Sunday, May 07, 2006

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY HAPPY FREE FRIENDS

Yesterday was the big blow-out at Captain Blue Hens for Free Comic Book Day and I was told a new record was for the one-day attendence which was mostly made up of families. I did a ton of free sketches for kids and adults...



I rode down down to Newark with the Poobah of Cartoonists and good buddy Jamar Nicholas, who I picked up on the way at 30th St Station in Philly...

We were greeted by a host of Cylons, Storm Troops, Spidey, Batman and more...


DCAD was in the house, several of my current and former students stopped by...


Jamar does a Joker sketch for a lucky fan...

I pluck away at a Hellboy sketch, though Spider-man and Batman were the most requested...


Across the way John Gallagher and Rich Faber had a table to promote their FCBD comic Buzzboy and Roboy Red...and to do sketches of sock monkeys. **Note** Never kiss a man's sock monkey in public!

One of my illustration students, Kristen with a caricature from Echo...

Bonaia and Jamar have a secret going on...


After we all headed out to a nice italian dinner at a local eatery and the whole gang was in a good mood...


Jamar kept everyone in stitches...except for Rich...

Neil Vokes and his family were also along as well as Scott Neely who had a huge line for Scoobt Doo sketches all day.
Once again kudos to Joe Murry and the entire Blue Hen staff for hosting another great FCBD event as well as being an all around swell guy. I had a great time and look forward to attending the event next year. It was interesting to draw for the younger set, the under 12 crowd as they knew the heroes but only from TV or the movies, for most, this was their first exoperience in a comic store and many,their first ever actual comic book. Never-the-less, the appeal of these classic characters continue to endure across the generations and across media. It does give one some small hope a few kids were hooked yesterday on the "hobby". I guess only time will tell.

4 comments:

Rich Faber said...

Great wrap, Mike! Here's my take, on my brand-spankin'-new 'blog:

http://richfaber.blogspot.com/

It was great hanging with you and the guys and gals at Blue Hen. I wish more work-related events were this much fun!

Best,
Rich

Kelly said...

Man, I wish I could have stayed longer. You guys really seemed to be having a great time. It was so nice of Bonaia and Jamar to allow me to borrow their mugs for pics (you too, but I think you'd let me do that just about any time). Unfortunately the shots of you and Jamar didn't pan out. Your faces disappeared. I'd say it was my experimentation with exposure, but I'm wondering if maybe you guys are just vampires--the shots of the girls are okay, so......

Looking forward to next year's giveaway!

Jamar said...

Hey Mike - thanks for being a great con pal. Had a blast, and I made some kids happy, so that's always a plus.

And it was cool meeting Kelly too! Maybe we'll try again one day . . .

Dugan said...

Jamar stole twenty dollars from me and took a dump on my front lawn. Any information leading to his whereabouts would be greatly apreaciatled. PLease contact me through myspace.com/duganinja

thank you