Saturday is traditionally the busiest day at most conventions and that’s been true of Pensacon in the past. I don’t know if I can say that for the 2023 event because tickets for every day of the show sold out. I think it was fair to say fans show up somewhat earlier on Saturday and stay later.
As with Friday, Artists Alley was so crowded that, from my table, I only got glimpses of the floor below. I made my one trip of the weekend before the show opened. I bought Pensacon swag from their souvenir booth and said hello to my friend Alexi Vanderberg, the architect and wrangler of The Bard’s Tower, a terrific gathering of authors that has been a mainstay of Pensacon over the years. Alas, the changing economy has made the Tower impractical and we won’t be seeing it at future conventions. It’s a loss.
I got back to up to my table as the fans who has purchased “V.I.P.” tickets started entering the convention. I hadn’t brought much to sell, but my exclusive Misty Knight limited edition reprint was the big seller. I also sold some Marvel Monsters posters designed and drawn by Akron’s Dan Gorman. The poster has every monster character I wrote in the 1970s.
As usual, I signed dozens of comic books and other Isabella stuff for Pensacon attendees. I posed for photos with them. I answered their questions. I told humorous stories from my career. My goal is to always leave them with a happy memory from the convention and a good impression of me.
Lunch on Saturday was meat or vegetable lasagna, impossible beef and broccoli and Harissa and maple roasted carrots that were to die for. I had a little of each entree and enjoyed them immensely, but the carrots were my clear favorite.
Several years ago, on my first trip to Pensacon, I met and bonded with Jonathan, one of the show’s great volunteers. In recent years, the duties of fatherhood have kept Jonathan from volunteering, but he always manages to stop into the show and greet the many friends he made there. He usually comes with his son Kyle and Kyle always had a new drawing for me. Here is this year’s addition to my Kyle collection...
There was only one glitch on Saturday. It was the convention panel that never happened. I was scheduled to be on a writers panel with Barry Gregory, Scott Braden and someone else I can’t recall because I’m shit at remembering to take notes.
The glitch? The panel was never posted on the schedule found on the Pensacon app. Which we knew going to the panel venue and which we knew would mean no fans would be showing up for the panel. Troopers that we are, we went to the venue anyway. We waited for ten minutes or so and then headed back to the convention proper.
The perk? We spend the rest of the convention complaining another panel member had hogged the panel and wouldn’t allow any of us to get a word in. Sometimes it was Barry. Sometimes it was Scott. And sometimes it was me, even though all of you know I’m so shy about speaking I barely say a word anyway.
Despite the hectic pace of Artists Alley, I met and had excellent conversations with Minchao Mai, the sales director of the Tiger Printing (Hong Kong) Co. She was looking to expand Tiger’s client base to include more U.S. creators and publishers. Her enthusiasm for her work was obvious and we talked about all sorts of industry and non-industry matters. We are keeping in touch with each other via e-mail.
Pensacon is where I get to see some of my favorite people. Usually during my occasional strolls along Artists Alley. The list is too long to talk about them at length, but they included John Dell, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Derek Donovan, Guy Gilchrist, Michael Golden, Jenni Gregory, Mark Maddox, Robert Pope and Kelly Yates.
After the show ended for the day, my son Eddie went to dinner with our former Medina neighbor J.D. Ferut. I went to dinner with Ohio home boy Thom Zahler, who does a ton of design work for Pensacon.
Thom and I started out at O’Riley’s Irish Pub where he sampled some of their Game of Thrones styled speciality drinks. I thought about sitting in the scary throne they had set up at the front of their establishment, but decided against after seeing three people either cut themselves or snag their clothing on it. Besides, as a man of the people, thrones are just not my thing.
Last year, O’Riley’s had a Marvel Comics theme. I got Saintly Wife Barb and I a table by asking the manager if they would like to have an actual Marvel Comics writer as a customer. Which they did.
Our server had a great Captain Marvel costume and was a comics fan. She even knew who I was. With the tip, I left her one of my cards and thanked her for her excellent service. This year, she visited my Artists Alley table to show me she had kept the card. Which is one of the cool things that happens at Pensacon.
O’Riley’s was pretty crowded and, rather than wait a long time for a table, Thom and I headed back to Pensacola Beach and Flounder's Chowder House, probably my favorite of the many fine restaurants there. There were lots of other folks who made the choice to dine there, but the place is enormous huge and the kitchen and the wait staff are really fast. I had the Philadelphia Roll. It was big and tasty. A very filling meal.
I was wiped out when I got back to my hotel room. Honestly, I don’t know what I did that night before falling asleep. That’s how tired I was. But I woke up excited, knowing I still had one more day of my favorite convention to go.
I’ll be back very soon with the finale of my Pensacon 2023 report. Thanks for visiting with me today.
© 2023 Tony Isabella
No comments:
Post a Comment