While in San Diego, Chris and I had the chance to meet some of our favorite comic creators; some well-known and others who will one day be well-known!

We were really terrible this trip and did not take many pictures. I’m kind of bummed out by it, but just try to imagine our dorky smiles and wide-eyed stares while standing next to these awesome folks…

First up, we were sharing a table with Kevin McShane, who writes and draws Toupydoops. If you like comics and happen to live in LA, you’ll adore Toupydoops. Kevin also does a hilarious impression of Stan Lee and walked around the con impersonating the comic legend. Fake Stan Lee even had a chance to meet the real Stan Lee this year. The universe did NOT implode!

We also met up with webcomic wunderkind, Mike Maihack! Mike is the creator of Cleopatra in Spaaace! and Cow and Buffalo. Mike was also kind enough to draw a pin up for us in the third issue of Reed Gunther!

At the insistence of Guy Davis, we went over and met the most impressive (and kinda intimidating) Mike Mignola. We gave him a couple copies of Reed Gunther and he seemed impressed!

Chris introduced me to the hilarious and incredibly creative Ray Friesen! Ray is a prolific creator of all sorts of goofiness. Ray was a pleasure to hang out with and we even went on a QUADRUPLE DATE with him and his girlfriend, Michelle, Chris and his wife Kassandra, me and my girlfriend (an PR extraordinaire) Katie, and our good friend Scott and his date. We had great fun talking about the con, comics, and beers.

Of course, we had to swing by the table of the nicest fella in comics, Stan Sakai! Stan schooled us on how he started lettering and gave us some helpful tips and tricks on hand lettering. I have really been enjoying lettering my own writing, but I do love it when Chris is able to hand-letter right there on the page. It adds a wonderful sense of personality to the characters, something Stan has completely mastered.

The moment that made the con for me was when we had a chance to talk with John Layman, writer of CHEW. I have been loving CHEW and while I was rambling on and on to John about why I love CHEW, something slipped about our book and he asked what Chris and I do. I said I’d show him and started to pull out a copy or Reed Gunther. Before I could say anything, John saw the cover and exclaimed, “REED GUNTHER! You guys do Reed Gunther?!” He saw Reed somewhere online and said it was exactly the kind of thing he liked. Hearing John Layman get excited about our book was the coolest thing I could have imagined for this trip. Then then next day, John took home the Eisner for Best New Series. Totally well deserved! Congrats to John and artist Rob Guillory!

We also hung out with the most energetic folks in comics, David Server and Jackson Lanzing! These guys are always bouncing off the walls with excitement and enthusiasm. They never fail to get me PUMPED UP. Be sure to check out their super-cool book, FREAKSHOW when it comes out early next year (January I think).

Showing us around and dispensing priceless advice was writer Sam Humphries. Sam writes for Fraggle Rock and the new CBGB comic from BOOM! Sam and I bump into each other at various parties in LA and sometimes eat mustard-covered french toast at our favorite brunch cafe.

Jason Howard, the artist for Robert Kirkman’s The Astounding Wolf-Man, was incredibly nice to us and wasted a bunch of time with us just so he could introduce us to a publisher. What a guy! Jason is also a Michigan artist and has given amazing advice to Chris on coloring (black and white Reed may soon be a thing of the past…)!

In addition to all these fine folks, we met TONS and TONS of other creators, fans, and people in bizarre costumes!

Here’s a pic I snapped of a bunch of the cool stuff we snagged:

Thanks everyone for making San Diego so memorable!

- Shane