Always Meet Your Heroes

I brought my kids to SacAnime Winter 2025 a few months ago and I couldn't believe how massive that thing was. At least half of the crowd was in cosplay gear, and there were so many cool vendors and voice actors there waiting to meet fans.

Easily the most important booth that I visited was that of Ron Lim, one of my all-time favorite comic artists. I was a big fan of his back in the 90s when he worked on various X-Men, Spider-Man, and 2099 books for Marvel. There was nobody at his booth, which I thought was strange. But when I mentioned this, Mr. Lim said it was because most anime fans wouldn't know who he was. He was really kind and down to earth, said he'd been working on some What If...? featuring Galactus covers for Marvel. What a cool guy.

Always meet your heroes if given the chance. If they're different than you expected, ask yourself what you were a fan of: their talent, or their character. Adjust accordingly.

Ellis Novak

2025-03-24