The Comic-Con 2009 Cosplay Gallery -- 600 Amazing Costumes

Witness a 600 photo gallery from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Notes:

• Heath Ledger Joker is past played out
• Love the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh
• A good Twi’Lek costume is great, but keeping all the bodypaint intact is tricky
• I’m a huge sucker for the fashion design of the new Star Trek. Way hipper than TNG uniforms, but
• I like that the girl in the Deanna Troi getup is keeping that look alive.
• Maris Brood’s tonfa lightsaber is the worst lightsaber variant conceived thus far, and looks even more impractical in real life
• Bravo for Umbrella Academy costumes
• Robin costumes should be limited to 16-year-olds and younger
• Nightwing’s costume doesn’t work in spandex. Should be leather, or whatever they make the movie X-Men outfits out of. And his mask looks stupid if you exaggerate its shape at all.
• On page six there’s a bizarrely abstract girl Bumblebee Transformer cosutme with working headlights
• Rogue’s ’90s green spandex with tiny brown leather jacket outfit makes no sense
• Do the other Catwomen make fun of the girls in the Halle Berry tights?

Baltimore Comic-Con

DrOct and I went to Baltimore on Saturday for the 9th Annual Baltimore Comic-Con. We decided not to get there too early, but didn’t foresee the need to buy tickets online ahead of time. There are only three people selling tickets at the door, so we had to wait in line for 45 minutes before getting in. Usually this would have given us a good opportunity to see people in costumes, but there wasn’t much to see. A few requisite Jedi, one of whom was an Obi-Wan in his outfit from the new cartoon, which is bizarre given that fans really didn’t like the movie. Saw a Storm Trooper, a Scout Trooper, and a Tie Fighter Pilot. Saw one Harley Quinn and a bunch of Heath Ledger Jokers. I guess that’s going to be the Joker for a few years? Maybe it’s just an excuse to smear your makeup instead of taking time with it (or getting a girl to help out). (I didn’t bring a camera, so links are to others’ photos from Flickr.)

Inside we didn’t have too much time to talk to artists, but I had success in the dollar bins, filling out almost all of Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo’s Fantastic Four and picking up Grant Morrison’s Spawn issues, ¾ of his Swamp Thing, and two issues of Aztek. Excepting the British stuff, I just need the rest of Aztek, Kill Your Boyfriend, The New Adventures of Hitler, The Mystery Play, and Skrull Kill Krew and I’ll have everything he’s written.

Baltimore Comic Con, 09/27/08
Originally uploaded by ashcrowe

We made it to two panels, the Kirkman vs. Bendis and DC’s Superman panel. Robert Kirkman and Brian Michael Bendis were very entertaining and had a lot to say about the industry. It’s unfortunate that business factors got in the way of Kirkman being able to share his trade paperback sales, but I agree with him that more people should focus on creating their own characters rather than working with DC and Marvel’s icons. Matt Fraction’s work on Casanova outshines his X-Men and Iron Man in every way. But Bendis had a good point that creators can do both.

The Superman panel was less entertaining, but they made a good plug for Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle’s new run on Supergirl. Geoff Johns as always displayed his encyclopedic knowledge of the DC Universe but was outdone by Igle’s speech about why Superman is an inspiring character. James Robinson looked bored for most of the time. Fan questions ranged from the irrelevant to the inane.

I did get to meet Scott Kurtz this year, having been blown off by him last year. He was friendly and only a little bit cocky.