Saturday is always the busiest day at G-Fest. There were a couple of presentations I wanted to see. I also wanted to get into Kaiju Island, the G-Fest equivalent of an artists alley. The Island was in a small room on the sub-level of the hotel and, as such, always had a daunting line of fans wanting to get in. The line was already long when the convention opened for the day, but I was able to get in on a slightly later attempt.
My first stop was the table of Matt Frank, one of my favorite kaiju artists. Much to my surprise, he was cosplaying Emperor Antonio of Seatopia from Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973). We didn’t chat for long as he always had a lot of fans waiting to see him, but it was still good to catch up briefly.
I did a bit of shopping elsewhere on the island, picking up a few graphic novels because they looked like they were fun. From Invader Comics, I purchased Animals #1 by Keith Foster and Ed Condon...and Three Protectors by Foster and multiple artists. I have a pretty decent stack of kaiju comics to read in the coming weeks, including a bunch of Godzilla comics from IDW.
The next table over was Bustillo Publishing where I purchased the digest-sized Dynamic Guardian and Friends by Rodney Rodis and Randy Meyer. I shocked the heck out of Rodney just by being the legendary Tony Isabella. He said I made his day. I spent fifteen minutes or so answering his questions before moving on to the first of the two interviews I wanted to see.
Jeffrey Angles is a professor of Japanese literature at Western Michigan University. He’s won numerous prizes for his translating Japanese literature into English, including the recent collection of Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again, a book that has moved to the top of my kaiju reading pile. He has also completed a translation of The Luminous Fairies and Mothra. He was interviewed for G-Fest by Joyce Boss and Kevin Derendorf. It was a fascinating panel and one of the highlights of my weekend.
Eddie left the hotel in search of more Italian beef sandwiches. I grabbed a small pizza from the food court set up just across from the main convention floor. It was good, though not quite worth the $14 I paid for it. As I mentioned yesterday, guests and visitors of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare will find nary a bargain from the hotel. Indeed, I was expecting to find an oxygen tax when I got my final bill for the weekend. I hope that comment doesn’t give the hotel any ideas for next year.
Allan Henry is an actor, stuntman and motion capture performer. The boisterous, charming and just plain sweetheart of a human being is best known for his roles as Kong in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and the title character in Cocaine Bear. Indeed, he bounded on to the stage as if we were the coked-up grizzly. However, he resumed his human demeanor before he turned on interviews Jessica Tseang and Martin Arlt. Honestly, this was one of the best interviews I’ve seen at G-Fest. Henry’s dedication to and love for his work leaps out at you. He puts in the work and continues to put in the work.
Comics fan and Facebook friend Brian Iglehart wasn’t planning to be at G-Fest this year. But he invited Eddie and me to dinner with him Saturday. We ate at the wonderful A Thousand Tales Mediterranean restaurant in nearby Mt. Prospect. He even insisted on picking up the check. I had a delicious salmon served with baby vegetables, lemon and roasted potatoes.
Over our meals, we talked about comics and garage sales and other subjects. I gave him tips for running garage sales with the first being that, if you’re serious about reducing your collection, you need to be honest about whether or not you are ever going to have the time to reread items. All of which reminds me that, in answer to many requests, I need to commence writing “The Art of the Garage Sale” bloggy things I’ve been contemplating.
One of my regrets about this year’s G-Fest was that I didn’t plan things as well as I could and should have. There were dear friends I never connected with over the weekend. It’s something I will do better for next year’s gathering.
By the way, I’m usually open to getting together with online fans and friends during and after conventions. I’m not one for “Bar Con” because I’ve seen too much disgusting behavior from comics creators who are either drunk or naturally churlish. But I’m open to meeting folks, even if it’s just to hang out in the hotel lobby for a bit. Giving the Hyatt Regency O’Hare a rare compliment, they do offer a lot of comfortable seating areas.
Saturday night was a quiet one for me. Eddie went out to a tavern or two to pick up some stuff to take home. I read, watched TV and called it an early night. After all, we still had one more day of G-Fest. Which I’ll tell you about in my next bloggy thing.
See you then.
© 2024 Tony Isabella
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