thanks to all for a great show !!!!
especially the manufactures for all the great promo's - I think I ended up with 33 different ones

arrived safely home last night around 11pm
after driving 8 hours in the rain !

I still have to unload all the stuff in my trunk that I purchased at the show
hopefully I will get around to posting all the cool things I got

including the sketches from the artists !
- pleasure meeting all of you
best part of the show

As has been stated by others, the show was awesome and went by too quickly, it seemed like we were always on the go, and we were. No time for much sleep (except Mrs. Batman), arrived Friday night, had dinner and then relaxed a bit in the room until I was phoned up by Graham and invited out for pints at Red Robin with Hammer, Harris, and Mrs. Batman. Harris gave me a birthday card with a big surprise, a sketch card of Blue, the Colts mascot and Gwen from Torchwood and done by my "Sugarbear", Kate Bradley! Harris also gave me my Thor AP's Kate did that she was suppossed to send to me, I had been wondering where they were! Hammer was also very generous and gave me a box of Torchwood cards that are only available in the UK. It was after midnight when we were back in our room, but it was good to hang out for a bit. My wife found Graham very entertaining! Oh, yes, Graham had the wait staff bring me ice cream and sing happy birthday to me!

Up early on Saturday to line up for the show and secure a Versicolor Bettie Page exclusive. I was # 6 in the line, the weather was not the best but at least there was an awning at the entrance so I was able to stay dry and we were let in the building early so not too bad. The show was well attended on Saturday morning, I spent a lot of the first part of the day chatting with everyone, went back to the hotel to pick up Mrs. Batman (she dosen't do mornings) and got back to the show. Picked up commissions from Sean Pence and Rhi Owens (pics coming) both were fabulous! Checked to make sure I had all the available promos, had some lunch at the concession area, and made my first purchases, a Divas and a Star Wars Galaxy 6 box, a Treasure Chest and Booty set from Axebone, and a Justice League sketch done by "Sugarbear" Kate Bradley. At this point, Graham and hammer were going back to the hotel, and the poor chaps had already experienced a couple of long and expensive taxis\limos, so Mrs. Batman gave them a ride back to the Hilton while I stayed at the show. I then get a text from my wife that she is having beers with boys at Red Robin, so can I find a ride back! Tbear was kind enough to offer me one, but then Mrs. Batman showed up and informed me that she was only kidding, real nice! It was a great day one of the show, the biggest highlight being Harris announcing to everyone that there were some people who all had recent birthdays, one being me! They had a cake with all our names on it, (Marlin got top billing, as he should), and everyone sang happy birthday, and Graham gave me a giant card with signatures from many card talkers, dealers, and artists, it was great! Thanks to everyone who helped make it a memorable day!

Off to the Sands casino, had dinner at the Carnegie Deli with Alan Biegel and Bill DeFranzo (thanks for the chocolates, Bill!), then there was some unsuccessful gambling, and back to teh hotel for the Red Robin gathering, which was a great time as always, the official count was 21 people! Did a number of group box openings, some cool stuff was pulled, and of course there were onion rings!

Another early day on Sunday, had a bit of breakfast and helped Harris get ready for the gathering, which was another successful event, and you can watch the entire proceedings right here on Card Talk! I won a box of Star Wars ESB widevision cards, and everyone got a random assortment of promos at the entrance table from Cult Stuff.

Back to the show, I had been eyeing a cool Family Guy sketch of Lois as Batgirl, so I picked that up and two more boxes of Divas. Once again back to the hotel to pick up Mrs. Batman, and we did a final tour of the show floor and say goodbye to everyone. It did go much too quickly! It was good to see everyone, and it was a great show to kick-off the 2011 convention season, WW\Big Apple up next, then WW Philly, Comic Con (I better see you there, Graham!)and back to Allentown in October. I'm sure I have missed a couple of things, but it was hectic, if I missed anything, feel free to add it! Now, here are the pictures:


Harris and Mrs. Batman



Harris working hard at the NSU table!



It was great to see Hammer and Graham, entertaining, too!



A shot of the Red Robin gathering, sorry it's a bit blurry, I had an adult beverage or two before I took this!



Commissions from Sean and Rhi, Treasure Chest and Booty pulls, my Kate Bradley Hawkgirl JL purchase, and a cool Family Guy card by Mark Dos Santos! Also there is the blank Bettie Page sketch card, any guesses who will be doing that?



First up is the cool card that Harris gave me for my birthday, Blue and Gwen, a collision of alternate universes, lol! Thanks again Harris, this is great! Also shown are my "missing" Thor AP's, lol! Kate rocked on these!

I'm working on getting a photo up of the card that Graham gave me, it's cool too!



This was tough to scan because is was big! A great keepsake from my 50th!

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Wow Batman looks and sounds like everyone had a great time

Here are my photos from the show (report to follow). I figured everyone else was taking pictures of the artist and manufacturers displays so I focused on taking photos of some of the stuff that was available to buy (and photos of the room in general). This only covers about half the room (forgot to put new batteries in the camera).


Derek Woywood (NonSport cards here on the boards) finishes setting up (Tony from Triangle Cards is in the background talking with TBear)


then sits back and waits for the crowd to arrive









There was a good selection of supplies...


as well as boxes, binders and everything else you could think of








Harris talking with Tom at the Sidekick Media booth








Stuff guy had some neat stuff for sale










This is just a fraction of the auto and costume cards that were for sale around the room



Tony Jones and his Thor-sized mug


Ted (TBear) wonders what Tony has in the mug

I actually managed to get home with no Disney-related purchases (can't remember the last time that happened) but I did pick up a few things.

Storm PSC from Rhiannon Owens


Wolfman PSC from Tony Perna (I also picked up a couple of sketch card prints)


30 card set of DC Comics Taystee Bread cards that I looked at last show and decided to buy this time around



I also picked up a Voltron book from Ted Dastick Jr. a Vader print from Sean Pence, and the new issue of NSU.

I enjoyed talking with everyone and catching up on the latest news. It was sad that some of the regular folks were unable to attend, but it seemed like there were lots of new people, which is always a good thing. The show had a bit of an international feel with Graham and Kevin attending from the UK and a decent number of folks attending from Canada (had an interesting discussion on Sunday morning about how American money is less colorful compared to Canadian bills). Hopefully this is a new trend.

I actually made it to the Red Robin gathering this year and had fun opening packs and chatting with folks. I won a box (not sure that's the correct term) of Cereal Killers cards at the Card Talk Breakfast which was a nice surprise.

quote:

Originally posted by WandringRebel:

Wow
There are a couple of Binders I need in that pic.
Drat Australia's high shipping cost for Binders

Here's where I get to brag:

I got to have dinner with Sean Pence, Tony Perna, Elaine Perna, and Axebone both nights. There was also this shifty guy named Don Weezay, but we'll talk more about him later Only had dinner with Ted Dastick one night but someone sat between us so we didn't get to chitty chat. Meghan Hetrick kept me company both days sitting with me at my table and I got to see her Dungeon Dolls cards in progress. NYAH NYAH! She was a riot and so sweet. She even made a marker run and got two shades of gray I burned thru on the first day. She is AWESOME in person; more than her art, if that's humanly possible * some would argue but I digress *

I got to meet the guys in charge of Breygent for the first time, the new guys in charge of Crypzotic, and met a lot of really nice fans. One lady told me she drove all the way there JUST to meet me and shake my hand. I nearly cried. That alone made the trip worth it. Thank you, Miss Beth.

I got to meet Scoundrels SWBill, WanderingRebel, Darth Smittyous, Fboothiii, Bogleg, B@tman, Htoser, and other members from the NSU boards like HC_Brewer. They were all very nice, had a good time chatting with them and meeting their friends and wives who traveled with them. Got to meet our art director from RA and the president of the company who said a nice thank you for the work I do. Also had a LOAD of commissions which I wasn't expecting.

The panel discussion on Sunday morning was a fun way to start the day even though my vampiric tendencies HATED being awake at 7:00 to get ready. Sorry, no mohawk everyday but I was working on barely 3 hours of sleep a night since Thursday night. Those that were there on Saturday did get to see it. I took pics with Graham and Elaine and the art gang. It was a blast. I must admit that even though I was without my normal con group * whom I missed like WHOA this weekend * I was in awesome company 24/7 and would do it over again in a heartbeat.

Highlights from the show were:

---"JLA cards??? They better not be no JLA cards!"
***** straw toppers and the creepy guy who I ran off from our table at Red Robin
---DON WEEZAY!
Poptarts all the way from Canada in exchange for some Amercian brownies!
---Hugs from the Pernas.
Making Sean Pence laugh so much his face hurt and him becoming more of a brother than ever....
---Traveling with Axebone who looked out for us all and made sure we were all smiling.
Meghan Hetrick. Period.
---Hugs from England! And an amazing jersey shirt embroidered with my name on it !
" Yeah, beautiful....the sketches ain't bad either" ( said with a thick English accent )
---Free bagels on Sunday morning.
Drawing my first Zombie sketch card ever!
---PAULBLA!
BAM!
---Having a camera in my face for 30 + minutes at dinner one night capturing all my loopy, sleepless glory.
Talking to Veronica O'Connell and having her tell me she was in bed with her leg up. Be jealous. Her Oirish accent. So cute!
---" My....name....is.......LADY GA GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"


If you didn't go, you missed out on more than cards. It was like family and it was amazing.

There are some really great posts in this thread. I'm really enjoying reading them.

I like your pics Laura. Your commissions are really top notch.

I like the picture of Graham with his leg up. I guess that's what it takes to get Batman to smile in a photo. That and cake!

It was a great weekend but definitely a blur. I did not get to talk to a lot of people and I really don't know where the time went.

Big thanks to Rhi and the rest of the artists. We had a great crew this time. So many people commented to me this weekend about our great line-up. Big shout-out to Mr. Tony Perna for helping me move it along. I guess once you get Tony on board, you can get folks like Axebone, Sean, Ted and Rhi on board too.

I could go on but I've leave it at that.

Cliff sent over 99 shots tonight. I will weed them down to 20 or 30 and post 'em shortly.

OK, here are a bunch of pictures taken by Cliff Tooker.

SETUP TIME


Janet and Neil skirt the tables


Scott and Larry work on dealer packs

I could have totally spent my life saving at this show!
Thanks for all the pics and stories guys and gals

SETUP TIME


Still working on the dealer packs


Carol and I work on artist table tents

Tony Perna's table. That's Graham in the green shirt.


The Cryptozoic Entertainment tables, with Scott and Jenna. Not the best picture of Scott - Sorry. And that's Otim standing in front

Janet writes the next prize winner on the board. And that's Tony "supervising." Tony's expressions make me smile, for some reason.


SideKick and The Cardhacks tables. Check out Tom's shirt -- "Chicks dig card nerds". Unfortunately, this picture is a little dark. Tom told me he had decided he need to step up his display and thus used the briefcase display, nice fabrics, fancy signage, etc. Unfortunately, you can't see it so well in this photo. I've got a link that I'll post later with a whole mess of Tom's own photos and you'll be able to see it in those.

Dealer Mike Goldblatt and Card Talk member Curler


Hammer and Graham at the Cryptozoic Entertainment tables

This message has been edited. Last edited by: H_Toser,

T Breyer Unique Cards' tables. That's Beamer behind the table and NSU's Bill DeFranzo in front.


Here's most of the artist -- Jay Lynch (blue shirt), Elaine Perna, Tony Perna, and Sean in the black shirt behind them with Sean's friend John.

Nice shot of Tony Perna and NSU Card Talk Member Kevin LePore


Dan from Famous Fabrics behind his table.

Scott and Jenna from Cryptozoic Entertainment behind the table and Rittenhouse Archives' Denise in front.


A good shot of the show.

Artist Ted Dastick Jr.


Jay Lynch with the Wacky Packages fans

Another shot of the artists -- Jay Lynch, Elaine Perna, and Tony Perna


Here's some of the crowd waiting to get in on Saturday morning.

Axebone


Sean Pence