Baltimore: Sketches and Loot

Sure cons are fun because of the crazy costumes and the news that you hear, but another important component is getting to meet creators (and some retailers) as well as all the cool crap you get to buy. We talked a little about some of the people we met on the show and here's your chance to see some of the stuff that these creators were generous enough to make for us.

What are you lookin' at?

First up: Eric Powell's adorable little mugshot of the Goon in my "Chinatown" hardcover!


We spoke at length about the suave charm of Jeff Parker and the debonair style of Gabriel Hardman on the show, so now gander at them rendering the majority of the Agents of Atlas in some of my Hardcovers!

Ken Hale, the curmudgeonly Gorilla-Man!

Namor's cousin from the side that has good hair, Namora!

Jeff's Gorilla-Man because Ken can be charming when he wants to be!

M-11 the Human Robot! He's like R2-D2 with a death ray!

Venus, sultry siren singer of showtunes!

 Here's hoping the rest of the Atlas material (including the story in Spider-Man family and the Incredible Hercules backups) gets a hardcover so I can get Bob and Jimmy Woo next time!


You're probably thinking right now: "Gosh Richard, those sketches sure are swell but all those exclamation points have sure got me riled up to see some of the keen swag that you spent all that cheddar on!" Well you're in luck because that's what all the rest of this is going to be about!

That's my brand spankin' new 'Astro City: The Dark Age book 1' hardcover there next to 1602. This one slipped through my fingers a while back and I've been getting grey hairs ever since. The AC hardcovers tend to go out of print and all have differing levels of difficulty to find at this point. Yes, that is a copy of  'Confession' in hardcover one over from the Nausicaa boxset; if you're looking for one, good luck and I hope you don't lose your mind!

Check it out! It's the Ultimate Battleground Weapons Pak that me and Jas had to skip at Matty due to a ton of other stuff hitting that month. We were at last reunited at the low cost of $25, so this is no longer 'the one that got away'. Amazingly, this was the only toy related thing I bought at the whole con; that has to be some kind of personal record.

All the swank hardcovers I bought, minus the first 'Avengers Assemble' which I thought was the hard one to find. Turns out it's the second one that's out of print. I passed it up no less then twice at the con so the joke's on me! Finally finding a single of 'R.E.B.E.L.S.' #8 helped that sting a little less though. The two small red books are the Agents of Atlas volumes I bought to supplement the 2 I already brought.

Holy Crap, it's a pair of 'Toon Tumblers! I resisted getting any of these for a long time and for good reason: I'm thoroughly addicted just as I knew I would be. Now I've got to dig up the Nova and Nightcrawler ones somewhere. Fingers crossed for Hawkeye and Hercules next year!

So there you have it! Baltimore's a great place to shop because everything's got awesome prices and it's a rad place to meet creators because it's a pretty casual con. I'm foaming at the mouth for next year already if not just in hopes that the one girl's still working at the Cheesecake Factory.