Middle GA Comic Convention 2015 Recap
This past weekend (February 21-22) was the Middle GA Comic Convention (MGA Comic Con), held in Macon, GA at the Centreplex. It is an annual convention owned and operated by Heroes & Villains Comics and Games, located in Warner Robins, GA. This was my second year in a row attending. With it being less than a two hour drive from where I currently live, and it being in my old stomping grounds of Macon, it is an event I look forward to each year.
My brother, fellow KLIQ Nation member @The_Adam_Black, another friend, and I showed up at the Centreplex a little after 1pm on Saturday. Looking back, it would have made sense for me to take pictures to commemorate the festivities. Luckily, the official Twitter account for MGA Con (@MGACon1) posted pics online, along with 41nbc.com, which I’ll share a little later.
One of the artist I was looking forward to meeting, Van Jensen, unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute because of illness. There was still a good number of well-known creators in attendance. With it being such a small convention, it still amazes me at the level of talent that shows up. Last year we sat in on a panel by Mark Bagley. This year, we joined the Writing Wolverine Panel with Paul Jenkins and Daniel Way.
The Writing Wolverine panel had about 15 attendees, and the conversation was relaxed and fun. Jenkins and Way told tales of their time writing Wolverine and the challenges with that, and we even got to her Jenkins talk about his open letter to DC Comics and Marvel.
Walking around Artist Alley we saw colorist Laura Martin, artists Wilfredo Torres, Chad Hardin, and John McCrea, and writer Joe Pruett, and writer/artist Phil Hester.
There were two highlights walking the floor. The first was being a guest on the Turtles Do It Podcast. They had a booth setup and were recording short podcasts with guests. Of course I couldn’t pass that up! We had a good time, I got to plug my website and social media accounts, and I’ll see them again at AthCon in March. Make sure to follow them on Twitter @TurtlesDoIt.
The second highlight was running into one of my old high school teachers. Come to find out he travels the country attending comic conventions and hosting a booth selling back-issue comics. I knew back in high school he was a comic book fan because one day in class he called me into his office and quietly passed me copies of Jim Lee/Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Hopefully I’ll run into Mr. Shaw at more conventions this year.
The end of the convention saw the Georgia Comic Book Hall of Fame Awards. This was the second annual Hall of Fame Awards, and this year was another stellar class. The 2015 class saw Paul Jenkins, Laura Martin, Joseph Michael Lisner, and Jeffrey Jones inducted. It is at a ceremony like this where I really appreciate all the local talent that lives here in Georgia. Some greats in the business call Georgia home, and it makes me proud to be a Georgian. Congratulations to all the inductees!
What a way to kickoff the convention season. I plan to attend at least one more smaller con (AthCon in March) and hopefully HeroesCon in the summer.
Timdogg
#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE
