THE ESCALATOR-BATOR, or WHO SUBSCRIBES TO ‘HORSEFISTING ILLUSTRATED?’

This is kind of a Saturday/Sunday combo post. I woke up late this morning and decided to go finish the con instead of writing first. Turned out to be the right idea, as I was three hours and out at the show today.

Yesterday was a monster. First, at some point midday, they stopped selling new badges. To my knowledge, that’s a first. Attendance records have been obliterated, I’d think. Every day was packed beyond belief. I did only two panels, surprisingly; the “Adapting comics to the screen” screenwriters panel, and the “Hack/Slash” becoming a movie panel. My favorite con moment of the day, though, came after those, however. John Ridley was signing free copies of his novel THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS. I’m a huge fan, so this was going to be a treat.

Then he ran late.

So late, in fact, that I decided to wander off and come back later. So I get a few aisles over and what do I see? Ridley at a different publisher’s booth, asking if they know where Warner Books is located. So I stepped in and played tour guide, delivering him to a grateful Warner’s staff. Fun.

The evening was again spent with friends, all but one of who was leaving today. I made some new friends this year that made this an amazing show, and I’m very grateful. Brandon, Jess, Lee… safe travels. Along with old friends Joe and Chris, we made Saturday one for the books. Not going to over-detail, but Joe helped get a guy arrested; Chris broke a waiter’s fragile heart; we marveled at a young boy who was riding the Hyatt escalators barefoot and in the wrong direction (running up the ‘down’, etc.) while playing with himself through his pockets; decisions were made about what horses drawn by Rob Liefeld would look like (no visible hooves, star-shaped tattoos over their eyes, and twenty-eight hands tall if you include their shoulder-mounted guns); and we created a trade magazine for people who artificially inseminate mares.

It went downhill from there. :-)

Today is my traditional shopping day. I focused heavily on minis, though the number of interesting efforts was way down this year. Still, I picked up new efforts from Paul Horn, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, and Marion Vitus among others, so I left as a happy consumer.

As usual, with the show over, I’m wishing I were flying out tonight. I miss my house and bed. But thinking about it, I know I’ll miss my friends (those named above, plus Matt, Kevin, Steven and everyone else even more. See you next time gang…

/Mason