More Comic Con 2010

Day one at Comic-Con? Uneventful. Actually for once the crush of humanity was not that horrific and it was relatively easy to walk about the exhibitor floor. I did a little of that, but mainly stuck by both the DC booth for my signing and the National Cartoonists Society booth where I did caricatures and had some MAD originals for sale. The NCS booth is located at booth spaces 1307 and 1309:

The NCS booth is pretty well done, IMO. Nice location, too. I’ll be there from 2:00 to about 3:30 today doing caricatures, sketches and selling those MAD pages. I’ll also be at the DC Comics booth from 4:00-5:00 PM signing and drawing. Unfortunately the folks at DC have decided they are only giving away free stuff early in the day and at the end of the day… they said it was because the stampede to grab freebies in the heavy part of the day is overwhelming. So, I don’t know if I will have free copies of MAD or not.

EDIT- just confirmed that free copies of MAD are a go for the DC signings.

Last night I attended the Captain Rochester party at the Palm Restaurant on J Street. Captain Rochester is part of an awareness project from a company called Rochester Electronics, a maker of semi-conductors. Apparently there is a real problem in the world of high tech with counterfeit semiconductors and components for electronics.

From the Captian Rochester website:

The goal at Rochester Electronics has been to raise awareness of the devastating implications of counterfeit and substandard components that make their way every day into products that affect our lives. Captain Rochester and his team of valiant allies constantly fight to defeat their treacherous counterfeiting enemies. Through his adventures, we can share – in an entertaining way – important information about counterfeiting with the semiconductor industry’s customers and original manufacturers, as well as with the general public.

Captain Rochester’s adventures have expanded since we introduced him in 2006 because the threat of counterfeit and substandard devices has risen significantly. Arrests and convictions have increased dramatically in the past year, however, as awareness in the industry as well as in law enforcement agencies and government agencies have expanded. Working together (with the help of the message Captain Rochester gives), we can outsmart the counterfeiters by promoting best purchasing practices and understanding the dangers!

Captain Rochester’s adventures will increase knowledge and appreciation of the importance of the quest for quality in the semiconductor industry.

As part of this program Rochester Electronics is producing a series of comic books done by Scott Shaw! and a series of trading cards done by some pretty notable artists (present company excluded). They debuted series one and two here with cards by the likes of Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Jeff Keane, Sergio Aragon?¬©s, Steve Rude, Hy Eisman, Gene Colan, Al Jaffee, Peter Bagge and many more. Here’s my card (sorry for the bad scan):

You can get more information and order the comics, cards or collectible card sheets from the Captain Rochester website.