Wicked Comic Con Review Part 1 - Overall Thoughts, Ed Risso Commission, And Sigs

A couple of weeks ago I went to Wicked Comic Con here in Boston. 

This was the second year for the con which is definitely a comic book forward affair. There was nary a celebrity in the building. The creator list was flush with big names. The con grew from last year and was being held in the Hynes Convention Center smack downtown in Boston. I am crossing all my fingers and toes that this con remains successful because Boston needs a comic con. I don't think Fan Expo fits the bill.

I had a great time meeting and re-meeting a number of creators. The crowd was large on Saturday but there were so many creators that no one person seemed to have an enormous line. As a result, I didn't feel rushed to leave a table because of a large line behind me. I was able to talk to the creators about their works and pick their brains a little. I got books signed and a two great commissions. For the most part creators were charging $5 a signature with some wanting a bit more. Everyone wanted a bigger price if the book was being 'witnessed' by CGC. But I think $5 is reasonable. 

I worry a little. It felt (and I could be wrong) that the foot traffic on Sunday was a bit sparser than I usually see at cons. There weren't any panel discussions even though there were some heavy hitter creators there. Thankfully, they have already announced they'll be back next year! Whew! 

I can only praise. This was a super fun time for me. And I'll repeat that the creators in attendance were the cream of the crop. I hope they had a good time and would be up for more.

So what did I get?

As many know, I like to get Supergirl commissions when I go to cons. I try to get artists who have some connection to the character or artists who I think would have an interesting take on the character. 

I am a fan of Eduardo Risso and his proto-Miller, Film Noirish style and I thought he would be a great addition to the collection. He did not let me down.

I really love this piece which brings a little bit of the sultriness and stark colors of 100 Bullets to the Girl of Steel. The blacks on the shirt really make the rest of the piece pop. She definitely has a smoky feel to her. I am very pleased with this.

Please excuse the blurry pic.

One of the big creators I was looking forward to meeting was Jeph Loeb. Loeb brought Kara Zor-El back to the DCU in Batman/Superman and was a force in comics for a while. His line was very busy on Saturday and he was the most expensive signature ($20) of the weekend. 

But he was the nicest guy. I didn't want to dawdle at his table given the crowd behind me. But I did ask if he was behind the idea of having Kara be officially older than Kal. He said it was his idea and he thought that it added some credence to her being (at that time) potentially more powerful than Superman because she had been 'baking' in solar rays while she was in suspended animation in space.

Truly he was very gracious and I wish I had gone back to him on Sunday to talk more. 

I did grab a bunch of other Supergirl related sigs at the show as well. There were so many creators there who have been part of Kara's history.

Beside Loeb, I also got a David Mack signature on the variant cover of Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow #3. Even if I didn't like that story, I have nothing against the exquisite art here. (Mack was $10 a sig.)

And while the Marc Andreyko time on the Supergirl title had it's ups and down, it had a stellar run on cover artists. I was able to get Terry Dodson to sign the two covers he did for the book showing Kara in her space uniform and her usual one and also wielding Rogol Zaar's axe. Really beautiful covers. I have met Dodson before and he is just the nicest guy, taking time to talk to fans about his art. He charged $1 a signature! Incredible!

One of the bigger draws was Adam Hughes and therefore he had one of the longer lines. Hughes had a great set-up in a place where the line wouldn't significantly impact the rest of the con. He had his schedule out on his table showing his times for signatures and times for quick remarques. And he was a very affordable $5 a signature. That did mean some folks brought up 20+ books so you had to be ready to wait. He also seemed to have a lot of folks going for the CGC witnessed sig which meant a little more time for those folks at the table. But I was very impressed with how quickly the line moved.

Hard to believe but his was the signature I wanted the most at the con. Check out the lower right corner of my Harley Quinn #0 and you'll see his famous AH! in the crook of her leg. I was a big fan of that run of the book and this is a prized possession.

That book is now signed by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Jim Lee, Sam Kieth, Dan Panosian, Stpehane Roux, Chard Hardin, Dave Johnson, Art Baltazar, Becky Cloonan, Adam Hughes, and Paul Mounts.  

Again, this was a blast. I'll have a second post next week to wrap up coverage.

Would love to hear from anyone else who was at the show about what they thought!