FallCon 2006;
A Long, Boring Report
Part Two - Another Funny
Subtitle
The show was packed this year, from number of guests to the
gathered throngs of "goers." There were great geeks and fabulous fanboys
of all sorts, from Trek weirdies to comics nerds. Every face, and I mean
EVERY one that passed the WOMP table, was like a beautiful caricature, glowing
with individuality and personality. I told The Staff that I had a vision
of photographing everyone, then recreating the entire convention hall as a huge
drawing. That, of course, will never happen, but the thought crossed my
mind. Some of the faces were of Official Friends of
WOMP. We saw just about everyone we'd hoped to see, including
magical malcontent Mike Toft, jovial
Jeff Rose, and
Why-Can't-I-Remember-His-Last-Name Sam C. (former
lead singer of the folk/rock band, My Cousin
Dallas). As I mentioned, we also saw Old
School O.F.O.WOMP George
Barth. A longer visit with him later on Saturday provided the
shocking news that George is not only married, but is actually someone's
DAD! YOW! Past Fallfire entrants
also stopped by, including Dan "Amongst The Leaves"
Dittmer, 2005 Grand Prize Winner David B. "Autumn Is
Burning" Crady, and long-standing
O.F.O.WOMP, and 2005 Second Prize
winner, Derek J. Anderson! Derek, in fact, came
with his entire young family, including six-month-old son Ezra (who hit on The
Staff the entire time). As it was Ezra's first comic book convention, we
gave him a Kitty Boy T-shirt to commemorate the event. He, however, was
more interested in our shiny name badges. Oh, well. We also were
happy to have really great "table buddies" this year. On one side was a
large display for Aspirations Media, publishers of wonderful books of fantasy
and adventure. The author of most of these books, Chad
Corrie, is a very nice, somewhat reserved guy who was a great
conversationalist and a wonderful neighbor. On our other side, we shared a
table with Maxxximum Madcap, colorful cartoonist of the
syndicated comic strip FUD4THOT. Maxxx actually lives
very near WOMP H.Q., so we hope to get together again soon (on a side-note, he
is also friends with O.F.O.WOMP Mike Toft, who actually
attended Maxxx's wedding!). We both had all sorts of fun with the
unconventional Maxxx, who really "made" this FallCon for
us. Right behind Maxxx, around the corner, was Kurt
Wood, artist of the all-ages comic Brandon's Little
Problem. Because we were
essentially back-to-back, we didn't have the chance to talk very much, but I did
commission Kurt to draw WOMP character Ferrex just for fun. He hit
that ball out of the park, even
fully inking and then shading the piece with gray markers. The Staff and I
also became fans of artist Katie Cook, a fantastic cartoonist, from one aisle
over, who has done artwork for such iconic properties as Star
Wars and The Lord of The
Rings. We bought two of her colorful prints; one of cutesy-kid
versions of Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus (The Staff got that one), the other of
the sweetest little Yoda I've ever seen (that's the one I purchased). Her
portfolio is chock full of such great, sweet art, that we wanted to buy it
all...and we might have, too, if she hadn't completely sold
out by mid-Sunday! Other than gawking at Katie's stuff, we
didn't have much time to look around, but we did do a bit
of fanboying (or geekgirling, in The Staff's case).
FallCon 2006;
A Long, Boring Report
Part Three - Get Your Geek
On
Plenty of fanboy frenzy at this year's con. I didn't get to
thoroughly sift through every booth or display, but both The WOMP Staff and I
found time to sample a bit of what FallCon 2006 had to
offer. As I told you, we fell in love with the artwork of cartoonist Katie
Cook, and, had we discovered her table on Saturday instead of Sunday, we would
have given her a hefty amount of our earnings just to get our hands on her
fantastic art. Someday, I will find the guts to talk to strangers, but,
unfortunately, that time has not yet come, so we must love Katie from afar for
now. And I do mean afar, as she
said that FallCon was a ten hour drive from
wherever she lives! That makes our three and a half hour drive seem like a
joy. Also, as you may recall, the WOMP booth was directly across the aisle
from a table with Ernie Chan, Alex Nino, and Tony DeZuniga. We watched
them for two days, and I can report that they, and their wives, were wonderful,
kind, and patient with anyone who stopped by...including me. I couldn't
stand it. I just had to go look at their stuff. Mr. DeZuniga even
had a wall of art prints behind him...a wall that tempted me to spend, spend,
spend! Well, again, I was too chicken to talk to any of these legends, so
I merely stopped by, smiled politely, then slunk back to my pathetic
booth. But, in the moments I was there, my eyes nearly bugged out of my
stupid head! Mr. DeZuniga had drawn GIGANTIC (2' x 3') fully-inked studies
of some of the characters with which he is most associated, including an
absolutely gorgeous full figure piece featuring Jonah Hex (if I had that drawing
today, I could die happy tonight). Mr. Chan had brought REAMS of his
vintage professional work, including many original comics cover
illustrations. One, from a 1970's issue of Claw, The
Unconquered, looked like a museum
piece...and, I guess, it should be! Mr. Nino had many unpublished fantasy
illustrations with him (which were, presumably, for sale). With no offense
meant to Mr. DeZuniga or to Mr. Chan, I have to say that Alex Nino has always
been one of my favorite artists, so I was particularly interested in what he had
on display. Awesome. Back at the WOMP table, I tried to explain the
artistic merits and characteristics of the work of these three artists. As
I did, The Staff exclaimed "I was wondering when you'd
finally get your geek on!" And I was just starting! I also geeked
and gawked at the actual, 1960's TV show Batmobile and Batcycle! They're
so iconic, beautiful, and imbued with nostalgia from my own childhood, that I
felt compelled to give to the owner a copy of The Adventures of
Monkey #3, the back cover of which features a photo that includes my toy
version of the Batcycle. He seemed really happy to have it. Late on
Sunday, I added some more toys to my
collection, buying action figures of Pedro, Kip, and Napoleon Dynamite
(Sweet!). I also had a handful of geek-on-getting moments at the WOMP
table, including being asked to draw in a few sketchbooks, the most interesting
of which was being compiled by O.F.O.WOMP Ivan
Martin. It featured characters drawn in alphabetical order! I had
the honor of providing a drawing of Monkey for "M." Isn't that a cool
idea? Also, the table was visited by several costumed folks, including
Superman and Batman. The photo I took of The WOMP Staff hugging Superman
is probably worth the trip alone! All in all, from the logistics of
attending, to the sales at the WOMP booth, to the friends we saw or made, to the
cool stuff we saw or did, I'd have to conclude that this was a pretty good
show! I don't know whether or not I will attend FallCon, or
any con, next year, but, if not,
I do know that this was a good one to go out
on!