I mentioned the Marvel booth in my first con report. We at the Shooting Star Comics booth had the good fortune to be located right next to the big Punisher movie exhibit. We thought that was lucky enough. Then the Wizard people set up a new makeshift booth (where there had just been empty space between us and Marvel)…and lo and behold, who should set up in it but Scott Kurtz of PvP himself! Scott, a Texas local, seemed to rarely have fewer than three people waiting in line to talk with him all weekend, but I got the chance to give him the signed copy of Job Wanted I had promised him and we talked a bit here and there during the course of the convention.

Joining him was Aaron Williams of “Nodwick” (a humor comic about a group of your typical role-playing fantasy characters) and “PS:238” (his newer book about a school for superhero kids). And in between the two of them sat Brandon Peterson, who was working for CrossGen. I’m not sure of Brandon’s current status at CGE, but I think he’s no longer with them. Scott Kurtz loudly postulated that CrossGen’s financial troubles were brought on by the free sodas in the break room.

Scott and Aaron were accompanied by their better halves. The creepy thing is, I recognized both of their wives instantly because of the drawings of them. Scott’s wife occassionally appears in PvP whenever Scott is drawing himself, and the likeness is uncanny. Ditto Aaron’s wife, Christi, who is the model for a teacher in PS:238. I suppose that their wives, being the most closely studied subjects, are rendered more astutely. Still, if I’d seen Ms. Kurtz walking down the street, I could have said, “Hey, you’re Scott’s wife, aren’t you?” purely on the basis of the drawing. That’s frea-kay.

Oh, I’d like to thank Aaron and Christi for the comps of the Nodwick books and PS:238 #3. I plan to review the Nodwick TPBs here on Monitor Duty as soon as I get through all of them. As for PS:238, all I have to say is that I’m calling The Source and adding that one to my pull list now. #3 is funny! While the PS238 story (I’m leaving out the colon from now on, it slows me down) that was in their Free Comic Book Day was enjoyable, this one had me chuckling many times. It follows a boy who has to attend the superhero school because he’s the offspring of two of the major superheroes of that universe…but so far, he’s just a normal kid who gets whomped in gym and longs to attend a normal school. It’s touching, it’s cute, it’s funny. The only thing I might recommend is a bit of exposition about the idea that the meta-children school is underneath a school for normal kids and they mix at recess and lunch. That was confusing at times; once I picked up on that, a re-reading was even funnier.

Oh: If you want to know what Victor Von Doom’s kid would be like in elementary school, check out PS:238 #3.

Other stuff…let’s see…

Viper Comics had a booth that made me envious. A nice logo, simple booth with an attractive design, good placement…and a superior product! “Dead@17” issue #1 is all they had to push, which made for a focused sales pitch. It was the only other new independent comic I picked up because it is impressive. I can best summarize it as “If Dini and Timm made a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic”. It’s got murdered teens, shadowy agents, mystery and zombies. What stunned me is the CrossGen-like quality of the publication for an independent comic. How they got the budget to do that, I don’t have a clue, but I can only seethe with jealousy while wishing them the best. (And now I have to buy the rest in order to see how it comes out.)

Scott McCullar and John Neal traded copies of Shooting Star Comics Anthology for Dead@17. Jeez, I paid for mine in cash! Consarn razzerfrattin dagnabbit…

And, like many at Wizard World, I left with a pantload of half-price TPBs that I bought from a guy who looks for all the world like Steve Buscemi. If you’re at a convention and see the Steve Buscemi guy, tell him I sent ya.