WonderCon

[klwilliams]

If anyone ever says that they're planning on having knee surgery, then going to a comic book convention the following week, tell them it's a bad idea. Just sayin'.


I went to WonderCon this year, with my good friends annmprice and acanthusleaf, and one crutch. annmprice is the mother of my younger set of godchildren, and had flown in from Dallas. She and I went up on Friday (where I had a brief stop for a work meeting, since I work about three blocks from the con hotel), and we got an upgrade to a bigger room, so we invited acanthusleaf to join us for the weekend. Given that I was on a crutch, I didn't get to as many things as usual, and I went to bed much earlier, so these are just the highlights.

I didn't see most of the main hall. I focused on artists alley, and got to see some new books that I hadn't heard much or anything about. I met Stephen Notley, the guy who does Bob the Angry Flower, and got a collection of the strips. I met the women who do "To the Power Against", which they bill as 'Buffy meets Stephen Hawking'. We exchanged geek comments, and I bought a couple of issues. I got a collection of "Girl Genius". There was a band of roving steampunk people wandering around in great costumes, and a few steampunk clothing and accessories booths, which I hadn't seen at a comics convention before.

At one point I noticed an almost completely empty table, with just a few pens on it, and a man sitting behind it talking to a woman. The nametag said "Howard Chaykin". My fangirl heart went pitter pat. I was a huge fan of "American Flagg" back in the day. I wandered over and introduced myself, and had a fun conversation with him. He reminds me a lot of Harlan, though I suspect he'd be horrified to hear that. He's very witty and funny, and he told me I was good looking, so obviously he's a man of taste and refinement.

I went to a panel that was really Richard and Wendy Pini talking about how they met and how Elfquest came about. That was fairly interesting, and I learned some things about the comics business in the seventies. They were also on a panel on Sunday that was fun, made up of couples who both work in the comics industry. I don't remember all the names, but Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha were on it, as was Jill Thompson and her sweetie.

I skipped the Watchmen trailer, but we all went to the Star Trek trailer and presentation. The trailer made me want to jump up and cheer. If the movie is half that good it will be wonderful. J.J. Abrams, the writer, a producer, and three members of the cast were there (Kirk, Spock, Uhura), and talked a little bit about the making of the movie. I'm really looking forward to it.

I went to David Gerrold's talk on writing, where I picked up a couple of good ideas about humanizing characters.

Most of the panels I wanted to see on Saturday were too crowded to get into, so I took a nap instead. All in all, I had a great time, and I'm glad I went.

Comments

[windrose.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time, bum knee notwithstanding. Also? Sometimes it's worth tuckering yourself out just to get out and do something when you're recovering from illness or injury.

[loup_noir]

I miss Ann and Brian.

[darcyjavanne.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good time in spite of the knee!