Happy Easter if you celebrate it
I’m a week behind. Sorry been busy.
You ‘wanna hear about Gem City Comic Con?
Last Saturday I spent my morning doing math. Come 1:30pm I picked up Dr. Ok and drove us off to meet Motorcycle, Angel and her sister in the parking lot of the Nutter Center in Fairborn Ohio.
The parking lot was a sea of cars with a genuine pond in the middle of two sections. We were on the far side of the water. I got out of my car and then climbed on top of Banconators trunk. I scanned the horizon until I spotted another hand waving in the air as Motorcycle and Angel had climbed on top of their vehicle as well. We met in the middle and made the long journey through the parking lot together.
Angel was wearing a normal outfit with her long white wig on. This was her Storm wig which was recognized before we even walked in.
“Storm is in disguise,” A man said as he opened the door for us.
“I’m igcognito. Don’t tell anyone,” Angel told him. Aside from how totally awesome Angel is at making costumes she is also really good at getting into character. I’m always the same awkward me in costume unless I’m under the influence. When strangers talk to me I tend to not know how to respond. (I’m getting better but I apologize in advance right now to anyone I may ever seem rude to. Sometimes I just don’t know how to respond to people. Given the right situation though I love making new friends and genuinely enjoy getting to know new people. Try asking my opinion about something I have interest in maybe..)
So it turns out that the Gem City Comic Con is in the same section of the Nutter Center that we had gone into to see Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I recognized it by the doors and vending machines.
Inside the floor was packed. It was packed with comics, vendors, artists, gamers and of course the fans. Right away I see a decent amount of people in costume which makes me sad that I didn’t have any camera batteries thus no pictures.
Wide eyes and a deep inhale, we breathe in air of Convention. You can smell dusty vintage, plastic of brand new, sweat, perfume, energy drinks and popcorn. The sounds of a thousand voices mingle together to form a static buzz that floats in the air pumping you up with excitement.
We split up immediately. The boys go straight to magic while the girls are out to make purchases.
We glance through one booth before I spot Noot at the vendor’s booth for Super Fly comics. He doesn’t officially work there but he was behind the table helping and hanging out with the guys. We talk for a bit and suddenly I look out at the crowd of faces. Some of them masked, some of them painted, almost all of them smiling but none of them belonged to Angel or her sister. Five minutes in and I’d already lost my people. I had been left behind to wander alone. This was ok with me so off I went.
Saturday I spent more of my time browsing the artist alley. There were some really good artists and I found some cool Sandman art of which I made a purchase. I saw the Rosewood table and said hi to the boss. He was promoting my drawing comics and drawing anime class in addition to the big upcoming comic book studio day. He’s a cool dude. Full sleeve tattoos and framed pictures of comic art in his office indicate awesome.
I also got to talking to this lady who runs an independent comic collective in Columbus, Wild Goose Creative. I told her how I was going to be moving this summer and she told me about the coolest comic store up there. She also told me about an upcoming art show that is all about female comic book creators. I wish I could see it and even more I wish I could have been a part of it. I genuinely want to do a big release public show of Melancholy Evil Poptart when I finally finish it. I’ve never organized one of those before but I’m fairly determined to do so. It might be at Ghostlite cafe or it might be a real gallery we’ll have to see.
I got to meet Jesse Nobel who I’d interviewed over the phone for Dayton City Paper and he was really cool. We shook hands and talked about making the cover of DCP and what a great turn out this was.
Anyway Con was awesome. We went to one panel that was with Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai. It was about using comics in education. It was interesting and informative. Even though I teach drawing specific classes I still got some good ideas for something to have the kids do in class which is awesome!
After the convention we went to the Fairfield Mall where we all ate food from different places. I got Sake Japan chicken teriyaki with noodles because it’s delicious and I know it’s fresh because I see them make it. Angel got Chinese food from the rival corner. Motorcycle got Italian pizza slices while Dr. Ok and the little sister got Subway. We ate and talked while Angel got a few stares from people passing by. After that everybody else went to check out some stores while I went off back to my car. This was a busy Saturday with much to do.
I met up with J-Rabbit who wasn’t able to attend Gem City Con due to working at the Changing Colors Salon. She’s not a comic book person and she would have been bored so it was all for the best.
We drove from Huber to Kettering for the Desolate Ohio art show which I was featured in. I expected nobody to be there as it was kinda early and an in-home art show however there was a good handful of people there. Desolate Ohio featured a lot of snacks and a wide variety of super cool art. I’ve never been to an in-home art show before and honestly it was a lot cooler than I expected. I bought a pair of cute dinosaur earrings and decorated my donation jar with birds making confused faces. I snacked on some snacks and got several compliments on my outfit. I was sad we couldn’t stay later but more people were arriving and seating was limited anyway. Swanky decorates cakes for money as a side business and she had made a penis cake for a goodbye/joining the navy party. It had to be delivered by nine.
“We have to go delivery a penis cake for a guy joining the navy,” I explained to Camille.
“That sounds important,” she said.
The cake was quality and delivered just in time.
We were supposed to meet up with Motorcycle, Dr. Ok, Angel and the gang at Bootleggers Tavern this night but we got there and waited and waited. Feeling fed up and having been invited to the goodbye party with the penis cake we decided to do that instead.
At the party I had to be the sober one to drive us home. This was a party of Sam’s club employees of which I didn’t know anybody. They all had these inside jokes and bonds over past store incidents. Everybody had known everybody for years and I felt incredibly out of place. I sat in a chair in the kitchen the entire time. I ate five deviled eggs and waited for it to be over. I feel bad that Swanky probably left earlier than she wanted to because of me. She got to play cards against humanity, be in a Harlem shake video and catch up with old friends (she doesn’t work at Sam’s club anymore.) I told her I was happy she had fun and apologized for getting tired and unsociable all of which is true. I can only do so much successful human interaction in one day.
I’m wearing bunny ears as I type this just so you know.