Freedom City

Just got back from Des Moines after a fine few days there. Drove up (yes, I drove) on Friday and got into trouble looking around in Half-Price Books. After getting reeled in by HPB’s booth at SpringCon, I wandered into the belly of the beast in DM. Got LPs fo National Lampoon-Sex, Drugs, Rock’n’Roll, and the End of the World, Hunting With Justin Wilson, Opposites Attract-4 Mr Men and Little Miss Stories, Meco- Music From Star Trek/Music From The Black Hole, and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. Also got a cd soundtrack of Godzilla vs Megaguirus and a couple DVDs: Sex Madness (a Syphilis scare film from 1938) and a collection of Atom Age classroom films. I didn’t dare look at the books for fear of more trouble.

Also nabbed a nifty package of the first two Helstar albums along with a live performance DVD. Very awesome. Saw Helstar live in Lubbock back in college and I headbanged to hard that I couldn’t lift my head for a day. True story. I drove home with one hand, the other gripping my bangs to hold my own head to see the road. I looked like a serial killer had lopped off my head and thought that driving with my noggin in front of his face would make the ultimate moving violation.

Carter and I ate at Irina’s, an amazing Russian steakhouse. I had a Moscow filet, a long beat-flat strip of beef trussed up with toothpicks to trap spinach, onions, mushrooms, and pure goodness inside. Served with two long asparagus spears and a wavy tower of garlic mashed potatoes, this dish was a monster. Carter had a few baltic pilsners in bottles with that post-Soviet design sense that wouldn’t look out of place in a factory. He reports them to be delicious.

Next day we set out for Altoona’s own Adventureland Inn and set up. This year we were in the main room instead of in the hallway, which was nice. We were across from Phil Hester, who always draws a nice crowd, and started the day nice and relaxed. Then I got thrown for a loop.

A nice fellow named Darren approached and wanted me to sign an original copy of SHADES AND ANGELS #1. A friend had given it to him some time ago, telling him an Iowa guy wrote it. He liked it and wanted to have me sign it. I was mighty surprised. When you do a lot of these and see so many people, you get to thinking that you never see the same ones twice, or that nobody remembers you. At this show I spoke to loads of folks who had several of my books. Note to everyone who has ever enjoyed one of my books and sees me at a con: this is awesome and makes me very happy.

Other fun stuff: we were doing our usual thing of handing out free postcards of con-specific art and a cute thing happened. Carter gave one to a little girl and she thanked him and handed him a Jesus tract. I took it. We spent the first half of the day fretting about and finally swearing over the Iowa/Northwestern game. Same damn thing happened last year at this con—Iowa lost to Northwestern. This being Cyclone country, there was some sympathy about this but not a lot. They had their own loss to grouse over.

Carter and Will did loads of sketches for some very happy people. We saw Spider-Man guru Ivan Martin, who was happy that the Spidey newspaper strip had decided that retconning Marvel’s recent retcon of Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage was the way to go. Ivan’s the most dedicated Spidey fan ever and Marvel flat lost him with that Mephisto crap.

Will drove down from the Twin Cities after a morning commitment there; he was able to be at a couple hours of the con, which makes him a trooper.

Damage at the con was pretty slight for em: PIZZAZZ #1 and #9 ($6 each! Very nice.) and for two bucks I got an old copy of Treasure Chest, that weird Christian comic, from 1957. It had an earnest tale of a father’s disapproval of his son’s ham radio activities. I thought for a while that my streak of finding weird monster figures for my pal Lonnie’s desk was going to be broken, but late in the game I scored. In the corner were two boxes, one marked a dollar, the other said 50 cents. Loose toys, mostly, some just parts. A young boy sat on the edge of his seat behind them, watching me. “Fifty cents and a dollar,” he says to me eagerly. I spot a Sega two headed dragon guy from an 09 Happy Meal and pull it out. “That’s fifty cents,” he says. I give him the sum and he dashes over to the next table “Dad! Dad! Fifty cents!”. So it’s actually the case that I’m getting older and the dealers are getting younger. Dealers, please remember this complement the next time I ask you why your NEUTRO #1 is twenty bucks.

As we were leaving, the organizers handed out foil-wrapped paper plates to each of us and said it was “for the road”. It turned out to be a chocolate-chip cookie, a gingerbread cookie, and oatmeal number, and (YES) a lemon cookie. I-Con wins! It gets better every year and we’re pleased as punch to attend. Seeya in 2011!