HCF2015 was a BLAST! We had a ton of people turn out for an amazing event and gave out hundreds of FREE comics to kids, adults - anyone who showed up really!
We also had a costume contest and took LOTS of pictures! You can see all the different costumes below:
We could only have ONE winner - FINN BUTLER and his Flying Jetpack Boy costume!
We also had a raffle for (4) Munsters POP Vinyl figures and the winner is...
Well, we're rested and relaxed after an AMAZING weekend at GSCF!
We had a wonderful time and would like to start by thanking Dave, Sal and Evan for putting together a stellar event and for inviting us to be a part of it!
We can't even begin to tell you about all the amazing things we saw, the wonderful people we met and the great friends we got to see - ALL IN ONE PLACE!
Our booth was more than just a way to sell product - we had some out-of-this-world talent at our table this weekend! Brian Smith (Stuff of Legend, Intrepid EscapeGoat, Voltron Force, Spongebob Squarepants) was with us on Saturday along with Stephen Coughlin (Sanctuary) who were "WOW"-ing customers with their friendly, down-to-earth personalities and rockstar art skills - sketching for customers whether it was one of the characters they work on or Hulk, Batman, whoever!
We also had the pleasure of sharing space with Katie Coe - a cosplayer from Delaware - gorgeous and talented, she debuted her brand new Dr. Strange cosplay and had prints of all her previous cosplay characters available for purchase! If you missed seeing her this weekend, you really missed out!
We got to hang out with a TON of "old" friends like:
Erica Schultz (Swords of Sorrow, Vertigo Pop SFX #1)
Fernando Ruiz (Archie, Archie vs Predator)
Anthony Marques (Shadow, Action Comics, Superman)
Joe Caramagna (Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man Web Warriors)
John Paul (NJComicBookShows.Com)
Big Kev and Matt Cipoletti (Big Kev's Geek Stuff Podcast)
Vincent DelVecchio Jr (local Artist)
Mike Grassia (indie all-ages artist/writer)
Howard Levy (GSCF Official Photographer, HSL Photography)
Our friends at Dog Walk of the Dead
And a TON of new friends:
Sean Von Gorman (Toe Tag Riot, Pawn Shop, Houdini)
Charles Paul Wilson III (Stuff of Legend)
Neal Adams (yes, we said Neal Adams)
Ethan Van Sciver (again, yes, we said Ethan Van Sciver)
Chris Campana (firstworldcomic.com)
Mark McKenna (Boonana Tales, Combat Jacks)
...and SO MANY MORE we can't get through it all!
The turnout was great at the Con. We saw a bunch of really great cosplayers (including a great Clayface cosplayer, complete with Batman stuck inside) and met a plethora of new collectors and comic fans! We also saw a bunch of our regular customers at the show who came out to show some love!
We had an amazing time overall and cannot wait to do it all again next year!
Special shout-out to Evan Conwell for getting up at the crack of dawn to help load in on a Saturday morning, Anthony Gaglione for spending his Sunday day-off helping out at the booth and assisting with load out and Marie Beck for her Mary-Jane Loves East Side Mags mash-up cosplay, helping out at the booth and being the rock she always is! :)
Last, but never least, Susan Bittman, Dave Toussas and Steph Vargas for holding down the fort and keeping the store running smooth so we could take advantage of this amazing opportunity!
And on that note, we leave you with a short clip of the hardest working man in comics, the James Brown of comic books if you will endulge us, SEAN VON GORMAN fighting to get out of a straight-jacket to promote his book - Houdini! This guy is hilarious and has a ton of great stories. Enjoy!
-East Side Mags
East Side Mags would like to thank EVERYONE who came out for FCBD! We had a TON of fun and it was great seeing familiar faces and SO MANY new ones!
Paul Castiglia and Stephen Coughlin were here, signing copies of their work and sketching for customers! They had a great time and got to meet a TONG of fans face to face!
Big Kev's Geek Stuff was here too! They set up near the line of customers waiting to purchase amazing comics and gear and got to interview and talk to customers about their favorite comics, what they're looking forward, tested out an Iron Man helmet and discussed their favorite FCBD issues!
We had an amazing community art project going. We brought in a 6' x 8' canvas that everyone who came out for FCBD got to paint on! We had some amazing artists incorporate their work and a ton of kids who were just excited to paint! The theme was "Who's Your Superhero" to compliment the Montclair Public Library's summer reading program which also happens to be superhero themed! Once the painting was completed, we delivered it to the Library where you can see it in all its glory on display in the Young Adult section!
We had a costume contest sponsored by DK Publishing and LEGO! We had a whole bunch of contestants with really great costumes! You can check out the great photos of our costumed customers below!
All in all, we had an amazing time! Thank you so much to everyone on Team ESM - Steph Vargas, Joe Siegel, Marie Musiol, Susan Bittman, Howard Levy, Ellen Musiol, Paul Beck, Pele Marques, Josh, Zack and Chelsea Smith, Greg and Andrea Pason! Without all of you, this day would not have been nearly as smooth or as much fun as it was!
Another BIG THANK YOU to all our customers, staff and friends for coming out and showing us love and support! A BIG BIG Special thank you to News 12 for coming out to do a quick story on us and HSL Photography for taking so many AMAZING pics too!
Can't wait til next year!
Much love! ~East Side Mags
Batman Day was so much fun!
In celebration of Batman's 75th anniversary, we provided customers with the ability to acquire one of four different Batman masks commemorating some of the most memorable moments in Batman's comic history including:
-Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns
-Adam West's Batman '66
-DC Comics The New 52 version of Batman
-Bob Kane's original Batman
Batman 75th anniversary capes were also provided and we worked really, really hard on our Christian Bale voice.
Needless to say, we had a great day and so did all the kids, parents, youngsters and young-at-heart adults who came out to show their love of the Dark Knight!
We also determined that Bruce Wayne is THE BEST LOOKING 75 year old man in the world...
