Hardcastle Industries

It’s con report time, again! This time it’s for the indomitable Windy City Comicon in fabulous Chicago, Illinois.

Windy City is wonderful show and in its two year existence, it has quickly become my favorite show to attend. The promoters of the show, Chris Neseman and Brion Salazar, are great guys and really pour their heart into making the show the best that they can. There are so many great creators and great friends who attend; it’s hard not to get excited about comics when you’re there. I strongly recommend that everyone who can attend do so.

So…on to the official report:

At the crack of 3:45 PM I rolled out of Fort Wayne with my buddies Ben Tiede and Kyle Theobald for the great and wonderful city of Chicago. The drive was pleasant and, besides some confusion in navigating some of the city streets once we got into the city, uneventful. We arrived at the hotel and although the room was conveniently inexpensive, it was not much bigger than a closet. But, meh. It served its purpose and held our bags and provided a space for sleeping—it’s not as though we had planned on spending any amount of time there beyond that. So, we checked in and immediately left to find some dinner.

Our hotel room was right off of Clark Street, so all we needed to do was walk a few blocks and there were plenty of dining options. We ended up eating at this little Greek place that, I think, was called Pita Queen…or some such thing. Either way, it was delicious. Great meals, good desserts, next time I’m in the area, I will be heading back there. The only thing sketchy about it was the guy in line ahead of me who was making demands about the size of cup he needed for his “water”. When dealing with things that are free I am reminded of the clever phrase my daughter learned in pre-school: “You take what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” He was really making a scene and finally the lady running the register buckled and gave him the large cup.

After that it was back to the hotel to get the car and drive to Challengers Comics and Conversation for the pre-show party. First of all, Challengers is a great shop. It’s tidy, well organized, and seemed to have a pretty wide selection from different publishers and genres. It was at the pre-show party that I first hooked up with friends old and new. I hung out with good buddies like Chris Neseman, Dave Wachter, Mike Norton, Brion Salazar, Dave Mathis, John Siuntres, Ron Richards, and I finally got to meet Jason Wood, Tom Katers, and Joey Aulisio in person. I also had a chance to speak with Tim Seeley briefly, and had the opportunity to meet/hang out with Richard Starkings, Moritat (Justin), Alex Grecian, and Robbie Rodriguez.

Saturday morning Ben, Kyle, and I got up bright and early in the morning and made the 1.25 mile walk from our hotel to the Center on Halsted, where the convention was being held. We headed in, got the table ready to go and hung around, waiting for the show to begin. During the set up, I made my way over and talked to good buddies Steve Bryant, Jim Nelson, and Jim Heffron. I also caught up with Mr. Andy Jewett and grabbed a copy of his mini graphic novel, Sicko. Robert Atkins and his sister were also at the show, and it was great seeing them again, too.

Once the show started, there was a steady stream of traffic in and around the show floor all day—which is obviously great and it kept me plenty busy. Sales on The Contingent were solid and the reaction to the Mystery Solved! ashcan I had was overwhelmingly positive. All in all it was a great day for me. Regrettably, I didn’t get to make it to any panels—but that’s okay, I was happy to be at the booth and have friends stop by and pick up the books. It was also great seeing Cameron and Christina there (my friends and owners of DCBS), they seemed to really have a great time at the show and I was glad that they were able to make it up.

I did make it out for lunch and sat with Siuntres, Katers, and Norton and later in the day I was able to get out and pick up some great stuff. On the show floor I picked up:

-Please Release and the Cakewalk/ Bets Are Off flipbook from Nate Powell
-Lunchnotes volume 1 from Chris Samnee
-Proof 2009 sketch book from Alex Grecian

I also scored some nice sketches. For my daughter I got three new Etrigan (one of her favorite characters) sketches; one from Jeff Lemire, Mike Norton, and Katie Cook. I got a Flash sketch from Jeff Lemire for my self.

After the con we headed back to the hotel to drop of our stuff and then it was off to dinner. Kyle elected to stay back at the hotel so Ben and I struck out on our own and ended up at a Mexican place called Nueva Mexicana (or something close to that). It was alright…the mole sauce was not great and, I dunno, it was just okay.

After dinner, Ben and I headed to John Barleycorn’s for the official after party for the show. Along the way to the after party we also made a quick stop in to Chicago Comics, that was a great store. Wide variety, tons of great indie books, and lots of art books as well. Next time I’m in Chicago, I will definitely be heading back there.

Once we made it down to Barleycorn’s and met up with all of our friends for drinks and bemused merriment. After Barleycorn’s had run it’s course for us we headed off to another, smaller bar, that was a little more my speed. While were at the second place (whose name escapes me) I got to hang out with Hilary Barta for the first time—I had met him briefly once, but never actually got to talk with him. It’s nice to meet another big Lee Marvin fan.

A little after we had arrived a whole boat load of other friends from the con showed up and everyone drank and had great time. Ben brought his Drunk Draw sketchbook and I defaced many pages. Ha. If I can get some scans from him I will post them here. Hilary and Dave Wachter contributed quite a bit to it as well…for all of the artists being drunk while they were drawing, there are some remarkable sketches in there.

Ben, Wachter, Andy Jewett, and I closed down the bar and left a little after 3:00 AM and embarked on the long walk back to the hotel. It was long, but we did stop at Clark Dogs and grabbed ourselves a bite. There are few foods I genuinely enjoy more than authentic Chicago-style hot dogs and this was no exception. It was a delicious dog and fantastic way to end the con weekend.

Sunday we drove home.

I have been fortunate to meet a lot of great people and make some really fantastic friends because of comics and this show reminded me of that again. Many thanks to everyone who was there and shared their time with me, it meant a lot.

My sincere apologies to anyone who may have inadvertently forgotten to mention. You can check out my pictures from the show HERE

the end.

Your pal,
zack