Here's a [kind of ]funny con story from an AtlantaCon in the early 80's.

Bob McLeod, John Beatty and I drove up. Pat Broderick decided to fly in rather than
face the madness of an 8 hour ride with Beatty and I.

The first day of the show and the artists set up. Beatty, Broderick and McLeod are
all in a row. I'm hanging out with them when not visiting with Paul Gulacy. Anyway...

Up walks a fan and stops in front of Bob. [All artists have name cards on the tables.]
The fan proceedes to tell Bob what a huge fan he is of Bob's work. The fan inquires
about the price of a sketch. Bob tells him the amount. The fan says that he wants
several figures... all of the Micronauts. Bob calculates the cost and tells him. The
fan says, "No problem."

The fan asks Bob if he can ink it. Bob says, "Of course, but the cost would be more."
Bob tells him how much. The fan says, "I love your work. No problem."

The fan then asks if Bob could color it. Bob says, "Of course, but the cost would be
more." Bob tells him how much. The fan says, "I love your work. No problem." They
agree on the final price. Bob tells the fan to check back at the end of the day and
the fan goes off.

Bob is really happy to meet such a huge fan of his work. He says that he's surprised
that the fan wanted the Micronauts since he could have gone to Pat and gotten him
to do it. [Pat was a fan fav for the Micronauts at the time.] Of course Beatty and I start teasing Pat and even Bob joins in [a little].

Bob starts on the Micronauts piece. Other fans come around, but Bob is being
careful about taking on more sketches since he has so many figures to pencil, ink
and color. As everyone probably knows, Bob gives fans a lot for their money and
when he colors a piece --- man, is it sweet.

So Bob's working away... we're still teasing Pat... more fans are being told that
Bob's sketch list is full... the fan comes by periodically to check on the progress...
it is looking soooo nice.

Late in the day the fan comes by and stands directly in front of Bob. Bob looks up
and smiles. The fan doesn't...

"Sir," he says, "There has been a terrible mistake..." The fan goes on to say that
he thought Bob was Pat Broderick. He's sorry, but he won't be wanting the sketch.
The fan then moves down to Pat Broderick. He proceedes to tell Pat what a huge
fan he is...

Of course Beatty, and I start teasing Bob... and Pat even joins in [a little].

Hey Zoners... ok, I'm picking up the tale of our four middle-aged playas after they've
arrived at the show. If you want to read more tales of the trip then click HERE and
John "The Dude Abides" Beatty will fill you in.

Tim Gordon's Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention is the best one day show
that you'll find anywhere. There are media guests, comic artists, costumers, independent filmmakers [with a continuously running screening room] , and
dozens and dozens of dealers.

Yes, that's the look of fear that crossed Mark and Stephanie Heike's faces when
they discovered that the Mild Bunch [John "Johnny Star-Warz" Higashi, James
"The James" Howell, John "The Dude Abides" Beatty, and yours truly] had arrived.

Larry Thomas, better known as "The Soup Nazi" from Seinfeld, had a table. He was selling autographed pictures and soup ladles for $20 a pop. I'm a huge Seinfeld fan.
I loved the series and thought "The Soup Nazi" episode was a riot. However, $20
bucks for an autographed picture? Five samoleons and I'm there, heck, I'd have
even bought a couple, but twenty of my hard-earned smack-a-toons for one?
No thanks.

So, I'm waiting for Pat Broderick to arrive and up walks Beatty. He says that every
time he tried to get a photo of "The Soup Nazi," the "Nazi" turned or raised his hands
to insure that the picture wasn't a good one. I laughed it off. Later Beatty came up to
say that he'd tried for a photo several more times, but each time the "Nazi" thwarted
his efforts. This, of course, makes me want to get a candid. I did, but as you can tell
from the full shot, Mr. Thomas did not seem to happy about it. If that's the case, I'm
sorry, Mr. Thomas... and I really would have bought a couple of autographs had
they been cheaper!

Now the guy that I really was there to see was Pat Broderick. I've known Pat for
nearly 30 years! We first met at an OrlandoCon back in the 70's. Pat's a great guy
and a heck of an artist. He and Beatty even teamed up on a couple of comic series
over the years! I was curious to see if Pat would be interested in doing a piece for my Stallone gallery. Lucky for me he was! I'll post it later this weekend with my SZ update.
Higashi and Howell also set up sketches with Pat.

The next guy on our hit list was Karl Moline who was sharing a table with Randy
[Edward Scissorhands Collection] Martin. While John Higashi and I set up sketches
with Karl, The James scooted over to arrange a take-home commission with Pablo Marcos.

Then it was over to the film room where we caught some of Joel D. Wynkoop's film
"Lost Faith." Joel was at the show, and as you can see HERE has made a lot of films.
Joel is very approachable and obviously has a love of film. It might be cool if he and
Bill Black ever hook up for a project.

Beatty got that look in his eyes that said it was time for lunch. Howell said he was
ready for a bite too. Even Higashi said he'd eat [which is a rare thing for Johnny SW
to do at a show]. I wasn't hungry, but said I'd join them for a Coke. We ended up in the hotel's sport's bar. As we were yacking away waiting for the food to arrive, the NY
Giants were on tv playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Howell suddenly blurted out, "I've
got five bucks for anyone who'll yell "Go Giants!"

I immediately yelled, "Go Giants! Go Giants!" and before I could collect my fiver, a
loud chorus of "Go Philly!" "Giants Suck" "Go Philly" erupted from behind me. I
turned to see probably 30 or 40 grown men [most of whom were wearing Eagles
jerseys] looking our way. Of course, this just made Beatty an instant Giants fan who
began to LOUDLY cheer for the Giants way and BOO the Eagles.

Two things saved us from the situation getting ugly. 1] Beatty's sandwich arrived and
2] Mrs. Pat Broderick came by the table to say, "Hi."

After lunch we headed back to the show. Pat and Karl had finished my sketches.
They had [independently] decided to draw Deke from Nighthawks! And both did
really, really cool sketches. I'll post them tomorrow with the SZ update.

I'd been wanting to get a sketch from Derrick Fish for a while. Luck was with me
because when I checked with Derrick, he had a spot on his sketch list open.
Derrick completed my sketch trifecta by doing a really nice cartoon of Rocky
knocking out Dandy.

Soon it was time to say our goodbyes and load up the "Jack Carter" car for our trip
home. As we snaked our way around the con to say we were heading out, we made
sure to let the Heike's know that we'd see them at the next show in May!

Have you ever seen a better looking group of middle-aged playas? Ok, ok. Maybe
you have. But that's what we looked like last Saturday night when we stopped over
at Mike Zeck's on the first leg of our Tampa Con weekend. From left to right: John "Johnny Star-Warz" Higashi, Mike Zeck, James "The James" Howell, me, and
John "Big" Beatty. See the full picture [if you dare] at Big Beatty's Blog-O-Rama.

We stopped at Mike's house to pick up copies of his latest sketchbook to have on
display at the Tampa show. Mike is one of the coolest, most down to earth guys
you'd ever want to meet. Beatty and I have known Mike for nearly 30 years [yeesh!]
and Higashi has known him for a couple. It was The James' first time meeting Mike.
Normally The James is very cool about meeting artists... even big name artists. In
fact, The James is friends with some of the best artists in the business... yet
something came over him when he met Mike.

Here are a couple of brief exchanges that they had:

The James: Uh, Mr. Zeck it is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I... uh, I am a big, no huge,
uh... fan of your work, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir.

MIke: Thank you. And please, call me Mike.

The James: Ok, I'll do that Mr. Zeck.

Mike smiles as The James goes on.

The James: Uh, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir, I'd really like to purchase a copy of your
sketchbook, sir, that is if you don't mind and uh, if it isn't too much trouble, sir.

Mike had just pulled out 15 copies which John Higashi had purchased for Tampa.
Other copies were easily within reach.

Mike: No problem at all James. In fact, you can have one at the dealer discount.

The James: Uh, no sir, Mr. Mike Zeck, sir. I insist that I pay full retail price, sir, uh...
that is if it's okay with you, sir.

Mike shrugged his shoulders as The James forced a twenty into his hand.

The second exchange took place as we were leaving.

The James: "Wowee. It has been such a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mike Zeck.
I've admired you, I mean your work... you know, your art... for a long time. Uh, but
don't think I'm a stalker, sir. It's just that, it's just that, you know, sir, you're THE MAN."

Mike: Thanks, James. And please just call me Mike.

The James: Yes sir, I will Mr. Mike, sir.

The James then turned to leave, but quickly spun back around and said: "I really
dig your shirt, sir!" and then he was out the door.

It was cool to see that even a middle-aged playa like The James can still break into fanboy mode.