Hardcastle Industries

Hey kids! It’s Zack’s Chicago Comic Con wrap up! …whoa. This is a little tardy. Sorry about that.

Let me first say that this was a great show. There was a lot of public concern about what would happen to the show without a presence from Marvel or DC and what the new competition from C2E2 would do to the show. I was among those concerned and by the time I was at the show my outlook had changed completely. It was a great show and artist alley really seemed to be thriving. I hope that the show is able to continue in this way for at least the next few years, but we’ll see what happens after April and C2E2.

Anywho…on to the con report!

Wednesday: Quinn and I depart from majestic Fort Wayne, Indiana for Rosemont and the Chicago Comic Con. It was a pretty uneventful ride. Listened to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe and a little music–a little bit of the Meat Puppets, some Rancid, Wesley Willis, Tom Waits (natch), and few other bands here and there. Everything was going great until Quinn started reciting Dane Cook jokes. Those are not funny and I never want to hear them. Sorry Quinn. You’re a cool guy and everything, just never tell me another Dane Cook joke again please.

Once we got past the horror that was the Dane Cook jokes, we arrived in Rosemont to help put up the DCBS booth. It was really easy to set up this year, and went pretty quickly. We finished just in time to snag a few delicious adult beverages at the Managers’ Reception (i.e. free booze party) in the Embassy Suites atrium. Afterwards I enjoyed a nice cigar and a bottle of Yuengling Traditional Lager.

Thursday: Woke up late…well, late for me. I went down for breakfast where I was approached by the excellent Adam Besenyodi. I also got to meet his wife and son, Jack. Jack was awesome, very cool kid and seemed to just have a blast at the convention. Rolled on over to the convention center finished up putting up books in the booth, ran to Office Depot to replace a few destroyed/missing items for my booth, and then came back and set up the table for Ben and myself.

The show commenced and right away I ran in to Pants from Comic Geek Speak, the awesome Matt and Sarah Kramer. I went back and visited with the very fine artist, and upcoming Mystery Solved! contributor, Dave Wachter. Dave had his usually fantastic commission work as well as the preview edition for Guns of Shadow Valley—a webcomic you should all be reading. I also spoke to Mr. Andy Jewett, another fantastic artist and all around nice guy. Every time I see Andy I just want to hug him.

I was also lucky enough to run into comic lover and all around nice guy Chad Seewald and his lovely wife. Chad is one of these people who just has an infectiously jolly disposition…plus he shares my affinity for fine cigars. I also ran into the melancholy Mike Moskop—Mike’s a great guy to hang out with and really fun to talk to but I think he was understandably disappointed with this year’s con.

Thursday night it was dinner and free drinks from the Embassy and then Ben and I were off to the Hyatt Red Bar! The Red Bar is an absurdly pretentious place that could not have been more fun to hang out in–so many great people there. The drink prices were out of control though. After one night of trading drink purchases Ben and I decided that from there on out we were bringing our own.

At the Red Bar we hung out with the always fantastic John Siuntres, Dave and Andy, Steve Bryant, and many, many more. I also talked to the Seewalds and Kramers again, I think they were just as shocked at the drink prices as I was. NEVER AGAIN! Fortunately I thought ahead enough to bring a fifth of bourbon. A fifth of bourbon goes fast when you’re sharing with friends.

It was also this fateful night that we learned kindergarten teachers are indeed sluts. Or, sluuuuuu-huuuuuutts, as the indomitable Dave Wachter put it. So you’re probably asking yourself how we found out about the extreme slut-itude of kindergarten teachers. Well, I’ll tell you:

There we are minding our own business, drinking and carrying on, when a brigade of women in their 20s-30s swarms the Red Bar all in matching red tank tops. Andy and I look at each other, knowing this looked like trouble. Also, I should mention that Andy and I were the only married men in our group for the evening. So a few of these women come over to us and this is the conversation that transpired between me, these women, Andy, and Steve Bryant:

Girl: “Hey! Are you the famous comic book artists that are here for the convention?”
Me: “No.”
Girl: “Sure you are. We came all the way from New York to see you guys!”
Me: “Oh, yeah? Neat.”
Girl: “Yeah. So you’re really famous right?”
Me: “No.”
Girl: “What do you do? Do you make comic books and stuff?”
Andy: “Actually, Zack is a writer.”
Me (looking at Andy): “You fucker.”
Me (looking at girls): “Andy’s also a really great artist. You should check out his stuff.”
Girl: “Yeah? You’re a writer? What have you written?”
Me: “Just my own independently published stuff.”
Girl: “Do you have a business card or something?”
Me: “Sigh. Yes.”
Girl: “Will you sign it?”
Me: “Give it here.”
Girl: “Will you kiss it?”
Me: “No. I will lick it though.” (I then proceed to lick the card and hand it back to her)
Other girl: “So are there lots of famous artists here?”
Me: “I suppose.”
Other girl: “Come on! Introduce me!”
Me: “No thanks. I’m happy just hanging out here.”
Other girl: “Cooooommmmeee onnnnnn.”
Me: “No thanks I—“
Steve: “Yeah, Zack go on. Show her around.” (as he’s shoving me out of my seat)
Me: “Thanks, Steve.”

So this slutty kindergarten teacher grabs me by the arm and begins carting me around the bar asking where the “famous” people are. I point to five or six actual creators and another handful that were just regular shlubs that I told her were famous artists.

After that I told her that I was going to go get myself a drink. She saw her opportunity and asked me to buy her one, too. I said, “No. You don’t understand. I’m not buying it. I brought my own.” She asked me to buy her a drink again and when I refused the jig was up and she suddenly seemed disinterested in me…how odd. So I walked away.

When I got back to my seat and thanked Steve and Andy again for their kindness, Andy told me that he found out they were a bunch of kindergarten teachers from Southern Illinois. So our bullshit detectors were not off and the phrase: “Kindergarten teachers are sluuuu-huuuuttts” became sort of our mantra for the rest of the weekend.

Friday: Friday was a decent day, a little slow, but decent enough. Sales on the book were pretty decent and I was able to spend a fair amount of time roaming the show floor catching up with friends and getting some things established for next May’s Summit City Comic Con. I stopped by and spoke to Mr. Kevin Meinert (another Fort Waynian), Mike Norton, Robert Atkins, Steve Bryant, Jim Heffron, Katie Cook, and a whole host of other great artists.

Back at the booth, some great friends stopped by that I always love to see; Jim Nelson, Chris Neseman, and Vince B. I love those guys and we always have a good time whenever we talk. Chris also dropped off a bunch of post cards for the Windy City ComiCon, which everyone needs to attend this September.

Friday night it was off to the Ram for big ass burgers, beverages, and buddies. Ben and I attended and ate with the likes of Steve Bryant, Jim Nelson, Jim Heffron, Chris Nesemen, Vince B., and Will Pfeifer. There was much consuming and much drunken rants and middle finger giving.

Ben, Vince, and I rode back to the hotel, cleaned up and then it was off to the Hyatt Bar. This time Ben and I learned our lesson and brought more of our own. Again, back with the same great crew this time we added Jim Nelson, Pat Loika, Vince, Sal, Jim Heffron, and Josh from Midtown. Josh and I quickly discovered that we may have a little too much in common, it’s weird finishing the sentences of someone you just met earlier in the day.

Saturday: I think Saturday was one of the busiest days I’ve ever seen at that show. Whether everyone was spending their money on photos with old wrestlers and Gary Coleman or with vendors and artists, I think is a little up in the air. Most people seemed to have a good day business-wise. Artist Alley was the most hoppin’ I have ever seen it and I think it was at least partly due to the lack of a presence from Marvel and DC.

Sales on The Contingent were really good on Saturday and the feedback I got on Mystery Solved! was really positive. So it was a good day on that front. On the show floor, I caught up with more artist buddies and friends that I had been hanging out with throughout the weekend. Vince B. was also very gracious and did a little quarter bin diving for me and came back with some nice additions to my Ditko collection: two issues of The Face from A.C.E. comics, some scattered Machine Man issues, and a handful of others. I also ran into 11 O’Clock Comics photographer El Dave Mathis—Dave is so damn tall. Plus he laughs at my jokes, so that’s another big plus for him.

Saturday night I had dinner with my booth buddies and roomies from DCBS (Cameron, Christina, Kyle, and Ben) and Robert Atkins and his sister, Elaine. They the nicest damn people. Just so fun to hang around with and we regaled each other with beer fueled stories, ate delicious ribs, and had a great time. From there it was back to the Hyatt where I hung out with the very awesome Brian Defferding briefly (sorry we didn’t get to see each other more Brian) and all of the rest of the usual suspects you’ve seen scattered throughout this con report.

Sunday: The show finally wound down. I grabbed a few quarter books for myself and said as many good-byes as I could. We tore down the booth in record time, but were still beat up and sore from the tear down and the long weekend in general.

Sunday night we ate…something. I can’t remember what it was. Then went down to the pool and tried to relax a while. Then it was off to bed to prepare for our trip home.

Monday: I had a great show. So great that it was almost inevitable that some disaster had to happen on the way home. Sure enough, it happened.

I noticed a little bit of an issue with my car when it was in first gear on the trip into Chicago. It made me nervous, but I figured “well, let’s just get through the weekend and I’ll get it looked at when I get home.” So Monday we leave and I’m a little nervous about the car and the transmission but everything seemed to be going okay. Then we hit that awful stop and go traffic on the Dan Ryan and I think that’s what did me in.

I was about 20-25 miles into Indiana when the transmission finally gave out. I was on the Toll Road. Not good. I got REALLY lucky and was able to coast into a truck stop. I can’t believe how lucky I got with that. I can’t imagine trying to load the car up onto a trailer with all of the traffic on the Toll Road.

So I call my Dad, he meets me at the truck stop five and half hours later (he had to leave work, pick up the trailer, then drive all the way up to get me), we load the car up on the trailer and head home. I got home, much more exhausted than I would have otherwise been and pretty much collapsed and fell asleep.

So that’s it. Thanks for reading through all of that. It turned out to be super long. Also thanks to all of my friends and great people that I got to hang out with at the show. That’s always my favorite part of any con and this show was no exception.

I’ll see you all September 19 at the Windy City ComiCon!

your pal,
zack