An Encounter with Frank Cho

So yesterday was the Comic Book Convention at the Seattle Center. Lots of guests, but the two I wanted to meet the most were Frank (Liberty Meadows) Cho and Chris (Sandman, Death: The High Cost Of Living, Steam Punk, Ultimate War) Bachalo. Frank Cho was there from the very beginning (10AM), and Chris Bachalo would not be there till about noon. I had Penny's autograph book (because she could not attend but wanted both their signatures in it), and a small stack of 3 comics I wanted to get signed (Steam Punk #1 at the top, created by Chris Bachalo). Since Mr. Cho was there and I had some time to wait for Chris Bachalo to show up, I decided to get Frank Cho's signature out of the way first. After all, the man writes a daily syndicated comic strip, so he's gotta be a cheerful guy, right?

I approached the table. Frank Cho smiled at me. So far, so good!

I placed my stack of comics on the table so I could get out Penny's Autograph Book. Frank Cho's smile dissapeared as he looked at the "Steam Punk #1" on top. So in a very sarcastic voice, I says to Frank Cho, "Man, I *loved* your work on Sandman and Steam Punk!"

He looks at me, blankly. I wait a moment for something witty from the cartoonist, then start explaining how Penny just found out about being Preggers, and wished she could be here to get an autograph, and -

In the middle, he says "I didn't do anything on Sandman or Steam Punk."

I say "I know, it was a joke. See, I have this copy of Steam Punk #1 in my hand, so I thought you would think that I thought you-"

"No, I didn't do that. I'm not going to sign that."

A blank stare from me. I decide to move on. "So anyway, my sister would really appreciate it if-"

He interrupts again. "I think you want Chris Bachalo. He'll be here at noon. I didn't work on that book."

So at this point I figure he's just being witty, right? Mr. Funny Cartoonist-dude? And I says to him "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure Steam Punk is written by Frank Cho... You *are* Frank Cho, aren't you?"

He looks at me, not at all amused.

"ANYWAY", I say, trying desperately to change the subject, "My sister is a HUGE fan, so am I, but she couldn't be here, so could you sign her book? Maybe with like a quick head-sketch of a Liberty Meadows character?"

He took Penny's book from me, looked at it and said "She just found out she's pregnant?" and started to doodle a head-shot of the Duck from Liberty Meadows, with a cute little quote (something like "Congratulations, Miss". So maybe he was joking? Sure, it must have all been a joke! He was just kidding with me! He's really a nice guy, and not that thick!So I said "Oh, that's great! She'll love it! Say, could you maybe do a little one for me t-"

"No."

Aparently, Penny got the ONLY sketch he did at the entire convention...AND SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE!!! People were asking him left and right if they could have anything, even offering to PAY for his doodles, and he insisted it was strictly signatures today because he was kinda burnt-out and couldn't do a sketch for *everyone*.

Chris Bachalo, on the other hand, was the polar-opposite of Frank Cho. Every fan went away with a sketch, as many signatures as he or she wanted, and witty annecdotes about each and every comic he signed. "Oh, waw! I loved this one! This was like my first *paid* work! I bought a box of pens and some Bristol Board just for this assignemnt! I was so excited!"

This convention also taght me a very valuable lesson. It taught me that I can go there with under $20 and *still* get a back-breaking amount of comic books out of the Quarter Bins!

(no subject)

So is this weird? Seeing as how I have a nice big list of chores to do today, I decided that the first thing I should do today is go through all my posters and start listing them on eBay (which is something that has always been discussed, but was not on the list of chores. Yet somehow it seems to have more urgency to it than, say, cleaning the kitchen). It all started out okay, finding posters I had picked up for free or very cheap... take a picture, measure it, roll it up, move on to the next. But just now I found myself having a very "Fellowship Of The Ring" moment, where I was like Gollum... curled up in a corner, clutching many posters, howling "NO! MINE! MINE! NO! CAN'T HAVE IT! IT'S MINE! IT KEEPS IT'S FILFTHY HANDS OFF MY PRESCIOUS!!!"

So all though a vast majority of the posters will get listed and/or donated to Value Village, there will also be a nice-size roll of posters that I am keeping. SOME DAY I will have a place for my pressssscious...