Everyone in comics knows Frank Cho. I was first drawn in by his endless Harley Quinn covers and hilarious outrage sketch covers. I thought he had a great style and I loved his sense of humour! It was 2014 where everything came together to give me the opportunity to meet him for my first trip over to the US for SDCC.
I remember it was nearing closing time on one of the final days when the traffic in the main hall was much less. And there he was, sitting there by himself at his table. I got really excited, nervous too to now finally get to meet him! I also wanted to try to get a commission or any original art at all from him, so now was my time.
I walk over to him, introduce myself and try my luck at asking for a commission if possible. He looked at me smiling and responded "No" followed by a brief laugh and then silence. Being a bit socially awkward, I just stood there dismayed and frozen. Not knowing what else to say, I just went with "oh ok, thanks" and walked away traumatised by how it all played out. The end. Lol, or so I thought.
Fast forward 11 years later, and now we are finally sharing the same space once again at Lake Como Art Festival in Italy 2025, but this time both as guest artists. Turns out Frank is quite involved with this show from its founding in 2018. The opening day for the show was at this incredible villa on the lake side. It was absolutely beautiful and more so since I got to experience it with my partner, Miki Okazaki (who was totally overwhelmed being part of such an event). In every direction we were surrounded by creative giants in the industry all conversing with each other. It was simply on another level!
Outside, we both see Frank standing on the stairs chatting with a few others while sipping on his drink (far left in the photo below). Miki asks me if I’d like to go say hello since she wanted to meet him. Even though my first encounter did not leave a great impression, I didn’t want to let it get in the way, so I was up for it. I was in no rush however.
Some backstory - I had met with Mark Raats a number of months before for lunch and he’s actually good friends with Frank. He had many positive things to say about him so that definitely helped me to loosen up the negative feelings I had from all those years ago.
It was now evening time at the villa and Miki and I both see Frank and Chris Tung (Raremark CEO) chatting by themselves a bit further away from where most of everyone else was. Miki knows Chris too from her involvement with Raremark auctions, so I felt this was the right time to go over.
I introduce myself yet again and immediately Chris knew who I was. I felt this really helped to set a more comfortable space right away. Helped even more that Miki and Chris know each other. It was actually really easy chatting with Frank and surprisingly he was familiar with my art too. We all spent quite awhile chatting, sharing stories and experiences in the industry, and man it was really interesting, shocking and inspiring to hear. He also really does have a great sense of humour, so we often all found ourselves laughing throughout our time together.
So there I was, now having a great time with Frank, Miki and Chris after a disappointing first encounter all those years ago. I will be honest, I did think Frank was a bit of a dick for the longest time, but I was wrong about him. He's actually an awesome guy, someone I definitely connected with positively and I now look forward to seeing him again in future.
In conclusion, I know it can be an occasional reality for fans to meet their inspirations and for those very brief moments to result in intoxicating disappointment. It's inevitable in this unpredictable and mysterious thing we call life. These such situations however, challenge us and brings to the surface what we are really made of. They shine a light on our very ability to mentally process what has just unfolded. Can we move on from such an event unbothered, or is our ability to think and process such situations wired in a way that only produces mental and emotional poison for ourselves? This brings me to one of the biggest life fundamentals I've learnt - "Its not about what happens to you, it's about how you choose to deal with it" and that changes everything.