Baltimore Comic Con pt 3

I've been putting this entry off a little bit trying to make sure I can capture all the goodness that was had once we actually got in the Con. I'm going to give it a shot now.

As we were going in we passed one of the best Ghostbusters I have ever seen. Being bolstered by the fact that no ghosts were going to be attending the Con we pressed on down the stairs and in to the throng of people that were there to enjoy the Con.

As we came in we were greeted by the many vendors that were there selling books, but since I wasn't looking for deals on back issues I started to look around for the Image booth. Since it was the largest booth at the Con it was fairly easy to spot.

With a little apprehension at meeting some people that I have looked forward to meeting in person for a long time we approached the booth. As I walked up to the booth I saw Erik Larson sketching and chatting with fans, as well as Whilce Portacio and Jim Valentino. But I didn't have time right at the moment to stop and say hi. Emma had been checking since we boarded the train to make sure we had brought her Editor Girl sketch. I checked the bag again and making sure it was there we kept walking down the booth to find Kris Simon. We were a father and daughter on a mission. Find Kris Simon, deliver sketch, say hi, then go from there.

We found Kris and I was urging Emma to go up and meet her and give her the sketch, and it was at this moment that meeting someone new was not in her plan. Kris' first exposure to us was us arguing over who was going to give her the sketch. As we are having our discussion, Kris had taken notice of us and was standing there watching the entire exchange. Gotta say I was a little embarrassed, but when we handed the sketch to Kris and she got this big grin on her face it made it all better. I introduced myself and Emma, and she said she knew who we were from the board. I told her we were bringing her a sketch, gonna have to ask if she'll post it somewhere. Kris Simon is also a published author, and she had one of her books there, but we were really looking for the newest one. She said she had forgot it back in the hotel, but if we were going to be around she would go back and get some for us. Which was awesome. She didn't have to do that in any way shape or form, but she went out of her way to make sure that Emma could get the book she wanted, and for that I am extremely grateful. Anyway after chatting a little bit, she excused herself and comes back with Jim Valentino.

To me meeting Jim was great. I was nervous about talking to him, and I was going over in my head all the fanboy mistakes I wasn't going to make and I stammered "Hi Mr. Valentino". Jim has this look that reminded me of all my friends growing up when they were getting ready to do something that sounds like it's going to be great fun, and I got that look for the first time just then. He said to call him "Jim" and that got rid of all the fanboy nervousness in one fail swoop. Jim was a great guy to just be able to talk to for a few minutes. I asked him if he would mind signing a couple of books I brought, and his response was "As long as they aren't mine." and a chuckle. It was great to meet and talk to one of the legends of comics to me and have him be a genuinely sincere and nice guy. I could have stayed right there and talked with Jim and Kris for the rest of the show and been completely content, but I had things to get for friends, and other friends I needed to track down.

After we took our leave of Jim and Kris, we went around the corner and see Bryan Glass and his wife Judi. I had met Bryan and Judi at Heroes Con in '08 and it was great to see them again. Bryan writes a comic called Mice Templar that is truly amazing. He and Mike Oeming have created a whole world that is filled with wonder and amazing stories and it is one of my favorite comics in all my time of collecting. You can tell Bryan loves the story and working on it if you spend even a minute talking to him. He has an infectious enthusiasm for the book that always gets me excited to read more of it. He is another of thos people that I will always find if he's at a convention to be able to spend a little bit of time talking with. He remembered me and Emma from over a year ago, and is just a down to earth guy. He was awared a Harvey this year at the Baltimore Con and I don't think it could have been giving to a more deserving guy. It is really an honor of mine to be able to say that we are friends now after much talking online and seeing each other at a couple of Cons. Bryan and Judi both are really nice people that have a contagious spirit for what they are doing. I wish I could talk about the next issue because Bryan had it there and let me check it out, but I won't spoil it for anyone except to say this. This arc continues to get better with every issue, and this one isn't an exception to that.

Next update will be about Jay Faerber and meeting him, along with the happenings in the Image United signing line. Hope you come back for more of my con experience.

Baltimore Comic Con pt 2

After the events leading up to getting on the train, the ride in to Baltimore was fairly uneventful.




I still get a little upset everytime I drive or go up in to Baltimore, because one of my favorite hangouts, Hammerjacks, got destroyed to make way for the Raven's stadium. That's neither here nor there, just something I thought about on the way in to Baltimore.




As we pulled up to the station before the Convention Center stop, I looked out the window and saw the Convention Center. I decided "Hey it's right there, let's get out and we'll just walk over from here."




Before this descision I didn't know that the Baltimore Convention Center takes up and entire city block. Now I know this quite well. The stop we used was the exact opposite side of the Center from where the Convention was being held.





After walking around some buildings and through some others we finally arrived at the ticket counter area (I failed to remember I hadn't bought tickets until the night before, and TicketMaster turns off their Will Call service the night before and event like this...mental note for next time). The line didn't seem too long so Emma and I started toward what we thought was the end. Then we realized it went out the door. Going outside we realized it went around the corner and then we realized it went about halfway down the building.


As bad as things seemed standing in this line, it only took us about 40 minutes to get in the convention, so I guess it didn't turn out too bad having to wait a little while. I also learned another lesson. Much like buying comics, if you're going to a convention....pre-order, pre-order, pre-order.

Baltimore Comic Con pt 1

It was a dark and stormy night......well not really, but a lot of good stories start that way. The journey actually began about 8 am from Hampton to Baltimore. Emma and I loaded up in the van with coffee and Jolly Ranchers, yeah I planned this trip well, and hit the road.

We make this trip a lot so after a couple of hours, somewhere just south of Washington DC, Emma pipes up with "You know Dad we haven't seen any red lights so far this trip." Not knowing what she meant I had to ask. She goes in to detail how by this time in the trip I'm normally not happy with the Metro DC area drivers, because we're usually stop and go by then, and today we hadn't stopped at all. I thought about it and realized she was right, and we shared a high five about our good fortune. Just then we run in to stopped traffic. It was almost as if the Metro DC drivers realized we were moving too smoothly, and something had to be done. Thankfully the delay was short lived and traffic began moving again shortly thereafter. This was also the time I realized that nature was calling, but I figured we were close to the train station and I could take care of it when we got there.

The rest of the trip to the train station was fairly uneventful, except for the slowly building pain in my bladder. As we were nearing the train station it had gone from a slight desire to an urgent need. And I'll warn anyone reading this now about a fact that I did not know until Saturday morning. There are no bathrooms at the Light Rail stations to Baltimore. NONE. Not even a Port-A-Potty. Thankfully the station we stopped at was right across the street from a McDonald's, and at that moment in time that was the nicest bathroom I had ever seen. And it gave Emma a chance to get a Happy Meal for lunch, before we boarded the train.