CarrierCon 2022

I think my ride is here.

I had a tremendous time speaking and indulging in CarrierCon aboard the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum today, my first convention-type event in a long time. This was the second CarrierCon ever; the first was in 2019, with a lull for obvious reasons. I thought my talk on "From Fan to Pro" went well. I hope it's one I get to give again (and am thinking about writing up for my blog). What do pros do and know that fans don't? That's the idea.

My daughter Laura helped spearhead the event for the Hornet and, from what I saw, did a great job. Her sister Robin and many of their friends volunteered to help. I bought a book in Artists' Alley. It was neat to run into my friend Jim Sharkey, too. 

Laura (left) and Robin, camouflaged to fit in with the native fauna.

But what blew me away and made my day/week/year: my friends Richard and Wendy Pini, creators of the venerable fantasy series ElfQuest and two of the kindest people in comics, surprised me by driving up from Los Angeles just to see me and the Hornet. Richard's a fellow space geek who's been wanting to visit the ship for a long time; I think they saw their chance and figured, "Why not?" It was a whirlwind hit-and-run drive up and down the state that still astonishes me to think about--but not as astonished as I was to turn around and see them standing behind me. 

It's Wendy and Richard! This was about 20 seconds after I turned around and was still trying to understand what was happening. Note their sunflower lapel pins and Wendy's blue and yellow ensemble for Ukraine.

Two extra-cool things about their visit: they agreed with everything I said in my talk, which means a lot coming from people who've been successful pros for decades. And I used ElfQuest as an example (a good one!) in my presentation not knowing that they'd be there, which I think made them happy. It made me happy.

My talk. Here I'm showing my slide about ElfQuest with the creators of ElfQuest sitting in the second row. The coincidence did not go unremarked!

My audience started small but grew as I spoke. A few people came up afterward with good, smart questions that I love to get. All in all, an extraordinary day.

Hoping my Ewok friend doesn't want to add my head to his collection.

Heroes waiting in line for a sandwich and bag of chips.

Super.

An overview shot of the Hangar Bay, trying to capture a sense of the size and hubbub.