Well, today is Tuesday and we’re mostly recovered from our weekend shenanigans in Baltimore (okay, that’s a lie — we’re still exhausted). We being myself and my lovely best friend, booth babe, and partner-for-life: Suzanne.
For the first time in my comicbook career, I was a featured guest at Baltimore Comic-con. We were boothed up with the incredible, dashing, and super-awesome Dean Haspiel, Sean von Gorman, and [relative] newcomer / professor / artist / writer Peter Rostovsky! Clearly we had the best booth at the con… 😉
Our booth neighbors were also incredibly awesome!! Adjacent to our booth was Chris Miskiewicz, Adam Greenfield, Vincent Kings, and one of our very own: VITO DELSANTE!!
It gets better!!
Okay, lemme back up a bit. We left for Baltimore on Thursday, with plans to be there early enough to set-up and get ready for Friday. That didn’t happen. But, we did get there early enough to make our dinner date. Dean had invited us out to dinner with Brad Tree (from BCC staff), Emily Whitten, The Rev Dave “Devil Pig” Johnson, and the legendary Howard Chaykin! To say I was a little excited is an understatement.
After dinner we headed back to the guest hotel bar, where we met up with some friends and then I was introduced (again, by Dean) to the inimitable and incredible Walter Simonson. Suzanne & I talked with Walter for hours, listening to fun stories about the early days at Marvel, NYC shenanigans, and pranks they played on innocent newbies like Dean. LOL.
So much incredible history and fun!
Baltimore Comic-con Day One
Friday is the first official day of the con. We got there early to set up and found that my name was no longer Charlie. I’m now Chris McElvy.
It was funny, because Sean von Gorman’s name was also messed up. He was, “Sean von.” Now, the story gets funnier from there; more on that in a bit.
Coincidentally, after meeting Howard and Walter on Thursday evening, we were boothed up directly across from both of them for the whole show. Both of these legendary figures remembered me, my name, and my wife’s name. I was flabbergasted, only because I’m nobody (I think). They cared enough to remember us. That meant everything to both of us. So awesome.
Suzanne spent some time meeting and befriending Louise (“Weezy”), and the two hit it off near-instantly. That was super-cool, too.
Friday’s sales for me were outstanding. FAR better than expected and more than twice that of my Friday from BCC22. Wow.
Met with some more friends, had a great show, then closed up at 7pm and headed to grab ramen at the BEST ramen joint in Baltimore: Ramen Utsuke! Had dinner with our friends Vito, Scott Fogg, and Justin Shepherd. The Simonsons just happen to be eating there, too, and in the booth behind us! I leaned over and tapped Walter on the shoulder and asked, “Can I borrow your chopsticks?” Walter giggled a little and asked if I was following him.
Then, he peeked around the corner of our adjoined booths and told me, “If it wasn’t for your cute wife, I’d kick your ass right now…” 🤣🤣🤣
Clearly, we hit it off well!
(Yes, he was joking. Walter is an incredible human being, and super-nice.)
We headed back to the hotel bar! LOL
(What happens at the hotel bar stays at the hotel bar…)
Baltimore Day Two
After three hours sleep, we got up and headed back for Day Two!
This is the day Suzanne & I both cosplay for BCC. She dressed as the Librarian (from my TPB epilogue). I dressed up as the Immortal Tatsu from The Way of the Househusband manga.
The show ended at 7pm and we had about an hour to get ready for the Ringo Awards dinner! The Ringos is a very special awards ceremony for me, so I was in heaven the whole time. It was incredible. I was moved several times. One day, I’ll be accepting one of these on behalf of one of my books or my team. Watch this space…
Before the dinner, we met up with Joe Staton and his wonderful bride, Hilarie. They are SO sweet. Love them! Joe’s work on Green Lantern is some of my childhood come to life. In fact, of all the original art I own, only a page from Joe’s GL Corps is one that’s not from a book of mine in my collection. Legit.
Baltimore Day Three
Okay, by now we’ve slept a whopping 6hrs in three days — we’re exhausted! But, the show must go on as the saying goes! Once it opened and fans started pouring in, my energy picked up and we had a great time. By show’s end, we took pics with Walter and Weezy, and we met the Bogdanovs (so sweet), and then I had a surprise visit at my booth: Hilarie Staton came over and told me, “We met last night at dinner, but I didn’t realize then that you created Spider-Squirrel. Joe loves your Spider-Squirrel book.”
I cried like a little baby.
Joe Staton loves my book! WTF?!?!
Well, the day didn’t end there! By the end of the show, Geoff Johns stopped by and bought a copy of my book. Then I met with Mark Waid and he now has a copy of my Spider-Squirrel TPB. So does Brian Michael Bendis.
I have no idea what’s going on, but I had multiple nerdgasms on Sunday…
I even spent time chatting with Dave Johnson and Bob McLeod, among others. This is my favorite con EVER, at this point. EVER.
Special Love
For those in the know, I signed contracts with Chris Moses and Anthony Stokes to write my I Invested in an International Conglomerate & Went from an MMA Champion to Becoming the First-Ever American Yakuza Overnight, Literally… OGN. Okay, we’ll refer to it as American Yakuza for short, LOL.
Well, I was able to gift them their signing bonus. I won’t be doing this all the time, but they were my first real contracts. So, they got special katanas:
We finished the show up, had dinner at Nando's Peri-Peri, then drove home. I’m still flying pretty high, if I’m honest with you.
WINNER!
Congrats to Steven Pennella for winning a FREE copy of the Spider-Squirrel & Trash Panda Titan-Sized Special: BCC Exclusive Edition! You will receive an email from me soon to coordinate shipping!
Kickstarter Update
For those who backed my latest Kickstarter, we are just awaiting one more story to really boost the page count and get you a really dope book. We’re still [mostly] on-schedule, so stay tuned for updates!!
Paid Subscriptions
I’ve decided to do paid Substack subscriptions as both a bonus for readers and a way to continue advancing the Xion Studios book releases forward. So, I’m updating the benefits for paid subscribers, and I’ll create new Sections such as my American Yakuza one, for fans & readers to keep up with what they care about. More to come!