Wondercon Kicked Off Today!

Wondercon kicked off today, and the place was packed for a friday show. God forbid, a zombie bites someone this weekend or we'll all be done for.

Heck, as the lines wrapped around the building there was a storm trooper standing watch waiting for such a fiasco. I kid, but he did stand there for a good hour or two.

But with the slightly smaller crowd, than what is surely to come Saturday it's a great time to get on the floor and talk with some of my favortie artists, and meet some new ones.

There are lots of different artists, most of them very friendly, and enthusiatic to talk about their work, but no one was more fun than Richard Starkings of Elephantmen. He was hilarious, and witty, and well, I'm a sucker for an accent.

Not only is he giving away free comics at his booth, if you ask he'll sketch you out something. And watching him sketch, watching any of artists do a quick sketch always bumps up my level of awe. So if you're at Wondercon stop by and see him, you won't be disappointed! 

And being a True Blood fan, I had to stop by J. Scott Campbell's booth. Located in the Artist Alley, he was a little harder to find, but definitely worth it. He did the covers for a few of the True Blood Variants in the All Together Now series, as well as the current Tainted Love series.

He shared with me that with the current covers, if you collect all his variant covers, in the end they will form one big picture. Currently the Bill and Lafayette covers are out, with others to follow. Also just released was a Marvel group with the man Stan Lee. These are larger than Campbell's usual prints and of very limited quantity. So if you love Campbell's work like I do, be sure to grab one. They run about $60, pricer than some of his other prints but they are bigger, and truly stunning.

The last artist that I really had time to stop and chat with was Jake Forbes. He just finished up doing some work on the new Fragglerock series. And talking to him, I discovered he also worked on the Return to the Labyrinth series.

Pretty much anything that has to do with 1986's Labyrinth or David Bowie I love, so I was really excited to chat with him. And he sealed my nerd crush with a little rendering of Jareth.

And the zombies, they did make their way out, even infecting a storm trooper. I narrowly escaped without a bite, but kept my smile, because friday was a good way to start the con!