In the late 1970s when I was a young kid, I remember reading advertisements in my comics for the San Diego Comic Convention. I was amazed that there were enough people into comics books and the comic culture to have a convention. This validated my geekiness even though I was thousands of miles away from San Diego. I couldn’t wait to attend a comic convention. I haven’t made the big SDCC yet but I hope to go in the near future.
I have attended numerous other Comic Conventions for years. I started out attending as a fan. . When I am at a Con, I feel like I was with “my people”. It is a special feeling for me to go to Cons.
As time went on, I transitioned to covering different cons as a blogger and then later as a website journalist. I love snapping pictures of CosPlayers, talking to comic book creators, and meeting a lot of great people in the geek industries. My approach to the Convention completely changed from going to have a fun time with like minded people to working the Convention to get stories and interviews. Yet, I still love going to conventions because I love writing about geek culture.
Saturday was another transition as I went to LibraryCon. I transition to having a Booth instead of going as a fan or covering the event. LibraryCon was the perfect place to transition to have a booth for a Convention.
Several weeks ago, I started planning out what my Geeky KOOL table would look like. I purchased a Geeky KOOL banner to attach my table. I found a box of old comics that were given to me and weeded through it for a box of “Free Comics”. I pulled out a couple of autographed comics to give away. On late Friday night (or actually Saturday morning) I had to run to the store to buy a couple of cheap fish bowls and raffle tickets for the Autograph comics giveaway.
When I arrived at LibraryCon to set up my table, I found my table was in the Author & Artist room. I was so pleased by my placement. I was in between to two wonderful artists, David Faught (I have some of his art on my wall) and the awesome and sharp dressed Adam McLaughlin. I came to quickly find out that this room was not just packed with a ton of talent but with some of the nicest and KOOLest people. My friend Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf-Atreides with us in the “Awesome Room”. I had previous met Nate Howard, creator of the awesome webcomic, Pot Belly Mammoth, but it was great to spend some time with him and his lovely wife, Chanoa Howard, and getting to know them better. I really appreciate Jared George and his willingness to give me some great advice on how to help advance GeekyKOOL.com to the next level. I will pursue his recommendation. All of this and he is an awesome guy with green hair and green beard and he is a fantastic artist. Ryan Wheaton is another wonderful artist in our room and he is a ton of fun. I just wanted to hang out with him. Talking about fun, novelists Ben S Reeder and EM Ervin were a riot. They were constantly photobombing pictures, firing a Nerf Rifle, and having a great time. They were also really encouraging to an aspiring novelist like myself. Plus, Ben S Reeder and I were like minded and wore Firefly shirts (but his was KOOLer than mine)
I honestly felt like Snapper Carr hanging out with Justice League. Everyone of these individuals were so talented and wonderful to hang out with during the convention. I feel like the luckiest man in the world.
When the Convention got going, I had a ton of people visit my table. The “Free Comic Books” was a perfect hook to bring people to my booth. Everyone was happy and smiling. I was able to share with a ton of people about GeekyKOOL and what our site is all about. It was an extremely successful day getting our name out and in the hands of fellow geeks.
I had two favorite comments of the day. One of from one of the artist in the room (I think it was Ryan Wheaton but not sure) stated, “I am very familiar with your site. I go there all the time. I had no idea you would be here today.” The other comment came from Chris Daigle of the podcast, fanatics and the fan. He stated, “I am going to make your site my home page.”, when he interviewed me. Both comments are so encouraging and made me feel extremely good.
There were a ton of teenagers especially girls coming through and just hanging in this room of writers and artists. At one time, some of the girls started playing tag. It just felt right that these young ladies were so relaxed and having such a good time.
I facilitated the Illustrator panel during the convention. This panel had four awesome artists: David Faught, Adam McLaughlin, Nate Howard, and Jared George. Since I got to know these guys earlier in the day, it was so comfortable and fun. The panel was fantastic since all of the artists are at different places and specialize in different styles and art. The crowd asked a ton of great questions. My job was super easy with a great crowd and a fantastic panel of professionals.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the downfall of having a booth. I had a Geeky KOOL fellow contributor that was going to join me and help me at LibraryCon but things didn’t work out for him. I ended up being stuck at my table during most of the convention. I didn’t get to wander around and enjoy my fan side. I didn’t get to talk to the all of the KOOL booths in the hallway like my buddies at the Drifter booth, Ghostbusters, the 501st, and many, many more. Even though I hate that I didn’t get to walk the halls, it was still worth it to have a booth.
Now I want to give a shout out to the two ladies who made LibraryCon a tremendous success. Geeky KOOL’s own librarian, Valerie Bogert, and her partner in crime, Sarah Bean Thompson. These two ladies took the idea of a free convention held at the local library and worked their tails off. They made this convention into an instant success. Everyone was clamoring for this convention to be an annual event because Sarah and Valerie gave their blood, sweet, and tears to put on the best small convention I have ever attended. You ladies ROCK! Thank you both for such a phenomenal experience. As you can tell below, it wore out the hardest working Librarians.
We will be posting CosPlay pictures in the next few days. I anticipate that we will have more posts about this awesome Con. Stay Tune True Believers (had to say it).
Stay Geeky My Friends!
