Comic-book convention poster in the style of Jack Kirby’s Iron Man cover from “Tales of Suspense” #39. The title features white writing against a red banner and says, “Tales of CrockerCon.” To the left of the banner is a white circle with black text that reads, “12th year!” Instead of the Comics Code Authority statement, there is a similarly shaped rectangle that reads, “Approved by the Sacramento Arts & Culture SAC Society.” Below that is a white rectangle with the letters “MC” written vertically within it, and below that a white square with the text, “Free! All ages!” Partially covering the red banner is a large gray rectangle containing yellow text that reads, “Who? Or what, melds ‘pop’ culture and high art into the most breath-taking, most sensational comics festival of all … ?” Beneath that in an all-caps font decorated with a grid of squares is the word, “CrockerTron!” in quotation marks. The eponymous robot stands beneath its name, a hulking figure that vaguely resembles the architecture of the Crocker Art Museum, hunched over slightly in a fighting pose. Behind it, Sacramento’s Tower Bridge can be seen; over CrockerTron’s left shoulder are the words, “Heroic! … Defender! … of the comic arts!” Beneath CrockerTron’s left foot is a red rectangle reading, “The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento / September 20th, 2026 / 4pm, free for everyone!” Beneath the red rectangle is the artist’s signature, “Wisnia? (after Kirby!)” To the left of CrockerTron is a vertical stack of squares meant to be read sequentially as comic book panels and features art by artists and cartoonists associated with Sacramento, including Robert Armeson, Suzanne Adan, Sam Keith, Adrian Tomine, Kelly Jones, Chris Wisinia, Wayne Thiebaud, and Ron Lim.

Click image to enlarge.

There’s one stop left on my 2026 Spring/Summer Mini-Tour and that’s CrockerCon, baby, my favorite con of all!

The fun begins at noon on Sunday, September 20th, and all your favorite local artists, cartoonists, and comic-book adjacent shops and groups will be out in full force, including yours truly! Entry tickets are free but the museum wants you to get them online before the show, which you can do here. As the event gets closer I’ll talk more about what I’m bringing and who else will be there, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out this year’s amazing CrockerTron poster by Chris Wisnia! The fantastic design is an homage of Jack Kirby and Don Heck’s cover for Tales of Suspense #39, which featured the first appearance of Iron Man. But what makes the cover really fun is all the references to Sacramento’s art and comics scenes. If you look closely, you’ll see one of Robert Arenson’s chef sculptures (he taught Ceramics at UC Davis); Suzanne Adan’s painting “Flying Saucers” (she grew up in Yolo County and is married to my high school art teacher, Michael Stevens!); the cover to The Maxx #1 by Sam Kieth (RIP to a local legend); Adrian Tomine’s November 8, 2004 New Yorker cover, “Missed Connection” (he grew up here); the cover to Batman #493 by Kelly Jones (he also grew up here!); the cover to Chris Wisnia’s own book, Doris Danger: Giant Monsters Amok (he still lives here!); Wayne Thiebaud’s painting “Pies, Pies, Pies” (he taught at Sacramento City College and UC Davis); and Ron Lim’s cover to Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #34 (I think he still lives here too!)!

In fact, there are only two images on the poster that I can’t connect to Sacramento: one is a drawing of superhero the Atom attempting to escape from a venus flytrap, which is from the cover to The Atom #1 written by Gardner Fox, pencilled by Gil Kane, inked by Murphy Anderson, and lettered by Gasper Saladino. As far as I can tell, none of these gentlemen have any connection to Sacramento, but it is very fun! The other mystery image is in the bottom left corner of the poster and I can’t tell what it is. The only place I could find the new CrockerTron poster was on Instagram, and there are some repost icons covering up that part of the poster, making it hard to identify where the image came from. If you know, you know, so let me know too!