2016 Convention schedule

[Thegman]

Nice to meet you at the film comic con in London

Thanks for signing the hardcover

I got late into reading Usagi Yojimbo and so glad I go to meet you

[rs2]

We will, however, still be going to London and Cardiff at the end of February/beginning of March. We are also thinking of taking the EuroStar train to Paris for a few days after Cardiff.

once again, it was lovely to (finally!) meet your good self and Julie...
thank you for signing the books I'd lugged along as well as for the epic godzilla x usagi gundam (re-re-re-read senso on the train home!)
Leo

[jabba359]

Even though he's attending just as a Professional instead of the usual Exhibitor, Stan sat in on the Sergio & Mark Show panel today, along with Tom Luth. As always, this panel had a lot of laughs and many questions were fielded from the audience. One of the most interesting pieces of information was Stan saying that even though he normally doesn't sell original pages from his comics (he has approximately 6000 pages!), he is entertaining the thought of selling off at least some of the Senso pages. I've dreamed of owning a page of Stan's original art (I'd even take an unpublished page), so it's entirely possible that I might be able to make that happen if Stan decides to go ahead and sell some. Of course, I'm sure that I'm not the only one on the forum that would be interested in this, so I thought I'd share.



At the end of the panel, as the WonderCon lady was gathering up the name placards, Stan saw me and asked the lady for his placard back, which he signed, sketched, and gave to me. There's a good reason many artists call him "the nicest guy in comics." Thanks Stan!



I also ran into fellow forum member Grusagi a couple times today. It's always good to see fellow forum friends!

[Maka]

At the end of the panel, as the WonderCon lady was gathering up the name placards, Stan saw me and asked the lady for his placard back, which he signed, sketched, and gave to me. There's a good reason many artists call him "the nicest guy in comics." Thanks Stan!



I also ran into fellow forum member Grusagi a couple times today. It's always good to see fellow forum friends!

That's cool! Congratulations on owning an original one of a kind Stan Sakai signed and sketched placard! The story is even cooler.

Grusagi is one cool dude too. Sounds a like a fun day for all. Cool.

Peace, maka

[grusagi]

someone snuck into wondercon!

stan at sergio booth wc2016.JPG (158.39 KiB) Viewed 8042 times

then he snuck into a panel!

stan in groo panel wc2016.JPG (102 KiB) Viewed 8042 times

i hope he tries to sneak in again Saturday and Sunday!

[Mayhem]

They started doing the "placard trawl" at SDCC right after panels ended a few years back, presumably to stop people getting them and having them signed, and not surprised to hear they've started doing it at Wondercon, given it's the same organising committee. Nice to see Stan was able to get his back and you have it signed

(needless to say, said "rules" haven't stopped me from sneaking about and still getting hold of them and then signed!)

[Stan Sakai]

someone snuck into wondercon!


then he snuck into a panel!

stan in groo panel wc2016.JPG

i hope he tries to sneak in again Saturday and Sunday!

Yes, I did "sneak" onto the panel. That is why I did not have a name placard. However, the lady who ran the panel room (an ex-marine who kept calling me "sir") insisted she had to have one made.

Also interesting is that the water bottles we were given had no labels. It is a convention center policy that all bottles be stripped of their labels so as to not give free advertising when people take photos and post them. Convention volunteers had to rip off the labels off the water bottles.

I hope to catch Quick Draw and one or two other panels today, though I have no plans to attend Easter Sunday.

[Blackjack O'Hare]

Had no idea Stan was attending. I'm here with a buddy getting their portfolio reviewed.

[Lobster Johnson]

Cool story, Jabba! Looks like a fun convention!

[jabba359]

Not exactly a "convention" appearance, but Stan will be appearing at SoCal Games and Comics in Temecula on May 7th for Free Comic Book Day. Looks like he'll be there from 10am-noon.

Stan Free Comic Book Day.jpg (98.99 KiB) Viewed 7296 times

[jabba359]

I wanted to get out of Los Angeles for a bit, so made the drive down to Temecula for Free Comic Book Day. Once I got out of the city, it was a very pleasant drive. There seemed to be quite a few people there at the comic book shop and the employees were helpful and friendly. I had a good time talking with Stan and family (rest assured, Daniel has tons of great plans for Usagi merchandise) and had Stan sign way too many things. Some were for me, but I also brought a pile of stuff for some future giveaways. I'm glad I don't have to haul all those things down to SDCC to get signed now.

Here's the stuff I got for myself:



I brought my Dojo Anniversary book and got it sketched. As for the 3 Fantagraphics issues, Stan was giving these away as part of Free Comic Book Day. I probably should have gotten them signed, but always feel like I'm imposing when I ask for so many signatures and sketches (I swear, they're not all for me! ). I don't think Stan minds too much, but I don't want to monopolize all the time when there are other people there probably waiting for me to go away so they can chat.



I brought the most recent two UY Saga books to get sketched in since they didn't include a sketch initially. Stan was also giving away the two cards pictured.



My book 5 sketch, since it's a heavily Tomoe influenced volume.



Book 6 features a lot of Jei, so I asked for his sketch in this one. I love the angry lizard!



Stan at his table with the sketch he just completed.



Last year at SDCC, I bought all the sketchbooks that were available (#4-12), as I had never bought any before. Since Stan was super busy at that convention, I didn't want to ask for him to sketch all 9 books since there were always other people waiting in line, so I've been bringing 2 or 3 each time I've seen him since. These were the last 3 that were missing sketches. I asked for a sketch that I thought embodied the overall work of each sketchbook. So for #10, there was a lot of 47 Ronin sketches, so I asked for a human ronin. I think I confused Stan on #11, asking for an alien (since it has a few Senso pages), when the word I should have used was "martian". But I'm glad I didn't, as I got this very unique and strange looking alien man. I think it's fantastic! For #12, Jei is the principle on most of the pages (though the martians from Senso are prominent as well), so I got a Jei.

Now I just need to track down the long out of print Sketchbooks #2 and #3 and I'll have them all.

Thanks Stan for taking time to sign and sketch all this stuff for me. I know it was a lot. I'm not including any specific pictures of the giveaway stuff I got signed, as I have to keep a few surprises, right? (though I just might have gotten some extras of a couple items pictured above, but you didn't hear it from me )

[Gaffey]

What a great haul!

I completely forgot today was FCBD. We were celebrating Mother's Day a day early.

[Maka]

Those are awesome! Congrats! Peace, maka

[Mayhem]

Great stuff

I brought my Dojo Anniversary book and got it sketched.

Huh... for some reason I thought all the books had sketches in them, I guess Stan just pre-sketched all the ones he gave to me!

[JLM]

Awesome sketches!