Motor City Comic Con, May 2006

The spring version of the Motor City Comic Con just wrapped up (that's the cover image from the program, above). It was the first con I'd been to in a number of years; I'd stopped attending for years, having grown tired of wandering from one overpriced comic dealer table to the next and seeing "media guests" -- that's the name for the D-listers, porn stars and television has-beens that show up each year -- consistently outshine the comic guests.

(True story: one year, the Hernandez brothers, of Love & Rockets and Locas fame, appeared at a show. There was no line for them. None. These guys are incredibly talented artists and didn't attract a quarter the crowd of Jeri Ryan. Pathetic.)

But this year's show was at a new venue, featured some folks I thought I'd be interested in seeing and/or having a sketch done by and starred Karen Allen as one of the aforementioned media guests. Allen qualifies as neither a D-lister, porn star nor television has-been. She was in Raiders of the Lost Ark. 'Nuff said.

My brother and I braved the traffic construction (nearly every single road out to the venue was being worked on, and our travel time nearly doubled) and headed out to the Rock Financial Showplace ...

... and ended up having a pretty good time. Read on.