From: [j r d] at [frame.com] (James Drew)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: CON: San Diego (Part 2 of 2): The Full Version
Date: 8 Sep 1993 13:54:34 -0500

CON REPORT
San Diego Comic Con #24
August 19-22, 1993: Saturday-Sunday
Part 2 (of 2)

For those of you who are impatient to just gets the newsbits, don't bother
reading this post.  These should be an accompanying short form posted on
rec.arts.comics.info.

There *will* be spoilers in here for all sorts of things, most of them minor.
As with last year, I also learned things which, if widely spread around,
could potentially damage reputations or deals; see my notes at the very end.

Also, since I am openly gay, a lot of my focus at these conventions is on
queer subjects or with queer people.  If this will offend you, just skip the
whole thing.  There is nothing obscene in here, but neither will I whitewash
anything; this report goes beyond just the convention itself, into my
con-related nighttime activities.  The mention of a person should not be
taken as an indication of their orientation, unless specifically stated.



	In which a hat gets lost; Ciao! arrives, at last!; "Breaking In Is
Hard To Do" (everybody sing-); Dinner at 515 at 8:15; Kicking up the heels; A
stolen parking validation ticket; Everything winds down; Judy Garland dances
off into the Sunset; and Plans are made for next year.



IN WHICH A HAT GETS LOST

	On Saturday, I wanted to get up for the "Electronic Publishing" panel
at 10:30, but I didn't make it.  So I aimed for Mark Evanier's workshop on
"Comic Book Writing" at noon.  Well, I made it to the convention center by
noon, got out of the car, and realized, "My God, I left my cowboy hat in the
room!  No one will recognize me!"  Since I wasn't going to go back to the
room and miss the workshop, I headed for Room 12.  Alas and alack, these
workshops are limited to 35 people each, and I got turned away.  Bummer,
dude.
	So I wandered down to the dealer's room again.  After talking to Abby
Janifer for a while again, I wandered past the Innovation booth, where Arvin
Loudermilk (Vigil) and Mike Iversen (Vigil) were sitting.  I raved to them
for a while about how much I love their comic -- and I do -- and I got to
leaf through photocopies of the next issue (due in December), and I bought a
Vigil t-shirt from them.  ($12 at the con; probably $15 from Innovation, if
they have any left.)  I wore it on Sunday and got lots of favorable comments
on it, including from Barb Rausch, who really liked the design sense.

CIAO! ARRIVES, AT LAST!

	The machine printing the cover for Ciao! never did work right,
apparently, so the printer used a higher cost machine to do it instead, at no
extra charge to me, and then had it shipped overnight by Federal Express to
my hotel.  Returning to my hotel room, I picked up the box and found that
they had printed 100 extra copies of the cover, rather than just the 50 I had
requested.  I'll be selling these (flat, unfolded, as mini-posters) along
with copies of the 'zine.
	Up in my hotel room, I discovered... *no* hat.  Oh, God!  I had lost
it.  The hat itself wasn't important; I could replace it.  The big loss was
the $5 cloisonne pin of Lockheed the Dragon, now several years "out of print"
and probably impossible to replace.  I was bummed.

"BREAKING IN IS HARD TO DO" (EVERYBODY SING-)

	Back at the convention center, I slipped into the "Breaking Into
Comics" panel, which featured cat yronwode, Sharon Cho, Barb Kaalberg
(Elfquest), David Campiti, and Scott McCloud.  In the past, I've found these
panels to be a real downer, and of little use.  In particular, there was the
"Breaking In At DC" panel at Wonder-Con, where they essentially said "Writers
Need Not Apply."
	There was actually some useful information that came out of this
panel, especially for potential writers (of which there are more here than
artists, I suspect).  As most interested proto-comics writers probably know,
publishers really aren't interested in talking to you unless you already have
a body of work to show them.  Sounds like a Catch-22, doesn't it?  Can't get
in without experience, can't get experience unless you're in.  The *best* way
to get a job writing comics is to work for a publisher, probably as an
assistant editor or an intern; Eclipse, for example, hires interns for the
summer who have gone on to be editors and writers there and at other
companies.  Many a writer has also come into the job by working in various
capacities at Marvel or DC (Peter David comes to mind; in fact, nearly every
Marvel writer was once either an artist or editor there).  Unfortunately,
this means that you have to be able to move to New York or Portland (Dark
Horse) or Sonoma County (Eclipse) or West Virginia (Innovation) or some other
God forsaken place (just kidding); for those of us with lucrative
bills-paying careers, that's kind of rough.
	A second option is to be British.  B-)
	The other option is to get yourself writing credits outside of
comics, or at least outside of professional comics.  Organic Gardening, an
IEEE journal, a local newspaper: any of these show that you can write, and
can write under deadline.  Even better, get comics-*related* credits: publish
a fanzine, write for a fanzine, write reviews for The Comics Journal (which
started as a fanzine).  And then get copies of your writing to the editors.
cat also recommended producing business cards and letterhead for yourself.
These things help your name stick in an editor's mind.
	(Personal plug: the comp list for my 'zine, Ciao!, which publishes
both reviews and comics fiction, includes Dave Sim, Neal Pozner at DC, Paul
Curtis at Marvel, Philip Amara at Kitchen Sink, cat yronwode at Eclipse,
Star*Reach Productions, Comics Buyer's Guide, and so on.  The stuff I put out
gets to the right people in the industry; yours can, too.)
	A key thing repeated by many editors is to cultivate a relationship
with an editor, and with other creators.  Carefully read my con reports, and
you'll see names reoccur, and not just as "I saw them" names.  Whether this
ever amounts to anything is another question.
	Some of the information actively contradicted information gleaned
about submissions via other sources.  In particular, cat yronwode said that
multiple submissions are acceptable, something that is a big no-no in the
fiction markets.  She said that the main reason for "no simultaneous
submissions" had originally been because it was so hard to produce a single
copy; today, with the copy machine, the author has the ability to make
multiple manuscripts, and should take advantage of it.  Just play fair with
any interested publishers.
	Also mentioned in a favorable light by cat was using fasteners on
your manuscript: paper clips, staples, clear plastic binders (a
Calvin-approved sign of professionalism B-), and even sturdier binding for
full scripts (which, incidentally, you should not send unless the publisher
requests it; Dark Horse's guidelines insist on full script adhering to a
certain format if you are an unpublished comics writer).  Again, this is a
no-no in other fields.  However, neither Sharon nor David (both of whom see
submissions frequently) said anything negative on the subject (and did
disagree with cat on other points), so this is evidently an okay process.
	Next up, in the same room, was the "Gays in Comics: Dealing with
Intimacy" panel, featuring Brad Rader (The Mark, assorted gay porn comics),
Andy Mangels, Roberta Gregory, Tim Barela ("Leonard & Larry"), P. Craig
Russell, and Nancy Collins (Swamp Thing) as the Beave.  No, sorry, as the
token straight-writing-gay-characters.  (Scott Lobdell filled that role last
year.)
	What can I say about this panel?  It was very well attended, with
about 150 people in the audience, including most of the gay pros, although
they weren't outed or anything.  (If you want names, and you know me well
enough to ask, and you won't spread them around indiscriminately, send me
e-mail.)  There were no fireworks or big revelations, although I've picked
out a few of the better quotes below.
	One item that came out were some of the restrictions that Andy
Mangels put on Gay Comics when he took over as editor.  In order to make it
more accessible to mainstream audiences, he has been courting name
professionals, both gay and supporting, such as: Donna Barr (#16), Eric
Shanower (#17), Craig Hamilton (cover on #18), George Perez (cover on #20),
Craig Russell and Roberta Gregory (#21; Roberta, of course, is a longtime
contributor to Gay Comix/cs), Neil Gaiman and Craig Hamilton (#22, probably).
Andy has also toned down the content of the book to something approaching
PG-13; essentially nothing more objectionable than in a Vertigo title.  He
has also set up the book to be an even 50/50 split between male and female
creators in each issue, except for single-creator issue like #19's focus on
Alison Bechdel (which balances last year's Tim Barela special).  Some people
complain about this, and there are apparently some of the former contributors
who don't contribute anymore as a result.  (Which, as Andy says, is strange;
even if they only have half the available space in each issue, four times as
many issues are published per year, giving them *twice* as much potential
space as before!)  Frankly, *I* think Andy is doing a great job; he has put
out seven issues in about two years, while the book was previously yearly at
best.  The book is also verging on making a profit again for the first time
in many years.
	Andy stated that there were five gay or Lesbian editors in the
industry (presumably excluding himself; I can name four of them), but that
only *two* ever give work to gay and Lesbian creators.  Unfortunately, no one
(me included) took him to task to further explain whether this meant *any*
work, or preferential treatment when two potential creators show equal
ability.  I expect he meant the latter (as he has expressed desire for such
"treat Family like family" behavior in the past), but it came off sounding
somewhat like the former.
	After the panel, I hung around to talk with people for a while,
giving Andy copies of Ciao! and the latest issue of OutNOW!, in which I had
reviewed Gay Comics #19 (the review was recently posted to
rec.arts.comics.misc).  I then headed downstairs with Craig Russell and David
Sexton, where we made plans with Sharon to have dinner in the Gaslamp
District.

DINNER AT 515 AT 8:15

	We were suppose to meet under the arch at 8:00.  I was a couple
minutes late, but Craig and David were 15 minutes late.  We razzed them.  It
seems they got on the shuttle back to the convention center (which was close
to the arch) and it took the loooooong way around.
	The four of us, Sharon's friend Ondean, and Michael, a lawyer/shop
owner from South Philadelphia, ended up at a bistro/bar called 515 5th Street
(or is it Avenue?  I don't recall).  Pretty good food -- I had the smoked
trout salad -- but it got cold outside after a while.

KICKING UP THE HEELS

	We were supposed to meet people over at the convention center to go
dancing between 9:00 and 9:30.  At 9:28, we realized the time, and beat a
hasty retreat out of the bistro.  While I went to rescue my car, the others
headed for the convention center.  Either no one showed up, of they figured
we left without them, because nobody was waiting for us.  So we headed up to
Hillcrest to a country bar called Kickers, where we ran into Steven Howearth
(Comics Against AIDS), and a DC editor and artist whom I won't name here.
	After a bit, we drifted our separate ways.  David Sexton went down
the street to a disco-bunny club (ooo, ick).  Craig and Michael ended up
talking to a gay small-press creator out on the patio.  Sharon and I tore up
the dance floor a while.  I eventually gave Craig and Michael rides back to
their hotels at about 1:00, and headed out to Wolf's again, where Andy was
still lurking.  I'll spare you the horrible pun about the nights activities
(but you can ask for the abuse via e-mail, of course).

PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED ON AUGUST 21: Daerick Gross (The Vampire Lestat), Nancy
	Collins, Joshua Quagmire (Cutey Bunny), Phil Jimenez (Team Titans),
	Arvin Loudermilk, Mike Iversen, Barb Kaalberg, Brad Rader, Tim
	Barela, P. Craig Russell, David Sexton (Gay Comics), Ivan Velez Jr.
	(Blood Syndicate, Tales of the Closet), Klaus Janson (Dark Knight,
	etc.), Terry Laban (Real Smut [I think]), John Macy (Tropo), Mark
	Lucas (letterhack), Richard Pini (Elfquest), Barry Kitson (LEGION
	'93), Louise Simonson (Man of Steel), Denis Janke (is he on a
	Superman title?), Rod O'Reily (ConFurence), Steven Howearth (Comics
	Against AIDS)

NEAT THINGS BOUGHT OR ACQUIRED: Modern Mythology (a 'zine, this issue on
	comics), Albedo Color Special, Tales from the Heart #6, Starchild #0
	and 2-3, Equine #6, Red Shetland #7, Tales of the Beanworld #20,
	Wandering Star #1-2, pBeauty and the Beast #4, the "hey, neeters!"
	trade paperback, a Vigil (the vampire series, not the artist)
	t-shirt, the hardbound Collegiate Hepcats, the original art to
	Rhudiprrt Prince of Fur #1 pg.13, and a copy of #1 with page 13
	signed by Teri Wood (so I can frame the cover, page, and art
	together)

NEWS AND SUCH:
* Vigil is currently the only creator-owned title put out by Innovation;
	everything else is licensed.  (The Executioner may also be
	creator-owned, and I saw photocopies for a new title that looked
	creator-owned [it starts with a "Z"].)  Loudermilk and Iversen said
	that, even in black and white, it sells well, and makes money for the
	company.  The next issue is due in December.
  (Vigil is about a vampire named Grace who hunts down other vampires, and
	her human lover, a movie star named Greg who is wanted for the murder
	of a talk show host [who was a vampire killed by Grace].  They are
	ostensibly also looking for a cure for Grace so she doesn't have to
	be restrained when they have sex [among other reasons].  It has very
	nice pencil-toned artwork, and uses the oft-maligned nine-panel grid
	to full effect.  I rate it as one of my top dozen or so favorite
	comics.)
* Expect to see a *major* shake-up occur at Eclipse in the next couple of
	months.  This is one of those "special" items I will only tell
	details of to people who request it via e-mail, and whom I already
	know and trust to not spread it around indiscriminately.  (If we've
	never discussed potentially sensitive subjects before, you can
	probably save yourself the trouble of asking.)
* Dark Horse will be staring a new Mark series (that's "The Mark", not "The
	Mask"), with art by Brad Rader.  It is about a masked super-hero in a
	restrictive European principality who gained powers because of
	genetic experiments done on the peasants and undesirables by the
	ruling class; heavy anti-discrimination and anti-Holocaust overtones.
	Speculators will want to watch back issue prices on this; as I
	recall, Larry Stroman did artwork on the first series.
* Who was that I saw Sharon Cho handing a packet of Star*Reach information
	to?  Roberta Gregory!  And who did Sharon later mention she is now
	representing?  Donna Barr!
* Louise Simonson says she *does* intend to write a letter to CBG about
	Cable's creation.
* The long-awaited Titans graphic novel "Games" (painted by George Perez)
	will never be published, according to Neal Pozner, because it is now
	so far out of continuity.  He laughingly said that if someone could
	convince George to finish the pages -- or Phil Jimenez, since his
	work looks like a clone of George -- they might consider it.  His
	tone suggested such an event would never come to pass.

QUOTES: (all of these are from the Gays in Comics panel)
* "Negotiated conditional monogamy: safe sex, no friends or mutual friends,
	nobody more than three times." - Brad Rader describing the
	relationship he and his lover have
* "I spit on political correctness." - Brad Rader
* "No full frontal nudity... at least on men." - Nancy Collins, describing
	Vertigo's art guidelines
* "Fudgepacker: Lucy and Ethel did it on an episode." - Andy Mangels, on a
	term the censors allowed in a Nancy Collins-penned gay bashing in
	Swamp Thing
* "I used to fantasize about doing Luke Cage and Iron Fist." - Brad Rader (If
	you don't understand why the room suddenly got very quiet for a brief
	second, don't worry about it.)

A STOLEN PARKING VALIDATION TICKET

	After a late night, I decided to park at Horton Plaza and get
something to eat; three hours free parking with a validated parking ticket.
This was fine until I stuck the validated ticket in my back pocket and took
off for the convention center, forgetting about it.  Sometime in the next
couple hours, someone lifted it.  With no ticket, Horton Plaza charges you
$12.00; thus, I let my car stay parked there all day (might as well get full
value for my money, eh?).
	At the convention, I visited the "Breaking the Barrier -- Can Genre
Fiction Be Accepted?" panel.  Talk about boring!  I was hoping that this
would be akin to last year's "Lost Genres" panel: ways to find acceptance for
or to resurrect romance, Western, and related "dead genres" for comics.  This
was oriented towards prose fiction, though, and didn't really seem to even
address those sectors of prose concerns I was interested in (which is
cross-genre work: who do you try to sell a series of fantasy action-adventure
pseudo-detective humor stories to, for example?).

EVERYTHING WINDS DOWN

	I spent most of the rest of the day tracking down a few people (or
trying to), taking a few photos to eventually send to CBG for possible
publication, and just generally winding down myself.
	The "Electronic Fandom" was staffed by Peter Glaskowsky, Peter Coogan
(arriving late), and Paul Grant; Jerry Stratton and I (and Dani Zweig, I
think?) were in the audience of about a dozen.  Maybe the panel didn't have a
good charter, but it wasn't what I would call a rousing success.  It would
have been better situated as a "Meetpoint" on Friday.
	I eventually ran into Andy Mangels again, who said he was heading
over to the Elfquest booth; I promised to head back over before leaving.
	I got to see a bit of the upcoming "Lois and Clark: the New
Adventures of Superman" show and the big DC multi-screen.  It looked pretty
good -- although not worth archiving -- and since it is on ABC, I'll be able
to watch it.  (In comparison, I only ever got to see one very fuzzy episode
of The Flash, due to no cable and bad reception.)
	I also got to see the Fantastic Four movie preview.  Well, uh, it
doesn't look as cheesy as I feared.  It will probably still go straight to
video.
	I visited the art show, and was rather unimpressed.  Of course, I was
set on the wrong foot when the first piece visible when I walked in was an
H.R.Giger original; great, but it was one of his "close-up mechanical fuck"
pieces.  *Not* the best piece to have as the frontal piece of your art show.
In fact, there were R and NC-17 pieces sprinkled throughout the art show,
which was apparently accessible by all ages.  Any other con I've been to
would have had a separate enclosed area for the "adult" pieces.  I would call
this a very unprofessionally run show (but I'm spoiled by the high quality of
ConFurence's show in January; easiest the best all-around con art show I've
ever seen).  There were a couple of nice P-Chan figurines, though.

JUDY GARLAND DANCES OFF INTO THE SUNSET

	Just before 5:00 (like, at 4:58), when they would kick everyone out,
I wandered back over to the Elfquest table.  Next to it was the CBG table,
and there was Peter David and Maggie Thompson (CBG)... and a straw cowboy
hat!  *My* straw cowboy hat!  (With pin intact!)
	"There you are!" yelled Peter, and whocked it securely onto my head.
"You left this in my room, and I've been carrying this around for two days
looking for you!  This is great!  Now we just need Judy Garland to dance off
into the sunset."
	As they were trying to kick us out, Andy made sure to grab a second
to have me meet Ivan Velez, Jr. (Tales of the Closet, Blood Syndicate).  Then
a big kiss in the middle of the convention floor, and the con was over.

AND PLANS ARE MADE FOR NEXT YEAR.

	Someone made the comment that there were no events for gays and
Lesbians set up at the con (besides Sharon's impromptu dinner), and no place
for us to gather (besides the one panel).  Last year, at least Last Gasp had
a Gay Comix signing, and a good selection of the title, which gave some sort
of a central spot.
	Next year, the Comics Against AIDS booth is sure to fill something of
that role, but it's still maybe not the best place for the non-pros to get
together and gab.  Ideal would be a table in the small-press area.  Well,
come to think of it, I know a publisher of gay small-press stuff who will be
there: me.  So, look for a table selling my 'zines and those of whomever else
I can contact.

PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED ON AUGUST 22: Martin Wagner (Hepcats), Ted Nomura (Tigers
	of Terra), Dean Graf (Tigerwing Press), Colleen Doran (A Distant
	Soil), Tom DeFalco (Thor), Bob Greenberger (DC editor on Star Trek),
	Dean Motter (Sacred and the Profane, The Prisoner; currently a DC
	book designer), Amanda Conner (Soulsearchers & Co.), Jill Thompson
	(Black Orchid), Peter Milligan (Shade), Denis Kitchen (Kitchen Sink
	Press), Reed Waller (Omaha the Cat Dancer), Kate Worley (Omaha),
	David Quinn (Rebel Studios), Tim Vigil (Rebel Studios), Zjonni
	Perchalski (Steam Victorian, furry artist, net person), Jim Salicrup
	(Topps Comics), Peter Glaskowsky (net), Janine Johnston (Elfquest),
	Deni Loubert (Elfquest), Maggi Thompson

NEAT THINGS BOUGHT OR ACQUIRED: a Booster Gold POG (er, Skycap; actually, I
	picked it up off the ground in a parking lot); a set of four Majestic
	trading cards; the boxed set of Omaha trading cards ($12.95 from
	Kitchen Sink); a book of 30 Alphonse Mucha postcards (not that I'll
	ever send any of them); the Eclipse 1993 Mail Order Catalogue ($1.05
	in postage from Eclipse), with full info on all Eclipse publications,
	including prices for ordering those still available); Dynamite
	Damsels #1 (by Roberta Gregory), the first Lesbian comic book; Topps
	Comics Presents #0, with previews of Dracula vs. Zorro, Kirby's
	TeenAgents, Kirby's Silver Star, and Harrison's Bill the Galactic
	Hero (Jim sez: give 'em all a miss); Madman: the Oddity Odyssey
	(trade paperback); The Funny Papers #1 (mostly single-panels and
	strips, mostly of mediocre quality; while that *sounds* like many are
	better than the average strip in your paper, I only got a couple
	smiles out of the thing); Advance Comics #58 (it was free), which
	included a Valiant postcard and three trading cards (Vanguard, The
	Melting Pot, and a very poorly done one for The Maxx); and, best of
	all, a huge (20" x 24", or so) 1994 Mucha calendar (big, beautiful,
	and $40!)

NEWS AND SUCH:
* In Omaha the Cat Dancer, Hector Elandos and Lopez *are* the same person
	(Hector Elandos y Lopez), according to the trading cards.
* Some publisher (I forghet whom, if I ever heard) has bought the rights to
	Big Little Books; expect to see them come back some time next year.

QUOTES:
* "I'll say one thing for these POGs: they sure are aerodynamic.  You can
	fling one clear across the convention center." - Anonymous
* "Literature is anything you have to study to appreciate." - Stephen Potts
* "Have you seen Amanda Conner?  She looks like a Barbie artist; she's
	dressed in a leopard-skin outfit." - Barb Rausch
* "Everything is too well-lit." - Andy Mangels, about the Fantastic Four
	movie trailer