"I'll See You In Baltimore!"

That's the slogan for the Baltimore Comic-Con.  As I've said here before, Baltimore is what San Diego used to be -- a three-day nerdfest celebrating all things comic book.  Virtually no Hollywood or television influence.  Sometimes a small indy gaming company will have a presence, and the cosplay has definitely grown and improved over the years, but it's really all about the comic books -- celebrating the stories and the characters, meeting and discussing with creators, and of course, doing some shopping so as to fill in the holes in that collection of, oh, say, your 1960's Green Lantern collection.

The whole family is going this time, hoping to meet some of our favorite creators, including old friend Jimmy Gownley who has achieved riotous success with his creation Amelia Rules! and Gail Simone, probably my favorite comics creator working today.  Gail Simone is a writer who has written some of the best comics of the last decade, including Tomb Raider, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Secret Six, and Deadpool.  Her independent project with artist Jim Calafiore, Leaving Megalopolis, is in my opinion one of the great works of fiction of the past decade, never mind that it's a graphic novel.  Gail is my hero, not only for the strong female characters she writes, but for her deeply real characters and her fierce determination to include LGBTQ and differently-abled characters in her work.  I think that she's amazing, and apparently the comics industry agrees, because Gail is flying in from her home in the Pacific Northwest to deliver the keynote address at the Harvey Awards in Baltimore -- the comics world's Oscars.

Not dressing up in costume this time, but I haven't been this excited for a con since I got to meet Stan Lee a couple of years ago.  In Baltimore, of course.  You can't get near the man in San Diego.