I got one that read: "He [Callis] hugged me hello...He is a beautiful man." When a heterosexual man can admit another man's beauty, that's pretty amazing.

Caucasian Chun Li

Normally, I would not like this "whitewashing" but in the spirit of Comic-Con and cosplaying, I approve!
She was, one might say, "pulling it off."

Malcolm McDowell

No, we didn't talk to him. There wasn't much of a line either. The shades are pompous. I dunno, I kept thinking about how much I didn't like Caligula, and getting any closer might unleash a tirade about how much I didn't like him as Dr. Loomis in Rob Zombie's Halloween 2.

The Ecto 1

I always get a car shot on the floor. (Last year it was the Black Beauty) My friend got the photo of this baby cruising the streets of San Diego.

Josh Jackson

...sat directly behind me at lunch. And we were just coming from AwesomeCon so of course I dubbed our lunch "DawsonCon." The four of us spent some time making fun of the Dawson's Creek theme song--even singing it quite loudly. This evening I came across this video and realizing that Pacey himself has a sense of humor about it...yeah, this guy's ok with me. I'm not watching Fringe though.

There's always a chick in a Silent Hill costume.

LOL

LOL. I don't know. The graphic they used for the Food Court banner implies what? That they only serve Pop Tarts?

SPORTS!

Favorite costumes from AwesomeCon. This chicks were pretty damn AWESOME.

How can you have keytars and NOT be awesome? I mean really.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010.

Back from San Diego Comic-Con. Spent quite awhile in SD, but not a whole lot of time in the Convention, not buying stuff, and not taking photos.

Though I did take a few. Some are online. Others [from my point and shoot and my Polaroid] are still making their way to my Flickr account. Eventually those additional photos will fill in some more blanks on what the hell I was doing all weekend. Anyway, here are some uploaded from my new phone*.

here i am with some friends at an industry party; this was so fun.

getting into the irish whiskey and a lot of trouble.

saturday at awesome con at the marina. 

here is a snuggler snuggling a gravy robber.

for once, a good meal at a nice place. 

i never know where to go during comic-con and it was becoming a tradition for us to eat at the worst place in the gaslamp [i won't tell you the name]. this time, delicious lunch with a view.

oh look who we ran into.

the hilarious brian posehn (center) is impressively tall and i don't have to tell you, FRAKKING AWESOME. martin ontiveros joined me for this picture.

venture brothers cosplay. 

i love these henchmen. no monarch tho.

here is a batman.

blurry; he was walking briskly. 
perhaps he was real batman on his way to fight some thugs.

* This new phone is turning me into one of those people who are always looking at their phone. These are the same people who start to depend on their phones to take photos more than their actual cameras. It's very convenient but the photo quality is not great. I'll try to avoid relying on it too much but in this case, I couldn't find the charger to my usual point and shoot.

Comic-Con Polaroids!

I go to Comic-Con every year and I try to mix things up by bringing different cameras. This year I lugged the Polaroid OneStep around San Diego. This was actually a lot of fun.



I love these shots of Saelee Oh and David Choe.

Check out my SDCC 2009 set on Flickr. Few more Polaroids from the weekend to put up. Stay tuned!

San Diego Comic-Con Purchases.

Part of the haul...

Only 100 copies Justin "Scrappers" Morrison's CAMP were made. I thought I'd missed the boat last year when I FORGOT to pick one up at the Grasshut booth. He wrote a sweet little note in my copy and threw in a couple zines. What a nice guy!

I bought an Uglydoll for a friend in the past but never had one myself. Couldn't resist this time. This is a small MOXY.

Here's a David Choe shirt I've had my eye on--Giant Robot exclusive.

Review: TOKYO*ZOMBIE.

You might remember, I ran this video on Empirical before, but here's a heads up: The movie is on DVD as of Tuesday (2 days ago).



Tokyo*Zombie stars Tadanobu Asano, Sho Aikawa. Direction by Sakichi Sato.
Two blue collar guys in Tokyo are into studying ju-jitsu. Zombies from the local dump/mountain--Dark Fuji--invade the city. The rich build zombie-proof shelter and the poor are enslaved. Zombie vs. Slave arena death matches become the hottest form of entertainment.
I've already screened it and can report it is very well cast and is pretty faithful to Yusaku Hanakuma's comicbook of the same name (TOKYO*ZONBI) even retaining the zombie blowjob scene (yeah, you heard me). And Hanakuma, a martial arts enthusiast, even has a part in the film as [zombified] Sanda Gori.

The book is in a really sketchy, loose style. It's a fun, quick read and definitely very strange (maybe more so if you aren't Japanese and/or don't really GET the Japanese sense of humor); for the most part, the film is funny in the same way. The production budget is obviously very low. The film keeps the small details that might have been overlooked--obsessions with Calpico, chips, tonkatsu, pornography. Having Hanakuma on board for the film probably did a lot of good in fleshing out the afro/Fujio character (stronger hints of homosexuality, adding a family life, and getting a better sense of his fight to survive against zombie threat, dealing with his poverty and the drive to be a better fighter/man). I'm sure Asano had a great deal to do with his character development also.

Here's the unfortunate part--the movie is way too long. It seemed shorter to read than to watch! The entire second half builds way too much on top of the embellishments made to the book's story. None of it very deep or important obviously, because ultimately this is still supposed to be a wacky zombie movie. The last half hour is downright tedious. Still, I will recommend this one to zombie fans if only for a Japanese take on zombie lore.

Comic Book Conventions.

Simon said...
What do you get up to at cons anyway? Panels? Merchandise? Author/actor signings?
I've never been to one of these big cons, although I read about them occasionally. Sounds like fun.

I like this comment a lot because
1. It's proof that someone reads this blog.
2. Until I saw this, I've been going on the assumption that if you check in here, you are nerdier than I am and know all about these things.

To answer Simon's question, very fun and yes, all those things are available at these conventions. Also, a few film screenings (films for children; anime; horror), group meetings (a group of Little Lulu fans meets every year in San Diego) and for the aspiring artist, you can bring your portfolio for review by professionals.



Every year sees an increase in attendance with growing interest and acceptance of comicbooks. Some books are now considered major literary accomplishments. Satrapi and Spiegelman come to mind. The conventions are gaining widespread appeal as a venue for major studios to sneak the upcoming summer blockbuster or next season's television hit. They send the celebs to promote the work in panels and autograph/photo appearances. The names get bigger and I get into fewer and fewer of the smaller rooms. There was a time that I could get into a LOST panel without waiting or crowding and was comfortable enough to ask Josh Holloway to remove his shirt. Not these days, you'd have to wait in line for at least an hour to get a glimpse of Hurley. Well, this is true for San Diego which is the world's largest of this sort of thing. What I went to over the weekend was WonderCon in San Francisco--much smaller but organized by the same company. Other unrelated but notable conventions in New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ.

WonderCon, being smaller, has a higher concentration of actual comicbook readers. The booths are more of the small book dealers, and few (if any) of the big flashy publishing companies, gaming, film, television, etc. It attracts a more intense collector. One interested in an OOP copy of the Howard the Duck Soundrack selling for $45.

I was talking to a friend--she's really into comics--explaining that I'm not really much of a comicbook fan. As a kid, my grandfather used to buy me all sorts and I still read a few today from time to time and enjoy it, but I would not consider myself part of this community. Four consecutive years in San Diego and now WonderCon seems like a lot for an outsider. I admit, I am interested in it as a silent observer. I can identify with the need to hunt for an item, to collect and horde--see my matchbook project--and prefer to be around and be friends with people who are a little neurotic about it in that way.

The thing that I find even more interesting is the people who dress in costume. That's a whole other level that I can't touch. There are Masquerades--I'm still unclear as to what exactly happens at them--at which the people with homemade/handmade costumes parade their creations. What compels a person to wear a restrictive Transformers Bumblebee costume or a Godzilla suit all day? There's a sense of pride in it, which I respect, but this is still a huge mystery to me. I like to photograph these people and I know they appreciate the attention. There's something else there that I can't put my finger on. This is what keeps me coming back to these sorts of events. Also, I will spend a bit of money on original art and a few books and collectible toys here and there.


You can click the above photo to see more from my weekend.

WonderCon 2009.

Where's your WonderCon blog post?
When can I see your San Francisco photos?

That's what I'm hearing a lot of.

No writeups. Been so burned out from the trip. Not enough sleep. Photos are on Flickr. Not all of them, but certainly all the ones I took at the Convention are. Not too many of them.

This weekend, having no internet, was a revelation. I didn't miss it. Well, I did kinda but it was really nice not being tied to feeds, Facebook, Twittering every two minutes and even better to talk to people who don't follow Rihanna/Chris Brown dramas and Octomom. They can't follow these stories because outside of L.A., not many people care about celebs. I did find that many times on my trip I thought it would have been helpful to have a smartphone. For directions, reviews, other things. Might be worth looking into.

I've also decided that I need to upgrade my camera. I love my point-and-shoot Canon, but it's not keeping up with what I want to do visually. I believe it is time for the DSLR investment.

P.S. I shot with the Minolta, so there are EVEN MORE photos coming eventually. Two rolls need to get developed. Will post the scans someday.

Some Comic-Con 2008 Photos.

The full set of photos is on Flickr. But here are some that I handpicked to speak on...



Estrada. You either got close enough for him to put his arm around you or you stood over where I was.

Conversation with the guys...
Me: Should we get in line to meet him?
Mark: He's a McCain supporter.
All 3 of us: (walks away)

And here's an IM conversation I had with a friend...
Liam: i know who erik estrada is.
me: some people don/t...he delivered a baby in a disco!
Liam: Fuckin A! he was also marco on sealab.


Bumblebee from Transformers. There's a guy in there somewhere. Taking tiny tiny steps. He had an entourage that just kept saying, "Coming through! Coming through!" We were wondering how this guy pees? Did anyone see him in the men's room? Did the entourage go with him?


Wil Wheaton. Too shy to talk to him. He was way better-looking in person than I was expecting him to be. Plus I was scared he'd talk me into buying his new book. I will stick to quietly reading his Twitters and blog. I feel like watching Stand by Me now. Ooh. The leeches. Nooooo!!!


Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot. I dropped by to say hello. Initially I was going to get a photo of just him, but he insisted we take one together. He mentioned that he enjoys the Inland Empirical blog and photos--that's a nice thing to hear! Nice guy! More exclamation points!! I read his blog regularly as well and I give GR all my money. Thanks to Gary for shooting this one.


Lynda Barry. Oh, Lynda Barry. Your book was heavy. I wanted to buy, but didn't want to carry it so I felt like I could not talk to you. My boss did though. She said you were super cool. I shall buy your book online.


Dan Piraro. He does Bizarro which you may have seen in your newspaper. I've looked at his books and even bought a couple calendars in the past. I like reading his blog which is how I knew he'd be around. Easy to spot: glasses, hat, cigar. He's really into animal rights and veganism. I bought a couple prints from him and he was nice enough to pose for this photo. Thanks to MGR for shooting it.


Scrappers. I follow his art--we're Flickr friends. That beard might be the most impressive I've ever seen. Plus it's red. And it was really distracting or something because I forgot how much I wanted a copy of his book CAMP (which is probably sold out by now with my luck). And I visited the booth twice! I went back the second time because I forgot that I had my "post-Convention" t-shirt in my bag--and that it was one of his limited edition shirts. He seemed surprised that I even had one and wondered where I got it. "But you're selling the same shirt here in yellow," I said. And he says, "No, they only gave me a couple." Ah, how I wish I'd bought the book. He's so talented.


Kiyoshi Nakazawa. He's a friend of a friend and I promised I'd go say hello. I knew of this guy's work "Drunken Master Zine," and that he'd be at the Grass Hut booth with Scrappers. I'm lucky they were both there at the same time. I was asked to photograph him in the past, but I was intimidated and turned it down. It sounds stupid now after meeting him because he's totally friendly and warm and full of energy. He was really hyper and talking to me like we were old friends--he gave me a copy of Issue #10 and even offered to comp me if I show up at Bordello. So since I've been back from San Diego, I've been going through the old DMZ issues. Some of it is really honest and hilarious. And I like kung fu and Mexican wrestling and those elements are represented in his work.

Not enough? Here's that photoset link one more time [ [ L i n k ] ]

Comic-Con is Hilarious.

Couple more notes before my brain completely ditches them.

Everyone who walked around the Gaslamp Quarter this weekend saw those two guys dressed as Mexican donuts. Not sure what they were promoting! Everyone was largely ignoring them. I found them too silly to be offensive. As we walked by the donut guys, Mark said something to me [unfortunately I don't remember what]. My response was, "I DIDN'T LOOK DIRECTLY INTO HIS HOLE!"

Then Mark told me a quick one about a friend of his who worked at an amusement park as a suited up character. I guess she once mentioned that she was tired from smiling all day and he wondered why she bothered to smile for photos at all if she was wearing a mask anyway. Maybe it was instinctual whenever she saw the camera through the mesh mouth. I thought it was a nice thought thinking that a person inside of the suit could be happy enough to smile. I always imagined they were hot in those things and resentful and I felt bad for them. That's why I'm always nice to those people. I mean, besides always trying to be a nice person...Let's not get into whether I am or not. I'm doing my best.

...

I was quickly passing through the independent publishers' booths on the exhibition floor. There was a bit of a lull in foot traffic through that row, so I was using it to cut through. Two facing booths were engaged in some kind of competing silliness. The only part I caught was a man wearing a fez shouting out, "AIR SAXOPHONE!" Then suddenly prancing about and making saxophone sounds while miming the playing of an instrument. It happened so suddenly that I was startled and quickened my pace to get out of there! I laughed about it later and regretted not getting a photo of something so great.

Some Notes on Comic-Con 2008.

Hey everyone, thanks for the concern. Yes, I am back from San Diego. We all had a good time. That I know of--there is one coworker I have not heard peep from.

It is true, Paul Reubens canceled his appearance for reasons unknown to me. I was kinda disappointed, kinda relieved. We planned to hit the road early and Madmojo wisely double-checked the programming schedules. No Paul means no rush. We still tried to leave on the early-ish side and were out of Silverlake before 8 a.m.

Traffic was a little thick at the worst. Mostly smooth sailing. Ditched the car and took the trolley into downtown. The crowds were not insane as last year. I think this is the benefit of selling out before the Convention start. No latecomers lining up around the building only to be disappointed. It was also helpful to not be stuck in the annual heat wave. San Diego was a little overcast at times but by the afternoon, clear skies.

Every year as the number of attendees grows, it becomes more and more chill for me. No scramble to get a book signed, wondering where shit is, how to get lunch/drinks, how to get into panels. My biggest worry these days is how to get to SD, but I've always had a way thanks to friends. (Big thanks to Madmojo and Mark this year.)

Kinda scary: Early afternoon, my back was on the verge of giving out. I know this. I'm always having lower back issues and I know my limits. I get the same feeling after walking around the mall too long then sitting on a hard bench. I'm falling apart, man. I walked the Convention Center for 4 hours with no sitting. Oh man, what if I collapsed in pain right here in this aisle while people buy t-shirts? That would be bad. That's the kind of thing people capture on their videophones and put on the Youtoobs. By then I was glad I passed on the $100 Gary Panter collection. It's a good reason aside from the expense. Besides, you can almost always order the heavy stuff online. Still, I silently cursed the small softcover Fenwick book I'd bought (we made up later).

Met a couple guys I'd previously only known online. That was kind of cool. They were generous people and very cool. Met up with some people I know in person too.

Seems like there weren't as many costumed people this year? Am I wrong?

Rockin' Lobster. Should we kill this tradition? Probably?

More on the Convention and the spoils coming soon. I'm still uploading photos, but if you wanted to take a peek at the set so far, here's a link.

Overheard...

At Comic-Con 2008:

I'm not Bwana. - Justin "Scrappers" Morrison when I asked him to sign the post-con [Scrappers] shirt I had in my purse

I'll meet you at Erik Estrada! - Inland Empirical into mobile phone

Joss Whedon. Joss Whedon. Joss Whedon...Then, Joss Whedon... - Heard while walking through the Exhibition Hall

Make it funny, Dad! - A kid hamming it up with poses and facial expressions in front of a display with his brother while his dad took a photo.


EDIT: One more!

It's mostly stuff from the thrift store. - This man man explaining his steampunk costume/props to a curious woman.

12:12 a.m.

Getting crazy-excited about Comic-Con.

I'm reading up on the comics scene. What's been published since last year?
Answer is: a lot of good stuff.

Countdown!

In other news, I've decided not to ditch work to check out The Dark Knight. The crazy idea to go before work at a 6 a.m. show got shot down too. I think I probably would have bought tickets earlier if I were really serious about this. Actually, I'd prefer to go leisurely on a weekend anyway. Maybe not even this weekend. I was getting carried away in the Heath Ledger mediastorm. Still, I'm a little jealous of all the people that are watching it somewhere right now as I type this.

Playing Watchmen trailer one more time before heading to bed...

12:20 a.m.

Reading emails and blogs and other stuff people put online. Trying to clear some space on hard drive. Sex and the City is going on in the background--I'm sort of paying attention to that...

Getting excited about Comic-Con. I've done it the past few years though, so it's not the same kind of excitement anymore. I'm a little more aware than I want to be of the travel time and the crowds I'm heading into. I scan the vendor list, programming schedule, and autograph schedule for names. I wrote a very short wish list but I'm probably not going to find anything on it. No matter, what I'm really looking forward to this year is taking photos. Haven't decided what kind of equipment I'll be bringing. Meanwhile, my email is getting flooded with press releases.

Comic-Con 2008.

The programming and autographs schedules were published today at comic-con.org

As usual, Empirical will be covering this event. See you there!

---

An email to madmojo:

HOLY SHIT!

Paul Reubens, actor (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Pee Wee's Playhouse)
Saturday, 11:00 am–3:00 pm

Comic-Con 2007--The Biggest One Yet.

There was something like 200,000 people at ComicCon this year. So many people, but less cool stuff to look at. It was kind of a bummer this year. Lines for panels were too long. Not many interesting people were signing this year. It was still a lot of fun. I went with a few friends and just took it easy. Cruising the booths, not looking for anything in particular. Taking my time. Taking photos. I ran into yet another person from Redlands--this is turning into a tradition--which was a nice surprise. Met up with a couple friends from work. Made a few purchases then called it a day. The heat still took a lot out of me. We went on Saturday as a daytrip, came home and crashed. The next day I met up with my mom and we had a little dim sum brunch and I crashed again. I'm still exhausted today. Here are only a few photos from my Flickr account. The full set is over there so click over to Flickr to see them all.


Citizenrobot gave me this sticker. Sweet kid. Big supporter of Inland Empirical. Go visit the bloorg she runs with Madmojo.


Hot Fuzz fans with all-female zombie dance troupe. The Pegg-alike is pretty good!


TV Head.


This guy's makeup effect was pretty good.


Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong from Giant Robot.

ComicCon 2007.

I just returned. Photos and summary tomorrow.

:)

SD COMIC-CON 2007.

NERD CONVENTION!

Just got my Press pre-registration stuff in the mail.

I am going. Not sure which days.

WHO'S IN?

Holla back!
If I see enough YESes in the comments, we may end up getting a room to crash in. There is already talk of getting a party bus together.