[Groop]Groo Fest

[Mo orst]

A play by play documentation on my experiences Thursday.

7:07 AM:  Awoke and arose.

7:22 AM:  Got dressed for work and sat for a few minutes thinking about the 
opportunity of meeting the Groo crew.

7:45 AM:  Ate breakfast and spent several minutes in quiet meditation.

8:05 AM:  Called in sick.

8:22 AM:  Showered and shaved.

8:55 AM:  Got re-dressed for my day off.

9:22 AM:  Left for San Diego (about an hour away).

10:27 AM:  Arrived in San Diego.

10:30 AM:  Searched fervently for parking, and  found no luck in several 
filled lots.

10:37 AM:  Broke several traffic violations.  Saw an old man walking a 
chihuahua.

10:42 AM:  Found an $8 spot about 4 blocks north of the Convention Center.  
Exited my car and, got in line to pay.  I was in line directly behind a man 
with a salt and pepper pony tail and a white embroidered shirt.

10:44:02 AM:  Realized that I was in line with Mr. Aragones.  "Excuse me.. 
are you Mr. 'A'?"  I asked sheepishly, not wanting to draw attention to him 
from the horde of obvious convention attendants.  "Yes, yes... here waiting 
in line like everyone else", he replied smiling.

10:44:12 AM:  Silently widened my stare, and freaked out to myself.

10:45:01 AM:  Regained approximately 30% of my mental facilities.    
Remembered to pull out some money to pay for parking.

10:46 AM:  Watched Sergio stuff $8 into his parking slot.

10:47 AM:  Tried in vain to fold $8 into a wad thin enough to slip through 
my ridiculously small money slot.

10:49 AM:  Finally completed payment, and while simultaneously wondering 
what to say to Sergio, turned to see that he had disappeared.

10:50 AM:  Caught up with him a block and a half later.  Informed him (while 
walking) that he was the reason that I came to the convention, and 
introduced myself.  "Oh yeah?", he said, "Have you ever been to one of these 
before?"  "No.", I replied.  "Well... you're not gonna believe it."

I already couldn't believe it.  I parked in the same lot as Sergio Aragones, 
met him while in line, and now was walking with him on the street.

I noticed he had a wrist brace on, and offered to help him with his 
samsonite.  "No thank-you.  This is nothing."  We walked by a mexican 
restaurant, and he recommended it to me.  "Good food, and beer.", he said.  
After reaching the entrance I said, "See you inside!"  He said, "Ok... nice 
to meet you Rocky."  He remembered my name!  How very cool.

11:00 AM:  Got in line behind several hundred people in a line that 
stretched onto the harbor.

11:50 AM:  Finally got inside the con.  Pretty amazing.  The Image, DC, 
Marvel, and Dark Horse exhibits were large and killer.  There were an 
incredible amount of dealers and manga and everything comic.  There seemed 
to be a really good vibe among the fans, and some of the costumes were 
fantastic.

12:10 PM:  Found Sergio again and asked if the "mtg" was today.  "No, it's 
tomorrow."  Left him to his booth, and went exploring.

1:15 PM:  Found Stan Sakai's booth.  Met his very polite wife and spoke with 
her about the publishers Usagi had been published under.  Mr. Sakai returned 
from a break and I purchased TPB #1 from him.  It had a pre-drawn sketch 
inside!  Shook his hand, and  thanked him for his work on Groo.

1:25 PM  Felt warm and fuzzy inside.

1:50 PM  Returned to Sergio's booth and saw a guy in an orange T.  I knew it 
must be Gary "Dessesbo" Grossman.  What a cool guy.  We spoke for several 
minutes, and hung out by Sergio's booth, just generally having a good time 
talking about Groo.

2:10 PM  Tom Luth came by.  I was so involved the conversation with Gary, 
that I didn't fully realize who he was introducing me to.  By the time I 
realized it was Mr. Luth, I must have seemed like an idiot.  Gary presented 
him with some very cool Tom Luth cards, for which he was very impressed.  
After a little history lesson, including the harrowing tale of the infamous 
Gordon Kent, Tom and Sergio joked about coloring Sergio's work.  Tom 
informed us that it took nearly 4 days to color the two page full circus 
ship shot in SC#1.  Sergio then whipped out an issue of Mad and opened to 'A 
Mad Look At Gladiators' and said, "Next we'll get you to color this one."  
It was typical Sergio mayhem set in the Coliseum with about a thousand 
gladiators and romans.  Tom laughed and said, "Yeah right."

2:28 PM:  Met Jeff.  Cool guy.

2:30 PM:  I ran up to catch the end of the EC Comics panel, where Mark was 
moderating.  Quite a comical panel with an emotional ending as one member of 
the panel closed the meeting with some heartfelt expressions.

3:00 PM:  Met Larry, Rich, Rueben, (and one other?) who were in their orange 
attire.

3:15 PM:  Shook hands with ME.

3:20 PM:  Met an interesting young lady dressed as "Harley Quinn".

3:45 PM:  Returned once again to Sergio's booth.  Gary was watching it for 
him while he was at a signing for Dark Horse.  Spoke for several more 
minutes with Gary about all things Groo and Sergio...  Checked out some of 
the spanish Groo TPB's.  Soon we were joined by Rich, Larry, Reuben, and 
Jeff.

4:25 PM:  Sergio returns, and a host of people show up simultaneously.  
Included are three different publishers who publish Groo in different 
countries.  One of them gives Sergio a large vinyl "Mr. Burns" Simpsons 
figure.  "Ah... pure vinyl." he said.  Gary then explained to me that Sergio 
is an avid Simpsons fan.  Another of the publishers gave him a copy of a 
german "Lobo" comic with a Sergio cover.  It was a cool cover, but the 
details escape me.  I had to tell Gary to look quite abruptly just before 
Sergio zipped it away into his secret stash.  (Side note to those who've 
never met Mr. Grossman:  He often finds himself in several conversations at 
once.  Just the nature of the guy.  Thus my abrupt action.)  I was beginning 
to think that one of the three publishers was going to say something to the 
effect of:  "Sergio... we saw a star in the sky, and we have traveled 
thousands of miles..." because of all the gifts.  But it was not so.  No 
gift from publisher #3.

4:50 PM:  Purchased "Boogeyman" TPB from Sergio.  As he was about to 
autograph it, a couple came up to the booth that he knew, and he sketched 
Groo sappily handing over some flowers on a card for them.  Despite years of 
forewarning, I was taken aback at the speed with which he rendered the card. 
  Already impressed, I watched as he sketched himself creating the dead lady 
(from the cover) inside the book for me!  Wow.  How cool is that?  A 
treasure I shall keep forever.

5:05 PM:  Bid farewell to all my new friends, and made my way out of the 
convention center.

5:40 PM:  Stopped at Carl's JR for a Western burger and Lemonade.

Had a really good time, and was very happy to have met all the Groo Crew.  
I'll let Gary fill in any gaps I may have left... and I'm hoping someone 
will report on the panel...(hint, hint)

-moorst


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