Just like every other con by Day 3 I’m feeling pretty worn out. I mean there’s a lot crammed into three days and both of the previous two days my dad and I had walked over 5 miles. Yes we went back to the hotel a couple of times but it was right across the street we were walking that much around the con center floor! And by day 3 we had both seen just about every one there that we had wanted to meet (well I probably could have seen more but I spent all of my money half way through day two.)
Even though we were both tired we headed back for a bit more of the con seeking those last minute items that we missed and maybe a couple of more signatures. And today the con staff seemed a bit more organized that the previous day in making sure that folks got into the correct lines with minimal fuss. I do think they learned a lot from the previous day and will apply it to future signings. My dad and I got in early again thanks to the prepurchased three day pass and made a beeline over to one artist so that he could find a gift for my mom.
Last year’s gift was a sketch by the artist that currently does the Dennis the Menace comic strip (which is just really cool) and this year was…Archie. One of the artists, Jim Amash, was there with some original pages from the Archie comics and my dad went through them till he found the perfect set for my mom. 5 pages (a complete storyline) about Archie and friends and school. We walked around a bit more till he assured me that no he wasn’t going to lend me any money to buy original art or a stuffed McPedro doll and we headed for home. Day three was short, but well worth it.
Even though the Stan Lee signing wasn’t as organized as it could have been this was still a great con. What I’ll remember most about it of course is getting to spend time with my dad and both of us having a chance to meet Stan Lee (which is just still really, really cool to me.) Other highlights: having another dad tell me about how his son just turned 8 and for a birthday present he was going to be able to get his photo taken with Stan Lee; the sheer number of people who were ecstatic to have a chance to meet Stan and gladly waited in line and sat with no grumbling (well not much anyway) and just waiting; getting to meet so many different artists–Stan Lee, Jaime Hernandez, Janet Lee and getting to meet artists that I’ve reviewed here like Jeffrey Brown, Thom Zahler, Rich Barrett (who does Nathan Sorry) and so many others who were all so willing to talk to fans and sign things for them.
One other artist that I forgot to mention from the first day is Greg Gravens, who does the comic strip The Buckets and Hubris. The Buckets has been one of my favorite comics for a while now and I was excited to have a chance to meet him and get him to sign my copy of the Team Cul De Sac book and just have a chance to talk to him. What was even cooler is that he had pencil sketches from the strips with him just to give away! I completely forgot to get him to sign those, but it’s nice to have the sketches from the original strips, which is just cool!
And thus ends my journey at Heroescon. I look forward to coming back next year and can’t wait to see what new artists/authors might come.