New York Comicon 2011 - Thursday.

This is the first time that the New York Comicon has been open on a Thursday to the public.  Saying that it was open if you had a four day pass.  Because of this the isles were quiet enough to allow you to wander about without the usual crowds of the last few years.

I made the most of it and managed to speak to loads of people on my list.

First up were the very cool Gabriel Hardman (artist on the recent Red Hulk series and The Agents of Atlas) and his equally talented wife Corinna Sara Bechko.  Mr Hardman splits his time between Hollywood movie storyboarding and comics.  He is without a doubt one of the biggest talents of the last few years. His work has a modernist pulpy feel to it that suits to a tee the work he has recently done on Hulk and Atlas. He and his wife had some pages from their upcoming Boom Studios Planet of the Apes mini series and I engaged in some 'Ape Talk' with them.  I finally bought a signed copy of Heathentown from them (which I shall be reading on my flight home).


Catch Mr Hardman over at Twitter on @gabrielhardman

I also managed to finally catch up with John Siuntres from the always excellent Wordballoon podcast.  He is an absolute gent. 

Pop over and have a listen to his interviews on iTunes or at http://www.wordballoon.com/ and follow him on @JohnWordballoon

I made a point of attending the Kirby Krackle booth and spoke to the boys there and bagged three signed CDs for the Boy Wonder who loves the song Great Lakes Avengers more than life itself.  They are a great Geek Rock band who have songs based on Comics and Movies. (try 'Marvelous Girls' or 'Secret Identity').  I urge you to catch them live if you can.  Infectious stuff indeed.

They can be found over at http://www.kirbykracklemusic.com/ or Twitter them at @kirbykrackle

I also had a great conversation with Brian Wood and we mutually bemoaned the upcoming ending of Northlanders at Vertigo.  A great title that should have sold more.  He said tat he has written some new stuff in a similar genre but is having trouble placing it with a publisher.  I bought a siged copy of New York Five from him.  (which also is excellent).

Find Brian on Twitter @brianwood

I got caught (as is usual with me) into buying some books because the creators managed to pounce on me.  This one actually looks pretty good and I shall be reading it before I fly home.  It's called Dark Age : Dominion 01 and is by Mada Shaye and Vin Shaye.  A little slice of dystopian Sci-Fi.

Weirdly it seemed this year that you should have an airbrushed car on your booth.  I spotted quite a few inclusing a Goon car, an Archaia Studios car and even a Neal Adams Blood car (yeah I know).

Winner of the biggest splash this year has to go to the Marvel Comics stand which was a huge Avengers / SHIELD Headquaters set complete with agents.  It actually looked awesome.

It is really shaping up to be a great year and well worth the Thursday visit.

See you there later (hopefully).

NIA.