Curls Studio celebrated our sixth appearance at Awesome Con this past weekend. For me the show was very enjoyable and it brought back feelings of the first Awesome Con. That was special because the show has grown so much and this one felt comfortable and less overwhelming than other years. I had fun seeing the guests, participating in a panel, and having more time at our table this year.
For those of you who don't know about Awesome Con, it's a three day extravaganza of all things awesome: fandom, sci-fi, comics, movies, cosplay, celebrities, voice actors... they have it all!
On Friday I was on the "The Other Side of the Table: Lessons from Creators" panel with Thom Zahler and Chrissie Zullo. We gave great advice about the transformation of attending the show as a spectator and transforming into an exhibitor. Audio of the event will soon be up on the Carolyn and Joe Show podcast.
Joe continued to produce the "Awesome Con Short Film Fest" to a standing room only crowd on both Friday (Horror, Action, Sci-Fi) and Saturday (Comedy, Drama) afternoons.
On Friday I had the opportunity to meet WWE wrestlers The New Day and get their autographs. I was wearing their t-shirt, so it was exciting to represent the power of positivity!
I was hyped that the guys from the TV show Boy Meets World (Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Will Friedle) were going to be at Awesome Con the moment the show made the announcement! Boy Meets World and Freaks and Geeks are hands down my favorite TV shows of all-time. Apparently this was Ben Savage's first convention. It started with Will Friedle as a guest at last year's Awesome Con (I got the opportunity to moderate his panel with Grey DeLisle Griffin -- you can listen to the audio here). Will has done several conventions and then he started to get Rider interested in attending them as well. Now they brought in Ben!
Saturday was the Boy Meets World panel and I was lucky to have a moment to step away from the table and attend the panel -- to my surprise actor Danny McNulty who plays the bully Harley Keiner was in the audience! That was so cool that he came to the show. I got to tell him how much I love BMW and how he is a legendary like "A Christmas Story" bullies. After the show, I found him on social media and he is doing a lot of good working on anti-bulling efforts. Yet another message BMW continues to share years after and with the Girl Meets World series.
The panel was amazing -- all the guys are so charismatic and charming and funny. So many great BMW lessons and behind-the-scenes memories were shared during the audience Q&A. I loved being there with a huge audience full of BMW fans. Discussing topics that are still relevant today like Shawn and Angela's relationship, #MeToo movement, and more. The day was also actor William Daniels's 91st birthday and they talked about their respect for Mr. Feeny.
Sunday was Easter, so I went to mass in the morning while Joe covered the table responsibilities. We had a blast hanging out behind the table with our neighbor Jessica Howard, the creator of "Love Metal."
I met Paddington Bear! Also Phil LaMarr came to our table to chat and I told him all about the 100 Sad Fish I recently drew. So. Much. Awesome.
Mega thanks to the Awesome Con staff, volunteers, fellow exhibitors, guests, and attendees for an AWESOME event. I can't wait until next year and hope to be back -- mark your calendars for April 26-28, 2019.
As of right now, the next comic show will be a new one -- Fairfax Comic Con -- on August 25-26, 2018. There might be smaller appearances that could pop up, but I don't envision doing a big show before that. This will give us time to produce a new book. One of the benefits of going to shows is meeting people in-person. I value the interactions of chatting with people in real life, but it does take time to make comics and many creators struggle with the tour schedule and finding time to make new books. Not to mention sometimes the touring is our actual "vacation" time!
You can also catch me this Friday -- I'll be a guest at DC Web Fest. I won't have any comic displays, but I will hanging out if you want to say hi!
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