Baltimore Comic Con Wrap up

Baltimore Comic Con is really one of the premiere comic conventions on the East Coast. Mostly comics, a few celebrities, but also pops, toys, and the likes. The focus in Baltimore is about comics. I had a fantastic time.
My con experience actually started on Thursday, as Fedex rolled up to my house with four boxes full of copies of the Scout Presents Convention Preview that would be given out by Scout creators at the show. I packed them into my car so they could be dropped off at the convention.
Friday morning I rolled up to the show to meet ups with Solar Flare writer James Haick to drop of the Scout Presents books, as well as, the CHU Baltimore Comic Con Exclusive Solar Flare #1. After finding parking I entered the show to go to the retailer breakfast. I mentioned Dark Ark #1 selling out, which was announced and, the Quantum and Woody foil news which was announced. The breakfast was pretty much over, so after grabbing the show exclusives, I was off to the show floor. You can see the exclusives in the video below:

I ran over to James Haick’s booth and he mentioned a mutual friend, Patrick from Paper Films, was there and took me to Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner’s booth to meet up with him. Patrick, who works with Jimmy and Amanda on getting their self-published works turned into movie and TV shows, mentioned the secret metal cover variant for Pro which was limited to 50 copies. They had only brought 10 with them. I ran the post and watched as dealers and fans came running over to pick them clean. I got one as well. I will mention more of that later. Jimmy and Amanda were on hand and signed some books for me, including the metal cover.

James then took me over to Scout booth. I ran into Jim Pruett (Publisher of Scout and writer of Mindbender). I have spoken to Jim numerous times over e-mail, instant message, and text, but this as the first time meeting him in person. Jim has a wicked sense of humor and was fun to talk to. We would end up spending a lot of time hanging out at the con. I also met A.C. Medina, writer of Elasticator. A.C. was incredibly cool, and at 23, is an extremely talented writer. Mina Elwell, writer of Infernoct, who I have met before and is really nice, (Thanks for recording that video for Poyo, it worked well). I also ran into Phillip Kennedy Johnson, writer of Smoketown; Kevin Shah, artist of Elasticator; and one of the Scout Employees Michael who had great stories about his haunted Air B&B and missing socks. Scout treated me like family. I also got to hang out at Aftershock’s booth with Joe Pruett, Publisher of Aftershock and writer of Black Eyed Kids, and twin brother of Jim Pruett. Joe also has the same whit as Joe and is a great person.
The con was about to open the doors to the public and I happened upon Lee Bermejo’s table, I had some books that I was getting signed by him, so I hopped in line. Good thing I did because when he came over, he mentioned that he was taking six sketch commissions. I was glad to take one. Here is the result and the video of the process of you haven’t seen it.



From there, it was off to CBCS to drop off two copies of New Mutants #98 that I wanted to get graded and then I was off running around the rest of the day. I spent the rest of the day behind James Haick’s booth and hung out with Richard Rivera, creator of Stabbity Bunny, and helped sell copies of the book, prints on hand, and Solar Flare variants.
Saturday came too quick. I barely got any sleep and hit the floor tired. Garth Ennis showed up for a signing. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner had me get Garth to sign a copy of the Metal Pro #1 variant for them, also got the copy I picked up signed. You can see that below. Thanks to Joe Pruitt for skirting me past the line and getting the books signed right away. I ran over and dropped off the book to Jimmy and Amanda, and hit the floor again.

Again, I was exhausted at the end of the day, and was ready to go home. James Haick, Richard Rivera, and others were going out to dinner and invited me along. I had recently eaten, so considered just going home, I chose correctly and went out to dinner with them. After dinner it was out to drinks. I hung out with a lot of creators, including Justin Jordan, and had a few beers. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti came out for a little bit, they were across the room from me, Amanda saw me and waved, which was super cool. The highlight of the night though was when Garth Ennis came over and hung out at our table and I got to sit and talk to him. Drinking a beer with Garth was worth the money spent on the con alone. I got home very late Saturday night.

Sunday was a short day for me. I got up late and didn’t get to the con until after it had started. I needed to be out of the con by 2 PM. We had a baseball game that afternoon that took prescedence. It was off to CBCS again to drop off more of my books (New Mutants 87, Tales Of Suspense 41, and some signed Harley books for myself and people who ordered them from the signing opportunity I offered.) I ran around and said goodbye to The Scout and Aftershock crew, stopped by Boom to say hi to Clay Chapman, writer of Lazaretto, say hello to Jason Pell of Suicide Six and Zombie highway fame, and buy the two books I had on my slate to buy, first prints of the Mirage Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 and #3.
Overall the con was a success. I didn’t spend a lot on books, just a couple of gems I have wanted for a while, and the commission from Bermejo. I was treated like a star by so many people. Making connections in the industry is one of the greatest accomplishments personally, and to make more, and be thanked for my work by Clay Chapman, the Pruett Brothers, A. C. Medina, and many others was a really cool experience. I met many site readers personally and that is always a cool experience. Too many to name. One small but funny story was a reader/Youtube watcher came up to me while I was standing with Jim and Joe Pruett and said hi and that he was a regular on the site. I laughed as I was standing with two seasoned comic pros and said that I was the one who got recognized. I teased the Pruetts about that mercilessly.
A big thanks to all who came up and said hi. I appreciate all you guys. Thanks to Jim and Joe Pruett for giving me a comic professional con experience. Thanks to Patrick at Paper Films, as well as, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, you guys rock. James Haick and Richard Rivera gave me full use of their booth to hangout, hide, and store my stuff, as well as for the friendship and chance to just hang out. You two are gems in the comic industry. Mina Elwell, A. C. Medina, and Michael from Scout, I had a blast hanging out and talking with you guys, look forward to seeing you all again at NYCC. I am sure I am forgetting so much as the con was a blur.