On July 27th the San Diego Comic Con, argueably the world’s most influantial comic and pop art convention, came to it’s end. Now San Diego is famous for it’s gorgeous zoo which I managed to visit some years ago, but sadly never made it to the Con so far.
Well, seeing some pictures of this years SDCC, it might very well be mistaken for 2920 Zoo Dr, to an extend for some dazzling costumes and show acts, but even more so for the masses of people (some 125 thousand attendees this year) that poured through the Convention Center.

Sounds like Geek heaven, does it not? You bet it is but it also appears to be a great opportunity to meet nice folks from all over the world.

Thanks in particular to Mr. Charles Song from Wetacollectors.com I was allowed to use his stunning photographs from the Showfloor for a quick tour to catch a look at some of the highlights of the event. Please make sure to visit his Blog too, it’s absolutely worth it.

Surprisingly enough, two of my personal favourites of this years SDCC 2008 came from Gentle Giant, a manufacturer which I never considered to be quite on par with it’s releases. The pieces in question however might very well be capable to break this pattern with two strong licenses to back them up.

For one thing this would be the Angel of Death Full Scale Statue as seen in ‘Hellboy II - The Golden Army’, the second adaption from the comic of the same title which is live on the big screen right now. It stands about 80cm tall with a wingspan of almost 50cm, not too shabby for a producer who’s main focus has been mini busts so far.

The other sculpt is from the 2006 fan-favourite ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ by Guillermo del Toro which received three Academy Awards. The ram-like character is the so-called Faun, a key figure for the movie and something fans were longing for. Both pieces together should look mighty cool for a little Fantasy setup in the home theatre.

Cinemaquette’s Marlon Brando as the Godfather Maquette is once again impressive as always, plus they revealed the new Bruce Lee Maquette as expected by most. The stance on this seems to be taken from Lee’s ‘Enter the Dragon’, one of his later and most well-known films. First pictures look very promising so far.

Sideshow Collectibles didn’t fail to impress with a presentation of their movie Iron Man lifesize bust announced earlier this year. The picture really makes you appreciate that polished chrome look it has to it.

Surely as a surprise came a new Pablo Viggiano sculpt from the Blizzard Entertainment ‘Diablo’ franchise, a mega seller in the gaming world with it’s third part due in early 2009. The statue resembles the Barbarian character from the game, posing on top of what would be the skull of Diablo himself. Oh snap!

Another eyecatcher has to be the Star Wars Boba Fett Bronze, a very elegant and sophisticated piece that might very well find it’s place in the living room.

Finally, I think that Weta has done some really funny and enjoyable work on it’s expanding portfolio of pulp Sci-Fi inspired Rayguns, in my opinion a brilliant and really imaginative idea with a cool pseudo-science steampunk feel to it.
Check out this little Commercial in case you’re like “What the hell are those things supposed be?” (like I used to be about two days ago ).

Edit (August 5th):
SDCC Follow-Up: As pointed out by “Phil the Six”, I missed the lovely Skeksis by MINDstyle/Dark Horse. Thanks for the pics mate!

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Even though it really didn’t look like the website received much content over the last few weeks, I was in fact pretty busy in the background with the integration of the Java-based Navigation Menu, a Smart Gallery and some other nifty things. Most of these Upgrades should improve the handling while browsing through sections or they’re plain and simple eye candy. The page also received it’s first facelift, hope you like it.

Content-wise I’m still adding comments to the huge portfolio of pictures in the Travelling section, but since I’m far from finished it has still Beta-Status. There’s just so many memories and it’s only half the fun to browse these pics without a guideline what it is supposed to portray. I also finished uploading the Video material to this section for you to watch, hope you’ll get a good chuckle out of it. You might also be able to find some “Eastereggs” around there, so keep your eyes open.

Well today I’m just happy to announce the completition of the Art/Collectibles section with lots of pictures and some writeups too. As a kicker you’ll be able to check out my first two Reviews of recently aquired Collectibles HERE.

Leave a reply if you like and stay tuned for more to come soon!

Edit (July 19th): The site is now running on Wordpress 2.6, very uncomplicated new release!

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Today I have a little Special for the Comic Art fans among us and the Batman character in particular.
JFJ, a friend of mine from related I-net forums, send me a selection of pictures from his latest stencil art project influenced by the trade paperback comic ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ by Jeph Loeb.

With the Dark Knight movie right around the corner, even non-comic audiences would probably remember this scene from Batman Begins when Gordon hands Batman the Joker card to anticipate the plot that’s about to be unraveled in the follow-up.

JFJ’s art is influenced by a graffiti background and this is his first Superhero Art besides commisioning work, a five-layer stencil measuring 40×30 inches (about 100×75cm). Now even though this piece is basically finished, what he would like to know is which (if any) text phrase he should add to the upper left corner of the canvas. Therefore it would be really great if people could help JFJ out and vote from the options given in CBD’s recent poll on this site, I’m sure he’d be very happy for some feedback.
As always, your opinion and/or questions are also highly appreciated so I’d like to encourage you to write a reply be it positive or negative, he can take it.
Also, if you’re interested in acquiring a piece from JFJ’s portfolio, just go ahead and contact him.

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