KID LIT AND COMIC CON… CLASSIC FUN ABOUNDS!!!

WOOOOOOOOO!!!  JULY IS HERE!!!  SO IS COMIC CON!!!  Okay, okay, I gotta calm down.  But how can I?  It's Comic Con month!  My favorite month of the year!  Every week this month, we'll be looking back at past Comic Cons as we count down to the grand daddy of them all!  But first, there is some art to show off before the awesome commences!  So let's get to it...

Sure to be lost in the con excitement of July is the art I'm doing this month, based off characters from classic kids books.  These are all from the Daily Doodle and first up is the often-mentioned-but-never-seen Snozzwanger from the classic Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Longtime readers know I'm a big fan of all things Dahl, so I jumped at the chance to draw one of these beasts!  Quite proud of the colors on this one.  Hard to believe Oompah-Loompahs are easy pray to these guys.  They don't appear to be all that bright or fast!

You waited patiently, and now the payoff!  Last week, we ventured to Comic Con 2011, so this week, we hop into the time machine and fast forward to 2012!  Lotta great moments that year, so lets catch up!  Enjoy...

WONDER WOMAN!!!  Batman v Superman certainly split fans down the middle, but I think we can all agree that Gal Gadot was a pretty good Wonder Woman at least.

By Merlin's beard!  It's Merlin!  Disney Merlin no less!  Maybe this year we'll FINALLY get some Mad Madame Mim cosplay?

I don't think this Power Ranger needs a Zord.  He seems capable as is! 

Ninja Gecko!  Sorry bud, I already got insurance! 

Glamtrooper!  May the force be fabulous!

 The infamous "Dawn Of The Con" party held at Petco Park.  It's been mentioned several times over the years what a letdown this event was.  Security was overzealous, they were charging nearly $20 for bottles of water and host Rob Zombie showed up for roughly 20 minutes, said nothing and left.  If nothing else, I at least got a cool shirt and a sweet photo op with the Munsters' car (as seen in the pic at the top of the page) out of it.  They had a nifty retro arcade set up too.  See?  There's always a silver lining somewhere.

SEEEEEEGAAAA… Aw how I loved hearing that every time I fired up this game on my Genesis!  Sega had a free gaming lounge set up at the winery across the street from the Convention Center.  They had many arcade classics set up! 

Don't always have time to wait for a table at a restaurant during Con.  Luckily, these kind folks promoting a TV show gave me a nice snack to tie me over for a bit!  (On a side note, that foot actually got moldy over the course of several days!  I had to throw it out eventually!) 

Events at the Hilton Park outside the hotel are always fun!  This year saw every Batmobile up to that point on display and free movies and concerts by the show, Extra, took place too!  It should be noted the Batmobile from Batman and Robin was plastered in spit by the week's end!

Many celebrities were in attendance that year.  Even Toadie made it out of the Mushroom Kingdom for a day of fun!

 TICK PHOTO BOMB!!!

The Nintendo Lounge is always a blast.  Free and relaxed, I know people who had badges that spent the entire weekend there playing games! 

 Not to be outdone, Microsoft opened their pocket books and put up a free Xbox Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel!  It was the first year they offered one and man was it great!  Unfortunately, some creeps showed up hoping to grab some free food and drink and wound up causing a lot of trouble.  Now, you need a badge to get in.  Only takes a few to ruin it for everybody.

Darkwing Duck at the Shifty Look Lounge!  Shifty Look was an awesome site that promoted comics based on classic Namco games and characters.  Sadly, they only lasted about a year and walked off into the sunset.  For one glorious year though, they rocked!  And the arcade they set up at SDCC 2012 was my favorite freebie that year!

My feelings exactly when it comes to the religious zealots who like to harass con goers every year.  Right on sister!  Right on!

And there you have it!  Comic Con 2012 was an awesome year and a big improvement over the previous year when personal problems were making it impossible for me to enjoy the show.  It was also awesome for me because I got to set up some pretty cool booths like Warner Bros., The Walking Dead, CBS and Ubi Soft among others!  All in all, a great show!

Well folks, that all for this week.  We'll be back next time with some "Well-Rounded" art that hopefully won't leave you feeling "Flat" and even more photographic fun from Comic Con 2013!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!