Nimpentoad authors navigate the Comic-Con forest

Nimpentoad is a children’s fantasy book written by San Diegan Henry Herz and his elementary school-aged sons, Josh and Harrison. Nimpentoad is being very well received, with over 40 Amazon 5-star ratings. The authors recently attended the San Diego Comic-Con. Below, older son Josh recounts their fun day.
 
 
By Josh Herz
 
SAN DIEGO — My brother, Dad, and I just got back from San Diego Comic-Con. Some of the things we got to do were meet authors, artists, and movie makers, buy cool things, get signed artwork, see amazing displays like huge trolls and 3-D Hobbit posters, and tell people about our book Nimpentoad!!
 
These are just a few of the authors, artists, and movie makers we got to meet. First we reunited with Bill Maus, who is one of the artists for our kid’s fantasy book Nimpentoad. He drew the Pedal Wagon, Trolls, Goofus the Giant, and the Rhinotaurs in our book. Later, we ran into Grant Gould, who is a Star Wars cartoon artist. I got a cool picture of Yoda that was signed by him. We also saw Eric Shanower. He wrote and illustrated the book, Age of Bronze. The art in his Oz books is just amazing. My brother and I were happy to meet David Petersen. He’s the author and artist for the graphic novel series Mouse Guard. We purchased some of his artwork and we have one of his books. Lastly, we met Sir Richard Taylor, the head of Peter Jackson’s prop company, Weta. We took an “action shot” photo with him.
 
We went into different stores and bought some awesome things that we really like. There was a Lego store and another that had all these Domo toys. My brother got a limited edition Golden Domo. We got collectable Hobbit acorn pins from Warner Brothers. I’m pretty sure Bilbo will be wearing something that looks like the acorn pin in upcoming Hobbit movie. As I said, we got signed artwork from Grant Gould and David Petersen. That reminded me that I need to start working on my signature so it looks cool and not childish. The Warner Brothers booth also handed out special edition Lego minifigures. They look like they are The Flash and Superman as zombies! We got a stuffed zombie whose name is Horace, but we may change his name. I pre-ordered the Xbox game Assassin’s Creed, and got a free t-shirt from Obisoft.
 
Some of the displays we saw were very cool. We posed in front of a car from the movie Total Recall. It was futuristic, as it was a hovering car. There was a giant Hulk made from Lego. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, puny humans!! He looked angry (as usual). On display, there was a car from The Walking Dead. I got to sit in it and pretend like I was driving it. Too bad the knives in the car didn’t come out of their sheaths. My dad doesn’t think that was too bad. The car had awesome everything, from a dozer blade to a dull paint job, to scythed blades on the wheels, to reinforced headlights and windshields. There were super-sized Ugly Dolls walking around. There was an Ugly Ox and a Super Babo with a cape, mask and cookie on his outfit. They were very jumpy. Literally. The Weta booth had three huge trolls for The Hobbit movie. I posed underneath a troll’s foot like I was being stepped on (which I don’t mind actually).
 
We advertised and told people about our book, Nimpentoad. As I said, Nimpentoad artist Bill Maus was in the Artist Alley. It was nice to see him again, because he doesn’t live in San Diego. Signed copies of our book were given away as prizes for a scavenger hunt put together by TheOneRing.net. We were interviewed on camera by Cliff Broadway for the Lord of the Rings website TheOneRing.net. Cliff talked about and showed all their viewers our book. He was very nice. We all had a had a great time at San Diego Comic-Con! 
 
About the Book
The furry bright-eyed little Nimpentoad is tired of being picked on by the bigger and meaner creatures of the ancient shadowy Grunwald Forest. He convinces his fellow Niblings to make the perilous journey to a castle where they hope to find refuge. Along the way, they are confronted by ravenous goblins, trolls, rhinotaurs, and other perils. But with teamwork and Nimpentoad’s leadership, the Niblings outwit these menaces. 
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The Herz family resides in San Diego County.  Here is a San Diego Jewish World review of Nimpentoad