What a FANTASTIC weekend!

First a big THANKS to my brother who manned the updates this weekend, he’s got a couple more creator interviews to edit and upload. But here’s my wrap-up…

How do you sum up two days of awesomeness in one post? I dunno, but I’ve started this post a few different times… I think I’ll just “stream-of-conciousness” here goes:

First, BIG thanks to all the folks that stopped by and said hi and bought a copy of Araknid Kid – by the end of the con, I had zero left! Sold out.

The ride down:
One of the cool parts about the trip was that my brothers and dad decided to come down with me too! You can see the video updates from the road here, here, here and here (<-- I was tired... kind of look like Andy Bernard from the Office in this one). But to sum it up.

TRAFFIC.

I left my house (in Maine) Friday at 5AM and arrived at the hotel in Baltimore at 10PM... long drive. We lost about 3+ hours sitting in traffic in New York and on the Jersey turnpike.

DAY ONE: MEETING PEOPLE!:
We were setup in booth #2409 in the Kids Love comics area – I got to meet a BUNCH of great creators!

Jamie Cosley: The man the myth the legend! After years of chatting back and forth, collaborating online – I finally got to meet Tony Pony himself! It was great hanging out with him and Tyler this weekend – the man is a machine and was crankin’ out the cartoon awesomeness! (here’s the first video of us at the con and another update from Jamie)

Franco- The Eisner winning member of Blindwolf Studios and part of the team that brings us TINY TITANS – it was great hanging out with him and his family this weekend.

Jason Horn - I had only heard the rumors about a cartoonist that wrote a book about a dinosaur that was a ninja… and this weekend it was validated by the books from the creator himself (I got to sit next to him)! Fun series that you can check out here. He also writes a continuation of the Billy Goats Gruff tale – check out his interview here.

Seated right on the other side of Jason… Dean Trippe! I’ve been admiring this guys work for years and was pretty excited to meet him. If you haven’t check out his work – find it here! He’s the creator of Butterfly and creator/editor of Project Rooftop and drawer of other cool stuff.

Right next to him - TODD WEBB (as Jamie puts it “He’s real famous”) – really cool guy, and super nice to boot! I got to hang out and draw a bit with him Saturday night – Jamie, Tyler, Todd and I worked on a Jam comic (Franco got in on it too) not sure if it will ever see the light of day though… we were tired! I got to get his copy of his newest “Reading War and Peace” We’ve got an interview him that you can see here – in the meantime, check him out here: www.toddbot.com

The first of the many Zuda folks that I’d meet this weekend were the dynamic duo behind the Night Owls (check it out – add it to your favorites) – PETER & BOBBY TIMONY! Two of the nicest guys – they were there with copies sketchbooks, Minion Maze activity books (check out the comic here), graphic novels, 24-hour comics! I was fortunate to get some copies of their work and trade some sketches – here’s the Araknid Kid

Fellow folks in the Kids Love Comics area:
Scott Christian Sava – creator of the Dreamland Chronicles (and a slew of other great stuff) – I had the opportunity to talk with him for a little bit. Super nice guy and fellow Parabler to boot! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out his work.

John “Buzzboy” Gallagher - I had the pleasure of meeting John and his family at the con – if you haven’t checked out Buzzboy, yer missin’ out on some superhero fun! Thanks to John and co. for making it possible for me to join the Kids Love Comics folks at the con!

Rich “Roboy Red” Faber was there – celebrating his birthday on Saturday meant that everyone in the KLC area got cupcakes! Woohoo!

Steve Conely - Unfortunately I only got to say 3 words to this guy – he was there promoting his upcoming graphic novel Kid Knight Check out some of the production are on his site.

Scott Neely – fellow Sugary Serials artist known for his Scooby Doo comic work – I was able to shake his hand and say hello – the downside to being a part of the con is not being able to chat with these other artists longer!!!

Harold Bucholz – Apathy Cat creator, publisher and all-round good guy was there – another that I didn’t get to talk with as much as I would’ve liked

Jenni Gregory – Dreamwalker creator and part of the team over at Ka-Blam (the great folks that print Araknid Kid) – Super nice and a wonderful person to work with – if you got a copy at the con, you have these folks to thank – I had an emergency batch printed that was brought to me in time for the con.

Another Ka-Blamer -Michael McElroy was also in the KLC area with his Bruce Timm-esque art and preview of his new comic RED COMET (really fun stuff)

—- I’m sure I’m missing a few others – again – wish there was more time to meet and chat with everyone!!!

Some other great folks I got to meet:

MIKE MAIHACK – creator of Cow & Buffalo (and other comics) and editor of Parable! Mike was one of our first guinea pigs for our iPhone-with-short-tethered-microphone interviews and super cool guy. He’s one of the artist that I’ve been talking with for years and finally had the opportunity to meet for real this weekend. I know I keep on saying this – but it was SO busy – and limited time – I didn’t get a chance to talk with him as long as I would’ve liked either. I was able to pick up a few of his awesome prints (this one and this one) and they are displayed right now in my office… He also was nice enough to introduce me to another artist whose work I really enjoy….
Joel Carroll! – if you haven’t seen Joel’s work – check it out here - he was cool enough to do this commission request of the Kid:


RICH WOODALL! Creator of Johnny Raygun, comic shop guy, and crazy Sketch Card producer (I think he did 1000 Marvel Masterpiece cards) – I was first introduced to his work when I first joined Outcast Studios (back when I was first posting art on the interweb – still feels like home) – I had no idea he was going to be there and was cool to meet him in person.

ZUDA
Man there was a strong Zuda presence there (High Moon won a Harvey) – after meeting the Timony brothers – the next Zudite that I met was editor Kwanza Johnson. He was kind enough to visit my table…. and completely mess with me . Other folks from Zuda included: ROB BERRY, JOHNNY ZITO, DANIEL GOVAR, DAVID GALLAGHER, STEVE ELLIS, SCOTT BROWN and… man, I’m probably missing some more. (It was GREAT getting to meet you guys in person!)

I’m going to post this now – I’m for sure leaving stuff out – but I’ve been writing this post on-and-off for days (inbetween catching up with life and work getting back)