The New York Comic Con brought together the right degree of camp and chaos. While most attend to discover whether Batman will really die this summer or find that "near mint" copy of Flash #156, my goals are more to find outsider art, enjoy the costumed revelers, and boy-watch. Along with buddy Dave, the following were found/observed/experienced:
The new Portishead will be amazing. (Not something found at the con, but told to me by Dave.)
Skrull masks do nothing for me (as seen in the photo).
Local artist Steven Belledin crafts pieces with just the right mix of horror and beauty.
Playboy cartoonist of many decades, Doug Sneyd has many original pieces available for sale (and a lovely wife). His is the art of my pubescent viewings of Playboys, where the cartoons interested me perhaps more than the pictorials.
Every child in my life is getting a Sok-O for Christmas. Simple sock puppets done with an exceptional degree of quality and originality were soft and fun.
My adult friends will instead be receiving My Beating Heart. Less emo than the name may indicate, the heart is actually a stuffed heart-shaped pillow with a soft heartbeat-like pulse inside.
Artist Steven Sadowski has shaved the wild beard of years ago and is now very sexy. (And he's working on some comic thingie for Marvel.)
Famed designer/author/Batman fanatic Chip Kidd has what looks to be an amazing collection of Batman comics, toys, and other merchandise presented in Bat-Manga: The Secret History of Batman in Japan. The preview presented at the Con was probably the most exciting thing in the Javitz Center.
But Kidd's book was overshadowed, by a woman in a Dark Phoenix costume. At every turn she caught my eye. Whether it was the wig or the heels, she won my prize for "owning the character". Check her out post-jump or from one of the many Con attendee's Flickrs.
