Anyone go to the DF party?

[AlexH]

 

How was it???

[greggy]

Dam60 did so maybe he'll give a report later on!

[chromium]

Wasn't Chrisco going as well ?

[AlexH]

Anyone???

[Foolkiller]

Ahhh... the DF party....

 

Awesome. DAM60 came down and we met up friday in Philly... had a great time with paul litch and peter dixon from paradise. Even though it rained friday night, it was great seeing all those guys and getting together.

 

Friday morning, dam60 and I went over with Paul Litch to the con which was held at this completely obscure hotel in Runnemeade NJ. Basically, one of the best guest lists ever assembled with free admission was held in the middle of nowhere. What was particularly exciting though were some of the names and the easy access to the creators.

 

When we got there, gave Paul a quick hand setting up and then we sort of wandered the room trying first to get one of the Jim Lee signed Superman posters they were giving out free to the first 400 people through the door. The poster does look pretty cool... People started lining up at about 9:00 am even the show didn't start til 10. The lines for Eduardo Risso and Dave Johnson were just mamoth. Later in the day, JG Jones and Mark Millar also had huge lines. Got to talk to Starlin for quite some time. Howard Chaykin was there and was very, very cool. JG Jones is one of the nicest guys on the planet, and it makes me want to support his outstanding work even moreso.

 

The whole deal with Risso was just awesome. Chrisco arrived later in the morning and originally got online but when DAM60 saw Risso get up to go to the bathroom, he snagged him on the way back and got him to sign some posters while we were behind the CGC table. Chrisco then wanders over and gets his original art pages signed by Risso, who was so gracious and grateful to Chris for purchasing them. DAM got a picture with Chris and Risso together making for just an awesome moment for Chrisco meeting one of his fave artists. Azzarello was there too... a little stand offish, but seemed okay as the show wore on.

 

I got some books signed by Risso, Jones, Millar, Starlin etc., and there were a lot of artists I didn't get a chance to really interact with. As for the dealers who did set up, and outside of Koop, no one who does shows regularly, most of them seemed to have a down show. The show was not designed for dealers, but rather for artists. Although one of the art dealers there had an extensive selection, it was definitely geared towards fans and getting a chance to talk to the creators. It didn't even really draw the clientele that would normally buy a large quantity of older books and the like, although I did pick up a Sgt. Fury 13 with awesome eye appeal for a good price.

 

After a long, but fun day, we all talked chrisco into staying for dinner and we all went out again in Philly. Pretty cool weekend...

 

thanks to DAM60, Paul Litch, Chrisco and Peter Dixon to making this a fun, fun weekend...

 

and to boot, a lot of these guys are signing over at Fat Jack's here in Philly in about 2 hours, so I can over and talk to all of em again.

[dam60]

Dam60 did so maybe he'll give a report later on!

 

You called?

 

Well, I have to tell you guys - this was one awesome comic weekend. Although, happily, it seems like every event is friggin awesome.

 

So Friday night did dinner and drinks with Foolkiller, Paul Litch and Peter Dixon (paradisecomics) in Philly - tons of fun.

 

Saturday morning bright and early it's off to the DF Fan Fest. Same motley crew with Chrisco too! Another great time. It was different than any other show I had ever been to - the focus was really on the creators, and let me tell you, it was quite a list.

 

Okay - now on to the good parts:

 

Eduardo Risso, while I do not particularly like his work on 100 bullets, is a complete gentleman and won my respect. Eduardo got to the fan fest promptly at 10:00am and signed and sketched COMPLETELY for free. What a true gentleman and a professional. The best part about Risso was how nice he was to Chrisco. Chris showed him his numerous Bullets pages and his Batman page - and Risso made a point of thanking him for his purchases and said that he recognized and appreciated that he spent a lot of money on these books. I got some great pictures of Chris and Eduardo that I will post later hopefully.

 

When I was on line for Eduardo, I started talking to Nemrac3! It was funny - the boards came up and Carmen mentioned that he was a member! Props to the boards for their huge reach. By the time I got up to Eduardo not only did he do a very nice head sketch for me in my book but he signed probably 20 books for the signature series with no complaints. Ironically, Brian Azzarello (who was most defnitely not as cool as I thought he would be) who had basically no one talking to him looked at Eduardo signing all these books and asked if they were for sale. I told him that they were for the signature series for ebay. (If anyone is interested they are Peter's (from Paradise Comics) books).

 

Previous to Eduardo, I had the chance to talk to Mark Millar. Very cool guy - we talked for a good 20 minutes about his Superman Red Son and about continuity and his books - really the whole spectrum. Very cool guy and very approachable.

 

And of course, I talked to my all time favorite Jim Starlin. I told him yet again how much I loved his Death in the Family and yet again forgot to ask him a question about that storyline that I always mean to ask him but never do. He did do a nice quick head sketch for me of Batman. He also told Foolkiller and I about the troubles with Marvel over control of what I would say are his characters - i.e. Thanos and Adam Warlock. I plan on writing a letter to Marvel telling them that they should do what ever it takes to get Jim to work with these characters HIS WAY and would encourage others to do the same.

 

The show really did have a ton of great guests with awesome access to them. It didn't seem to be a good show for dealers though - Koop was there and the 50 cent guy and a few others but no one had gang buster shows - in fact everyone did pretty poorly. The fans weren't there to buy - they were there for the creators.

 

After the show Paul, Peter, Brian and I hit the town. Special thanks to FK for showing me that Philly really is a pretty cool town! Just a really fun time with these guys.

 

That's really about it - looking forward to Wizard World East!!!

 

DAM

[dam60]

you beat me by two minutes!

[AlexH]

Thanks for the reports folks. Glad you all had a good time,

 

Alex

[AlexH]

onically, Brian Azzarello (who was most defnitely not as cool as I thought he would be) who had basically no one talking to him looked at Eduardo signing all these books and asked if they were for sale. I told him that they were for the signature series for ebay.

 

I'm glad to see that DF didn't give you guys a problem with doing signature series books there.

[dam60]

Thanks for the reports folks. Glad you all had a good time,

 

Alex

 

Alex - btw - I gave Pete the Joe Simon books that didn't get subbed and he has two very nice Batman 620s for you signed by virtually everyone!

[AlexH]

Thanks for the reports folks. Glad you all had a good time,

 

Alex

 

Alex - btw - I gave Pete the Joe Simon books that didn't get subbed and he has two very nice Batman 620s for you signed by virtually everyone!

 

Thanks buddy. As always, I appreciate all your hard work. Looking forward to seeing you in June.

[mitol]

That's really about it - looking forward to Wizard World East!!!

 

Looking forward to seeing you again in Philly. Pete, Kevin, and I will be there hanging out at the CGC booth, our home away from home.

[dam60]

That's really about it - looking forward to Wizard World East!!!

 

Looking forward to seeing you again in Philly. Pete, Kevin, and I will be there hanging out at the CGC booth, our home away from home.

 

Pete was telling me about that - dude, you guys will have a GREAT time in Philly!! All the signature series stuff that you guys are doing is really frigging cool. I am starting to have much more of an appreciation for those books as I am starting to see what is entailed in getting them.

 

Great stuff and I am pumped to see the Toronto crew in the states! Alex, you have to come to Wizard World East one of these years

 

DAM

[AlexH]

That's really about it - looking forward to Wizard World East!!!

 

Looking forward to seeing you again in Philly. Pete, Kevin, and I will be there hanging out at the CGC booth, our home away from home.

 

Pete was telling me about that - dude, you guys will have a GREAT time in Philly!! All the signature series stuff that you guys are doing is really frigging cool. I am starting to have much more of an appreciation for those books as I am starting to see what is entailed in getting them.

 

Great stuff and I am pumped to see the Toronto crew in the states! Alex, you have to come to Wizard World East one of these years

 

DAM

 

I'm trying to get to one of these conventions, but with the job and the baby, it ain't easy. I'll get down to one of these though, it's only a matter of time.

 

Alex

[mitol]

Pete was telling me about that - dude, you guys will have a GREAT time in Philly!! All the signature series stuff that you guys are doing is really frigging cool. I am starting to have much more of an appreciation for those books as I am starting to see what is entailed in getting them.

 

Philly last year was my first time at a Wizard convention and my most memorable as I was able to meet Kevin Smith for the first time and the Philly venue was one of the nicest of all the convention centres. As for the Signature Series books, yeah, they're something special. Do you collect any yellow label stuff?

[dam60]

As for the Signature Series books, yeah, they're something special. Do you collect any yellow label stuff?

 

I am thinking about starting!

[mitol]

A couple of Signature Series books I'm most proud of and most difficult to acquire.

 

[chrisco37]

***DROOLING FANBOY ALERT***

 

I want to start this post by thanking Dam60 for the head's up that this show was even being put on.....

 

OK, the DF Fanfest was the best comic show ever! And I didn't buy a single book!!!!

 

As the others said, the show was really about fans getting to meet creators, and (as the others said), I got to meet my alltime favorite artist, Eduardo Risso.

 

I arrived at the show a little late, and when I got there, the Risso line was ridiculous. So, I hopped into JG Jones line first to get my Wanted page signed. He was doing these really detailed sketches for people, so I was waiting awhile (at the same time freaking out that the Risso line would be getting larger). Once I was about 3 people away from him, I asked the fellow collectors that were in front of me, if I could cut ahead to get the page signed. They were really cool and said sure. When I put the page in front of Jeff, he and his wife freaked out!!! They loved it and just started yapping away with me for a few minutes. He went thru my entire portfolio and thanked me for supporting him. I ran into Jeff and his wife again as the show was winding down, and they called me out by name and we talked NFL Draft of all things (I was wearing a football jersey).

 

Later in the day, I went back into that room to get Millar to sign the page, and while I was waiting Jeff did a kick-arse Doom sketch for me that I will post as soon as I scan it. Millar was super cool. What a trip that guy was. Really friendly, really loud, and really happy to be there. He was even doing sketches! He yapped with me for a good 10 minutes (and all he did for me was sign the one page and a book). I ended up running into him later in the show and we chatted it up again.

 

After the show was over, the crew (Brian, Dave, Paul, and Peter) convinced me to stay and have dinner and drinks over in Philly. Super props to Brian for letting me crash at his place so I didn't have to drive home. We went to a great bar/tavern for dinner. Good food, good beer. Great company. We all yapped about everything from comics, to concerts, to some of Brian's crazier cases as a DA. Then we went bar-hopping (actually, we only hit 2 but still.....). One was right around the corner from Brian's house (you want to talk about the ultimate location! Brian's got it!). Philly is a great town. Dam and I marveled at the girl-guy ratio on the streets! Sweet! Really a fun night. It was really good to meet Peter (who had some pretty good stories himself).

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot ( ), I got to meet the creator's of my favorite book, 100 Bullets. Brian Azzarello was a rather surly fellow (I wonder if Dam telling him the he heard the Batman run would read better in TPB had anything to do with it? ) But, he warmed up a little once he saw all the art that I had from the series (he said, "Man, you're hardcore!"). He signed all the pages for me and even my slabbed copy of Bullets. I even managed a smile out of him when I told him to sign it "To High Bidder". Dave Johnson, the cover artist, was very cool as well. He did a great Agent Graves sketch for me and was pretty friendly, regular guy. He told me he keeps almost all his work, so I'm gonna have to try pretty hard to get a cover out of him.

 

Last, and certainly not least, I met Eduardo Risso!!!!!!! I was on line, and it would have taken about 4-5 hours to get to the front. Luckily, Dave grabbed Eduardo on his way back from a break and held him hostage signing posters. I didn't even notice, and then I look up and Paul is looking right at me and motions for me to come over. I went over and and they introduced me to him. When I showed him the pages I had he seemed very delighted, and (as Brian said) gracious. He signed them all for me and then even took a picture with me. It was such an honor for me to finally meet him. I gushed like the fan-boy that I am. A few people in the line gave me some nasty looks (basically for cutting in), but I didn't feel too bad (hey! I've dropped some coin with this guy!). After the show ended, I went back to the main room where Eduardo was finishing a sketch for the last person. I went back up to him to thank him again for signing my stuff. He was just as gracious as earlier in the day. A total class act. Oddly enough, I didn't get a sketch from him (I couldn't have taken standing in that line). It was my mission to get the pages signed, and I did.

 

So, it was a great day! Good show, good dinner, good people. Can't wait to do it again in Philly.

[hobbes]

Very cool Chris!

[AlexH]

Awesome story dude.