Hi friends!
Mid Ohio Con has come and gone. This was the first MOC run by the Wizard World group. I think a lot of artists and comic creators had some doubts but the show was excellent. The presence of the convention was on a much grander scale yet it still maintained that independent spirit that Mid Ohio Con is famous for. I was surprised and impressed with this year's turn out.
Another change on our part was that Nicole and I took Friday off and we took our time driving down there. The road to MOC is usually a unforgiving six hours and the past two years we've attended we would leave after I got off of work which would be around 6-7pm and arrive at 1am. Having the day off really made a difference. The six hour drive became tolerable and it was smooth sailing.
We arrived Friday night and went to the Kroger around the corner to grab dinner and food for tomorrow morning's breakfast.
Woke up Saturday morning and I was nervous about the Artist Alley being split on two levels, something I learned about days prior. However, when we got to the con Saturday morning, we realized that decided to keep everyone on the same level. I was relieved but a bit saddened to find my location in the back corner which I felt was apart from the actual convention.
That sadness didn't stay for long. The people traffic was so congested in the middle with artist interaction and on-lookers that they eventually flowed into the the sides and corners making the convention quite a busy affair on Saturday.
I got a lot of unique sketch requests that day which made for some of the best sketching I've done at a con. You can check those out over here. The steady flow of traffic made for a comfortable pace of book selling, interaction with the crowd, and sketch requests. I never felt overwhelmed but I was never bored or sitting around either. It was a great pace and a great first day.
Last year Nicole and I went to Dirty Frank's Hotdog Palace for dinner and we decided to make a return trip and start a Post Mid Ohio Day 1 dinner tradition. We stuffed our faces and I had chili mac for the 1st time since I decided to give up meat. Four years and counting! Slept on full stomachs.
We woke up a bit earlier on Sunday to make breakfast and pack the car for our drive back. We bought some meatless breakfast patties and made sausage, egg, and cheese, biscuits. They were awesome!
Sunday was a slower day at the convention but I still had a large number of families come by and pick up sketches and books. Nic and I were able to walk around more and look for potential birthday/christmas presents for people.
Sunday was also a good networking day. I talked with some familiar faces and comic creators such as Lora Innes, Trevor Mueller, Dustin Carson, Ryan Claytor, and the creative team of Mutant Cactus and Victor Dandridge.
I also met some new comic creators like Steve Harpster and Barry Deutsch. Nic and I picked up a few things and tried really hard not to spend all of the earnings.
The convention came to a close and I wrapped up the last few sketch requests and said goodbye to my Ohio friends. On the drive home, Nicole and I talked about potential projects for the future and we mapped out my convention season for 2012.
At the halfway mark we stopped for dinner at Red Robin, recharged our batteries, and made it home just as the rain started to fall.
It was a great way to end the season and as I go into the "off" months. I am going to be busy working on the next few WIWL projects (that's right…plural) and some newer book ideas that I've been wanting to complete.
I hope to do a smaller amount of shows next year so that I can focus on these other books all the while evolving the When I Was Little series.
Until next time, friends!
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