Stan loved this, she flicked her head back to me, Stan looked up and all I could do was smile my dopey grin. The staff ate it up and for about five minutes they checked out the ring, wished us luck, and the intensity of the reporters and fans that seemed to be filling the air with escapist tension died down. My turn, I walk up to him with this black cumbersome base that look s like a prop from a Caligula movie, and I lay it down on the table, turns out the one of the staff had the same thing signed just a few days ago, but I go on. It's a pleasure to meet you once again, I say, I know you may be looking at this and saying what the hell, and I explained what it was. Most people, or the one that said he had his signed, had it signed across the base, I wanted my signed along the rim.
OK, there was a contest in the booth that published the new book - Election Daze. They wanted a caption for a picture of Barrack Obama, I figured what the hell, I picked up 2 sheets and while I was waiting on line I wrote 2 captions for the picture, like I said, what the hell. The best caption would be selected at the Sunday Panel and we intended to go, by hook or crook. We get there 2 hours early, there is one person in the room and a whole row of front row seats, and of course we park our butts down and camp out. The room doesn't start filling till 15 minutes to panel time and we are snug, set, Camera and Video ready. I have 2 seats next to me on the left and this older couple sits down next me, I turn to them, give them a polite nod, and they return the favor. After a minute or two, the woman says and I am paraphrasing here, we saw Stan in Florida at a show, and when he saw us there we had pictures taken and he was surprised to see us. I nodded, I have learned when older folk spin a yarn, and mostly it is best to listen. He was surprised seeing us there because we were his neighbors for so many years in Long Island, like I said, best to listen.
Her husband looked over and nodded a confirmation to her statement, and there I had it, the secret life of Stan told by his neighborly neighbors. She explained when they saw him in Florida he was explaining the origin of Spider-Man and the way he created the character, for those that may have heard this story before Stan was in his living room and maybe having a creative block, looked up on the ceiling and noticed a spider crawling there, and the Spider- Man was born. So she stood up at the panel and said wait a minute Stan, that spider came from my house and crawled into your window, I sat there and watched it, so really spider-Man was created because of me, and I deserve part of the credit. Now, if you met this woman, you couldn’t help seeing the cuteness of this moment, for lack of a better word, Late 70’s, red hair, 5’4”, (if that) and carrying the fire of youth in her purse. Of course not seeing this coming Stan looked down and realized where this statement had come from and the moment was that of familiar neighborly humor. Well, we all got along just fine for the rest of the panel, little tid bits of Stan History being whispered to me, which could actually be heard on the Video of course, and at the end of the panel, she stood up in front of the room during the Q&A and confirmed all she said, Stan saw them both and his eyes lit up, confirming it all as well. The rest is Stan his wife, and the very friendly couple history. Like I said earlier somewhere or to myself, really cool Con this year.
Now, with all that when the announcements were made, who do you think was in the top 10 entries? Yep, you guessed it, yours truly. Then I was in the top 6 and finally the top 5, and there were 5 winners for the autographed copy of Election daze. What a caper. There is more of course, the hour grows late though, and I think I have said enough. Thanks for reading my ranting I hope I kept you entertained.
Night.
