Millar & Harris Drink & Draw!

From right to left: Mark Millar (writer of War Heroes, Wanted, Kick Ass, Fantastic Four, Wolverine Old Man Logan, Ultimates, Superman Red Son, Authority and lots of other titles that make readers and comic store registers happy), Derrick of Comic Oasis here in Las Vegas, me, and Tony Harris (artist on War Heroes, Ex Machina, and Starman). After this photo was taken, Mark, Derrick, and Tony beat the crap out of me for not hamming it up in front of the camera like they did!
Todd, a friend of mine, with Mark and a little product placement. Kate and I call Todd, Happy Todd, because he's always happy when we see him (and it's a way to differentiate him from the other Todds we know).
On the left is a cool little illo that Mark did for Kate and myself (Kate had something else going on last night so she wasn't present). Then Tony did the great drawing on the right for us while he was telling a funny story of how a local paper where he lives (Macon, Georgia) was doing a local interest story on him and the Ex Machina that he was working on at the time was the gay marriage issue. Tony often works with models so two guys he knew (who weren't gay) were posing for him for the kissing page of that issue and they were all over each other trying to freak out the reporter / photographer from the newspaper.

I'd like to thank Derrick (of Comic Oasis, of course) again for being a host store here in Vegas of the War Heroes tour and putting on a special Drink & Draw afterwards which Mark and Tony graciously attended. I wasn't able to get away from my store for the signing portion of Mark and Tony's visit at Derrick's store, but I heard from a few of my customers who were there that there was a HUGE turnout and it was good to see a good crowd show up for the Drink & Draw afterwards. This was Mark Millar's first time to Vegas (he's from Scotland) and it was cool that he and Tony spent time hanging out for a few hours at the bar (after doing a three hour signing!) chatting and drinking with some Vegas comic afficianadoes before they did some other late late night Vegas thangs. I'm sure they got no sleep and it should be interesting to hear how they hold up today at LA for their Golden Apple signing. Mark Millar's also got a lunch date today with Richard Donner (the first Superman movie director) and as he's a HUGE fan of that movie, I know he'll get his second, third, and fourth winds (plus he's Scottish so drinking and lack of sleep is something they get taught in school)!

Anyway I (and everyone else that was there last night) had a fantastic time chatting with Mark and Tony and friends and customers of my and Derrick's store at the Drink & Draw. Kate and I had a nice chat with Mark Millar one night at a bar in San Diego during one of the late 1990's conventions and I didn't think he'd remember me, so I was blown away when Mark first came up to the bar and said hello to me and asked about Kate! I'm not here to brag that I "knew" Mark Millar before Authority put him on the map and then shortly afterwards he started getting the fat Marvel money, but I do want to say that having followed his work for so long, it's great to see that over the last eight or so years he's gotten the audience he deserves. I was also happy to see that he's back in great health after a long illness he had - actually he looks just he did when I saw him back in the late 1990's!