And so we reach the end of my review of commissions I got at the Boston Comic Con last month.
I have always been a fan of Ed McGuinness' hyper-stylized art since he first started on the Superman book. It seems to be the perfect blend of exaggeration and energy, bordering on cartoony but not veering into it completely.
I absolutely love his rendition of Supergirl as well. We saw his version of all the versions of Supergirl the mind-bending Superman/Batman#24, a chapter in the 'With a Vengeance' arc. So when I saw he was a guest at the con, I picked out some books to be signed and hoped he would be sketching.
McGuinness was sketching, just quick head sketches. For $30, you could get his sketch book and a head sketch on the back cover or anything else you wanted him to draw on. People were bringing him Marvel blank covers, etc. I got into an extremely long line and waited and waited and waited. And then I waited. McGuinness drew a massive crowd and people seemed to have 100's of issues to get signed. (For the record, I think bringing more than 10 things to get signed by a creator is rude to both the creator and to the other attendees of the con.)
I finally got up to McGuinness, got my issues signed (including one of my favorite covers of the Matrix Supergirl, Adventures of Superman #582).
And then I got the great head sketch above. I don't think you can be lukewarm about McGuinness' art. Either you love it ... or you don't see what is so great about it. I love it. And so this simple little profile picture of Supergirl is a treasure to me.
So in one day at the Boston Comic-Con I got Kevin Maguire, Francis Manapul, Joe Benitiez, Chrissie Zullo, and Ed McGuinness. Not a bad haul. Still, I wish I had the second day to just talk to the guests more. This con keeps growing so I can't wait to see who will be coming next year. I do hope they start inviting writers as well as artists.
Next con is the Granite State Comic-Con in New Hampshire next month!
Sweet sketch! To me, Ed is like a modern John Romita Sr., drawing perfect licensing-friendly versions of all your favorite heroes. I was in a line like that for my Humberto Ramos art book/head sketch combo, at a similar price point. I love it so much, I regret not trying to finagle a full figure. That might have razzled those behind me, though.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I couldn't care less about anybody's autograph, and requesting more than a half dozen (if you're collecting some for friends/family) seems way out of bounds to me. What an imposition!
I've been meaning to tease you about how much that McGuinness cover influenced your requests for a Scorch sketch in Houston. Unfortunately, I've just taken a massive financial hit, and will have to scale back my own con ambitions. I'd be dying if the names who showed up in Boston came here, but I figure I can do without a Basaldua, Davis, and Kirkham (for starters?) without losing overmuch sleep.
Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteI usually bring 5 issues to get signed by creators whose work I enjoy. And I usually try for SG specific issues if possible (so Ivan Reis signed my JLA #60 issue which he drew and had her on the cover). But I usually limit it to 5 and for books that matter to me.
I suppose this cover did influence my choices. But it really was Doug Mahnke's version in JLA (see JLA #84 cover for reference) that impacted the most.
Can't wait to see who you get!