[Groop]Mid-Ohio Con Report
Pengyfelix@aol.com
Pengyfelix@aol.com
Sun, 1 Dec 2002 20:00:43 EST
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Report from the con front (well, back home about 3 hours from the Mid-Ohio
Con):
Mid-Ohio Con was quite fun, though smaller than we expected "Ohio's best
comic and sci-fi convention" to be. The con took over the entire
ballroom/conference center portion of the Hilton, and they still had to put
the media guests, artists/creators, and several dealers in the "foyer" (read:
hallway). Sergio and Mark were situated about as far back from the entrance
as humanly possible without actually putting them in the parking lot.
We saw Sergio again and if he didn't remember us, he made it seem like he
did. He is still one of the friendliest people ever. We brought the first
comic Janet read, Groo #84, for him and Mark to sign, and it turns out that
is his favorite Groo, so Elie picked a good issue. He talked with us at
great lengths about that issue and how it came about. We also brought the
issue with the penguins, because Janet also collects penguins. As Sergio
signed it, he told us all about the Antarctic cruise he took and saw all the
penguin species except one. Is there anything Sergio hasn't done? Then, to
top it all off, as he was signing Mark's new book for us, he turned the
publisher's logo into a penguin and drew an entire rookery of penguins on the
title page. That was the highlight of the entire convention for her.
We also got the chance to meet Mark for the first time. As far as we could
see, not wanting to act like stalkers (though we spent enough time at their
table they might think we are anyway), it's true what people say about Mark
always doing fifteen things at once. Nonetheless, he still found time to
autograph our comics between doing other things, and taking time to chitchat.
We can probably all agree that it's great when our favorite creators take
time to actually talk with us for a while, even if they probably have heard
whatever we have to say about a thousand times by now and have dinner
reservations to get to.
As a bonus, we also met Mark's friend Carolyn, who gives Sergio a run for his
kopins as one of the friendliest people ever, even though she did hatch a
devious plan when we told her that cheese dip was on the hotel's room service
menu and we were staying at the same hotel. We would have carried it out if
the cheese dip weren't something like twelve bucks when you added in gratuity
and delivery charge. Maybe next time. Still, Carolyn is nice, spent a lot
of time talking with us, and even remembered us the next day when we saw her
at the Mark and Sergio panel. Hope we get a chance to see her again sometime
after having read Pogo. Even if we didn't know she was an artist and hence
could not have been fans, she was a great person to talk to.
We attended more panels than we usually do at a con. They were all very
enlightening even though at each one, one or two people seemed to hijack the
Q&A part with questions along the lines of "In issue 10, page 16, panel 3,
..." and not let up for the entire time. Mark is a great panel facilitator
who made sure everyone got a chance to ask their questions at the two panels
he did with Al Feldstein and Alan Burnett.
The powers that be decided to combine the Sergio/Mark panel with the Jeff
Smith panel scheduled at the same time. Good in that we didn't have to
decide between the two, but bad in that it seemed that most of the people
asking questions were there to talk about Bone, so we didn't get the hour of
pure Mark&Sergio that we were hoping for.
Elie participated in the Mid-Ohio Con Squares game (much like Hollywood
squares except with celebrity comics creators). He won a can of Turtle Wax
after a hard-fought round. Mark was even a guest square, by virtue of
standing in the back of the room. He was given the question "who was the
first actor to play Batman on the silver screen?" and--get this--the
contestant actually DISAGREED with Mark's answer! Who in their right mind
disagrees with Mark on matters of comics or Hollywood?
Gary: Mark and Sergio both say "Hi" back and Sergio wanted me to tell you
that you are very much in his thoughts and he hasn't forgotten (We're not
entirely certain what he said he would remember, but whatever it is, he
hasn't forgotten it). Had we had $350, we would have bought you one of the
pieces of original art Sergio was selling.
--Elie and Janet
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Report from the con front (well, back home about 3 hours from the Mid-Ohio Con):<BR>
<BR>
Mid-Ohio Con was quite fun, though smaller than we expected "Ohio's best comic and sci-fi convention" to be. The con took over the entire ballroom/conference center portion of the Hilton, and they still had to put the media guests, artists/creators, and several dealers in the "foyer" (read: hallway). Sergio and Mark were situated about as far back from the entrance as humanly possible without actually putting them in the parking lot. <BR>
<BR>
We saw Sergio again and if he didn't remember us, he made it seem like he did. He is still one of the friendliest people ever. We brought the first comic Janet read, Groo #84, for him and Mark to sign, and it turns out that is his favorite Groo, so Elie picked a good issue. He talked with us at great lengths about that issue and how it came about. We also brought the issue with the penguins, because Janet also collects penguins. As Sergio signed it, he told us all about the Antarctic cruise he took and saw all the penguin species except one. Is there anything Sergio hasn't done? Then, to top it all off, as he was signing Mark's new book for us, he turned the publisher's logo into a penguin and drew an entire rookery of penguins on the title page. That was the highlight of the entire convention for her.<BR>
<BR>
We also got the chance to meet Mark for the first time. As far as we could see, not wanting to act like stalkers (though we spent enough time at their table they might think we are anyway), it's true what people say about Mark always doing fifteen things at once. Nonetheless, he still found time to autograph our comics between doing other things, and taking time to chitchat. We can probably all agree that it's great when our favorite creators take time to actually talk with us for a while, even if they probably have heard whatever we have to say about a thousand times by now and have dinner reservations to get to.<BR>
<BR>
As a bonus, we also met Mark's friend Carolyn, who gives Sergio a run for his kopins as one of the friendliest people ever, even though she did hatch a devious plan when we told her that cheese dip was on the hotel's room service menu and we were staying at the same hotel. We would have carried it out if the cheese dip weren't something like twelve bucks when you added in gratuity and delivery charge. Maybe next time. Still, Carolyn is nice, spent a lot of time talking with us, and even remembered us the next day when we saw her at the Mark and Sergio panel. Hope we get a chance to see her again sometime after having read Pogo. Even if we didn't know she was an artist and hence could not have been fans, she was a great person to talk to.<BR>
<BR>
We attended more panels than we usually do at a con. They were all very enlightening even though at each one, one or two people seemed to hijack the Q&A part with questions along the lines of "In issue 10, page 16, panel 3, ..." and not let up for the entire time. Mark is a great panel facilitator who made sure everyone got a chance to ask their questions at the two panels he did with Al Feldstein and Alan Burnett. <BR>
<BR>
The powers that be decided to combine the Sergio/Mark panel with the Jeff Smith panel scheduled at the same time. Good in that we didn't have to decide between the two, but bad in that it seemed that most of the people asking questions were there to talk about Bone, so we didn't get the hour of pure Mark&Sergio that we were hoping for. <BR>
<BR>
Elie participated in the Mid-Ohio Con Squares game (much like Hollywood squares except with celebrity comics creators). He won a can of Turtle Wax after a hard-fought round. Mark was even a guest square, by virtue of standing in the back of the room. He was given the question "who was the first actor to play Batman on the silver screen?" and--get this--the contestant actually DISAGREED with Mark's answer! Who in their right mind disagrees with Mark on matters of comics or Hollywood?<BR>
<BR>
Gary: Mark and Sergio both say "Hi" back and Sergio wanted me to tell you that you are very much in his thoughts and he hasn't forgotten (We're not entirely certain what he said he would remember, but whatever it is, he hasn't forgotten it). Had we had $350, we would have bought you one of the pieces of original art Sergio was selling.<BR>
<BR>
--Elie and Janet</FONT></HTML>
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