[Groop]Con Report

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Folks!

Well, I wanted to wait for Larry's report before I gave mine because he is
so much better at expressing himself about the experiences we both had.  I
agree with everything Larry said, except what he said about me.  (How dare
you accuse me of not being a totally excessive drooling fanboy!)

It was great to see Larry, Steve, Richard, Kaytee, Scott, Shane, and Eric
again.  And it was great to meet Nate and Chett, Charles, Kaytee's boys,
Luis the "Groo Animator" and Dana for the first time and all the other Great
Groo folks!  I feel like I hardly had a chance to talk to most of you,
especially Nate.  I actually spent less time at the con than usual because,
well, much to my amazement there are other things to do in San Diego.  I
heard they had a zoo or something so we went there. Strangely, the animals
didn't look exactly the way Sergio draws them, although the gorillas were
close. Maybe I should get out more....

But I digress.

Let me start at the beginning.  We got there Thursday well after the initial
cattle call and when we got to Sergio's table it was manned by Scott Shaw!'s
stalwart 11 year-old son Kirby (or is that Kirby!), complete with Sergio
mustache.  Kirby did this for much of the con and did a great job and is a
fine young man.  Somewhere along the line we met up with a bunch of the
folks mentioned above and Sergio.  He was his warm, charming wonderful
Sergio self, as always, and was very glad to finally meet The Long Suffering
Mrs. G and to see Claire again.  We also went to Stan's booth and he and
Sharon were their usual warm and gracious selves.  Also somewhere in the
first day I picked up the buttons and did a few other things like that.
(NOTE to future first time Con-Goers:Thursday is the least wackiest day of
the con.  It's much easier to get specific things done on Thursday than any
other day)

Friday was Zoo day, but we made sure we were back in time for the Quick Draw
"Competition." You have to put "competition" in quotes because as Scott
Shaw! put it, it was more like Welcome to Sergio's World.  Never was a forum
more suited to one man's singular talents.  John Romita Jr., Eric Larson
(how does he draw that way?), and especially Scott Shaw! did great jobs, but
Sergio was just amazing.  They had things set up so you could watch them
draw on big screens and it was fascinating to see Sergio in action!  Larry
can tell the details better than I, but it was just fabulous!

Not too long after that was the usual insanity of Dick's Last Resort, an
extremely appropriate place for a Groop Gathering.  Then onto the Eisners
after getting Becky and Claire back to the motel. The highlight was the very
last part (btw, I agree completely with Mark's pov-online commentary.) when
they announced the Hall of Fame Inductees.  Sergio usually makes the
announcement, but he was nominated for the first time, so someone else did
it.  Sergio had been saying that he did NOT want to be inducted because
everyone who was was either retired or dead and he was too young and had
entirely too much ahead of him.  So, of course, he was inducted.  At first
he was all choked up, but then he gave a nice little speech thanking
everyone, including "all the fans who clap louder for me than for other
people"   Hey!!  That's us!!!  Then Larry & I hung around a little bit and
congratulated Sergio personally and talked to Mark, whose comment was "Well,
now that Sergio's in the Hall of Fame, I think he should pack it in.
There's nothing more for him to do but retire."  Or something like that.

Saturday was the Groo Panel and this would probably be a good time to tell
you about the birthday poster.  Way back when, I noticed that this was a
milestone year for Mark and Sergio as well as Groo.  So I contacted Carolyn
Kelly, Mark's lady friend (and Daughter of Pogo creator Walt Kelly) and she
said that Mark HATED that kind of thing so i dropped the idea.  Then about 4
or five weeks ago she e-mailed me and asked "How's that birthday idea coming
along.  I've got an idea for mulch cookies to go along with it."

Well, in short, I formed the idea for the card, found the appropriate art,
tentatively decided on the text, ran it past Carolyn, made a cheesy little
mock-up of card using photocopies and put out an APB to several extremely
talented Groopies to do the actual work that would bring this to fruition.
To his credit, Nate said he would do what he could, despite being swamped,
but fortunately George Karalias offered to help.  And "help" really doesn't
cover it.  George did Everything!!  All I did was e-mail him scans of the
mock-up and the art (at 300 dpi. It was 5MB!) and he did everything else.
The timing was tight, but George pulled it off and sent the completed poster
to Shane in LA per arrangements I had made.

Ah, yes, George didn't do quite everything.  I guess I must have used the
word "card" instead of "poster" when talking to Shane because the 34" x 50"
poster (the packaging was even bigger) caught Shane a little off guard.  I
got this e-mail saying "It's freakin' Huge!!"  But Grooper Trooper that he
is, Shane managed to get the poster AND Nate & Chett and all their stuff
down to San Diego.

Meanwhile Carolyn had been working on her mulch cookie plans and there was
much e-mailing and meetings at the con and such so that Mark wouldn't find
out.  She also arranged for us to put the poster and mulch bars in the
administrative room, which is near the Groo panel room, a little before the
panel. When Larry and I showed up the people there had no idea who we were
and still looked at us quizically when I said that Carolyn had arranged for
us to do this.  Then I said "Pogo's Daughter" and they said "Oh, yeah, put
it right over here."

Anywho, we presented ity near the end of the panel and everyone seemed to
like it and also everyone liked Carolyn's mulch bars.  The panel was
wonderful, of course.  In addition to the funny stories, it was interesting
to hear how much thought has gone into some of the hows and whys of Groo.
And I should mention that Larry & I did what has become our annual escorting
of Sergio to the Groo Panel.  It's the only way he will get there on time.
(And Larry, that's one more reason why you HAVE to come every year.)

Well, I have babbled on way, way too long.  Larry does this much better.
Sunday was a day of photos and saying goodbye and doing some last day
wandering.  Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kaytee's FABULOUS
beadwork.  It's even better than it looks in Eric's picture.  Oh #2, and we
ended up sitting right behind John "Last Kiss" Lustig on the flight home.
He is a great guy. Oh #3, and after I had given up on his showing up, French
publisher Jaques Colin arrived at Sergio's table with the second French Groo
book that I needed.  Oh #4, and it turns out that Becky had such a great
time meeting all the nice people and seeing the spectacle that is the con,
that she wants to come back next year!  Yay!

OK, that's it.  WAKE UP!!  and read the next message in your Inbox.  Hope to
see a bunch of you in San Diego next year, Take care -Gary G.