Monday, March 15, 2024

"Excuse me, would you sign something for me?"

This past Sunday I drove up to Seattle for the Emerald City Comicon, and just like last year, I had a great time.

Comic Book conventions are fun for a lot of reasons, but the ritual of getting an autograph from an artist or writer is what I love the most. Being able to meet the person that drew the pictures or wrote the story for a book is great, but getting to actually tell them how much you enjoy their work is even better.

The first order of business was to find Len Wein, and have him sign a copy of Swamp Thing for me. I spotted him sitting near the back of the room, and while I was trying to slyly point out the creator of Wolverine to my son, he saw us looking over at him.

Swamp Thing

Len was very nice, and very tolerant of how lame I am around people that I really respect. I told him that it was difficult for me to decide on what I'd bring, as his name is printed inside just about half the comic books that I own. And I don't think that I was able to clearly communicate just how much his work has both entertained and inspired me in all the years that I've been reading comic books... or just reading reading... period.

A while later I dropped by David Mack's table, and had him sign my copy of Kabuki: Circle of Blood.

kabuki

Given that I'd spent much of the '90s living under a rock, I'm pretty much a newcomer to his books, but I'm a fan now, and I'm happy that I got to say hello.

Mike and Laura Allred signed the cover of this Madman comic for me. I love their work, and feel like a fool for waiting until nearly the end of the day to find their table, but I'm so happy that I got to say hi before they took off.

Madman

Next chance I get (if I get one), I'll have them sign a copy of The Atomics... which I would have done if I hadn't left the copy that I wanted to bring at home.

At the very beginning of the day I walked up to Michael Golden's table, and I mentioned that I'd love it if he would sign a copy of The Micronauts for me. I told him that I couldn't decide on one, and asked which cover was his favorite. He joked that he didn't have one, and that if "the check cleared" it was his favorite.

We laughed, and then I said that I'd come back later, after I'd had something to eat, and maybe by then I'd decide. As it turns out, I ended up returning to his table near the very end of the day (he had been parked a few spots down from Len Wein), but he was gone. The woman in the space next to him mentioned that he had wandered off for a bit, but that he'd be back soon.

Micronauts

I stood there with my son for about twenty minutes--actually happy that we had a chance to stop and rest. I explained to him how when I was around his age, I used to sit and draw Acroyears like the ones in the book that I was holding. That in a way it was a part of what led me to study art later on.

Michael Golden returned, and I hurried over to hand him the book that I'd decided on. I started to hand him a silver Sharpie, and then I pointed to a spot where he could sign. He responds by saying that a black one would look better, and that he'd found a good place to sign. At this point I'm laughing out loud, and I'm thinking, "Oh my god, you drew the thing... of course you can sign wherever you want."

3 comments:

Matt said...

I am a fan of the Micronauts comics as well and very jealous of you meeting Michael Golden. Comic conventions in the UK are scare and tend to only be populated with the British artists. Not that British artists are no good, but I grew up on Marvel and DC.

rockettubes said...

Michael Golden was at the con?! Crap, I didn't see his name on the guest list the last time I checked it, otherwise I'd probably have gone. :( I can't believe I missed that...

kenchan13 said...

Awesome. i cant wait for comic con in april here in Chicago. My son is gonna crap himself when he sees all the people in costume.