OK, here's my review of the 2006 Superman Celebration.
I've been coming to Metropolis every June since 1999. I've seen it grow over the years- a lot!
I've also been invited up as an artist guest the past two years. All I can say about that is, "Thanks!" and "Lin who?" ;D
This year was fantastic. The weather was good (a bit hot, but hey- it's June in Metropolis!), the fans were there in force, the guests were great, I had a lot of friends there, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.
The only bad thing I can say about the celebration is that I didn't get to run around like a fan-boy and check out as much as I wanted. My fault- not the celebration's!
I arrived in Metropolis on Thursday night with several of my fellow Midsouth Cartoonists Association artists with me. We checked into the hotel, then headed over to the community center to unload and get a head start on setting up the comic art show. Karla and her sister Lisa from the Chamber of Commerce stopped by to give us a hand, and Scott Cranford stopped by to drop off the key. He talked for a bit, checked out some of the art, and then posed for a photo with one of my paintings. You can't help but like this guy!
Muley did a bit of posing himself, too.
The next morning we did an early breakfast at the Huddle House with some of our friends from Atlanta (Uncle Wayne, Aunt Shelby, Micheal Lee, and Jake- thanks for breakfast, Uncle Wayne!). We hurried to the community center to get set up for the day. When we arrived we hurriedly hung art on the walls, set up tables and chairs, and figured out our game plan for the day. Later Steve Rude and his family settled in, followed by Marv Wolfman.
Steve Stanley also set up his table with what I can only describe as some of the finest superhero and celeb art I've seen! Steve Rude looked at his work and said, "This guy can draw."
We had a lot of folks enter the building and explore the space. Some even checking out the art before we could get it all on the walls!
Kevin Williams started off our first comic art seminar, followed by Antone Wade, Adam Shaw, and myself.
(As you can see, the A/C in the building works- right, Adam..?!)
We mostly talked about what we do, the MSCA, how we self publish our books, and then took questions from the audience. I've been impressed with the number of people who show up and sit thru our seminars at Metropolis. I've been at other conventions/shows where the panelist(s) out number the audience!
I pretty much stayed around the comics building until Muley The Mule went to emcee the kids costume contest in the tent behind our building. I had to get some shots of that! I wasn't disappointed.
The contest was great, and Muley was a hit with the kids and audience, and ended up on the front page of the Saturday Paducah paper.
While I was taking pictures I ran into Scott Cranford as Superman. He asked me if I had a button yet, and when I said no, he asked one of the staff members for one. It had a shot of him on it and was a rather nice sized button. Hope they do more next year.
He then posed with several children, each kid grinning from ear to ear to have their picture made with Superman.
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I headed back to the comics building to check on things and get a little airbrushing in. Soon the seats were filling up and it was time for Steve Rude to take the stage. He talked to the crowd about his life, as well as ask members of the audience about theirs! One young man confessed he didn't know who Steve was. The audience laughed. Someone else later at Steve's table said they didn't recognize him, either. The Dude just replied, "Well, if you like Jack Kirby's art you might like mine." And then added, "Kirby was the greatest." The Dude is not too shabby himself!
After about an hour or so The Dude went back to his table to draw sketches for fans. The guy loves to draw, and I've rarely seen him at a show where he wasn't drawing something.
A little while later the Memphis Crew and Steve Stanley closed up shop and headed to the press mixer down the street.
We missed the actual Q & A with the guests, but were able to catch Stephan Bender pose for photos with fans, and Michael Rosenbaum play Galaga in the hotel lobby! (He's actually quite good!)
Noel Neill and Larry Ward sat at a table near the heated(argh!) pool and seemed to be doing another interview.
Soon Michael, Stephan, and everyone were going their own way, so so did we. Kevin Williams and I met up outside near the casino with Steve Stanley, Scott Cranford, Marv Wolfman, a local DJ (sorry I forgot his name already- great guy, though!), David Troyer and his wife, Adam, Antone, Janet, and several more Memphis friends of ours who had just arrived in Metropolis. Introductions were made and we all decided to walk up the street to Willie Jack's. When we got there we noticed Stephan Bender and his group had already beat us there, as well as 'Wolverine' and his son. Our bunch grabbed two of the bigger tables near the front and began to order drinks, food, and talk comics!
It was a blast to listen to Marv talk about the industry and what he loves and dislikes about it. I'm jealous about all the free comics he gets each month! We also got to hear how he came up with characters like the Black Cat and Nova, as well as info on the Teen Titans comics and animated show. Steve's buddy Craig joined us for dinner. He'd just arrived in town from Georgia.
After a few hours of having fun and playing musical chairs while talking about comics and more, the staff started turning out the lights. We took the hint and headed back to our hotel rooms to crash for the night.
The next morning we did breakfast at the Huddle House again. The continental breakfast at our hotel just wasn't as good as the one we stayed at last year. The Huddle House was crowded again, but we all found seats, ate, then headed to the comics building. This was the BIG day.
Antone had beat Kevin and me there so he took the first comic seminar. He drew for the crowd, which was a good sized crowd- especially for 9 in the morning!
I was busy there most of the morning, and missed the celeb Q&A under the tent. I was really hoping to hear Michael Rosenbaum do one of his impressions!
(Antone and Sal- "MinorityTwin powers activate!")
More of our friends from Memphis and elsewhere began showing up- Jane and her boys, Jason, and Christie and Tina- two girls I met while in line a few years ago and then ran into them there again the next year.
They were nice enough to take a few photos of me and my 'Bushi Tales' partner Dave Beaty in the batmobile that first year!
Was good to see them all, and we were glad Jason drove up. He took a seat at Kevin's table and started drawing.
Several of us headed over to the Chamber of Commerce building to get autographs from Stephan, Michael, Noel, and Scott.
(It's good to look like Tom!)
When I got there Lisa asked me if I had shown Michael my Lex painting. I said no, she told me to go get it, my buddy Tim volunteered, returned with the painting, and we headed to one of the back offices. I waited outside while she took it back to show him. I took the opportunity to take a shot of Marv and Scott together.
Lisa returned and said he loved the painting- and wanted one just like it! I got back in line with it, and later when I offered it to him he said, "No, that one's yours- but I would like one just like it!" I got the info where to send it, then he signed my painting and posed for a picture or two with me and it! That was a kick!
I was disappointed that none of the guests (other than Scott/Superman) had photos to sign.
But they were willing to sign the Daily Planet newspaper, and pretty much anything else we had. Very cool- but I had left most of my stuff back at the comics building- D'oh!
I walked down the table to Noel to get my last autograph, and noticed a familiar looking guy sitting down at the end near the window. It took me a few seconds to put two and two together- and I won't give away his secret identity, but let's just say he's an X-cellent and Super-writer. He was there just to hang out, but was nice enough to sign our papers, too.
Excited about our brushes with the super-celebs, we headed back to our building and to get ready for our next/last comic seminar. Again we had a great crowd, and the highlight was when one of the audience members in the back asked Antone a question in Martianese, an Antone replied back in kind and made the 'universal sign of the donut'! Two girls walked in the side door and stood dumbfounded as they watched what was going on! We told them it was safe to come in and the audience laughed.
Soon it was time for me to go be one of the judges for the costume contest. A huge crowd had gathered under the main tent.
Trust me, as much fun as it was it was a tough job!
There were dozens of entries, and all were entertaining.
The heat made it tough for everybody, especially those with capes or in leather!
One contestant got overheated and had to pass up their spot, but did make it back later.
I hope we have as many great costumes next year as well.
Not everyone agreed with our decisions as judges, but hopefully everyone had a good time.
I think everyone there loved seeing all of the 'supers' around town all weekend.
I think there were just as many Marvel characters there this year as DC!
Six Flags even sent down a couple WB characters to walk around and pose with the kids- and big kids!
Maybe one year I'll see some "Bushi Tales" characters in the contest..!
We closed up shop around 6pm and headed down to the new hotel for the banquet and auction. The new building is great! The room was already packed (and a bit cramped) by the time we got there, and the Memphis group had to separate and find seats at three different tables. No biggie, though, we all had fine folks sharing the tables with us and had no problem striking up conversations, or drawing cartoons on napkins!
The Lois Lane, George, and Superman of Metropolis awards were handed out, and then the auction began.
There were a lot of cool items- I wanted some of the "Smallville" replica props, but since my paintings were towards the end of the auction I decided to bid on a few lower priced items, since I didn't know if I would make any money that night!
Had to keep enough set aside to get home on!
Did get to get my picture made with Noel Neill and have her and Larry Ward sign my copy of her biography.
Muley got his picture made with Noel, too.
I didn't sell any paintings, and many folks commented that the bidding just didn't get as heated as last year. I'm blaming the cost of traveling to get there as the reason for low/no bids. Hey, it was my excuse!
The auction ended a bit earlier than last year. Our group decided to load up what we had won and head back to the comic building to grab something to eat and drink. We all hung out and talked about the day and it's events while Tim played piano- the theme to "Superman:The Movie" being one of our requests.
After we had filled up we headed to the casino to try our luck.
The casino won...
The next morning we all met up at the Huddle House again, then headed for the community center one last time.
We all did a few sketches for folks, signed and/or drew on Christopher Dennis' Superman cape, and played with Tim's Super-Flying-Monkey. Tim ended up giving it to Christopher as a wedding present. It was was very much appreciated.
Speaking of which, that was next.
Superman and his 'Lois' were married under the Superman statue by Hugh Troyer.
After the ceremony the crowd was invited to the reception under the main tent.
There the couple cut three Superman themed cakes. (I couldn't believe Steve Stanley hadn't beaten them to the cakes...)
(...but with this kind of security it's no wonder they were safe!)
A bunch of us then headed over to the Superman Museum and loaded up on goodies to take back home. Ah, it's good to be a fan-boy in Metropolis!
I picked up a lot of bat-goodies and a"Superman Returns" promo card, and on my way back to the community center I stopped in the park next to the courthouse to have that mystery guest sign it. He did and I wished him luck on his next project (that is soon to be released in a theater near you!)
We did sketches and ate cake for an hour or so more before starting to pack up.
The Dude asked us if we would mind taking his and his son Brandon's picture by the statue. We said sure, and then had someone take a photo of all of us- and Christoper Dennis/Superman.
The Dude went back to his drawing table to finish up a couple more sketches while we finished up.
A young married couple stopped by. They were driving by and didn't know about the celebration. We told them they had pretty much missed it all. The groom was one of the folks I mentioned who didn't recognize The Dude. Steve was cool about it, and we all signed a program book for them, gave them some comics to take with them, and wished them good luck.
We then said our goodbyes, and then took a group photo with Steve Stanley. One of my few regrets for the weekend is not getting to hang out with Steve more. He's a super guy- sorry for the pun.
We took a wrong turn on the way home, but managed to find Boomland, buy some more Super-Flying-Monkeys, and eat dinner at Lambert's- home of the throwed rolls!
If you haven't been there, it's worth the drive!
All in all that weekend was a blast! I really can't wait for next year.
Karla, Lisa, the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce, Jim, Tim, Mayor Billy, and the whole town of Metropolis did a bang-up job of putting on this celebration.
Can't thank them, Steve Stanley, Scott Cranford, the guests, and my Memphis Mafia enough!
See you next time- same bat-time, same bat-channel..!
Lin/Jor-Elvis