This time next week, I'll be sitting at a table in, what I assume will be, a giant warehouse full of nerds (I use the term indearingly). My brother will be drawing commissions and I'll be talking to numerous passersby. We will each be in our respective elements.
Yes, we will be at Wizard Con in Nashville. It's October 18-20, and if you're around, you can find us at table B22. Within eyeshot of our humble booth will be artist extroadinaires such as Tom Bancroft, Eric Powell, and Freddie Williams, to name a few. On the other side of the room, you'll find Bruce Campbell, Eliza Dushku, Norman Reedus, and several other actors. And in between, well, you might drown in a sea of cosplayers and comic book venders. But if you show up at a comic book convention, that's kind of what you're hoping for, isn't it?
I love this scene. Events like this make me really feel alive and ready to take on the world. In fact, it's more than that - I feel like, by being involved, I am taking on the world and it feels good! Since I was about 12 years old, I've been up to my ears in the music scene (no pun intended), either playing in bands or just hanging out with them. I've been on the road and worked in studios, sat in on writing sessions and rehearsals, and involved to various degrees from being in charge to just being a fly on the wall. As long as I'm there, I'm happy, wading through this creative subculture and drinking deep from its vibrant wells. It never gets old. Never. Now, as I delve into the literary world, I'm finding the same experience, the same kind of fresh air feeling. I wonder aimlessly through the aisles of a comic con and just take in my surroundings - hundreds (thousands) of people united under this common love, not just an interest but a love, of imagination. We are all hungry for color, story, words and characters to connect with in an otherwise lonely existence, something - anything - more than the 401k world has to offer. And here we find our fill, here we rejoice in creativity and...weirdness. It is, I dare to think, a kind of odd glimpse of the Kingdom Come. A community gathered to be filled and to celebrate together in that fullness. Of course, the fill we find in Christ is so much more, eternally more, than any comic or film can give, and so I pray as I go along. Lord, let your light shine here, in story and sketch, in me and my conversations with a hungry community, starving for something more than this 401k world has to offer.
Books on Sale
