This morning was proceeding like any other...until I read the article in the Denver Post about the Denver Comic Con being held this weekend at the Denver Convention Center.
When I was young I was very fortunate to have been able to attend the San Diego Comic Con when it was in it's infancy. My first con was the first one held at the El Cortez Hotel in 1972 - my Mom took me there after I begged and begged her for hours. We went on the last day, during the last hour, and unfortunately just about everybody was gone. There were still a few dealers left, but they were all pretty much packing up. I bought a bunch of 10 cent comics from a dealer's bargain bin and that was about it.
But comics were a big part of my life when I was a kid, and I dreamed about becoming a comic book artist, so that was actually just the beginning.
I was at the '73 Con held on Harbor Island for an afternoon, and then made it a mission to attend every S.D. ComicCon held at the El Cortez, and even volunteered on the committee. Rick Thibs and I would ride the bus downtown and sit in on the meetings as if we had something to contribute (and were even in a few of the con committee pics printed in the progress reports).
We worked as gophers at a number of the Cons, running errands, watching doors, sleeping in the art exhibition room as "guards" (under the watchful eye of Clayton Moore), and generally being, well, fanboy gophers.
We stayed in the gopher room at the El Cortez for the run of the Con. It was Heaven.
I texted Rick Thibs when I read about the Denver Con this morning, and Reed, Hips, and a few other friends. Hips said she was game to go Sunday, and I have to admit, I got a bit nostalgic thinking about attending a Con again as my Friday progressed. It has been a few decades since I last visited a Con, Decades. I think the last S.D. Con I attended was in '86. Wow.
I met so many of my childhood heroes at those Cons. People such as Neal Adams (who I saw again tonight), Charles Schulz, Ray Bradbury, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Jack Kirby, Dale Messick, Sergio Aragones, Milton Caniff...and countless more. Hell, I even met Dr. Timothy Leary at one of the Cons.
It was a late day for me at work so it was past 8:00pm when I started driving on I-25 SB for home. The Con was scheduled to be open until 10:00...so I decided, what the hey, I'll drive on by and see if anything was still going on - after all, it wasn't really out of the way.
It was just about 9:00 when I walked into the Denver Convention Center, and there were still quite a few people in attendance...and quite a few of the pros were still around! I talked with Neal Adams briefly (mostly I said "Thanks for putting up with me when I was an annoying pimply-faced kid" a few times, until it became self-evident I was probably devolving into a sycophant). I also got to talk with Mike Baron for a bit (see photo above, which, in a weird bit of coincidence, was taken by the owner of the gym I work out at, who just happened to also know Mike Baron, and happened to be at Mike's table when I was there - really, it was weird).
I would venture a guess that a full 1/3rd of the attendees were in costume, which was very cool. Lots of Cosplay, lots of Storm Troopers...lots of Zombies.
What I really enjoyed seeing was the number of parents who had also brought their kids. I have no idea if any of those kids were into comics like I was at that age, but if they are, I know they were in heaven.
I can't hardly wait for Sunday.
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