Longtime MCC readers may or may not remember last year’s C2E2 experience, in which Anne and I met Gene Ha, a fine comics artist who’s worked on past books I’ve collected such as Alan Moore’s Top 10, Fables, Starman, Global Frequency, and guest spots on assorted DC super-hero projects. In 2015 he was at C2E2 to promote his Kickstarter project for the hardcover graphic novel Mae. My Kickstarter moratorium was still in effect, but I bought another item from him instead and wished him well.
Thankfully the Kickstarter was a rousing success and Ha had copies of Mae for sale today at C2E2. Buyers at the show (e.g., me ) were also entitled to a “small doodle” inside the front cover. The above photo is his idea of a “small doodle” — a drawing of my very own wife as Supergirl. Her one-time art-modeling role was his idea. When he suggested turning her into a super-hero, Supergirl’s was the first name that popped into my head. Anne is a lifelong Superman fan, and we’ve both been watching and enjoying the show. No-brainer.
This is many, many light-years above and beyond my expectations and may literally be the greatest purchase I’ve ever made at a con. I spent the next ten minutes just walking around with the book still open to sketch of the woman I love by the Gene Ha.
So our 2016 convention season is off to a stellar start. I’m betting that sketch will be the pinnacle, but the next-best is yet to come!
We’ve been busy planning for these moments all this week, and right now are recuperating from the activities we’ve managed so far. Our to-do list still contains many options to consider and attempt before we surrender and return to the rat race. In the meantime, plans are already tentatively afoot for other geek convention options within a certain radius of home. The coming months will see MCC covering our impressions and successes at several of the following shows and events:
March 18-20: C2E2 – Now playing. With special guests Cliff Clavin, TV’s Supergirl, and her hero sister Alex. Updates over the next several days after we get home.
April 8-10: Wizard World Madison is father than we’d usually travel for a con, but somehow Wizard World snagged the David Tennant to appear at three shows over three weekends. This show’s the least improbable of the trilogy, but a long shot nonetheless.
April 29 – May 1: Indiana Comic Con, featuring special guests Ray Park and Emperor Palpatine. Hopefully the out-of-town showrunners are continuing to take notes and keep learning from the mistakes of their first two years in the Circle City.
June 9-12: We always keep a berth open for the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, in case their guests are cool and our schedule works out. It’s been a while since our last visit because it’s a five-hour drive at top speed, and their autograph ticketing system requires a major time investment. But it’s a fun place and a required bullet point for every DC fan’s bucket list.
June 17-19: Indy Pop Con is bringing in Mike Baron and Steve Rude, creators of the ’80s sci-fi super-hero series Nexus. I’m therefore up in that shindig because that book was absolutely All That. So far the rest of the guest list is a healthy mix of YouTube all-stars, cartoon/video game voice actors, and monetized cosplayers. It’s possible this may be another one-hour “speed-conventioning” experience for us, but I’d love to find reasons to hang around longer.
Aug. 4-7: Gen Con continues on, probably without us again, but who knows. For a long time Gen Con was the only convention option in Indianapolis. For that they’ll always have my respect.
Aug. 18-21: Wizard World Chicago is our other big annual Chicago trip, but we always wait for their guest announcements before we commit.
Oct. 13-16: Cartoon Crossroads Columbus last year was an intellectually fascinating indie-comics experience like nothing else we’ve ever done. The show was so tightly concentrated and community-based that I kind of felt like a gawky intruder at times, but if you’re an Ohio comics fan who yearns to experience the medium’s horizons beyond Marvel, DC, and super-heroes, you need to go immerse yourself in CXC’s cavalcade of complexities.
November ??: That’s when we’d expect to spend a few hours at Starbase Indy, our local longtime fan-run Star Trek/TV-sci-fi con, but they’ve kept oddly quiet about their 2016 dates. I’m assuming and hoping they’ll have some.
And who knows what other events will pop up as the year rolls along. If this is all the geek world sends in our direction for 2016, we’ll also have Indiana’s bicentennial coming up, hopefully with differently interesting opportunities to get out of the house and explore the worlds around us.
Updates and photo galleries as they occur! Other entries in the series so far:
* Part 2: Dance of the Mad Deadpools
* Part 3: We Are Here For Supergirl!
