Pen-Elayne on the Web

National Expo - Day Two

The National was much quieter yesterday than it was on Saturday, but still a mess of fun. I generally don't care for Mike Carbonaro's "church cons" due to the close quarters, but this annual Metro Pavilion one, thanks in large measure to the participation of Allan Rosenberg (who used to run those fine and much-missed conventions at Ramapo High School in Spring Valley, where I first met more Silver Age greats than I could possibly remember), was quite comfortable in that the artists and roped-off panel "room" were on a separate floor from the dealers and media stars and Playboy models, and there was plenty of aisle room for those wanting to bypass the long queues for such luminaries as Sal Buscema. Allan was nice enough to give Rob table space for both days, the first day near a giggly and somewhat hypoglycemic Rod Ramos and fellow Bronxite Alex Simmons (whose students came to visit!) and opposite Jamal Igle and Jan Duursema (both Rod and Jan did lovely sketches for my sketchbook) and the second day right by the entrance where Sergio Aragonés had been on Saturday, so we were in between the also-relocated Jamal and Scott Roberts, and opposite Ken & Mercy and the Lulu table. Leah Adezio, probably my closest female friend (and creator of Ari of Lemuria, which I co-write and letter but which is still so far the best comic never to have come out except for a 4-pager here), came into the city on Saturday for probably the last time before her imminent move to the wilds of PA, so it was neat having Monster Sushi with her that evening. I also got a terrific sketch from Dave Cockrum, about 5 years after his wife Paty had also done an amazing sketch in the same book. Billy Tucci stopped by to give me the URLs for the pictures of Deborah and William Alexander so I could edit them into yesterday's blog entry, and I had a lovely conversation with the distinguished Stan Goldberg, mostly about Barbara Slate. In addition to taking part in the "Art of 9-11" panel run by David Gabriel of the NYC Comic Book Museum (who took this neat picture of us and this one of Robin and the other panelists), Robin spoke with the son and ultra-adorable grandson of Joe Giella (who's now drawing Mary Worth), did a few sketches, and got lots of nice and well-deserved compliments on his work but no sales or definite job offers yet. So y'know, since Famous Pencillers like Billy read this blog, please check out Robin's inking portfolio and pass the word around. Baby needs a new pair of unagi! Okay, and to pay the rent, that'd be cool too.