It’s been a week and we’re starting to get psyched for upcoming shows but we wanted to take the time to talk about Philadelphia. The fans sure proved it truly is the city of brotherly love!

The terrible trio of Yoshi, Boni and Maureen arrived at the train station, clinging to New York attitude and then dashing through the raindrops to catch a cab to the Marriott, the official convention hotel, conveniently attached to the Philadelphia Convention Center.

After having our fill of cheese steaks, we made out way down the street to start setting up the Harris Comics and Anarchy Studios booths.

Setting up is always fun. You start getting the con vibe; you run into familiar faces, you start making plans. One of the pieces of the booth puzzle is putting up the graphics. You always want to display the art so everyone can see the stuff you love, and sometimes you go through a few different versions before you settle on what’s displayed. With a few brand new pieces, this year was no exception. The final results, though, are a visual feast.

You never end set up day quietly, and Team Harris headed off to the Phillies game to feed their sports obsession.

Friday was day 1 and we eagerly awaited face-to-face time with the fans. And we sure had our fill. Kevin Lau stopped by for his first appearance of two over the weekend. He was there to help promote the newest Anarchy Studios publication, XIN: LEGEND OF THE MONKEY KING. And fan reaction to that was positive. In fact, enthusiastically positive. And that makes our work easier, knowing the fans are excited about it.(Phillies won!)

The biggest show day is traditionally Saturday and this show was no exception. Due to unfortunate circumstances, as such things do happen even in the comics industry, the lovely Vampirella, Maria DiAngelis, was unable to attend. This was a bit of a let down to fans and to Maria, since she loves interacting with everyone. She was missed, but we’ve passed on the good wishes that everyone sent through the crew. (Maria didn't make it BUT we do have previously unpublished shots of Arban Ornelas as Vampirella!)

People did get the opportunity to east up previews of upcoming VAMPIRELLA work by both Dawn Brown and Mike Mayehw. We love previews, it’s like one big tease and just makes people hungry for the actual books.

The last day of the show, this time around, was Mother’s Day. It was a bit slower, but that was a good time for us to check out the rest of the show. There’s a lot of good comics being put out these days, and a lot of good people putting them out. You should check out books like The Red Star, Violent Messiahs, Noble Causes, The Waiting Place, Channel Zero , and the upcoming Beautiful Killer written by our good pal Jimmy Palmiotti.

Kevin came back that day and people lined up to get his ol’ John Hancock on a load of comics or to get a quick sketch. Most got the familiar face of Vampi, but a few were wise enough ask for the new crew of Xin characters.

All in all, it was a good show. It was great to meet all of you in person. The portfolio reviews were a nice addition to the day. We’ll be posting some hints and tricks of the trade soon to aid all you aspiring artists and writers, so keep an eye open.

Next stop: Chicago! For more information about that show check out Wizard’s site as well as coming back here to get our full scoop.

We know everyone can't make it to the conventions -- but you CAN get the convention special editions!

Vampirella.01 Convention Edition

Vampi #12 Holo-FX Platt Edition