I recently had the opportunity to attend Q-Con XXII in Belfast, Ireland. It was held June 19-21 and is one of Ireland’s biggest gaming and anime conventions.
Q-Con XXII – Queen’s University Belfast, Student Union
A special thanks to Aíne (red shirt) and Alianne (blue shirt) at registration who got me all set up when I got there.
On a side note, the neck lanyards they gave you on arrival were amazing. They contained all the information you needed and more – incredibly handy.
2015 Q-Con XXII neck lanyard/badge holder.
Of particular interest to me was Q-Con’s Artist Alley.
The following are just a few of the items I picked up.
Note: Click on the pics to go to the artists’ websites.
Comic Strips are formatted different ways for different size requirements. The “drop panel” is a panel or tier of the strip that can be omitted because of size restrictions without affecting the gag or storyline.
May 24, 2015 Sally Forth with drop panel.May 24, 2015 Sally Forth without drop panel.
And here’s the steps involved in creating the drop panel, from pencils to finished inks.
Late Night with David Letterman premiered in 1982 and was a staple of my tv viewing during my formative years (ages 17 on up).
Bill Murray and David Letterman – 1982
Madonna and Sandra Bernhard on Late Night with David Letterman – 1988
When I first moved out to New Jersey to go to the Kubert School, one of the first priorities was to get on the waiting list for tickets to a taping of Letterman.
Letterman caricature done my first year of the Joe Kubert School – January 1987
When I eventually did get tickets, it was a show featuring Jerry Garcia & Bobby Weir from the Grateful Dead. Going to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to see the taping was one of those memories that stay with you. The lobby at 30 Rock was filled with Dead Heads offering hundreds of dollars for anyone wishing to sell their tickets. (The tickets were free). Having waited so long to get the tickets, selling them never crossed my mind.
When Letterman eventually moved to CBS and the Ed Sullivan Theater I mailed in a request to be put on the waiting list again. The Late Show with David Letterman debuted August 30, 1993, and I was able to get tickets within the first few weeks of it’s premiere.
Top image: Postcard saying you were on the waiting list. Bottom image: Ticket to the Late Show.
Having been passed over to host the Tonight Show in favor of Jay Leno, Letterman’s move to CBS with his own show was monumental and every show those first few weeks Letterman got a standing ovation. The show I attended was no exception. Coincidentally Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead was on the show that night as well, playing with Paul Shaffer and “The World’s Most Dangerous Band.”
Initially Letterman’s Late Show beat out the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in the ratings, but eventually the ratings slipped and Letterman was behind Leno and Ted Koppel’s Nightline in the ratings. Right in view of the Ed Sullivan theater a billboard went up in Times Square proclaiming Leno as number one.
Letterman followed up brilliantly with the following…
One of the things that made Letterman so great was that he had on guests no one else knew how to handle (Howard Stern, Andy Kaufman and Richard Simmons come to mind), and though sometimes there was a danger of the segment jumping the rails, Letterman always kept it on track and made it memorable.
And then of course there were guests that no one else would have had on. Like underground comics creator Harvey Pekar…
I haven’t watched The Late Show regularly in years, and watching it recently as the show wraps it’s very clear that I’ve been missing out. It’s such a pleasure to see the enjoyment Letterman’s having these final few weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWsVrJoww60
Letterman was the gold standard as far as talk show hosts go in my book.
Norm MacDonald (at the end of this stand-up clip) has summed it up better than anyone else, so I’ve leaving with the following…
Their was a fun list of celebrities there, but as mentioned
I didn’t have a lot of time on my hands for circulating.
Time permitting I would have stopped by to see Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell.
I’m sure with how busy her schedule was she feels the same regret about not being able to stop by to see me.
[caption id="attachment_7117" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Hayley Atwell as Agent Carter
Last but not least, the great thing about C2E2 is finding out about new artists.
Here’s Batman artist, Joaquin Orta. He was kind enough
