So after a fulling lunch at a really good mexican restaurant with plenty of good converstation, Tony and I returned to the convention. Tony had found a couple phonebooks that he was going to have Dave sign so of course we went back for a second round.

When we returned to the Rhodes Center, guess who was sitting outside smoking a cigar (not a big cigar, one of those little ones that almost looks like a cigarette)? Gerhard. Sitting there peacefully smoking, no fanboys/girls bothering him and I didn't want to be a pest either. Tony and I walked by, said hello and went inside to get in line to see Dave. Let the man enjoy his break time I thought.

Which reminds me -- the only time I saw Dave get up was to go to a panel discussion on zines and to present the Day Prize. I went to the panel "Where It All Began: Minicomix History 1972-1983" with Dave Sim, Matt Feazell (who by the way, was also staying at my hotel -- I din't know who he was at first, but his trademark hat gave him away), Joe Zabel and hosted by Bruce Chrislip.

The panel was pretty interesting -- for someone who knew pretty much zippo about the formation of mini comics, it was informative. A few of the things I remember thinking to myself -- I was amazed at how long Matt has been doing mini comics. I though he was in his mid twenties or so. Not quite. Heh. Another thing, Dave joked about his reputation. Dave didn't dominate the panel like I thought he might, but instead threw in some funny one liners (like buying some minis from Bruce during the panel) and didn't talk any more then any of the other guests.

About an half hour after the panel discussion was over, the Day Prize was to be awarded. First, they held a raffle for a set of Cerebus phonebooks, some mini comic and a few other things to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Gerhard drew the tickets out of the box and the names of the winners were called out. Then Dave was introduced to award the Day Prize to Bill Knapp for his graphic novel "Faith: A Fable". I went up the front towards the stage so I could get a better few and get a couple snapshots. I got one of Dave and then I looked over at the people watching Dave. Gerhard and his camera were there taking pictures.

Now, as a Cerebus fan, I remembered all the pictures on the back covers (and front covers at times) by Gerhard's Camera. So I tried to snap a quick pic of the two together, but as I hit the shutter button Gerhard bent over and all I got was a picture of his backside. Grrr.

As for my "second" meeting with Dave - I was no better the first time then I was the second time. Dave was talkin with Alex Robinson (of Box Office Poison fame). Dave was drawing a sketch for him, while Tony, myself and a couple other fans waited patiently. We finally got to the head of the line, Tony had his phonebooks signed. Some guy from one of the online comic magazines (I think he said Savant) came by was trying to bust in the line to talk to Dave. Supposedly to get an interview done. At first the guy wanted to sit behind the table with Dave, but Dave politely told him no, to sit to the side. So the guy sat by the side of the table and talked to Dave while the fans came up to try and talk to Dave also. The guy was very nice, but if you wanted to do an interview, please wait until the con is over or schedule a time with Dave independently. Tony tried to talk to Dave, got his phonebooks signed and that was that.

And from what I heard, nothing came of the "interview." Oh well.

The whole time I was no better off then I was the first. I couldn't think of any questions to ask him, any topics to talk to him about, nor did I have anything else for him to sign or draw a sketch on. Besides, a fan was standing behind us with a small comic box fulled with phonebooks (it looked like all of them) waiting for Dave to sign them all.

Tony got his signed phonebooks, and we said our goodbyes to Dave and Gerhard. Dave had stood up again, and I looked at him, he had this strange look on his face that I couldn't quite place. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't quite get it out. I felt the exact same way. I said Goodbye guys, thanks! Turned around and left.

Only one picture this time, the pic of Gerhard's backside didn't want to scan. So here is the pic of Dave making the award presentation. It isn't the greatest quality -- I took it with one time use camera from quite distance away for such a little 35 mm lens. Next time I'll bring the zoom lens.


From the Cerebus Fangirl Site found on the web at: http://www.cerebusfangirl.com contents maybe printed for later reading if you so desire, just don't copy it and say it's yours though.