Today wraps up my posts on Big Lick NOVA 2026. Admittedly, I've had to condense these down to just three posts, when I initially wanted to stretch this out to six or more. Ultimately, I had to go this route because when planning these posts out in correlation with my series of Christmas catalogs, which have been going live each Monday since January, well, I didn't leave myself enough room to extend these posts out. No worries. Though it's come at the cost of a preemptive post which shows the convention itself, along with the cosplayers there, I did manage to sneak a select few photos into last week's post.
As I wrapped up my day at Big Lick NOVA, I did so by first stopping at two additional artist tables. The first was Matt Slay.
Matt's someone who has been at pretty much every convention I've been to, but I never stop by to see him. Mainly because I don't own anything he's ever worked on. I started by having him sign my convention book and then grabbing a few prints from him.
What I will say is that Mr. Slay is a very friendly guy. He's appreciative of the fans of his work, so much so that he won't charge for his signature on books. For prints, he charges just $10.00, and if you want a commission from him, he only charges $40.00.
Next up was Laura Martin. Much like Matt, I didn't have any books she'd worked on to get signed. I'm also sorry to say that initially I almost didn't have her sign my convention book. It was only while waiting for
Alex Saviuk to finish something that I asked. Much like Matt, she doesn't charge for her autograph.
I did hook up both of them, including several others in artist alley with a pack of
Masters of the Universe gummies. When I gave a pack to Mr. Saviuk, he asked, "These aren't the kind of gummies that make you feel good, are they?" To which I said, "Well, I cried into them for an hour, but they were ultimately just sugar", to which Mrs. Martin laughed.
So, what about the old
convention book? While it's been around the block, it actually didn't get taken to last year's Big Lick NOVA. Mainly because there was nobody at that
convention that I was looking to get a signature on it from.
At the show, I added Mike DeCarlo, Patrick Olliffe, Matt Slay, and Laura Martin. However, because I've added so many signatures to it since I first brought it to a show, I thought it would be a good idea, mainly for myself, to have a reference in one place for everyone who's signed it. So, please bear with me, and even enjoy the below.
Man, that could have been a post unto itself. Maybe it should have been.
After getting my convention book squared away, and making some other transactions (see below), I was off to walk the convention floor for some books I was after. Those included a second copy of Spider-Man number one, platinum edition, and Spider Noir issue one. Additionally, I went on the hunt for the Batman Returns and 1989 Toy Biz Joker from the McFarlane DC line. I struck out on everything. Nobody had a thing I was looking for. But I was determined to find something.
Comic wise, I picked up a couple Batman trades. The first was Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast. I actually got two copies of that, along with Batman: The Blue, The Grey, and the Bat. The seller gave them all to me for twenty bucks. The first I picked up because Mike DeCarlo was at the show, and I saw it as another signing opportunity. I ended up giving one of the copies to Russell, who was hanging out at Keith William's table after I got it signed. The second, I used to have back when I was a teenager.
Next up was Green Lantern Green Arrow issue 100. This was not a book on my list. Rather, after consistently striking out, I returned to Alex Saviuk's table and asked him what his first comic he ever worked on was. If you're a keen detective, you guessed it. This one. This issue is well loved but was in a series of bins marked three for $10.00.
Naturally, I was going to find a Spider-Man issue one to add to my ever-expanding collection. Though I wished it was the platinum edition. I got this one for $20.00, which is a bit more than I would normally pay for this book. However, people at the show seemed to be on whacky pills. I saw multiple variations of this book there, and people had donkey prices on them. In specific, one seller who had four different versions offered to sell them to me for $50.00 to $90.00 each. Get real!
I also added a few more McFarlane related books to my collection.
The first is Marvel Tales 235. It's nothing more than a reprint of Marvel Team-Up Annual 1, but the schtick is that it has a McFarlane cover. It's an important one to X-Men collectors because it's also the first time that he drew the characters for publication.
The middle book is an older Image Comics title, Darling Escapes. It appears to be from 1998, and came in two cover variants, the first being McFarlanes, and the second being Art Adams.
Lastly, I picked up a reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man issue 300. The schtick with this one is that it's printed in that retro 3D style with the blue and red inks and even includes a pair of unique glasses. I didn't need this book per se but picked it up from Joe of Pop-Up Comics after several failed, and at that point, comical attempts with him to find five different books.
Dracula Vs. King Arthur was a book that someone handed my girl from his table when she was taking photos. She mentioned she was getting them for my blog, and he gave it to her for free. I believe it was his that he worked on, but I honestly never got the chance to figure out all the details.
I wasn't necessarily looking to expand on my Marvel G.I. Joe collection, but these five were part of the bins labeled three for $10.00, and the only thing I could think of on a whim to add to the pile.
These two (below) were books I remember having as a kid, so it was cool to get these.
I did manage to find a couple figures to pick up.
I've actually come across the multi-signed Spider-Man figure before. In fact, it's what inspired me to get one, and get it signed. I got mine signed over a series of shows, with the most recent being
Brett Breeding at Baltimore Comic Con 2025.
The one I bought at the show already included the signatures of
Jim Shooter,
Brett Breeding, and
John Beatty, which my original also had. However, as an added bonus, it has the signatures of Michael Zeck, and Ron Frenz, who I've not had the opportunity to meet. I also added
Rick Leonardi and
Joe Rubinstein to it since they were at Big Lick NOVA 2026.
I also picked up a sweet Mega Man figure. It's one I'd looked at in the past, but never got around to adding to my video game figure collection.
Despite his minimal size, you can get him in quite a few poses. I mean, maybe. As you can see, I didn't really get all that creative with him. He also comes with multiple hands, and an additional head.
As noted above, I also picked up some prints from Matt Slay. He had so many different characters to choose from, and frankly, I'm sure I missed others I would have rather had. That's because as he sold out of a stack, he pulled out different things from a massive box.
Since he frequents shows, it shouldn't be a problem to get more at a later date. But candidly, while I framed these, I don't have them up on the wall. Space is really getting limited in that department.
Now we get into the gold. I'm talking the one-of-a-kind stuff. The expensive stuff, to put it bluntly. Since I couldn't find the books I was looking for, I reserved myself to do something that I wanted to do anyway but didn't know if I'd have the funds.
As I mentioned in my first post, the artist's tables were relatively empty. Which means all of them were available to do commissions, and happy to do so. I took full advantage of the opportunity to finally add new pieces to my Peter Parker: Decisions series.
One of the people I knew I wanted a commission from, and even mentioned it in the first post, was Mike DeCarlo. As I stated in that, he's known for his work on several cartoon classics. One of these is The Simpsons. Though it's not Peter Parker, I asked him to draw me Homer Simpson in this scenario. It turned out great!
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| Mike DeCarlo |
I also really wanted to ask Alex Saviuk for a commission. Of all the ones I got, his was actually finished last, and well worth the wait.
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| Alex Saviuk |
A pipe dream I was living in prior to the show was also adding one from Joe Rubinstein to the mix. I thought, "There's no way you're going to pull the above off, let alone adding that one too." Well, dreams do come true.
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| Joe Rubinstein |
Finding out that Matt Slay only charged $40.00 for a commission, which with respect to everyone else, was far less expensive, I went ahead and got him in on the game as well.
I did feel bad for Mr. Slay because as I was picking up the commissions from those around him, he said, "I should have inked mine." I said that it was unfortunately too late, as it's already on its way home. That's because I had handed my heavy bag and drawings I had obtained to my girl, who was exhausted at that point, and wanted to head out. I didn't want to carry all of that around with me, so she took it home with her.
It coincided with George of
G.I. Jigsaw texting me that he was coming to the show. So, I ask him if he could give me a ride home if she left, which he kindly agreed to do. He had bags of stuff in his hands when we left, so I'm sure he'll post something about the contents on his blog, if he hasn't already.
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| Matt Slay |
Lastly, I went all in and got one from Patrick Olliffe as well.
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| Patrick Olliffe |
While they didn't fit on my printer to really scan them in well, as you can see below, they look great on the wall. I Put them up in the order completed, but technically, if they were hung in the order they were asked for, it would go; Mike Decarlo, Alex Saviuk, Matt Slay, Joe Rubenstein, Patrick Olliffe.
With Baltimore Comic Con 2026 on the horizon, I'm already working on my wish list for that show and even trying to make some arrangements in advance. We'll see what happens.
As I said in a prior post about the convention, this was my favorite I've ever attended. There were so many special memories attached to this one. Not only did I get a lot of great books signed, but I also got a lot of personalization out of it. You know what else though? I got to take my time and actually walk the showroom floor. That's something I often miss out on while jumping from line to line, essentially spending the day standing and waiting.
But guess what? It doesn't end there. Go all the way back to the
first post in this series. Remember that watercolor painting Mike DeCarlo was holding up? Well, there's a reason he was.
While standing at his table as he signed my books, I started perusing through his portfolio. When I flipped the page to his cover collage of A Death In The Family, my jaw hit the ground. It was beautiful! When I told him as such, he said, "It could be yours."
Well, it is indeed.
It turns out that Mike posted this painting on
his Facebook page just before the show, and while some people were expressing interest, I guess nobody pulled the trigger. Lucky me!
***IMPORTANT UPDATE***
Mike DeCarlo sold me the above painting under false pretense. He touted it as one-of-a-kind when I met him, and even stated this on his own Facebook page when he first completed the piece. However, this simply was not true. I would later find a seller on ebay with an identical painting created after I purchased mine, and a further confirmed third recreation on Mike's own Facebook page. That update is "HERE".
My day started by getting in line at 7:00 AM for doors that opened for early access attendees at 10:00 AM. I ended up staying at the show until 4:30 PM, which is when the final commission was completed. However, just prior to getting that last piece, I stopped at the table of
Codakhrome Comic Shop.
Run by brothers JD Sutphin and Adam Sutphin, Codakhrome makes fantastic pieces of 3D artwork using actual comics. While I'm not sure which brother I ended up meeting on Saturday at the show, I did ask if he could make one for me based on McFarlane's Spider-Man number 1. To which he said he not only could, but that he'd have it by the next day. He texted me right around noon to inform me it was done, and confirm if I still wanted it, which I absolutely did.
When I got to the show, he said he'd actually been asked by multiple people if the piece was for sale. He did an absolutely amazing job on it, and I can see why people were inquiring.
I was hoping that along with these photos I could have included some shots my girl got from walking the convention. However, when I went through all of them, though she was thorough, she didn't get any. Despite this, please do check them out at the link above. The samples on their site of previous work are amazing, and who knows, maybe you want to commission a piece.
I hung it over my Spider-Man comic collection. It seemed the most appropriate space for it, and frankly, one of the few walls spaces left.
But with all of that, that truly does wrap up my annual visit to Big Lick NOVA. It was a blast! This one created so many memories that I'm sure I will cherish for a long time.
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