April 1, 2006 - Emerald City Comicon - Kurt Busiek
Emerald City Comicon, April 1-2, 2006
Torvald Meets Tons Of People
Back on February 9th, 2003, a new Seattle tradition was started when the first Emerald City Comicon opened its doors. I attended with Eric, and we had a great time. In 2004, on February 29th, I attended the second Emerald City Comicon with my sister Lisa. I attended the third Emerald City Comicon on Sunday February 6, 2005, but only one day of the now two-day con. I missed the Saturday because I had to work. Eric went with me once again.
In 2006, I decided to try something a little new. After the success at Anglicon having Torvald pose with people and other beings, it seemed like a good idea to take him along to a Comic Book Convention and see if the various artists, writers, and other extremely creative people there would like to pose with him. And so, Torvald the Troll came with us to The Emerald City Comicon on April 1st and 2nd 2006, and met... well, a whole lot of people!
The first day of the Con, April 1st 2006, Torvald attended with me and my sister Lisa. The second day of the Con, April 2nd 2006, Torvald attended with me and Eric.
Torvald's first new friend was the writer of Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, Kurt Busiek! Note the sword that Kurt is threatening Torvald with... this is the same sword I gave to Kurt only moments before!
After surviving his harrowing experience meeting writer Kurt Busiek, Torvald was ready for someone a little more calm, who wasn't carrying around a sword. Of course, the pen is mightier than the sword... Still, Adam Hughes was relatively unthreatening...
Next up was Aquaman and Kolchak artist Kirk Jarvinen, who was happy to see me this con in part because I was nice enough to bring him some Doctor Who novels for his collection. He paid me and Eric back multiple times with great sketches... and of course this great pose with Torvald.
The next folks the troll visited were the kids from Madison and Denny Middle Schools. These fine young artists come to the con every year and work in shifts to showcase their talents and learn from older artists. They are a great bunch, and this year I got a picture of one of the crews posing with Torvald. Be sure to read the story of one of the kids posing in this image at this blog post.
Next up was David Hahn of Mercury Studios. Hahn's works include Private Beach, Bite Club, and Fables. He is the first member of Mercury Studios to get Trolled at the con (Kirk was just at their booth, he isn't a studio member), but he wouldn't be the last.
The next member of Mercury Studios to be trolled was Steve Lieber, who has done a story for Eric Shanower's Oz-Story, as well as a bunch of other stuff. He attempted to duplicate Torvald's look, but didn't seem to realize that Torvald has a gap-toothed grin, not a frown.
Next up was the incomparable Donna Barr, who I've seen at many a con in league with Roberta Gregory. At this con, the two trouble-makers ("Well-behaved women don't change the world.") had a table together right next to the Mercury Studios guys, as well as painter Brom. Go check out Desert Peach and Stinz.
This, however, may be the first and only cat that I doubt will be getting into much trouble. It did, however, get to pose with Torvald. That's enough trouble for one con.
In this next image Torvald poses with Roberta Gregory and her most famous creation. Torvald wanted me to point out that he is looking out toward the camera, not at BB's... um... boobs.
Cheyenne Wright is actually one of my favorite cartoonists, and I really wish he was able to update his webcomic a little more often. I'm a little sorry I harrassed him at the con, but he's so easy to harrass! I did buy his sketchbook, and I'm really glad I did, since it has some of my favorite pieces in it. In any case, Cheyenne is one of the few people who made the troll look truly menacing for his troll picture.
Lani Tupu was the third Farscape actor to pose with Torvald, and the story of this image can be found in my con report for that part of the con. The full con report actually ended up being four parts long (all of them can be found here with judicious use of scrolling). In any case, Lani kindly posed with Torvald without charging me for the photo.
Next up is our representative retailer. Paige owns Corner Comics and was at the con for the first time this year to see what business she could do.
Next up are the incomparable pair of Karin Yamagiwa Madan and Suzanne Kaufman, old friends at this point who have both done sketches for my Aquaman collection and who I see at every Emerald City Comicon. If you happen to see these two at a con, stop and chat with them! They are funfolk, and well worth a little of your time.
Ian Boothby posed for this picture before learning that I was the person responsible for Kurt Busiek having a sword (which he was poking everybody with). He did the "pen as walking stick" pose that others attempted as well.
This is Jean, an employee at Qwest Field. I decided that, since we were down at the stadium, I ought to have a picture of a stadium employee. Stupid me, I didn't get any pictures of the troll with the stadium itself! Anyway, the Field employees were one of two sources to go to for assistance during the con, especially if you had a question about the building, and not the activities in it.
Tom Peyer is a well-known writer and editor and has worked on a ton of comics as well as non-comics works. Here he poses with Torvald, which won't go down on his list of greatest ever accomplishments.
And so the first day of the con ended... but this is a two-day con! After a good night's sleep, Torvald accompanied Eric and I back to the con for the second day.
Gigi Edgley made the troll extremely happy with this unusual pose. Gigi played the character of Chiana in Farscape, and while she looks nothing at all like Chiana when out of the make-up, she sounds exactly like her, so there is no doubt who she is once she starts talking.
I was warned by Bob Schreck that he would kill me if this picture got posted around the internet. I guess we'll have to have a cane fight next time I see him.
Brian Stelfreeze got the last picture of the con. I would have liked to chat with him some, but his table was pretty crowded and it was pretty late in the day by the time I realized who he was. He's another Aquaman cover artist. I can hardly believe how many there were at the show... and I didn't even see all of them! I think next year I'm going to have to print out a list of guests with space for notes... "Has been trolled? Yes/No". Maybe I won't miss so many people next time.
I had a lot of fun, and I hope everyone who was trolled gets good luck from the experience, and I hope to be able to troll lots more people in the future!
There will be more to come in the future... watch this place.