Las Vegas Comic Expo was a small show compared to SDCC and WonderCon but they made up for it with heavy hitters from the comic industry.  I live in Southern Cali so it was a 4 hour drive for me.  It was worth the trip as I got sketches from Tim Bradstreet (Punisher), Mark Brooks (X-Men), Philip Tan (Spawn), Jay Savage, Norm Rapmund (Flash), Simon Bisley (Batman). Got all of it in less than 2 hours.  The sketches weren’t for me but for a local So Cal kid, Kai, he’s battling bone marrow failure.  It said in a newspaper article that Kai loved Batman and Spider-Man so I thought he’d be happy with sketches from awesome artists.

The first person that drew a sketch was Tim.  He took his time and created a troll like sketch.  I told him I’ll see him soon at Long Beach Comic Con in November and thanked him for his generosity.

Tim Bradstreet

Next up was Simon Bisley of Batman and Judge Dredd fame.  He looked intimidating because he seemed to be yelling at the fans that would stop by his booth.  Regardless, I asked him if he’d do a sketch for Kai and he was more than happy to do it.  He said that “sucks” and “feels terrible.”  At first, he thought I wanted him to draw a sketch of Kai but I told him a Batman will be great.  Bisley said “No problem.  That’ll be easy.”  Bisley was quite a character and another fan asked for a sketch, he jokingly asked for a fee.  The guy agreed but Bisley said he will do it for free.  He didn’t have any prints to sell or any merchandises so he was just there to mingle with the fans.

Simon Bisley

Next to him was Mike Choi.  I asked him for a sketch as well but he said he was too tired to draw (this was around 5:30 p.m.) and I totally understood.  Instead of a sketch, he said he’d donate a $20 Batman print for Kai.  I was stoked!  I also had my Batman: Court Of Owls signed since he did a variant cover for it.  I also asked Mr. Bisley to sign it even though he wasn’t involved cus he was just so damn cool.  He asked: “Are you sure?”  I told him it’d be an “honor” and he said “No dude, the honor is all mine.”

Mike Choi

Afterwards, I walked around the showroom looking for goodies to buy.  I stopped by Velvet Comic’s booth and picked up a McFarlane Corpse Bride Figure set.  Steven is the owner of Velvet and I’ve met him a couple of times before.  It was nice to see him again.

I also picked up Batman #0 from another vendor for $2.  I was looking for a Batman Black White Jock statue but had no luck.  Oh well next time.

I passed by Mark Brooks booth and asked him for a sketch.  Without hesitation, he drew right away even though he was working on a commission.  It probably took him to draw the sketch as he used a pencil first then a marker afterwards.  By the time he finished the sketch, he was drawing a huge crowd on his booth.

Mark Brooks

Next stop was the artists alley!  Norm Rapmund did a sketch and he was moved by Kai’s story.  Rapmund asked what comics Kai liked and gave me a free issue of Teen Titans.  I was going to pay him for it but he wouldn’t take  the cash.

Norm Rapmund

I saw cool prints from Savage Art.  He was really friendly.  He was too tired to draw a sketch as well so he donated a Batman print.  He said he loves going to Cons because of situations where he can make fans happy, like Kai.

Jay Savage

The last sketch I got was from Philip Tan.  He looked tired as well but he drew Batman.  This is the second time, I’ve met Philip (first at Wonder Con) and he’s always a cool guy to talk to because he’s so sincere.

Phillip Tan

I asked J. Scott Campbell for a sketch but he said he didn’t have time at the moment since he was finishing up a commission.  He told me to come back at the end of the show and he’d squeeze in a drawing.  But I already had plans and couldn’t wait til 7:30.  I thanked him for the kind gesture and that was the end of my awesome Las Vegas Comic Expo experience.

It felt great that I was able to do a little bit of shopping (I wish I had more time since there were plenty of vendors).  The best part was the camaraderie between the fans and the comic celebs.  It felt like a tight knit community that came together for Kai’s cause. This is what I love about Cons, it brings people together!

Can’t wait for next year’s event.

Below are some random pics.  Can’t you tell I’m a Batman fan?

Harley with Punisher!

PS – Bane was great.  He even talked and sounded like him.  He used his own voice, no mechanical synthesizer stuff.  Very well done.

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