The main reason I write up these odd convention reports is to remind myself of the day. I don't really expect anyone else to read, much less enjoy, my reports. At the same time, I feel a lot of pressure to finish these reports quickly, so I don't forget everything that happened. Then, of course, I find that I forgot things, and got information wrong. It's annoying... but not as annoying as coming back a year later and remembering nothing about a convention. So I'll just muddle through, but be sure to check the comments on each part of the report for corrections by other folks who were there.
Now... where was I? Oh yes! Eric and I went out to the car for lunch, dumping off the extra stuff we'd picked up on the way. I was pretty beat, so I wasn't expecting much of anything at all from the rest of the convention. Eric seemed determined to get a couple more sketches. So back we went. As we entered the Event Center we noted that somebody had put a big sign over the Cash Machine that said "OUT OF CASH!"
First up we visited the Comics Fairplay booth where I finally noticed Joe St Pierre sitting in the next booth. The name caught my eye and tickled at my memory. I asked Joe if he'd worked on Aquaman, and when he said yes it all came flooding back. He drew the crucial issue during the PAD run in which Aquaman gets his cybernetic harpoon at STAR labs and gets to try it out on land, and in which Garth is sent to another dimension, not to mention a big issue in the growth of Koryak as a character. So of course, I had to troll Joe, and asked for a sketch, too, which he kindly provided.
In the meantime, Eric was getting a painting in his sketchbook from someone named "Billis" at the Friendsie booth. I'm not kidding about it being a painting. It's a small painting, but a painting nonetheless. It's of the Wicked Witch talking with a monkey.
With the convention starting to wind down, we headed back to Artist Alley to see about another sketch or two. I wanted to troll some people, as well. Eric got a drawing from Dev Madan of the Scarecrow... a rather spooky one in my opinion. Then he got in line for Tim Sale. While he waited for Tim Sale, I trolled Dan Brereton.
Then I trolled Scott Alan and Bob Schreck, who told me he would kill me if the picture of him and the troll got on-line. Heh. Eric admitted that he had wanted to ask Bob during the DC panel when Shrek 3 was coming out. I groaned. I waited in line with Eric for Tim Sale, and heard someone in front of us ask for a sketch of Superman eating pie. Eating pie and really enjoying it. I suddenly didn't feel quite so bad about making people draw Aquaman for me.
When we got to the front of the line, I trollographed Tim, then Eric got a sketch for his sketchbook. I already have an excellent Aquaman drawing by Tim Sale in my sketchbook. The sketch Tim Sale did is simply COOL. Eric's sketchbook has a dual theme, and while it's leaned heavily toward Green Lantern over the years, this con it took a decidedly Ozian turn. Larsen did the Tin Man, Billis did the Wicked Witch, and Madan did a Scarecrow. Well, Tim Sale turned in a magnificent Cowardly Lion. Then he said that he'd never drawn a lion before, so he hoped it was ok. Looking at the sketch now... the only thing wrong with it is that he spelled "cowardly" wrong. I'll forgive him that. It was loud and hectic in there.
We also wandered by the Girl Genius booth again, and bought a few things. We got the fourth collection in trade paperback for my little sister. We also got Phil's 24-hour comic. And I got Cheyenne Wright's Arcane Times sketchbook, which is AWESOME. It has most (but not all) of my favorite bits from his webcomic. The cover is the "running away from fanboys" scene, and Zombie-Alton can be found within the pages. And this one too. Cheyenne, despite my teasing him all weekend, still found the heart to draw me another Aquaman sketch in the book.
Eric wanted to try and get a sketch from Colleen Coover, so we headed back that way and eventually caught her at the booth. While Colleen drew for Eric, I wandered around a little and noticed someone I thought might possibly be an Aquaman cover artist. I wasn't sure, though, so I went back to Eric and found Colleen drawing a JAR sketch for The Cliff Guy. I mentioned that I thought I just saw Brian Stelfreeze, and he confirmed it was him. While he was WAY too busy to get a sketch from, I definitely had to troll him. First I approached Doug Wagner, who was also sitting at the 12 Gauge Comics booth, and asked him to pose with the troll. Then, when Brian had a short break, I asked him if he'd pose with the troll, too. He agreed, though he was a bit taken aback by the troll. I had to reassure several people throughout the day that trolls are good luck, despite their look.
With all that accomplished, we headed over to the Illusive Arts booth again where we chatted with Anna for a bit and I was given yet another Aquaman heroclix. Anna had some exciting stuff to tell Eric. It suddenly occurred to me that Kirk had never got a chance to see my Aquaman sketchbook, because the piece he did for me was on a separate sheet. So I wandered over there, feeling the exhaustion more than ever before, to show it off. Unfortunately, Kirk wasn't there... but P'la was, and I showed off the sketchbook to her while we chatted a little. Then Kirk came back, and was glad to look through it. He also wanted to add another sketch.
While he was drawing, I noticed that Gabe was sitting mostly alone in the Penny Arcade booth, so I called Eric and told him to get his sketchbook over there. He got Gabe to draw... well, Gabe. As Green Lantern. As seen in this strip, only Eric wanted Gabe as Green Lantern. Coincidence? Ok, so Eric didn't ask for Wonder Woman. But still...
After that, it was home for us. We'd had a good con, and we both needed badly to recover. I believe I fell asleep on the ride home. Good thing I wasn't driving.
OK... time for remembering other events I had forgotten... Early Sunday some time I was sitting in the Illusive booth, having coached Anna to say "Once a week is all we ask!" if Cheyenne should come by. He did come by, and Anna, after a moment thinking about it, remembered what to say. Cheyenne, for his part, looked brutally exhausted. He told me he'd been up until four am the previous night coloring the next Girl Genius page. I suddenly felt very guilty for teasing him... A number of people, when they found out I was an Aquaman fan, told me about the great sword that some fan had given to Kurt Busiek. Every time I heard it, it made my day... I did hit some dealers looking for the handful of Aquaman stories I'm missing, but nobody had the range of Golden Age stuff I'm looking for... I missed TONS of people that I wouldn't have minded seeing. Tony Harris, Ryan Ottley, The Luna Brothers, Doug Mahnke, Stuart Immonen, the list goes on. Again, I like the haphazard way I wander about a con floor, but maybe I need to try to hit all the booths next year... the Troll doesn't fit in my con bag very well. Next year I need to figure out a better way to carry him, as he managed to pop a couple of buttons off my bag... If you attended the con, the Survey is now up on the main page. Let them know where they went right and where they went wrong so they can improve the con next year. And request Aaron Williams as a guest, along with whomever you want. Let's rock the vote, eh?
And that's it for the con report from 2006. I'll certainly try to make it to 2007's con, which is reportedly going to be March 31st and April 1st. Again, all the troll pictures are available here, and will have full commentary once I finish writing it all..
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