#961 – Honestly…
As I’m sitting here writing this blog post, it’s 10 minutes before midnight – which means it’s also 11 minutes before my birthday. So yeah, I’m kind of in a bit of a reflective mood but for lots of different reasons besides it being my birthday.
You see, this weekend, my wife and I are going on a much need weekend trip to see some very special friends of mine she has never met. I met those friends due to two things:
1) A friendship with a former co-worker I’m still good friends with and
2) Because of this comic strip
Bare with me as this takes a little bit of explaining.
Bob is my former co-worker friend. Through him, I got to meet his brother, Rick. But I only met Rick because Bob brought him along to the Pittsburgh Comic Con one year – specifically to meet me. Rick and I instantly hit it off as we had a lot in common – mostly in the form of playing in a men’s senior baseball league. Since that initial meeting, Rick’s invited me to stay at his place in Allentown, Pennsylvania whenever I attend the Great Allentown Comic Con – whether Bob comes with me or not. Rick and his wife, Sue, are always fantastic hosts and the weekend always goes by way too fast when I stay with them.
But that relationship probably never would have happened had I not started – and kept up with – Capes & Babes. There really wouldn’t have been a reason to meet Rick or for Rick to meet me. I might have eventually met Rick through Bob but it might have been one of those casual get togethers where everyone is introduced to each other, you talk to one another for a few hours, say good byes and never see the other person ever again.
So what exactly is my point in all of this? It’s pretty simple, really.
We webcomic creators are always talking amongst ourselves as to why we do what we do when there may not be a whole heck of a lot of money in it, there’s certainly little to no fame and there can sometimes be a heck of a lot of work with no immediate rewards that can clearly be seen at the present. But for me, a big by product of doing Capes & Babes and going to all the conventions I go to is because of all the different relationships and friendships I’ve acquired since my very first Heroes Convention in 2008.
It’s getting to meet, talk and eventually become friends with people like Trey Alexander who took a liking to a Catwoman Heroes Charity Auction piece I was working on in the lobby of the Charlotte Westin hotel one night during Heroes Con. Ended up having a great conversation with him and now we’re friends on Facebook. Same thing with Gene Gonzalez… talked hours about our mutual love of baseball at the same Westin hotel. Meeting Dawn Griffin for the first time at a Baltimore Comic Con show – and now look where we are – we’re practically convention buddies and fellow Webcomic Alliancer’s. Befriending Dan Nokes and then a few years later, meeting Bill McKay. Now it’s pretty common that the three of us share hotel rooms at all the conventions we go to together. Tabling beside Charles Dowd last year at Baltimore and participating in a drawing game together at a Southern Maryland Comic Con… My friendship with Patrick Strange led me to the friendship I now have with Ulysses Campbell…
And though Grig Larson is currently going through some really tough times right now, I will always cherish the time him and Christine (rest in peace, Christine) invited me to Katsucon as a guest and treated my daughter and I like royalty. Grig, know I will always be thankful for that weekend of pretending I was an actual webcomic super star becuase you and Christine certainly treated me as if I was one. I will never forget that weekend, so thank you.
And, from that weekend, I got to meet two of the bestest people I ALWAYS look forward to seeing where ever that might be… Kris Trader and Elizabeth Sullivan. If Grig and Christine treated me like a superstar, that weekend, it’s not possible to define how awesome Kris and Liz were.
Those are just some of the convention people that immediately come to mind. Here are even more…
“Little” John Nacinovich who didn’t believe I truly specialized on doing commissions of C, D, E and F characters in the Marvel and DC Universe until I did one for him.
Ed Robinson – my Heroes Con companion for those first few years… helped show me around since he had been to Heroes many times as a fan.
Elijah – who wrote the “Back Word” for me in one of my books. So happy to see you again at the two day NC Comic Con this past year, my friend.
There’s a whole slew of people that I haven’t mentioned here yet. You guys have probably posted some kind of happy birthday wish on my Facebook feed already. So if you’re one of those folks that I didn’t mention, remember, it’s only because I am now “officially” old and I blame it all on “age” now.
But seriously… this blog could go on and on naming all the people I have met since I started going to conventions that I know call
