The New York Comic Con was a whirlwind of events.  Although most of the time was spent playing TMNT, running crazy raffles with Psyche and visiting Brookelyn at the UGO booth, there was one thing that happened that I will remember for the rest of my life.  Before I start, let me back up about 15 years (so that at least I sound a little less crazy than you think).

I was over at a friend’s house one summer day and he showed me his collection of comic books cards.  To be specific, it was the X-Men series 2 trading card set, drawn entirely by Jim Lee.  I had always been into drawing cartoons and comic strips, but this was something else.  His art and style was unlike any I had ever seen and I was immediately drawn into the world of comic books.  I spent the rest of my adolescent years collecting comic books - yes, usually done when you’re about 8 years old, but better late than never, right?  But unlike many people who collected by series or writers, I collected by my favorite artists - Jim Lee of course, but also artists such as J.Scott Campbell, Sam Keith, and Andy Kubert (just to name a few).

Then, one day, as I was picking up my weekly comic book stash, I saw a flier.  Jim Lee was coming to my local comic book store!!  So, with the rest of the fanboys, I dragged my girl friend to the block-long line and waited for my turn to meet him and Brandon Choi. I was bummed that Jim wasn’t doing sketches, although once in a while he would have a mini-scavenger hunt and give a sketch to anyone who could come up with the item of the hour.  I decided to press my luck and got in line a second time around.  When I approached Jim (since we were on a first name basis by then), I suggested that I give him a really cool plastic lei for a sketch.  He agreed and let two teenie-bopper girls stay after hours for a pair of sketches.  Forget meeting the New Kids On The Block - I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

My first encounter as a young’un -

Now, fast forward about 10 years, 4 months, and 16 days later to the NY Comic Con.  I definitely don’t visit the comic store as much, but still appreciate comic book art, maybe even more than before.  So you can imagine my excitement when a guy at the DC booth happened to be a fan of the Frag Dolls and said he would “see what he could do” in terms of helping me get a Jim Lee sketch.  Without saying too much, I definitely owe him big time.  Instead of being nervous, shy, and speechless like the first time around, this time I was nervous and shy, but talkative.  Having conversations with Jim Lee about the Frag Dolls, what games he played, and even an embarrassing mention of how I met him 10 years ago - during which time he was drawing a pencil sketch of Voodoo for me - was something I will never forget.  It’s still hard for me to even describe the moment, but if you saw the smile on my face, you’d understand.  Many thanks to Dan from DC and the Frag Dolls for making this happen.

Just for me -