* kerithwyn's birthday present of a SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES hardcover, which I read on the train to Baltimore. Not bad at all. (Geoff Johns was at the con, but I didn't attempt to get it signed; not worth braving the lines.)

* As one of the main reasons I was there, Mark Waid gets his own dot point. Waid's FLASH got me into DC, back when, and I was incredibly thrilled to get to tell him how much I love his work and have him sign my books. Also he wandered by while I was reading the Silver Age Flash I'd just bought and tried to identify the issue numbers; I say tried because he didn't actually get them, somewhat to his distress. Sorry, Mark, I still love you! (Also, seriously, just that it happened is cool.)

* Speaking of those Flash issues, FLASH #193 deserves some kind of award (and not just 'cause it's got that cover). Captain Cold uses his cold gun to deage people (apparently on the highly scientific grounds that it "can do anything"), breaks Barry into pieces and then frames the pieces on the wall, deages and proposes to a movie star from the '20s he had a childhood crush on, and then tries to call the justice of the peace so they can get married (what he was planning to say to the justice remains undisclosed, given that he's a wanted criminal and all) but somehow dials Heat Wave's number instead. No, really. Barry claims that he made Cold do it telepathically (...no, I don't know how that works either), but Iris seems to have other theories. Oh, Rogues, I love you and your bizarre interpersonal relationships.

* Don Rosa's booth. I'm not particularly into the Disney ducks myself (well, except Darkwing), but the wall of comics covers redrawn with the ducks in the starring roles? Fabulous. My favorite was either Duckdevil or Daisy as Wonder Woman, I don't know which.

* The people selling tables covered with comic book pages. Very neat.

* The guy at the Marvel panel who asked if all of Scott Summers' girlfriends had had their DNA stolen. Take heed, Lee Forester! (Actually, a Lee clone would be cool...)

* Reading caia_comica's copy of GREEN LANTERN: MOSAIC #1 while the artist drew her a sketch of John Stewart and my eyes got wider and wider... He agreed it was a pretty weird book.

* The panel for Boom! Comics, which Caia and I attended on the grounds that Mark Waid is apparently the editor in chief. (My sum total knowledge of Boom! before the panel: they printed Giffen & DeMatteis's HERO SQUARED and PLANETARY BRIGADE. Apparently they have other stuff!) Mostly they talked about upcoming projects, some of which sounded interesting--I admit, I want to hear more about the teddy bear secret agent, and hey, FARSCAPE! But my personal favorite bit was the upcoming Pixar line, including a Waid-written INCREDIBLES comic; how cool is that?

* Getting to indulge my thirteen-year-old fangirl self by telling Bob McLeod how much I liked his New Mutants art. Ironically, I actually bought a New Mutants t-shirt at the con, but I wasn't wearing it at that point. Missed opportunities. But still!

* Finding a cloth hanging of Barry Windsor-Smith's cover for Daredevil #217. This is one of my favorite DD covers of all time--hell, it's one of my favorite covers of all time--so this gives me inexpressible glee.

* Getting to talk with Caia, likeadeuce, and harmonyangel about important matters: how we got into comics, the intricacies of the Summers family, which characters should be involved in threesomes... (Incidentally, guys, here's the scene from the HAWKEYE mini I was talking about: p1 p2)

* Attending about half of the Harvey Awards. Bendis's opening speech, in summary: "For god's sake, guys, get lawyers."

* A lot of great costumes that made me very sorry I forgot to bring a camera, but my personal favorite was the officer from V--I didn't recognize the uniform, and then he turned around and I saw the patch of scales on his face...

* Getting Jeff Moy to draw Brainiac 5 for me! *does the happy dance of Brainy-ownership*

* Looking over Brad Meltzer's LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT with Caia, trying to determine exactly how much crack was involved. Rocky Davis is a priest? Sure, Brad, whatever you say.

* Acquiring a bunch of action figures, including a three-set of Flash/Mirror Master/Weather Wizard, a Phoenix with light-up hair (shut up, it's cool), and SGA Sheppard and Teyla, complete with sections of Stargate. Man, I didn't even know those existed! But they're pretty neat, and I love Amazon's comment on Sheppard's sculpted smirk: "Lt. Colonel John Sheppard laughs in the face of danger, usually only making matters worse!"


So: lots of fun, spent time with other fans, and bought entirely too much stuff. Cool.

Tomorrow: Eastern Media Con! In related news, I'm never going to get any sleep ever again...