{"id":1201,"date":"2006-03-04T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-04T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2022-05-06T19:28:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T23:28:52","slug":"megacon-report-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1201","title":{"rendered":"MegaCon Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406beatty_ruiz_ban.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406beatty_ruiz_ban.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">One of the best parts of attending conventions is meeting up with folks that you don&#8217;t get to see often enough. <\/span><b style=\"font-family: arial;\">MeganCon<\/b><span style=\"font-family: arial;\"> was no exception. I spent the bulk of the show hanging at the table shared by my best buddy <\/span><b style=\"font-family: arial;\">John Be<\/b><b style=\"font-family: arial;\">atty<\/b> and <b>Alberto Ruiz<\/b><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">. Now THAT was a blast [and I plan to write about the experience later].<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406bob_ban.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"cursor: pointer; width: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406bob_ban.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Directly across from <b>Alberto<\/b> and<b> Beatt<\/b><strong>y&#8217;s<\/strong> table, <b>Bob McLeod<\/b> was set up. <b>Bob<\/b>&#8216;s <b>sketch list<\/b> was full and his new book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0060745142\/craizabls\/104-3212065-5531939?creative=327641&amp;camp=14573&amp;adid=1Q3GR5S3451JCVHTQQEW&amp;link_code=as1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Superhero ABC<\/span><\/b><\/a> was selling like hotcakes. If you have [or know anyone who has] young kids, <b>Bob<\/b>&#8216;s book would make the perfect gift! Heck, I even saw fans without kids buying it for themselves!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Alex Saviuk<\/b> was set up. <b>Alex<\/b> is a great guy who&#8217;s been busy the last couple of years doing <b>storyboards for movies<\/b> in addition to his <b>comic<\/b> work. <b>Alex<\/b> has a true love of <b>film<\/b> and so it was great to spend a few minutes catching up with him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406pennington.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Pennington<\/a><\/span><\/b> was there on <b>Saturday<\/b> sketching for fans. <b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Mark<\/span> <\/b>had a really cool <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406pennington_conan.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Conan painting<\/span><\/b><\/a> on display. <b>Mark<\/b> said that it was a commission for a fan and the fan wanted <b>Mark<\/b> to change it so that <b>Conan<\/b> was wearing a horned helmet rather than the wolf&#8217;s head. While I can understand the fan&#8217;s thought process, I think that the painting would look cooler the way that it is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Mark<\/b> was sketching for fans and turning out some really nice pieces. <b>James Howell<\/b> got a <b>Batman<\/b> in the rain that was so nice that he went back to get a<b> Joker<\/b> [also in the rain] so he&#8217;d have &#8220;bookend&#8221; pieces. <b>Matt Hollub<\/b> also got on board for a piece from <b>Mark<\/b>. I would have as well, but my reference was with another artist and <b>Mark<\/b> was only going to be at the show on <b>Saturday<\/b>. Still, I know just the sketch I&#8217;d like to get from Mark, so the next time we&#8217;re at a show together, you know I&#8217;ll be in his line.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406shawn_ban.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"cursor: pointer; width: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406shawn_ban.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although I was on <b>two sketch lists<\/b> [<b>Adam Hughes<\/b> and <b>Phil Noto<\/b>], and <b>Alberto<\/b> did me<b> three gratis<\/b> [3!!!] <b>Stallone<\/b> pieces [more on that later], I wanted to try and pick up a piece of art for a buddy who&#8217;d done me some favors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I thought that <b>Shawn Surface<\/b> might just be the man for the job, and boy was I right. <b>Shawn<\/b> has done some work for my buddy, Bill Black&#8217;s AC Comics, as well as Mitch Hyman&#8217;s Bubba The Redneck WereWolf. I&#8217;d talked to Shawn at a few cons over the years about getting a Stallone sketch from him&#8230; but since I wanted to get a piece from my buddy, that had to come first. Shawn was more than up for the task. I really liked the way it turned out. I&#8217;d like to tell you that you can click HERE to see the piece, but instead you&#8217;ll see Shawn and what a Mage sketch might look like. LOL. Ok, ok&#8230; it wasn&#8217;t <b>THAT<\/b> funny [unless you know <b>James Howell<\/b> and have read <b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z022806.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">THIS<\/span><\/a><\/b>].<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: arial; text-align: justify;\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406gus.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gus Vasquez<\/a><\/b> was there. We talked a bit about the work that he&#8217;s been doing on an <b>animation feature<\/b>. I also asked him about his niece, <b>Rosario Dawson<\/b>. What a year she&#8217;s had with her involvement in<b> Sin City<\/b> and <b>Rent<\/b>. We also discussed the comic, OCT [<b>Occult Crimes Taskforce<\/b>] that she&#8217;s co-creating with <b>David Atchiso<\/b><strong>n<\/strong> and <b>Tony Shastee<\/b>. <b>Rosario<\/b> and <b>Gus<\/b> will be among the tons of guests at Heroes Con later this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: arial; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Andy Smith<\/strong> was there. When he wasn&#8217;t sketching for fans, he was looking for something to take back home to his daughter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: arial; text-align: justify;\"><b>Jesse &#8220;Cadre&#8221; Hansen <\/b>&#8220;the hardest working man&#8221; in comics was set up with his crew. I really wanted to spend a few minutes catching up with<b> Jesse<\/b>, but the time just wasn&#8217;t there. We did say &#8220;hi&#8221; a few times as we passed each other though.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406thor_ban.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"cursor: pointer; width: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406thor_ban.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>MegaCon<\/b>, like most cons these days, has people showing up in <b>amazing costumes<\/b>. Sometimes the folks really look like the characters that they&#8217;re supposed to be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Thor<\/b> had a cool helmet and his beard and hair were right. Still I thought <b>Thor <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406thor.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">would be taller than me<\/a><\/span><\/b>. I love <b>Eric Powell&#8217;s The Goon<\/b>. And he&#8217;s a character that people seldom choose to dress up as. Still, I thought <b>The Goon<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406goon.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">would be bigger than me<\/span><\/b><\/a>. A lot of people choose to dress up as <b>Batman<\/b>. Although, not too many are lucky enough to have <b>Batgirl<\/b> and<b> Robin<\/b> [also in great costumes] along for the ride. But I have to admit, I thought that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406batmanfamily.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Batman would be taller than me<\/span><\/b><\/a>. You might think that I was starting to feel like <b>&#8220;the big man in comics&#8221;<\/b> but you&#8217;d be wrong&#8230; see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stallonezone.com\/z030406kingpin_big.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><b>I met up with the Kingpin!<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you&#8217;ve ever been to a <b>con<\/b>, you know how much goes on. I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m leaving out some stuff&#8230; still, I&#8217;ll post my new <b>Adam Hughes<\/b> sketch tomorrow [I LOVE IT!] and my thoughts on hanging with <b>Big Beatty<\/b> and<b> Alberto<\/b> soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the best parts of attending conventions is meeting up with folks that you don&#8217;t get to see often<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-comics","comments-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1201"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29642,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions\/29642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}