yendi

First, happy belated birthday to

forioscribe, as well as a sorta-belated one to

shadesong (who I wished a happy one to in person, but not on LJ). And happy non-belated birthday to

averyslave!

I won't do a full con report, as others are already doing that, and I don't have the patience for that sort of long write-up today. But there were some notable highlights:

- Meeting Los Bros Hernandez, and getting to tell them how much their work has meant to me. Seriously, these guys are two of my heroes, and they both turned out to be nothing but nice and gracious (always a concern when it comes to meeting folks associated with Gary Groth). And Xaime looks younger than me. I've also got two photos of

bheansidhe posing with them. She'd only wanted one, but they insisted on a second shot. Apparently, they enjoyed the pose. :-)

Watching their panel was also nifty, as I now know pretty much their entire histories.

-- Meeting and talking to Tony Isabella on his farewell tour. He doesn't write nearly enough comics, but his weekly CBH column (as well as other posts online) are wonderful, and he's the reason I discovered Eagle, one of the best damned comics being written today. I also got to sign his farewell book, which was nifty.

-- Chatting with Robert Rodi. He's one of my favorite writers, and talking about Codename Knockout was a delight. He truly cares about what he writes, and losing that book seems to really bother him. He also seemed to appreciate being told how good What They Did to Princess Paragon was. Which is silly, since it's obviously fucking brilliant, and he should realize it. But the point is, he's a really nice guy, and he writes some damned good books (comic and otherwise), and you should all read his stuff.

-- HeroClix.

morenasangre is totally to blame for this one. I'm now hooked on the worst form of Gamer Crack since Magic came out. It's damned nifty. I like. A lot.

--The Snake Plisskin Adventures, the comic book. I attended the panel on this, thinking it might blow, and was actually pretty impressed. The guys doing it are the folks behind Violent Messiahs (a nifty comic), and they clearly bring a huge love for the character to the table. Carpenter, Hill, and Russell have all been involved in the process, and things seem a lot better for this one than for that terrible Marvel book a few years ago.

-- The people, both old and new. Getting to hang out with

morenasangre and

farren is always one of my favorite things, and I got to spend lots of time with them, both in the dealer's room, and hanging out with them on Friday night.

And on Saturday, at

shadesong's party, not only did I get to hang out with them more, but I got to meet new folks, including

sunyata__,

raptorgirl,

luckychance,

newbabel, and

xforge (who I'd technically first met the night before).

Also in attendance were, of course, folks I'd already known, including

bheansidhe,

stronae,

onceupon,

penguinboi, and, of course, the Guest of Honor herself,

shadesong. A good time was had by all, until the general ickiness I'd been feeling asserted itself rather strongly, at which point I had to excuse myself from the party.

And as you probably already figured out,

bheansidhe,

stronae,

penguinboi, and

shadesong, like

morenasangre and

farren, were around all weekend, and were lots of fun (and, as was commented on often enough, we really needed someone to transcribe everything, as there was a worthwhile quote about every two minutes).

There were imperfect moments this weekend, but they're not worth dwelling on. Overall, a fun con. I'm sure I'll think of more things to post later, but I think this is long enough for now.

Oh, and a major thanks to

bheansidhefor doing a hell drive both ways, and for taking on even more stress than she's had already. And to her

vidicon for taking care of the animals while we were gone (the non-human ones, wiseacres!). You both rock!