I’ll be completely honest when I say that my prime directive for the show was a signature from the man him self, Stan Lee.  Stan is a legend in the world of comics, hell, my Mom even knows who he is, so getting to meet my all time hero was exciting enough. As long as I got Stan to sign my favorite issues of Journey in Mystery (issues 103, 109, 112) I would be a happy man…or so I thought.

Friday

This years show had a lot of people I wanted to meet, mostly artists, but I didn’t bring a shit ton of comics to get signed, I made that mistake last year, lugging around  that much weight all day gets tiring. Streamlined and prepared, I made may way down to Toronto fairly early. I arrived outside the Convention building around 9 a.m expecting to breeze through the gates with my pre-purchased deluxe pass… when will I learn. I do this to myself every year, I am convinced I’ll hit the line up before it gets too big, and every year it gets bigger and bigger, so I am left scanning the line for the one group of people that wouldn’t confront me when I bud in. I locate my opening and slide right in, the death stares are easy to deal with when they are coming from some of the most socially awkward people you will ever meet. I probably could of done it closer to the front of the line, but security seemed to be on the ball, so far.

The line, for those of us who have our tickets,  finally starts moving around 12:30 pm, that’s right, 3 hours to get in, and the line behind me was at least another hour and a half wait. We are herd, like geeky cattle,  in to the ticket area to receive our wrist bands,  eventually I make my way to the main floor.

It seems cramped, it’s in the smaller building this year but it felt like even the major exhibitors planned for this. DC’s booth looked like some one threw it together 10 mins before the door opened, but the huge Green Lantern was cool.

Marvels booth is the same as every year, which is great, but would have been nice to see something new. The signing areas were scaled down for the comic professionals, and more focused on the TV and screen stars this year.  G4′s booth was nice, open to everyone, so I made my way and introduced myself to Victor and Fubar. Victor was super nice, as was Fubar, but you could tell they really just wanted to walk around and check everything out. I wasn’t going to bother with any Star signatures this year, my first trip was to Stan Lee’s signing area to make sure I don’t miss out.

Stan was signing today but the line up already consisted of the hundreds of people who made it in first,  so I planned on the Saturday signing. The crowd this year seemed ruder, due to the large amount of  “normal” people. I noticed a lot of people walking around with their nose in the air, elitist boyfriends/girlfriends who were being dragged along and making sure us geeks knew we were in the presence of “cool” people, if you don’t want to be there, don’t come. Yes, some of us are fully functioning normal people, we just love our comics, games and movies more openly then those who crave acceptance and follow the crowd. I wandered along and began my hunt for missing issues of Journey into Mystery to fill the gaping holes in my collection. Prices for Silver age comics were surprisingly cheap this year! I found some lower grade books for 30-50% off guide prices, and obtained some newer books I had missed out on. I love Thor, old and new, Coipel was at the show as well, his art on the new Thor book really breathed life into Straczynski’s refreshing take on the characters, so making sure I meet him was priority two.

Usually Fridays are not as heavily attended as the Saturday or Sunday show, but this year showed a glaring increase in bodies. The venue was beginning to show it’s lack of square footage, and would only get worse on Saturday. I never had to push my way through the crowd on Fridays, my game plan changed to fit in more workshops then I intended, there was just too many people on the convention floor. I waited in Marvels line to meet Steve McNiven..again. This guys art blows me away, if you haven’t read the OLD MAN LOGAN run in Wolverine, you should poke yourself in the eye..go read it. I ran in to my friend Pete from ComicBookDaily, he was there reporting for the site, and we spoke briefly, and made plans to meet on Saturday.  I made my way to the table, and got to talk with Steve for a pretty long time.  Ian Churchill was signing beside him and everyone was crowded on his side of the table (don’t ask me why), so I had time to ask a lot of questions. He recognized me from the previous year and asked how my art was coming along…I was flabbergasted.  I was so impressed and honored he remembered one guy out of thousands, or it could have been a shot in the dark, I mean most of his fans are artists and E Bay signature trollers anyways. After a lengthy conversation, I stopped annoying him and pushed myself down the escalator to eat some street meat. If you are going to eat at the show, DO NOT buy inside the building, their prices are ridiculous and there is no where to sit anyways. When I opened the doors to the Front street,  I was greeted with a wall of people still trying to get in,  the show closes at 9pm and there was people lined up at 7pm… I became a little worried at this point. I was hungry and took my chances that I may not make it back inside.

Steve McNiven

I was lucky…or smart, after I ate, I sat outside one of the exit doors and waited for my time to pounce. I snuck my way back in through the exit, back to the ground floor. It was packed. I didn’t bother to wait to go back upstairs so I sat in line for Bob Layton’s artist workshop starting at 8PM. Layton was the definitive artist for Iron Man in the seventies and eighties, so getting some much needed anatomy tips from a long time pro was a real treat.

He arrived on time and was funny as hell. He hasn’t drawn comics for a while, but has been working in the film industry, most recently a consultant on Iron Man 2. He had some funny stories about Robert Downey, and seemed a little bitter towards working in comics. He informed all off us who wanted to work in comics, not to. I was a little surprised, but I hear this a lot from working artists, it takes it’s toll on you I’m sure, the countless hours spent hunched over the drawing table, and tight deadlines. Even still, if  I ever have the chance to work in the industry, I’ll take the bad back and the dark circles under my eyes…I know, there is something wrong with me.

Bob pointed out the basics to body structure, but really got into establishing shots and light/dark- balance/focus.  He makes a funny presenter, and didn’t mind swearing like a sailor.

Saturday

I was still pretty tired from Friday and waiting in another line was not fun. IF you bought a Deluxe or better pass to FanExpo it should be easier to get in the next day( due to the fact you pre bought), but I arrived to a line as long as the line to purchase tickets. It was nothing but confusion. The security guards were never on the same page, people would ask, “What is this line for?”, and the answer would be different every time. I witnessed people make it to the front of the re-entry line only to find out they were told to go to the wrong line. I sensed distaste for the way we were being treated from people around me. Would there be a geek revolution? No. We sat there, and quietly waited our turn.

2 hours. Yes, I waited 2 hours after the doors had opened to get in the re-entry gate. Whatever. I bolted to Stan Lee’s autographing area, but since I waited so long to get in, the line was already backed up. I wouldn’t dare bud in at a Stan Lee line, hey,  just ’cause a guy reads some comics, doesn’t mean he can’t start some shit!

2 hours. Another hurry up and wait scenario, but it was worth it for Stan. When he walked in the room,  people lit up. There was a smile on everyone’s face. You could feel the electricity this mans presence causes,  I was in fan boy heaven. My section of the line was directly behind the signing desk, I kept poking my head through the drapes, and security was telling me over an over not to look through them. Yeah right. Tons of people just plain ignored security when they were telling us not to take pictures of Stan, we were already fed up for waiting basically 5 hours to get here, back up, just mind ya business, just mind ya business.

Waiting in line to the Stan the Man's autograph.

It was great. He was great. I had been waiting to meet this guy my whole life. I had so many things I wanted to ask him, I was trying to boil it down to one or two questions, due to the short time I would get with him. I paid my $40 a signature, I got three, and was next in line. I shut down. All I could get out was ,”How are you Sir?”, and, “You’re the MAN Stan!!”. Oh well. I got to meet the pioneer of modern mythology.

After I finished geeking out, I made my way to artists alley, and finally met Andy Belanger. He has web comics on Transmisson X and DC ( check out Bottle of Awsome on Comixology ).  He was such a great guy, very down to earth and real. I spoke briefly with him regarding my failed attempt with Zuda, and what I was working on now. He was very encouraging, and gave me his email to send along some samples he would forward to the right people…which I have yet to do. I am so busy lately.

I bought some comics, checked out the Tron booth, and The Alien Special Edition set. It was still packed. I was stupid again and went outside to eat. I won’t even get in to how pissed I was waiting to get back in, I have already vented in my letter to them. I made it back in for The Steve McNiven Q&A/workshop. He was of course very informative, and gave some good tips. The crowd was full of fanboys and girls with so many people had questions,  Steve was still answering them (mine included) a half hour after the workshop was done. Good guy that Steve McNiven.

I met up with friends at a bar near by, and we all vented on each other on how badly run the show was this year. We all had our horror stories as did everyone on the unofficial hash tag for FanExpo on Twitter. We all laughed at the posts through out the day, and drowned our sorrows in a couple of pints, well, I did anyways.

Sunday

Sunday, well, was…I wouldn’t know. I didn’t go. I was holding a grudge. I was very disappointed in the show this year and chose not to involve myself in the clusterfu@k that was waiting for me on Sunday. I got everything I needed, Stan Lee’s signature. I will forever be able to tell people I met Stan the Man. So I didn’t go the last day, even though I paid for it. I hope they fix their issues for next year.

Check out some random pics from the show.

Olivier Coipel drawing Thor's helmet for me!

See ya next year….maybe.

]]> http://ryanovision.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/fan-expo-2010/feed/ 0 ryanovision DC Booth Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 169 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 161 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 167 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 178 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 151 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 162 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 163 Stan Lee Signature Stan Lee Signature2 Stan Lee Signature3 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 165 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 156 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 154 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 175 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 179 Fan Expo.Niagra.Store 173 Stan Lee Head Shot http://ryanovision.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/just-a-little-fun-distraction/ http://ryanovision.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/just-a-little-fun-distraction/#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:50:34 +0000 ryanovision http://ryanovision.wordpress.com/?p=98 ]]> I was recently hanging out at the local comic book store, and a friend of mine mentioned how it would be cool to have a pic of him riding Devil Dinosaur. Every now and then I get to a point where I can’t work on the same thing for too long, or I begin to lose interest, and my work suffers. So what better way to take a break then by drawing Devil Dinosaur for my friend. I used to read the series ( I bought a stack of them at a garage sale) way back,  so it was fun. Marvel was kinda wacky in the 70′s, thank god for that!

So here you go Pete…dreams do come true! LOL

A reminder to those who are not familiar.

Both of these films have a 2011 release date, which has confused most and excited the rest. Reynolds working on both films may lead to one or both of the films suffering. Some say it will boost the hype and maybe even the budget for one or both films. I am a little confused. Deadpool has always been one of my favortie Marvel characters…maybe the one good thing Lefield gave us…but the Green Lantern film is one I have dreamed of for years. Deadpool’s character in “X-Men: Origins” started off strong, but( no surprise from FOX  ) writers fucked it up big time by combining other mutant’s  powers into Wade…ugh.  Green Lantern on the other hand, is almost too hard to fuck up, but I’m not holding my breath.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that comic book movies are now met with anticapation instead of rolled eyes, but too much too fast usually ends in failure. Look at the comic industry of the mid 90′s…the same fate could fall upon comic adaptation movies. I think Reynolds is a great actor, and I know he reads comics, so I’m not worried about him putting his all into both films, but money or time constraints (or both) may hurt his performance. Warner Bros. is apparantly putting a lot of bank in “Green Lantern”, so I know they will be expecting alot from Reynolds, but at the same time, Ryan getting both roles could push the budget for both films way up, as well as his paycheck.

I am excited for both films. I am looking forward to seeing a better interpertation of Wade Wilson a.k.a. “Deadpool”, but the GReen Lantern has the potential to be huge!!! Could one, or both, of these films suffer from the fact Rynolds will be working on both of them in such a short time period? Are you looking forward to either movies? Are you sick of movie studios jumping on the comic book band wagon? Will there be a backlash from a flooded market of the same genre? Let me know what you think!

How 'bout we throw a Green Lantern Corps. ring on his finger and have a "Dead-Lantern" film? huh...anyone?

2012, the new Sony disaster movie, is about the end of the world. I’m sure there will be more than enough explosions and cheesy one liners to keep the status quot with the summer block buster lovers. I , on the other hand, am not a fan of all explosions all the time, although I recently saw Transformers 2, a bit more entertaining than the first but I was seeing red plumes of fire in my sleep.

I’m sure it will do well, unfortunately. I hate to see  movies with more F/X then story line, I’m posting this  because I like special effects, and this movie has some of the most gorgeous CG shots  ever. It may be hypocritical, but there are some slick shots in this flick!!  Have a look, and cower in fear…..bad movies will follow and do well….the end of the world IS near…at least we’ll be entertained when it happens!!!

Whats more frightening, John Cusak saving the world, or this movie breaking box office records?

He is a genius….in an Asian/Gangster/Karaoke kind of way!!

Apparently (until proven wrong) Billy hit his head on a bumpy flight, and commented on it to a TMZ reporter as soon as he got off the plane. He died in his sleep that night! Very reminiscent of another great actress, Miranda Richards, who hit her head while skiing in Quebec, and died from the damage later that day. Scary thought..I have had a full beer bottle broken over my head, and kept fighting! I took a knee when initially hit, but got right up after seeing stars. No, I’m not a thug or anything, just one of those drunken nights.

So, take this as a warning if you already haven’t, head injuries are all serious! Especially if your famous!

Ah Billy, millions around the world are now clueless as to how to make their whites whiter, and brights brighter!!

I plan to add a lot of upcoming projects I’m working on for your viewing pleasure.