Man, I love Mid-Ohio-Con.
I went to my first Mid-Ohio-Con in 1988, when it was still in the barn. I've been with it ever since (minus a couple of years when I was away at art school). It's my home show, and after twenty years, it's just chock full of my friends.
James and Bill Henry are now in their second year of running the show, and they're doing a great job. From my view on the ground, their second year was better than the first. Crowds were solid, and Saturday alone I sold more than I had in both days of the con any year before. Trades flew off the rack, shirts sold, hoodies moved, and I did more than a few commissions.
One of my favorites was a commission to draw Mark and Abby and Superman and Lois. I decided to make them cross-save their respective lady friends. I think it turned out great. I also did a Lightning Lad, a Cheetah, and Iron Man and more. It was a pretty diverse group.
And, just like last year, I did a drawing for the charity auction live on stage. Last time I think I did a Crusader drawing, so this time I decided to do some of the ladies and did an Abby/Amazonia illustration.
I always hate listing all the friends that I see at the show, for fear that I'll forget someone. Plus, it sounds like Romper Room. "I saw Paul and Mariann and Lisa and Carl and Tony and Bob and Robyn and Rog…" But it's true. I've made such great friends at the show.
I did make some new ones, like Lora Innes, who I just don't understand how I didn't meet before. She writes and draws the great comic The Dreamer, available in print and webcomics forms. Check it out here. And I met Bryan Glass of Mice Templar fame. We shared a few drinks at one of the receptions during the show.
And I made a bunch of friends on the Webcomics panel that I did on Sunday. I was probably a little too snarky, a little too Chandler sometimes, but everyone seemed to like it. On it was Wes Molebash, whom I'd met last year, Lora, Trevor Mueller and Alan Evans. It was a great time.
I was set up between the insanely talented Art Baltazar of Tiny Titans and Power of Shazam fame and Old Man Sean McKeever. Not that Sean's that old, but his set up had a couple of rocking chairs and a little table. It looked a bit like a front porch. We kept saying he needed a corncob pipe and saying things in our old man voice like "Pepperidge Farm remembers" and "Get off my lawn."
And I managed to frequent a grade school friend's restaurant, BD's Mongolian Barbecue in the Arena District. Turns out it's a favorite restaurant amomg some of the guests. (Sergio Aragones, who was there the year before, made sure to eat there twice.) I wound up heading over there with Mark Evanier, Carolyn Kelly, Bob Ingersoll, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Maggie Thompson and Gregg Berger. I know most of them, but Gregg was new, although we'd briefly met a few years back in Los Angeles.
Gregg is a cartoon voice actor. He was Grimlock on the original Transformers cartoon, and several characters on G.I. Joe. Being a big fan of the Joe cartoon, I asked him which voices he did. He went through the litany and did each voice as he did. "I was Firefly, who liked to blow things up, and Cutter, Ripcord, who liked to jump out of airplanes, and Spirit, the noble Indian warrior." I was fuzzy on the first two, but who could forget Spirit and his eagle?
Ah, it was such a good weekend. I'm already looking forward to next year. So mark November 6-7 on your calendar.
And for those of you wondering, and I know you're out there Mariann and Lisa, yes, I managed to keep my money all the way home this time. No lost Buffy lunchboxes for two years in a row now.
More stuff later, I'm sure. But for now, I have to get ready for my next con in four days, Baltimore Comicon!