{"id":1406,"date":"2007-02-19T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2021-03-08T18:11:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T22:11:52","slug":"one-mega-great-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=1406","title":{"rendered":"One Mega-Great Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Usually when I plan to go to a comic convention<\/strong>, I post the news well in advance in case I have friends planning to be there. Much of the fun of cons is hanging with folks you seldom see! I hadn’t planned to attend this weekend’s Orlando MegaCon<\/strong>. Two weekends ago<\/strong> I attended FX<\/strong> and my wallet needed a break. Even though Darwyn Cooke<\/strong> was scheduled for MegaCon<\/strong> [and I really wanted a shot at a Cooke Stallone<\/strong> sketch], I figured to sit this show out.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Imagine my surprise, when at 7:30am<\/strong> Saturday,<\/strong> my good buddy John Highashi<\/strong> called me. \u00a0John<\/strong> knew how badly I wanted a Darwyn Cooke Stallone<\/strong> sketch.\u00a0 Higashi said that Darwyn<\/strong> was sketching, and his prices were very reasonable. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could get over on Saturday <\/strong>since I had plans with my son Chris<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
At 11:30pm, Higashi<\/strong> called me again to say Darwyn<\/strong> still had a couple of slots open. If I could get there early Sunday<\/strong>, I might still have a shot! To sweeten the deal, John<\/strong> had come up with two one day passes<\/strong>! [Talk about a true friend!] I spoke with Chris <\/strong>and he wanted to go.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That’s Chris<\/strong> and “The James” Howell<\/strong> looking all gangsterish. Chris<\/strong> and I got up early. I was first in line at Darwyn’s table<\/strong>. Right behind me came Randy Martin<\/strong> who hoped to get a sketch for his Edward Scissorhands<\/strong> collection. A few minutes later and the line behind us was huge! When Darwyn<\/strong> arrived, he said that he had room for just two more sketches<\/strong>. I was in!\u00a0 As long as Darwyn<\/strong> didn’t run out of time, I’d get my Stallone<\/strong> piece!!<\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Usually when I hit cons, I have two or three days to hang with friends, set up sketches and look at what the dealers are selling. Since this was the last day of the show, I had to move quickly.\u00a0 I visited briefly with Cadre and his crew<\/strong>, Alex Saviuk<\/strong>, Joe Pekar<\/strong> and Alberto Ruiz<\/strong>. [That’s Joe<\/strong> and Alberto<\/strong> in the photo above. Alberto’s<\/strong> the one flashing the lettuce!] <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Keith and Monica Mallow<\/strong> were there. They joined Chris<\/strong> and I for lunch at the convention center cafe. Chris<\/strong> is pretty reserved the first time he meets someone, so he REALLY didn’t know what to make of Mallow<\/strong>, who’s a joke a minute guy<\/strong>. [Unfortunately his funny jokes only show up every five minutes or so… but I kid…] Keith<\/strong> is planning a one day show<\/strong> in Port St. Lucie, Florida on April 22nd<\/strong>. I’ll post more about that as the date draws near.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After lunch Chris<\/strong> and I hung out with the guys from Tsunami Studios<\/strong> [Gary McKee<\/strong>, Mike Torrance<\/strong>, and Jason Walker<\/strong>]. They’d prepared a studio sketchbook<\/strong>. It was a bargain<\/strong>, especially since they all drew small headshots free with every purchase. I’ll post up mine later this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The cool thing about hanging at the table is you get to see the guys working on commission sketches<\/strong>, you get to visit with other artists<\/strong> who stop by, as well as the folks who come to the show in costume. \u00a0Although he wasn’t in costume, I was surprised to see Jimmy Sanders III<\/strong>! It had been about 12 years<\/strong> since I last saw him. He’d made a splash in the comic biz as an inker and was going full bore for a while. Then a lot of things happened and he seemed to have dropped off the planet. He said that he’s hoping to back into comics. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As the afternoon wore on, I began to wonder if Darwyn<\/strong> would get to my sketch. He always had a huge line of fans<\/strong> who wanted to shake his hand, get a photo, and have him autograph a stack of comics. Darwyn<\/strong> was always friendly and took the time to make sure each fan left happy. He was making progress on his sketch list<\/strong>, but the clock was ticking<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Matt Halloub<\/strong> hung at the table for a bit. He picked up some great additions to his collection. Hawaiian Dave<\/strong> visited and shared some of the great pieces that he scored at MegaCon<\/strong>. John Higashi<\/strong> would suddenly teleport in, and then just as quickly be off again. “The James” <\/strong>rounded up all the sketches that he’d set up. I had come to the show hoping to set up one sketch<\/strong> with Darwyn Cooke<\/strong>. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The show was almost over when <\/span>word got back to me that Darwyn<\/strong> was drawing Sly<\/strong>! I swung by his table and it was ready! I thanked him then made my way back to table Tsunami<\/strong>. After just a few minutes the end of show announcements started. Before we said our goodbyes, Chris <\/strong>snapped a photo of us. That’s Gary<\/strong> looking proud of his pencil, and Jason<\/strong> to our right. I’m behind Gary<\/strong>, and Mike Torrance<\/strong> is behind me. Hawaiian Dave<\/strong> is directly behind “The James”<\/strong> who seems to be putting the Vulcan grip<\/strong> on Jason<\/strong>.<\/span><\/div>\n

Before I go… let me leave you with a shot of Darwyn<\/strong> and his take on Sly as Jack Carter<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usually when I plan to go to a comic convention, I post the news well in advance in case I<\/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-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-comics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","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=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25522,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/25522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}