Mid-Ohio Con Report

Well, I made it to Mid-Ohio Con! Finally! That's the good news. The bad news is that the car was having increasing issues (it wasn't just paranoia after all!) on the return trip so we won't be driving back up on Sunday. Sigh.
First of all, the drive up was fine, though. We left Kentucky about 8:30 AM and arrived in Columbus around 10:30. The directions from the website were short and easy to understand and we lucked right into easily accessible parking right down the block.
I must say that overall, I felt somewhat disappointed but I can't really say why. Maybe it's the simple reality that after all these years of being unable to attend due to the fact that I was in retail management and it was always held on the biggest shopping weekend of the year it couldn't possibly have lived up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong! Wasn't bad (except for the food prices!) just not as great as I was expecting.
I got to see but not meet Lou Ferrigno (looking amazingly good and a little lonely at his table), Jason Mewes, Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Joe Kubert and the Batmobile (and not the velvet covered one I saw with Adam West at a car show in the eighties)!
I spoke with Bob Layton who was a guest at the only other con I ever attended in Columbus back in 1980 along with Mike Nasser (now Netzer) and he said the two hadn't seen each other since. I also spoke with unsung artist Keith Pollard who said he really enjoyed hearing that his name is a popular search term on my blog.
I found Mark Evanier and Tony Isabella hanging out at Mark's table and spent an enjoyable few moments there (didn't stay longer because we accidentally cut in line), then my wife and I spoke with Tony a bit longer and promised to see him later. Sorry, Tony.
As stated yesterday, I was able to meet FACEBOOK friends Kenn Minter (aka Percy Trout) and Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of BOYS OF STEEL,. In fact, we not only enjoyed Marc's presentation on SUPERMAN but son bookdave amazed us all! Marc projected an image of 6 issues of SUPERMAN from different eras and asked if anyone would like to try to place them in chronological order. My son raised his hand and proceeded to pretty much do just that, mixing up only the two that I wasn't even sure of myself. I'm raising a clone.
Son bookdave also purchased a print of Link from LEGEND OF ZELDA by an artist named Jeremy Dale and had it signed. Mr. Dale was enjoyable to speak with and his art is just a delight. I'm definitely watching for his stuff going forward.
I finally got to meet David Mack...or re-meet him. I'm told I used to have long discussions with him at Comic Book World in Florence, Kentucky (who were also represented there. Hi, Paul!) when he was much younger and unknown. When I told him this, he actually recognized me from when I managed the Waldenbooks where he hung out in the eighties. We spoke briefly and he was gracious enough to give me several recent issue of his great KABUKI and sign them! Thanks, David!
The "gorgeous" model and pinup girls who were supposed to be there representing fanboy wetdreams seemed somehow a tad too...well...slutty to me. Every single one I saw. Sorry, ladies. I'm sure you're perfectly nice folks but...bookdave felt the need to avert his eyes as one passed. The cosplay folks were cool, though, with an excellent Colossus, Beast, 2 good Batmen and one guy dressed as Spidey wearing the shoeless FF costume and paper bag mask from one seventies story! Obscure but wonderful! My favorite, though, was a two year old Flash...who evidently felt the need to run everywhere to live up to his costume.
As for the dealers, I never thought I'd say this but I left a comic book convention without buying one single comic or book and I hated that! There were tons of bargain boxes but mostly with eighties stuff and up. There was one major exception who offered lots of poor to fair condition silver age for three bucks but I still didn't find anything. What I was really looking for were comic strip reprint trades. Found one guy with a good selection but ridiculous prices. I tried to quiz him on a few unmarked L'IL ABNERS but in spite of my best efforts couldn't get him to give up the political discussion he was having with someone. Oh, well.
We did spend far too much money on grey market dvds of old TV shows that I have no question will never be legitimately released. Despite my rationalization in buying them, it would take my family at least a year of that spare time we never seem to get in order to watch them all!
After that, my wife's once-broken back became an issue and so we decided to head out a tad early. That's when the car transmission became problematic. Then we ran into a thirty mile or so single lane highway on the way back that lengthened our trip in a questionable vehicle by an hour. My wife had to pry my hands from the steering wheel when we finally arrived home. Back to the shop for the car...again.
I feel in a way as though I've accomplished a goal I set out to achieve many years ago. I wish things had gone smoother but all in all it was an enjoyable afternoon with family and friends old and new. And with all the shows we got, it doesn't matter if there's a single good thing on TV this season. It'll be next season before we're out of things to watch now. Who knows. Maybe by then, we'll have a different car.

At least we made it back in time to watch Christa on 48 HOURS MYSTERY tonight!