It may not be as big as San Diego or New York, but what the Baltimore Comic Book Convention lacks in size it more than makes up for in personality. For a small city Baltimore has some big time artistic cred; home to John Waters, Edgar Allan Poe and Bernie Wrightson to name a few, Baltimore is a perfect place for a gathering of the creative minded such as BCC. Often referred to as “America’s Greatest Comic Book Convention” by fans and creators alike this sentiment was echoed by several of the writers, artists and vendors I was fortunate enough to meet and speak with at this years event.
The main advantage of being a smaller show is that you have more opportunities to engage the guests in conversations that often result in gaining insight into their work that might otherwise never present themselves. This years guest list was as impressive as ever featuring some of serious A list talent including Brian Azzarello who just last week released the controversial debut offering from the DC Black Label, Batman: Damned. This year was one of the best in the 18 year history of the event to meet some bona fide comic book legends. Jim Steranko, Dennis O’Neil, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Arthur Adams, Bob Waciak and Frank Miller were all guests. That’s a ton of comic book history all in one place and I was more than happy to take my place in line for the chance to meet some of my childhood heroes. As mind-blowing as it is to meet these guys I was just as excited to meet some of the future legends at this years show like cover artist extraordinaire, Michael Cho, one of my personal favorite artists, Sanford Greene and the writer of the gripping and poignant animal rights saga Animosity, Marguerite Bennett. Current Fantastic Four writer, Dan Slott treated everyone in his line to an almost non-stop barrage of behind the scenes gems, anecdotes and hilarious tales from his early days at Marvel while a few aisles away X-Men: Grand Design creator, Ed Piskor held court dropping comic book knowledge with a distinct hip-hop flavor. There was no shortage of talent, from the well-known names of the main floor to the up and coming creators in Artist Alley, there was something to feast your eyes on, feed your mind with and spend your money on, which I did.
Perhaps even more important to me than getting my books signed was getting the chance to engage some of my favorite creators in one on one conversations. In this digital age of social media creators are more accessible than ever, but nothing beats talking face to face with someone who writes or draws stories and characters that are such a huge part of my life as a comic book fan and collector. I asked several creators for their opinions on the small but vocal hate group, who shall remain nameless here, but I’m sure most of you know of whom I speak. Power Man and Iron Fist artist, Sanford Greene was just one of the many pros I spoke to who expressed the opinion that the best way to deal with this group is to ignore them thus taking the spotlight off their negative, exclusionary agenda. When I asked what we could look forward to from the prolific artist he spoke of the upcoming Bitter Root from Image Comics. Mr. Greene described the series as a supernatural mix of action and horror based in Harlem during the Renaissance of the 1920’s. The excitement and enthusiasm he spoke with as he described the upcoming series was evident and infectious as I left his table completely stoked for the first issue.
One of the biggest events within the Baltimore Comic Book Convention is the Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards. The Ringos, as the award has come to be known, are voted on by industry professionals as well as fans to honor those nominated for their creativity and innovation in the medium of comic books. This was the second year that Baltimore played host to the awards. Not surprising to anyone who has been reading comic books for the past few years, writer Tom King took top honors as the Best Writer award went to him as well as three other awards including; Best Series and Best Single Issue. Other winners were artist Lee Weeks who took Best Penciler honors, Michael Cho won Best Cover Artist and Best Inker went to Mark Morales. A complete list of this years winners can be found on Twitter @ringoawards.
The vendors were more varied this year than usual featuring some surprising fare for a comic book convention including fossils and other natural oddities at Darwin and Wallace: A Nature and Fossil Store, however they were just one of over 150 vendors set up this year. The rows and rows of tables full of long boxes, walls covered in key issues ranging from expensive, a $59,000 graded 8.5 copy of Batman #1 to the more affordable selection of more recent key books like New Mutants #98 or the brand new Batman: Damned can be overwhelming at first glance. That’s why like any convention veteran I was packing my trusty want it-need it list. I took full advantage of the treasure trove of dollar books, finishing several runs including Geoff Johns’ New 52 Aquaman, as well as his Hawkman and Avengers runs, all from dollar box diving. The real fun of a good deep dollar box dive is that you never know what you will find. I found several of the Alan Moore Swamp Thing issues I needed which would have cost me significantly more than a dollar elsewhere.
An area of the convention I usually don’t venture into very often, if at all is the Media Guest area, however this year was going to be different because of one magical lady. I am a huge Twin Peaks fan and have been since the show debut. One of the reasons why I love the show so much is because of actress Sherilyn Fenn, who played the pixie-like Audrey Horne. As the convention approached it was announced that she would be attending this year. It was a very poignant moment for me to find this out because not only do I love Twin Peaks but, I was able to share this awesome show with my wonderful son, Justin before he passed away last year. I gave him my dvd set of the original series to watch, then we watched The Return episodes every Sunday when they aired on Showtime. Monday we would dive into the episode with notes in hand and try our best to solve a mystery only David Lynch and Mark Frost knew the answers to. This was my first convention without Justin, his absence was felt every second I was there.
On Saturday my wife attended the show with me. She knew how much meeting Miss Fenn would mean to me and would have meant to Justin so as an early wedding anniversary gift to me, she offered to pay for me to get a picture with my Twin Peaks heroine. Of meeting Sherilyn Fenn I can only say this, she is the most gracious and lovely lady I have ever met. She touched my wife and I on a spiritual level that I was certainly not expecting. The interest she took in our story about Justin was obviously genuine and heartfelt. We ended our visit with a prayer and walked away teary-eyed but so happy. This was without a doubt the highlight of my Baltimore Comic Book Convention 2018.
There is always a kind of bittersweet sadness on the last day of the convention and that was certainly the case this year. I didn’t have nearly as much money as I would have liked to have had this year, but even on a shoestring budget I had a blast. I made wise purchases to optimize the money I did have and took advantage of the free elements of the show like admiring the cosplayers handy-work and talking to fellow comic book fans I just met or only see once a year. The real fun of the show is sharing the spirit of what makes comic books so wonderful, that feeling of inclusiveness that comes from being in a huge venue full of like-minded individuals gathering to share that spirit. Thanks to everyone who made this years convention so special, I’m already looking forward to next year.
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