The 2012 New York Comic Con, Part 3

Today is our final 2012 NYCC post, this time focusing on the Aqua-Family, which was well-represented at the show. And it all wraps up with five grown men acting like little boys.

The team of Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Rod Reis were just a few rows away from where we were, so a couple of times per day I would wander over and see how things were going for the boys. I picked up a print from Rod of my favorite Aquaman image from the past quarter century, and I also got a sneak preview of the art from Aquaman #13 and Justice League #14, in between looking at shots of Joe Prado's collection of adorable pooches. I'm not going to say much about what I saw from the books, suffice it to say: I hope Black Manta has some industrial-strength crazy glue.

While traipsing up and down the aisles of AA collecting various Ace Kilroy sketches, I saw this fellow waiting in line for Mike Mignola (I think) and tapped him on the shoulder to take a pic. I pleased to learn he'd heard of the Shrine!

 

This young man's version of Aquaman was ingenious: he attached some stuffed fish to his back and shoulders, so it looked as though this particular Sea King was in a constant cloud of his finny friends:

Somehow, though, I managed to never cross paths with this cosplayer, who looks like he stepped right out of an Alex Ross painting of Aquaman:

 

...outrageous!
 
Aquaman has his share of female fans, too, with one of them choosing not go as Mera, and instead give us a reverse-gender Aquaman:

...works for me.

But there were Meras too! Two lovely ladies walked past, and I snapped pics of both, also telling them about the Shrine and how their pics will soon be showing up on it:

  

The award for most ass-kicking Mera, though, must go to this tall drink of water who strolled by our table:

This particular Queen of the Seven Seas was none other than F.O.A.M.er (and Ace's Allies member) Ray DeForest, who at 7'2" would surely make Black Manta or Ocean Master quake in their boots! Ray has been a good friend to me, the Shrine, and Ace Kilroy, and I am always happy when I get to see him...or, in this case, her. It was amusing to watch the stunned reactions of other cosplayers as Ray departed---it takes a lot to shock the average comic con-goer, but this particular Mera did the trick.

 F.O.A.M.er and Nuclear Sub Randy Caldwell stopped by and handed me a sketch he did of the Sea King:

 

Speaking of members of the Aqua-Family, the show wrapped up on Sunday at 5pm, and after Dan and I had packed up, I stopped by "the boys" one last time, wanting to get a picture of us all before they headed back to Brazil. This would be the last time I'd see them when they were still on Aquaman, so even though I don't like posing for pictures in general, I had to commemorate this special time for me, for Aquaman, and for the Shrine, which made all of this possible in the first place:

There was no better way to end the con--or any con, for that matter. Boa sorte, meus amigos!