First up: Jason! I was surprised and excited when he said he knew of the blog, since for some reason, he was not somebody I expected to know of my existence. His new book, Low Moon, was on sale, but I decided not to buy it, figuring I can easily pick it up elsewhere and focus on buying the more obscure stuff. So instead, I had my copy of Meow, Baby! on hand, having brought it to read on the plane (and blazed through it, because it's hilarious), and he signed it and did a quick sketch:
One of the big debuts of the show was the second volume of Kazimir Strzepek's The Mourning Star, but I had yet to pick up the first one, so it looks like part two will have to wait until later. But I did buy part one, and here's Kaz's dedication:
I was also quite excited to finally get my hands on Tom Neely's The Blot, a self-published book that you had to order directly from the artist (or shop at a store that does so). I'm really excited to read it, and here's Neely's dedication, drawn around the ink blot that's printed on the page:
I've been hearing about Lamar Abrams' Remake, and Adhouse was nice enough to comp me a review copy. Luckily, Abrams was right there, so he signed it and drew a cute depiction of the main character:
Adhouse also gave me a copy of Mike Dawson's Ace-Face, and after I talked to Dawson and expressed affection for his two superpowered kid characters (who are in the book, it turns out), he drew this sketch when he signed it:
Finally (as far as books featuring signatures and sketches go), I made sure to get the second and third volumes of Templar, Arizona, since I liked volume one so much. Spike drew some cute sketches inside, with volume two sporting a cuttlefish:
And volume 3 featuring a dragon who is kind of jowly, and maybe also hung over:
And that's it for book inscriptions, but now comes the really cool part. The Groo sketchbook! I got a bunch of good entries last year at Wizard World Chicago, and this was my chance to get even more. First up: Paul Hornschemeier gets all modern art with what might be my new favorite entry:
Tom Neely goes all gory:
Kazimir Strzepek contributes the first Rufferto (but not the last!):
Becky Cloonan tries to dilute the testosterone with a female character (I'm happy to have more of the supporting cast):
Fred Chao goes for the cute (and throws in another Rufferto!):
Jamie Tanner gets meticulous (it was really cool to watch him draw all those little lines):
Matt Weigle gives us some bodily emissions:
Connor Willumsen goes for the slapstick:
Nate Powell does anger:
Scott Campbell also does cute, but throws in some dismemberment:
And one more bit of cuteness, from Lucy Knisley:
God, I love these. Thanks so much to everybody who contributed. You guys are all awesome.
NICE!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a cool sketchbook. I'm so glad people still appreciate Groo. And damn, can Tanner draw. I need to start using more lines, and copping his style.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it was good to meet you, man. Hope MoCCA treated you well.