Sharing My Story

(From Don Ensign’s Journal entry)

January 26, 2008

Got up around 6:15 AM and left the house around 7:15 AM and
got to James Babcock’s place around 8 AM. We went up Ina Avenue
and stopped at a fast food place and got a short breakfast (James did).
Then we got on the Freeway (10 to Phoenix.) Got into Phoenix around
10:30 AM. Went to the Mesa Convention Center and got our Con badges.
Then we walked around the Con Dealers Room and saw Lou Ferrigno,
Noel Neill, Steve Rude and others. We then visited the Small Press
area and found the Indie Only Comics table where Paul Fini was
hanging out. Had a nice chat with him (the publisher of Sequentially Tucson)
and will be putting out a third issue in, hopefully, the near future
with the Golden Protector/Scout story printed last issue. Then we
visited around the Small Press area and met Tom Hall and Daniel
Bradford. Had a good chat with them and found out that Tom is Joey
Endres brother-in-law.



Then we found the Artist Alley table with some of the guys from the
Tucson group. James and I went to the Star Trek: Of Gods & Men
presentation with Walter Koenig and Tim Russ. They showed some
of the film--the First Episode (apparently a rough cut-it was unclear
whether this was a potential TV series or feature film material). It is
an interesting project (not a mega budget ) that includes actors from
all of the various Star Trek TV series. It was somewhat similar in
concept to the Wrath of Khan ST movie. Paramount and CBS are now
dividing the ST franchise. At that point James and I checked into a
nearby Travelodge and went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant
that was a former Mormon church building.

We then returned to the Convention Center and watched
some science fiction shorts part of a Lara Croft
Tomb Raider flick (Valerie Perez). It was violent, with
experimental techniques but with so-so acting. Then we went back to
the small press section and I talked with a Phoenix area graphic novel
discussion group. James was able to show some of his work to some
potential publishers. We then went to a panel with Michael Golden
and Patrick Scherberger. Michael had interesting things to say
about modern comics storytelling. He had high praise for the
storytelling abilities of John Bryne, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino,
and Joe Kubert. He said there is no one that can draw like Neal Adams
but he didn’t think Adams (which he has told to Adams personally)
was a great story teller. James and I had a chance for a hort chat
with Golden and complimented him on his work. At that we called
it a day and headed back to the motel. I had warned James that
I tried to suck everything out of a Con that I could.