A little over a year ago, I noted that I was probably going to be skipping future comic conventions unless I would be able to attend with or meet a friend there; I just wasn't getting a lot out of them in my solo ventures. But I think I will actually be attending next week's Mid-Ohio-Con for one day. Mainly for two reasons: Maggie Thompson and Rich Buckler. Rich Buckler was essentially my third favorite artist for several years. Once I started reading Fantastic Four, I was most enamored with artists who worked on the book. So it should come as little surprise that I loved the work of John Byrne (who's FF turned me on to the book in the first place), George Perez (who came shortly before Byrne and is just abso-frickin-lutely brilliant) and Rich Buckler. Rich was third largely because -- and by no means do I mean to disrespect him in ANY capacity -- I hadn't yet discovered Jack Kirby or John Buscema. My esteem for those two earlier artists has grown considerably, especially in seeing much of their other work, while Rich's work beyond the FF remained elusive to me for many years. And, though I've since learned that the idea was actually from Roy Thomas, I still like how distinctive Rich's version of the Human Torch was.
Maggie is known these days as the editor of CBG but she was in there as one of the major players in the founding days of comic fandom. My biggest interest in hitting the MOC this year is being able to chat with her for a little while about those early days of comic fandom. (I'm still rolling that book idea around in my head. I swear, one of these days, I'll actually start the damn thing!)
But, let me throw this out there as well: for anyone who wants/feels inclined and happens to see me wandering around the show, please step up and say hi. Conventions are as much about connecting with other comic fans as anything else, so the more connecting I can do, I'm betting the better a convention experience I think I'll have. I'll be at the show probably just about all day Sunday, most likely in my FFPlaza.com t-shirt.
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