Hi!! My husband and I love attending trivia nights together with our friends and, win or lose, a great time is always had by all. Because of schedule conflicts, we haven’t been in a couple of weeks but the last time we went was definitely an evening to remember for me… I got to meet one of my favorite comic book illustrators, Craig Russell!

For those of you who don’t know, I am a HUGE graphic novel/comic book fan and my all time favorite would have to be the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. Sandman is, easily, one of the finest works of literature I have ever read and I try to read the extremely lengthy series once every two years. One of the cool things about Sandman is that several illustrators worked on it and it was so interesting to see the beloved characters drawn from different points of view. Craig Russell just so happens to have worked on the Sandman series and he illustrated one of my favorite spin offs, The Dream Hunters.

When Johnny pointed Craig out to me at one of the opposing team’s tables on trivia night, I lost my shit (for lack of a better phrase!). He told me I have to talk to him after the games were over and I was so nervous because it really was like meeting a hero. I have at least ten tattoos from the Sandman series and one of my biggest pieces is an illustration by Craig!

During my little meet and greet with Mister Russell, he admired all of my tattoos and was blown away that his work was on me. We got to talk shop for over thirty minutes about Sandman, our favorite issues, and the upcoming Netflix series. Craig even encouraged me to let him know whenever I read any graphic novels he might like. He was also kind enough to take pictures with me and sign his autograph. It was basically the coolest thing ever.

I can’t wait to bump into Craig again and I will be prepared because I actually just finished another graphic novel that he illustrated – Coraline. I will have my copy ready to go for him to sign and am looking forward to hearing more of his amazing insights. ❤

Have you ever met one of your heroes before? What was it like? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah