SCComicCon Convention Report Part Two: Day One
One of the great books I picked up on Day One of the Show from TNT Comics
We turned in early the previous night- neither one of us can sleep all that well in a hotel— they usually have Queen beds and we’re spoiled by our King— but we were at the Official Con Hotel the AC by Marriot— and it was quite nice.
We set our alarm for 7:30 and were down in the lobby by 8:30— there is a Starbucks ™ Pick Up spot in the plaza the hotel is in— very chic. There is no register, no menu- you have to order on the app— pay on the app and you simply go in here to find a counter and your order sitting there waiting for you. It was a life saver for me— Veronica typically makes Oatmeal in the room via a MacGuyver Trick she uses with the coffee maker— and she’s still able to make me a cup of coffee. I like to have something more substantial for breakfast and despite not being a giant fan of Starbucks ™ I do like their Egg White, Turkey Bacon and Cheese sandwich very much— and this location, unlike virtually every other one I’ve gone to— actually has them. So I ordered one each day as we got in the hotel elevator, I’d drop my bags with our handler and then walk the 50 feet over to the pickup then eat the sandwich on the way back so I wouldn’t make their beautiful cars smell.
One of the fun things about this show is the SUV Shuttles to and from the show exclusively for guests because you don’t know who you’ll be riding with. For this first trip we traveled with a very talented voice actor and the woman who played Sailor Moon in her animated series. Other guests for the show (who we either rode with, had conversations in the green room with or got to chat with included Vicki Lawrence (Mama’s Family which I’ve never seen but it’s huge in the South), Vincent D’Onfrio (Kingpin in Daredevil— he’s also appeared in 2001 A Space Odyssey, ED WOOD, THUMB SUCKER and pretty much anything that’s good that’s been put to film) and a host of others I’ll get to. We are not celebrity people, but everyone we met was incredibly real and nice. You get to see the real person in the Green Room and none of them disappointed— more later.
Saturday was BONKERS— we were busy from start to finish— although I snuck away a few times to buy some really great books including;
Got this one from THEY CALL ME MR HIBBS Comics and Collectibles.
We knocked out a few commissions, signed a few books and had a great time, but by the time our handler came by about 5 and asked if we wanted to get packed up we jumped at the chance.
I mentioned the fun SUV Shuttles well the two green rooms are just as much fun— the green rooms are provided for 1- a place to escape the crowd and eat all the great food catered for the event, and 2- a comfortable off the show floor waiting area (also with food) where you wait for the various drivers to return. The show is a mile or two from the hotel and the city does have some traffic on occasion so there can be a wait time— the fun in the waiting room is trying to figure out who the other people are (if you don’t already know them), especially when it comes to other comic artists and voice actors because those folks working in those professions don’t necessarily mean they have familiar faces.
One famous person met us in the green room and then asked his friends (who he didn’t know were good friends of ours) what movie stars we were— he was shocked and went on and on about what a good looking couple we are— I laugh because I think we’re all right— but I think the fact that we both dress very well makes a huge difference, which leads me to Gus Fringe from BREAKING BAD. Giancarlo Espisito might be the best dressed man I’ve ever met— this guy has style and he’s incredibly nice and charming.
As our driver arrived Dean Cain (the best Superman in my opinion and he looks more like Superman now than he did when he played him) walked in and remembered me from Chicago a year or so ago and I introduced him to Veronica— he hugged us both a couple of times— made a joke about my taking classes at Yale and we talked about a possible project. I couldn’t get into detail with him since my ride was leaving but I got his contact info so we’ll chat it up.
Friends invited us to join them for dinner at a Steakhouse but we wanted something light and we wanted an early night— not sleeping well the first night made getting a decent nights sleep tonight important. We got back to the hotel and decided to just try our luck at the hotel restaurant, running into legendary comic artist John Romita Jr he let us know the restaurant was full up so we dropped off our bags and walked up a few blocks on an amazing Summer like night (had to be mid 70s) and found NOSE DIVE— which is advertised as elevated pub food.
I ordered the soft pretzel sticks (love those) and Chicken Marsala which was fabulous, Veronica ordered Blackened Grouper which is a Southern thing— she liked it but said it needed more seasoning.
After dinner we walked down the The Falls;
It’s a beautiful area and was a perfect way to walk off being so full from dinner. We wrapped and got ready for the second and final day of the show…
TOMORROW: DAY TWO
