My favorite comic book convention is, was, and ever shall be Mid-Ohio-Con in Columbus.

Full disclosure here: the show promoter is a friend of mine, Roger Price. But I couldn't rave about Mid-Ohio-Con if it wasn't true. Well, I could, but Roger would have to pay me to do so, and I guarantee you he doesn't do that. Seriously, great guy, great show.

The show started for me as it always does, with me going to my local printer to pick up the exquisitely-well-designed Mid-Ohio-Con Program Books. (Yeah, I do those too.) It is also a fine, fine advertising opportunity for those of you who want to reach the comic book audience, as the show draws around 5,000 affluent comic book fans... check out the specifics to advertise here.

Okay, enough blatant self-promotion. Let's talk about me.

I was there selling caricatures and selling my graphic novel, "Raider: From the Shadows." Between the funny pictures of people as their favorite super hero and the book itself, the show was a resounding success. As always, I met a lot of nice people, had a lot of great conversations. I didn't get in to this business for the people, but a lot of times I think that's why I stay in it.


Friday started off with the annual Laughing Ogre party. The guys at Ogre are a great group of people, who put on their party for fans and pros alike. It's always a great place to catch up with con friends... people who, unfortunately, I only really get to see at conventions.

The free food and liquor certainly don't hurt none either.

Thom Has Entered the Building!
This convention also marked my Arrival into the comics industry. I've worked in this industry for over ten years now, and been doing shows for almost as long. And in all that time, I've always been on the outside of the booths. Even once I started exhibiting, I didn't feel like I was all the way there yet.

Y'see, I wanted to people where the people are. I want to see, want to see them laughing, walking around in that-- what's that word again-- hall.

Okay, enough "Little Mermaid." I wanted to be on a panel. On a panel as a guest, not just a host. Don't get me wrong, I love hosting. So much of my good convention times come from hosting, and that was mostly Virgina's panel last year. Tee hee.

But I wanted people to be there to hear me talk. As a host, I have to guide the conversation, ask some questions, but really I have to hold back. I might think of a funny quip, perfect for the question, but let's be honest: no one was there to see me .

This show, they were. I was on two panels. One was the Rising Voices panel, where I got to talk about the travails of being a writer and storyteller. The other was the pinncale of my career thus farL I would be a panelist on Mid-Ohio-Con Squares.

On Saturday I did the Rising Voices panel. Hosted by Denise Sudell, this panel largely involved a cache of writers, including little old me, talking about our thoughts and inspirations This is when I figured out that yes, I am indeed Chandler.

The way the panel worked would be that Denise or one of the audience would ask a question and we'd go down the line answering them. By the time they got to me, everyone else had said what I wanted to say, usually much better than I could. So I was left to be funny. Question: How did you get into this? Answer: I was dropped on my head a lot a a kid. Buh duh dum.

It was great to be asked on it and a hoot and a half to do.Hopefully, my voice will still be rising next year.


I'll take Thom for the block
Mid-Ohio-Con Squares is a panel that occurs each day at MOC. It's is similar, but not in any legally actionable way, to Hollywood Squares. A bunch of us sit around in a vaguely squarish setting and selected members of the audience become contestants for all sorts of prizes, as we answer (or not) all sorts of comic book and guest related trivia questions.

My highlight, though, was when the question was asked (of Roger Stern, if I remember correctly) "Which member of the MOC Squares panel was recently a contestant on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'" Roger said someone other than me, and the contestant said "I disagree. I know that it's Thom Zahler."

My fame spreads.

Look, I don't want this to come out all arrogant. It's not that I'm looking for fame and fortune and loose women. What would I do with the money anyway? It's just nice to finally have enough of a body of work, and have been out there long enough that people know about me. That I've done enough work in the industry to make a dent in it.

This is not a drill! Or maybe it is!
Now, while I did get to be on panels, I also got to host them. Andy (Lorne from "Angel") Hallett, Mark (The Groosalugg from "Angel") Lutz and James (Clem from "Buffy") Leary were guests, and I had the honor of hosting their panels. A further joy because over the last couple of years, Andy and Mark and I have become friends. Not chat once a day Best Man in your wedding friends, but see me in a crowd and call me by name and joke with me friends.

It's nice for the audience, too, because I know them well enough to joke with them and feed them straight lines, which is more entertaining for everyone.

So I started their first panel, the Saturday panel. It was the first one of the first day. I got into the room early to warm up the crowd, maybe accidentally mention that I was in the back of the hall selling "Raider." So I got up there, did some jokes, got the crowd laughing and turned to look out the open door for Gary, my Con Crew contact, who would give me the high sign, raising his thumb like Fonzie, letting me know Andy and Mark were at the ready to enter the room.

Except when I looked at Gary, he shrugged. They weren't there.

So I needed to fill time. These guys were here to see people from "Angel" and I had some "Angel" stories. After all, I was on the set earlier that year. (See Con Report #14, Thom Zahler and The Case of the the Phantom of Paramount Studios) So I could fill with that story. I started talking about meeting Andy, getting on to the set, meeting an actor of two, and was ready to get to the Big Finale, where I meet David Boreancz.

"So," I say, "I'm in Cordy's bedroom..." and then Andy and Mark walk in. So, of course, I smiled and got on to the meat of the show. Which didn't last long, because (what we would later find out to be caused by a computer glitch) the fire alarm went off. One of Roger's Con Crew Staff, a member of a Stormtrooper Battallion, walked in waving his rifle saying "Everyone needs to leave the building."

Yeah, I'm taking safety advice from a group of people who can't put handrails on their starships. But, he was with the show, so we ventured out into the cold Columbus November tundra to wait to be called back in. When we did...

...Andy and Mark had disappeared again.

So I had to vamp again, brefly recapping whatt had gone before, again getting to the line "so I'm in Cordy's apartment..." when Andy and Mark walked in again. Like I said, people paid to see them, not me, so we went back to the panel.

And almost immediately, we had another fire alarm. We all had to evacuate again. This time I tried to stay with Andy and Mark to watch them, no fool I. I even joked with Mark, who said "It's freezing out here."

"Mark, I expect that out of California Boy Andy. But you're from Canada. You should be able to take one of these Ohio winters."

When we were finally let back in again, though, Andy and Mark got lost again. Leaving me time to finally finish my Cordy story, anti-climatic as it was.

A brief word of note about the great fans. Each time they got back in, they got back in their same seats. Nobody tried to move up a row or two at all. They were tops.

Like I said, it was also nice to joke with them, too. Someone in the audience asked if the show's vibe was different eith David/Angel having recently had a baby, and Charisma/Cordy being pregnant. "What?" Mark said, in mock surprise, "Charisma's pregnant? When did that happen. Who's the father?"

"I dunno," I said. "I was only in her bedroom the once and it's not me."

Mark turned to answer the question seriously, at least as seriously as he gets, saying "Well, now we all have to have children. In fact, Andy and I have adopted a child ourselves. He's from a third-world country. It was, Andy, where was it again?"

Andy's winter-frosted brain wasn't able to come up with an answer fast enough. Fortunately, I was on top of it saying: "Third world country? Wasn't it Canada?"


The next day's panel was a little more restrained, as we were all recovering from the night before. And what happened that night, well...

What happens in Caritas, stays in Caritas…
Mid-Ohio and the Hilton Hotel host "Caritas at the Con" a night of Karaoke fun, presided over by our resident Host, Andy Hallett. It's always a lot of fun. You haven't lived until you've seen a Stormtrooper mangle "Friends in Low Places." And, better yet, all the proceeds go to charity, in this case the American Diabetes Association.

The only problem was, the liquor was flowing freely. Any number of people were buying the lot of us free drinks, and you can't say no to a free drink. It's a rule. So we were all a little inebriated.

Then Pat, Andy's agent, got the brilliant idea of raffling off Andy's butt. He apparently has tattoos on each cheek, as it were, and would show them off if we raised enough money.

Many of us tried to put money in for him to keep his pants on to no avail. But the important thing is that a lot of money was raised for a worthy cause. And my eyesight returned in the morning.

At the panel the next morning though, I asked if they were at Caritas the night before. Most of them nodded "yes."

"Then you'll know," I said, "why I'm going to ask you to keep it down today."

Mark told a great anecdote about a friend of his who worked on "Three Men and a Baby" which filmed near him in Tornoto. His friend was a stuntman. Apparently, Guttenberg can't do anything.

The film was directed by Leonard Nimoy, best known for his work as the host of "In Search Of..." but also apparently as an actor in some show called "Star Trek." Anyway, Nimoy was a little worried about his fame overlapping into the production, so he instructed his assistant to talk to the entre cast and crew. "Mr. Nimoy understands you probably have Star Trek questions. We ask that you not mention Trek during the filiming of the movie. On the last day, Leonard will answer all your questions, sign anything, whatever... but please, no Trek talk until that day."

Mark's stuntman friend, however, wasn't there that day.

So the next day, he arrived on set and Leonard was directing up a storm. This is where our little micro-play begins. Andy is playing the part of Leonard Nimoy, and Mark is playing the part of Mark's friend. I am playing the part of the podium.

Leonard in the midst of his work instructs the stuntman to go over to one area of the stage. Nimoy places his hand on the back shoulder area of the stuntman...

...who proceeds to fake collapse to the ground as if shocked by the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.

Everyone was silent, worried about Leonard's reaction. Leonard just laughed.

MOC was, as usual, top notch. My favorite part is always seeing old friends like Paul Storrie, who also doubled as my erstwhile roomate and sounding board, in addition to his own talented job as the writer of "Gotham Girls" and other projects.

Paul Jenkins and Sean McKeever and I formed "The Blonde Squad," a trio of leather jacketed wearing guys with highlighted hair. Paul gave me lessons on finding my dark side (because I really do have one) but, despite his best efforts, it was not to be seen.
Always good seeing Terri Boyle, the Third Sexiest Man in Comics Mike Norton, and a host of other friends, new and old.

I'm running out of ways to say "Go to Mid-Ohio-Con." This year, I'll close in a little es-pan-yoll. Vamanos a Mid-Ohio-Con! Ariba!