Ben Templesmith was doing an in-store at
Laughing Ogre Comics' Lansdowne, VA location. Laughing Ogre (nee Phoenix Comics of Herndon, VA) used to be my store before they moved to the boonies, and I'd never made it to the new store (though I had tried once and drove by it 2-3 times because their signage was not up at the time! Ironically, they now have their sign up, but it still says Phoenix Comics). As an aside to this post, they have a really great location and the store is really nicely set up, moreso than their previous location, which I thought was very well done too. You should check it out if you're in the neighborhood. Ben was set up right inside the doorway and was talking to Gary, who owns the store, and Norah, who's been working there for some time now. I ended up picking the first volume trade of Fell, which Ben did the art in and Warren Ellis wrote, and asked if he was doing any sketches. He started talking about doing a Savage Dragon in my Least Expected sketchbook (which would have been pretty cool actually!), but decided to do a Ghost Rider in the Anything Marvel, as he knew immediately what he'd do in that one. We chatted about Australia (from where he hails), California (where he's living), Ben McCool (with whom he's working on Choker from Image Comics, which sounds like a pretty interesting concept), working for Image vs. IDW, art background, etc. He was a really cool guy, and remembered my name at the end of the conversation, which is pretty noteworthy! I'm hoping to get to bump into him again -- good guy (and great sketch -- thanks Ben!).
