Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove just had to share some of his experiences at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention this past March 9, 2024. I had the opportunity to visit the Lexington Con for one day (thanks to my brother-in-law/YouTube movie reviewer Badraven), so I wanted to make the most of it, as did he and his son Drewdrop. We made our plans to leave early on Friday morning (around 8 a.m.) to get to the Con in plenty of time before it officially opened (we'd gotten our tickets online to speed things up). And we were glad we did.
We got there about an hour before opening, but you could go inside to get your lanyards and get in line for whichever event you were going to visit first (I headed for the comicbook creators/vendors line on the third floor, Badraven and Drewdrop headed downstairs to level one for the Celebrity autographs and photo-ops.) What lines! Long, four rows wide lines in the spacious halls of Rupp Arena, but once the doors opened, everything moved swiftly and smoothly into the artists/vendors area.
Having planned ahead, I made a beeline for Jim Shooter's table. No one else was there, so I got to have a very nice visit with him. I'm sure he'd heard similar stories before, but I thanked him for being so kind to 14-year-old me back in 1978 when I sent in my Angel vs. a Sentinel pencil samples (on typing paper, natch--sorry I still don't have them--or the letter for that matter. Sigh.). I reminded him that he'd been especially kind and helpful in his letter/critique and that I was sure I wasn't alone in being so thankful for his kindness and encouragement. We had a short, pleasant conversation and shared two warm handshakes. I walked away so happy from that meeting. Later that day I got to sit in on his Q&A session. I learned a lot about his life, career, and his time at Marvel as E-I-C. I may share some of that in a later post if'n ya wanna hear it. :D
My next stop was across the aisle and and at the opposite end of the hall: Joe Staton! I've always heard about how warm and friendly artist Joe Staton is, and Ol' Groove's here to tell you--them's the facts, Jack!
Joe was working on a piece of art when I interrupted him to say, "Hello." He looked up, a big smile on his face, put down his pencil and extended his hand for a handshake. I got to tell him my story about how I got my hands on E-Man #1 (August 1973) (which I rap about here) and how much I love the characters Alec Tronn, Nova Kane, and Mike Mouser.
I got to talk about how his co-creation (with Paul Levitz and Bob Layton) The Huntress, and how I believe that Showcase #100 (I'm still gonna do a post on that one) might just be the best DC comic of the 1970s (or tied with the origin of the JSA--which, huh--Joe also illustrated). That got Joe to stand up and give me a high-five. What an awesome moment.
Then Joe took the time to get to know me a bit, asked about my family and was interested in hearing about my comics. He knew and appreciated DotGK and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was rapping with Ol' Groove. I bought a hand-drawn Scooby Doo from him, and he gave me an autographed E-Man trading card. It was an awesome visit for sure.
| Ol' Groove's youngest grandsons happily posing with a Joe Staton Original Scooby Doo Sketch |
This was only Ol' Groove's second Con, and now that I'm retired, I hope to visit many more. Ol' Groove does think, though, that this year's visit to the Lexington Comic Con set a mighty high bar!
Rap at ya later, Groove-ophiles!