[Groop] Overly Long Con Report

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Folks!

I haven't gotten to all my e-mails tonight, but here is my Con report:

Well, the Con was great as usual.  This is my 7th San Diego Con and they
have all been really cool experiences.  And the darn thing just keeps
getting bigger and bigger.  The building keeps getting bigger and bigger
too.  It used to stop at Section F, I think.  Now there is a Section I or
something like that.  Sergio told me that someone calculated that if you
walked by every table and booth you would have to walk 7 miles!!  Next year
there will probably be booths in the baseball stadium across the street.

Of course, most of that is completely lost on me.  Of the 80,000 or so
people that attended, I probably have the narrowest set of interests.  Also
this year The Long Suffering Mrs. G. and my daughter Claire came with me so
the focus was not totally on the con.  We arrived early Thursday afternoon
and I tried to get various purchases out of the way, and say an initial
 "Hi!" to everyone. This was hampered by the fact that Stan's table was
about three miles from Sergio's and that Claire was a little travel weary.
So I didn't get to Scott or Nate's booth.

Seeing Sergio again is always such a joy!  It was also great to see Scott
Shaw and his wife, who are always right next to Sergio.  They are extremely
nice people.  And somewhere along the line I met George Karalias.  George is
a delightful and fabulous guy!  George, you will remember, is the man
responsible for the Tom Luth card* and the giant Happy Birthday Poster* for
Sergio & Mark from two years ago.  George is amazing.  He has his own
business while working for another business (or something like that) while
at the same time being a dedicated husband and father and a dedicated comics
fan.  He's also a cancer survivor and I think the main reason is that the
cancer couldn't keep up with him!

Before long it was time for the Groo Panel, which was one of the best ever.
There was a lot of interesting information in addition to what folks have
already talked about.  Tom talked about coloring, such as that while he does
more shading and texture on the covers, Sergio doesn't want that on the
inside.  Sergio said there would be more stories about his real life travels
and adventures.

After the panel things were a blur.  I think I started 8 conversations and
didn't finish one of them because someone else would come up in the middle
and say or ask something and before I knew it the person I had originally
been talking to would be talking to someone else.  (This would later turn
out to have dire consequences!)  But it was a lot of fun!!

In addition to George, I also met Janet & Elle for the first time.  They are
a very, very nice couple and it was a lot of fun to finally talk to them in
person.  (Janet, my only question is how could you even think about missing
the Quick Draw!?)  I also talked a few seconds to Doug McCoy, Eric, Carolyn
Kelly, Gordon Kent, Eric, and a couple other folks.

Friday was the Groo breakfast with Elle, Janet, Kaytee, George, Steve Kuhn &
his friend Lee.  I gotta tell you, it was much more enjoyable than the trips
to Dave's Last Stand.  That was fun the first time, but.  I think we should
do a breakfast or brunch every year.  And next year we can make sure
everyone knows where it is and maybe we can reserve space.  Anywho, after
that we went to the Wild Animal Park all day and then I went to the Eisners
that night to see if my local comic book shop won the Retailers award.  She
didn't, but she thought that being a finalist was pretty cool.  I also spent
time talking to Roberto Rios, who translated the original Brazilian Groos.
He now works for HBO Latin America and is a great guy.

Saturday was Quick Draw and it was the best of the three I have been to.
Sergio was in great form as was Scott Shaw.  No one could really expect Jeff
Smith to keep up with those two, but he acquitted himself admirably and of
course Mark did a great job of moderating and keeping things moving.  Becky
& Claire went shopping before and after Quick Draw and while they were doing
that I mostly hung out at Sergio's booth.  That's when IT happened.

Somewhere along the line a guy, Norm from New York, came up with a bunch of
Groo color stuff!!  Things like color guides for a couple issues and a cover
color guide!!  I said "Where did you get those?"  And he said from Tom Luth
at his table. (I didn't even know Tom had a table. He usually doesn't)  Norm
from New York said he got them all except for one that someone else got to
first (It was Eric, I think.)  I shouted "Tom!?!?  How could he do this to
me?"  I was crushed!  I've been bugging Tom for years and he said he'd get
the stuff organized someday. Well, someday had arrived and I'd missed it!
Oh, the pain!!!  I wouldn't have been able to buy all the stuff, but I would
like to have picked up a couple of them.

I rushed over to Tom's table, (which was about four miles and 30,000 people
away) on the chance he still had something, but he wasn't there.  I glumly
went back to Sergio's table and soon afterwards Tom showed up.  "Tom!"  I
shouted, "How could you do this to me?"  "I waited for you."  He said.
Maybe he has more stuff stashed away somewhere.

It amazing how much luck, good and bad, comes into play with situations like
this.  I have had some very good luck in the past, but not this time.  I had
talked to Tom on Thursday at the Groo panel for a few minutes.  If I had
just said "Tom do you have any Groo color stuff"  He would have said yes and
I could have arranged on the spot to get first pick before Norm from New
York (or Eric- you bum!)  And it's the kind of thing I would normally ask
him too, but I hadn't gotten around to it before we were both distracted.
So for the lack of a few minutes and a few words, a couple of unique Groo
items are now with Norm from New York instead of Dessesbo from Olympia.  Oh
well.

That evening we had a very enjoyable dinner at the Spaghetti Factory with
George.  Sunday we went to lunch with Carolyn Kelly at the Kansas City (?)
BBQ, a place made famous (?) by the movie Top Gun, which I have never seen.
Carolyn is a very sweet, wonderful person and we had a very pleasant time.
Plus the food is good! She was very disappointed that Larry hadn't been able
to come.  So Larry, you must come next year or Carolyn will embarrass you by
starting a "Larry Fund."

The rest of Sunday was spent saying good bye to folks and hanging out at
Sergio's table.  Claire spent time helping Sergio make change and had a
great time hanging out with her surrogate uncle.  Eventually it was time to
say goodbye to Sergio and drive up to Ontario.  Now I can't wait until next
year!!

Take care all -Gary G.

PS  The drive up "the 15" was a breeze.  It only took 2 hours

* The Famous Comic Book Creator cards came out in 1992 and have a Sergio
card, Mark card and Stan card.  I got the idea that we should make a Tom
card and George was able to pull it off, right down to the cheesy colors.  I
gave them to Groopies and most of the rest to Tom.  George also made a
poster size version for Tom.

The birthday poster used Sergio art to wish a happy birthday to Mark on his
50th and Sergio's 65th birthdays which took place in 2002.  I designed it,
but George is the one who actually made it and then shipped it to Shane, who
brought it to the Con.  George does incredible work!!