Comic-Con 2007: The Aftermath
Well, its over. The five-day tribute to Sodom and Gomorra has been packed back into its box and tucked away for another year. The half naked booth babes and carnival barking vendors have taken their wares back to where they call home and have left the creative souls who work in the industry to recover and reflect.
Okay… that’s the over dramatized version of the largest show of the year… but its not THAT far off. I head down there every year with a list of things I want to accomplish, a list of people I want to see and a list of books I want to find. And every year I come back with a list of things I never got to accomplish, a list of people I didn’t get to see and a list of books I never got a chance to look for. Two good examples of that: First I love original art and sketchbooks. I got none of those on my trip… but I did buy Adam Hughes’ sketchbook at my comic shop 3 days after the show. Second example is Scott Allie. One of the nicest guys in comics and someone I enjoy trading emails with. But for the last couple of years its been a quick look and head nod at cons because he’s always swamped at the Dark Horse booth and I’m usually heading somewhere else. This year was no different.
This year I had plans to see all the publisher I was working with or had recently done work for, track down some new editors at DC and Marvel and hook up with a few friends. I rolled into town Wednesday about 3 pm and checked right into my room at the Hyatt. Relaxed in my room for a couple hours before heading over to the show about 5 pm to get my badge. One of the fun things I do is wait to see whom the first person I see that I know is. This year it was a duo, a couple even: Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue Deconnick. The only problem was I was inside the building waiting for the doors to open to the preview night and they were outside the building in line for their badges. So short of a wave and a bow, I couldn’t say much more through the glass. I was able to catch up with them later in the weekend though and congratulate them on all their recent success and their soon-to-be child.
Ran around the first night saying ‘hi’ and getting the layout of the show. The time went so damn quick that the show was closing just when I started getting my bearings. I was invited to dinner but passed thinking a burger from room service and a good night sleep would be a better call.
Thursday morning involved having room service breakfast and that would be the last room service I would order. $15 for a stack of tiny pancakes covered (barely) with fruit. I don’t like fruit anyway so that wasn’t a selling point. I love the Hyatt and their breakfast buffet… but since my wife was not able to come with me this year due to my mother-in-law’s health, I felt guilty going to the buffet since it was Deb’s favorite part of the trip last year. So I avoided it most of the weekend.
I headed over to the con about 10:30 am since Raw Studios (Niles, Jane, Bradstreet, etc) and D2 Games were making their announcement and I promised Ludon Lee I would be there incase someone wanted to ask questions about STRANGE CASES (on sale soon). So I watched as Tom Jane worked the crowd and the media began blocking the aisle. This went on for a bit until I heard my name from the left of the crowd. William Christensen from Avatar Press and a weary looking Warren Ellis stood on one side of the sea of bodies. “Help make a path!” William cried out. As I was in the middle I was able to do my best Andre the Giant imitation: “Everybody Move!” (If you haven’t seen Princess Bride, go watch it now… I’ll wait). Warren made is way through the crowd, said ‘hi’ on his way by and headed off to his own sea of waiting fans.
The rest of the weekend was a huge blur. Dinner with Tone Rodriguez at Dick’s Last Resort. The IDW/ Circle of Confusion/Heavy Metal party, The Avatar Press/Atomic Comics party at the same time on the same night. Dinner with the D2 guys then the mixer in a tiny hotel room where I saw Bernie Wrightson talking to Mike Ploog. Hanging out with some Hollywood folks Saturday night and turning down a party to go play poker for CBLDF. And a very successfully signing at the Antidote Trust booth (thank you Dale and all).
I snuck out Sunday morning before the show opened and was home and lying in bed by noon.
I came out of it with a few very cool things. I should have a new regular series to announce shortly, one I’m incredibly excited about and something completely different for me. I may also have a chance to do some more prose work. Having done comic scripts for so long, writing prose feels like a nice change of pace occasionally and I’ll jump at the chance.
The one thing I was worried about going down to the show was sitting around with nothing to do. Because of my mother-in-laws health, I didn’t book any signings other then the one on Saturday in fear I would have to leave in the middle of the show. So other than meeting with people and a few parties, I had no specific things to do at the show. But I found that I was constantly heading over to see someone and I never once really just sat for five minutes with nothing to do.
The only person I didn’t get to see was my friend Odette from the Suicide Girls… who I apologize to for not getting over there when she was there.
Now to get working on scripts. My next con will be the Silicon in San Jose this October. Hope to see some of you there.
Okay… that’s the over dramatized version of the largest show of the year… but its not THAT far off. I head down there every year with a list of things I want to accomplish, a list of people I want to see and a list of books I want to find. And every year I come back with a list of things I never got to accomplish, a list of people I didn’t get to see and a list of books I never got a chance to look for. Two good examples of that: First I love original art and sketchbooks. I got none of those on my trip… but I did buy Adam Hughes’ sketchbook at my comic shop 3 days after the show. Second example is Scott Allie. One of the nicest guys in comics and someone I enjoy trading emails with. But for the last couple of years its been a quick look and head nod at cons because he’s always swamped at the Dark Horse booth and I’m usually heading somewhere else. This year was no different.
This year I had plans to see all the publisher I was working with or had recently done work for, track down some new editors at DC and Marvel and hook up with a few friends. I rolled into town Wednesday about 3 pm and checked right into my room at the Hyatt. Relaxed in my room for a couple hours before heading over to the show about 5 pm to get my badge. One of the fun things I do is wait to see whom the first person I see that I know is. This year it was a duo, a couple even: Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue Deconnick. The only problem was I was inside the building waiting for the doors to open to the preview night and they were outside the building in line for their badges. So short of a wave and a bow, I couldn’t say much more through the glass. I was able to catch up with them later in the weekend though and congratulate them on all their recent success and their soon-to-be child.
Ran around the first night saying ‘hi’ and getting the layout of the show. The time went so damn quick that the show was closing just when I started getting my bearings. I was invited to dinner but passed thinking a burger from room service and a good night sleep would be a better call.
Thursday morning involved having room service breakfast and that would be the last room service I would order. $15 for a stack of tiny pancakes covered (barely) with fruit. I don’t like fruit anyway so that wasn’t a selling point. I love the Hyatt and their breakfast buffet… but since my wife was not able to come with me this year due to my mother-in-law’s health, I felt guilty going to the buffet since it was Deb’s favorite part of the trip last year. So I avoided it most of the weekend.
I headed over to the con about 10:30 am since Raw Studios (Niles, Jane, Bradstreet, etc) and D2 Games were making their announcement and I promised Ludon Lee I would be there incase someone wanted to ask questions about STRANGE CASES (on sale soon). So I watched as Tom Jane worked the crowd and the media began blocking the aisle. This went on for a bit until I heard my name from the left of the crowd. William Christensen from Avatar Press and a weary looking Warren Ellis stood on one side of the sea of bodies. “Help make a path!” William cried out. As I was in the middle I was able to do my best Andre the Giant imitation: “Everybody Move!” (If you haven’t seen Princess Bride, go watch it now… I’ll wait). Warren made is way through the crowd, said ‘hi’ on his way by and headed off to his own sea of waiting fans.
The rest of the weekend was a huge blur. Dinner with Tone Rodriguez at Dick’s Last Resort. The IDW/ Circle of Confusion/Heavy Metal party, The Avatar Press/Atomic Comics party at the same time on the same night. Dinner with the D2 guys then the mixer in a tiny hotel room where I saw Bernie Wrightson talking to Mike Ploog. Hanging out with some Hollywood folks Saturday night and turning down a party to go play poker for CBLDF. And a very successfully signing at the Antidote Trust booth (thank you Dale and all).
I snuck out Sunday morning before the show opened and was home and lying in bed by noon.
I came out of it with a few very cool things. I should have a new regular series to announce shortly, one I’m incredibly excited about and something completely different for me. I may also have a chance to do some more prose work. Having done comic scripts for so long, writing prose feels like a nice change of pace occasionally and I’ll jump at the chance.
The one thing I was worried about going down to the show was sitting around with nothing to do. Because of my mother-in-laws health, I didn’t book any signings other then the one on Saturday in fear I would have to leave in the middle of the show. So other than meeting with people and a few parties, I had no specific things to do at the show. But I found that I was constantly heading over to see someone and I never once really just sat for five minutes with nothing to do.
The only person I didn’t get to see was my friend Odette from the Suicide Girls… who I apologize to for not getting over there when she was there.
Now to get working on scripts. My next con will be the Silicon in San Jose this October. Hope to see some of you there.
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