The first thing I did when I got to C2E2 was head to Artist Alley to see who was there. It's always fascinating to see big-name talent rubbing shoulders with creators who haven't been discovered yet. Here's a quick look at some of the tables that caught my eye today.

Steve Horton was there, with a poster that celebrates the Bizarro Superman story he has in Superman 80-Page Giant 2011.

The singly-named Franchesco! strikes a jaunty pose.

Members of the collective Mindwave Comics: Dave Wheeler and Samir Barrett (seated), and Adam Erdmann, Alex Johnson, and Heidi Foland (standing) were busily drawing when I came by their table, which was at the far corner of Artists Alley. It's an interesting group—they all live in different places, so it's not like they share a studio, but they have produced several collaborative self-published comics in the traditional superhero vein with some very nice art.

I had a long and very interesting conversation with Steve Ellis, the artist for High Moon, and writer David Gallaher (who was off talking to someone else when I took the picture). They were showing off print versions of their digital comics High Moon (originally done for Zuda) and Box 13, now both available via comiXology.

Brian Fyffe is making his first foray into the comics world with his self-published comic Zombie Chuck, which he describes as "Tim Burton-esque." Not only has Fyffe plotted out the first three issues, he was selling multicolored resin dolls of his characters.

Carlos Gabriel Ruiz and Bradley King are part of another collective, Ink and Drink, this one based in St. Louis. They had an array of attractive anthologies at their table, but of course it was Pretentious Record Store Guy, their self-published floppy, that caught my eye.