Some of the best things about conventions is walking Artist Alley and the small press area to discover comics I might not otherwise see in stores and artists whose work would look great on one of my shelves or wall.  This year there were a few that stood out, but three that really need to be highlighted.

Jason Brubaker’s reMIND

I don’t even know where to begin to describe this comic book, but it’s the “find” of the show.  I picked up Jason’s hardcover edition of the book reMIND, limited to 2500, and the three issues of Phobos.  The story is about love and loss, family and what we do for it all, all in a beautiful book with amazing art.  I just can’t describe it, but it’s absolutely a must buy.

reMIND is a mystical, sci-fi about faith, love and brain transplantation.

Sonja, the lighthouse keeper at a seaside oil drilling town, loses her cat, Victuals. Everyone blames the Lizard Man, the local boogeyman, which Sonja knows is a myth created by her late father to generate interest in the town. But when Victuals unexpectedly returns and has the brain of a strange intelligent creature; it seems someone is doing experimental transplants.

With the brain of a lizard and the body of a cat, Victuals must now fight to recover his original lizard body and confront what he thought was the all-powerful god.

On top of that Jason also provides new pages for volume 2 on his blog, for free, before it’ll be collected into a second volume.

Dan Cooney’s Valentine: Reloaded

I picked up both books to the series and got a chance to read Valentine: Reloaded.  While there’s some issues I had, overall, the series is really solid for a small press book.  The heroine is badass, and there’s some great action sequences.

This edgy and stylish action series explores the dichotomy of a killer on the job and the psychological after-effects of a woman whose morally questionable profession has made her a liability to everyone she has ever met – in addition to herself! Collecting issues #1-9, revised and re-edited, including an all-new, full-color one shot, Valentine: Plan B For Blonde.

The series is good and caught my eye on their table, but it was the friendliness of Dan that really won me over.  It pays to engage the con-goers people!

Geoff Sebesta’s I Am the President of Ice Cream

You want the perfect example of how someone’s enthusiasm can win you over and how engaging online works? Look no further than Geoff Sebesta.  Geoff had a lot on display and got me over to his table through Facebook.  When meeting him, you couldn’t help but just get excited as well, the man loves his books and his enthusiasm is infectious.

I honestly couldn’t tell you what the book is about, but I flipped through it and it definitely seemed interesting.  There’s some other items that were handed to me to check out and I’m looking forward to reading it all.

Geoff is a perfect example of engaging people online.  Normally I might have walked by his table, but he asked me to come over.  He wanted to meet me and say “hi.”  And once at the table he won me over and got me excited.  The man is full of energy and you can’t help but support him.  I’m looking forward to sitting down and seeing what his enthusiasm translates to on paper.