It’s always nice when an experience exceeds your expectations. I knew I would have a great time meeting Ed, Rose, and Steven at the Pittsburgh Comicon, and I did, but I didn’t expect much from the con itself.
Fortunately, retailers from across the region had brought boxes full of trade paperbacks and seemed determined not to take them back to their respective shops. So I could overspend without feeling like I was overspending, which is actually pretty dangerous, now that I think about it. But heck, I found crazy cheap copies of stuff like Scooter Girl, The Complete Geisha, Peanutbutter and Jeremy’s Best Book Ever, and my favorite find, Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga.
Ed, it should be noted, is insanely gregarious. As a result, I could just kind of ride along in his wake and end up talking to many more people than I normally would. While there weren’t tons of creators there, Ed somehow managed to find all of the really interesting ones. And he got an incredibly adorable sketch for his book from this guy. (I do wish I hadn’t seen Jim Rugg inking additional art for the Street Angel collection, because now I’m going to have to buy the damned thing.)
Alas, there was something of a freak shortage. Just a few people in costume, and none of them really looked that bad. The Hal Jordan Green Lantern actually managed to pull it off pretty well. (Spider-Man, on the other hand, didn’t have the ass for it. Not that I was checking, or anything.) I did love the slightly-larger-than-life Spider-Mannequin at the Previews booth, slumped over in a chair like he’d passed out drinking.
All in all, it was a delightful day trip, and Ed, Rose, and Steven are really wonderful company. It makes me even more determined to go to SPX this year, so I can meet more bloggers. (By the way, if you’ve ever wondered what I look like, Rose and Steven took pictures.)