NYCC 2009 is over. What a ride.

What a show. The con has come and gone and man, did it feel like it flew by. In years past I had the luxury of randomly wandering conventions, be it SDCC, Book Expo America or London Book Fair as a book club editor (i.e. - no booth), it was kind of like Kane in Kung-Fu. I'd walk around and get into adventures.

But as I learned last year while attending BEA in L.A. with Osprey and again this weekend helping out at the Titan Books booth... working a convention booth is a lot of work. And a lot of standing, incidentally. It's great to have a home base, a place for your bag of goodies and your coat, but working the booth, the boxes of books, the customers, etc. really wears you down.

Overall, the buzz I've been reading is the show was a success. Retailers reported in good sales which is uplifting to hear (because who can take the nightly news anymore, it's so depressing).

And today - Kid's Day - seemed full of little Spider-Mans and other assorted costumed mini-mates grabbing swag and books and just about whatever they could get their hands on.

I worked the early shift and when I left the Titan Booth, Dave Gibbons was about to start a signing of his Watching the Watchmen book. The line criss-crossed in front of the booth 3 times. I wanted to stay and help, but I was there at 9 a.m. man, my feeble feet needed a break.

I left the con with some great advance reading copies of books like Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge's new superhero novel, Black and White (which I can't wait to read and will review here!) as well as a few others which I'll write about as soon as I get into them.

My pal Peter V. Brett's signing went great (I've posted most of my con pictures on facebook) so here's a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEAT! His, The Warded Man, publishes in less than a month now - sweet!

I was happy and sad to help out for a bit on Saturday at the Comic Foundry booth (last issue out on February 18th...tears). But they've been great. I wish Tim and Laura the very best of luck with everything.

I wrapped up Sunday grabbing a few superhero gifts for the nieces and nephews... and okay, a few Revoltech toys for myself (come on, it is comic con). And in these hard times, if I can't share a little love with my friends with some comics, books, and toys - then what am I in this business for anyway?

Party on! And don't forget... the Watchmen are coming. 3.6.09

"Hit Neutral in the Tail of a Comet..."

Lost in Space...

I am finally home from a really cool weekend in Calgary, my first trip to Canada. World Fantasy Con 2008 was all it was cracked up to be and although I’m very tired now, I am very glad to have attended [and I will be reporting on it in detail soon].

But if I may move in reverse, reflecting on the trip in a backward time travel-like sort of way, I have to tell you about this awesome exhibit at the San Francisco International Airport. And although we were not looking forward to a stop-over in San Fran after a long weekend away, there was something eerily right about walking through a science fiction-y exhibit after attending a fantasy books convention all weekend.

Taken from the official press release:
Out of this World! The Twentieth-Century Space Invasion of American Pop Culture features more than 300 space-themed objects from the 1930s through the 1980s, from children’s toys such as flying saucers, space guns, rocket ships and robots, to everyday household objects like air fresheners, sewing needles and packaged foods.

This idea of airport museums was established to add a human element to the often-dreary airport experience. And I’ll tell you this, take two guys delirious with days of strong brews, nerdy conversation and listening to experts on various minutiae, and send them through a warped-yet-fun exhibit like this and suddenly we didn’t feel all alone out there - as if we weren’t already in our own world.

Aside from gigantic metallic robots made by local artists in the area, see entire press release here, there was a treasure trove of collectibles from across the decades of the 1930s through the 1980s. Everything from books, plastic action-figure sets to rare robot toys and my personal favorite section of ray guns…it was incredible!Add to that, fantastic art and blown-up book covers from everything including pulp magazines and classic comics. If this type of exhibit were appearing locally I’d pay good money to go see it. Pay no attention to the ridiculous pictures we took at half-past delirium.

I plan to talk more about the convention next time, I just couldn’t get this cool unexpected experience out of my head and needed to share it. [Editorial note: Not officially included in this airport display were two thirty-five year old idiots. But it was a long day of travel, what can I say?]