I’m sad to say it’s over. Baltimore Comic Con was a blast this year. There are many amazing things I did not get to see and do. However, the things I did were terrific. I hope next year is this much fun!

 

 

 

Between table duty and coffee runs I did manage to do some pretty cool things. One of the first highlights of the weekend was getting an opportunity to meet Steve Niles. For those unfamiliar with Steve’s work, Niles has achieved success from his start in the DC Hardcore music scene to his current works for Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing and DC Comics. If your still need a stronger reference point, you may have heard about the comic to film vampire tale: 30 Days of Night. Collaborating with artist Ben Templesmith, this book was my first intro to Steve’s work. The film will be hitting theaters in October from Columbia Pictures but the book has been released since 2002. It’s a recommended read, for sure. With all of these fantastic achievements, one thing I found interesting about Steve is that he never completed High School. See that kids. If you’re motivated, the D.I.Y approach can work for ya. It can happen. That’s certainly fuel for the fire. If you ever get the chance to meet him, you should. His tone is impressive. Niles seems greatful to be where he is. I wish him all the best. Good luck, sir.

 

The second highlight of the weekend was meeting the creator of Hellboy and The Amazing Screw-On Head: Mike Mignola. This has been something I’ve always wanted to do. I didn’t know if I was going to be nervous and botch the whole thing or whether or not I’d get there and he’d be a prick. I can tell you that neither of those things were true. Meeting Mike was great. I got to speak with him about mythology and learn about some insights to his creative process. Given the chance, I think we’d talk for quite a while. One of the things I had him sign was my mythology book. I have been using the book for reference for my new comic. He drew a picture of the Baba Yaga inside for me. Speaking with him about mythological creatures and charaters made me feel really comfortable about the work I am doing. (That should be a nice hint for those wondering about my new project.) On Sunday I had the chance to see him a second time. Mike Mignola hosted a panel that was just open to Q+A for an hour which turned out to be really cool. I got to get all my questions answered and find out some fun and new things about his work that I did not know. At the panel, one thing that was mentioned that people may not know about Hellboy is that he has a death written for him. Hellboy’s end isn’t going to happen anytime soon but it will at some point. Also I learned that one of the original ideas for the second Hellboy film was the story of Roger the Homunculus: Almost Colossus. Too bad it didn’t work out though. That would have been great.

As for the rest of the Con, our friends were there to hep turn it up and bring the noise.

Thanks to our friends at the Web Comics Lounge: Rockets, Dear Pirate and In His Likeness and to our friends at Caf-Fiends and Digital Pimp. I didn’t really get a chance to hang out with Digital Pimp too much but they will be at the Small Press Expo coming up soon. Check them out if you haven’t already. I’ll be heading up there too. It should be a good time.

Thanks for everything, everyone. This Con was a blast.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.