As I said earlier, I attended the New York Comic Con this year. It was a crazy cool edition. Friday night, second day of the con, I was already washed out. Usually, when I’m in New York, I stay with one of my relatives in Long Island. But this time, I stayed with one of my cousins in Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) as it was way easier and faster to get to the Con every morning.
Anyway. Friday night. After the con. Wasn’t really in the mood for anything. So I went for a Pizza near my cuz’s place.
Sal’s Pizzeria seemed like the place I needed. I go in, order two slices. A gentleman sees my Comic Con badge and starts talking to me:
“are you an artist? Your badge says ‘artist alley’…”. We start chatting while we’re both waiting for our pizza.
Turns out this guy was Tom Akel. I never heard of him before, but he turned out to be a very interesting and cool guy. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a good mood as his employer, MTV, had just shut down the division he was running, MTV Geeks. He came to grab pizza to go with the fine bottle of white wine he showed me, a menu that would help him get over the sad news.
I felt sorry. I never heard of Tom before, but I knew MTV Geeks and I liked it very much. We traded contact info. I hope I cross path with Tom again next time I’m in New York. After the con, I googled him and was amazed by what he did.
I also love New York for that. You’re anonymous in the streets and you cross path with someone who turns out to be a very talented pro living in the same comic book world as yourself.
The pizza wasn’t really good by the way. But I didn’t care. I came out of Sal’s with a story to tell. 🙂
F.