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AtlantaCon<\/b> was this past weekend. My son [Mike<\/b>] and I had a blast! It was my goal to try and get sketches from Adam Hughes<\/b>, Cully Hamner<\/b>, Dan Brereton<\/a><\/b>, Phil Noto<\/a><\/b> and whoever else the budget would allow.<\/p>\n The con was scheduled to open at 1PM Friday. We got to our hotel before 9AM. I was surprised that we could check in early. As we were completing the paperwork, Dan Brereton<\/b> began to check in as well. We decided to wait until the con to say, “Hello.” As the elevator doors were closing to take us up to our room, Mike Kaluta<\/a><\/b> came on board. He is always so friendly.<\/p>\n We decided to eat breakfast. Dan Brereton<\/b> had the same idea, but since he was with a couple of friends we didn’t want to bother him. After breakfast, Mike<\/b> and I headed over to the convention center. There were already people in line. The con wasn’t scheduled to open for another hour and a half!<\/p>\n I was talking to a couple of guys when I heard someone yelling, “Craig Zablo<\/b>, you lied!” I looked up to see John Higashi<\/b> coming down the escalator. “You said, you wouldn’t be here until Saturday!” John<\/b> continued yelling. John<\/b> is such a fun guy to be around. He collects Star Wars<\/b> art and his collection is one of the best I’ve ever seen. He has art by almost everyone. Who else do you know that has several pieces from Drew Struzan<\/a><\/b>? John<\/b> came down and showed us all where the line would start so we could pick up our con passes, and then entertained us with pieces from his collection until it was time for him to go in. John<\/b> had a lifetime membership to the show, which meant that he would be allowed in to the dealer’s room an hour before everyone else.<\/p>\n Once the lifetime members were allowed to enter, the regular paid attendees lined up at the door. Mike<\/b> and I were fourth and fifth in line and so I felt my odds of an Adam Hughes<\/b> sketch were pretty good. Cully Hamner<\/b> had already put me on his list [thanks to an e-mail from Big Beatty<\/b> — thanks, bro!] so Adam<\/b> would be my first stop when the gates opened. From where we were standing, we could see the line for Adam<\/b> was already nine deep and growing… The crowd was allowed to enter and I ended up 13th in line for an Adam Hughes<\/b> sketch. When I spoke to Adam<\/b> about what I wanted [a drawing of Sylvester Stallone<\/b>], he liked the idea. I left him a book for reference and hustled over to see Cully<\/b>.<\/p>\n Cully <\/b>remembered me and we discussed what I wanted. I thought that Cully <\/b>would do a very cool Jack Carter<\/b>. Cully <\/b>hadn’t seen the movie but I had reference. I explained that Carter <\/b>was a Vegas enforcer, a low level mobster. Cully<\/b> looked at the pictures and said, “nice suits, right?” Yep. Cully<\/b> said to check back later in the day.<\/p>\n Mike<\/b> was walking around checking out things. I caught up with him and we walked the convention center. Dan Brereton<\/b><\/a> was setting up and I spoke to him about a commission. He said that he would definitely be interested. We agreed to hook up later in the show to work out the details. The first day wasn’t even half over and I had basically set up three commissions. I was loving life.<\/p>\n