Dreams to come true! Meeting my legend Mike Mignola!

 I think this is my third blog post about Mike Mignola. I live in the midwest region of the United States, and Mr Mike Mignola lives on the west coast. His convention appearances are becoming thinner and thinner and it was a very long shot that I would get tickets to some west coast convention that he would also come to. So when he posted that he was gonna be in NYC on Mar 23 for a Pinocchio exhibit at Society Of Illustrators (SOI), I knew I'd to jump on it.

And I am so glad I did. Got my tickets booked and arrived in NYC. My best friend growing up lives there and he set me off on a New York SUBWAY adventure switching two trains to reach Society Of Illustrators. I'd got my ticket booked for the afternoon at SOI and I'd planned on changing to a hellboy t-shirt and wear a hellboy pin and as soon as I walked through the door, I caught a glimpse of Mike walking with another person, (whom I came to know later as Scott Mignola, his brother) and I completely forgot everything and did nothing of the t-shirt and the pin. In hindsight, figured this was what it was to feel STARSTRUCK!

Mike with his brother, Scott Mignola

I very anxiously walked in and when a brief moment of silence dawned between Mike and Scott, I jumped in and said a hi. He returned my greeting with a warm hi and a "thanks for being here" and it was a roller coaster ride for the next 2.5 hours. Mike is such genuine humor and whatever he said was so fluent because he was not second guessing anything, he was merely speaking his own experience. There were others, like me, who'd come there to enjoy pinocchio and Mike's presence. We were actively engaged in conversation and Mike was responding to all of our questions with such kindness, cheer and spontaneity.

I had got a few things to be signed by him and when I approached him, I said, "I am sorry to bother you" and swiftly came a reply, "Too late!". We erupted with laughter, that is the humor of Mike. He kindly obliged for some pictures

There were so many others who came to bask in his glory and ask him questions and advice he had for artists. I listened to many conversations, fans questioned him about some plot points, he talked about past, present and future projects.

Finally, I thanked him and took leave. It was a splendid day! I thanked God for making this happen and told myself "Dreams do come true"!

Some pictures capturing the key ideas behind the Illuminated Edition project of Pinocchio from Beehive Books














I think I will make a separate post about the illustrations that Mike did for the Pinocchio book which was the central theme of the exhibit at the SOI in NYC.

Some of the stuff, he so kindly obliged to sign. These will be cherished forever.







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