WONDERCON 2020: NINE DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

Welcome to April CRAZIES!!!  Did you all know that WonderCon is next week?  You did?  Alright, who spilled the beans?  Seriously, they're all over the place!  A cartoonist/blogger could slip and fall on that!  Anyway, we are inching closer to the big show and continuing our countdown!  The stakes are high this year as WonderCon moves back to Easter weekend, a move I'm not very happy with to be honest as Disneyland crowds will add to the mayhem.  It is what it is though and should still be a fun time to be had by all... Albeit in more-cramped-than-usual spaces!

Well, I've said my piece and set the Wayback Machine to our destination.  We are heading to the year 2015 y'all, so make sure your epic game of D&D set up and saved and hang on tight to your Code Red Mountain Dews, because the countdown is once again on!  Enjoy...

The Power Rangers patrolled the halls all weekend long, keeping WonderCon free of internet trolls! 

Spawn was in the house and had a special message for John Leguizamo!  This is a family site though, so I won't repeat it! 

That's a lotta leather and chains there! 

Kit Fisto!  Is it me or does anybody else think that Lucas dropped the ball with this character?  As brief as his heroics are in Attack of the Clones, it really did feel like a teaser for something a little bit bigger in Revenge of the Sith.  Maybe there's a Disney+ series in the works?

It's Woody!  Howdy howdy howdy! 

Lilly!  Grandpa and Herman have done it again! 

The King of the Monsters was prowling down my aisle looking for executives from Warner Bros and Legendary Films!  He's not too happy about humans being the primary focus of his latest movies!

An Astrodroid!  These little guys always make things fun.  At least until you trip over one!

The Pink Ranger was really interested in my art and even bought a few Mike & Mindy paper craft kits!  She then helped battle a giant monster that surfaced from the Hall B bathrooms! 

Not sure which is cooler here: The Patriotic Mario costume or the Gameboy Camera he's using! 

Quailman is in the house and rocking those tighty whities proudly! 

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!  ARMS FLAILING UNCONTROLLABLY!!! 

It's the creature who flaps in the middle of the night!  The daring duck of mystery!  DARKWING DUCK!!!  Let's get dangerous! 

We end things today with some art that's PHAT!!!  Excuse me, I mean FAT!!!  We all love sugary cereals, but too much can lead to some gut busting consequences!  So of course last year, I bought several boxes of Funco Pops!  I know my buddy Scott Warren can appreciate this!

And that's a wrap on WonderCon 2015!  My last year as an exhibitor there and boy what a turnaround I had from the year prior!  I almost left WonderCon 2014 in tears I was so depressed at how bad things had gone.  This year (2015), I couldn't believe I was walking out with a profit, made even more wild as I'd been battling a sinus infection the whole week!  My sketch cards played a huge role in the turn around and I've largely focused on them ever since as my top seller.  Although I still attend as a pro, I don't table anymore and have no regrets.  Aside from being expensive, it's pretty stressful too.  Even with things going right, it can be quite hectic behind the table.  I won't rule out a return to the chairs side of the aisle, especially since I ain't getting any younger, but for now, I'm really enjoying just walking around and seeing things.  And I'm proud that I could walk out of WonderCon 2015 with my head held very high!  This will also be the end of the line for 2015 pics, as I think have seven or eight left!  Depending on scheduling next year, a few may appear in a potpourri post, but for now, it's goodbye and goodwill to men for WonderCon 2015!

And that's all she wrote for today!  Next week, we'll be back with another look at a past WonderCon as we prep for next weekend's big show!  I'll have my usual tips and tricks as well as info on where I might be found roaming the halls and Downtown Anaheim in general!  Hoping to get a big group to hit up Boysenberry Fest at Knott's Berry Farm next Thursday too, so stay tuned to this blog and Twitter to learn more!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!

JULY IS HERE!!! AND SO IS MORE COMIC CON FUN!!!

Welcome to July CRAZIES!!!  Before I go any further, Happy Birthday America!  After we get done blowing stuff up tomorrow, I pledge to worker harder for a better future for all!  Okay, back to what you're all really here to see: More of the CRAZY Comic Con Countdown 2019!!!  Yup, no better way to kick off the month than with a look back at July's biggest event!

This week, we travel back to 2015, a year where MANY big things that happened at the show!  So strap in, hold on to your Code Red Mountain Dew and take off because all systems are go!  Enjoy...

Mighty Morphin Mariachi Rangers?  I could get behind this variant! 

Years after the Xbox Lounge was crashed by some not-so-wholesome folks, the Hard Rock Hotel is slowly getting back into the offsite game, even if it's usually just a simple display.  Given the damage that was caused, can't say I blame them for not wanting to take part anymore.

Steve and Blue look for clues at the Petco Park Interactive Zone! 

To the exhibit hall, and beyond! 

One of last hurrahs of the Wii U was the popular Mario Maker game.  Nintendo went all-out promoting the game, and it certainly paid off.  A funny story came about on the Friday of the Con.  As my nephew, niece and I demoed a Skylanders game in Hall A, word begin to spread of a guy at the Marriott's Nintendo Lounge who was making a bunch of 12-year-olds cry as he was totally crushing their custom Mario Maker levels.  Having heard a description of the culprit, I got curious and called my pal Riki (aka popular YouTube gamer Max Sterling) to see if it was him.  He answered while in the middle actually doing the deed!  Sometimes, the truths of Comic Con are far stranger than any fiction!

Protestors are a common thing in the streets of Downtown during Comic Con.  But the staged ones are loads of laughs!

Buttercup and Wesley made it out of the Fire Swamps and into the upper level of the Convention Center! 

Well what d'ya know?  He found a shrubbery!  Next task: Cutting down the mightiest tree in the forest with... A herring! 

Nothing too special about this pic other than the fact that it's Lucasfilm's LED wall and I am the one who built it! 

Not even Jafar's sorcery could calm the crowds at Comic Con! 

*Sighs* 2015 was the year we said goodbye to the beloved Xbox Lounge.  It was a bit of a walk from the Convention Center, but well worth it.  Besides the games, they gave out some of the best swag and had some awesome things on display as well, like actual ET: The Video Game cartridges dug up from the dumpsite in New Mexico.  They also stayed open later than most other offsites, so the fun lasted longer!  Will it ever come back?  Who knows.  Doesn't seem likely this year, but anything's possible I suppose.  Guess we'll just need to keep our eyes open. 

Put your trust in Chicken Pony.  Love is Chicken Pony...  Chicken Pony IS love... 

Aw, the Scream Queens drop tower at the Petco Park Interactive Zone.  I don't even know if this show still comes on, but the ride was fun. And oddly enough, it had been set up at the San Diego (Del Mar) County Fair a mere week earlier!  Comic Con happened way earlier than usual that year, so I literally jumped from one event to the next!  Coincidentally, I won second place for my mask collection at that very same Fair that year! 

Bounty Hunters are certainly daredevils to a degree.

And that was Comic Con 2015.  A banner year with the real highlight being the big panel for Star Wars that gave the lucky Hall H attendees something extra as they were led to the Pops Site behind the Convention Center to watch an exclusive concert featuring the music of the films.  I wasn't part of the Hall H crowd, but I did clearly see the whole thing from back steps of the building!  Gotta love loopholes!  Sadly, other than the booth, Star Wars has barely had any kind of presence at Comic Con since, despite a having had four movie come out in that time!  Guess there's always next year.

And so we close up the first week of July.  More fun is coming next week as the CRAZY Comic Con Countdown inches closer!  In the meantime, have a fun, safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend.  Until next time, take and I'll catch y'all later!

ISSA MARIO!!!

Another week, another inked doodle from the past!  This time we got the Mickey Mouse of gaming getting the CRAZY treatment, so lets hop to it!

I can't remember whether this was for Daily Doodle or Sketch Dailies, may have been the latter, but it was fun to draw.  I've often wondered if Mario and Luigi aren't great heroes.  I think they might just be really really high and hallucinating all theses wild things!  Mario's an odd topic for me.  As fun as the games are, the character really is a stereotype on Italian culture, of which I am half.  I guess I'd be less troubled by him if he spoke in a more dignified manner.  I was always under the impression he was from Brooklyn, not Italy itself.  Eh, maybe I'm just over thinking this.

Well, that's all for now.  I got something VERY special coming next week!  A couple of old pals have gotten fuzzy and I can't wait to show y'all, so be sure to come back!  Until then, take care and I'll catch y'all later!