2008 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

June 11, 2008: Spokane Comic Con 2008 Report (from June 7)

By Neal Bailey

Gwen

GWEN STACY VS. LORD VADER

As you can see, much fun was had at the second annual Spokane Comic Convention 2008 (held on June 7th)... that's Gwen Stacy, a rad little gal that I tend to see at the local cons. It's like I tell folks, the local cons are always the best, because you don't have to worry about making money or putting on a face or doing business, it's just good local folks who love the comics and are there to share the things they care about and have a good time. Like Gwen.

I remarked to my neighbors a number of times how nice it was to be at a con where there were so many kids present, and boy, were there a number, short, tall, varying in ages. It gave me some real hope that we're not all forty-year-old guys collecting stuff and putting it in a closet...

ARRIVAL

I got in late, mostly due to my own typical luck. Putting in the gas for the car, I heard a distinct hissing and looked at the back tire in horror to see a flat emerging. My buddy Sion loaned me his car, an awesome gesture, and later my tire was deemed just fine. PEBKAC.

Regardless, I rolled into town at midnight, knowing I had to get up at nine, and promptly tried to sleep, failing miserably. I'm a noon to four AM man, typically, and my brain reasserted its desire over its logic. That, and Texas Hold 'Em Poker shows, no matter what GTA pokes fun at them for, are extraordinarily addictive.

I stumble in bearing gummi worms and some coffee in my belly, ready to rock and roll...

THE CON

Gonzaga has a pretty campus. I would have ended there myself had I not been scared away from Catholic school early on, and to some degree I regret what I missed. Beautiful place, and a great one to hold a con in. It was about the size of Bell-Con, so relatively small, but growing, and filled with a great group of passionate people who care a great deal about what they're doing and where the industry's at. I got to sit and talk with folks all day, and surprisingly, they gave a good bit of attention to the books over the Smallville Magazines, which are usually the big draw of late outside of folks who just know us from the Superman Homepage.

As an added bonus, we were able to actually present, for the first time in any of the cons that we've attended, the actual Superman Homepage. There was free guest wifi, and a plug to plug the laptop in, so I fired it up, and played the Speeding Bulletin on nonstop rotation for the better part of the eight hours of the show. It was rather neat, even if I did have to keep wiggling the mouse.

The guys from Bluewater (http://www.bluewaterprod.com/) were there, and I got to visit with them again. When I was a kid, I had a 10th Muse comic that I read over and over, mostly because it was the first comic alphabetically in my collection, but also because I enjoyed it. They've got 10th Muse up and running again, along with Ray Harryhaused projects, Wrath of the Titans, Plan 9, all of these great, classic sci fi and fantasy stuff I enjoyed as a kid. You should definitely check their work out. I'm going to do my best to work with these guys in the future if they'll have me, because the work is certainly rad and of top quality.

Hosting the costume contest was great. It brushed me up on how poor my Naruto recognition skills are, and I failed to note the difference between a squirrel and a weasel, which is probably why my bills are so high right now and I'm as slow as a dammed river. But there was a fantastic Black Canary, who won the adult competition, and Gwen Stacy one the kids, thought there were some other really great entrants... kids who really put a lot of faith and heart into their work. I asked them how long they worked on their pieces, and it was easily forty, fifty hours. Very fine work.

Playing in the background were trailers, shorts, and Superman documentaries, along with Clone Wars stuff for the 501st, who were present and walking around in Vader, Jango, and Stormtrooper outfits, among others. Prime stuff.

I also got to meet Andy Owens, the inker on the backup stories for Trinity. He had FANTASTIC original art, and some great stories from his work on Superman as it wound toward issue 200 with Seagle. I asked him for a sketch, but we couldn't find a piece of backer board, so I handed him my laptop, and he sketched this AWESOME Superman and Batman on it... it's just incredible:

laptop

Now I have to be very ginger with the laptop, but man, what a great tradeoff. I'll enjoy this every day for as long as the computer lasts...

AND AWAY!

On the way out, I dropped my wallet on the ground. A guy chased me down and handed it back. Good people, a great city, a huge city, and a grand time. I can't wait for next year, and it was well worth the trip.

Neal



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