In tribute to Will Eisner, I'll post up my Comic Convention recap, that I've been too lazy to post up. Sure, it was in August, and sure, Will wasn't there, but I've gotta post this baby up sometime - it might as well be today.

Truthfully, this wasn't the best con I've been to. Not because it was a bad convention, it was just because there was so much going on around the time of the convention that I couldn't fully enjoy all my time there. This was the first time in a long time that I hadn't gone to the Friday of the convention. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to play catch up, which isn't easy, since I was so used to just taking my time, talking to people, getting sketches, going to panels and such. I didn't even really get a chance to check out all of the shops in the back. Nonetheless, I still had fun. I got some great sketches, and saw some familiar friendly faces and some new friends.

Without further adieu, here's my highlights:

- Amber Benson, who played Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was one of the guests of the 'con. She's much prettier in person, and seemed friendly and easy going with the fans that lined up to meet her. Didn't have the patience to wait in line. However, I was in the bathroom at the same time with her, while the infamous Wizard security guy waited for her outside. Had a little eye contact and we smiled. That's about it. Oh, and she washed her hands. That is something important to know. Because if she didn't, well, eew.

- I got to meet Greg Horn, whose art I adore. I was a little bit intimidated when I met him - I don't know what I expected, but he was just a regular guy. When I went up to talk to him, there was a woman who worked at the booth with him. She whispered something to him as I was talking with him, and he said, "Didn't you work at the Aspen booth last year?" I was a little bit stunned. I didn't really think that anyone would recognize me with the glasses, haircut and blonde highlights. I said that it was me, and he said I had looked familiar to him, and the woman was the one who had recognized me from last year. I didn't even KNOW Greg was at the 'con last year. I would definitely have gone to meet him! Anyway, it was pretty cool (yet pretty weird) that he remembered me.

- I owe Sean Chen $10. A lot of the artists were charging for sketches, so as much as I could, I tried to stick to those artists that were free. However, Sean Chen was the very first artist that I asked to do a sketch for me, back when he was doing Wolverine for Marvel. At the time, it was a free sketch. Since he was on his own in Artists Alley, he was charging for sketches. It was $15 for a head sketch and $30 for full body. I asked him to do a head sketch of Psylocke for me, and he was pretty busy and asked that I come back on Sunday morning. I came back Sunday morning, and he already had a couple names in his list. But he assured me that since I came the day before that he would do a sketch for me, so I left him with my book, and he said to come back in an hour. So I wandered around for a bit, after the hour was done, I came back and he had already began my sketch. It was turning out really awesome and I was really impressed. We chatted a bit (tried not to disturb him too much while he was sketching) and he was really cool. He put a lot of work into it, and I appreciated that he took the time - even though I was paying for it. Anyway, he finished up the sketch and showed me the finished product and I praised it and thanked him. Since I loved it so much, I decided to give him $20 instead of the $15 for the head shot. Gotta help the guy make a living. I handed him the money, and he gave me a smile, then a weird quizzical look. I walked away beaming and happy with my new sketch. Later on, after REALLY looking at my sketch I realized that Psylocke had legs. Which I noticed before, but I didn't realize my error. Sean did a body sketch for me, and I only paid him $20. And the idiot that I am was beaming and proud of myself for giving him a little extra - which actually wasn't! So yeah. Somehow I'll get him the money I own him...it's only fair!

- I DID see Jason Mewes again, but I was stuck in a huge crowd of people and he looked especially shaggy and slightly bearded, and it just was too weird. That, and I didn't have anything for him to sign. I was stuck in a mob of people at the View Askew booth who were trying to get him and Kevin Smith to sign things, each of them going up to fans and taking pics, signing autographs, etc. I did, however, get to meet Kevin, and since I didn't have anything for him to sign, I did the dorkiest thing ever. I looked him in the eye and said to him, "I don't have anything to sign, but I just wanted to shake your hand and say that I really love your stuff!" Am I a loser or what? He looked me in the eyes, took my hand in both of his hands and shook hands with me, and said slowly and sincerely, "Thanks." Which was really cool, unless he was speaking really slowly because I thought I was mentally challenged for coming up with a stupid line like that.

- There were a couple people that weren't there that I really missed, who I've seen at cons before and have always been cool and friendly. Mike Wellman, also known as "The Chief", who headed Mac Afro and Gone South, who is one of the first creators that I got to know and hang out with. Mark Brooks (who is finding this entry on google as we speak) who did an awesome Psylocke for me last year and who has one of coolest cats I've met at a 'con. Ale Garza, who calls Psylocke 'that hot Asian chick' (then again, who doesn't?). And Talent Caldwell, who loves comics so much he can talk forever about them - I hope he gets to do his dream comic someday - the X-Men, and who has done one of my favorite Psylocke sketches (and didn't need to look at the other sketches for reference). He's a sweetheart and I hope I see him at a 'con again! I'll even bribe him with potstickers if I have to!

- One of the people I was sad that I wasn't going to see in Chicago was Tone Rodriguez. He gives the best hugs. He likes to call us his little Asian threesome (or twosome, when Mel isn't around). We saw him at the LA 'con and he said he was tired of traveling, so he wasn't going to any more cons. So me and Fatima were surprised when we were walking around the 'con and heard on the loudspeakers, "Tone Rodriguez, artist for Alien vs. Predator is doing free sketches at the booth - ticket holders only!" As soon as we heard that, we wandered around looking for the booth he was sketching at. We finally found it, and saw a huge line wrapping around, waiting for a sketch. Of course, we didn't have tickets. So we stood on the side, just watching, hoping that maybe he'd see us. When he did, he invited us over to hang for a bit while he sketched, gave us a big hug and asked why we didn't stop by sooner, to which we said he wasn't even in the program, so we had no idea he was there.

- Since we were in a hurry most of the time, I didn't get a chance to hang out at the Aspen booth as much as other times, and only got a chance to stop by the booth for the first time late Saturday afternoon, and was reprimanded by Peter for waiting so long. Said hello to the rest of the gang, and saw that one of our buddies from last year was working the booth again. We stopped by again later that day (we had to run to a panel so we didn't get to stay) and learned from Liz that she was leaving the company and moving to Italy. We were so sad to find this out, and we all got a little emotional with Liz. She's such an awesome person, kind of like our den mother, making sure we're okay, taking care of us, and just being really cool. It'll be sad to see her go! But she said that she'd be around at some of the cons, so I hope that we get to see her again sometime soon! On Sunday we went to the Aspen panel, and Peter was the MC. I had a little cold going on that weekend, so I was coughing a bit, and Peter announced, "Hey you, Feliciano, keep it down! Or if you're going to cough, make sure it's a hearty cough! If not, get some water in the back!" I wanted to shrink. But more than that, I was surprised that Peter knew my last name...even if it IS my maiden name now. He poked fun at me a couple other times. And then later, some people I had met on message boards came up to me because they figured out who I was. Which was pretty cool, because I would have had no idea who was who! Later on that day, we hung out at the booth a bit more and took pics.

- Got another Psylocke sketch from Sean Galloway, which makes my total 3 sketches now. He's a cool cat, super friendly and very chatty. Just the kinda guy that keeps fans coming back again and again. Like me!

- I got my first ever caricature done, and I felt like a moron sitting there as people were walking by, while the artist drew my picture as Psylocke. The sketch looks cute, yet nothing like me, but Fatima said the artist was HOT. I wouldn't know. I didn't have my glasses on at the time.

- At the Marvel panel, a bunch of the fans from Brian Michael Bendis' message board planned a surprise birthday cake presentation. Joe Quesada (i still say his name with some distaste, but not as much because of this) went along with the plan, and Bendis was pleasantly surprised when they brought out the cake and candles, and got the whole panel to sing Happy Birthday. I just missed out on getting some cake. That's what I get for being so shy. Another great thing about the panel - one of the writers, when asked if Psylocke was ever coming back (she was killed off. Twice.) returned the question to the audience, "Do you guys want her back?" I whooped and cheered like a moron. If I had a foghorn I would have used that, too. So then he said maybe, maybe they'll try and fit her in. Yay!

- After years of seeing Kabuki artist David Mack at the convention, I finally introduced myself to him. He remembered my secret name from a messageboard (Yano, yeah, big secret name, I know) and he was SO nice. I don't know why I was scared to talk to him before. He was so cool that he hooked me, Fatima and Melanie with a bunch of his books and gave us a great deal on his art. He is genuinely a great guy, so if you ever see him at a 'con, say hello to him. Maybe he'll even dance for you. He didn't for us, but I heard that he took part in a dance off in the lobby later that night. Crazy comic book artists.

- You should read Michael Goodman's CIderview Project. Not only is he a great guy (who is single and good looking) but he also makes good cookies. So I've been told. Because he didn't save any for me.

- Not only did I buy a couple comics and comic-related stuff there, I also stocked up on Pocky - those delicious Asian chocolate dipped sticks. Mmm...tasty! Can you believe that someone was selling them there? Yum!

Yeah...so that's about as much as I remember from my convention experience. Next year I'm definitely going to go all three days and take part in the after-con things, since I'm always hearing stories about the *interesting* stuff that happens at night.

So for now, here's my pictures!

Wizard World Chicago Pictures

Posted by Yano at January 6, 2005 09:39 AM

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