Baltimore Comic Con '10, Featuring: My Debut on YouTube!

[This and other posts are now being completed after my long hiatus. - Chuck] My, my. Summer came and went and the only thing I can say is how fast it breezed by with swim team for Kathryn, trying to keep up with the jungle formally refered to as our yard in between the numerous periods of rain which kept the grass green but also growing like bamboo (!), tackling the basement which we refer to as my office but more resembles a warehouse that tumbled haphazardly into a library (think a disorganized "Warehouse 13"- but then again, that warehouse isn't completely organized yet either...), and the ongoing genealogical research, an all-encompassing, engrossing passion that reignited at the end of the summer, so blogging came to a complete standstill.

However, I did get away for a weekend (thank you, dear wife) at the end of August (the 28th and 29th, to be exact) to visit friends Chris Barat and his wife Nicky, which included a visit to the Baltimore Comic Con. An additional Barat houseguest was Mark Lungo, another Disney fan among many other interests. It was my first time actually meeting Mark. He's an acquaintance from the days when Chris, Mark and I were all members of a little APA (Amateur Press Association) publication dedicated to Disney, but principally the shows of the "Disney Afternoon". In other words, these relationships go back about 17-18 years.

We did not arrive downtown all that early and so some time was lost while yours truly waited in a line much longer than anticipated to buy a ticket for the day. I did enjoy our few hours there, being able to reimmerse myself in the "fanboy" experience.

Major highlight of the Con for me: Don Rosa, relatively unknown (still) in this country, but revered in Europe as one of the greatest Disney Duck comic storytellers, was present at the show. It was a no more than a 10 minute wait to speak with him and that was only because the fellow speaking with him when we arrived was keeping Don in an involved conversation. (By contrast with our wait, when Don travels to Europe, I have read that the line to see him can stretch a city block.) We almost stopped the guy as he breezed by us, because, as we surmised, anyone involved with Don for that amount of time was probably someone whom one of us would know by name, since none of us recognized him. Don was pleasant as usual, but we didn't converse with him too long since now there was something of a line behind of us. I do know that some of the line was a red herring, since the line for Sergio Aragones (of "Groo" fame) blended into Don's and so there were people who would occcasionally realize they were waiting for "someone else" instead of Sergio. I wanted to scream at them.

We stopped by the Boom! comics booth, present Disney comics publisher, and I voiced a few of my concerns regarding the content of the Disney graphic albums, which are supposedly compendiums of four-issues of a particular title, but are currently only publishing the main story in each of the four (usually one story arcing over four-issues) and leaving out the secondary stories - hardly complete. [That situation has changed drastically over the months since I first began this post and will be covered later. - Chuck].

We concluded our time at the Con with a presentation by Mike Allred. An artist/writer whom Mark is very much interested in and with whom Chris is familiar. I had heard of the fellow - so much for my creds. Turned out to be both interesting and amusing.

A more in-depth telling of our weekend can be found at Chris' blog here.

The next stop was the Geppi Entertainment Museum (GEM), a short walk from the Convention Center and housed in one of the renovated structures next to Camden Yards, where the Baltimore Orioles play. As we were going to be meeting Chris' wife Nicky to go to an exhibition game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants later that evening at the Ravens Stadium which is just another relatively short walk from Camden Yards along a connecting promenade, the time at GEM was on the shorter side. We did view all the rooms and this is where I made my title apppearance. Two guys had a camera set up to film a promo with Museum visitors supporting the establishment of a fan network, something that Geppi is obviously backing and supporting. Sure, why not, I thought. You can view the results here, be patient, they actually made me the anchor segment (from 1:22 to 1:29)!