So I know I can’t stop gushing about the San Diego ComicCon.  I was so excited to being going and each day I looked forward to its attendance.  See, here’s the deal.  You think you KNOW what the Con is all about, don’t you?  Superman and Batman and Green Lantern and nerds dressed like Star Wars and other beloved comic characters.  Ok, sure the Con has that. In droves. But it has SO MUCH MORE.  Like what, Nola? you ask.

Well, I don’t go for the superheros so much or even the sneak peeks to upcoming comic book- (or graphic novel-) turned movie.  Sure, I like a lot of those movies but no more than the next gal.  No, what I go for is the art. Yes, art.  Not all of the art is comics.  Many of these artists do lots of other styles of art.  And going to the Con can get you in on the newest stuff these folks are doing AND you can get your piece signed and even personalized.  Further, many of they folks also write and/or illustrate books not in the comic format.  And so you can buy those too.

Enough of me telling you about it.  Let me show you.  My absolute favorite booth at the Con was the whimsical and surreal Artist Sisters.  I showed you their booth in my earlier ComicCon post:

Artist Sisters are—can you guess?—sisters that are artists.  They each have a different look but each one’s work definitely compliments the other.  Two years ago, I bought a small print of C.J. Metzger’s, and on Day One this year I bought an original mixed media piece from her sister, Miss Mindy.

C.J. Metzger print, “Modesty.”

Miss Mindy’s “Designer Fish.”

In addition to their fabulous art, these two talents also write and illustrate children’s books.  So on Day Three, I bought their box set, one book by each sister (the box is at the bottom of the pic):

Each book is signed by the author and personalized, in this case to Sun.  Sun LOVES her new books. She actually sat quietly on my lap last night as I read one of them to her.

Day Four, we returned YET AGAIN to their booth and bought a second box set for a certain friend’s little girl for Christmas.  I am pretty certain mother and daughter are going to love it!

My only regret? I should have bought more from them!  Now I have to wait a whole year to lay my eyes on their work again to make more selections.

And I am confident the sisters work next year will not disappoint.  How will I ever have the patience to wait?

As I stepped out of the airport and in to the parking garage, I was hit with a wall of humidity.  It was only 83 degrees, even at 10:30 at night, but the air was thick and moist; it felt heated, like I was in a sauna.  As we then entered our house, still sticky with sweat, I saw a mosquito fly by.  And I sighed.  Humidity and mosquitoes. Yes, they are omnipresent in New Orleans and not surprising to be faced with immediately upon my arrival.  Yet they annoyed me.  I was not relieved to be home. 

To leave the absolute perfect humid-free weather of San Diego, with its beautiful beaches and pleasant outdoor dining, and return to the sultry summer in the South that is New Orleans was not liberating; no, it was oppressive.

And now there is a pile of laundry to do, groceries to buy, a house to rent, work to do at the office—all the things I gleefully abandoned for our trip.  How nice it was to be relieved of the pressure.  But stepping into the steam of New Orleans brought with it all the pressures of my day-to-day life without reminders of the pleasures.

Now, today, Monday, I will struggle to get that first day back under my belt.  And I will do the tasks I am required to do.  And soon (I hope) I will be charmed again with this sultry city of mine.  New Orleans owns me, I know that for certain, but I can dream of summers spent away. 

Too tired to write what I saw.  Here are pics instead:

Incredible, eh?

First purchase of the day was from Artist Sisters.

Aren’t these Ugly Dolls cute?

Emily the Strange.

Con-goers striking a pose.

This was written in 2006 upon my return from that year’s International Comic Convention.

2006 was my first ComicCon. Let me say straight away that I was not disappointed.  I didn’t give much thought to what I expected, but looking back I realized that I expected a Star Trek-esque thing to be going on.  I thought I’d stand out for not being in costume; I did not stand out.  In fact, being one of something like 125,000 attendees, it is hard to stand out.  But one thing did stand out for me: Batton Lash’s “Tales of Supernatural Law.”

Here’s what happened.

ComicCon 2006 had 55 rows of exhibitors, and each row was divided into 4 sections.  Each section, in turn, had maybe 8 exhibitors.  That makes for over 1,500 booths in an area of 460,000 square feet.  The first walk through the Con lasted 3 hours, and we had seen no more than a third of it, and much of that, we discovered, was overlooked when we spent our second day there.

Wedged between one of the main entrances and DC Comics’ huge space was a small booth that CS and I kept passing.  It had a sign that read: “Supernatural Law.”  You have to understand that I am that annoying person in the movie theater that sighs heavily and keeps repeating “yeah, right!” during legal thrillers.  I am an attorney.  But I am not the suing kind of attorney.  So even if the legal technicalities are off, I may not notice more than the non-attorney sitting next to me.  But when the theories of law are so far-fetched, my bubbled suspension of disbelief bursts, and there is no putting it back together.  So instead of suffering through these types of movies (and novels and TV shows and comics), I usually just skip them.  And so naturally, when I saw “Supernatural Law” with the tag line “Beware the Creatures of the Night–they have lawyers!” we walked on by and by and by.

On the fourth or fifth walk-by, we had by then stopped at every other booth at least once, and it seemed that, for the sake of completeness if nothing else, we should stop here, too.  Batton Lash, the writer and artist, was signing his books.  He was very personable and, well, normal.  To his credit, he is not a lawyer.  We bought one of his trade paperbacks, had him sign it, and walked back to the hotel.

As we rested before going out to dinner, I picked up “Tales of Supernatural Law” and began reading.  This is the deal: It isn’t for lawyers.  It isn’t (really) about the law.  It is a monster book.  Good ole classic creatures.  Ed Wood monsters.  And these monsters have troubles, troubles the kind a lawyer can help with.  But the legal end of things is not far-fetched.  I mean, the far-fetched part is that monsters exist, not that if they did exist they’d have legal problems.  Why should monsters be so lucky as to avoid legal woes?  So if you can go along with the premise that monsters can exist, then the well done legal twist will not be a distraction; in fact, it is quite refreshing.  What I am saying is that I was pleasantly surprised that this trade paperback did not cause my bubbled suspension of disbelief to burst.  And that, my friends, is saying a lot.

What “Supernatural Law” has is Dracula hiring Wolff and Byrd, counselors of the macabre, to sue for the use of his name without proper compensation; a suit for damages caused by a cursed  monkey’s paw; a hexed super model; grave robbing; haunted houses; ghosts; and even a touch of romance.  For example, the first monster we meet is Sodd–he had an accident with some toxic waste and lightening and was mutated into a mangled mass of tree limbs.  During the change, he did damage to public property and was arrested.  He hires Wolff and Byrd to defend him.  Their first move is to get him out on bail.  The grounds?  Sodd’s roots (pun very much intended) in the community.  You don’t need to be Sandra Day O’Connor to get this legalese.  But Batton does have a licensed attorney as a consultant, and so he gets the “legal stuff” right.

Wolff and Byrd’s NYC offices reminded me of Jack Nicholson’s P.I. office in “Chinatown” or maybe Sam Spade’s.  Shadowy figures crossing over the etched glass door.  Batton told us the next day that he had in mind the one- and two-man ambulance chasing law firms in Brooklyn he was familiar with in his former neighborhood.  (Batton now lives in San Diego, being one of the many men that lost the long-distance romance battle over who would move).

That night, we did manage to enjoy a nice meal with friends and the milder San Diego weather.  But as soon as we were back in the hotel, I was reading again, and more again in the morning.  With just under 200 pages, “Tales of Supernatural Law” is chuck full of good, er, tales. So if you are in the mood for a romp of classic monsters and creatures with a new twist, this trade paperback is for you!

Tomorrow we return to San Diego for my second attendance of ComicCon.  I will do my best to get good pics and stories for interesting posts whilest away.  We will even get Sun out in the California sun!  Oh, the fun we will have!

I have begun a list in my head, not even on paper yet.  I have gotten a haircut and bought a bathing suit.  Today I will go to the library to check out Sue Grafton’s “T is for Trespass” for the flight and I will get a pedicure.

Although this upcoming trip isn’t technically a vacation, I have allowed myself the indulgence of thinking of it as one.  How could I not when we are certain to be dining at La Strada, one of my all-time favorite restaurants?  Also, it will be Sun’s first trip to the beach.  And as far as U.S. beaches are concerned, they don’t get much better than Coronado Island.

Considering I just had to convince my husband that in fact today is NOT Sunday, I’d say we’re all in need of a change in latitude.

For many years now, CS and I have traveled for the long Thanksgiving holiday.  We’d take advantage of the fact that my office is closed on Thursday and Friday and all I needed to do was take Wednesday off (or maybe Tuesday, too) to get a nice stretch of time away.

Last year, we took a cruise to Cozumel.  In earlier years, we’ve done NYC (I’ve seen the Macy’s Day Parade live–it’d be better if they threw stuff!), Taos, Denver, Dallas,  Houston, San Diego, San Francisco, Mobile…. This year, we were returning to Houston but the closed interstate changed our plans at the last minute.

So, ironically, this year, Sun’s first, will be spent doing what I did for countless Thanksgivings–returning to my parents’ home for dinner.  As far as tradition goes, leaving town to travel away from family is an odd one.  But it has always been a great thing for CS and me.

This year, we are doing the “traditional” tradition: joining with family to stuff our gills and play games.  Maybe it took a decade away from this tradition for me to appreciate it again.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  Eat it Up!