ECCC Sunday

Sunday started out with a phone call shortly after we woke up.

*BRIIIING!*
(Look at my phone. Notice that it's Technogreek)
"Good morning, what's up?", says I.
"Yeah.... listen. Burnham has come down with a fever and isn't going to able to help you guys take care of the guests today. That leaves just you and Dr. Zoltar, " he replies.
The day before we could barely take care of everyone and now we were down a man. Oh boy.

Actually it all turned out okay. We were able to wrangle three other volunteers to help us and since it was also the slower of the two days, it all turned out well and everybody was happy.
I wish I could remember the names of the folks who helped us, 'cause if they're reading this I want to let them know how much we appreciated thier help.

So Sunday was Mother's Day and despite being a holiday, was still fairly bustling although not nearly the with the amount of people we had the previous day.
I was able to talk with the guests more, get a few sketches, interview some people and buy stuff.

I mentioned earlier that I was a little apprehensive about the Suicide Girls coming out and having a booth at the show. They are known for not wearing much (if anything at all) on their website, and this is a family-oriented show.
But it turns out they were very nice, and a couple of them were especially cute (I'll let you decide who).
I even got a short interview with them:

I need to improve my interview skills, or at least have some prepared questions. I thought of more questions after the camera was off but didn't want to seem too much of a stalker by asking for another interview.

I saw a couple of people walking around the show floor, one of whom was wearing a Shogun Warrior action figure. It was Raydeen, which is one I had when I was a kid. I apporoached them to tell him how cool it was that he had that figure with him and they asked me if I would mind being interviewed later.
"Sure, why not?" I replied, and then took off to get some water for a guest.

Closer to 11:30, I needed to leave and get lunch again for Jamie & Julie.
On my way out of the convention center I ran into my mom and her husband who were coming for the day. (I got them tickets for this year after they had such a good time last year)
I told them I'd meet up with them later and then left them to toodle around at the convention.

When I got back, the lunches were already being passed around to the other guests. It was pretty much well-in-hand, so I let them finish and went out on the show floor to look around a little.

I caught up with my mom and took them over to introduce them to Daniel Logan.
He is such a nice guy he gave both of them autographed pictures at no charge.
Then I introduced them to a few others; Filip Sablik of Top Cow, Erik Thompson, Kandrix & Laurie, Gus F. Martin... just to name a few.
Everyone was very sweet and mom just loved meeting them all.

Mom's husband is a good friend of Mike Grell, so I took them over to him and then had to leave to run a few errands.

There were a few people who still hadn't gotten lunch, so I ran back and forth from the 'green room' to the convention floor delivering those last few sub sandwiches for them.

I met up again with the folks who wanted to interview me. Turned out.... they were Kelly O. and 'The Don Leonardo' from The Stranger.

They did a brief interview session with me and then gave me a Shogun Warrior comic book for being such a good sport.
My interview got edited into this video. See if you can find me.
(When you do find me... keep watching. I eventually get to explain what it was I said)



The crowd wasn't a big as the day before and it was now after 2:00 p.m. I started making the rounds of anybody that might need anything and buying the things I'd been eyeing since the show started.

I picked up:
Both volumes of Colleen Coover's "Small Favors"
Two copies of "Little Vampires" (for some friends) and the "Project: ElOhIm" trade from Rebecca Hicks.
A trade paperback of "Scruffy Puppies" by Brent Trembath (I was his 22nd customer!)
A signed copy of the Suicide Girls book and DVDs.

I also went around and got a few signatures and added to my sketchbook.
Hilights to this year's round of additions include Tim Sale, Eric Powell, and Phil Noto. All three have been to ECCC before but I've never been able to get a sketch 'cause they've been so darn busy. I also got a very cool self-portrait sketch by Whilce Portacio, and Colleen Coover added hers when I picked up the books from her.

My mom and her husband had to leave, so we stopped by Gus F. Martin's booth one last time.

He and a couple of other guys were playing some live jazz in their booth, and mom wanted to say goodbye... in her own special way.

Andy Kuhn was back again this year and I picked up another CD by his band "The Fuglees".
Remember how I mentioned a while back that I'd love to see a Hellboy story written by Bob Burden and drawn by Andy? Well, I also got a nice head sketch from him of Hellboy.

Sweet!

The show was getting closer to ending and I made a mad dash to say goodbye to some of the guests and exhibitors who were leaving that evening.

After we scooted all the attendees out, we (the volunteers) helped to pack up the ECCC booth, take down banners, clean up the 'green room' and whatever else needed to be done before we left.

We then all headed down to the Ipanema Brazillian Grill for dinner with some of the guests.
By the time Hotness and I got there, the tables were pretty well filled. I was going to sit at the end of a table but it was right in the way of people moving in and out, so I excused myself from there and went to sit with Phil Jiminez, Stephen Sadowski and his partner, Qtilla, and Girl Friday.
THAT was a fun table to be at! The conversation ran the gamut of comic books, art, editorial decisions, etc... on into "evil twins" and Phil's love of watching "All My Children" since he was 14 years old.
What really warmed the cockles of my heart and made my evening was when I was talking to Phil and telling him about how I really enjoyed his run on Wonder Woman a few years back, and he said he remembered me from the last time he was in Seattle... which was like 8 years ago.
It really was cool that he remembered me gushing like the geek I am from that long ago.

We ate and talked for a long time, but it was getting late and Hotness and I needed to get home.
After saying our goodbyes, we got to our car and got home sometime after 12:00 a.m.
We slept like the dead and continued to sleep long after the sun came up and the birds started chirping.

It was a super-fun weekend and I can't wait for it to happen again!
Thanks to EVERYONE involved in making this show one of the best!