Joel and I (Jim) attended this year’s Pittsburgh Comicon. Due to construction, it was moved from the Radisson to the Monroeville Convention Center. I do not know if it is smaller but the Monroeville Convention Center seemed smaller.
Due to other commitments, we were not able to attend until Sunday. This means that we had to miss Stan Lee and Mike Grell. We did have the chance to meet “Iron” Mike last year. He does some great pinups. Here is the print that I picked up last year for my collection.
If you were looking for mainstream comics, you could find pretty much anything you wanted. The smaller publishers’ material was not as readily available as it was in previous years. I normally pick up a Cerebus phonebook edition to fill in my collection. Either they sold out early or the vendors did not have them. I only found one (Flight) and it was one I already had. Last year most of the editions were available.
As usual, the creators were very friendly. The Pittsburgh Comicon has always been a good experience. We approached numerous creators about interviews and received only positive responses. Joel and I are trying to add interviews as a regular feature of the Revolution. Among those that agreed to interviews this year are…
- Gary Friedrich (creator of Ghost Rider)-Joel approached him and Gary wanted to do the interview on the spot. He took the time to talk with Joel. His interview has already appeared.
- Sean McKeever (current writer of Nomad for Marvel and The Ravager for DC)-Sean was very interesting to talk to. Joel will be interviewing him shortly.
- Pat Oliffe (artist on the new Spider-Man digital comic appearing in October)-Pat is always a great artist to stop and visit. His sketches are amazing. I will be interviewing Pat in the near future.
- Darryl Banks (former Green Lantern artist)-This was my first time to talk to Darryl. He has moved on to other fields but plans to return to comics next year.
- Wayne Faucher (inker for Marvel and DC)-I have enjoyed Wayne’s work for both companies. I look forward to interviewing him.
- Bob Almond (inker for Marvel’s Black Panther, IDW’s Star Trek:TNG, Captain Gravity)-I have had the pleasure of talking to Bob at the last few conventions. His work with Sal Velluto on Black Panther was amazing.
I am looking forward to next year’s convention. It is scheduled for April 23-25. Guests already include Marv Wolfman, Tom Mandrake and Margot Kidder. Thanks to Renee at Comics World for another fun convention. Updates can be found at Pittsburgh Comicon.