Emerald City

I wanted to give you guys a quick update in anticipation of my three day con review that should go up tomorrow night after I park my butt back in Nashville. With a bigger recap to follow, I'll keep this to some quick highlights.

FRIDAY

The Comics Alliance panel on Friday was the first panel I went to and easily the most fun. Adam Warrock performed, my new lifelong best friend Chris Haley and his partner in crime Curt Franklin did a live drawing event and laughs were had by all.

Meeting CB Cebulski and getting him to agree to do an interview for the blog in an effort to help grow my initiative to aid new creators.

Being able to finally meet my friend Evan Shaner, whose work I love more than anybody else in the industry, and his awesome wife Carla. The world's gonna be a better place with an extra Shaner running around.

The continued amazing response from every creator I speak to about doing interviews. Comics may be a tough business to break into, but the people you're working with more than make it worth it.

Shaking Matt Kindt's hand and personally thanking him for Revolver. The book was a big help to me during the process of my separation last year and I honestly don't know that I'd have made it out this intact without it.

The meal I had at Local 360, a restaurant I'll gladly profile in my new post-con feature, Con Food.

The drink and draw event at the Noc Noc that was nothing short of raucous. I met two different people in that bar in Seattle that knew friends of mine from Nashville. The world, it is small, the comics industry even smaller.

SATURDAY

The hush, hush breakfast on Saturday morning, in which I was regaled with the story of a certain executive having to eject a certain cult hero from his "garden party."

The interview with Greg Rucka that wasn't. I'd set up an interview with Rucka (one of my biggest influences as a writer) and we had to reschedule it over Skype since I foolishly left home without my Flip camera. What happened in its place was a thirty minute conversation with Rucka about how the industry is failing to build new readership, the persistence of editors, family and fight choreography.

The hallway after the BOOM! Studios panel, where I finally got to shake Ross Richie's hand and thank him first hand for the great imprint they've created, and the cigarette I shared afterward with Chip.

Making new friends and putting Robot 13 and KING! by Blacklist Studios in the hands of said new friends.

Finally meeting Mark Chiarello and being able to discuss the mission statement of the blog. Bonus 1: he was one of only two people all weekend who remembered Mark Salisbury's book Comics Writers On Comics Scriptwriting, which was the inspiration for Surfing the Bleed. Bonus 2: He introduced me to John Arcudi, who lives in Philly, where if you've been living under a rock (or just not on Facebook) and didn't know, is where I'm moving this Fall.

The spillover from meeting Arcudi, which lead to meeting Guy Davis (who is sadly leaving B.P.R.D. but not so sadly is he's leaving it to focus on The Marquis.) and Mike Mignola. Mignola was such a nice guy. We talked for five minutes about how Hellboy just keeps getting better and how the stuff that's coming up next is going to blow all our minds!

Meeting Kurt Busiek (Busiek, Rucka, Mingola? Add Simonson and O'Neil and you've got the Brett Williams comics writer dream team) and being able to discuss Boston Red Sox baseball with him and his wife, which is something I've wanted to do for a very long time.

Dinner again at a fantastic restaurant, this time Italian, where drinks were had and food was shared, and I finally met Joe Quinones, one of the first Surfing the Bleed interviews. He told me a secret that isn't really a secret anymore which involves a pretty bird, a gicam namow, a Dini-mite writer and a LOT of fishnets.

I've spent far too much money, I've set up interviews to last me and the guys at Broken Frontier for a couple of months and I've made so many new friends. Each new con is better than the last, which I think means I'm doing something right. I think I'll keep doing it.