Heroescon Day 2

Heroescon
Day 2

Day 2 of Heroescon was Saturday June 23rd and today was all about Stan Lee.  Seriously that’s what it seemed like because this was they day my dad and I got in line for Stan’s autograph.  And yes we both shelled out $55 a piece to do it and ya know what?  It was worth it.  Even though we only got to talk to him for like 30 seconds this is Stan freaking Lee.  This is something that I’ll remember for a long time and I’ll get to tell others how I told Stan how much I enjoyed his cameo appearance in Thor (could I have come up with something wittier?  Perhaps, but eh….)

But…today was not without it’s glitches and break downs for con staff and the vendor that was running the signing.  First off the vendor running the signing seemed to be a bit…short staffed.  And the folks who were there, were a bit abrupt when I was interacting with them.  Yes I know this was a big event, but still a smile and some communication would have been nice (and no I won’t name them.)    Second was the vendor and con staff didn’t seem to always communicate well at least during the first half of the day.  There was mass confusion on which line people were supposed to get in, where people should go, when they should get there, and it just wasn’t a good overall experience.  And I know it’s a big signing but a large part of attendees grumblings could have been alleviated if there had been a) signage;  b) consistent answers from both the vendor and con staff/volunteers; c) better communication between all parties including convention center staff who were answering questions (although I’m not sure why the heck they were doing so.)  On the plus side though about 3/4 of the way through the day they seemed to get everything figured out and that was the only glitch for me.  I don’t know if they’ll do as big of a signing in the future, but if they do I’m sure they’ve learned form this and I’d also like to suggest that they do the signing in perhaps a room off the main floor of the con just so that the line and person signing are all in one place (they had Stan on the main floor and attendees lining up on the second floor.)

Overall though, meeting Stan Lee was just cool.  And the fact that I got to do it with my dad is an even better memory.

Other highlights of the day included getting to meet Bill Willingham of Fables fame (again)  and getting all of my collected volumes signed.  And yes I was one of those people this time with 15 volumes in front of him.  I know I’ve complained about folks like that before, but I did a few things differently.  One is that I was there right as the con opened so there was no line (well until Bill was on volume 13)  and I didn’t just plop all of them down in front of him.  I asked him before I ever pulled them out if he was ok with signing that many.  If either of these had been different I would have gotten a handful signed, walked away and tried again later.  Because seriously I’m not about to stick down that many without asking someone first if they’re ok with it and I don’t want to be one of those guys that takes up everyone’s time.

Today also featured autographs of Janet Lee (who did the absolutely fantastic illustrations for Return of the Dapper Men among other books); Thom Zahler for Love & Capes volume 2 (one of my favorite series ever);  Mike Mignola creator of Hellboy; Neal Adams artist for Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Batman!, and more; and quite a few others.  All in all it was a good day and there’s still another day left.

Today also included a nice little break over in the courtyard of the Catholic Church across from the convention center.  It was just a nice relaxing place to be with a couple of benches, a nice cool breeze, and laughter in the background of kids laughing and playing in the fish fountains.