Photo-Report By J.M. Manion
The weekend of April 20-22 was fun-filled three days at the 2012 Pittsburgh Comicon. Working at the Iron Sirens Comics booth were two of the main characters – six-time Fitness Olympia and five-time Fitness International champ Adela Garcia and 2010 Bikini Olympia and 2012 Bikini International champ Sonia Gonzales.
Adela is a hero in the comics and her villainous foe is Sonia, aka The Raptress. They battle throughout the series with the climax happening in the newly-released Iron Sirens Issue 7 that debuted at the Pittsburgh Comicon. Adela and Sonia were the main attractions at the booth wearing their comic character costumes, custom designed by ForeverSwag which is owned by rookie IFBB Pro Bikini competitor Lexi Kaufman. As my partner Ian Ascher and I learned, without the ladies at the booth drawing the attention of the crowd, most people just gave us a glancing look and moved on.
The main attraction at this year’s Pittsburgh Comicon was Stan Lee, the 89-year-old founder of Marvel Comics and the creator of some of the most iconic comic superheros ever, like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and . . . well you get the picture. Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in all the Star Wars films was scheduled to be there and our booth was going to be next to his but apparently he cancelled at the last moment. We ended up next to former WWE wrestler Brimstone and several of his friends. They were really cool and enjoyed being next to Adela and Sonia. Interestingly Brimstone and two of his friends volunteered to be Adela and Sonia’s bodyguard’s for the weekend!
Adela and Sonia didn’t stay behind the booth the entire time. I followed them around the Comicon as they visited other booths, posed for photos with others dressed as their favorite characters and did what they could to bring people back to the booth to purchase the comic books and photos which they would autograph. One of the more fun moments was when Adela, Sonia and I sat in a replica of the Batmobile. Me in the driver’s seat and the two of them in the passenger seat. They drew a lot of people over to that booth for sure and even had two attendee’s dressed as a Jedi Knight and Stormtrooper ask them to get back in the Batmobile so they could get photos with them too.
We had lots of guests show up throughout the three days. The Prez himself showed up on Sunday for about an hour. My wife Debbie and daughter Cassie were there on Friday. IFBB Pros Dr. Victor Prisk and Amber DeFrancesco both stopped by, Amber with her husband, NPC national-level competitor Kirk DeFrancesco. Famed artist and Iron Asylum creator Jerry Beck drove over from Cleveland, NPC/IFBB promoter and Hydrolize Water owner Jack Titone was there for two days and several people from GNC, including Rich Bender with his wife Tiffany and their two daughters and Bill Sienerth with my niece Dani Amelio. On both Friday and Saturday night we headed over to the local mall to eat at Saga Japanese Hibachi and Sushi restaurant. I think everybody ate way too much Sushi both nights! We finished up the weekend with Adela and Sonia entering the annual costume contest. Unfortunately they didn’t win but they did have fun.
I want to Thank everybody that stopped by and to all the supported us leading up to this event! It really means a lot to all of us!
Last I want to give a shout out to Kristal Richardson who would normally be with us. She missed this Comicon since she gave birth on Thursday to her daughter Leah! We missed you Kristal but HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to you and Tom!
In addition to the photos, look for video’s from this event on the JMProductions536 You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/JMProductions536.
Last but not least, support the Iron Sirens Comics by purchasing our comics at http://www.IronSirensComics.com & visit our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/IronSirensComicBooks
