I must have come in at a slow point in the day because the store was almost empty, which is rare on wednesdays when the new comics arrive.
I stopped and visited with her for a few minutes, mainly trying to think of where I had seen or heard her comic Vögelein mentioned recently. (Thinking back on it now, I think that my nephew Nick or I had picked up a preview copy of Vögelein from the freebie table at the Motor City Comic Convention this past May. I don't remember actually seeing or meeting Jane Irwin at the convention.)
I asked if she was at the last Motor City Comic Con (which she was), or if she was also nominated for the Russ Manning Award along with David Petersen (which was a no), but she showed me the pin-up David Petersen did for one of her books a few years ago, pre-Mouse Guard. I also had her sign a copy of the free Vögelein Preview booklet which she was giving out.
The conversation turned to what a great guy David Petersen is, at which point I mentioned that I got to have dinner with him at the Motor City Comic Con. That caused Jane to comment that I must then have met David's friends from out west (Morna and Gary), and she started describing how Morna had "taunted" her with all the fantastic artwork by Stan Sakai which she had picked up at the MCCC.
Surprisingly, considering the limited number of comics I read, collect, or have much interest in, this was the first time Stan or Usagi was mentioned since I started talking with Jane. I agreeded with her on the cool cover artwork Morna had picked up, as well as the other neat pieces, and I mentioned that I was actually in the store at that moment to get my Usagi fix with the new issue just released.
I went and got my pull comics, which consisted of 2 copies of Usagi #106 this week, and walked back over to Jane's table where I gave her the second copy of Usagi in exchange for the Vögelein comic she had given me. Then it was off to read Usagi before going in to work.
After I left, it occurred to me that I could have asked if she would be willing to do an interpretive sketch of Usagi in her own style, but I decided that I had missed the opportunity.
You can check out her web-site at http://www.vogelein.com/
