[Groop] A Newbies Groo Fest Report

[Shawn]

Greetings~

 I made it to my first Groo Fest – Sergio, Mark, Stan AND Tom all graciously signed my favorite Groo issue AND I have a picture of all four of them to boot!  (If anyone would like to see it, let me know, and I can email it to you)  This was all achieved by Thursday the 1st day! – I could have gone home right then, because as far as I was concerned I was done!  I had accomplished what I had come to achieve!  I was beyond thrilled!  In fact, my smile on my face is still here!  Wait
  Let me check
  Yep!  Still there!  :)   But, since the hotel was already paid for – and I did have the necklace to this Groo Fest still just a dangling around my neck, I thought, “why not stay awhile longer”.  And I am glad I did
  I was able to see much, much more!  An amazing place – really beyond amazing!

 

The classes/seminars/panels that were offered all surpassed my expectations!  I have been to conventions before, but this was much more than any regular run-of-the-mill/ordinary convention.  This was fun!  No, this was a blast!

 

Since I am mainly a Groo fan, and I am not very familiar with any other names in the comic business, I pretty much stuck to the panels that were lead by Mark.  At least this way, I knew they would be somewhat funny since Mark is known for his sense of humor. Besides learning all about the history of DC Comics, Bloggers, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby,  Cartoon Voices, I also learned that Mark was a glutton for punishment (he hosted a record breaking 14 [respectfully] panels during this convention alone – and there were probably more that he sat in on that were just not listed – this man is a machine!)  He was obviously having a great time being the host of so many panels.  My favorite, of course, were all the ones where Sergio was present.  The panels where Sergio and Mark were together were more than magical.  These two could take their “show” on the road, and spread laughter wherever they landed, there is no doubt about that!

 

Three of my four days spent in San Diego, I made my way over to Sergio’s table to buy several of his books he had for sale.  Each time he made me feel more than welcome.  He gladly signed each book and chatted with me as if we were old friends.  My last day I inquired about Gary’s whereabouts because I wanted to make sure I asked Gary a question before I left the Groo Fest.  Sergio’s face lit up with the mention of Gary’s name.  He then started asking me if I knew about the “Groop!”  I said that I did, and that I was “
very new to the Groop and also VERY shy, and I had not yet met anyone except Gary.”  He scoffed and laughed at my silliness and continued on talking about how friendly the whole “Groop” was etc.  He was so helpful, cheerful, and charming!  And here I thought I was a fan BEFORE I met him!   

 

I did finally catch up with Gary, and I did ask him one of my many questions – Gary’s great too by the way!  I am sorry that I did not have the courage to meet everyone at this year’s Groo Fest – I think I was constantly lost from the get-go! That place was more than HUGE and more than CROWDED!  I hope everyone who attended will please forgive this cowardly lioness.  I will definitely be going to next year’s Groo Fest and I will surely be building up some valor in the meantime to bring along with me.  So, with that, I will close with saying thanks for reading this far – here is to next year’s Groo Fest!  

 

Shawn 

(P.S.  A girl who happens to have a couple of funny parents that thought it would be hilarious to name their daughter a boy’s name – and on quiet nights you can still hear them giggling about it to this day :)


		
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