MegaCon Report

Orlando, FL
Feb. 28 – Mar. 2: MegaCon

MegaCon offered the best kind of surreality a convention can: fun guests, great costumes, good deals, and one of the strangest social brews one is likely to find in any setting. In the same weekend that a record breaking 16,000+ comics fans descended on Orlando, FL’s Orange County Convention Center, a cheerleading convention, boat show, and home electronics expo were also going on, which led to one of the most entertaining scenes we’ve witnessed at any of the conventions in the past year.

Charles Brownstein and Rowan Rozanski were inside MegaCon running the CBLDF table where we signed up new members, including a few members of the Jim Lee Century Club.

The MegaCon floor was jam packed through the weekend with media fans coming out to meet comics stars like Steve Niles, Joe Linsner, Frank Cho, George Perez, Rich Koslowski, Billy Tucci, J. Scott Campbell, Greg Horn, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Bart Sears, Adam Hughes, Chuck Dixon, Cully Hamner, Paul Jenkins, Brian Pulido, and others.

The Fund had the pleasure of spending the weekend beside Andy Lee and David Mack who wowed Orlando with their masterful convention paintings. Lee donated a piece to the Fund, which we’ll be offering on auction later in the season. Meanwhile, James Kochalka fixed the Fund up with a signed copy of his new pink women’s tank of his super-popular Fancy Froglin tee shirt.

Speaking of t-shirts, Joe Linsner agreed to make an all-new Fund tee to premiere later this year. To tide us over until then, he donated a copy of his brand new Linsner Girls 2 portfolio. Frank Cho, Steve Lieber , Jeff Parker also donated pieces to the Fund. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti were also in Artists Alley where they signed a copy of the Fund’s new Cat Girl women’s tank!

Walking the show floor, it seemed that everyone had a copy of Steve Conley’s Astounding Space Thrills, The Convention Adventures #1. We caught Conley at the entrance where he handed out over 5,000 copies of the comic, which made it one of the most popular titles on the floor.

Back at the Fund booth, our friends from Mothcomix.com (http://www.mothcomix.com) stopped by with some killer donations including three pages of original art: Bo Hampton art from Batman: The Lost Years; a Spider-Man page by Chris Marrinan; and a Sensational Spider-Man page featuring the Living Pharoah by Richard Case! They also donated an Astro City hardcover signed by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross. MothComix.com is one of the premiere web retailers specializing in original art and rare hardcover editions. They’ll be stepping up their support of the Fund in the coming weeks with some more donations of great books and art.

Later on, CrossGen marketing gurus Chris Oarr and Robert Boyd dropped a copy of Ruse v.1, the Traveller edition at the Fund table. Jason from Disgruntled Fanboy Comics also stopped by to donate some art from their books The Demolution Engine and Thread which premiered at the show.

Across from the Fund’s table, Humanoids was selling their line of top notch European graphic novels. CBLDF Board Member Chris Staros’ Top Shelf Productions (http://www.topshelfcomix.com) was set up. Three Fingers artist Rich Koslowski was on hand signing books, which are available in this issue of Busted!

Off the very busy floor, the Fund had a great time mingling with our friends from Wizard, Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, CrossGen, Harris, Top Shelf, Alternative Comics, Humanoids, DC Comics as well as artists from all walks of the field.

MegaCon proved itself to be a vital, growing show that was expertly organized, well attended, and a blast to be at. If you’re in the Southeast, you haven’t got any excuse good enough to merit missing it next year!