Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info,alt.comics.alternative From: [fuy 1] at [umbc.edu] (Francis A Uy) Subject: CON: Diamond Seminar Report, Dave Sim's Radisson Party Date: 22 Jun 1994 22:55:29 -0400 Diamond Retailers Seminar, day two, part three Sunday June 12 Dave Sim's Radisson Party #1 9:15 After cruising by the parking garage to drop off the day's freebies & pick up more signables, we wander to the Radisson Hotel bar. The atmosphere is smoky but very comfortable and friendly. There is a large wide oval, with Dave Sim at the center of the far wall. An approximate seating chart: ^^^^^^^^^^ [to Wizards --> | [to the bar] of the Coast] | +--+ Rick | fans | |Veitch (jeff mason) | fans +--+ | fans fans fans (patman) (me) + | Brad +---+ +---+ Mark +--+ | | Moore | | fans | | Hempel | | Colleen| | +---+ +---+ +--+ Doran | | Batton Jim Steve Dave James Mark | | Lash Valentino Bisette Sim Owen Wheatley (george z) fan | \--------------------------------------------------------------/ Of course, everyone ended up moving around for signings & booze. I'm about to hit the bar, so I ask Colleen if she wants anything. Several people express interest in seeing Colleen drunk. She yells at Dave for his 'bunny in the headlights' picture. Someone produces a copy for her. "This is my best known photo, and I look terrible in it! Besides, I don't drink! It was a setup!" Dave is laughing, pleased at his success. Food arrives, Patman & I help Colleen with her cheesesteak & reuben. Colleen is easily the most bouncy non-drunk person in the room. She's also making a bundle of money right now by selling original art. She mis-estimated her taxes, and needs the cash to pay for next issue's printing bill. James Owen swings by with a box full of comics -- several issues of Starchild & A Distant Soil, ready to be signed. I'm waiting for the TPBs. Jeff & Pat sent their sketchbooks into the loop a while back, and are getting a look at the preliminary results -- damn good. As Dave Sim has said in the past, the higher the artist to fan ratio, the better the sketches. Jeff shows me some interesting jams. I finally take a time out & pass my Jaka's Story up to Dave. He signs it for my girlfriend. Jim Valentino seems like a decent guy. Up until the moment I watch him draw a Captain Everything, I didn't realize he is the creator of normalman. Wow! To get his start under Dave Sim, this explains why he donates Shadowhawk's back cover to small press books. I suppose everyone already knew that. :-\ Mark Hempel is skimming through a copy of _Comic Book Artists_, and is rather annoyed that he isn't in it. Mark Wheatley tries to console him. It's really just a mainstream listing. Mark is taking a break from standard comics after The Kindly Ones ends. Mark is designing a humor comic called Tug-n-Buster, and hopes to get it printed in Details magazine. The rate per page as a magazine cartoonist is high multiple times that of a comics artist. Also, "DC pays better than Vertigo pays better than Pirhana." So there will definitely be no new Gregory unless a story really grabs him. Mark *would* like to do Tug-n-Buster as a creator owned comic, though. He's not really ready to self publish, so he's looking at Blackball, maybe Dark Horse. Who are Tug-n-Buster? "They're just these two dumb guys, but they're MY two dumb guys! I think they'll be really funny, with more mainstream appeal. Sort of my Simpsons to Gregory's Life in Hell." At 10:45 the Fantagraphics crew arrives. They take a corner booth near the bar and snicker a lot. Not the friendliest atmosphere; I don't think they were expecting all of us to be here. Peter Bagge reluctantly signs my Bradleys TPB. They leave within an hour. I'm hanging out with some friends from Geppi's when I hear someone say "Jim Lee is here." I look around, saying "where?" when I realize he's walking right past the booth. "Hi, Jim!" He smiles & replies "Hi", but it's obvious that he wasn't expecting so many of us. He retreats from the bar for a minute, then regains his composure and wades in to the crowd to sign. Nice guy. Rob Liefeld is behind him, but I don't see him signing anything. Shortly after that, Larry Marder corrals the Image guys, including Jim Valentino, and takes them back to their suite for a staff meeting. At 11:10 Jeff Smith & Vijaya Iyer pull up to the bar & get some drinks. Apparently Jeff Mason has been chatting with them regularly by phone, so he monopolizes conversation for a bit. Jeff Smith is pretty goofy, but a nice guy. As various people point out, he's Fone Bone with hair. Vijaya is friendly & quite articulate, an excellent choice for chief executive. They are moving back to Columbus Ohio & buying a house, to save on taxes & cost of living. Jeff moves into a back to back position with Dave Sim. A pair of lines snake towards them, apparently they are deeply engaged in a sketch war. Neither one looks up much. Next on my schedule is James Owen, who is experiencing a lull at 11:40. He's still working hard to stay on schedule & win Dave Sim's bet. Last night he did new pages in his hotel room. Starchild seems to be paying off, because he's planning to buy some land in Ireland & establish residency there. Irish law says artists & writers pay no income tax. "Summer in Ireland, winter in Arizona." Good life. Swinging around the room again, I hear Colleen ranting about how clerical errors at Diamond screwed up the release of her ADS starter packs by four months. Most of the delays ADS has experienced over the years were due to the publisher or the distributor, not due to slow art. And now that she's the publisher too, her only problems are Diamond & Capital. At midnight Scott McCloud shows up. He chats with James for a bit, then Dave. I get a cute signiature/sketch in Understanding Comics, with Scott spouting a word balloon full of icons. I ask "When did you start working on UC? How long have you thought about this stuff?" A lot longer than I expected. Scott has been researching the comics medium since at least 1983, before he even started Zot! He never stopped studying, and eventually he had enough material for a serious book. Gee, that sounds easy enough. Back at my Baltimore locals table, we share beers with Jesse Falcon, a sales rep for Toy Biz. Jesse got into the comics biz by writing random applications to companies. One of his letters was mislaid on the right person's desk at Marvel, and they gave him a job. Now he plans to accidentally put other people applications on his boss's desk, and continue the cycle. Jesse was at the Marvel table during Frank Miller's speech. He wanted to laugh his head off, but was afraid for his job. He suggests a slogan: "Toy Biz: we're not the Evil Empire, we're just their sister." About 1:00 I'm starting to fade away, and I really want to catch Scott McCloud's talk tomorrow at breakfast. On the way out I hear one more Colleen Doran rant -- she's been making them all night, a multitude of reasons why self publishing is the best. "I make more money from 10000 copies of A Distant Soil than from 100000 copies of Silver Surfer. Marvel's royalty program, excuse me, Marvel's incentive gift program, is a joke." She explains the myriad conditions and limitations that Marvel puts on its artists. Original art is not returned because they have to, it's returned out of generosity. She says DC isn't much better. As I head through the lobby, I stumble across Wizards of the Coast. They've been hanging out all night, playing Deckmaster & other games (not necessarily their own) with passers-by. It turns out they won the 'Best Game Product' award, but TSR maintained its sweep of 'Best Game Company'. Nevertheless, they're damn happy, and why not? Magic has made them rich. I decline to play, and claim apathy to The Addiction. One of them wishes he were immune to it, and asks me for a blood transfusion. Another hands me a rulebook & some brochures, lest I escape their spell. This week I bought my first starter pack... -F