<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;">After we spent the day at Mid-Ohio Con, Elie observed that this is the con that people are trying to find when they complain about the lack of comics at San Diego Comic Con. Where some cons like San Diego are pop culture conventions, Mid-Ohio is a real comc convention This year, they only had three Media Guests, all of whom are known for acting in comic-book related TV/movies. <br><br>This is the first con under the new owners of Mid-Ohio. We noticed a few changes, mostly for the better. They seem to have about the right panel density. A film fest and two panel rooms, with one hour panels in each, seemed to allow for some interesting breaks in floor-walking time without the issue of all the must-see panels at the same time. Artists' Alley has been rechristened Creators' Commons, and takes up about a quarter of the non-concession floor space (concessions are still outlandish...Five and a half bucks for a smoothie!). Creator's Commons doesn't seem like the afterthought tucked into a disused corner of the convention hall as it is at some other cons. Whether intentionally or not, the assortment of vendors has changed. Some of the regulars from past Mid-Ohios were not there this year, but there were a lot of new ones, many of which were actual comic dealers. It had been a while since we attended a con where the longboxes dominated the displays. There was only one video pirate and no t-shirt vendors. The turnover of vendors means that I missed a few of the regulars, but it made the con a lot fresher (the same cannot be said for some congoers, who managed to have Day 3 body odor three hours into the convention).<br><br>Near as we could tell, in terms of number of exhibitors, this is about the same size as it was in years past. Now, though, it is spread through a larger room rather than crammed into every nook and cranny in the Hilton. This makes it much easier and faster to navigate. We found we could see everything we wanted in half a day. Don't know whether that is good or bad.<br><br>ME was there, of course. I was at his booth when a woman asked him for Groo's autograph, in what ME said is the first and so far only request of that nature. Just as I was going to mention that Mark needs to come to Mid-Ohio more often because, unlike certain other cons he has gone too recently, we do not have a local cuisine to force on him, Mark mentioned that one of the things Sergio likes about his biennial trips to Mid-Ohio is a certain small chain of restaurants out here.<br><br>Janet<br></span></body></html>