Ever since I started the long drive home from San Diego Comic Con ‘09 there has been one thing on my mind: San Diego Comic Con ‘10!  It’s like Disneyland for comic book geeks!  I put a little money away all year long to spend at Con and we always make a weekend of it with a hotel room full of pizza and drinks for after we get back from Con…but the food’s gotta stay away from the comics.  We’re not compete savages!

For me a really good haul at Comic Con consists of a couple pivotal back issues (last year I looked everywhere and eventually got my greedy hands on Invincible #1 and got it signed by Robert Kirkman), one expensive silver age/milestone book (which I’ve never achieved), a nice statue (last year I got the Bruce Timm Batman: Black and White), a t-shirt or two and a ton of cheap trade paper backs.  Last year I got my first signed art print (Invincible by Ryan Ottley) which has started a whole new obsession.  I’ve also recently gotten interested in getting Con sketches which for some reason has never appealed to me before.

But all of this has always been little more than a general guideline.  This year I decided to get organized and used my Facebook account to make myself a San Diego Comic Con 2010 Wish List!  Even this though is just a guide for me to use at Comic Con.  I have multiple items per category listed and when I’m at Con I’ll decide which one I want to (and which ones my budget will allow me to) bring home with me.

General Pivotal Back Issues:

Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #1:  I’ve really been enjoying Luke Cage lately and I realized that he doesn’t even have a series of his own anymore.  He’s a really great character and I’d love to own his first appearance.

Flash vol. 2, #64:  Okay, in the grand scheme of things this isn’t a very pivotal book.  It’s part three of what is essentially Wally West: Year One, not really much to write home about.  But this is the first comic book I ever owned which my dad bought me because I was a nut for the 90’s live action Flash TV show.  Sadly the original copy that I had didn’t survive the rigors of being owned by a seven year old or the multiple purges my parents did of my early comic book collection, but I’d really love to own a copy of it.  Thanks Pops!

Expensive Silver Age/Milestone Issues:

(before you start asking, “How do you expect to pay for all these?” keep in mind, I’m only looking to get one of these, if any.)

Amazing Spider-Man #50: Okay, Spider-Man is my all time favorite character.  As much as I’d love to own Amazing Fantasy #15 I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend at Con.  As it is, anything in this category is going to be really difficult to obtain as far as my checking account is concerned.  If for no other reason than the cover, I really would love to own this book.  It’s so classic and Romita is such a genius. Plus, first Kingpin.

Daredevil # 7:  Again with the genius of silver age Marvel artists.  Wally Wood’s cover to this issue is so astounding, not to mention the simple beauty of the red costume.  I love Daredevil and having the first issue with his signature red costume would be a serious feather in my cap.

Captain America #100:  With the Captain America movie coming out next year and Avengers the year after that all of the silver age Cap and Avengers books are going to skyrocket in price so I want to get my hands on some of these while I can.

Giant Size X-Men #1:  Okay, this one isn’t technically a silver age book but it’s serious milestone Marvel book.  First Nightcrawler, first Storm, first Colossus, first association of Wolverine and the X-Men…this book has it all!

Statues:

Kotobukiya Iron Man Mark IV:  I really wanted to get the Kotobukiya Iron Man Mark III from the first movie but this one is so much cooler.  Way more dynamic pose.  It comes with LED lights in the eyes, repulsors and the chest piece.  Love it!  But I’ll sell it in a heartbeat if they come out with a Suitcase Armor statue with the LED’s.

Randy Bowen Ms. Marvel:  I really love Ms. Marvel.  She’s such a cool character.  I like how dynamic this statue is but I’ve also got my eye on…

Sideshow Ms. Marvel:  This one is a lot more detailed and it has a fabric costume on plus two removable heads.

Randy Bowen Wolverine Brown Costume, Mask Off:  Badass.  Flat out badass.

Randy Bowen Spider-Woman:  Not very dynamic but I really like the character and it’s got some great detail, like the semi transparent armpit webs.  Plus a very vibrant paint job.

DC Direct Power Girl:  Another one of my favorite female characters.  Again, not very dynamic but great detail and great sculpting.  Very expressive.

Signed Prints and Sketches:

My problem here is that I haven’t been able to find a concrete list of which artists will be there, but I’d love sketches and signed prints from Mike Mignola, Ryan Ottley, Francis Manapul (hopefully a print from his new run on Flash), Mark Brooks (really want a print of his cover to the Cloak and Dagger one shot), J. Scott Campbell, John Romita Jr., Terry Dodson, Amanda Conner, Kev Walker, Marko Djurdjevic…I could go on all day but that’s a brief list of who I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

T-Shirts:

Futurama Planet Express Logo:  I love Futurama.  This one is simple but beautiful.

Blue Lantern Flash Logo:  I was recently turned onto this shirt by my friend Sam and I just love this logo.

Again, this is just a wish list.  Hopefully I’ll get a few from each category or just one from the expensive ones but I may come home with nothing from this list.  Who knows?  The important part is that I get to go to Comic Con again this year.  That’s what’s really fun.  Oh, I also plan on getting as many pictures as I can with good cosplayers, so keep your eyes open for those.

Ian Candish
Ian@ComicImpact.Com