Terrificon Recap

Last weekend I spent three glorious days at TerrifiCon in Uncasville Connecticut. Earlier this year, my buddy and I decided that this would be our 'big con' for the season and this con was well worth the time spent.

The con itself was in the convention center at the Mohegan Sun Casino. This meant a spacious main hall for the comic creators and exhibitors, a second floor for panel rooms and cosplayers, and a large entrance way area where the celebrities had tables set up to meet the fans. As a result, the place never felt cramped or claustrophobic. Also, being in the casino meant a couple of perks ... free parking and ample food choices from fancy restaurants to food courts.

But let's face it, we go to these cons for the creators and to shop. And this con, unlike many, was definitely comic-centric. And that made me very happy. The guest list was a nice mix of current stars (Snyder, Capullo, Booth, Rapmund) and more legendary folks (Thomas, Wolfman, Giffen, Pasko, Englehart, Chaykin, Kupperberg, etc.). So for an old-timer like me, this was perfect.

I wasn't sure who I would be getting a commission from beforehand. But once inside, I quickly made the wise decision to finally get a Barry Kitson piece. Kitson has been a favorite of mine since his work on Azrael. And he drew Supergirl during the Threeboot Legion run.

I gave him source material for the Matrix full shirt/red skirt costume as well as the 70s hot pants version and said he could draw whichever one he was more interested in doing. Later that afternoon, I picked up this great full color 3/4 body commission. This is just a stunning piece. From the body position to the determined expression to the background, it all just crackles.

I have been very lucky with my commission purchases recently.

Kitson himself is just the nicest guy.

But here is a little inside information. I asked him if this was the first time he had drawn Supergirl in this costume and he said as a commission, yes. But he then said he is doing a cover of Supergirl in all her costumes and this was one of them. When I asked what the cover was for, Kitson's handler at the table said 'don't say anything.'

Hmm ... maybe a 'Greatest Supergirl Stories' trade in the future?

All the guests I chatted with were approachable and easy to talk to. As I said, it was meeting the writers of my youth that really made me this the con for me to be at.

On Saturday, Robert Greenberger moderated a great Supergirl panel with Paul Kupperberg, Peter David, and Marty Pasko. They talked about the character, the 'need' for a Supergirl, her character development over the years, and touched on the show.

One nugget here was that Greenberger talked about how rigid DC was in the post-Crisis world in regards to characters that could/could not be used or even mentioned ... Supergirl being one of them. Paul Levitz was adamant about it. When I brought up how Sensor Girl was rumored to be Supergirl, Greenberger said (and I am paraphrasing) 'Levitz was in charge. If he wanted Sensor Girl to be Supergirl, she would have been.' Hmmm ...

There was also this ad hoc 'panel' at Marty Pasko's table where I heard Keith Giffen, Paul Kupperberg, and Marty Pasko discuss story-telling, current writing styles in comics, and their approach to characters. Brilliant.

I talked to these three creators the most over the days. In particular, I had a lot of thoughts and questions to ask Giffen (given my utter love of the Legion). You can read more about that here. Suffice it to say, it was great meeting

I got a ton of issues signed by folks, many of whom did not charge instead having a Heroes Initiative donation jar. So plenty of books signed by all, especially Giffen.

But perhaps the jewel of them all, even more than a handful pf 5YL Legion books being signed, even more than Action Comics #500 being signed, was getting Marty Pasko to sign 1st Issue Special #9. This Dr. Fate story is one of my all-time favorite comic stories. And, having run into creators a bunch at cons over the last year, I now have the trifecta of signatures of Pasko (writer), Simonson (artist), and Joe Kubert (cover artist).

Priceless.

I also met Steve Englehart and got him to sign some of his Detective Comics issues. But I also got him to sign his Mister Miracle issues from the 70s, more books from my formative comic reading years.

Most of my comic purchases were from the dollar box, fleshing out my Sojourn collection as well as the recent Sif run on Journey Into Mystery. I also bought a bunch of kids comics to keep in my office and hand out to kids.

The one big purchase was Giant-Size Creatures #1, the first appearance of Tigra. Early Tigra is a tiny niche pocket of my collection. So it was great to finally check this issue off.

So nothing but praise for the convention. I figure this will be one to hit again next year.