Kevin Smith Hosts Greatness

I have experienced nerd nirvana.

Yesterday, through notice of his blog, Jim Lee and a cadre of artists descended upon Westwood for a signing in commemoration of their new book, The Intimates. Never in my life had I ever done something such as this, and although a little harrying in the beginning, it was totally worth it if only to get a sketch from the man himself but also to get a sketch from a one Mr. Ale Garza. Mr. Lee is perhaps my favorite comic book artist, really, and although it may not seem like high art, I appreciate it for all it's worth. I would like to see him experiment a lot more, just like he did for his run on Deathblow. His style, when coupled with more elaborate material than just pen and ink goes from merely amazing, to complete jaw-droppingly, life-alteringly phenomenal.

Now the line at The Secret Stash was a tad long, it took me about an hour and a half to make it all the way to the front, but it was totally worth it to get what are actually my first sketches ever. I really appreciated the fact they were able to do so, since I know they took time out of their busy schedules to see their fans and promote their work. Perhaps another highlight was how much joy Joe Casey took in my proclamation that his action sequence in an issue of WildCATS was one of the best I'd ever seen.

Really, I've always wanted to get a sketch from an artist, and maybe these will be the first of a few. What I will take away from this though, is the fact that I got to meet a childhood icon of mine, and not a disappointment was had.