You may remember that when I hit "Send" to upload Friday's post, I was on my way out the door, heading to the pre-Mid-Ohio Con Party at Packrat Comics. The party, by the way, was a lot better than I'd expected. It was apparently a lot better than Jonathon Riddle expected, as well. He was my ride to the gala, and he had stated beforehand that he only intended to stay for a little while. However, after arriving shortly before 7 p.m., we stayed until nearly the end, finally heading out at 11.
Not that I'm complaining, I had a great time. There was, as I reported on Friday, live music. The first set was by the band Seven Book Trilogy, a quartet of regular Packrat customers. Jon and I were talking afterward with Kyle, the band's drummer, who revealed that the band has been in flux recently. Apparently, they've recently lost their lead guitarist. It seems that before his departure, Kendall, the new lead guitarist and lead vocalist, used to play more trombone. He did pick up the horn for a little bit at the beginning of the set. Despite these recent ups and downs, the band put on a great show.
Later, Ethan Van Sciver sat down with a keyboard and treated the party goers to his unique song stylings. Yes, that is the same Ethan Van Sciver who drew New X-Men, Green Lantern, Flash: Rebirth, and many other best selling comics.
The real highlight of the night was the food. I was expecting that they would just have pizza delivered and set out some chips and dip. But the owner's wife, Teresa, actually cooked. She laid out an entire Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and even stuffing. My friends were a little surprised to discover just how much I like stuffing when I went back to the buffet table and filled almost an entire plate with just stuffing. Everything tasted great, of course.
The other great thing about the party was hanging out with other comic nerds just talking about comics. I did get a little, shall we say, "over-excited" at one point, or maybe "obnoxious" would be a better word, when I literally shouted down someone who dared to admit he liked Identity Crisis. I felt bad about that later and caught up to him the next day at the con and apologized.
As for the con itself, I ended up going both days and spending most of my time, as I said I would on Friday, pawing through bargain boxes looking for old comics. I had to quit buying comics on Saturday, when I ran out of room in my bag. Sunday, I was a bit more disciplined, seeking out specific issues and not spending too much more money. Anyway, I found some neat stuff, and I will be writing about a few of my newest old comics here over the next few months.
I did get that sketch I was talking about from Art Baltazar. I asked him to draw Vertigo's John Constantine for me, and he very graciously agreed to do so, even though its not a character he's probably ever drawn before. It's a really cool drawing, and as soon as I get it scanned, I'll share it with you.
While, as I said, I'm not much for collecting autographs, I did pick up an extra copy of my favorite Adam Hughes illustrated issue of Justice League America, so that the man himself could put his "AH!" on it. Jon and I had a nice conversation with Tony Isabella, who invited us, as I'm sure he does everyone he talks to at conventions, to submit suggestions for comic books to include in the sequel to his book 1000 Comic Books You Must Read. I've been working on my list in my head and I'll be sending it to him before long.
All in all, I had a great weekend, and I can only hope that future shows are as much fun now that Mid-Ohio is in the hands of Wizard World.
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