Friday Lart – Happiness Is A Warm Con Haul

Fridays, we open the Larchives, Lar’s extensive archive of art work oddities, and share a few pieces.

I’ve never been to San Diego Comic Con. I enjoy Montreal Comic Con, but not as much as the days before the comic convention boom. Sometimes I pop in my Chasing Amy DVD just to watch the opening scene, set in a comic convention during the concrete basement era. It’s the most tangible example of the bygone era of comic conventions I loved in my youth.

So when Rob Salkowitz wrote on ICv2 about last weekend’s Comic-Con Special Edition, quoting an attendee saying it “…reminded me of a show from the 1990s,” I reflected on comic conventions of late. I haven’t attended a con in two years, possibly the longest I’ve gone without hitting a con since my teens. At this point, I’d be happy attending a comic con of any size. I look forward to the next opportunity to see the geeky sights, spend time with my nerdy friends, and leave with a fresh con haul.

In the meantime, I have Happiness Is A Warm Porg.

Happiness Is A Warm Porg

Last year, Lar released a book of mash-ups and geeky in-jokes, in the same vein as his comics that I share here every Friday. If you’ve ever spent a few minutes at an LICD booth early in a con, before Lar’s commissions queue fills up, he’s exercising his art muscles with what I would call better art than I could ever hope to create, but Lar calls doodles.

Flipping through Happiness Is A Warm Porg gives me the same sense of contentment as walking down artist alley, checking out amazing cosplayers, and perusing shelves of obscure media memorabilia. Peak into a few pages from this 48-page book:

Autograph Lines

What’s a con experience without the opportunity for autographs?

Well unlike the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation,* Lar doesn’t charge extra for an autograph. If you order Happiness Is A Warm Porg from his website, you can include a request for him to personalize the book for you. He’s happy to do it, free of charge.

*Or most celebrities, but the TNG cast stands out to me. They’re all alive and active on the con circuit, and Star Trek: TNG is my favourite TV show, so I thought it’s be cool to get them all to sign a laminated poster of the Enterprise I’ve had since high school. But their autographs average $100, and the lineups last half a con, so I’m looking at nearly $1000 for this plan. Twice I’ve said “This is the year that I do it!” and both times the realities of the cost scared me away.