Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Anne and I enjoy attending entertainment and comic conventions together, whether in our hometown of Indianapolis or in adjacent states (or sometimes beyond). She’s been doing them since the early ’90s, and invited me to tag along as our relationship evolved from classmates to coworkers to neighbors to BFFs to married geeks twenty years and counting. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

This weekend we attended the fourth annual Galaxycon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…

…which included comics at the comic con! As the easternmost show that we attend every year, GCC recruits quite a formidable lineup of creators for their Artist Alley, a boon for us longtime readers that includes some folks who haven’t traveled very west yet.

Among those in attendance:

At Johns’ booth we were next in line behind an aspiring artist who was absolutely over the moon to meet her, possibly several light-years beyond said moon. The young lady’s exuberance was so off-the-charts that it took a minute for everyone’s contact-buzz to wear off. It’s rare that I get to witness such unbridled enthusiasm firsthand, and I dearly hope she doesn’t let the internet wear her down.

Not only does GCC’s Artists Alley mojo run above-average for a Midwest con, they also boasted a far better lineup of comics-related panels than nearly any other 2025 event we attended. It wasn’t nonstop comics-talk from open to close, but it was encouraging considering how some of our other cons seemingly gave up on comics panels this year. (Even this year’s C2E2 was a letdown in this aspect. What gives?)

I attended two relevant panels Saturday. First up at 12:45 was a comics-writing Q&A with four of the aforementioned creators. Comics aren’t among Anne’s highest priorities, so she bowed out of this one. Instead she graciously did me a favor and held my place in Ben Schwartz’ interminable autograph line so I could attend.

I didn’t take notes because I didn’t feel like getting distracted by my own scribbling. Sometimes I’d rather be attentive even if it means I can’t write up everything in obsessive detail afterward. However, in an extremely rare occurrence, I was among the audience members who asked a question. I’m utterly terrible at asking other people questions, which is why MCC never runs interviews: this introvert’s ideal “interviewing” method would be to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of a creator and whine in a kiddie voice, “Tell me stories!” Usually I proactively shoot down 99.9% of any ideas I might have for questions before they can escape my mouth. That way I can’t ask anything unoriginal or trite, and then spend the next six months kicking myself. Not so this time: a question finally popped into my head.

Back in the day, writers used to tell stories about their relationships with their editors — some of them great, like Peter David’s stories about the erstwhile Jim Owsley back in the ’80s, or several folks who’ve praised the late Archie Goodwin up and down. Alternatively, there’re all the horror stories, but I’m not the arrogant sort who thinks he deserves to ask about potentially combustible topics like that. (I’ve already made peace with the likelihood that we’ll never see a dedicated journalist publish The Complete Eddie Berganza Saga in my lifetime.) So I was curious about whether any of these folks had had the good fortune to enjoy a positive relationship with an editor who had their back, helped them up their game, and went above and beyond proofreading, rubber-stamping, or hectoring them into toeing a company line or whatever. As a longtime fan, I was curious to hear good words about anyone amongst the editorial ranks.

Watters answered the most quickly: his wife’s an editor. Johns spoke in general about the frustration of working with editors who insist on changes without explaining any reasoning — as she wisely put it, demanding a solution instead of simply explaining the problem. Sacks appreciates Marvel Senior Editor Mark Paniccia, who’d been especially gracious during stressful times. Orlando was the most candid — no bridge-burning over past bad experiences, though he’s definitely had them just like every other pro writer in the biz, but he did share kind words about DC’s Andrea Shea and a couple others.

Mine was the last question asked, and the answers were in-depth enough that the panel went a few minutes into overtime. That’s certainly a first for me. Someone should remind me to have random ideas pop into my head more often.

At 3:15 came another fun event: a Sketch Duel! These have become my favorite kind of panel in recent years, whenever a con arranges some and I recognize at least one of the artists. The participants are asked to draw something in a particular theme; they try to concentrate on sketching while a moderator asks them career-related questions or solicits same from the audience. Our “competitors” — as it’s all in fun, no real “winning” — were the aforementioned Megan Hutchison and Liana Kangas (Know Your Station, Trve Kvlt, She Said Destroy), whom we met two years ago at this same con.

Our moderator was one Mike Watson, creator/publisher of his own company Freestyle Komics. If you’ve attended any Midwest cons in the past few years, waited in the exhibit hall line before 10 a.m., and looked askance when some guy came up to the line and began rapping to promote his booth, that was him. He kept things breezy and kept the questions coming. Hutchison had forgotten her glasses at her Artists Alley booth and was technically at a disadvantage, but again, the rules are made up and the points don’t matter. Round one, the subject was Disney villains — Hutchison drew Ursula, Kangas went with Maleficent. Round two was Marvel “heroes”, though Kangas asked how thinly she could stretch the definition. Their respective end results were nifty pics of Loki and the Black Cat.

One other Sketch Duel tradition: at the end, the sketches are often given away to audience members, who end up the real winners. I’ve seen some moderators do raffles, complete with handing out tickets at the door before they start. Watson simply had the artists ask the audience questions: correct answers got a sketch. At the end of Round One, Kangas asked us to name the first Star Wars character she ever drew. (For publication, I presume? This is why I should’ve taken notes.) She said the answer was very easy, which made guessing a little easier. While other fans probably shouted their favorite characters, I just cleared my mind and thought about it too simply.

The answer: Princess Leia! I won I won I won!

Beyond the panels, we also did some light shopping on the show floor, not a lot. As seen in our lead photo, I picked up a fan-made T-shirt from AP Collectibles featuring Godzilla ambling through our own hometown of Indianapolis. (I can see my workplace in there! About to get stomped!) Anne grabbed an old Q action figure from a vendor calling themselves The Toy Department, which had several racks of other Star Trek figures from back in the day, most of which she still has. And from my favorite exhibit-hall purveyors at Gem City Books, I picked up a deeply discounted She-Hulk omnibus collecting Dan Slott’s runs. In its case, “light” is a misnomer. Later at home, I yanked it out of my bag too quickly, slammed myself in the face and for a moment thought I’d given myself a concussion.

To be concluded! Other chapters in this very special MCC miniseries:

Part 1: Cosplay!
Part 2: Celebrities!
Part 4: Con Stuff!
Epilogue: The OSU McDonald’s and More