Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, NYCC

A Nerd Girl's Stroll Through NYCC's Artist Alley

Published Sat, 19 Oct 2013 16:00:59 -0500

Last updated Sun, 20 Oct 2013 10:11:03 -0500

Alejandra Bodden writes;

The part I was looking forward to the most during NYCC was walking Artist Alley—I'm always in awe when I walk around admiring the beautiful art that covers every booth. This year it didn't disappoint; the opposite actually: it was the best part of the whole convention (apart from getting to talk to Robert Kirkman & having Colin Baker pose for me, that is). It was even better than what I have seen it be in my five years attending it. I walked with a mission in head, to see some of my favorite artists: Greg Horn, Sugar Fueled, and Amanda Conner.

As I walked I was struck by the amount of great-quality pieces that just screamed my name and begged for me to buy them and take home… But as a recently-graduated college student I had a budget. My first stop was J. Michael Straczynski who was funny and very nice—I had a fangirl moment and the only thing I was able to utter was: "Oh my, this is so exciting!" which just caused him to laugh as he signed my #1 issue of PROTECTORS INC.

After stopping several times after, I finally saw what I went there for: Greg Horn's Wonder Woman Star Sapphire print—one of my favorite art pieces ever, seriously. When I started talking to his assistant we realized that we had met before while working as part of the NYCC Crew and he spoke to Greg Horn about me and how I'm always exhibiting his art online. Greg was the sweetest guy ever and gave me cyber-hugs from inside his booth as I was rambling about how much I love his art. FANGIRL ACHIEVEMENT: UNLOCKED! Special shout-out to Dave, who helped me walk away with my WW print and a Superman one as well—and hopefully soon I'll have, in my grabby hands, the Harley & Joker print that stole the other part of my heart.

During the walk I also got to meet Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey- they were also great to talk to and they signed my ACTION PRESIDENTS: WASHINGTON, Special Dead Cherry Tree Edition.

Close by I stumbled into my next favorite spot: Michael Bank's Sugar Fueled booth! And let me tell you something, I wanted EVERYTHING! I just kept looking at Michael Bank's gorgeous prints and canvases and I wanted to take them all with me. After much debating I decided that instead of taking just one, I would take two sets of 4 mini-prints. It took me a while to choose from all the gorgeous ones they had. Here are my picks: Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, The Joker, Harley Quinn, Rainbow Unicorn, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman… I still want the Deadpool, Captain America, the big flying Superman, Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, and so many more. Another set I hope to soon be able to get!

I made tons of random stops: Ashley Riot's booth (which I loved, specially the Sailor Senshi print), Jessica Lynn's, Michael Golden's (whom I purchased a Walking Dead print from for someone), Ben Harvey's, Christopher Uminga (who I have been following for what seems like eons), Elliot Fernandez's, Eric Talbot's, Jerry & Penelope Gaylord, Lynne Yoshii's, Shannon Maer's, Sara Wooley's, Sarah Miller's, Allison Sohn's, Agnes Garbowska's, Adam Hughes', Amy Mebberson's, Andrea Tamme's, Noa Ikeda's, and pretty much almost everyone else's booth because they were, all, so wonderfully nice.

After much walking and wondering if I would see her, I got to Amanda Conner's stop—sadly, Jimmy Palmiotti had left already. I was debating between two of her pieces: the Ame-comi Wonder Woman, which I have been coveting since it came out, and a print of the new Harley Quinn cover; which was the one I ended up getting after talking to her about how much I adore her art. She was, hands down, one of the sweetest artists I have ever met and it was such a pleasure to meet her and get a signed print of her's.

Sadly, I did not get to meet Tony S. Daniel, but someone was nice enough to hand him my #1 sketch cover issue of SUPERMAN & WONDER WOMAN, in which he sketched a beautiful Wonder Woman profile and also get me a NYCC exclusive signed print of Superman and WW kissing. Now I can finally say: BEST COMIC-CON EVER… up to the date, that is! Next one is only -357 days away.