Another installment in my ongoing "World Outside My Window" Marvel travel blog, this time with a look at the first day of C2E2, the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo!
A rainy morning leaving JFK...
But sunny skies and 70s upon landing at O'Hare...
A quick look at the Sears Tower out the back of my cab window...
Headed to a pre-con meeting with the fine folks over at Threadless Tees...
Their receptionists...
And their awesome offices and storefront...
You can't go to Chicago and not have the signature deep dish pizza there...
Crossing from the hotel to the con center, signage was everywhere...
Sorry, I've been busy travelling (what else is new?) but things got a little busier on the road than usual this past week, so let me wrap up my ECC pics here today with a few snapshot stragglers before I move into the amazingly awesome trip to Chicago for C2E2 last weekend!
Kick-Ass made a late con appearance...
As did a bear who would not leave till he got his picture taken with Bendis...
Fraction, Bendis, Hickman and Brubakes prepare for one of the many mighty Marvel panels...
Oh, and Jason Aaron was there too...
The fans turned out in force...
Me with Humberto Ramos and Todd & Dawn Nauck...
Tom Brevoort did not make it through the con unscathed...
Donuts were the gift people kept giving all weekend, including these tasty treats, complete with an illustrated guide, from Frost Doughnuts...
One fan asked me to sign a half-eaten box of Top Pot donuts I gave him, but looked what I spied in the trash on my way out...
It was a rainy morning to fly out on, but Delta got us in the air on time...
Almost there...
And the as always, the best part of coming home...
After only two days of "rest" back in NYC after my Italian adventure, I'm back on the road again, now in Seattle for the Emerald City Comic Con. Boasting one of the best guest lists of any con in the U.S., and one of my personal favorites, ECCC is a great show for us to meet Marvel fans, review artist portfolios and catch up with all our writers and artists who're attending. Take a look...
Flight out of JFK at the crack of dawn...
Snowcaps over Utah...
Almost there...
Downtown Seattle, as seen from the car on the drive from Sea-Tac aiport...
Started the day with a talent lunch at Luncbox Laboratory...
And lo, there came burgers...
Marvel representing at Lunchbox Labs...
The crowd at our first panel of the con, Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way...
All good things must come to and end, as so ended my first trip to Italy this year. A look at my last day there and the trip home...
Iron Man artist Salvador Larocca stops to sign one fan's comic and soon has a line...
Wow, look... Marvel and DC editors and artists do indeed get along! :) Me, Vertigo editor Mark Doyle and artists Jock and Lee Bermejo...
The portfolios! No way I'm avoiding overweight charges on my luggage this year!
The closing night party... From left to right: Me, Davide "Daredevil Reborn" Gianfelice, Matteo "Batman Europa" Casali, Riccardo "DMZ" Burchielli', Simone "Wolverine" Bianchi, Mark "Vertigo" Doyle and Salvador "Iron Man" Larocca. And in the back you can get a glimpse of Marco "Secret Project" Chechetto and David "Infestation" Messina...
Back at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, clearly KLM's hub...
Beautiful, pillowy cloud cover over the Atlantic...
Taxiing in at JFK, NYC. Almost home...
And as mch as I love traveling, nothing beats coming home and seeing the faces of my loving family...
A look at some of the artistic action that went down at Mantova Comics & Games this past weekend...
Here in Italy, fans don't pay for sketches from their favorite artists, but instead they have to win a raffle. This is from one of the many sketch sessions...
Gabriele Dell'Otto draws Spider-Man...
Sara Pichelli finishing a sketch of Niko from Runaways...
The Mantova Comics and Games Festival kicked off in Italy today and I snapped a few quick pics to give you a peak at what you'll find inside the show...
The booth of Panini Comics, Marvel's Italian publisher....
Panini produced a Mantova exclusive edition of X-Force: Sex & Violence as Gabrielle Dell'Otto is a guest at the show...
The Italian edition of Rob Rodi and Simone Bianchi's Thor: For Asgard also debuts here at Mantova, and comes with a slick slipcase...
The Mantova exclsuive edition of the new issue of Iron Man has a special sketch page in the back where guest Salvador Larocca will draw for fans who purchase the book...
Secret Warriors artist Alessandro Vitti sets up shop at the con...
Up early on my second day in Italy, I had a full morning of lecturing planned, and then an afternoon of portfolio reviews scheduled at the International School of Comic in Jesi. While I obviously couldn't take any pictures as I was speaking to the classes or sitting with the individual students, here's a quick look at the school itself...
Their new building, which they just moved into this past October, is a renovated furniture factory, complete with its own still-standing smokestack...
The school's "green" waiting room...
The newly refurbished interior of the school...
My favorite part of the place was a subtle yet fun artistic touch, something you would expect from a school designed by artists actually, where all throughout the building, they've painted a cat and mouse theme on the walls and floors...
Stan Lee always called the Marvel Universe the "world outside your window" and that's something that always stuck with me. And now, as Marvel's talent scout, the more I travel and see how Marvel is embraced internationally, the more I believe it. No matter where I go, there Marvel and our characters are, in some way, shape or form. So what I would like to do with this blog, as I begin my latest talent scouting tour, as I travel city to city and country to country looking for the best new artists on Earth, I want to give you a look at the world outside MY window!
My first Marvel trip of this year is a week long janut through Italy, stopping to speak and review portfolios at a couple comic schools here, and then a weekend of meeting and greeting artists at the Mantova Comics and Games Festival. So it begins...
Looking out the plane window at JFK just before take off. On the road again...
Early AM at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam to catch my connection to Bologna...
Brought a Spidey Mini-Mate with me, but he unfortunately got lost in the shadows here...
A quick peak at the Poseidon statue in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, where I now had to transfer to a train...
About two and a half hours later, I arrived in the sleepy, seaside town of Senigallia, where I would spend the night before going to the International School of Comics in Jesi the next day. Everything here was wrapped up for the winter...
Here's the view out my hotel window on Tuesday morning...
And after a nice espresso, it was off to the International School of Comics in Jesi that just recently located to an amazing new facility in an old furniture warehouse...
Up next: Italy Day Two, with a look inside the new International School of Comics in Jesi!
