Back from PittCon. (Added More Pics!)

Note To Self: the next time you have the opportunity to do massive 3-day comic book conventions, on back-to-back weekends, with only 3 days at home in between them feeling like you just showed up to feed the cat, water the plants, and remind you kid “what daddy looks like”, don’t. Just don’t, okay?

After my stuffy nosed, coughing, sneezing, trip to NYCC last week I wasn’t sure I would live to see the end of PittCon. But luckily I was feeling much better, and the last of the drippy faucet nose stuff was over by Friday.

I didn’t get out at all in NYC, except for a few hours the first night. That was due as much to the insane commute from the stupid Javits Center to my mom’s house on Staten Island. It took about an hour and a half, door to door. That sucked, eh? Even if you didn’t stay at my mom’s house, it is basically impossible to get quickly and easily from the Javits to anywhere else in the city. Both NYC and Boston have their biggest, most impressive convention centers in the middle of nowhere, with limited access via public transportation, and zero parking.

Way to go, dumbasses.

PittCon, on the other hand, is the greatest, bestest, most aweseomest, convention arrangement ever. The hotel *is* the convention center. So at the end of the day you just stuff your pens back in your bag, walk 50 feet through air conditioned comfort, stick out you hand, and BAM –someone sticks a drink in it.

That’s almost a literal truth. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, various people host open bars in the hotel penthouse, where all sorts of drunken drawing and wild geekery takes place. So really, I drank more gin in 3 nights than I think I have consumed in the 12 months since lass PittCon.

Self-abuse aside, PittCon is also my favorite con because of the people. The folks who run the show do an excellent job. They are friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful in the extreme. It’s a con that puts off some seriously good vibes.

The new Tesladyne t-shirts I had made where a total flop. We didn’t sell a single one. But Team Robo sported our custom TDI softball shirts on Saturday (with Kube standing in for Ronda who lives in Canada). We looked like total dorks, but it was fun. I think the next batch will say “ACTION SCIENTIST” across the back. Maybe that will make people want them?

I was totally stoked to meet Lauren Pettapiece on Saturday! She was in the area and popped in to say hello. Lauren was everything I had hoped she would be; smart, funny as hell, and not a creepy internet stalker that would have me looking over my shoulder for the rest of my living days. I’m looking forward to seeing her again in a few weeks. Brian and I really want her to do a back-up story for Robo. We grabbed a quick and greasy diner at the hotel bar before I had to run off for the Make A Wish auction. I donated a few sketches to that. I felt bad about abandoning Lauren with a mob of strangers –but then again, we had just met ourselves, and things seemed to be going swimmingly. She wasn’t among the shredded remains and carnage that I returned to in the bar several hours later. So I assume it went well.

I mentioned Make-A-Wish. I donated 3 sketches to this; a Hellboy (because I love him), a Batgirl (because the Widget loves her), and a Robo (because Jesus loves him). It took FOREVER to get to them, and when they came up the MC had no idea who Robo was. Luckily a few auction attendees did and shouted it out to the guy. They sold as a set for a price I was happy with.

One of the stupid highlights of the weekend was Face Club. Face Club is like Fight Club, but for people who don’t like getting punched. Though it is quite possible that you may in fact get punched if caught Facing a stranger. I’d like to explain Face Club, but its something that really needs to be seen to appreciate. Basically you make a face at someone –preferably a fellow Face Club member. This makes it more challenging, as another FC’er will always be on guard against random Facing. So you make this Face for as long as you can without being noticed. Then, you hold the Face for a fraction of a second after being spotted –just long enough for the Face-ee to notice, but not long enough for them to actually see the stupid Face you were making. I might have some pics later in the week. I didn’t Face too much this weekend, but I did score an Epic Face on Powell, and a Deep Face on Kube that went on so long I thought I was going to have a stroke.

We decided that it would be dangerous to Face in the car on the ride to the Pittsburgh airport, and we were proven right when we almost died when someone forgot this agreement and Faced the driver of our vehicle. The thought of some Pittsburgh detective finding 4 corpses all pulling Faces almost killed us again, because we were laughing so hard.

Eventually I got home, and damn am I glad to be here. I’m not so glad that Widget has an entire week off from school thought . .

What I can’t even begin to figure out is WHY she has a week off from school.

Here are some pics from PittCon.

 

Chris Moreno. Skrull. (Clevinger, in the background, thinks I am aiming the camera at him, and makes one of his trademark stupid faces.)

 

 

Chris is startled to know I have discovered his secret. Powell plays blissfully with a green balloon.

 

 

Reilly and Jenna. And a shit-load of people I don’t know.

 

 

The Digital Pimp and Jorge Vega (who has excellent taste in clothes).

 

 

Taki Soma, our birthday girl, gets ready to blow up yet another balloon.

 

 

Mike Oeming uses his mind powers to levitate a party balloon.

 

 

I believe I caught Kube “Facing” some unsuspecting fool. Corey just always looks that way.

 

 

Ziggy. Not drunk. At all.

 

 

 

I learned that in a dark bar, if you take your own picture with the flash set to “nighttime scene” you will cause yourself brain damage.

 

 

L-2-R; Kube, Powell, Corey, and Clevinger discuss just how much debauchery we can cram into one evening.

 

 

 

Ziggy also contemplates debauchery. Lauren suffers quietly and awaits her moment to strike, as Clevinger makes bunny ears. Moments later he was rolling on the floor, clutching at his shattered windpipe.

 

 

Batgirl = Awesome.

Note the detail on the boots. Note the panties that I can totally see through her costume! That must have been the flash, because I’m pretty sure I would have noticed this on Saturday. Especially since I basically sit at crotch-height.

(Which is exactly why I KNEW that Deadpool @ NYCC was NOT wearing ANY underpants. Ewwww!)

 

 

The Kube is shocked and amazed to see Ghostbusters . . .with afros.

 

 

I don’t know what Powell is taking a pic of, but it will probably be on the blog next week.

EDIT: Here are Powell’s pictures!

 

Clevinger doing what I believe is his best Zoolander.

 

I think I might have just cracked one, or something.

 

Awesome.

 

Hey that’s what I look like in lycra too!

 

I wish I looked like this in lycra! Wait . . . that didn’t sound right at all.

 

I see the guy dressed as Blade at a lot of these shows. Really nice guy. He’s like 7′6″ tall.

 

Fat Momma gets lunch.

 

 

More party.

 

And more party.

 

Yet more party.

 

Brian Clevinger. All done with party.

 

Me and Ali. I’m not tipsy at all. That’s soda water I’m drinking. really.

 

Drunken 3am hacky-sack game. Basically the hack got hit once then fell to the floor while we all stared at it.

 

Oh SNAP! You got Faced, son!

 

Ziggy mid-Facing. Kube looks like he might pee himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RANDOM SPLENDOR

-Creature Comforts –What Is Art.

-For Reasons that I cannot even begin to fathom, I discovered that Google (specifically Gmail) has snagged dozens of Atomic Robo Google Alerts and marked them as SPAM. Does that sound utterly retarded to anyone else? Or is it just me? So here’s a pile of links to things about Robo.

-Comics You Should Be Reading.

-Alex Butera’s Animation.

-Red5 nominated for Shuster Awards.

-Megazeen.

-Atomic Robo Receives 2 Eisner Nominations.

-Atomic Robo Grabs Two Eisner Nominations.

-Life In A Splash Page.