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

...and we've got the BEST FRIENDS in the whole wide world!

On Saturday, July 18th, we celebrated our one year anniversary in STYLE!

To honor the occasion, we brought out some pretty heavy hitters to celebrate along with us!

Archie artist extraordinaire, Fernando Ruiz was here to wow the crowd with his stellar drawing skills for Archie fans and comic fans alike! As the artist on various Archie titles including the new Archie vs Predator series, it was a complete honor hosting him for a second time. A nicer guy there never was, Fernando came here right after teaching his class at the amazing Kubert School to "wow" our customers with his talent! Here is an example - a sketch cover he did for us on our Spider-Gwen #1 blank cover.

New to the scene, Isaac Goodhart was on-board as well. He draws a new comic called "Postal" for Top Cow and currently resides in Astoria. He and his lovely girlfriend were nice enough to come check out our little slice of heaven here in Montclair, sign copies of the first trade paperback for Postal that just came out and sketch for our customers! Here's a little something he whipped up for us.

Joe Caramagna, the AMAZING Marvel writer, joined in the party too! He signed copies of his work that include Avengers Vs, Marvel Universe Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man Web Warriors and SO MUCH MORE! Joe is a Jersey-guy unlike any other and, although he doesn't draw much anymore, even he got in the action by sketching us this amazing piece:

Last but NEVER least, our good friend and neighbor Brian Smith - artist and writer for books such as Spongebob Squarepants, Stuff of Legend, Voltron Force, the Intrepid EscapeGoat and MORE - came by his LCS (local comic shop for those wondering) and hung out with fans, customers and friends while sketching, signing and even ran home to grab some original art he'd been working on in his free time to show some fans including US!

NOTE: Special shout-out to Greg Schigiel (artist/writer for Pix) and Stephen Coughlin (artist/writer for Sanctuary) for stopping by and hanging out with us! We really do have the best friends!

If you thought all that wasn't amazing enough, we held an all day raffle called PACK WARS. See - you buy a pack of baseball cards and when raffle time came, we would see who had the best stat for the prize - most home runs, fewest strike outs, most innings pitched, best on base percentage, etc. Check out some photos below of all our amazing winners!

The day ended with a STELLAR, AMAZING, OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD performance by a local band comprised of some of Montclair's most talented high-schoolers - Tula Vera! They performed in the store and ROCKED IT! You can check out the videos but it doesn't do them justice. They are destined for greatness and it was an honor having them in the store. The future of rock looks bright indeed!!!

To top it all off, in style, we received this from Mr. Stan Lee himself! BIG THANK YOU to Chuck Robertson for making the connection and being an all-around awesome guy with great sons!

Needless to say, we had a blast! We have met some amazing people who work in comics and some even more amazing customers who truly love comics, art, stories, reading and fun over the last year and it looks like we'll be here for a long time to come! We swell with great anticipation about who we'll meet in the next year and the years to come!

Thank you so much to all the artists, writers and - most of all - the customers and fans of comics for keeping the medium (and us) alive and thriving! We couldn't have done this without all of you and your support and our greatest pleasure is paying that back to you by hosting fun, exciting and entertaining events for you to attend and enjoy!

Keep it coming cuz we're not done yet...

Much love,

Everyone involved at East Side Mags

Garden State ComicFest Recap

We're a One-Year-Old...

Paul Castiglia and Fernando Ruiz - Riverdale will never be the same!