CCD Interviews: Artist Sean Hamilton At His Booth In Artist Alley at the 2013 NY Comic Con

My man Sean Hamilton and I go way back... last year at the NY Comic Con to be exact! We met Sean last year in Artist Alley and have seen him at a few other cons, and considering we have so much in common we always chop it up a bit when we see each other. See, Sean is a comic & pop culture nerd... but he is also a sneaker head. These are two of my favorite things as well, and so we have similar sensibilities in terms of the things we personally like. This tends to skew me towards the work he does, which pairs a popular pop culture character (Superman, Spidey, Michonne, etc) with a fresh pair of kicks. Some are obvious, like Catwoman paired with the Tiffany Dunks, or Hulk paired with the Hulk Dunks. Some are based on color ways, like Superman in the Fire Red 4s or Batman in the Thunder 4s. And some are just conceptual, such as Teen Wolf dunking a basketball in the Nike Air Mags (aka Marty McFly's from Back to the Future fame). Truly great and creative stuff... and I love seeing what he comes up with next. The best part is that Sean usually does very limited runs of each print... and once he sells out, they are gone forever! I copped his Batman piece and he threw in the Superman for free (thanks brother!). Make sure you check out Sean's cool ass website by clicking here, and check out some of the pics I took of his booth and the interview we conducted after the jump. Also, make sure you follow him on Instagram (CreateInkStudios)... his timeline is poppin! Enjoy the goodies after the jump...

Remember The Time Comic Legend Neal Adams Made My Comic Con?

Neal Adams has been a comic book legend since before I ever picked up my first issue of a comic. Ever since hsi first big time cover of The Brave & the Bold #75 Adams has been slaying some of the best characters comics have with his inspired designs. From way back in the early 1970s Adams has been the artist that most people associate with Batman, but he has done so much more work that it is laughable to only consider him a Batman artist. Deadman, X-Men, Superman, Green Arrow... Neal has skilled them all. As a true fan of 70s and 80s comics (I was raised on 'em), I always loved Adams's art. So when I got a chance to meet the man personally at this years NY comic Con, I damn near fainted. Just the prospect of shaking hands with the man responsible for some of my favorite comic artwork ever blew my mind... but the fact that he was going to sign a few items of mine to boot? Yup, that was almost to much to take in.

See more after the jump...




When I walked over to the table, I was escorted by my fiance's uncle Jimmy. He is a NYPD detective who happens to be a huge comic fan as well. He also happens to know Mr. Adams personally. So when we walked over and Adams wife Marilyn came running over to greet us. She warmly welcomed us into the booth and Jimmy began talking to Neal. I had a copy of my Green Hornet #1 to be signed by Adams, but I was taken by his prints and just knew that I needed to get my hands on some Adams Batman work. So I picked up a cool print of his that featured The Joker prominently.

What a great print!

So great! I picked it up and went to pay Marilyn, but she refused my money. She said that Jimmy was like family to them and that I wouldn't be paying for anything. Wow... instead of just getting an autograph I was getting a free 11 x 14 print and a chance to chat with one of my heroes! This worked out much better than I could have expected.

Swag!

Adams chatted me up for a few minutes and I was taken aback by just how nice and pleasant he was. Not that I expected him to be rude or anything... but when you are being accosted by hundreds & thousands of comic book fans, you would expect a certain level of annoyance. But not Neal... he was like a kid in candy store. he truly loves drawing and creating comics, and loves to talk about it even more. I could see the joy he had talking about all the work he has done and I could see how happy it made him to see someone like me completely enamored with meeting him. I offered to pay for the print again, and was promptly scolded by Marilyn for the third time. What great people...

Green Hornet #1 signed by Neal

The final thing that blew my mind was that Neal congratulated me on choosing to bring him an issue of Green Hornet as opposed to his usual Batman related products. He said something along the lines of 'I love signing Batman stuff... it is some of my alltime favorite work. But when someone brings something like this (referring to my Green Hornet #1) for me to sign, it makes me even happier!'. Wow. I love getting statements like that directed at me from one of my all time favorite comic creators. Thanks for making my Comic Con a memorable one Neal...

The man, the myth, the legend... and Neal Adams! 

Also, as a slight aside, Neal Adams son Josh had a small table set up on the side. Josh draws the IDW Dr. Who comic and his art is fantastic. Not like that was to be unexpected... he is Neal Adams son after all. Since Marilyn wouldn't let me spend any money on Neal's stuff, I decided to monetarily take care of Josh instead. I purchased a couple of the Dr. Who books that Josh had available at his table and he was kind enough to personalize them for me. What a good family of artists doing something they love. All in all, one of the best memories of my comic book collecting life.

Thanks Josh!!!!

Guess Who Met Chris Claremont??? This Guy Right Here!!!!

The 2012 edition of the NY Comic Con was a memorable one for many reasons. I got to chill with my boys, got treated like a king due to my press pass, got a ton of free swag, bought a ton of cool shit... yeah, all that shit was great. But getting to meet some of my comic creating heroes... yeah, that tops the list by a long shot. In the next couple of days I will tell you guys about meeting the likes of Mike Mignola, Herb Trimpe, Neal Adams, David Lloyd, and many others... but hands down, the coolest person that I met had to be THE X-MAN himself, Mr. Chris Claremont!!! 

Click after the jump for the rest of the story...



Claremont is responsible for creating the modern day X-Men as you and I know it. Starting in 1975, Claremont wrote the Uncanny X-Men book for a total of 17 STRAIGHT YEARS. That is unheard of in the comic world. Shit, Stan Lee didn't even write the X-Men for that long... and he created the team! Claremont used some of the old characters but brought in a shitload of new ones, and many of those characters were strong females. He put the ladies to the forefront of the team, and the stories that he wrote are some of the best you will ever read. He wrote The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, and many other popular story arcs that made the X-men the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe. The guy is a god. And there he was, just sitting at a table in Artists Alley....

Claremont's first isuue, #94

I couldn't believe my eyes. Claremont... right in front of me. This was like a dream come true. I was brought into the comic world in the mid 80s by reading large runs of Avengers & X-men books. Claremont was my first fave. I own a huge chunk of that 17 year run, but unfortunately most of those books are in my Dad's attic way out in Long Island. FUCK!!!! I knew I would be back again on Friday and I needed to formulate a plan, so when I got home that night I immediately ripped up my comic collection that I have in my apartment...

I wanted to get Claremont to sign as many things as possible, so I began sifting through my issues. I found a couple, #201 & #204 respectively. #201 is technically the first appearance of Cable  (actually Nathan Summers as a baby), one of my faves when I was a young collector (it was wroth a few bucks back in the day!) . I also had two of the new X-Men books that Claremont did with Jim Lee back in 91.  Finally, I  had a very Cool original Marvel Graphic Novel (the oversized ones) of God Loves, Man Kills that I acquired at Joseph Koch's Comic Warehouse (so much old cool shit there for cheap, you gotta get out to their Warehouse Sales once a month!).

 So I went and got those signed by Claremont the next day. When I handed him issue #204 (Nightcrawler on the cover). He thumbed through it and gave me a serious look, and said 'Wow... thank you. I haven't seen that particular issue in about 15 years!'. I almost dropped... you gotta be kidding me. Props from Claremont on my book choice? Yup. He also cracked a smile when I handed him the Oversized Graphic Novel. "Another oldie but a goodie" he said... yup Chris Claremont just became my new favorite guy in the world.

I decided to hunt down some more back issues to get Claremont to sign, which I did at one of the vendors tables, I got some really cool books from his run, like 10 in all for about a buck a piece. Well worth it since I was about to get the John Hancock of the King X-Man himself on them. Claremont was glad to sign those as well, and again thumbed through a full issue. This time it was # 181, a book called 'Young Dragons In Love' that feature Lockheed the Dragon. That book is special to me because we have our very own Lockheed here at CCD, so I loved that he liked that selection as well. Mr. Claremont, you really are the man! So much so, I asked him to sign my credential as well. A Fitting way to end the weekend!

Either way, it was a great haul and I got to meet & talk to one of my idols from the comic world. Thanks again, Mr. Claremont... and thanks for all the great stories!