From: [w c hong] at [corpsyndev.ml.com] (William Chong) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Subject: CON REPORT: Minnesota Date: 8 Oct 1995 17:11:05 -0500 This is a report on the 1995 Minnesota Comic Book Convention. The con was held on September 23 and 24 at the Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington, MN. (Between the Minneapolis/St. Paul Intl Airport and the Mall of America.) Guests at the show included: Paul Ryan, Tom Lyle, Dan Jurgens, Colleen Doran, Peter Krause, Len Strazewski, Terry Beatty, Wendi Lee, Gordon Purcell, Chas Truog, Peter Gross, Mark Stegbauer, Doug Mahnke, a few others, and surprise guest, Mark Waid. Those who recognize my name may be wondering what a New York City boy is doing in Minnesota. Well, I recently moved here for a year to attend the School of Communcation Arts in Minneapolis. I hope to graduate from their program with the skills to work in computer animation. Anyway, I left all my comics back in NYC so I didn't have them for the guests to sign....doh! I want to apologize in advance for any mistakes I may have made in this report, especially if I misinterpreted what any of the guests said. And if any of them are reading this post, I was the Asian guy in the green barn-jacket. Events at the con included...... o Comic Book Writing with Terrance Griep Jr. o Pencilling with G. Purcell and P. Krause o Inking with T. Beatty and M. Stegbauer o Marvel Creators Q & A with Jurgens, Ryan, Waid, and Lyle o Self Publishing with Colleen Doran and others o Collectible Card Games o Collecting Original Art o Auction Dealers...... o The size of the dealer room was OK. For comparison, it was the about the size of Fred Greenberg's one-day shows in NYC. The dealers were mostly local with a couple of large dealers like Harley Yee. o There were old and new comics. The bad girl books were mildy hot but the craze is dying down o Found some titles to try like Concrete, Journey, Metaphysique, Madman, Epicarius the Sage. Didn't like the first four; liked the last one. MINOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Paul Ryan.......... o I thought he was the best guest in the creators room. He (and his wife) were very nice and approachable. I got a nice head sketch of the The Thing and picked up b&w prints of Spider-man and Silver Surfer. It was a real pleasure meeting him. o We talked a little about DP7 (a good title) and the New Universe. Only two of the New U. titles were selling (DP7 and Star Brand) and Marvel didn't think it was worth continuiing the line with only two titles. Mark Gruenwald still has DP7 in mind and now that he's one of the editors- in-chief at Marvel, he might be able to do something with it. o Paul has committments at Marvel for the next few years. Afterwards he'd be interested in working on other characters at other companies. Super! o He's been trying to get The Fantastic Four back to basics....that is, the family dynamics between Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben, etc. o Reed will be back but he'll be tramatized by what he's been through. He'll resume leadership in status but Sue will really be leading until Reed regains his confidence. Reed will take on a fatherly role with Kristoff... something he was unable to do with Franklin. (I don't follow FF, does that sound right?) o Paul wanted to do a memorial story for Reed (like in Superman) but the Atlantis Rising crossover was in the way. So, regretably, that story never got done. o Speaking as a nutritionist, Paul told Mark Waid that he thought the super-soldier serum should act like a super vitamin. It would pump-up Steve Rogers once but afterwards it's up to Steve to keep in shape. Mark agreed it was a good idea but that it would totally invalidate his first story arc on Captain America. :) Dan Jurgens.... o I think he's an OK writer; some of his stories have been great and some of them have been horrible. After listening to him talk, I believe that he sincerely tries to write good stories so my opinion of him has increased. o I wanted to get a Superman sketch but was too nervous to ask. o He'll be working on a new Spider-man title. Spider-man will be getting a slightly new costume which Dan doesn't feel is necessary and Tom Lyle dislikes. I saw the new costume and I don't like it nor think it was necessary. Which Spider-man will it be? ......Ben Reilly, the real Peter Parker. (I don't follow S-m, does that sound right?) o I believe the inker/finisher over Dan will be Klaus Janson. (Personally, I don't think they're a good combination.) o Dan thinks there is too much gloom and doom in comics and wants to get Spider-man back to basics. He wants to write fun stories with S-m to attract younger readers. He believes the market needs a big influx of 12 year-olds if the industry is going to prosper. o He doesn't like what's been done to Green Lantern and Aquaman. He feels that the problem wasn't with the characters but with the execution. That's something which I wrote to Kevin Dooley about when GL was screwed with. A character and story is only as good as the writer. Such a radical change in Green Lantern was unbelievable and unnecessary. o Dan talked at length with a fan about the JSA. The fan (as do I) felt that the JSA were treated poorly in Zero Hour. Upon retrospect, Dan would have liked to have done a JSA one-shot to better explain the afermath and consequences of Zero Hour. Dan feels that the JSA should not be running around fighting bad guys because, frankly, they're too old. He wouldn't mind seeing a JSA series set in the past but "current-day" adventures would be ridiculous. Dan feels the Crisis was what really screwed the JSA (and Hawkman) and trying to make one continuity was a mistake. In the end, he feels Zero Hour was the best fate for the JSA compared to the other ideas that were floating around DC. o One of his favorite current series is Sandman Mystery Theater -- which he cites as a good example of telling JSA stories set in the past. o Admits that they fumbled the ball with the Adam Grant/Toyman story. He wanted it to happen soon after the previous Toyman story but couldn't schedule it in until much later. By the time it was published the impact was gone and the sense of continutity was broken. o Dan might be taking over The (New New New) Titans. If he does, he's thinking about having Ted Grant, aka Wildcat, as their mentor. o He has a complete run the the Justice League of America and the Fantastic Four. o Bravura is pretty much dead. Dan's creator-owned project wasn't published due to Malibu's financial problems and its acquisition by Marvel. o He plans to stay with Superman for a while. After so many years, he has a metaphysical investment in the character. o He gave away trade paperbacks of Superman vs Dommsday to kids he thought deserving. Tom Lyle........ o A lot of dissatisfied fans voiced their opinion about the clone thing in Spider-man. Tom did his best to explain the thought- process behind the storyline. While he acknowledges that some things could have been done better, he stands by the story citing that a change was needed. (Sounds too much like the Green Lantern fiasco.) Tom feels that both Peter Parker's are viable characters and that good Spider-man stories will come from this. o There is a back-door left open should Marvel change their minds since Peter Parker, the clone, is still alive. o Tom has a wise-guy personality. (This is an observation not an insult.) o He is currently working with Howard Mackie on Punisher....trying to give him depth and a personality. :) Mark Waid.... o Mark was a surprise guest of Dan Jurgens . Since Mark is one of my favorite writers, I was cursing myself for leaving my comics in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Doh! o He dislikes crossovers....yet, he's the writer of Underworld Unleashed. o He plans to stay with The Flash as long as he can......again, metaphysical investment in the character. o His personal collection includes most of the comics published in the 1950's. o Mark's stories for Captain America will be action adventures. A mixture of James Bond and Indiana Jones. o He will be writing one of the X-books. Tentatively, there are no mega-crossovers planned. Instead, they will be resolving plot-lines ....like the X-traitor one. Peter Krause.... o I'm a big fan of The Power of Shazam! I think both the writing and art are excellent. o I left my copy of POS! #1 in NYC. It was already signed by Ordway, Manley, Whitmore, and Carlin. Doh! o I got a quick head sketch of Captain Marvel. Woo-hoo! o Peter plans to stay with POS! Other Creators....... o Peter Gross enjoys The Books of Magic. He and John Rey Neiber like the character of Molly very much and would like to do "The Books of Molly" if they could. o Mark Stegbauer gave himself alot of hype. He constantly reminded us how much so-and-so-a-penciller liked his inks. He expressed his dissapointment with current editors and felt that he should get more work. o Gordon Purcell's inked pencils on the Star Trek books are very, very nice. I was tempted to purchase some original art. o An inker Terry Beatty admires is Charlie Paris (Dick Sprang's inker on Batman). Well, that's all I have to report. Again, if I misinterpreted anyone in writing this report, my sincerely apologies. Comments are welcomed, flames are not. I can't get to news so email 'em to me directly. Will [w c hong] at [ml.com]