I wanted to save this last post on the 2015 Baltimore Comic Con to say thanks to the people who made this weekend happen for me.
To my girl Angelica, for giving up her weekend and braving the journey with me. You worked hard all weekend at the show and I couldn’t have done it without you! Love you!
To the crew of the Baltimore Comic Con, especially Brad Tree, for being very helpful to a first-timer, putting on such a great show, and for having the ‘Kids Love Comics’ pavilion.
To all my fellow artists, it was so great to meet so many of you (finally) in person!
To all the Con-goers that stopped by, especially those who bought some Graveyard Gang comics!
And a very huge, heartfelt thank you to the ‘Kids Love Comics’ crew Mark Mariano, Chris Mariano, and John Gallagher! The weekend long event was filled with all kinds of activities geared to involve kids in not only reading comics but drawing and creating them as well!
Mark Mariano was first to reach out to me and invite me to this year’s Con. When we met in person at the Con he was so kind and generous with his time, offering some great advice, and even hosting the Doodle Scribble Draw championship I participated in (me and artist partner Jacob Chabot took home the belts!). Not only is Mark an organizer of the Kids Love Comics pavilion (which is held at several other Comic Conventions as well) he’s an amazing artist with a great variety of all-ages work and books which you can find HERE
Stopping by to say hi to the amazing Mark Mariano!
Chris Mariano (yes, they’re related!) is another amazing fellow who worked tirelessly all weekend making the Kids Love Comics pavilion a big hit. He was so glad we made the trip and he made us feel very welcome. And despite being out straight making sure the planned events for the kids went well, he took the time to stop by often to check in and make sure Gel and I were doing well.
Me catching Chris Mariano between his busy ‘Kids Love Comics’ events!
John Gallagher is another amazing artist and makes his comic business a family affair, creating comics with his daughter Katie and sons Jack and Will. It was great to meet John and share our love for kids’ comics which is brought to life through Kids Love Comics. His enthusiasm for what we do got me reenergized to make comics! You can find his (and his kids) work HERE
Sneaking a quick photo with John Gallagher at his table. He makes comic creating a family affair!
John and Mark also have a Kids Love Comics website which promotes all ages comics and graphic novels. A great resource for kids, adults, families, teachers, and librarians. You should should check it out HERE
So as you can tell, this was such a wonderful experience which opened my eyes to lots of new possibilities. I hope this is just the beginning of my association with Kids Love Comics and I hope Mark, Chris, John and I can keep in touch and work together in the future.
Me proudly displaying my victory belt!
