In the aftermath of FREE COMIC DAY at ACME COMICS

It was Saturday May 7, my first Free Comic Book day. Quite honestly it wasn't the kind of thing I ever say myself going to but my daughter found out about it and was really intrigued by it. And by intrigued I mean she became fixed on it with every ounce of her 11 year old being.

 

As you can she the girl is a force to be reckoned with.

 

So we made our way to ACME COMICS and got there by 10 AM. 

 

ACME COMICS is the kind of place that makes me wish I had more disposable income- or I should say any disposable income. Even though we got there before they opened there was one Hell of line. So we got in line and we waited...

...and waited...

...and waited...

The thought of being in a long line filled with bored, bratty children and sweaty nerds frightened me especially since my daughter and I had hoped to be the only bratty and sweaty ones there. 

But the good folks of ACME COMICS took that into account. They had kids from the local school selling soda and water. They had friendly folks passing out crayons and paper to the kids. And there were superheroes for photo ops!

 

(If anyone else asks I did not to ogle any of the spandex clad tushies on display...)

(well maybe that one Green Lantern guy...)

So anyway we got our comics and then I was ready to go but then my daughter saw that Kelly Yates was there.

Kelly Yates is one of the artists that work on IDW's DOCTOR WHO comics. My daughter is 11 years old and caught somewhere between properly nerdly fandom and the nightmare that is the DISNEY CHANNEL's tween-centric programing.

All she knew was that he was an artist that drew DOCTOR WHO COMICS and that she liked what she saw.

So it was off to line #2. The longer line of fanboys and girls waiting to get a sketch or an autograph from the guest artists. Sadly I had forgotten that bald headed men should not stand outdoors in the sun for long periods of time. Oh I'm paying for it now, my head looks the Red Hulk's testicle.

As she waited I got a chance to get a sketch from Ryan Dunlavey, an artist whose style I really enjoy. He asked what kind of a drawing I wanted and I asked him do try and sketch Lorelei from my THE NICK OF TIME (and other abrasions) stories.

His expression said it all, it said "This bloated, sunburned guy in a shirt that reads STUD MUFFIN is as crazy has he looks!"

But he took my suggestion and ran with it. This is what we ended up with- not bad eh?

 

Then my daughter asked Kelly Yates to draw her one of the Silence from the DOCTOR WHO episodes 'The Impossible Astronaut' and 'The Day Of The Moon'. Mr. Yates told her that he had never drawn one of the Silence before but he was more than willing to make a go of it. He got a reference picture via his iPad and set to work...

 

 

He made her day, it was all she talked about. Her message to him is as follows;

 

"Thank you very much. I hope you go to Hollywood someday. You are a very good artist. Your #1 fan Becca."

 

All this and we got some free comics too!

Thanks to Acme Comics,  Kelly Yates and Ryan Dunlavey for a great day.