Bring me the head of Stan Sakai, and other stuff from MCCC
The Motor City Comic Con was almost two weeks ago, but I'm just now posting about it--deadlines, you know. One of the nice perks about this business is that people give us gifts, often hand made gifts. The above ceramic head was made by the very talented Jason Nutall. He also gave me a charcoal drawing of Sharon and me, that she is looking to get framed. Here is his website. I'm sure he takes commissions.
http://nuttallart.blogspot.com/
I first learned of Katie Cook's delightful art through David Petersen. She gave me this charming little Usagi.
Joe Reed made this beautiful cherry wood dagger and stand. Best of all, it fit in my suitcase. I was once given a sword that was much too long for my suitcase, and, of course, I could not carry it onboard the plane. Fortunately, Dark Horse had a booth at the same convention, and they took it back to their office, then FedEx-ed it to me.
Even Groo showed up.
Sergio and I were taken to a great Indian restaurant by Guy Davis and his girlfriend Rosemary. Old Trilogy mate Mark Crilley joined us. I had lost touch with Mark when he left comics to write a number of prose books, so it was nice to reconnect.
A number of Usagi readers took me out for Japanese food Saturday night. Who knew there was such good sushi in Detroit? Actually, I did, because we ate at the same restaurant the last time I was at the MCCC.
As fun as the convention was, the airports were just the opposite. The line to get through security at LAX was an hour long. When I checked in at the Delta desk, my suitcase was 4 pounds over the 50 pound weight limit, so I had to take out a few books and stuffed them in my carry on. Sergio waltzed over to the counter with his 57 pound steamer trunk, and they let it go saying, "Seven pounds? It's not worth worrying about." Oh, if only I had that Sergio charm.
I was asked to step aside at the Detroit airport because of a suspicious item in my carry on. They could not figure out what they were looking at on the x-ray monitor. When they took it out, it turned out to be the head Jason gave me. Sergio had packed his head in his check-in luggage. The flight back to LA was delayed by 5 hours because of mechanical problems, but we weren't waiting alone. Also on the flight were Eric Roberts, Jennilee Harrison, Virginia Hey, Tia Carrere, and even Todd Bridges. But there was a halfway decent, overpriced Japanese restaurant that Sergio and I had tempura udon at.
I did not get home until 4 Monday morning. Sergio took me home, then drove the 2 hours to his own place. I had two Spider-Man Sundays that had to be lettered and sent out that morning, so worked on that. All in all, it was a fun show. I even had time to pencil 4 pages of UY 131.