Top 5 Comic Con 2009 Exclusives

The San Diego Comic Con 2009 is less than a month away!
That’s right, fan boys and girls! The largest extravaganza of pop culture is mere weeks away!
Comic books, comic book artists, comic book writers—all in one place. Novelists, editors, dust jacket artists—all in one place. Graphic artists, sculptors, special FX people—all in one place. Free advanced reader copies, free comic books, free goodie bags—all in one place. People dressed as Wookies, people dressed as Darth Vader, people dressed as Slave Princess Leia—all in one place. Hollywood actors, Hollywood directors, Hollywood trailers and premieres—all in one place. Stan Lee, Jim Lee, Jae Lee—all in one place.
Last year, Stan Lee even bumped into me while gaining his hotel room key.
It’s enough to put a big grin on my face! Once again, Team Suvudu will be bringing coverage of the San Diego Comic Con 2009 to the internet(s), through posting, interviews, pictures and video!
But I have a guilty pleasure in going—the Exclusives galore!
Comic Con. 126,000+ people crammed into a convention center. The San Diego Fire Marshall must sweat every minute of all four days every year. With all of those people in one spot, exhibitors must do what they can to entice the most people to their booths instead of a competitor’s booth. They do this in various ways, but the coolest is the use of Exclusives—rare items either given away or sold at Comic Con or bear the Comic Con logo in some way.
Here is a list of my Top 5 Comic Con 2009 Exclusives!
#5. Grifball Spartan
McFarlane Toys has been a leading toy manufacturer for more than a decade now, creating some of the coolest toy figures on the market. One such property that has been given the toy treatment is the Microsoft game Halo, a first-person shooter released in 2001 to much acclaim. With sales comes merchandising and Todd McFarlane has taken advantage of that, producing very cool Halo figures for the franchise.
The Grifball Spartan is a character from a team-oriented game called Grifball that is similar to lacrosse but with hands. The ball is used to score points but the other team tries to prevent its foe from scoring by wielding gravity hammers and/or swords. Since I played Halo quite often when I was in college, this figure appeals to my past and is a pretty cool exclusive at Comic Con this year!
The Grifball Spartan is limited to 6,000 pieces and will sell for $15. This exclusive will be available at the Toys “R” Us Comic Con booth, in limited quantity at the Toys “R” Us Times Square store, and through www.toysrus.com.

#4. Spartan Bust
Comic Con is not only for nerds and geeks to get their fill of cool merchandise but it can serve a greater good as well. Once upon a time I was diagnosed with cancer and went through treatment. As you can imagine I became quite sensitive to the call for a cure. It takes money to do the research for said cure and since 1991 the color pink has become the most recognized color associated with cancer. Whenever I see pink I don’t see a pretty color—I see a fight to live for many women around the world.
So when I saw this Halo Spartan bust—in pink, which is a weird color for a Halo Spartan to wear—I had to do a bit of research and discovered the company Gentle Giant Ltd. is selling these at Comic Con. More importantly, they are also selling a Darth Vader Helmet Pink Edition for $65.00 that supports the Susan G. Koman Foundation and their search for a cure. I do not know if the sales of the pink Halo Spartan bust go to the foundation as well, but I am at least going to support a company that is actually giving money to a cause much greater than their own.
The Spartan Bust is limited to 150 pieces and will sell for $40. This exclusive will be available at the Gentle Giant booth at Comic Con!
#3. Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 Sketch
The last few years Marvel Comics has been producing some great comic books with meaningful, literary stories highlighting much of the strife seen in our own world. I’ve been paying attention, watching from the sidelines, staying fairly current with what they are doing. And with the release yesterday of Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1, which has artwork by Marc Silvestri but a variant edition with a cover done by artist Jae Lee, I have been brought back into the Marvel fold.
I enjoy Jae Lee’s artwork on the Dark Tower comic book series as well. He has recently done a great deal of work on covers for the current Dark Reign of Norman Osborn. Since Utopia #1 fits into that storyline, this sketch exclusive of the book is a must have for my comic book collection!
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 Sketch is limited to 7,500 copies and a list of the exhibitors selling it can be found at the Diamond Previews Booth #2401.
#2. The Talisman #0 Black & White Edition
Here is one of the more fun items at Comic Con for me because I love the novel The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Del Rey Books is adapting the novel into a comic book series, written by Robin Furth with art by Tony Shasteen, bringing the story of Jack Sawyer and his foray into the twinner Territories a reality for comic book readers.
Issue #0 will be published in October 2009 but Del Rey has decided to release a free black and white edition at Comic Con! This will be a rare Stephen King item down the road, of that I have no doubt. And beyond that it will be a wonderful adaptation and great story for comic book readers to try!
The Talisman #0 is limited and is free! This exclusive can be found at the Random House/Del Rey Booth #1129.
#1. Iron Man Mark III Attendee Edition
This one is the crown jewel—and sadly I can’t get it at Comic Con. It has already sold out at the convention, but it can still be ordered online at Sideshow Collectibles. Sideshow knows how to produce high-end figures and this version of the Iron Man Mark III without paint is just too cool to pass up. And with the movie sequel to Iron Man in production right now by Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr., I think I need to have this somewhere in my home since that first movie was so damn good!
Iron Man Mark III Attendee Edition is limited and is $189.99. It is available on the Sideshow Collectible website and can be seen at the Sideshow Collectible area at Comic Con.
Oh yes! I will have them! One way or another! These five items are coming home with me—whether from Comic Con or from a secondary source.
What are you looking forward to? Any of the exclusives? There are at least 40 different exclusives with more probably to follow. Some cool Transformers and Ghostbuster ones. If you go to Comic Con 2009, be sure to keep your eyes open.
You’ll never know what you’ll find!