well, just got home from my 3rd day straight at the Phoenix Comic Con. whew. ill give as detailed write-up as possible to share my experience.
Day 1 started with my two boys and my good friend of 15 years, Vince (was in town just for the con). now, Vince has a temper problem and is currently taking medication for said problem, so, i was basically keeping my eyes on 3 kids. luckily, Thursday was beautiful! nobody was there. the con opened at 4. we had plenty of space and no lines for lots of artists. come to find out that a lot of artists and celebs didn't arrive until Friday or Saturday. wasn't really an issue. going into the con, i had a small list and didn't have anything set up for easy pickup. our first stop was Todd Nauck. what a champ! that guys is so nice and easy to talk to. i had him do a square on my Invincible headshot jam and asked him to devirginize my sketchbook. he did a wicked Zandale in the book.
Asher had set up a JLA layout and Superman from local artist Jim Hanna. we had a laugh because everyone wanted to charge Asher, an 11 year old, gobs of money for figures on the jam. we asked Neal Adams and his rep says "$700". i replied, "no, not the whole thing, just 1 figure". "that is for 1 figure". hilarious. luckily Todd did a figure on the jam for Asher for $50 and started a new headshot jam with a Nova. again, Todd was super nice and nothing but complimentary about my family. love that guy!
we spent a fair amount of time with Katie Cook. what a great gal. i had tried to setup something for this con but after talking about size and content, we decided that she would have it done by Abq Expo next month. still, hard to stay away from her badass little $5 watercolor pieces. we got a bunch of them. Wyatt got a Creeper (from Minecraft) and a Superman. Asher got a Peppermint Butler. on Friday, the wife (a teacher) opted for a few Dr. Seuss characters, and i got a piece of our labrador, Lisa, and a Superman/Zod piece in my new sketch book.
Day 2 was a bit busier, but, we got there early, so we still beat the crowds. this day was spent with the CGC people. now, I've never had anything slabbed at a convention. what a pain in the ass. of course, the CGC booth was in the 200 aisle and all the artists are in the 2000's. go figure. we got to be good friends with Andrew from CGC as he was witness to most of the signings Vince and i had done. over the course of the weekend, i had 8 books witnessed for CGC signature series. we had a blast talking to Arthur Suydam. what a character. i had him do a Merle on a TWD #109 blank. it turned out awesome. unfortunately i didn't take any pics of it, ill be sure to snap some when it comes back from CGC.
Day 3 was today, and was chaos. luckily Vince and i got there at 10 straight up when the con opened. The Walking Dead people all had their signings early today. i had Laurie Holden sign a TWD book, Chandler Riggs sign a TWD book, and had Rooker sign two books, the TWD blank that Suydam did and also was able to have Valentino sketch a Yondu on a GOTG blank i had as well. just so you know, Rooker has swag. that guys a straight G!
haha, Laurie Holden didn't know what the hell a GOPRO was. i wasn't supposed to take her picture.
yeah, me and ROOKER!
