HeroesCon '08 - Day Two

You may notice a lack of pictures with these stories. Mainly because I forgot my camera. Mafus and Squeeze took plenty and hopefully they’ll be posting them in the coming days.

The second day started with breakfast at the hotel with a small gathering of Mike's friends and family. Todd held court and told us some of Nick Cardy's greatest hits involving latrines, MPs banging on their doors and other things not safe for children. Fortified with our $23 breakfast bar (if I had known it was that much I would've eaten more!) the group dispersed as the pros went to set up and us normal schlubs waited for the gates to let us in.

As I had spent more than I wanted to that first day I tried to curtail my spending, which didn't really work out as I bee-lined to David Crosland and Jim Mahfood's set-up. Jim wasn't there, but David was, so I expounded on his latest series EVERYBODY IS DEAD and picked up an anthology from him, which he was kind enough to do a sketch in. After that I hung out a little at the 'Ringo booth and chatted with my family. Also asked Mr. Cardy about the stories Todd had told at breakfast and ended up hearing about all the latrines he had seen during the war complete with sketches of them and how they worked. Unfortunately, he erased the drawings before I could ask him for them. Would've been a nice conversation piece and keepsake. Since I missed out on that opportunity I decided to not let another pass by so I hunted down the TEEN TITANS SHOWCASE and got Mr. Cardy to sign it for me. He then told me to hunt down a BRAVE AND THE BOLD SHOWCASE that had three issues drawn by him in it, which struck me as odd because 3 issues versus a whole book seemed a little weird, but Nick said, "It's my best work, those three issues."

More Fuel pizza for lunch and a quick stop back to the room to work on today's QuickDraw sketch. Thought I'd mix it up a bit and try a little comedy on the judges today and pay a little homage to Mike as he drew one of the best Ben Grimms around. Here's Momma Grimm's ever-loving, blue-eyed boy:


Of course, I didn't place, but I think the drawing turned out fine and dandy for only having 20 minutes.

My ego slightly bruised I did a little retail therapy and met back with the gang in time for closing and dinner plans. There was a car show going on Saturday and there was this constant bass line that reverberated the entire convention center, but just as we were getting ready to leave the sounds of thunder were heard. A maelstrom had moved in just as the con was ending for the day and we were carrying back portfolios of art. After waiting five-ten minutes Mafus and I decided to make a break for it. He stuffed a portfolio under his shirt, we waited for the light to change and booked. Drenched, but home, I dropped off the art at their room and got ready for dinner at Cosmos.

Side story: While waiting for everybody down in the lobby, Evan Dorkin came up to me and thanked me for wearing my MILK & CHEESE bowling shirt. I've had the thing for years and haven't seen another-ever. Evan clued me that there are probably only a dozen of them left, due to production costs and yadda-yadda. He said he knows everyone with one by name, so I guess I've been added to the list.

The meal was excellent and the company even better (though Squeeze sat at the other table). I had the jambalaya and a couple pints of Skipjack and Bare Knuckle. Was hoping to find Sweetwater 420 down there, but I guess we weren’t close enough to Atlanta for a distributor. We then headed over to see the last two items from the Heroes Auction being sold. Mafus had a commission to work on, so we all headed back for Rum-n-Ginger at the ‘Ringo Room. A couple of drinks, some half-hearted sketch attempts and I crashed with some more DOOM PATROL. Lights outs.

DAY TWO LOOT:
COPIC GREYSCALE MARKERS
DELAYED REPLAYS (for Angie)
EARTHWORMS (CD for Angie)
I WAS A TEENAGE COMIC NERD (for Angie)
POE: An Ugly Doll (for Lilah)
PUNISHER: Man Of Stone
PUNISHER: Slavers
SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL
SLOP: Analecta
TEEN TITANS SHOWCASE