Jugger Grimrod

Also while at ECCC I spoke with Michael Golden who had done a penciled piece of The Crow for me way back in 2007. He mentioned if I wanted him to ink it, it would only be $75. I went for it an was blown away at how much it pops (which to his credit Michael told me it would) and how much more detail he added to it. Here is the pencil piece from 2007 followed by the inked version last week.

The first new addition in a while to my Crow sketchbook by Jae Lee, done here in Seattle at ECCC last weekend.

I finally was able to add a Jae Lee to my sketchbook based on "The Crow" during ECCC last weekend. 9x12, price was $250.

Congrats on the Jae Lee piece, I too was able to finally get one myself too. At ECCC being an exhibitor at the show means I get very little free time but I really wanted a Jae Lee piece for my collection so I made the time to get over to him and get on his list.

2018 marks my 15th year as an exhibitor, and as usual I am nowhere near ready and set-up is Tuesday. Looking to add a few artists to my sketchbooks as well. Those coming out this way to Seattle, weather here has been a bit colder than usual, while it changes rapidly, right now it looks like some rain, possibly snow for Friday, and then sunny on the weekend. Temps in the low 30's to mid 40's, but all of that could change by the time the convention starts. But regardless, plan for cold wet weather is the safe bet.

There is an exhibitor who is set up near my booth each year, really nice guy, owns a comic shop in southern California and drives up for ECCC. You should check out his booth if you are looking for blank cover variants as he usually has a lot of them. He is listed as Comic Madness, booth #2224. You can also check Corner Comics, booth #2221 right across from him, they may have some too. They are both located near the tower of t-shirts in the main exhibition hall by the food court and ATM area, just a few rows to the east of the Funko booth.

The hotel in Bothell is called Country Inn & Suites, its close to an industrial park, its right next to the 405 freeway. While it is about 25-30 minutes northeast of downtown Seattle, room rate for two queen beds if you book early is about $97. They have a large parking lot, not sure if they charge for parking, but you can check them out on their website if you do a Google search. The nice thing about being at the north end of Lake Washington is that you can get to I-5 rather quickly and take that downtown (best way is to go via Bothell Way) and you avoid the 520 floating bridge toll. You may be able to find something cheaper around the northern end of Seattle though but as you noticed downtown is quite expensive especially when the con hits.

Thursday and Friday will be the most difficult with regards to finding parking mainly because you are competing with all of the people who work downtown. Saturday and Sunday, with it being the weekend, will be easier but then you are only competing mainly with those going to the convention. I generally get down there around 7:30am to 8:00am but that is because I am an exhibitor and they allow us in early to prep. Yes, hotels are very expensive downtown especially when the convention is going on. One thing you could consider doing is staying outside of the greater Seattle area and perhaps just take an Uber downtown each day. Parking all day around the convention center is going to set you back about $20-$25. There are some great hotels on the Eastside such as in the Bothell/Kirkland area. There is one close by my place, in the Bothell area, right off the 405 freeway, I would say about 30 minutes or less from the convention center so if you stayed at a place like that, you could leave your car and just Uber it down to the show. Just throwing that out there......

I could be wrong on Steve's last name, maybe I remember Steve Dillin's name with Capital, the Steve that worked for Diamond perhaps was a different one. He really wasn't into comics either I don't believe, grey haired guy. Yes the nice perk of working for Diamond was the employee discount, I think we got 50% off.

Oh yeah I remember Second Genesis and Destiny quite well. I believe Steve Dillon (I may be wrong on his last name) worked for Second Genesis but then went to work for Diamond in Seattle so he technically was one of my bosses at the time. Great guy, very easy to work for, always friendly and willing to help. That was a different time for the comic industry, when those who were packaging up the retailers comics took pride in it and made sure each week the books were done right, etc Now, its a gamble if stores will get their titles in one piece.

Yeah great memories indeed, hopefully I can swing by and see Todd but generally leaving my booth is hard. I really don't have anything I need signed I have my entire Amazing Spider-Man run done by him all signed plus a good amount of Spider-Man #1 signed and Spawn #1's, but would still like to see him, super nice guy he is.

Also some of them may be in town but just not at the convention itself. I would be very surprised if there is no Image Expo this year, it just seems with most of the founders in town and the 25th anniversary this year would make for a perfect time to celebrate that. We still have a month to go, perhaps an Image Expo is still on and an announcement is imminent.

When I started in 1990, Diamond was buying up Destiny Distributors which was the local distributor here. The owner of Destiny ran the Seattle location for Diamond. I think Capital had an office in downtown Seattle, and then Diamond bought out Capital and then I left in 1996, I think it was 1997 when the comic market kind of imploded on itself and then finally bounced back a few years later. I think Diamond then shut down their Seattle location in 1997 or 1998.

I read somewhere that he generally does a lottery-based thing where he picks five people and charges $200 for a blank variant cover sketch. Unsure if that is current or if he will be doing that at the show.

In the very early 90's when I worked for the main comic distributor one of my duties was to deliver the comics twice a week (yes back then comic stores got in shipments twice weekly) and on my route was the store McFarlane co-owned. At times he would do a store signing so I would go down early and hang out with him before people would show up. During one such signing he said to me "Can I share you some ideas I have?" and I said "Absolutely". He then proceeds to show me preliminary sketches of various characters which later would be come Spawn, etc. They were rough pencils, some inked, showing all four sides, his chain, cape, etc. He proceeded to tell me all about it and how he wanted to start a company up by creators. He is one of the coolest guys out there, I still cherish those memories because he was so down to Earth and then we proceed to look through all of my Amazing Spider-Man issues from his complete run as he signed them and tell me things about the covers he liked and didn't like. About four years ago he was up here in Seattle for the PAX convention but wasn't really announced, he was there for his Halo line. Even though nearly 20 years had passed he recognized me, got up from his tabled walked over and gave me a big hug and we got caught up. I hope I can make it over to his table to say hi at ECCC, but leaving my booth is generally difficult. With regards to an Image Expo, one would think they would have one with the recent move to Portland, the founders all being in town, the 25th anniversary, and that they have held an Image Expo here the last two years to coincide the day before the convention starts. Hopefully an announcement is made in the next week or two, and then perhaps we may hear of a Jim Lee appearance too.

With now six of the seven original Image founders, I suspect we will see an announcement of Jim Lee in the coming weeks as a guest an then perhaps Image will announce something special event wise as well to coincide with the convention, just would seem a perfect opportunity with Image's move to th pacific northwest and their 25th anniversary this year.

Sounds good I am just a few sections over to the easy by the ATM and food court. Do you just not want to do the four-day thing? With McFarlane doing his signing on Saturday that probably will be a day most people want to go, since his signing appears to be all-day long from 10am to 4:30pm according to his site but he doesn't appear to be signing on Friday, just a panel. With it being Image Comics 25th anniversary I would not be surprised if we see Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri attend, but just me speculating. If Lee comes it may be for another retailer seminar so I would think he would also do a random lottery signing like he did last year. With Image moving to Portland last year and Image Expo taking place during ECCC the last two years, I would think it would be a great time to have another Image Expo celebrating its 25 years. So far with McFarlane, Liefeld, Portacio, Larsen, Valentino all listed as attending (as well as Kirkman). Lee and Silvestri would round out the seven founders if they were to attend. That would be cool to see....

From what I have seen, their main booth is #2310 which is in the main exhibitor hall and I believe once you cross over the sky bridge, just turn your right and it's over in that area. That could change but I believe that is where it's at. The website also shows them as being #6-200, but unsure exactly what that means, perhaps it has to do with the comic guests booths, maybe they will have a rep up there as the comic guests I heard are up on the 6th floor for this year's show. Unsure how it goes with regards to getting a witness other than head to the CGC booth, ultimately they would be the ones to help answer your questions.

I believe you stopped by my booth last year, are you going all four days this year?

For those going for celebrities this year remember all of the celebrities and photo ops have transitioned over to the Sheraton Hotel next door. I am not sure how that will sit with fans, especially if it rains that weekend having to leave the convention center and walk outside to get to the hotel, and vice versa. Also the majority of the comic book guests are being put up in the 6th floor, again not sure how fans will like that. I personally always have enjoyed the comic guests being a mixture placed in the two main halls. This is my 13th year setting up at the show, I rarely get time to leave my booth but may try this year. It's something I look forward to setting up each year, it flows nicely and lots of great people there.

I remember back when Stan Lee didn't charge, nor did any other creators but times have changed. Regarding Soule, Lemire, Wagner and the Dodson's all have never charged before. Lemire signed anything and everything as did the others at recent ECCC shows.I don't believe they have officially announced McFarlane and Kirkman but they appeared on the latest ECCC email that I got on Saturday. If its ticketed, it will probably be something about showing up at the Image booth unless they do an email lottery like they did for the Jim Lee two hour signing he had on the first day of the con at least year's ECCC.

Regarding your New Mutants #98 you should add Fabian Nicieza to it since he technically is the co-creator of Deadpool and will be at ECCC as well this year. Regarding Jim Lee, I had heard the lines were incredible for 2015 because he was only signing for one day and I think it was a ticketed event. For last year it was a lottery that you entered via email. I ended up meeting him at a seminar, super nice guy, even got a sketch from him which is quite rare nowadays. It looks like Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman will be appearing at ECCC 2017 as well.

That is one beautiful piece you have there, congrats!

Nice page you have I remember seeing it on eBay too! Here is the link to my page on ComicArtFans as well if anyone wants to check out my collection of original Crow pieces, the latest one was done by Jim Lee. http://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=87126

Great stuff there comix4fun, congrats on the commission too! James is great, I am proud to have some original sketches in my collection and a number of Crow renditions by other artists, some I have posted on this thread. I just still regret parting with my original four pages I had owned from the Gideon Pawn Shop scene. Ugh.