I had a great time this weekend appearing with Steve Lavigne and Eric Talbot on Saturday -- "Free Comic Book Day" -- at Steve's "Shellback Artworks" store in Wells, Maine. JIm Lawson was sick and couldn't make it, which was a bummer (hope you get well soon, man!), but otherwise it went really well -- lots of people, lots of signing, and free pizza (courtesy of Steve and Denise).
Two things stood out as quite memorable, the first of which was the sixteen-year-old girl who showed up with her parents, all the way from Florida. This trip to Maine to see us (and later Kevin Eastman, who was signing over at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH -- one town away from Somersworth, NH, where the first TMNT comics were printed) on "Free Comic Book Day" was her "sweet sixteen" birthday wish, and her parents (cool people, obviously) granted it. Here's Steve signing the back of her t-shirt, as he dad and mom look on:
I wish I could remember her name -- I think it might be Stephanie or Melanie, but given how bad I am with names, I'm probably wrong. (Maybe she'll see this and write in to correct me -- that would be nice.*) We were all very touched by how happy she seemed to be in meeting us and getting her Turtle stuff autographed.
The second thing was the unexpected appearance of someone from our two years in the early 1980's in Dover, NH, someone that I thought I'd probably never see again… but, in one of those strange and wonderful "small world"-type of phenomena, she happens to be a friend of Steve's wife Denise. Here's a photo of the two of us which Steve took:
The woman in the photo is Carol Salava, who was a Justice of the Peace in Dover when we lived there, and in the summer of 1983, officiated at our wedding in the back yard of our house on Union Street. I was quite frankly flabbergasted that she showed up at the signing, but very, very pleased to see her again. As you can see from the following photo of Carol marrying me and Jeannine back in 1983, we've both changed a little bit:
… but I have to say that Carol still has the warm, friendly personality I remember from our dealings with her in those early days. What an unexpected treat! -- PL
*And so she did, a few days after I posted this entry -- thanks, Melanie Servidio!
*And so she did, a few days after I posted this entry -- thanks, Melanie Servidio!
Hi i'm the sweet sixteen girl and you got it right on the second shot, you even spelled it right too (most don't). :D You guys really made my birthday the best ever and i now have your blog as a fave in my favorites bar. Everyone was so nice and i plan on taking a comic book class this summer to learn how to ink my art and such, and once i get the skills i'm going to make something to thank all of you for my birthday. As soon as my father has time we'll upload the pictures and send them to you guys. I'll be keeping up with your blog and everything turtle.
ReplyDeletehttps://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/298911_466119020091180_553948471_n.jpg
^plz copy and paste into your url when done reading (one of my online drawings)
Hope to keep in touch and visit soon (and maybe take a class at shellback artworks)You Rock,
Melanie Servidio
=^.^= <(my crazy cat lady signature (art nickname from 7th grade))
Thank you again for signing my books & the Giant Movie Mike!
ReplyDeleteDear Peter,
ReplyDeleteI'm currently uploading all of the pictures but unfortunately the site i have to download them from only downloads 5 per hour. Anywho i know Steve had requested the pictures and once i am done i shall send them to him, would you like them sent to you as well?
MS=^.^=
P.S. You're friend who is doing the upon a fable's artwork is amazing and i hope the project raises enough to get started. Until i get a job i can't pledge anything (and i doubt i can manage to get one in enough time to get paid) though i'd love to my best regards to her project and if it gets through when i do have money i'll buy it! Once again best of luck to her :D
Dear Peter,
ReplyDeleteI'm Crystal Mae Franks again, and I can show you my series compare to yours. It's also a parody of your TMNT series.
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/140/c/c/_bsbndf_promotional_poster__by_matia_the_rabbit-d65hb30.png
Hi, you are really loved by all, including myself. I love you, you are a good example of everyone.
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