Granite State Comic Con And Aaron Kuder Commission

I promise you I will get to talking about this fantastic Aaron Kuder commission soon.

But first I have to talk about where I got it ... the Granite State Comicon ... in general.

The Con was last week and it was just a fantastic time, even if I could only spend a short time of the second day there. It really is growing into something special.

I head to cons with lifelong friends and fellow comic fans and we each want something out of cons. I look to get commissions and talk to creators primarily, buying books is almost secondary. A friend wants to get commissions and do a lot of shopping. Another friend doesn't even look at the creators and just wants to thumb through long boxes.

The Granite State Comicon is the perfect con for our group because it satisfies all our con goals. It is big enough to get great guests. It is still small enough that the site doesn't feel claustrophobic, that the vendors aren't shoved to the side. And it isn't so huge that if we split up we need GPS and texts to find each other. It is in that sweet spot of cons.

Listen, I love the Boston Comic Con. That is my con. But I look at those days as a mission to meet all the creators I want to, to talk to them all, and get commissions. It feels almost like a work weekend for this site. I didn't buy one single comic at Boston Comic Con this year.

At the Granite Con, I was able to find the creators I wanted to, get commissions, AND still have time to shop. I went home with commissions from Aaron Kuder, Rebekah Isaacs, Jeremy Haun, and Art Baltazar. All will eventually find their way here, probably over the next month of Saturdays. And I was able to talk to all of them about upcoming projects, about what I liked about their work, etc.

I talked to Kuder about his Parasite issue at length because I enjoyed that tremendously. We discussed page construction, the use of color, etc.

And he talked about the ending of Superman #20, where a skeletal ghost of Lana still lives in Superman's mind. That was supposed to be the beginning of the Bizarro world, born from Superman's brain. Bizarre indeed. He was friendly and approachable and cool and that made the whole thing great.

Then I got the commission above. What a great addition to the collection. For one, the art is so fantastic, kinetic, crushing the gun, leaping at the 'camera', looking fierce, and with a generous splash of color. Unbelievable. I don't have many 'action shots' in my collection so this immediately stands out.

One thing I thought was cool was Kuder thumbed through the sketch book he was drawing in and was impressed by the collection.

One more story on this post.

Ron Marz was also at the convention. I like Marz' writing and enjoyed his Green Lantern stuff. But my favorite work by him was the classic CrossGen series Sojourn, drawn by Greg Land before he became a tracer. The main plot of the book is Arwyn, the female archer, trying to find and unite 5 pieces of a mystic arrow which when brought together will summon a god-like warrior Ayden. Ayden would then defeat an evil flame powered revenant named Mordath who was ruling the world with an iron fist.

Marz brought the series up to Arwyn finding 3 pieces of the arrow but then left (was forced to leave?) the book. And shortly after that the book was canceled. I have always wondered if Marz knew the ending of the story and so I asked. And yes he did.

I know many of you have stopped reading ... but for the few who remember Sojourn here is the plotline.

Arwyn would find all five pieces of the arrow. But ... it wouldn't summon Ayden.

Mordath would eventually be killed by his own lieutenant, a very honorable Orc named Captain Bohr.

Arwyn would leave and live alone in the forest like a hermit. Gareth, her comrade in arms, would struggle to unite the now free five lands. And finally, Arwyn would leave her self-imposed isolation and end up leading the land.

Do you know that that is???

Closure!! 

Anyways, I strongly recommend this convention for all the reasons above! I haven't even mentioned the books I bought, the My Little Pony swag I got the supergirls at home, or  posted the other commissions!