I Met... TRINA ROBBINS!


I Met... Trina Robbins

For a number of years, Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) has been on my radar.  CXC is not a gathering of comic book nerds like a typical comic con.  It's like a gathering of the nerdiest of nerds within nerd-dom.   To me, at least, it has a very academic feel.  For example, one of the panels this year explored "how graduate students in comics studies experience and work toward representation within their research and the comics studies community."

When I saw that Trina Robbins was one of the special guests scheduled for this year's festival (the first in-person festival since 2019), I carved some time out of my schedule to attend.  

Ms. Robbins has an impressive comics resume.  

She has been writing books, comics, and graphic novels for over fifty years.

In 1969, she designed the costume for Vampirella for Frank Frazetta

Her strip "Sandy Comes Out" in Wimmen's Comix #1 featured the first "out" lesbian.    

In 2013, she was voted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.  

And she was the first woman to draw a Wonder Woman comic book.  

I took my hardcover Who's Who Omnibus #1 with me.  This thing is huge.  It is 1320 pages long and weighs 7.75 pounds.  And it has a two-page spread of the Golden Age Wonder Woman that Ms. Robbins drew in the late 1980s.  So I took off the dust jacket for safe keeping and carried the massive book around with me in a backpack.   And I didn't even know for sure if Ms. Robbins was signing books.  She didn't have a timeslot at the signing tables.  But she was more than willing to sign at her own table.  And she was very friendly and gracious and impressed that I carried such a heavy book around.  

I'm tempted to return to the event tomorrow.... 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Met THE FLASH... and THE FLASH... and THE FLASH'S DAD!

Image
I Met the Flash... and the Flash... and the Flash... and the Flash's Dad! Galaxy Con was recently held at the Columbus Convention Center.  After the wonderful time I had at Fan Boy Expo and the great time we had as a family at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus, I wanted to give this one a try.  I took the boys with me; the girls enjoyed CXC, but were okay with not going to this one.    The most difficult thing was deciding which celebrity I wanted to meet.  There was a Smallville Reunion, the entire cast of Clerks, a handful of actors and writers from the various incarnations of Star Trek, and even a Disney Princess...  In the end, I chose John Wesley Shipp, star of the 1990-1991 television show The Flash.  As seen in the photo, John played scientist Barry Allen as well as the titular super-hero.  The line to meet him was very short, with just one person ahead of us.  When it came time to meet him, Mr. Shipp introduced himself as John.  He was very warm and friendly.  I had him sign my c
Read more

Introducing... Dr. Eggslap

Image
  Dr. Eggslap is a scientist (both mad and evil) in the Justice Allies universe.  He is not, in fact, a doctor.         Behind the Scenes: When Billy Batson speaks the name of the  ancient wizard Shazam, he transformed into Captain Marvel, who is gifted with the wisdom of S olomon, the strength of H ercules, the stamina of A tlas, the power of Z eus, the courage of A chilles, and the speed of M ercury.  This idea became a motif in the Captain Marvel comic books.  For example, Billy's sister becomes Mary Marvel when she speaks the name of Shazam and is endowed with the grace of Selene, the strength of Hippolyta, the skill of Artemis, the fleetness of Zephyrus, the beauty of Aphrodite, and the wisdom of Minerva.  The villains IBAC and Sabbac have similar names and powers.  In the DC Comics movie Shazam, the villain Dr. Sivana controls the Seven Deadly Sins: Envy, Greed, Gluttony, etc. etc.  I think logically, he should then become Dr. Eggslap.  I suggested this in a sermon as a joke
Read more

I Met... MICHAEL CHO!

Image
I Met... Michael Cho! The transcription work I have been doing for  Comic Book Creator  magazine may be the closest I ever get to working in the comic book biz.  Even though I have been a comic book reader for decades now, I still have learned a ton as I listen to the interview audio and get the words on the printed page.  One of the recent interviews conducted by Jon B. Cooke for the Eisner-nominated publication was with Michael Cho.  Mr. Cho was recently a guest at the 2023 Cincinnati Comic Expo.  I had him sign the issue of the magazine in which the interview appeared.  I also asked him to sign a copy of Batman: Urban Legends #21, which he talks about in the interview. Other creators I met were Craig Boldman ( Secret Origins #37), Jeff Moy ( Legion of Super-Heroes Secret Files and Origins #1 and #2), Tony Harris ( Starman Secret Files and Origins #1), Anthony Marques ( Batman Audio Adventures Special #1), Bob Hall ( Squadron Supreme trade paperback), Franco Aureliani, Scoot McM
Read more