ROCKET'S RED GLARE!!! COMIC CON'S IN THE AIR!!!

 

Well, here we are!  Last week of June and the 4th of July just days away!  So instead of dragging on here, let's just jump right into the pics, sound good?  The year is 2016 and the place, of course, is San Diego!  Make sure the safety pin on your towel cape is properly fastened because the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN has been launched!  Enjoy... 

As purposely terrible as the Sharknado movies were, they sure did liven up the festivities outside with their street team!  I really do miss them!

Usually I wouldn't take candy from strangers, but these folks seem trustworthy.

I honestly have no idea what this offsite was for, other than it seemed to be Star Trek-related.  It was built on one of the lawns near the MLK Promenade if memory serves.

There's much to be said about the DCEU coming to an end.  There was a lot of good, but there was also a lot of bad.  At the end of the day, DC just crammed too much into it right off the bat.  You can't run if you haven't learned to walk yet after all.  It's a bummer that certain storylines will never be finished now, but considering all the bad vibes, pulling the plug and starting over from scratch kinda is the best option at the moment.  I'm cautiously optimistic for it.  We'll just have to wait and see.  And yes, this anatomically correct Superman statue caused a bit of a stir.  Cool offsite though.  Had Batmobile photo ops and Wonder Woman crowns for all!

Preview Night's a trip with all the folks waiting upstairs to get in.  I used to join in on this ritual until I decided it was just too much of a hassle.  These days, I run to Lolita's and get lunch and then go do some people watching.  Once the doors open, I stroll right in!

Let's be honest.  Does anybody even remember Son Of Zorn?  I forgot about it until I stumbled across this pic of its FX Zone activation.

The very short-lived ConX.  A very fun offsite that was just a little too far away from the action.

The Goblin King.  Now that's just plain showing off!

Arthur, King of the Britains!  Bring thee a shrubbery!

The Harbor Boardwalk behind the Convention Center is a great spot to people watch and get pics.  Especially when FX plasters a barely appropriate sign across the Hilton Bayfront!

Morticia and Wednesday do a little bonding in the lobby outside of the exhibit hall.

It's Sting!  When he was still remembered fondly!

Damn Tyrone!  Did you not check the weather first?

Lastly, we'll end June with a plea to Conan O'Brien to PLEASE come back!  Screw TBS, just do a show on your own!  We miss you! 

And that was Comic Con 2016!  A very fun show and one of my Top 5 con experiences ever!  The lasting memory I have of it was this shirt I wore on the first day that read "NOBODY FOR PRESIDENT."  It really resonated with a lot of people and I kept getting stopped because people wanted to get pictures with me!  I was flattered but still baffled by it all.  It wasn't part of a costume nor am I famous.  It was a very amusing deal.

And that's a wrap on the month of June CRAZIES, but don't worry because July is gonna be a lot more of the same so be sure to come back next week for more fun from the past!  In the meantime, take care and stay safe, especially this weekend!  Know your limits as far as party beverages are concerned and leave the fireworks to the pros!  I'll catch y'all later!

THE CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN!!! 2015 BOUND!!!

 

Wow!  We are deep into June now CRAZIES!  And we are also now less than a month away from the grand daddy of them all!  No, not Starcade you dolt!  Comic Con!  So let's not dilly dally here, there's pictures to look at!  Get some comfy walking shoes on and grab some trail mix because we're heading back to San Diego and the summer of 2015!  The CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN continues!  Enjoy...

Huckster's in the house brother!

Never knew the Colonel was into that!

The famed Warner Bros Booth!  Sporting two iconic designs over the years, they skipped last year's show to focus on the then-pending merger with Discovery Communications.  Considering all the controversy they've stirred up since, I wouldn't put much hope into them coming back this year! 

Here's a rare look at the Petco Park Interactive Zone being set up!  That tall structure just right of the Hilton Bayfront was the Scream Queens Drop Tower!  Only just a week before, it thrilled thousands at the San Diego County Fair.  It stayed behind to thrill a few thousand more at SDCC before heading up to Orange County for their fair!

One of the best cosplays I've ever seen!  I love it when people go the obscure route, and the Brave Little Toaster may be lesser known then Song Of The South at this point as far as Disney animation is concerned.  And they used to show this one on the Disney Channel a LOT back in the day!

60's Batman is fun Batman!

Another visit to the legendary Xbox Lounge!  Did I mention how badass this place was?  The lighting, the atmosphere, the games, the activations...  Good God Microsoft!  Please bring this one back!

Depending on the year, the Petco Park Interactive Zone will sometimes have a stage set up, often for celebrity appearances or local band performances.  In 2015, a local radio station held an impromptu cosplay contest that gave all the participants weekend passes to Comic Con!  Talk about a swell door prize?

After years of hosting a booth at SDCC, Adult Swim decided to take things a step further and open up their own free offsite!  While a badge isn't required to get in, you do have to be older than 18 to enter.  It's Adult Swim after all!

Signs, signs, everywhere signs!  By the time this posts, some of them will already be going up!

My favorite part of Comic Con?  All the new and interesting friends I always make!

FX upped their game a bit in their second year on the Hilton Lawn!  Some great activations, though some of the wait times just weren't worth it!

When his father isn't available, Thor seeks wisdom from another wise master.

We'll end this week with a reminder that it never hurts to check out some of the hotels during SDCC, regardless of whether you're staying at one of them!  In addition to more than a few of them hosting offsites over the years, the many hotel bars offer special drinks and rates for the con, like this one at the Marriott next door to the Convention Center!

And that was Comic Con 2015!  A fun show that saw me solidify my spot as Hasbro's lighting and monitor guy for the next five years!  I also got stung by a bee that snuck into my swag bag, the little bastard!  They can't be 100% perfect I suppose, but this one came close!

Well, only one more post to go this month, but the fun of Comic Con will continue to roll through to July as we end June on a high note, so be sure to come back next week and check it out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

COMIC CON 2014!!! A JOURNEY TO THE PAST THROUGH THE PRESENT!!!

 

We are back CRAZIES!!!  One week in and plenty of past Comic Con fun is still to be had!  But we'll get to that in just a moment.  Just had to drop this quick reminder about another cool con I got some stuff going on at...

HeroesCon in Charlotte is THIS weekend folks!  And with it comes the Team Cul De Sac Art Auction and Drink 'N' Draw put on by Chris Sparks!  I got TWO pieces in this year's auction which I hope will raise some serious coin to help fight Parkinson's Disease.  Below are the CRAZY art options available should you be attending and interested:

Behold!  Mighty Alice!  Ink, marker and oil pastels on vellum paper, 9x12in.

BUBBLE FOX!!!  FOOOOOSH!!! Ink, marker, colored pencils and oil pastels on vellum paper,  9x12in.

Parkinson's is no joke folks.  It just plain happens and can literally hit anyone.  We lost a great cartoonist because of it.  Great strides have been made and with more research, they can continue to happen until a cure is finally found!  So don't wait! Send in your art today, as TODAY is literally deadline for it, and be sure to head over to the Westin on Friday and bid on these pieces, among many others!  Seriously, these took a week to do!  With a little hard work, we can help give Parkinson's a final boot to the ass for good!  For more info, click the link near the top or the one here! 

And now, on with the show!  Week 2 of the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN commences with a trip back to 2014, July to be precise.  Y'all know the drill by this point.  Crack open some Code Red Mountain Dews and Flaming Hot Cheetos, because here come the pics!  Enjoy...

RU-FI-OOOOOOOOOO!!!  How come nobody ever cosplays the other Lost Boys from Hook?  It's not like Rufio was the only one visually distinct from the others?

Last week we saw my nephew hamming it up for the camera, so it only seems fair that I post a pic of his sister, Kristen, hamming it up as well!  At least I think she is.  Hard to tell with the giant helmet!  This was at the Xbox Lounge by the way.

The problem with Bedrock traffic?  LOTS of car accidents!  Yabba dabba D'OGH!!!

Lotta cool cars in Downtown during SDCC! Some of the old buildings are really haunted too, so the timing here is perfect! 

The Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge.  A true godsend during SDCC and a great spot for photo ops!

The fabled Xbox Lounge!  The cartoony looking thing in the back was for some thing that aired on Hulu WAY back when!  People lined up to record stuff inside of it, me included, but I have no idea what happened to it.  They never emailed me the files!

The Weta Booth!  The Hobbit movies could've been better, I'll admit, but they definitely didn't drop the ball with Smaug!

Who'd have thought that just four years later, Hasbro would own the Power Rangers?  There's nothing legally stopping them from doing a Power Rangers/Pony crossover ya know?

Pacman is in the house!  Keep those cherries away from him though!

2014 was a record year for Quailman sightings.  Curious that Nickelodeon's never tried to capitalize on this.  They run all their other old properties into the ground.  Why not this one? 

Can't talk about Comic Con without a stop at the Petco Park Interactive Zone!  This year, the Sin City sequel had its own impressive activation!  Too bad the movie wasn't quite as up to par.  There are some things that just only work once.

Remember when you couldn't go to any con anywhere without being swarmed by zombie cosplayers that took the zombie bit a little TOO seriously?  Yeah, those were the days... 

The Joker's looking for the joker that splashed his makeup job!

And finally for this week, we wrap up with the Pixels arcade, a really crappy movie that had a really cool activation at least.  Although it was an offsite, it wasn't open to all, only badge holders.  Still, considering that it was built in a very tiny hallway between the lobby and Starbucks in the Hard Rock Hotel, they pulled off a pretty cool setup!

And that was COMIC CON 2014!  An interesting year in terms of stuff going on in my professional life, it was still a pretty fun show that also saw FX take over the offsite on the Hilton Lawn across the street from Hall H.  So much was going on at the time it really is just a huge blur at this point, though it was the last time I got into Hall H for a panel!  Saw the Warner Bros pale and man was it fun!  But that's a tale for another day...

Another week down in the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN, but don't fret!  Even more fun is coming next week!  And if you're in Charlotte this weekend, don't forget to head to HeroesCon and bid on some original art for a good cause!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

THE CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN 2023 IS ON!!!

 

OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW?!?  THEN YO ASS BETTER CALL SOMEBODYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Sorry CRAZIES, just channeling my inner Road Dawg there!  Huge, HUGE news today!  The San Diego County Fair is back!  Wait, no, that's not it!  I mean, it does in fact start today and with any luck I'll be there, but that's not the big news!  The big news is that after a ten month wait, the CRAZY COMIC COUNT COUNTDOWN is back!  And just two months after we counted down WonderCon no less!  But we'll get to that very soon!  There's something else on the horizon that also needs discussing...

For many years now, I've been taking part in the Team Cul De Sac art auction that takes place every year at HeroesCon in Charlotte.  Its goal is to raise money for research in the fight against Parkinson's Disease.  Although much progress has been made in recent years, there's still a lot of fight to go, and I'm strapping on my gloves for a few rounds myself!  This year, I'm donating not one but TWO pieces of original CRAZY art to the auction, hand-colored and ready for framing!  First up:

"Behold, Mighty Alice!"  It wouldn't be a Cul De Sac art auction without art honoring the star of the Cul De Sac strip, ALICE!!!  Done on vellum paper with Alice herself and the blacks colored in PrismaColor markers and the background colors and highlights rendered in oil pastels, this piece features the adorable and zany Alice Otterloop dressed in her best homemade superhero duds and brandishing her treasured plastic knife!  A must for any Otterloop Family enthusiast!

Next up:

"BUBBLLE FOX!!!  FOOOOOOSH!!!"  You've heard of "ULTRAMAN!!!  SHWAAAAA!!!"  Well,  Bubble Fox makes a noise too when he transforms.  Those heliums tanks can be quite loud when releasing gas!  A true tour de force of mixed media, this piece featuring Bubble Fox in buoyant frame was also done on vellum paper with his fur rendered in colored pencils, the blacks, gray tones, eyes and helium tank colored in with PrismaColor markers and the backrounds rendered in oil pastels.  A must have for any fan of insanely obscure webcomic characters!

And there you have it!  For those not in the know, Cul De Sac was a brilliant and hilarious comic strip created by Richard Thompson, without question one of the greatest of all time.  At the height of the strip's popularity, Thompson was struck by Parkinson's Disease.  Though he tried to fight on, he eventually couldn't and had to end the strip in 2012, passing away himself in 2016.  Every year the auction raises money for research against this awful disease and artists from all over the world do their part by donating original art!  If you're a fan heading out to Charlotte in a couple of weeks, won't you please stop by and bid on some pieces?  And if you're an artist who can't attend but would love to donate, checkout the above pic or this link to find out more!  Let's kick Parkinson's ass once and for all!

And now, on to that OTHER big piece of news for this week: COMIC CON is coming!  As is tradition here at the CRAZYVERSE, we'll be spending the next couple of months looking back at the fun of SDCC's past as we countdown to the BIG day itself, with a few extra for good measure.  So let's quit stalling and set the Wayback Machine to July 2013, as we wander the halls of the San Diego Convention Center and the streets of Downtown San Diego to take in the sights and sounds (Even some smells!) of what is the biggest show in pop culture!  Hold on to your Batman underoos kids! The  CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN 2023 is officially a go!  Enjoy...

Starting things off with a rare look at some behind the scenes work in the exhibit hall.  Taken from Hall C and looking south towards the Hall H end of the building, you can even see the air wall that separates Halls G and H.  Also visible are the signs for the Hasbro and Mattel booths.  Spent many years working for Hasbro, who oddly cut back last year, despite having a loaded slate.  Hasbro's loss was Mattel's gain and now I have set up both toy giants' booths!

A more intimate look at the Hasbro booth and the doomed Kre-O line.  If folks want knockoff Legos, they just buy Mega Bloks!

My nephew Dante hamming it up while on poster tube duty.  He was just a few months shy of his 11th birthday in this pic.  Now he's a few months shy of his 21st!  Where the hell does time go?  And yes, he still mans that poster tube with all his might!

Watch out!  Catwoman's not as enthusiastic about Batman's mixtape as he is! 

El Chapulin Colorado.  He isn't the hero we need, but he's the hero we deserve!

The Ryse: Son Of Rome display at the much missed Xbox Lounge.  After two up-and-down years at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp, Microsoft chose to move their gaming lounge to a larger, and better guarded, hotel in the Manchester Grand Hyatt on the same street as the Convention Center.  So much awesome swag was given out at the Xbox Lounge.  Great atmosphere too.  Also one of the few offsites that stayed open past 7pm.

Ariel's found gadgets and gizmos aplenty in the exhibit hall!

Another missed offsite that used to beckon the badge-less: The Shifty Look Freeplay Arcade.  Put on by video game pioneers Namco, it was held in the courtyard of the Hilton Gaslamp and featured nothing but retro arcade games!  Sadly, Namco shut down Shifty Look, and many of the awesome and hilarious comics that came with it, and the World's been sadder since.  But for two glorious years, we had a pretty bitcoin offsite arcade!

When you just can't decide who to cosplay as...

The legendary Tara Strong!  Might be quicker to name characters she HASN'T voiced!

It's a Tim Burton double feature!  And with Disney's purchase of Fox, there's nothing stopping Edward Scissorhands from showing up in Disney canon now!

A Gaslamp Peddle Bar!  Not an uncommon sight around Downtown San Diego, but for some reason, they're much more fun around Comic Con!  Quick story here: My brother and I had just dropped his kids off with his wife and we were walking back to the con.  As we're waiting to cross the street, I start bopping head around because for some reason, I could hear The Humpty Dance.  My brother noticed as I rarely dancing along with stuff, but he too said he could hear it.  We turn around and there's a peddle bar rolling through the street loaded with cosplayers and the Joker is driving it!  And they're bumping Digital Underground as the ride!  It was just an awesome moment, and it wouldn't happen at any other time of year, save for maybe Halloween! 

The fabled Adult Swim Booth!  Cartoon Network has long had a presence at the con and for awhile, Adult Swim did too, before focussing all their energies on their offsite.  And while I will admit, it was a better direction to go in, I do miss their booth.  Last year, they downsized their offsite too.  Hopefully that was just a little hiccup and they'll be back strong this year.  Unfortunately, the Spike TV booth barely visible in the background won't be rising from the dead anytime soon!

We'll wrap things up today with a visit from the Power Rangers!  Though not the force in pop culture they used to be, the teens with attitude still battle giant monsters to this day, thanks in large part to the vast library of Japanese footage that still hasn't been localized!

And that was Comic Con 2013!  One of my all-time favorite shows, I almost didn't make it after falling off a ladder while setting it up the day before!  Though I limped through preview night, I was able to get better by Friday and made it out on both legs!  It was a great year for offsites and a great year for swag!  Lot's of fond memories of the 2013 edition!

Week 1 of 9 is in the books for the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN!!!  Never fear though folks, because there is a LOT more to go over the next two months!  So be sure to come back next week and see what 2014 has to offer.  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!