Planet Comicon Kansas City 2023: Swag Brag

I usually do one of these for every day I’m at a convention, but I was busier than usual this weekend (MODERATING PANELS), so the haul is a little light, but I got some really cool stuff.

First up, there’s this sweet creator variant of Twig #1 and a trade paperback, signed by Kyle Straum. 

I met Michael ‘Gecko’ Adams in the bar of the Loews Hotel, and he told me a story about a karate bean, so I had to swing by his booth and pick up the series and a couple stickers.

I also was able to snag this copy of Haunthology, Jeremy Haun’s collection of horror stories inspired by the loneliness and sense of impending doom surrounding the pandemic.

If you watch Comicon’s Happy Hour series, you might know that my bar recently flooded, destroying much of the art that was on the walls. Can’t have a bare wall behind me while recording, so I needed this Freddie Williams II pencil study from Injustice/MOTU. 

Speaking of those bare walls, I also grabbed these John Lucas pages and pencil/ink studies from After Houdini and Before Houdini. I’m a bit of a Houdini nut, and this hits both my comics and Houdini interests.

This one is really special. I do a lot of fundraising for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. (You can find my CFF fundraising page here.) Every few years, I get as many unique and valuable comics items I can find to auction off, benefiting the CFF. Cullen Bunn had this blank sketch cover for sale, and Baldemar Rivas and Kyle Straum were also both on site. I asked Baldemar for a quick sketch, and he ended up penciling, inking, and watercoloring a wraparound cover for us to use, which all three creators signed for us. 

Planet shirts for the family.

Also found at Cullen Bunn’s table was this copy of Star Wars: Darth Maul #1. When my middle son was four years old, I had just come home from my local comics store and I laid my stack on the table. The store owner had thrown in one of those comics announcement cards in the bag that had this cover on it. My son, unprompted, began to read the announcement card to me. “Star Wars, Darth Maul, Cullen Bunn, Luke Ross…” It was the first time I knew he was actually reading, and not repeating back lines he had memorized from our night time stories.

Also bought five of these vinyl horror stickers. One is already on the back of my laptop. The others will find homes on my luggage or something.