Reviews From My Room: Megacon Swag – Freakin' Awesome Network

Last month I visited only my second Megacon, one of the south’s premier comic gatherings. I hadn’t been to one since 2005, and let me say WOW. This convention has grown by leaps and bounds in the past seven years. There was so many more celebrities, creators, and fans that it was at times a real struggle to navigate the convention center. Not expecting this kind of rush, I SEVERELY underestimated how long I’d need to be there, and only budgeted a few hours of the weekend for it. But in my all too brief time there i did get to have a very enjoyable time. I’ll hit some hightlights of the stuff I took home.

Posted at the top of this article is a signature and Hal Jordan sketch by Darwyn Cooke. It’s done in my copy of DC The New Frontier Absolute Edition, which explains the rest of the figures. Cooke can do no wrong in my eyes, so it was a real honour getting to meet him. Apart from New Frontier (maybe in my top ten stories ever), he’s currently working on the third in a series of comic adaptations of Parker books, a detective series written by Richard Stark. If you’re a fan of crime or hard-boiled stories pick these up.

Sitting near him was Phil Noto, who I first discovered on the mini-series Beautiful Killer. I didn’t have anything for him to sign, so I shook his hand and thanked him for the good work over the years.

My personal big score of the con was getting this New Avengers book (I had picked up the JLA one earlier). Partly because its rare (only 500 hc’s will be made), but more because the proceeds go to a worthy cause. The Hero Initiative is a non-profit organization that helps creators in need, and one of the many ways they raise money for the cause is threw programs like this. Each one of these books, and several others proceeding them, collect one-of-a-kind comic covers done by a multitude of artists. They sell these compilations, but they also auction off the original art. If I had the money there’s quite a few pieces I’d be ecstatic to own, but since I’m not made of money I settled for helping out this way. The books themselves make for great con souvenirs; between the two books I had signitures from my favourite artists on the page featuring thier contribution.

(Amanda Conner is pretty hot, well played Jimmy Palmiotti)

Got to see George Perez again, and he confirmed he’d be returning to Tampa’s Fetishcon to judge the costume contest. George Perez is one really cool guy. I also look suspiciously similar to him, and given my age it leads me to assume my mom must have been a Teen Titans groupie slut.

Here’s a few random pictures for you from the books. Softcover is also available for these and the others in the series, and they’re highly recommended.

I was also able to find a wee bit of time to add to my sketchbook. Its been scarce for that guy, I’ve only had the chance to get 16 pictures drawn since I started it at my first Megacon, but I was able to add two more this trip, from gentlemen in artists alley. Vampirella is by Michael Lee Harris, and that lovely Invisible Woman comes from Lazaro Suarez. Here’s his Twitter as well.

For a brief day, I had a really good time catching up with some creators and meeting others for the first time. This was all the stuff I bought for myself, but I did get one other memory…cosplay pics! Please to enjoy.