Elephant Cajones

That's what Sergio Aragones said to me when I asked him to pose with the Grapefruits of Metal at this years Boston ComicCon at the Westin.

I went to the Boston Con to see my friends who had a table to feature their comic book (Healed) and their web series (http://www.lazyhorde.com). I was meeting a friend there and we were going to poke around and check out some comics and see the boys at their booth, no other interest than that. The wait to get in for me was an HOUR. In the freezing cold wind near the waterfront. With no coat on. FOR AN HOUR. I was miserable when I finally got in the door.

Until I saw Mr. Aragones and his booth. He is the artist that drew for MAD magazine all those years, putting all the little doodles in the margins of the pages. He also has done a series called GROO: The Wanderer off and on for about 25 frickin' years. (http://groo.com/)

He's known for his insanely fast drawing, his great sense of humor and his tireless work in the comic industry making sure artists and creators get their due.

So I see him at his booth and I PANIC. I'm like a girl who just met one of the New Kids on the Block (They are still popular with the pre-teens, right?). But I don't have anything to have him sign! I'm unprepared!!! How was I supposed to know he was going to be there...besides reading the list of artists appearing on the Con website.... Anyway, I go up nervously to the booth to at least shake his hand, when I see he has comics for sale, that he will autograph and draw a doodle on! Good news everybody! I snag on of those and also donate to the http://www.cbldf.org/.

Next I decide I'm going to take a photo with him with the camera I remembered to bring. Things are certainly looking up compared to when I got there. That's when I turn on the camera and it's not working. LCD viewfinder is stark white. FUDGE RIPPLE!!!!!!!!

Luckily for me a fine gentleman by the name of John P. Torregrossa, of the ebay store ParaFANalia Toys & Stuff, stepped in and offered to take a few pics and e-mail them to me!! Of course I assumed I would never get them. But I managed to track him down through my vast network of mafia connections and forced him, muzzle to forehead, to give up the goods.

Actually, he just sent them to me on his own tonight. BUT, I would have done that if I had to....he was lucky this time.

Wow this is long. Even for me. To wrap up this blog no one will ever read, my favorite part of the day was when I took this picture and I asked Sergio to "do this" and showed him the now infamous GoM pose, and he said, "What am I holding?"

I said, "The power of all the metal in the universe."

His reply (in his Spanish accent), "No, I hold big cajones. Sergio has big elephant cajones. We are holding them." That's why I'm laughing in the photo because it was just so damn funny I almost lost control and the power of metal was nearly unleashed upon the unwary masses...