After a stop off in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Friday night, we made our way to the Sioux Falls Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for our first, but officially the second, day of Siouxper Con.

Speeding along the roads of South Dakota at 80 + MPH was somewhat stressful, but Todd and I arrived around 10:50.

The con was underway and we dove right into getting books signed and finding some new gems. Todd introduced me to several comic creators that he knew from years of convention hopping, which helped ease the anxiety of the moment.

Some highlights: I spent much of the day hanging out at Keith Champagne’s booth. Keith was one of the best guys I got to meet and he made me feel extremely welcome and respected.

I loved getting to speak to some of the creators and to express how much I loved some of their work. There were a couple of moments that stand out. One was when I told Zander Cannon how much I love Sleep. I told him it was one of the most original ideas in comics. Another one was when Kyle Higgins and I were talking about No/One. He asked me if I listened to the podcast. When I told him that I loved the podcast, you could see how much it meant to him. He told me that he is directing a movie version of No/One that excited me to no end. These moments shone in these creators eyes. You could see the sincere gratitude they held for my words. That made me happy.

The big moment came when we got to meet Gail Simone. She was so awesome and I got a cool foul Batman comic that was remarkably rare. Gail made me feel right at home. I also picked up a script she wrote for an issue of Savage Wolverine. So epic!

It was so fun watching all of the cosplayers at the con. We saw representations of Marvel heroes, DC heroes, movie heroes and villains, anime characters and much more.

I really enjoyed my discussion with Eliot Rahal, who had his daughter, Olive with him. I watched them approach an animatronic fox (I can’t remember its name. It was dressed as a king). It was a wholesome moment that I am pleased to have witnessed.

Day two was not perfect. I am tired of walking and we just did not have enough comic retailers with back issues for sale, but there was so much joy and engagement that any drawbacks were minimal!