The last time I went to a convention, I was nine years old. Spawn had just come out and Todd McFarlane was coming to town. One of my family friends called me up and asked if I wanted to go. This was great, I going to meet the person who created Spawn. So I went to grab my comics until my older brother stopped me, "Ramsey, you can't take your own comics." Why did I listen to him? But this year I was prepared. At least I thought I was.

Working for Lone Star Comics, I was asked to help with the booth. So this time I grabbed some comics from my long box on assumption that I would be given some time to look around. Man, have conventions changed. At my first convention I remember standing in long lines to get in, Long lines to see Todd McFarlane, a couple of booths of guys selling some back issues, a couple of indie booths, and a whole bunch of stinky middle aged guys.

When I stepped in to the convention floor, things have changed big time. People selling all kinds of stuff were getting their booths ready, from comics to action figures, and games to giant microbes. Music was bumping, lights shining, and the booth babes were adjusting their outfits. I don't remember chicks being at the last convention.

But sadly, I had to work. No play time for me, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. I kept giving people mono (remember I said someone was selling giant microbes, that was me), mad cow, polio, and so on. Man was it tiring, but a fellow vendor kept us on a steady supply of caffeinated water and a booth chick that I threw mono at gave us some handfuls of caffeinated gum.

On my lunch break I went out and explored the floor. First stop, Viper Comics. If you guys come to the website often you may have read my interview with the president of Viper Comics. Viper is a local publishing company that is starting to make a big name for themselves. At the booth, they were selling the new issues of Dead @ 17 and The Lost Books of Eve, both created by Josh Howard. Their new graphic novel is A Bit Haywire created by writer Scott Zirkel and artist Courtney Huddleston. Jessie Garza wasn't there when I went, they nearly sold out of their books, and Jessie had to get some more. But I did get to talk to Josh Howard (more about that later).

Next I went to Billy Tan's booth, if you guys don't know who he is, shame on you. This guy is currently drawing Uncanny X-Men. I introduced myself as a member of the GUILD, told him what we were about. That's when he looked at my shirt and said, "Oh, I've talked to one of you guys just a second ago." He pointed down to a business card, and guess whose name was on it: J. Schuh. We continued to talk for a while and exchanged e-mails.

Then I had to book it back to work, when I got there they said, oh your back, go to the WizKids booth and ask for pointers on selling their stuff. Cool, so I went over there and got to play their new game Oshi (in stores now), which is a strategic game much like chess or checkers. I also got to see their Heroclix like Galactus, Spectre, and the really cool Marvel Zombies which you can only get in the Supernova booster packs.

Eventually it was time to go, we closed down our booth rather quickly and as I looked around I noticed a few more people still getting their stuff together. So I decided to do a quick walk around. I saw Rob Liefield and got him to sign an old X-Force comic. And then I met Angel Medina, this guy drew Spawn and is now drawing The Sensational Spider-Man. Told him who I was and what the GUILD was all about. He said that he travels a lot and comes to Texas at least once a year. He also showed me some pages that he penciled for a SSM issue that should be out in February '07. It was cool, he couldn't tell me why, but Spidey is back in black.

So ends my day, I got to go to Wizard World Texas for free, better yet get paid for going. I got three signatures. A couple of e-mail addresses. And potentially three new contacts and a little bit closer to getting a comic professional to come talk to the GUILD. Not bad for a Saturday.