Rival Angels

Me and Sabrina

My point of origin is Brew Town, so its like a 7 hour drive to Cbus, Oh. Luckily, I had an X-O to keep me company, Trevor Mueller of Asshole and Temple of A Thousand Tears. Trevor and I hung out at Wizard World Chiago the last few years and he’s a very loud fan of Brooke. Before I picked him up though, I had to say hi to my Chi-town gal pal, Michelle and meet her sister, Nicki, who happens to be the smartest person in the world. The Field Museum couldn’t be as fun without them. Or the brownie bites. After picking up Trevor and dropping the girls off for their SITC-like evening we spent the next 6 hours on the road to Columbus and it seemed like all 6 hours were spent trying to get through the Dan Ryan Expressway out of Chicago. I was able to crack some eggs of wisdom on young Trevor during that time and he will be a superstar bigger than Charles Bronson in no time.

Lora, Mike, GW, Trevor and Albone down with GW.

Making the con possible was Lora and Mike Innes, of the internationally renowned and Harvey Award Nominated (not once, but twice!) comic, The Dreamer because they offered their home for Trevor and I to crash at. Showing more hospitality than the Dragonfly Inn, the entire weekend seemed like a vacation.

Ah, but there was work in the form of the Mid-Ohio Comic Con! This being my first MOCC, I didn’t know what to expect as far as attendance or enthusiasm but the long line at the entrance was encouraging. It was a fine day overall and when I wasn’t selling books or mingling with the crowd, I was hitting up that mad food of the North Market with Mike. The most killer food variety on Earth, btw. Oh man, the chicken, pizza, stuffed grape thingys (I think)….dynamite. Trevor was very helpful in pushing the book too. Thanks Trevor!

I hadn’t expected it, but I ended up meeting a few people. Who knew? While we were getting the dinner party situated I ended up chatting up Thom Zahler of Love and Capes. After reading Trevor’s copy of Love and Capes I will soon rectify the grave mistake of not buying one in person when I had the chance when I see him at Baltimore Con. Bryan and Judy Glass of the Harvey nominated series, Mice Templar were tremendous. I’m glad I read Mice Templar when I did because the Mrs grabbed this series away from me as soon as she laid eyes on it. Finally, speaking with Paul Storrie (Robin Hood, Gotham Girls) and he really is a funny guy.

The late night ended back at the better-then-Dragonfly-or-Independance-Inn-Casa-Innes with some silly ass internet videos (GW was too funny) and discussion about some popular TV shows.

Cosplayers!  JLA represent.

Sunday was a slow start but that was cool because I was on a webcomics panel at high noon with Trevor, Lora, Thom Zahler, Wes Molebash (You’ll Have That) and Steve Horton (Tierra, Strongarm). And believe it or not, there were Rival Angels fans in attendance. Oh yeah. We were cracking some eggs of knowledge on the crowd on webcomics, believe that.  I hadn’t boasted the fact that I hadn’t missed an update, evar, so I made sure to remind everyone I saw including, “Rival Angels has missed an update as often as Lady Gaga wears pants. Zero.”

This picture feels familiar.

Still kind of slow at about 3pm, but check THIS out: Lora came over and asked how I was doing and I laughed because it was going slow. She was on her way to another panel but about 10 minutes after that, sales were a-hopping. Putting my detective mind to it, I figured out that she was plugging Rival Angels because people that read the chapter she wrote came and were buying the book! I ended up doing better than the day before! Thanks Lora!!

Kind of a similar vibe too, for some reason.

Trevor and I participated in the Relay for Life charity. You may ID a few characters including Evil Inc’s Captain Heroic.

After the con, I said my goodbyes as well as some ’see ya on Saturday.’ Mysteriously, I found myself with ice cream for the second time that day (Thanks Mike!!). It was here, that Lora came up with the most awesome new wrestler for Rival Angels. It is so tremendous. A home origin, theme music as well as personality have been established. Betcha can’t wait for Season 2, eh? HA!

The long road home, though much faster through Chicago when you take I-94 instead of the Damnd Ryan expressway. It was a fantastic time! Thank you Lora, Mike and Trevor! Oh yeah, and Mid Ohio con too.