Phoenix Comic-Con re-cap 2009

The Phoenix Comic-con was great again this year, the crowds still came out in droves but seemed to spend less which is to be expected with everyone freaking out about the economy. I also noticed a dramatic shift in how many more anime kids were there this year, I would guess it was 2-1 against the traditional comic fan. Thursday night was preview night and I got there a little late and didn't get set-up until about 7:45 with the hall closing at 9:00. After grabbing a beer with my brother next door to the con, I went over to my first panel at 10:00 which was the southwest sketch-off. A group of artists including my friends Scott Godlewski (currently my second favorite Hellboy artist ever), Ben Glendenning, Tony Parker along with Jonnie Alan, Tone Rodriguez, Travis Hanson and the Bushi Tales crew all gathered around a couple tables drawing whatever the crowd of 20 or so people wanted. I did a hideous Hawkgirl and a worse Black Canary, but a good time was had by all.

Friday was the first full day of the con and it was much slower than I expected, Sunday was actually more crowded but I guess it makes sense that people weren't going to miss work to attend the con. I did a few sketches on Friday but the best part was the panel I was on with The Bushi Tales guys, Daniel Davis, Andy Kuhn and Terry Moore on Indy Comic Creators. All the other guys had some great insight to share and I was just glad to be a part of it, and we had a good crowd of about 25-30 people I think.

Saturday was busy as usual, I had a great signing at the HERO Initiative booth with Andy, Terry, Tone, Tony and Tim Seeley where they sold a lot of the HULK 100 books for charity. Saturday night I went down to the Art Auction with Ben, his wife Julie and Tim where we witnessed Mike Kunkel do a great job as the auctioneer. He even flattered me by bidding up my piece, he's a swell fella that guy.

Sunday was busier than I expected and I had alot of fun. I made my goals for the weekend and got to meet and hang out a bit with some great artists. Over the weekend I met some of the coolest comic fans on the planet including a teenage girl that actually reads and loves american indy comics (and The Middleman in particular), she is the only person ever to bring up the fact that I did a short story in MM Volume 2. It always impresses me how humble and cool most artists are so a big thanks to everyone and a special shout out to Rob Osborne, Andy and Sean Galloway for being so encouraging to an artist who is still working on making a name for himself. Thanks to Flint for lunch too. See you all next year. Here is a batch of a few of the sketches I did.





This Hellboy I sketched on my tablecloth.

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