Love your sketches! I need to work on my plans for C2E2 in order to increase my efficiency. You and Wood are among the pantheon of con sketch gods imho.

I'm nowhere near Wood's level, but I appreciate the sentiments!

Oh, and I just want to say that I'm totally jealous of the sketch that JimN did in Sarah's sketchbook.  The one he did for me was awesome, but the one he did for her was beyond awesome.

That Tyr is the sheeznit.

Definitely.  Tim's my go-to guy for Legion villains!

I have no idea who keeps saying that the Wizard Chicago is dying as the show keeps getting bigger as far as I can see.

We were staying out in Algonquin with Sarah's cousin and her husband, so there were sadly no after hours con antics this year.  That was a little disappointing, but oh well, we survived.

Thursday we showed up about 4:30 expecting the registration process to be a pain.  It was anything but.  Well, they had the press line mislabeled so I had to wait in line twice, but if that's the biggest issue there is during the registration process, I'll take it.  There really weren't a lot of people there on Thursday.  I was wondering if this would be an indication for the rest of the days.  It wasn't.  But we walked around the vendor area a bit and then walked over to Artist's Alley.  We got right in Art & Franco's lines with no wait.  I chatted with them a bit as they were drawing and they were fun as always.  After that, Sarah walked over to talk to Tom Kelly who had a couple sketches for her that she had pre-ordered.  I then got on his list and got a Flaming C from him.  I'll post that later.  It was almost 6:30 at this point so I made my way over to the HERO booth to get a sketch from Mike Grell.  I chatted with him a bit as he was drawing and lined up an interview with him.  After I got the sketch, we left for the evening as it was pushing 7:00 and we wanted to be rested for the next day.

I don't know how this happened, but we didn't know the con didn't open until noon on Friday, as we showed up just before 10.  And it seems that there were about 500 other people who didn't get this message either as people were getting turned away left and right.  Somehow the security let us get on the convention floor though.  We were quickly turned away by the staff, though.  So we drove around downtown Chicago for a while.  I know... I thought that downtown Chicago was inaccesable from Rosemont as well.  Who knew that it was just a 20 minute drive?    We got back to the con a little after noon and immediately went to Artist's Alley where I got on some more sketch lists.  We spent most of the afternoon walking around the vendor area.  I got a mountain of 50 cent books.  We also ran into a friend who was working one of the booths and she told us to check out a booth on Sunday as they'd be blowing out books 2 for a quarter.  So I didn't do a lot of shopping for comics until then, but I did score some awesome toys.  I got some Dr. Who figures, Lord of the Rings figures, and the Validus build-a-figure.  Sarah also picked up a Rowlf puppet.  Before we left for the day we swung by Buffyfest to get a book signed for a friend who couldn't make it to the con.  We also met up with the Seewalds and walked the floor with them for a while and then went out to dinner.  Overall, Friday was a good day and it was pretty packed for a Friday.

Saturday was insanity.  Pure, simple insanity.  We didn't even get on the con floor until almost 11, so that cut into some plans.  We spent it wandering around Artist's Alley and the vendor area as there was no way any sane person would go to the Autograph Alley on Saturday.  Didn't do a lot of shopping as there were some specially inflated prices for the day, but I got a few sketches done.  I think Saturday would have been my least favorite day at the show, but it was still fun.

Sunday was a nice, relaxed day.  It wasn't as busy as Friday or Saturday, but it was still pretty busy for a Sunday.  I got a few more sketches done and did a bit of shopping, but the highlight of the day was talking to Mike Grell.  I had originally thought I'd get a 15-20 minute interview from him, but I had to cut the recording off at around the 40 minute point with only about 3/4 of my talking points covered as his handler was getting antsy.  The rest of the day was spent walking around Artist's Alley where Sarah got a ton of sketches.

Overall, the show was pretty good.  It definitely didn't appear to be dying as a lot of people were saying.  I'm definitely looking forward to next year and I hesitate to say that I prefer this show to C2E2 as there are more shopping opportunities and more artists.  As others have said, this was the biggest Artist's Alley I have ever seen at a show.  Here's hoping it's similar next year!

I had a similar experience with Pia Guerra.  I had just dropped my sketchbook off with Tom Hodges and then got in line to get my Y hardcover signed.  She asked me what my sketchbook was so I told her.  She admitted not being familiar with the Legion, but nearly insisted she draw something for me.  So she asked me if she could sketch Ampersand in my hardcover.  No way I was going to turn that down.

I'll try and come up with a more detailed con report later this evening.

Thanks!  The good thing about the Legion is there's always at least one character you can find to suit someone's style.  And there are enough stupid villains to get Tim Seeley to draw. 

Now updated with my sketches from Chicago Comic Con 2011!

Adventure #247 homage by Art Baltazar:

Superman #147 homage by Franco:

Dawnstar by Mike Grell:

Charma by Eliza Frye:

Chameleon Boy by Tom Hodges:

Kinetix by Jim Nelson:

Tyr by Tim Seeley:

Saturn Queen by Adam Hicks:

Star Boy by Tom Kelly:

XS by Mike Norton:

Projectra by Allie Dyal:

Infinite Man by Hyperbooster:

Karate Kid by Matt Wagner:

We were probably four or five people in front of you in the line at the Expoteria restaurant on Friday.  I was wearing my Captain Hammer shirt and cargo shorts.  Lots of people thought I was dressed as Captain Hammer and asked to take my picture.

That is awesome!  Does he color his own art?

For some pieces he does them in pencil and then colors them with marker, which is what he did with all the pieces he did for the Annual.

Invisible Kid is dead?

The original one, Lyle Norg, is dead.  Killed off in the early 70's.

I just realized I forgot to upload my big purchase from the show:



The original art of Validus killing Invisible Kid that Yildiray did for the Annual.  The price of this was about 1/3 what I was expecting so I had to make sure to not look too eager to get my wallet out.

N travis N-

didn't our buddy the white lantern tell...

...mr. brand that he was NOT the champion? i guess they might pull that kind of misdirection, but that would be pretty disappointing from a writing standpoint, wouldn't it?

and i think it will be someone we've seen...technically that silhouette could be that someone...

He wasn't the champion yet.  Then after his journey, he has become the champion.

Here be my sketches from C2E2 2011!

Triplicate Girl by Art Baltazar:

Mordru by Jamal Igle:

Time Trapper by Katie Cook:

Threeboot Brainiac 5 by Dennis Calero:

Cosmic King by Ryan Browne:

Grimbor the Chainsman by Tim Seeley:

Hunter II by Randall Milholland:

Triplicate Girl by Adam Hughes:

Shadow Lass by Tom Kelly:

Universo by Danielle Corsetto:

I already sent this to Russ as a PM, but seeing that Adam Hughes Flash sketch made me realize that I was one or two people behind him in line.  D'oh!

Got home later than expected last night due to a combination of traffic, weather, and accidents.

It was a good show.  I think that the Saturday crowd was too big for the venue, especially with some of the narrower aisles in the retail area and that goddamn Godzilla trying to walk down the aisles in artist alley.

Just a quick highlight of the show:  walking down artist alley and seeing John Ostrander sitting at Hilary Barta's table.  I knew he was going to be there thanks to a Facebook post, so I asked him if he'd mind signing a few books quick.  I thanked him, chatted for a few minutes, and then went on my way.  One of the nicest guys in comics.

I'm wearing my black Smashing Pumpkins SP "heart" shirt today, mainly because of its ties to Scott Pilgrim.   

We'll be hitting the road bright and early tomorrow morning and will hopefully be on the show floor around 10:30 or so.  Yay for professional hours!

Wasn't this a Lindsey Lohan movie? 

I'll still probably pick it up.

I've got my Facebook and Twitter accounts set up to send DMs and "@" responses to my phone, so aside from text messaging, people can reach me that way!

I think his greatest episode ever was the Gallagher interview.

Lightning Lad.  Maybe.  Depending on if he really did return in the new continuity.