This one is REALLY special to me! Flash back to 1986 and I was buying Matt Wagner's Mage comics from my local comic book store. I absolutely loved the series and my favorite issue was # 6 with the epic battle vs. the Red Caps.
I subscribed to the Comics Buyer's Guide at the time and saw an ad for a Fred Greenberg comic convention being held in Philadelphia. There was an amazing guest list including Marshall Rogers, Charles Vess, Tim Truman, and Matt Wagner. I talked my fiancee Lynn into taking a road trip to the convention to meet some of the artists and hopefully get some sketches. This trip was a big deal for me as I'd never driven outside of Maryland before and there were no such thing as a personal GPS or a cell phone at that time, just paper maps!
We made it to the show just fine and it was magical. Matt Wagner was not at the show yet, but I was able to meet Marshall Rogers and he agreed to draw a Batman and Joker sketch for me; I still have that one and it is posted in my Rogers gallery (it's the one that has Walt Simonson inks on the Joker). I then met Tim Truman and we hit it off and exchanged phone numbers and addresses; this meeting led to me helping him sell a bunch of artwork a few years later and my picking up the complete Grimjack # 1 comic.
A couple hours into the show, I spotted a guy who looked just like Kevin Matchstick entering the convention room; I knew it was Matt Wagner and in a fanboy frenzy I ran up to him and introduced myself. I told him I'd driven all the way from Maryland to meet him and would he PLEASE draw a sketch for me. Matt was a little taken back and said something like "Dude, I don't even know where my table is at, but sure, I'll draw a sketch for you"! That wonderful piece is posted here and still hangs in my office today as a reminder of that wonderful show.
It's funny looking back on that convention as it helped set the stage for me becoming a dealer in comic art! I am still amazed that, a few years later, I became Matt's friend and artwork dealer, as I surely came across as a stalker when we first met!
