AdHouseBooksBlog

Whew. What A Show.

And those smiles are at the END of the day on Sunday!

So, yeah, as we mentioned before, we missed the previous year at B*Con, so this year seemed all the more special in regards to us coming back.

What follows are a few random thoughts on the experience that was Baltimore Comic*Con.

The drive up was good. One slow down, but all in all, can’t complain. I make it to the convention center for load in, and as I’m waiting to drive into the show, or unload onto a pallet, I see an open door, so I got and take a look. And what is the very FIRST thing I see at the show?

My roomies having a discussion about cover design influences while digging through 50 cent boxes! A good sign for the show ahead!

Good ol’ roomies help me unload through the doors, and I’m off to the Hyatt. The next thing I see at the Hyatt is that our room is pretty close to the elevator and ice machine, which is a good thing this trip. So, it just gets better and better!

I play “host” to the city, since Jim hasn’t been to the show before, so we head up to the Geppi and then out to Hampden to Atomic Books and the Golden West.

And yes, we drank Natty Bo!

We had to still sign and package the Harvey Gift Bag prints, so we headed back to the room to make it happen. I’ll just say here and now that having Jim and Tom as roomies is probably the best a guy could ask. Intelligent conversations,wise-ass remarks, and everyone is a team player. Go team comix!

Because I decided to take in the town on Friday night, I had to head over Saturday to get the booth set before the show. That’s always an interesting challenge. Especially when you have new stuff to show. It took a while, but I finally got it to a design that made me happy.

One of the fun things I would do while Paul was away was to take the THB:CfM.2 and create patterns on his table. It REALLY was fun, and eye-catching. It also kept some con-goers from sleeping on the table. (I kid you not!)

Oh! I forgot to say that I ran into Reese Aaron Nathan Friday night. Cool, kid, but he can’t hold his liquor!

Back to the show! The introduction to AdDistro was a hit! Especially with other artists. I didn’t bring enough! So, see me at SPX if you didn’t get to purchase.

Having Mr. Phil at a show is always awesome. Lots of gossip and talk about “finds.” Like I said before, I think he’s my long lost twin.

Saturday was good. Solid, busy, insane when it got to Paul’s signing time. Well, not too insane. Just the right amount. And as ever, Paul was a trooper. I think the book of the show was that Wednesday Comics collection. Every time you turned around, someone was walking by with it.

We did the Harvey’s Saturday night. I guess this was my 6th or 7th time? I’ve been to the Pittsburgh, NY and MD ones. They all have their memories. This one will be known as copyrightgate. Or something. I didn’t really know what was going down until the next morning. Guess I was sleepy from the show? The ceremony was OK…. I mean, come on, we weren’t nominated for anything! But I did get to hang with Frank Miller & friends, so that made it cool. And the gift bag weighed a ton!

But here’s something I want to work on…

When we get to the Award for Best Presentation, can we possibly acknowledge the art director or designer? I mean, yeah, the editor does “edit” the book. But I think it’s kind of a snub at the people who work hard to make these items so excellent. So, I need to drop an email to someone to mention this.

OK, time for a photo:

My dogs were barking!

What else? Sunday was fun. A little more chill, but still busy enough to keep me interested. I did get a chance to get out from behind the table to walk the show. Bumped into Stephen Blickenstaff, whose work I really dig. Also, got to see some new art creators whose work got both Jim Rugg and myself excited. Handed out a lot of SPX flyers, so hopefully we’ll get some new faces down there in a few weeks.

As always, it was great to see all our friends at the show. It’s weird to try and remember them, but then also put them together with the forum members or screen names. We live in a split personality world!

In closing, big, BIG thanks to everyone who helps at the show. It was damn near perfect this year. Marc, Brad, Randy… I know I’m forgetting people. Jim and Tom, you both rock. I look forward to our SPX adventure. Thanks to Paul for doing our little con-surprise. I think it worked. And Greg… man, you always rock. I love you, man.

I’m tired, so I’m going to sign off without linkage. Hopefully y’all will understand.