This is why I love San Diego Comic-Con

Why do I love San Diego Comic-Con? Here are more than five good reasons from SDCC 2011.

A sketch by Alex Niño. Keep an eye out for his graphic novel due next Summer

Alex Niño and his son brought a lot of his original artwork to Con. Much of it was not for sale. I wish I could have afforded some of the art that was for sale.

As he says himself, Jim Steranko's signature is a work of art. He did this in my copy of Steranko: Graphic Narrative.

Jim Steranko

Walt Simonson's signature is also impressive

Walt Simonson signing my copy of IDW's The Mighty Thor: Artist's Edition

Chester Brown did a sketch of Louis Riel

I bought this Summer, 1991 at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles. Twenty years later, I met Chester Brown himself. Wow.

Chester Brown. We apparently left him mistakenly thinking we are friends of Joe Matt.

Brian Ralph's drawing for my copy of Cave-In

Brian Ralph, who enjoyed seeing my copy of Cave-In because it reminded him of the days when Tom Devlin was publishing books such as this through Highwater Books.

Big Questions by a seemingly shy Anders Nilsen. I've been waiting many years for this collection and was a bit disappointed to learn that due to some sort of mishap at the printer's there were no hardcover copies available.

Anders Nilsen at the Drawn & Quarterly booth

Janet Lee was kind enough to do this sketch

Janet Lee won an Eisner Award this year for Return of the Dapper Men. I did not know she was going to be at the show, otherwise I'd have brought my copy.

Nice sketch by Matt Kindt, isn't it? We were also impressed when he used a paper embosser.

The sign does not lie. It's Matt Kindt.

Mark Kalesniko did this great drawing for his latest work, Freeway.

Mark Kalesniko told us some interesting behind the scenes stories about the making of Freeway. For example, he was surprised to find that he needed a clearance from the owner of Angel's Flight, a landmark in downtown Los Angeles, to use its image in the book.