[Groop] Gary G.'s Con Report Part 2

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Again, 

Much to my surprise, The Long Suffering Mrs. G. got into "Conning." The original plan was for her to spend time at the Con until she was "Conned out" and then go check out more museums at Balboa Park. But that never happened. In addition to helping George and me help Sergio behind the table, she ran around to a lot of booths. She got all sorts of buttons, including a different button from the Peanuts booth everyday, and all sorts of things, some free and some not, that she thought various relatives, friends, and co-workers would enjoy. She even got the WB bag that Elie almost got killed over without getting into a fight! 

I got to spend a little time with Mark and a little more time with Carolyn Kelly. Mark always looks a little tired at the Con, but as he always notes, he has a fabulous time doing all of his panels and is thrilled to be able to talk to so many people that he admires so much. Carolyn is a real sweetheart and she was very glad that Becky was with me this time. She also talked about leading the Groop in starting a "Larry Fund" so that Larry Stellar can make it to the Con next year. (Larry, where are you?) 

I also took a break at one point and had a very nice chat with Tom Luth. Tom is a really great guy and it was very interesting and pleasant just to relax and talk about the life of a colorist, and other things that had nothing to do with comics. Of course I saw Stan at his booth, which is about 3 miles from Sergio's, and his lovely and wonderful wife, Sharon. (The best way to get there from Sergio's table is to go out to the lobby and then come back in. That way you miss getting bottled up in the Mega Booth section.) Stan was lettering the first pages of Hell On Earth and when he saw me he quickly flipped them over and said I couldn't see them! Later he gave me the original lettering for the moral to the Groo Special (!!!) which had to be done on a separate strip of art board. 

Quick Draw was great, of course, as others have described! There are times when Scott Shaw! and whoever the guest artist is that year give Sergio a run for his money, but overall, as Scott has said, Quick Draw is Sergio's World. SOMETHING TO REMEMBER: Thanks to Mark, Groopies coming to Quick Draw never need to worry about getting a good seat, which is pretty nice since the large room is packed out. There is always a section in front of the main (Sergio) screen cordoned off for the press and Mark says that's where we can sit "I've been told that for 90 minutes I'm the god of that room, so if I say you can sit there, you can sit there." It's always nice to have connections. Name dropping Mark & Sergio has helped me on any number of occasions. 

Sergio is quite a jokester, of course and one of the funniest jokes he pulled was when Joe Ferrara, who owns Atlantis Fantasyland, brought over a young man from Greece. George speaks and writes Greek and earlier another Greek gentleman had come by and George had written a generic message in Greek on a little post it note for Sergio to copy into the book Sergio signed for the man. So now Joe brings over the young man and says "Well, I know Sergio speaks 6 or 7 languages, but I don't think Greek is one of them." And Sergio looks at him straight faced and says "Oh, yes, of course I know Greek." Reaching into his briefcase to get a pen, he palmed the post it note so Joe and the young man couldn't see it, and signed the guy's book with the Greek greeting! Joe was flabbergasted and I could barely keep from laughing until they left! 

Another time someone jokingly asked what would happen if they ran off with original art and I said I'd jump over the table and tackle them.  Sergio immediately told the guy to take the art because he wanted to see that!  

Final part tomorrow.  Probably won't be any more interesting.  

Take care all -Gary G. 




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