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Derby City Comicon
Krescan
Posts: 623
I meant to put up something last week and time got away from me. Went to the con in Louisville this weekend and it was a lot of fun. Got to meet Larry Hama. Tony Moore was apparently sick so didn't get to see him.
One of my favorite comics growing up was GI Joe 109. I was a huge fan of the toys and the TV show and I got the comic every time they had it at the grocery store when my grandmother would take me. I was blown away when they started killing off Joes. I know they did it in the comic before but either I didn't see those or didn't grasp what was going on. So basically I watched the cartoon and saw a thousand laser bolts and no one but B.A.T.S. got hit so it was amazing to me that this lowly SAW viper could take out so many Joes. When I found out Larry Hama was going to be there I got super excited to have him sign my copy of 109. What got me less excited was when I pulled out said copy to find out that my 13 year old self took very poor care of his comic books and the cover was torn in a few places to the point I was embarrassed to show it to Mr. Hama.
So I asked him if he could do a sketch of this feared SAW Viper and he explained he had done so many different characters that if it wasn't one in his G.I. Joe encyclopedia he probably couldn't remember how it went without some reference (my mistake on that one) so I decided to ask for a Quick Kick since that was on of SAW Viper's victims.
Walking away happy to have met Mr. Hama but a little sad that SAW Viper was unobtainable I was struck with an epiphany. I'm surrounded by probably a million comic books, I bet 109 is somewhere in these boxes. I knew I was far down on the list so the hunt started. I found plenty of newer G.I. Joe books but nothing in the Hama run for about an hour and finally I found a box that had just what I needed. I got back to him and he informed me that he could do the SAW Viper but I was pretty far down on the list so he wasn't sure he'd be able to get to me. He was happy to sign my book though. So my initially want was fulfilled. Lunch and plenty of comic browsing later I wandered past Mr. Hama again and saw him drawing the Cobra Commander that my friend had asked for. Knowing I was only a Snake-Eyes (for my other friend) away from getting to my name I dropped off the comic and pointed out who I would like him to sketch. He looked at me with a look that could only be interpreted as "you know I draw snake-eyes, cobra commander, and 1000 other characters more popular than a lowly SAW Viper right?" but said "You're sure?" to which I nodded happily in the affirmative. A raffle drawing later (in which I did NOT win the awesome Thing painting sadly" I walked back and was rewarded with this.
On the way home the friends mentioned earlier and I were talking. Which led to a search, as far as we could find Larry Hama only wrote for the SAW Viper and it doesn't look like he ever did art for a story that had him in it. So I may be in possession of the only SAW Viper drawn by Larry Hama. And even though monetarily the sketch isn't special probably. The 13 year old in me is dancing for joy.
One of my favorite comics growing up was GI Joe 109. I was a huge fan of the toys and the TV show and I got the comic every time they had it at the grocery store when my grandmother would take me. I was blown away when they started killing off Joes. I know they did it in the comic before but either I didn't see those or didn't grasp what was going on. So basically I watched the cartoon and saw a thousand laser bolts and no one but B.A.T.S. got hit so it was amazing to me that this lowly SAW viper could take out so many Joes. When I found out Larry Hama was going to be there I got super excited to have him sign my copy of 109. What got me less excited was when I pulled out said copy to find out that my 13 year old self took very poor care of his comic books and the cover was torn in a few places to the point I was embarrassed to show it to Mr. Hama.
So I asked him if he could do a sketch of this feared SAW Viper and he explained he had done so many different characters that if it wasn't one in his G.I. Joe encyclopedia he probably couldn't remember how it went without some reference (my mistake on that one) so I decided to ask for a Quick Kick since that was on of SAW Viper's victims.
Walking away happy to have met Mr. Hama but a little sad that SAW Viper was unobtainable I was struck with an epiphany. I'm surrounded by probably a million comic books, I bet 109 is somewhere in these boxes. I knew I was far down on the list so the hunt started. I found plenty of newer G.I. Joe books but nothing in the Hama run for about an hour and finally I found a box that had just what I needed. I got back to him and he informed me that he could do the SAW Viper but I was pretty far down on the list so he wasn't sure he'd be able to get to me. He was happy to sign my book though. So my initially want was fulfilled. Lunch and plenty of comic browsing later I wandered past Mr. Hama again and saw him drawing the Cobra Commander that my friend had asked for. Knowing I was only a Snake-Eyes (for my other friend) away from getting to my name I dropped off the comic and pointed out who I would like him to sketch. He looked at me with a look that could only be interpreted as "you know I draw snake-eyes, cobra commander, and 1000 other characters more popular than a lowly SAW Viper right?" but said "You're sure?" to which I nodded happily in the affirmative. A raffle drawing later (in which I did NOT win the awesome Thing painting sadly" I walked back and was rewarded with this.
On the way home the friends mentioned earlier and I were talking. Which led to a search, as far as we could find Larry Hama only wrote for the SAW Viper and it doesn't look like he ever did art for a story that had him in it. So I may be in possession of the only SAW Viper drawn by Larry Hama. And even though monetarily the sketch isn't special probably. The 13 year old in me is dancing for joy.
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