Take one glance at my family room and it's obvious the impact that Mondo has had on my collecting habits. Framed prints line my walls, many of which are either Mondo releases or works from artists that I became familiar with while perusing the gallery's archives. Safe to say, then, that it was an absolute privilege to be able to attend the inaugural MondoCon in Austin this Saturday. Held at The Marchesa Hall & Theater, the convention boasted a more intimate setting than convention goers may be accustomed to. In reality, you could cover the two halls that made up the "convention floor" in a matter of minutes if you just wanted to get a quick overview of everything the exhibitors had to offer. Like with any Tyler Stout print, though, those who took time to stop and admire the details were rewarded with a variety of items from some of today's best artists, designers, composers, and more.
For less words and more images, hit the jump for a visual recap of my day in Mondo heaven.
This type of "small-ish" setting afforded me the opportunity to meet and talk with an artist I admire such as Francesco Francavilla, purchase a beautiful Jaws print from him, and then walk about 12 steps to Industry Print Shop's booth where they silk screened my own custom designed Black Beetle t-shirt right in front of me. I was able to purchase a rare Evil-Ex Edition hardcover of Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1 from Oni Press and then take around 30 steps to Bryan Lee O'Malley's booth where he was kind enough to sign it for me. My day at MondoCon was filled with these types of experiences where some of my favorite things converged into one place and time. While time constraints prevented me from attending any of the panels/screenings (a one-day pass combined with several hours in the Mondo booth line will do that), the unique instances I describe above and the delicious food trucks that I failed to mention before now were more than enough to keep me coming back to future iterations of MondoCon for as long as I'm able.
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