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 The Baltimore Comic-con was almost a week ago, but I haven't posted about it because I'm still behind on deadlines. I brought 5 pages to ink in Baltimore, but was only able to finish one. I did write and thumbnail the story for UY 127 on the flight over, and thumbnailed 128 on the way back to LAX. It was a good flight both ways. Len Wein, Rob Leifeld, Marc Silvestri, Mark Waid, and Steve Niles were on the plane with me. I had a great time at the convention. The entire con is all about comic books and comic art. It was well organized, and guests were treated very well. I was in a corner booth next to Evan Dorkin. I have been a fan of his for years, but we had never met. I wish we had more time to talk, though, but we were both really busy throughout the con. Other creators attending included George Perez (with whom I sat at the Harvey Awards), Michael Golden, Erik Larson, Walt Simonson, Matt Wagner, Don Rosa, David Petersen, Steve Leiber, Frank Cho, and Neil Adams. I also got to meet Bernard Chang, with whom I am going to Japan next month. One Usagi fan brought his entire collection of Usagi comics--from Fantagraphics, Mirage, and Dark Horse--about 180 comics. I asked him to leave them and I would sign them all at my leisure, if he would make a donation to either the Heroes Initiative or the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  Like most people, I like getting stuff. I know there is an entire community of Lego customizers who make new characters out of Lego. I have an Usagi Lego myself. I had never heard of Mr Potato Head customizers, though. Until now. An Usagi reader gave me one of my tokage lizards made from a Mr Potato Head. He is also working on an Usagi Potato Head.  I usually don't do color pieces at shows, but this time I did two. I did a live art drawing for their charity auction on Saturday, using a sharpie and acrylic washes. I did a large crayon drawing for the daughter of one of the volunteers on Sunday. If you are looking for a comic-centric convention, Baltimore is for you. It is a fun, well-run show, with an impressive guest list. The Baltimore Marathon was held on Saturday, but never interfered with the convention, except when I had to cross the street between runners. The con attendees are great. And generous. There may be one or two people at each convention I attend that insists, "Keep the change." There were at least 10 at Baltimore telling me to keep anywhere from a dollar to five dollars. Wow! I also did a presentation on Sunday: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23317
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 Helsinki 09/11-15/09 I love The Amazing Race. It's the TV show where contestants race around the world, stopping at various destinations along the way. Oftentimes, they determine their own routes, and incur a lot of mishaps and roadblocks. My opponent was Sergio Aragones, and our destination was Helsinki. I was traveling by way of Prague and Budapest, and Sergio was going through New Jersey. I barely made my connection in Hungary, but Sergio missed his completely. Don't feel bad for him, though. He went over to New York, had dinner with friends at Mad Magazine, had a good night's sleep, and still got to Finland before I did. Actually we were guests of the Helsingin 24 Sarjakuvafestivaalit, the Helsinki Comics Festival. I left for Europe a day early to do a presentation and signing in Prague at the invitation of my Czech publisher. ( click here for the rest of the report, with photos )
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 We went to a special CAPS (Comic Art Professional Society) night at the Ojai Valley Museum last night. The Mad About Sergio exhibit is on, a one-man show featuring our dear friend Sergio Aragones. The museum closed at 4, but that is when it opened for us. Click on the photos to see an enlargement.  A lot of cartoonists and cartoon-types were in attendance: Bobby London (above), Scott Shaw!, Matt Groening, Bill Morrison, David Silverman, Mell Lazarus, Mark Evanier and Carolyn Kelly, Cathy Guisewite, Floyd and Adrienne Norman, Dean Yeagle, Bob Foster, David Folkman, Steve Greenberg, Bill Riling, Mike and Tracy Kazaleh, Nat Gertler, and so many others. Best of all, Sergio's wife Charlene and daughter Kristen were there. We had not seen those two in years. ( click here for more of my report with pictures )
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