Airing the Linnen: Meeting Mike Oeming

Guest post by Brian Linnen

It's been a while since I have made it to a big comic convention. I'm not sure why I haven't been going (actually, I think I do know, but I want to write about it here in the future, so I'll keep it under my hat for now!), but I received a little taste of the excitement I have been missing a few weekends ago here at the Comix Connection.

For the record, the Oeming appearance was a blast! If you didn't manage to make it in, you really missed a great time. Mr. Oeming was extremely friendly and approachable, and it was really cool listening to his various industry-stories as he sketched and signed books. It really seemed like he was having a good time meeting everyone, which is always good. I once met a "legendary" creator who made it pretty obvious he wasn't in the mood, and to this day, it's still probably my worst comic memory. Having met Mr. Oeming twice now, I can confidently say that he has too much class to pull something like that.

Another thing that I enjoyed was having the time to dig through some of the back-issue boxes! Being a "fanboy extraordinaire", I almost always pick up my books on Wednesdays at lunch, which of course means I have to hot-foot it back to work. I can't remember the last time I was in the store with time to kill and fingers nimble enough to sort through the thousands of bagged-and-boarded goodies! Anyway, I took the time that afternoon and found some good stuff I had missed the first time around. It was kinda like a mini-convention!!

Before I left, I bought a page of original Oeming artwork from the book he does with Brian Michael Bendis called POWERS. I have some original art in my collection already, this is the first piece I have that was actually used in the production of a comic. Pretty cool! I think I'll twist Bill's arm and get him to post it here on the site. (See above! - ed.)
Anyway, the Oeming appearance was a great event - Thanks for Bill, Ned, and Ken for making it happen!