Comic Con Coverage

Wizard World Comic Con was a huge success this year in Philadelphia.  By halfway through the morning on Saturday, they already had a record breaking 25,000 people.  Now keep in mind this isn’t San Diego or even New York or Baltimore’s Comic Con.  Philadelphia has had a bad reputation for these events, as the attractions have not always been as attracting to fans, but this year was different.

This will be the first post of coverage on the event, with pictures, interview coverage and more to come.  Here is the way it went down for sCrypt Comics.  Myself (Rick Pipito) and Dan Pipito arrived for their press passes on Saturday morning June 2nd, 2012.  There was a slight bump in the road at that point because they had trouble finding our press passes.  Organization of the show wasn’t top notch.  There were other issues with many other people, but at least Philly is finally attempting to step up to the plate.

After we got our passes, we dashed down the hall to make it to the Stan Lee Q &A (video from this is being edited, and I will post soon).  On the way, we passed right by actor Charlie O’Connell.  I smack myself because I could have probably stopped him for a quick interview, but Stan Lee was calling, and we were already late.  Stan’s interview was absolutely hilarious, and the perks of being press were great, as we were able to get right up to the stage.  He really is a MARVELous person, down to earth, and funny.

After the Q & A we headed into the main hall to see the attractions.  The booths had everything from action figures, to comic books and movie props, to costumes and more.  Seeing the old Batmobile from the Adam West series as well as the Delorean from Back to The Future (photos of both coming soon), was breathtaking.  You could feel the nostalgia in the air.  This didn’t compare to Dan and I actually almost slamming head first into “The Chin” himself, Bruce Campbell.  We tried to get his attention, but his security team of eight people brushed us off as they were in a hurry to get to his booth.

Then there was the celebrity tables.  Melissa Joan Hart, Dean Cain, James Marsters, James Hong, Lou Ferrigno, Ted “The Million Dollar Man” Di Biasiand many more were easy to get great photos of and up close.  The only person who didn’t seem to enjoy herself was Shannon Elizabeth.  My brother, Dan, actually had a few beers with her in California a few years back, and his impression of her seemed to mimick her enthusiasm.  She is absolutely stunning in person though.

The Reading Terminal was our choice for lunch, and let me tell you.  If you are ever in Philadelphia, this is a place you cannot miss.  It is right across the street from the convention center, and the choices of food are affordable and outstanding.  It is like a convention of food in itself.

Cosplay was perhaps one of the more entertaining things this year.  Amateur costumes are getting much more creative and even as good looking as the professional models.  Of course, there is also the laughable people who definitely shouldn’t be wearing revealing costumes that their bodies and faces don’t do justice, but I give them a lot of credit for being a hardcore fan.  By the way, I’m not sure why Darth Maul was only in a loin cloth.  That was disturbing and as wierd as the 300 plus pound woman in the Supergirl miniskirt with her belly showing.  (Pics of some cosplay coming soon).

Wearing our sCrypt Comics T-Shirts was great for us, as we were basically walking billboards.  Thanks again to Leanne Wiedmeyer for providing them.  We were able to give out some of our cards to interested people, as well as make a few new art connections and show off some of the current in progress art.  Reaction from others seemed to be as to why we didn’t have a booth at the show.  This is great because they really enjoyed what they saw from sCrypt and felt that we could handle our own at an event like this.  The answer of course to that question is money.  Living paycheck to paycheck is hard enough when you are buying copyrights on things and supplying copies to the artists.  Getting a table and copies of things to go with it is a whole different story.  Soon though… very soon (we hope).  Anyway, Zenescope comics also talked to us for a bit about possible future collaboration.

We missed the Bruce Campbell Q & A, which is probably a good thing because my memory card was filling fast on my camera and phone (a lesson I learned for next time).  The good news is that we got almost the whole interview with the five Star Trek captains.  This was the first appearance of all five together for the first time.  I have to say, they were as funny as Stan Lee, though the questions being asked by the audience weren’t that great or well thought.  It was a blast though.  Video of this will be coming soon too as soon as I edit together the two different formats I used to record it.

By the time we were leaving. I decided that I wanted to get more coverage.  Dan couldn’t come the next day, but I decided to bring my family.  Sunday wasn’t as eventful, but a lot less crowded, which was a breath of fresh air.  I really wanted to get to the Quantum leap Q & A, but time was pressing and there was no way to get there after finding parking.  Instead we went to the Reading Terminal again for lunch.  My daughter (sans mask) was dressed as Batgirl (I call her Bat-Princess), my son donned his Spiderman (Spider-buddy) shirt, and my wife made sure that her Bat-girl shirt was being projected in 3D by her chest (I call them Bat-boobs).  Pics of the family will come soon too.

A few more up close and personal shots with Dean Cain were possible, as well as some more really good Cosplay.  We had other things to attend to later in the day, so I didn’t want to risk sitting in on the Boondock Saints panel.  I heard that it was a great Q & A though with Rocco, Flannery and Reedus.  All three I had seen up close as well, the previous day.

We ended our trek with a cold beer and early dinner at Yards Brewery, where Dan works.  I gave him the report of what he had missed, and he gave me a case of their outstanding variety pack to take home.  As the sky was turning gray, and we were headed North on I-95 to return home, I snapped a shot of the city skyline.  It brought a tear to my eye to have to wait until next year to see what Philly can bring to the table.  Stay tuned for more coverage!!!