San Diego 2008

Even though ASP is going through restructuring, they still a "booth presence" at the convention. Lots of creators showed up to talk to fans and sign the books. Nick Tapalansky (writer "Awakenings") was our "booth guru" and rotated artists and writers for signings.

I got to sit and chat with David and Julia Petersen for a bit, which was very nice. I also got have some time talking to Brian Churilla and Leif Jones. Both are super nice folks and it is a shame that I don't get to hangout with them more often.

For me the big news was that I got to talk to Mark Smylie and he filled me in (as much as he could) on the situation with ASP. It sounds like he is actively talking to investors and is hoping to have someone step-up into Aki's role in the next few weeks. Things should be much clearer in about a month and hopefully Robotika will resume it's printing at that time.

Some of the highlights:

Met Michael Golden for the first time. I came over to buy a copy of his new sketchbook and chatted him up about some of his work. He looked at my badge while I was talking and said, "Oh, I know of your work. You do that ninja robot thing, right?" Close enough! I was blown away and just sort of melted at that point.

Met Rick Bryant who back in the 80's produced some awesome portfolios ("Delicate Embrace" and "Oracle") and also did a cool inking job over Mike Mignola on the "World of Krypton" mini-series.

Got to chat with JH Williams and he showed me the originals for the first 2 issues of "Batwoman" series that he is working on. Very, very cool work. I also got to see his pages for the upcoming Jonah Hex issue...I can't wait to buy it.

Saw Ron Marz who was simply thrilled with the 11-page story that Ryan Sook did from his script. He just thought it was excellent and he could not wait to work with Ryan again. Stuff like that is always very cool to hear.

I attended Eisner awards for the first time and got to see Frank Miller give a speech and David Petersen WINNING 2 (!!) Eisners (presented by Samuel Jackson).

Looked at some new work by Joe Suitor, Brian Churilla and Jeremy Bastian...sweet.

Spent $98 buying French comics and sketchbooks at Stuart Ng books. Och.

Bought Travest Charest, Adam Hughes, Frank Cho and Mike Mignola sketchbooks.

Traded original artwork with David Petersen...I am now a proud owner of a Mouse Guard original page (supposedly there is a faint smudge of blood on the border of the page...my plan is to extract Petersen's DNA and clone him (three or four times)).