Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Back from Baltimore



This was our first time attending the Baltimore ComicCon and as far as conventions this was the most comic-oriented one I think I've ever been to. By that I mean that most are "pop-culture" conventions with celebrity gust stars and isles and isles of toys and merchandise. Baltimore only had comic-related guests and just a handful of booths that were selling anything but comics. Those who know me know how much I love collecting toys, but I have to say this was pretty refreshing.




Of course the main reason I went was to meet one of my personal heroes, Mike Mignola. Though I consider myself a comic geek, I am far less of one than most people who are into this sort of thing. The only comics I read and have read for years are Hellboy and B.P.R.D., its spin off series. I could launch into why that is, but that's a whole other topic.



I really can't say enough about how nice Mike was, as well as Guy Davis and John Arcudi, the team behind B.P.R.D. For such a relatively small convention it was absolutely packed. For that reason Mignola said that he probably wouldn't be making a return appearance, so I was REALLY glad we went this year. He basically said that he liked being able to talk to people as opposed to just being an autograph machine, which is why he usually attends smaller functions. To me this event seemed especially small, but I guess that shows why he would never go someplace like the convention in Chicago, where heavy hitters like him usually have lines with waits upwards of two hours...here there was never more than say 10 or 12 people in line for him at a time.

The sketch up there is now one of my most prized possessions...I asked Guy Davis, B.P.R.D. artist and creature extraordinare, to do his take on Ernie, the character you may have seen a few places around my site. He did free sketches for just about everybody who asked which is amazingly gracious. I love to meet the guys that actually appreciate their fans rather than using conventions as opportunities to shamelessly coerce a few more bucks from them.



1 comment:

Ian said...

I went to Baltimore once. I had a lovely time.