Usually I don't go to HeroesCon in Charlotte unless there's someone there that I
really want to meet. This year, Stan Sakai was able to fit Charlotte into his yearly schedule and so this past Saturday, I made the 3 hour trip to see him.
In fact, 3/4 of the Groo crew were in attendance: Sakai, Evanier, and Sergio Aragones. Sakai and Sergio collaborated on a Groo/Usagi print that was available as the cover of the con's souvenir book and as a t-shirt. Upon arriving, my first task was to pick up one of each and as it turns out, I was fortunate to purchase one of the few remaining shirts in my size.
Meeting Sakai was a real pleasure, he and his wife Julie were there. I brought my favorite Usagi trade (
Space Usagi) to get signed along with my copies of Epic's
Groo #1 and
Groo #27 (the first Groo comic I ever bought). He had advanced copies of the first issue of the new Usagi series from IDW (set to release this upcoming Wednesday) that featured a chibi variant cover which he and Julie were kind enough to sign. Picked up some stickers and pins as well but overall, he was very nice and accommodating.
I never saw Evanier, being there meant he was hosting various panels in the upstairs rooms throughout the day. I did see Sergio but didn't get to meet him, the line to meet him was extremely long even that early in the day.
As for other pros I wanted to meet who were in attendance:
Ever since I had my
Death of Superman novelisation by Stern signed by Louise Simonson with a sketch of Darkseid by Walt Simonson on the inside back cover, I thought it would make a cool personal collectible if I could get more of the creative teams who worked on that event to sign the book as well (and maybe even provide a sketch or two similar to Walt's). As such, Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett and Karl Kesel were there.
I was surprised by Ordway. I've never seen any pictures of him and to see him in front of me, I thought he could pass for Clark Kent or even Captain Marvel himself! He was a consummate professional though, very cordial and friendly, willing to talk to fans at length. He signed my novel as well as my copy of
The Power of Shazam trade. It helped that Grummett and Kesel were seated right beside each other, both were great, fun and friendly. Both of them signed my novel as well. Sketches though had to be put on hold for all three had already acquired a significant number of fan requests for pieces and commissions so I could understand the long wait. (Although Ordway was kind enough to sketch a quick S-shield symbol on the inside front page, so cool). As compensation, I picked up two prints by Grummett of MY Superboy (Kon-El) and MY Robin (Tim Drake).
Sakai was the highlight of the day but a close second was the last pro I wanted to meet, Billy Tucci of
Shi. I had my first trade of
Shi: The Way of the Warrior as well as the illustrated novel of the same story by Christopher Golden to get signed. He was energetic, he was friendly and enthusiastic, he was passionate to be there, I was really impressed by him. I bought three different prints of Shi that he had available, one of which was the cover to
Shi #5, one of my favorite images. That one was also the last one of that specific print that he had there (it was in his print sale book). It was funny, after leaving him, as I wandered around the comic vendors, my girlfriend was toting those Shi prints (in their sleeves) and she occasionally had that cover print facing outward. Whenever she did, she would get stopped by a passing fan who'd notice it and inquire either who that was or, knowing it was by Tucci, where his table was located. She spent a good chunk of the afternoon directing fans over to his table.
All in all, a very fun day, met some great creators and probably spent far too much money on cheap back issue comics (for I would run across titles and issues that I've seen extolled upon here and say, hey, I have to check that out!
)