Collector's Comics -- Full Report

As I told you in an earlier post, this past weekend John "Johnny Star Warz" Higashi, and I drove down to Fort Pierce with "Big" John Beatty who was making an appearance at Keith and Monica Mallow's Collector's Comics shop. [That's Keith and Monica pictured below. ]

Beatty and I have known Keith for about 20 years, so we were both looking forward to catching up with him. He's a pretty funny guy [maybe not as funny as he thinks he is, but he still has a pretty good batting average for humor]. We knew it would be a fun day.

Keith had advertised for weeks that Beatty would be at the shop signing autographs and sketching for fans. You can even see that Keith spared no expense with the sign to welcome John to his store.

A steady stream of fans joined those who had been waiting for Big John's arrival. Most wanted to get an autograph or sketch, but a few artists showed up so that John could offer advice on their work. You can see the look of joy on the little guy's face in the picture above. Of course the pic was snapped right before Keith tried to bogart the kid's sketch. Luckily the little feller's dad set Keith straight and he returned the drawing straight away.

Big Beatty sketched throughout the day. Every sketch was a winner from his billionth drawing of the Punisher to his first attempt at Captain Marvel.

As the minutes turned into hours, Beatty continued to autograph and sketch for fans. Monica sensed that Big John was starting to fade, so she offered up one of her famous massages. [Personally, I think that Big John was faking it in order to get a backrub!]

Never one to be left out, John Higashi put down the manuscript that he was working on in order to get a massage of his own! As for me, well...

When six o'clock rolled around it was time to go. Everyone was having such a blast that Keith offered to take us out to dinner [again] and put us up for another night. Unforutnately, we had planned to get back home [and I really needed to]. Keith attempted to bribe us not only with another meal, another night in the hotel, but even tempted us with a poker game!

Next time, Keith! Next time!

If you're in the area of Fort Pierce, Florida, check out Collector's Comics. Tell Keith and Monica I sent you. Who knows, you may even luck out and get a massage in addition to some great deals on comics!