Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their week! I had an absolutely enjoyable weekend. Why? Because I went to my first comic show ever. And that was Big Wow ComicFest in San Jose. It was a fun show and I'm definitely going back next year and the year after, or however long it will continue. I also want to say that I went with my best friend Samuel Lujan, it was the FIRST TIME in a whole YEAR that we finally saw each other. It was so good to see him again and it felt like everything was right with the world(at least in mine). I'll give you a quick recap of what happened in Day 1.
On Saturday I chose not to bring anything with me. Mostly, because I wanted to take everything in and wander about looking at the various toys, and comics of years past. After me and Sam finally got in, we wandered around a little and got to James O'Barr's table. It was incredibly cool to meet the creator of the 'The Crow' and talk with the guy. What was even cooler was that he was my first comic writer/artist that I ever met.
As the day progressed, I met Dean Yeagle, what a nice gentleman, soft spoken, but really awesome to talk to. I had a lot of fun talking about Mandy Godiva with him. I also talked to Dan Brereton and got to talk about his work and his writing, pretty chill guy, even though Sam doesn't like the guy. One bad experience with someone doesn't mean he's always a jerk. I spent most of my time on Saturday talking with and watching Eric Basaldua, or EBas, draw for fans. Also, his spot was what I liked to call the 'party area', of course, when you have two hot girls promoting their upcoming book at his table, it makes it worthwhile to hang out. Though the good vibes emanating from his table made it hard not to come back.
All-in-all my first day at a comic show was a blast. Day two was going to be just as fun.
So, the next day, which was yesterday. I made sure to bring the stuff that I wanted signed. First, I got Brereton to sign my Red Sonja: Deluge book, which was my first comic signed by any artist. Next, I picked up one of Dean Yeagle's Mandy books for $15 and I got a free personalized sketch of Mandy from him. So, cool. After that I got EBas to sign my Justice League #5 variant that he did. It's one of my all-time favorite covers and I'm so glad he signed it. I also purchased a Wonder Woman drawing he did, which is an absolutely awesome print to have. Fortunately and unfortunately, I didn't have the money to buy an original drawing from him, but maybe next year.
Then, came the big wait. I stood in line for three hours to get meet Jim Lee and have him sign my three books. As much as I wanted a sketch, I realized that there would be a another day, so I just opted to get my Uncanny X-Men #275, Justice League #1 & #3 signed by him. I only got to chat with him for twenty seconds, but it was worth it. What was even cooler was that he got there at noon and stayed until the show ended at five. It's awesome that he stuck around to make sure everyone who waited to see him got something for their long wait. The best part was I got to watch him sketch for other people and it was cool watching him do it.
Finally, I met Liam Sharp, who did the Gears of War comic for about thirteen issues, I had him sign the first two issues and what was cool was getting to talk about his interiors of the books. We also talked about how happy he was that one of his characters that he created, Michael Barrick, was in Gears of War 3 and how happy he was to see it. We even talked about Jace Stratton and how originally he wasn't going to have cornrows, but in the end, he had them anyway. It was cool to hear some of the behind the scenes about his GoW involvement. Awesome guy, definitely looking forward to meeting him again someday.
I also chatted with inker Mick Gray. Really cool guy, it was fun talking about his work and how he goes about the inking process. I enjoyed discussing Batman & Robin and all the other works he's done. He had high praise for Ryan Sook and also came across as a down to earth guy. He was also pretty disappointed that DC never gave him or the other writers and artists for giving them a copy of the The New 52 Omnibus. He told me had to trade in some of his own stuff just to get a copy! Oh, and he told me to expect some really cool stuff with the Joker later this year.
Finally, I hung out with EBas one more time and got him to personalize a Psylocke Nude drawing for me. Yep, I'd say I had some fun hanging out with that guy.
In the end, I had a tremendous amount of fun. Of course, having my buddy Sam there made it worthwhile for me personally.
Well, I'll sign off for now. Enjoy your week everyone.
