Convention Report: San Diego Comic-Con 2007
I'm going to do the unthinkable. I'm going to take seven very busy days and compress them into one blog post. I won't trouble you with the first three days, save to say that I worked hard getting the booth in ship-shape, and demonstrated some real proficiency in using a drill to drive screws. Apparently David Willis was impressed. 
(Note: I saw no ladies looking this impressed, but Willis assures me they were there.) The resulting booth was so pretty we had a team of videographers come by and interview Brad Guigar. See how he drags an unwilling Kristofer Straub into the limelight? Brilliant work, Brad! 
I met some really cool people, including Laurell K. Hamilton, who wrote the introduction to Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between. I had neat conversations with recent illustration graduate Kim Herbst, and got a "thank you" book from Templar Arizona's Spike. 
I was treated to lunch by my friend Allison -- we did Drama Club stuff together in high school a couple of decades back -- and in exchange I drew a caricature of her. And before you ask, the shirt she's wearing is one that she made with my permission. I don't have those for sale, but with this picture of her I bet they'd sell off the shelves. By the way, if you're ever at a convention with me, and want something like this done, the price-tag is around $50.00. Allison is a good friend, and bought me a VERY nice lunch. Note, however, that if you're not this good-looking, the price may go up, or I may find myself just too busy to accept the commission. 
Tom and Justin of Comics Coast-To-Coast interviewed me for a podcast. You can find the hour-long podcast here, and my segment begins at 14:55. If you like the sound of my voice as much as I appear to, you've got to get some of this. Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties sent them over to me for the "business angle" on things, and I'm afraid they got a real earful. I didn't do any panels, I didn't do any shopping, and I didn't see much of San Diego. I did, however, have a great time. And when it came time to take things apart, it went enough faster than I expected it to that I was able to leave for home a day early. For that whole day I lied to Sandra about how far from home I was, so that Monday evening I was able to walk through the door and surprise her. As much as I love my job, and enjoy conventions, coming home is always the best part.