One of the best parts of attending conventions is meeting up with folks that you don't get to see often enough. MeganCon was no exception. I spent the bulk of the show hanging at the table shared by my best buddy John Beatty and Alberto Ruiz. Now THAT was a blast [and I plan to write about the experience in a seperate blog update].

Directly across from Alberto and Beatty's table, Bob McLeod was set up. Bob's sketch list was full and his new book, Superhero ABC was selling like hotcakes. If you have [or know anyone who has] young kids, Bob's book would make the perfect gift! Heck, I even saw fans without kids buying it for themselves!

Alex Saviuk was set up. Alex is a great guy who's been busy the last couple of years doing storyboards for movies in addition to his comic work. Alex has a true love of film and so it was great to spend a few minutes catching up with him.

Mark Pennington was there on Saturday sketching for fans. Mark had a really cool Conan painting on display. Mark said that it was a commission for a fan and the fan wanted Mark to change it so that Conan was wearing a horned helmet rather than the wolf's head. While I can understand the fan's thought process, I think that the painting would look cooler the way that it is.

Mark was sketching for fans and turning out some really nice pieces. James Howell got a Batman in the rain that was so nice that he went back to get a Joker [also in the rain] so he'd have "bookend" pieces. Matt Hollub also got on board for a piece from Mark. I would have as well, but my reference was with another artist and Mark was only going to be at the show on Saturday. Still, I know just the sketch I'd like to get from Mark, so the next time we're at a show together, you know I'll be in his line.

Although I was on two sketch lists [Adam Hughes and Phil Noto], and Alberto did me three gratis [3!!!] Stallone pieces [more on that later], I wanted to try and pick up a piece of art for a buddy who'd done me some favors.

I thought that Shawn Surface might just be the man for the job, and boy was I right. Shawn has done some work for my buddy, Bill Black's AC Comics, as well as Mitch Hyman's Bubba The Redneck WereWolf. I'd talked to Shawn at a few cons over the years about getting a Stallone sketch from him... but since I wanted to get a piece from my buddy, that had to come first. Shawn was more than up for the task. I really liked the way it turned out. I'd like to tell you that you can click HERE to see the piece, but instead you'll see Shawn and what a Mage sketch might look like. LOL. Ok, ok... it wasn't THAT funny [unless you know James Howell and have read THIS]. Once my pal, Scott sees his piece, I'm sure he'll post it on his site and you can see it there.

Gus Vasquez was there. We talked a bit about the work that he's been doing on an animation feature. I also asked him about his niece, Rosario Dawson. What a year she's had with her involvement in Sin City and Rent. We also discussed the comic, OCT [Occult Crimes Taskforce] that she's co-creating with David Atchison and Tony Shastee. Rosario and Gus will be among the tons of guests at Heroes Con later this year.

Andy Smith was there. When he wasn't sketching for fans, he was looking for something to take back home to his daughter.

Jesse "Cadre" Hansen "the hardest working man" in comics was set up with his crew. I really wanted to spend a few minutes catching up with Jesse, but the time just wasn't there. We did say "hi" a few times as we passed each other though.

MegaCon, like most cons these days, has people showing up in amazing costumes. Sometimes the folks really look like the characters that they're supposed to be.

Thor had a cool helmet and his beard and hair were right. Still I thought Thor would be taller than me. I love Eric Powell's The Goon. And he's a character that people seldom choose to dress up as. Still, I thought The Goon would be bigger than me. A lot of people choose to dress up as Batman. Although, not too many are lucky enough to have Batgirl and Robin [also in great costumes] along for the ride. But I have to admit, I thought that Batman would be taller than me. You might think that I was starting to feel like "the big man in comics" but you'd be wrong... see I met up with the Kingpin!

If you've ever been to a con, you know how much goes on. I'm sure I'm leaving out some stuff... still, I'll post my new Adam Hughes sketch tomorrow [I LOVE IT!] and my thoughts on hanging with Big Beatty and Alberto soon. If you want to see what they had to say, then click HERE or HERE [where you can actually see Alberto drawing my second Stallone sketch!]