James and I packed up the Mini to head to Super-Con in San Jose this past weekend. This time the drive through Central Valley was greatly improved by a stop at Pea Soup Andersen’s. We love road-side America stuff, the kitschier the better. And a Scandinavian-themed restaurant sporting a windmill and trying to make pea soup seem like the most bomb diggity soup ever is pretty kitschy.
Lunatic Love
New fans! Old fans! Super-Con gave us a great mix of both. Shout-out to new fan Joanne! Super-Con was Joanne’s first convention, and she asked me to draw Darth Vader and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in her first sketch book. Her family and friends stopped by the table later to enthuse over the sketches and talk comic books and lumpia. This, as they say, was very cool.
Big shout-out to some of the original Project Elohim fans, Jerry and Gerry. Special thanks to Jerry for giving me the opportunity to draw my first donkey. And silly baby faces to new Little Vampire fan, Gerry’s daughter, Delilah. The cute is strong with this one.
Music makers and dreamers of dreams
Most of our NorCal buds were in the big tent. Emo and Chemix of Emonic brought the family, and the Nor-Cal Horror Cult were in the house with their Hot Zombie Chicks and Brains. Cody and Sheatiel of Binary Winter were there, along with Super Searnold. And Jack Shen stopped by the booth to give James an opportunity to confirm that yes, it was indeed ungodly hot outside.
I’m a big fan of Alexis E. Fajardo and his series Kid Beowulf, so I was thrilled to see him there. He’s now being published by Bowler Hat Comics, and you can get a copy of Kid Beowulf and the Blood-Bound Oath at their website.
The Con Life
Searnold was nice enough to invite me to participate in my first Drink and Draw. A Drink and Draw is exactly what it sounds like. You go to a bar, you bring some paper and your favorite pens, and you draw. I was a little nervous, ‘cause really amazing artists like Cody and Emo were at the San Jose Bar and Grill. But hey, I can only get better through practice. And despite getting the thumb on the wrong side of the hand, I can draw fingers that rival Mignola’s.
I have included a picture of my drink, and one of my draws.
Convention Review
Super-Con was okay for us this year, but nowhere near the level of success that Phoenix and Emerald City were. The crowd at this convention was very focused. They seemed to be at the con for one purpose only, such as to get a sketch from Adam Hughes, or check out the Anime Pavilion. There didn’t seem to be a lot of willingness to try something new from the Small Press area. The people that did try us out were very cool, but there needed to be more of them. The con was also very retailer heavy.
