ComicMix

It’s always nice when a convention takes place in your own backyard, a mere express bus or train journey away, and despite the weather turning chillier this is a great time of year to be out and about in NYC.  Michael Carbonaro has been running his bimonthly Big Apple comics and media expos for at least a dozen years now, and every November he gathers industry luminaries and showbiz greats together in his signature extravaganza, the National.  Naturally, ComicMix was there this year, and although I could only make it on Saturday I snapped plenty of photos and talked to lots of friends!

ComicMix Media Queen Martha Thomases knows how to keep her hands busy at the booth; the pink cashmere layer in her latest knitting endeavor felt absolutely gorgeous!

Here was the view of the left side of our row, with Bob McLeod in the foreground, then my husband Robin Riggs (I shuttled the few feet between the CM table and our location for much of the day), then Scott Roberts, and in the background Rodney Ramos.  More on those two below.  In fact, more of everything below!

Here’s Scott again.  He’s now a part of Webcomics Nation, the only place where you can find newer Patty Cake work as well as his One-Shot Wonder stories, his teen space adventure Nan Teller at the Edge of the Stars, the Zen-like Bob the Man, and various other projects.  It’s always terrific sitting next to Scott, he sketches quickly as he talks and did a lovely doodle for me of some Patty Cake characters as well as a killer Bugs Bunny bit that can be seen on my blog (hey, had to save something cool for myself, didn’t I?).

Rodney, who knew Robin from back when he was the only American working in the Marvel UK studios, caught us both up with his doings via his iPhone (lots of nifty photos from a recent convention in Spain attended by a number of our mutual industry friends) and conversation.  He’s especially proud of his recent DC work over Dave Gibbons, as well he should be.

Dan Slott is now teaming up on Amazing Spider-Man over at Marvel, rotating story arcs with three other writers — Zeb Wells, Marc Guggenheim and Bob Gale — on a book that now comes out three times per month.  He assured me they go through "inventoried" scripts at a surprisingly fast clip, so he’s writing his storylines months ahead on this one.  Must be a bear to coordinate!  Lots of talented artists teaming up with the four rotating scribes, it should be one to watch.

But what of Mark Evanier and his Blackberry?  Heidi MacDonald and her purple pants?  All will be revealed this afternoon in Part 2 of our pictorial!