Joe Rubinstein Commission & The Rhode Island Comic Con

I went to the Rhode Island Comic Con last weekend on a whim. The convention is 30 minutes away from my house and is in RI, my old stomping ground. But to call this a Comic Con is something of a misnomer. The big draw to this convention is clearly the pop culture celebrities.

In fact, the impetus to go was really to spend the day with my brother who was interested in seeing the Star Wars guests in attendance. There were a fair amount of comic guests there but most I had met before and some I even had commissions from.

One comic guest who I hadn't met before and was interested in meeting was Joe Rubinstein, a long time comic creator who worked primarily as an inker. He had worked for both of the big two throughout his career and had a long run on Superman, inking Dan Jurgens during the mid-90s. For longevity and breadth of comic experience, it would be hard to touch Rubinstein who has probably inked almost character.

I had a couple of comics for him to sign so went to his table and was surprised to see he was doing commissions and relatively cheaply. So I thought what the heck. And, just to be safe, I had brought along my commission sketch book.

This is an interesting commission for me. There is something sort of 'old school' about Supergirl's face there. It reminds me of Dick Giordano or maybe Neal Adams (a bit of a stretch). It definitely feels like a classic Supergirl, like it came from one of the books I read as a kid. And so there is something nostalgic about it.

The pose is cribbed a bit from a Gray Frank panel I have on my source material sheet. But I don't mind. I like the panel ... it is on my source material. Anyways, the price was perfect for this commission another nice addition to my collection.

It was great to get some signatures from him as well. He has inked Supergirl in the past.

Still, I would say the convention isn't a great destination for you if you are strictly into comics. The vendors were almost all for toys and memorabilia. There were only a handful of comic vendors.