When last we met to talk about this con, it was Friday night and I was zonked out in the hotel room. At least I think that's where we left off. If it's not just go with it. That way we can talk all about Saturday!

Since I had covered most of the con floor on Friday, I decided to be lazy and sleep in on Saturday. In reality, I tried to. The hotel cleaning crew had other ideas. While they respected the Do Not Disturb sign on my door by not coming into the room, they didn't grasp the concept that sweeping the hall outside my door and the rooms on either side of me might be disturbing. In the end, I gave up and headed back down to the con.

This time, however, my little lot was full. So, I tried following the signs for the convention center parking. That didn't go so well. There was more construction and signs ended up vanishing before I found parking. It turned out ok, though. I turned up the one street whose name I recognized and discovered a parking garage under the convention center itself! Granted, it was at the other end but close parking is close parking and I took it.

Then, it was back to the convention. Friday night was pretty dead so I wasn't sure what Saturday would be like. It turns out that I didn't need to worry. The crowds came out in full force on Saturday and almost every single table had people standing around checking things out. While this makes my job more difficult, it always makes me happy for the people sitting behind the tables.

Blair Smith with Spiderman -- and the crowds.

As for me, I made my way back to artist alley, stopping to see a few friends along the way. In my head, I was already making my shopping list but I try to make myself finish working before shopping. Plus, if I'm buying prints, the last thing I want to do is carry those around all day and potentially damage them!

I do have to say, though, that artist alley is almost always one of my favorite places at any convention. It gives me a chance to meet some really cool people and they're almost always open to talking for a few minutes, not only about what they do but also about what I do. For example, I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie Tyndall, who not only gave me some great advice about putting together a media kit, but also donated two of his art books to our giveaway!

Speaking of cool people that were hanging out back in artist alley, I also got to meet these guys:

From Back to Front, Clockwise : Giveaway, Stuff for the kids, My goodies!

Review Stack!

Don't know about the new site yet? You'd best go check us out over at Geekorama.net!

Keith and Pat

We received a press badge for the purpose of attending this event. All commentary, thoughts and ramblings are 100% the authors. All pictures, except the one of me, are thanks to Keith Thomas and Blair Smith.

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Like any con that I attend, this one started out with travel. I am thrilled to report that my 5 hour drive to the Columbus area was uneventful. Pretty exciting start, huh? Don't worry. I promise it gets better.

My first stop was to check into my hotel room. Now, since we're still pretty small, we went with a pretty small priced hotel. Someday though, we'll be among the awesome who stay at convention hotels. Luckily, I don't mind a bit of adventure when it comes to staying in a hotel. Besides, quite often I walk away with a story to tell. This con choice? The Microtel on Stringtown Road in Grove City. Yep, Stringtown Road. I think I giggled every single time the gps told me to get off there. It's just such a fun name. I figured a fun name was a good start for what would hopefully shape up to be a fun weekend.

Getting to the hotel was a bit of a hassle. The directions said to go past the hotel and make a u-turn. The only problem? U-turns weren't allowed at the next intersection so I ended up pulling onto the street, into a shopping center, driving all the way around the shopping center, coming back out onto the street, turning onto the correct road and then into the hotel. Whew! Check in was a breeze, even if the girl at the desk didn't seem to really love her job. She wasn't rude, just sort of bored. I managed to get everything inside and down to the room...opened the door to find...1970's porno room! Woo!


These pictures honestly don't do it justice. It was just beyond weird to me that the mirrors were placed like that. Ok, it's kind of weird to have a giant mirrored wall to begin with.

After getting over the shock of the mirrors, I headed down to the convention center. My directions were pretty clear which as y'all know means absolutely nothing when the very exit you're supposed to take no longer exists! I tried following signs that said to convention parking..that didn't help. Luckily, my phone has a built in gps app and it saved my buns! I even got super lucky and found parking in the tiny lot that was right next to the entrance!

After parking, I headed in and stood around  hung out with other fine folks waiting to get their press badges. Right on time, they were handed out and even came with an offer of an introduction to any celebrities and artists that I might want to talk to. It felt really good to be appreciated for what I was there to do.

Once I received my press badge, I got to hang out with two of the volunteers and an on site security guard while I waited for the doors to open. It turns out that the security guard was from Flint. We talked a bit about what it was like and had a great time joking around until it was time for me to get to work.

First stop? Zenescope. I didn't mean to. I'm not addicted to them. Really. Actually, I stopped by because Keith Thomas was standing at their table. If you're not familiar with Keith, you should be. Not only is he a great guy but he wrote one of my current favorites, Cricket for Big Dog Ink. Cricket is a one-shot that should be turned into a mini-series with Keith at the helm. Seriously, it's good stuff.

Tyler Kirkham with the awesome Keith Thomas. Watch out for these two!

Since he was standing there, I stopped by and said hi to him and the Zenescope guys. After some chitchat, it was time for me to really get to work so business cards in hand, I worked my way around the convention floor.

This convention is much smaller than others that I've attended but that didn't prevent it from having some seriously quality people there. I confess to sighing longingly at the Doctor Who store and finding it very cool that there was a booth/table where you could go and they would make you fangs that were quality and would last a lifetime if you took care of them.

Since the con was pretty small, I actually managed to cover all of the floor and about half of artist alley on Friday night. I even had the chance to stop by and say hi to friends like, Dirk Manning (author of Nightmare World).

At the end of Day 1, my feet were tired and I was tired from a long day, but content. I wrapped it all up by being brave and grabbing some White Castle for dinner before relaxing on the bed at the hotel. Why brave? I haven't had White Castle since our whole house got food poisoning in 1996 from some frozen burgers gone bad. All in all, I'll give them an "it's ok." They're not my favorite, but they were ok.

Make sure y'all come back tomorrow where I'll fill you in on the rest of the convention and share lots of pictures that I stole totally took with permission from Keith and Blair.




Life With Katie received press passes for the purpose of this con writeup. All thoughts, comments, fan girling and porn room photos belong to the author. All other pictures belong to their respective cameras. 

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For more information regarding this or any other Zenescope titles, check out their website and Facebook pages.


** Note from Katie : I totally say grrr as a word!

Life With Katie received copies of these books for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and comments belong 100% to Walter who wrote this review, except for the commentary by Katrina at the end.

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Saturday in the park...no wait. I seem to have the inner dj turned on and I was never in a park this weekend. Let's just start over, shall we? Saturday was what I tend to call omg busy. I was up by 9 and considering Friday was tiring and I didn't get to bed til 2am, I was concerned with that. I did the usual post-waking things..showered, dressed, ate a banana and then I was off to the convention center!

Yet again, I caught the shuttle to the airport and then it was off to the train! This time, I wasn't alone but got to spend the entire ride with Phil (dad), Connor (son - about 13) and this adorable little girl whose name escapes me, but she had a stuffed wolf named Sammy. Phil was in town from Indianapolis and the kids were up from Kentucky for the weekend. We had a great time talking and hanging out. So great that I gave them one of my cards and Connor said he was going to add me on Facebook. I hope that they do. I really liked them.

Then, it was off to the next shuttle. This time, it was totally packed. In fact, about 30 people were left standing on the curb. Yeesh! I got to the convention center and it was absolutely packed! There were people everywhere which is great for the convention, to be sure. I had intended on taking a lot of pictures but I only had 2 hands and carrying my camera in one of them got old pretty quick and I'm weird and don't like wearing it around my neck. I always feel like a tourist and on a day where I'm trying to be professional, tourist just doesn't blend. I did take a few right at the beginning though...



Then, it was up to the 3rd floor where it was even more jam packed with people! I stopped by Big Dog Ink to say hi and then started making my way around the exhibitor booths. This was my very first time saying, "Hi, my name is Katrina and I'm here looking for new people and companies to work with." I don't know if it was the press badge or the super cheeriness, but it seemed to work! I had a great time talking with people and quite a few of them either handed me their "babies" to review or promised to send me digital copies.  At one table, I bumped into Ralph Tedesco  and you know dang well that I made sure to give him my card. I also asked him about a couple of titles and if they had them with them. Not only did they have them, but he encouraged me to stop by and he'd *give* me them for Roger to review (they're children's titles).

It took me probably a few more hours, but I did find my way to their table and got to meet Stephen, head marketing god for Zenescope. It was nice to put a face with a name and hopefully, he felt the same way. While standing there, I kept answering questions for others coming up to the table. I can't help it. I'm a helper and I really do love their product. Who knows, maybe if I'm helpful enough, they'll hire me to do something..lol! Ralph came back to the table while I was standing there and between my love of their books and his generosity, I think I walked away with 5 trade paperbacks for myself and 3 trades and a preview issue of Jurassic Strike Force for Roger. These guys might not have given me much re-posting love before this but they sure treated me well that day. I'm looking forward to continuing my relationship with them.

I think it must have taken me about 5 hours, but I did finish making my way around the exhibitor floor about 5:45pm and I went and hung out at the Big Dog Ink table. I hope it didn't bug Tom that I was hanging around, talking with Nei. I did spend some time pitching their books to people who came up and I did make at least one artist commission happen. I also took around some of their Vote Independent posters to a couple of other booths. I think it would be rather brilliant of them if they created postcard sized pieces for that campaign and considering I'll be hitting the Phoenix Comicon floor hard in another month, it'd be something I could hand out when I'm talking about it with other independent artists/companies. I wished more than once this past weekend that I had something like that with me.

Somewhere around 6:45, I decided I ought to head back to the hotel since nobody had extended me another dinner invite. Shuttle, train and shuttle later, I made my way into the room where I decided I just couldn't move another step unless I absolutely had to. So, in true fancy schmancy press/princess style, I called room service and had a lovely bed picnic while talking to Justin and Eric. Sleep ended up taking over (after these two old men fell asleep, I have to say..and it was 2 hours earlier for them!) and day 2 came to a close.

Scene: One tired girl curled up on a huge bed, drifting off to sleep with a smile on her face because people liked her and want to work with her...camera pans to see lots of comic books and other goodies from the day... *giggles*

For today, I leave you with a few more pictures...until tomorrow where I'll wrap up with Day 3!



















Make sure you come back tomorrow to see what happens on Day 3 and how my gps showed me yet again how much she loves me!



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As some of you may remember, earlier this month, I revealed a secret to you. I, girly girl extraordinary, have a thing for comic books. I know this shocked many of you so I've given you a few weeks to mull this over and come to terms with it before posting my 2nd ever comic book review. I really do hope that you've come to terms with it because as of..well, recently, I'm an "official" reviewer for a couple of really awesome comic book publishers. I ought to ask them if they have awesome blog buttons or anything, but honestly, that's a total sidebar and not the reason y'all are still reading...right? Let's get to the review!

For my very first ever Zenescope review, I was sent a copy of Grimm Fairy Tales Myths & Legends Issue #11.*  As you can see, they were nice enough to even include a graphic of the cover to include with this post. I find that especially handy if you read this and then have a desire to go out and buy the book for yourself once it hits store shelves/their website.

With any review, I tend to start by judging a book by its cover. In this case, the cover art was done by Romano Molenaar. While I actually appreciate the talent that went into this cover, I do have an issue with it. In fact, I bet you can guess what it is. Why in tarnation does she have boobs the size of brontosaurus eggs? Seriously. I know that sex sells and generally, I quite appreciate the body of the lovely heroine, but this cover drives me nuts.

Now, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, I need to say that this isn't a gender issue. It isn't even a "women are being exploited" issue. It's logistics, people. As someone who has huge boobs, let me assure you that they do not stay in place like the artist has depicted. Let me also assure you that they get in the way of everything! In my head, I can see our lovely heroine, in all her glory, jumping into the air..and presenting the sea witch with all her glory. Do you catch my drift here? If you're going to use svelte, big boobed heroines, that's awesome. I'd love to see more strong female figures with bigger assets. Let's just make it realistic, ok? While I can suspend reality for a good story, it's tougher when the images just don't align.

That being said, I really did enjoy this story. I was honestly disappointed that I hadn't had the opportunity to read the other books in this series. This issue picks up with the 4th and final installment of The Little Mermaid. It includes back story on the sea witch that I found really interesting. Like a lot of people, I'm mainly familiar with the Disney version of this story, so this was a nice change of pace. (FYI, Disney stories are rather changed from the Grimm Brothers versions.)

I really don't want to give away the story, so I'm just going to focus on a few of the details that I picked out while reading. Hopefully, it will pique your interest enough that you'll pick up this series for yourself.

The Art -
Throughout the book, I noticed what I consider classic symbols in literature. For me, it really raised the level of this book to more than just a fluff piece. It showed that serious thought and effort went into the telling of this story. As someone who is new to comic books (and who is hoping that I can get Raven to sit down and give me a lesson), I don't know who makes the call as to what goes into the art work. I do know that whoever put this story all together knew what they were doing. Let me give you some examples:

Page 5/6 - Use of pink implying a feminine power.
Page 7 - Panel 1: Cascading Water equals a combination of power and purity.
Throughout - Red sky foretelling troubles ahead. The red also matches the red of the blood of Venus.

The Story -

While I clearly have missed a lot of this story line, what I did find very impressive was how in just a few short pages, you actually come to not only care about the character but you can empathize with them. This is something that many authors struggle to do, but in this book, it feels almost effortless. By the time you reach the end of this book, you've got your fingers crossed and your hopes invested in the "good guys."

I won't give away the ending, but I will say to the folks who put together this comic, I'm impressed. I'm impressed that you didn't go the easy way out. You wrote an ending that is just as real as the one everyone hopes to see. Sometimes, the good guys don't win. Sometimes, they do. In the end, what matters is that they didn't give up and that they'll be back for another issue.



*To all new comic book readers, I don't suggest that you jump into a series at issue #11. If you cannot find the first issues to purchase, ask around and see if you can borrow them from anyone. Trust me, the story lines make so much more sense if you start at the beginning.

I received a copy of this comic book for the purpose of this review. I received no monetary compensation and the fact that the author himself called me and asked me to review his book before another author's book had no bearing on my opinions. However, it did cause me to smile a lot, feel really special and for my kids to roll their eyes frequently at me. 

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