Comicon Toronto, Part 1

;D :cheers: Ohhhhhhhh that emoticon has never been more appropriate! Now, I admit that I tend to stand out at conventions. For those who don't already know, I'm an Orthodox Jew. And I cover my hair. With a snood. (Some of us religious types wear wigs or kerchiefs. I sometimes wear a hat.) The point is, I stand out. Even more than the folks who show up in costume. So it's not entirely unheard of for someone to recognize me walking into the con. But still... to get about 10 steps into the hall and have a guy come up to me and say

"Excuse me... are you Esther?" Just... Wow!

The gentleman in question was Gail Simone's husband, Scott. He said--and I take this with a grain of salt because 9 times out of 10 Gail's just too busy to IM chat these days--that Gail's been talking nonstop about seeing me again!

(Just as an aside, I've been IM-ing Gail sporadically since her Action run almost 2 years ago. Has to do with standing up and offering to help her with some background research. I don't make a huge deal out of this for one simple reason: Gail Simone does not spoil. Period. And she considers any info about an upcoming issue to be a spoiler. So, the little bit of help I gave her was mostly the menu when Superman attended a Sabbath dinner. She didn't want me to mention that there was going to be a Sabbath dinner. Now, given that--especially on the DCMB--there are trolls who pretend to be, or pretend to have struck up relationships with the pros, and post phony spoilers--or even real ones, I fully understand that if I were to post that Gail and I IM each other, etc, people would ask me for proof. In the way of spoilers. Which 98% of the time I don't have, and 2% of the time I can't blab. Therefore, I really don't bring this up much.)

Anyway, of course I headed over there. After picking up the NTT:Judas Contract TPB. Embarassingly enough, I never read it.

And we hugged. And I tried to get a photo but my camera batteries were dead... and we chatted briefly. And she signed 4 of my comics.

Then... it was time to undertake my mission: I'd asked folks here and elsewhere if they had any questions for the pros or anything they wanted me to pick up. Well... I had one request for an artist's sketch of NW.

(The party who asked knows who he/she is and it's up to them to reveal it if they so choose.)

I'd initially thought to ask Talent Caldwell, who did Gen13. I figured since Nicola Scott was wowing everyone on BoP, she'd have an incredibly long wait list and a price I couldn't afford. Boy! Was I wrong.

First off, Talent wasn't there initially. Second, Nicola was sitting right next to Gail. Third, at the time I put my request, I was 6th or 7th on her list. And fourth, the cost was quite reasonable.

Now, before coming down to the con, I'd stopped off at a chocolate shop nearby looking for something to bring Gail and Marv. They didn't have anything writerish, but they did have chocolate lollipops shaped like paint palettes--the "paints" in white chocolate, the "palettes" in milk. I bought two--more on this later.

So, I put my request in to Nicola and headed off to Marv's table.

I introduced myself, and mentioned that I was here representing two NW fan groups: Wing-Nuts, and the Yahoo Bludhaven List. And that most of us are extremely happy with his current run on NW. He thanked me and said we should "tell DC". I did ask him if he was on NW for the foreseeable future and he told me politely that he doesn't comment on things like that unless DC's issued a statement. So, sadly, I know no more than I did going in.

However, I did get Marv to sign two of my comics, my Lonely Place of Dying TPB, and the Judas Contract TPB I'd just bought.

Oh... and I bought this:

Then on to make some rounds. I found these wonderful prints by Repovski:



and picked them up figuring we could offer them as prizes in the next contest or something. (The script is MINE... thank-you very much!)

I also got to talking with Howard Wong who's just had his first comic published by Image. After The Cape, which seriously impressed me. He's a really nice guy and very enthused/excited yet.

Back by Gail, I notice that Nicole is hard at work... but this being a con, she keeps having to take time out to sign comics, chat with fans, etc. It's been over an hour and she's just finished her first sketch.

While Gail chats with fans, I chat with Gail's husband Scott. He's a super-nice guy, seriously. Although he admits there are some message boards Gail won't let him read because some of the fans can be brutal--and noone likes seeing their spouse verbally attacked. He also mentions that Gail's sorry to have to let BoP go, but something had to give. Hey. I've ALMOST forgiven her by now...

I'm off to make another round. But before I do, I drop a chocolate palette in Nicola's art box. "This is NOT a bribe" I tell her. And it isn't. A bribe would be "bump me up and I'll give you chocolate." I didn't tell her to push me ahead of the queue. I wouldn't have the guts. Seriously.

But when I finish another round at the tables, and buy the Daily Planet's Guide to Gotham City and Writers on Comic Scriptwriting, Vol 1

This: is waiting...

That was Friday. I'll have more to post about today later...