The other day I told you all about my first day at the Phoenix Comicon. Since then and even before then, I've been trying to figure out how to tell you all about the other days. You see, there were some good, some bad, some amazing and some eye opening moments that weekend but so much of it is still so tangled up inside of me that I'm not sure what to even say about it. I'm going to do my darndest to give you a good taste of what really is an amazing con but please forgive me if it's not my usual joyful bubbling.

Friday -
Friday..oh Friday..I woke up early because I had decided to surprise Walter by meeting him at the airport. Justin stayed behind at the hotel to try to figure out just how my corset was supposed to be laced. Meeting up with Walter was pure amazing. It was the first time in my life that I wasn't worried or nervous about meeting someone. Turns out I was right, him and I just fit together somehow. After grabbing the shuttle back to the hotel, it was off to breakfast, a quick stop at Target and then on to the con!

We got there with a bit of time to spare before the one and only panel I managed to attend started. Since there was only 20 minutes or so, though, we decided to just go sit in the room and wait. I kind of dragged Walter along with me (What? I had good intentions..his friends would be doing the panel plus he's cute and I didn't want to let him wander off and make plans with anyone else! Yeah, I'm greedy..it's been established.) but he really didn't want to be in there so eventually, we agreed that he'd go find Mike and meet up with me after the panel was done. Justin and I enjoyed the panel..it was typical Raven and Andy silliness which always makes me laugh. I was amused when the moderator wanted me to say something and Raven was like umm no..that other girl, call on her. You'd think he'd heard my side of things or something....


For the record, since Raven wouldn't let me speak, here's my take:

1. Skynet involves nukes. Nukes create zombies. Both apocalypse happen together. I'm screwed.
2. Zombies are like ants. You won't be safe out on the water. They'll just keep plunging in until they form a zombie road.

After the panel, Walter was totally true to his word and we met up. Justin decided to stay upstairs for another panel so we headed down to the show floor. That's when I goofed things up...fast forward a while...Got to meet up with Ross and give him his surprise. That part was fun. I also picked up some new goodies, also good.

Saturday -
.....Umm...Geek Prom! Yes, we attended Geek Prom! After a really hard day, Walter agreed to attend with Justin and I and I am so, so, so glad that he did. The event was different but it looked like everyone was having a lot of fun. It was good to be able to watch some real silliness happening. Even if you're not into dancing to geeky music, I recommend this event. It's fantastic for people watching. If I'm lucky enough to attend next year, I'll be attending this again..it's a fun event plus the proceeds go to a great charity.

Sunday -
Poor Justin wasn't feeling so good on Sunday so he pretty much left Walter and I alone to wander the con floor, seeing friends and me frantically doing things I should have done the other days. People love Walter and it made me smile to see them light up when he'd come around. I can't blame them..he showed me what it was like to be really happy again. That's all I'm going to say on that.

Walter and I did a bit of last minute shopping and a lot of last minute talking and for me, wishing that the weekend wasn't coming to an end. There was so much more that we could have seen and experienced, but I have no regrets, just things to look forward to next year.

So while this is probably the worst con write up ever, I hope that you guys understand that it's not the fault of the event itself. The event is amazingly well organized and well run. The exhibitor floor was filled with fantastic artists, writers and companies. The panels were varied and there was something for everyone, no matter what your interest. My weekend was amazing but not because of the con and it's because of that, I can't do this event justice with this post. I promise to do better next year..

For now, I'm going to leave you with this rather bad picture of two people who found each other that weekend and who I consider to be very, very lucky...as he put it best, he's my best friend and somehow something more.





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This is it. The post some of you have been waiting nearly two weeks for! I'm finally writing about my trip to Phoenix. I warn you that it wasn't all pretty but in the end, it was all amazing. I will also warn you that all pictures on this post (and upcoming posts) were totally and blatantly stolen from my friend, Andy Bohn. Why? Well because I was distracted the entire weekend and typical me...next to no pictures. Read on and find out as I give you my day by day summary of Phoenix Comicon 2012 with random photos thrown in for good measure!

Thursday - Hereby known as Katrina was exhausted day. I was up at 4am after being up until 1am. After a drive to the airport, luck was with me! Note that I said after because during, my cigarette lighter portal thingy (I'm working on copywriting that, by the way.) decided to fall right into the console on my van. Awesome, huh? Well, my luck changed at the airport. I not only found the parking lot easily, but the shuttle van saw me pull in and came to me instead of me hauling bags to him! Woo! I got inside, got checked in nice and easy and even got skipped to the head of the security line (thank you costume cane!). The flight was smooth and even though I had a 3 month old behind me and an 18 month in front of me, no problems. Justin met me at the airport and we were off! Since our hotel was nearby, we decided to stop in and see when we could check in. Awesomesauce hotel (Airport Radisson) let us check in 5 hours early! We had a quick lunch in their restaurant..the food was good but the service a bit slow..and then up to the room to unpack and grab a quick nap. After the nap, it was up to the con! I bet you thought I'd never get there, right? Check in was nice and easy as soon as we figured out where we had to go. I didn't end up with a press badge (yes, I did sulk for a bit.) but a media badge. I guess I'm just not quite big enough yet for them to give me the almighty press badge. It's ok though because I saw the list and very few people got the press badge. There were lots of us media types though!

So, here's where we waited...and waited...and then found comfy chairs and watched other people wait. I kid you not that there were thousands of people standing around just waiting for the doors to open so that they could get in. I never expected that kind of turn out for a preview night! It was really cool to see. After the doors opened and the door crowd thinned, Justin and I headed in and looked around for friends. We spotted Andy...


 We also saw Alfred (here with Andy)...


Let's see, there was also Raven (here with Andy and Eric (Ebas)...

I got a half hug from Raven which hopefully next time will be a bit more enthusiastic but as usual the man was too distracted and I'm still not convinced he knows who I am between times seeing me, no matter what others claim.

Oh, I almost forgot, speaking of hugs...I saw these guys!

This is Brett and Mike! Brett is awesomesauce wrapped in bacon. I got fabulous hugs from him and I think maybe an oh hi from Mike. That's ok. Mike and I had never met in person and he was super busy setting up his table. If you don't know his art, well you ought to and I hereby expect you to go explore.

I'm trying to remember (this is what happens when I wait two weeks..though I promise I had good reasons!) who else we got the chance to see...Ooh...I know!

Ross! We saw Ross of Ross Demma Art who is also utterly fantastic..and while I gave him a bunch of money, I think I missed some stuff he had on other nights/days of the con. I'm sure he'll happily fix that for me though.


Do you see how green I was? That's from that crazy necklace I'm wearing. Someone at the con gave it to me and that's what it did! Insane! It took me two days to scrub all the green off. I could have shot Eric when I saw this picture over on the con's Flickr page.



So, since this post is my photo filled fun time extravaganza post, I close it out that I got a fantastic good night hug from Eric and then we headed back to our hotel..it was late and the next morning would be early but all in all..Thursday was wonderful...



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If you had asked me even two years ago what I was doing for my birthday, you never would have heard me say I was going to a comic book convention. In fact, had someone suggested it, I most likely would have snorted and said, "and why would I want to do that?" You see, I was in the closet about part of my geek nature. Everyone knew I was into music and if you caught me unsuspecting, I'd even answer some sci-fi question without thinking. Now, fast forward to my birthday 2011. Want to guess where I spent it? Yep, at the Detroit FanFare Comic Book Convention. Ok, technically, it was the day after my birthday but since it fell during my birthday weekend, I'm counting it.

FanFare was held at Cobo Hall in Detroit. I had never actually been there before, but it wasn't too hard to find. Parking was a bit trickier, but we even managed to sort that out fairly quickly. By we, I ought to tell you, I didn't go alone. I actually tagged along with my friends Chris and Lauren. Chris ranks among what I call the uber-geeks of comic books. He has...*gasp*...subscriptions. Me? I merely have issues. They wanted to go and they were nice enough to let me tag along.

Lauren with some new friends

I am so glad they did. I had a great time and I met some really cool people. As usual, I want to tell you about the good, the bad and the summary. Ready?

The Good:
Location: Cobo is a great place to hold an event like this. It's spacious enough that you're not tripping over everyone and yet you don't feel like you're lost in a cavernous space, never to be heard from again. I have heard that next year they may move to a different location and I'm looking forward to seeing how this large event translates to another venue.

Plenty of space to setup photo shoots

Blood Drive: One of the things that this event offers is the chance to help save lives. In exchange for giving blood, you get the chance to rifle through tons of boxes of old comics and pick out 50 to take home and enjoy. Chris and Lauren both gave blood. I couldn't because of a recent tattoo, but because I tried, they still let me take home some comics. I think it's a fantastic way to combine a large event with something that could save lives. Since I have a son who needed a blood transfusion, I'm looking forward to next year and a new chance to help out, free comics or not. 

Lauren with Art Baltazar

The Costumes: Why didn't anyone tell me about dressing up? Ok, the truth was that I wouldn't have anyway. If you notice, I've not included a single picture of myself at FanFare. That's because there aren't any. I looked back through the pictures I took and there are a ton of the beautiful Lauren with a variety of people. Next year, insecurities will not get in my way. We saw so many great costumes and people just having a ton of fun. Here are a couple of our favorites:

The Tardis & the comic books for the blood drive in the background.

Now, for The Bad: