NYCC 2017 - Day Two.

Day Two at the New York Comic Con 2017 opened early as I realised that i can actually see the venue from my hotel room. I headed down for breakfast with the normal cronies and spotted a possible love connection between one of them and the steroid swallowing waitress (I shall take the secret to my grave!!!)

I headed down without Mr Harrower today (he's off doing some art stuff in Harlem). and lined up again. I've been really impressed with both the security here and the speed they get you pushed through onto the site. All the staff so far have been friendly and professional.

(The Shadow with art by Giovanni Timpano published by Dynamite Comics).

I headed straight to Giovanni Timpano's table and had a chat with him about his Shadow/Batman series. He showed me some of the inked pages and they look superb. I've been a fan of this guy's work for a long time. It was great to see him and his art up close. Definitely an artist to watch out for. Find out more about this artist at www.giovannitimpano.blogspot.it or follow him on Twitter @GioTimpano

(On the left Mr Brent Schoonover and on the right the Mighty Siuntres).

During the weekend I also got to catch up with Wordballoon's John Siuntres. This is a podcast that I have been listening to for a bonkers amount of years and I always try and search John out and thank him for what he does. I highly recommend having a try. It is in main an interview show with some of the best in the industry. I managed to introduce John to Christian Wildgoose and we chatted about a possible  Wordballoon/Awesome Comics Podcast crossover event! Check it out on iTunes or follow the podcast @johnwordballoon

It was also great catching up with old pal Sarah Woolley. I bought her book Charlotte and the Quiet Place a couple of years ago for a friend's kids and they absolutely loved it! We chatted about her newly released art in Bitch Planet: Triple Feature. Search her out online and buy some of her work. Top stuff. If you are at the convention then head over to Booth L-10 in Artists Alley.

With the change in layout after the knocking down of the building that used to be a home for Artists Alley I've noticed that things, events or signings seem to be cropping up in all the nooks and crannies of the Javitts. The DC/Vertigo booth is down on the ground floor at the far end. It's got a small signing/queueing area and a small exhibition of the Justice League movie costumes. Seemed a little out of the way and out of place somehow. Jim Lee was sat on his own at a table (don't see that often). Later in the day David Finch looked a tiny bit lonely?

The United Kingdom was, as always, out in force at the NYCC. The Titan booth was looking spiffy and after spending a couple of minutes only at the 2000AD booth I began to suspect that there may be a few sore heads from the previous night's larking about. That's a tradition I am proud to say continues.

I also bagged myself a copy of the Steve Dillon Memorial Charity Sketchbook (for sale for $10 at the 2000AD booth) that is being sold to raise money for the Hero Initiative. It boasts a heartbreaking image of Steve himself by Bill Sienkiewicz and contains art from a who's who of talent on interiors. You can buy a copy or donate to this worthy cause at www.heroinitiative.org

I closed the day out with a panel and it was a cracker. Run by IDW it was split into two parts. The first dealt with the new Shelly Bond spearheaded Black Crown imprint and featured spotlights on some great books. It was brilliant to see Pete Milligan taking centre stage and talking about his upcoming series Kid Lobotomy and then Shelly introduced some pages from Punks Not Dead with art by the mighty Martin Simmons - I can't wait to see what comes from this company that is shaping up to be the new Vertigo! 

Then we heard about the new quarterly comics/magazine hybrid Full Bleed that has been killing it on Kickstarter. Bob Fingerman chatted about his water coloured portraits of scurrilous politicians with real passion and humour. I can't wait to get my hands on this new series. You can find the Kickstarter for it here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/41834867/full-bleed-the-comics-and-culture-quarterly

For those Original Art junkie here is a selection of the pages I leafed through today....

If only I had a bigger bank account!!!

I also captured Batgirl meeting her artist at Christian Wildgoose's table in the afternoon. 

I'm not at the con tomorrow as the Saturday is like ramming your head into a rugby scrup for ten hours so I'll probably just post photos of me in a robe at the day spar for the report tomorrow....

Many thanks for reading.