The first thing I saw when arriving at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH last Sunday morning was a giant Jabba the Hut puppet in the lobby. The second thing I saw was Storm Troopers getting dressed in the men’s room.

So, it was going to be THAT kind of comic convention, I said to myself, straightening my tie and polishing my cuff links (this is a lie - I wore neither).

GraniteCon - a nice, small-sized comic convention put on by the good folks over at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester - was a wonderful bundle of contradictions.

Almost one-third of the floor space was devoted to local and small press talent while superstar Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver demanded a 5-hour wait for free color sketches.

Storm Troopers roomed the aisles and 12-year-old boys competed against each other in “Call of Duty 4″ games on LCD tv screens. All while Mimi’s Doughnuts’ Marek Bennett organized a series of wall-length comic james, pulling in artists and amateurs from the crowd.

Here’s a few quick thoughts -

1) Smaller, local shows have a better financial yield than the “national” indie comic shows. Trees & Hills did pretty well, easily clearing the cost of the table and probably covering our lunch too. Still, it’s easier to cover a $40 table than a $400-whatever one. What you do lose here is the wide net of contacts that these larger shows specialize in.

2) All young boys now love IRON MAN. He’s the new Puffy.

3) Comics never leave your blood. It was nice to see Tim Knowles tabling at the show, the former owner of COMICS ETC in Keene, NH. He was upbeat and seemed actually happy to be selling comics now as a hobby. I loved COMICS ETC because it was located in the same building as my post-college apartment, right in the center of downtown Keene. Beautiful days.

4) Cosplay just ain’t my thing and sometimes I laugh about it with my friends, but a tiny part of me is happy that SOMEONE spends thousands of dollars on a realistic Boba Fett costume.

This show wore me out - even more than some of the more complex ones in Big Cities. Were Darth Vader and Cobra Commander teaming up to drain the energy from comic creators? Mexican food and drinks with friends after the shaw were restorative.

T&H co-founder Colin Tedford, Megan Baehr and I gathered at Keith Moriarty’s place in Keene the night before this whole wonderful convention madness and folded comics and laughed and hung out on the roof and pretended to watch the sunset. Many thanks to Keith for being a host and supplying champagne to toast with.

Silly cell phone pictures below.

Jabba the Hut, at the entrance to the con.

Hotel security, I think.

The guy in the front really should win a prize for his realistic Dick Cheney costume.

I think Batman is trying to pick her up. He fails.

Marek Bennett is the best showman for comics. He’s the new Stan Lee.

Colin, myself and Keith during a quiet moment after the show. Photo by Marek.

Colin and Megan on Keith’s roof.