Well, we're rested and relaxed after an AMAZING weekend at GSCF!

We had a wonderful time and would like to start by thanking Dave, Sal and Evan for putting together a stellar event and for inviting us to be a part of it!

We can't even begin to tell you about all the amazing things we saw, the wonderful people we met and the great friends we got to see - ALL IN ONE PLACE!

Our booth was more than just a way to sell product - we had some out-of-this-world talent at our table this weekend! Brian Smith (Stuff of Legend, Intrepid EscapeGoat, Voltron Force, Spongebob Squarepants) was with us on Saturday along with Stephen Coughlin (Sanctuary) who were "WOW"-ing customers with their friendly, down-to-earth personalities and rockstar art skills - sketching for customers whether it was one of the characters they work on or Hulk, Batman, whoever!

We also had the pleasure of sharing space with Katie Coe - a cosplayer from Delaware - gorgeous and talented, she debuted her brand new Dr. Strange cosplay and had prints of all her previous cosplay characters available for purchase! If you missed seeing her this weekend, you really missed out!

We got to hang out with a TON of "old" friends like:

Erica Schultz (Swords of Sorrow, Vertigo Pop SFX #1)

Fernando Ruiz (Archie, Archie vs Predator)

Anthony Marques (Shadow, Action Comics, Superman)

Joe Caramagna (Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man Web Warriors)

John Paul (NJComicBookShows.Com)

Big Kev and Matt Cipoletti (Big Kev's Geek Stuff Podcast)

Vincent DelVecchio Jr (local Artist)

Mike Grassia (indie all-ages artist/writer)

Howard Levy (GSCF Official Photographer, HSL Photography)

Our friends at Dog Walk of the Dead

And a TON of new friends:

Sean Von Gorman (Toe Tag Riot, Pawn Shop, Houdini)

Charles Paul Wilson III (Stuff of Legend)

Neal Adams (yes, we said Neal Adams)

Ethan Van Sciver (again, yes, we said Ethan Van Sciver)

Chris Campana (firstworldcomic.com)

Mark McKenna (Boonana Tales, Combat Jacks)

...and SO MANY MORE we can't get through it all!

The turnout was great at the Con. We saw a bunch of really great cosplayers (including a great Clayface cosplayer, complete with Batman stuck inside) and met a plethora of new collectors and comic fans! We also saw a bunch of our regular customers at the show who came out to show some love!

We had an amazing time overall and cannot wait to do it all again next year!

Special shout-out to Evan Conwell for getting up at the crack of dawn to help load in on a Saturday morning, Anthony Gaglione for spending his Sunday day-off helping out at the booth and assisting with load out and Marie Beck for her Mary-Jane Loves East Side Mags mash-up cosplay, helping out at the booth and being the rock she always is! :)

Last, but never least, Susan Bittman, Dave Toussas and Steph Vargas for holding down the fort and keeping the store running smooth so we could take advantage of this amazing opportunity!

And on that note, we leave you with a short clip of the hardest working man in comics, the James Brown of comic books if you will endulge us, SEAN VON GORMAN fighting to get out of a straight-jacket to promote his book - Houdini! This guy is hilarious and has a ton of great stories. Enjoy!

-East Side Mags

East Side Mags had the pleasure of hosting two AMAZING and SUPER TALENTED comic creators yesterday - Erica Schultz and Claire Connelly!

Both ladies worked together on their book called The Unauthorized Biography of Winston Churchill: A Documentary which basically finds Winston Churchill traveling through time and dinosaurs! Yes, I said Churchill and dinosaurs! If that doesn't make this comic a must-read, then I have no idea what does!

Erica is hilarious! She got some great stories from working in comics and a real pleasure to hang out with! She's worked on a ton of stuff like M3 - about a female assassin on the run and has also worked on both issues or Rise: Comics Against Bullying by either writing the stories, editing them or both! Most recently, she's worked on the Swords of Sorrow one-shot featuring Masquerade and Kato. She will also be lettering all of the upcoming Swords of Sorrow issues by Gail Simone! You can check out Erica's work, especially M3 right here.

Claire Connelly is one of the nicest people in this industry. She a super talented artist and has a ton of indie books out now! You can check out some her art and writing at her website - claireconnellycomics.com. If you're looking for a place to start, The Hunter's Moon, Looking Up and Animals are some of my personal favorites!!!

Both ladies were super nice, fielded tons of questions from customers and were great company on a Saturday afternoon! They even took the time to draw on some sketch covers for display in the store!

Here's the cover Claire drew:

and here's the cover that Erica drew:

Overall, we had a great turnout and it was so much fun to have the chance to hang out with Erica and Claire! They have some really fresh perspectives on the comics industry, they definitely know their comics trivia and are a blast to hang out with!

Oh yeah - Adrian "the" King stopped by to hang out and record some sound bites for his podcast - Adrian Has Issues! He also snapped all the great photos on this page!!! You can check out his site here.

East Side Mags would like to thank Erica, her husband A.J. and Claire for coming out to the shop, hanging out with us and signing/sketching for all our customers! I know everyone had a blast and we look forward to hosting them again in the near future.

If you are looking for amazing and amazingly talented women in the comics industry, you need look no further than Claire and Erica!!!

Garden State ComicFest Recap

Erica Schultz, Claire Connelly & Crackers the Dragon visit East Side Mags