HeroesCon Report, Part 3

Pictures have surfaced of the mysterious events of Friday night at HeroesCon. Here's one of Chris Sims' reaction to seeing the most horrifying sight of his young existence:
Clearly, it drove him mad.

Seriously, what we saw there made Bob Sagat's version of "The Aristocrats" look like a Sesame Street bit. Whoever called HeroesCon "the family-friendliest comic convention" was not in that particular room of the Westin hotel on Friday night. Unless they meant "the Manson family-friendliest convention."

At the few cons I've been to, I have never gotten a sketch from an artist before. I usually find the interaction surrounding sketches uncomfortable, as I'm never sure about the protocols of such exchanges. However, this year, I did get one from Guy Davis, the artist on Sandman Mystery Theatre and B.P.R.D.


Sandman Mystery Theatre is one of my all-time favorite comics, so getting this sketch of the Golden Age Sandman was a real treat.

I also had a great time chatting, on a couple of occasions, with Josh Elder, author of Mail Order Ninja and current writer on Batman Strikes! In addition to describing some great comic stories that may or may not come to pass, he also told an awesome story of his own personal super-heroism where he stopped a violent attack on a train and then quelled the trauma of children on board by handing out copies of his Batman comics! Josh and I also talked at length about comics in education, and he gave me some useful ideas for the graphic novel class that I'm now teaching.

He also gave me a "Certificate of Awesometicity" from the "American Awesomeness Association," which I'm going to hang proudly in my office next to my Ph.D. diploma.

Since getting home, the first thing I've read of all the stuff I bought was Mail Order Ninja, which has had me laughing out loud. I'm looking forward to reading more of Josh's work.

Tomorrow: the promised post on the two DC Comics panels.