Michel Gagne - Comic-Con 2001

Amid Amidi from Animationblast.com was next to us at table Q2. He is a great guy with a very cool sense of humor. Having such a nice neighbor made the whole experience that much better. We kept joking about the fact that we were in the ghetto of the convention. Amid even did a ghetto sign for our aisle. He was there promoting the latest issue of Animation Blast. If you are looking for a magazine on animation with the focus on the artists and the art (as opposed to magazines that are filled with adds and press releases), check out Amid's Animation Blast Magazine. There has been 7 issues so far and they are quickly becoming collectors items.

Amid's table was shared with Gabe Swarr. Gabe does a funny and bizarre comic called Big Pants Mouse. I really like his work. I read issue #1 with my wife, back at the hotel. We were both cracking up and laughing our heads off! The comic has clever writing, nice timing and a slick, cartoony style with a fifties twist. If that sounds good to you, do yourself a favor and check it out. I'm really glad I got a copy and I will definitely be picking up the upcoming issues! Gabe was also a really nice guy with a great laugh.

There were lots of newcomers around with great potential. In the next aisle from our table, Philip Bourassa and Andrew Strawder were promoting their new comic series First World and Seven Cities of Elhazz. Both series feature solid artwork. I got all three comics available and I can't wait to read them. Philip, the artist from First World, even did his rendition of Zed while at the convention. Click here to have a look. You can visit their site at www.dragoncandy.com.

Business was good for us right from the start, with the owner of Mile High Comics, Charles Rozanski, buying 200 copies of Zed for his store. That was on Wednesday afternoon, about half an hour before the doors actually opened! From then on sales were steady and the fans were eager to get a personalized sketch. I did a lot of those and my drawing hand was ready to fall off by the end of the convention.

My presentation was on Thursday afternoon on the first official day of the convention (Wednesday was considered the preview). I talked about my whole career from college to my latest project Zed. The audience reacted very well and laughed in all the right places!

The Bud Plant booth was busy as usual and sold out of our books. Bud bought another 50 books from us to fill up his emptying shelves.

On Sunday, I finally met Mike Kunkel (HeroBear and the Kid) and we talked about the possibility of exchanging pin-ups for our comics. Mike was a really pleasant guy and judging from the people lining up at his booth, it looks like the show was a success for him also.

Although I spent most of my time at our table, I still got to walk around and do a bit of shopping. I spent my allowance filling up holes in my Kirby/Lee - Thor collection. I just love that stuff (I'm a bit of a Marvel Silver Age collector). Speaking of Kirby, I met John Morrow and thanked him for printing the king's original pencil pages in magazine form. If you like Kirby, make sure you get a hold of John's Eisner Award nominated The Jack Kirby Collector magazine. I never miss an issue.

All and all, we had a great time and we're looking forward to do it again next year!

Michel Gagné, July 25, 2001