Pittsburgh Comic Con Diary!!!

Okay folks. Glad I'm back. Here's what went down this weekend for me at Pittsburgh Comic Con:

FRIDAY: I've been up since 7:15 am early thursday. I was too excited to sleep. So tired as hell, I leave around midnight to pick up Sir Robert. I get there and we chat the whole way to Pittsburgh. He tries his damndest to keep me awake and does a good job of it by doing some good conversations with me. We arrive around 9:00 and checkin/set up. I run into some of my old friends right away and meet some of my new neighbors. We set up and the show opens. For the first 3-4 hours, its like a ghost town. No one. I got scared thinking that the hype might have effected the show. but what I didn't take into account was that Pittsburgh was playing in some playoff shows, and traffic was bad, it was rainy, plus its just friday. So mostly, I only sold around 5-8 comics that day. Robert and I went over a project we're doing this year. I went around and chatted with my old comic pals: Brett Pinson, Eric Adams. Also finally got to meet Tim Fisher (who hosts several podcasts on TALKSHOE that I've been listening to for years), who is a real cool cat. I picked up a few comics from some really great artists (plugs pending). At 7:00, the show closed and Rob and I went back to the room to clean up and go out to the mall for lunch. We made some copies and then got Subway at the "ZOMBIE" MALL. Then back at the Radisson, we went to the bar where I ran into Ryan McLelland and his girlfriend. They bought me many drinks, as well as drinks for David Prowse (Darth Vader). We all sat around and shot the shit. I showed em' my nipples (long story). Then Tim Fisher and Brian Maze (his table neighbor) showed up and we chatted for a long time, talking about in jokes from the Talkshoe podcasts, comic stuff and basic shop talk. I kept drinking and after we disbanded, I headed up to the penthouse and had a few more drinks. Gin and tonic while shooting the shit with some Marvel artist whose name escapes me. At around 11:45, I headed back down to the room and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was OUT! Two solid days awake, and the first day of the comic con experience, concluded.

SATURDAY: Woke up around 9:00, took a shower and headed down. Set up and right away, sold around 8 pieces of art! I did a commission for a nice guy dressed up as a Gommorian Guard from STAR WARS: ROTJ. He also bought one of my Slave Leia pieces. I sold the CLERKS piece, a BOBA FETT piece, and several others. I sold quite a few comics as well. I think it ended up as one of my best saturdays ever! I did some sketches for people, including a lesbian scene of HE-MAN's "teela" and "Evil-lynn", as well as a post-coitus pic of Sorcerous and He-Man. I thougth they were funny as shit. I did a couple sketch cards for some fans. Finally at 6, the show closed. Robert, Tim, Brian and I headed to the Zombie Mall again to get lunch, this time opting for Sbarros. We get back and decide to go to the Charity Auction, which I had a couple pieces in. My pieces sold early and for pretty decent prices so I was happy. After observing the show for almost an hour, I told the guys I'd meet them at the bar that night and headed to the room to lay down for a bit and take a monsterous dump. Epic dump. (ewww, right?)

After cleaned out, I headed to the bar again and tonight was Karaoke night. Ryan and his GF again bought me some beers this time and we're listening to my fellow comic creators sing karaoke. Some were good, some sucked but the atmosphere was so friendly, that it didn't matter. Brian showed up and sang "you may be right." Ryan and his girl both did a couple songs. Brett Pinson showed up and we talked shop for a real long time. Robert came after a quick nap while I was talking to Eric Adams, who did a halarious and very crowd pleasing turn on "What a wonderful world." Ryan was trying to get me to sing "cumbersome" by 7 mary 3, the only song I can do any justice to vocally, but I didn't get drunk enough to be talked into it... at least not then.

After a while, we decide to hit the Penthouse. On the way out, I see Aaron Douglas, from Battlestar Galactica. I got the nerve and chatted with him for a bit. Robert and I chatted with him for a good ten minutes. He didn' t have any reason to talk to us, but he did just cause he was that cool of a guy. Totally stoked on being there and being with the fans. I thanked him for coming on one of our podcasts a while back, cause when he did, thats when I chekced out Battlestar, just cause he was so cool enough to take the time to do that, for his pal, who runs one of the talkshoe shows. Robert and him talked about army stuff. Just a cool, cool guy and a pleasure to meet. I am glad we got the chance to B.S. with him for a bit. I told him I'd drop off some comics for him after he said he loved comics in conversation.

After that, we all went to the Penthouse, where the party was in full force. It was Taki Soma's B-day so Mike Oeming was passing out cakes and bopping balloons around. It was a full balloon fight. I thought "wow. If we were rock stars, we'd be bopping hookers around. But we get balloons!" All my drinks were free, so after drinking alot downstairs, I got several cranberry, Gin and Ojs in me. I chatted with EVERYONE there! Mike O, Taki, some Marvel guy, Josh Ortega, Eric and Tim Lanz and my neighbor Scott, my other neighbor, Robert, Brian, some dude in a Floyd shirt, just EVERYONE! It was so cool. Like being at a drunken keggar with a room full of people just like you. And no one was like "we're big time and you're just indy, so go away." No, we were all on the same playing field. Aaron Douglas showed up and drank some more. Then took off. After a while, I started realizing I wasn't standing up straight easily, so I decided to call it a night before I puked and made an ass of myself. So I stumbled back downstairs to teh room. I stopped off at the karakoe bar once more to see Aaron D singing drunkenly with a bunch of fans on a rendition of "We are the world." Again, such a cool mother fucker. I passed out around 2:15am.

SUNDAY: After a long weekend, I was quite ready to head home. I missed the wife dearly and wasn't looking forward to a long drive home. We set up and checked out of the hotel. I sold a comic and a couple sketch things. I did some drawings for the kids and went around and got some pics of people for my flickr page and some loot I've been wanting. Also, I dropped off some copies of my comics to Aaronn Douglas, who immediately recognized me from the night before (of course, who else looks as cool as me!) and was stoked I gave him some reading material for the plane ride home. I wished him the best and headed back. Around 2pm, I made my rounds and said goodbye to everyone. And at 3pm, we packed up and headed out, long weekend almost over and one of the best con experiences I've ever had. Driving home, Robert and I tlked about the future of what we're gonna be doing and our plans for it. We also got into some deep talk, which was very theraputic for both of us. I dropped him off around 9pm, and got home around 11:50. I missed kelly so much, and picked her up right away to go buy her lunch. We got back in and I unpacked my loot. I fell asleep around 11:30, happy to be home, satisfied that I would DEFINATELY be back next year.

ALL IN ALL, pittsburgh con is a laid back show. There's good traffic on saturdays and just a great atmostphere. Renee and her helpers really run a great show and take care of the guests there. It shows. I never get treatment like that at any of the other shows I've done. If you are debating about doing Pittsburgh Comic Con in the future, I highly recommend it. It was just a wonderful time and I cannot wait to repeat it next year.

Cheers, T