From: Peter M Coogan <cooganpe>
Subject: San Diego 94 Con Report
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 1994 08:24:06 -0400 (EDT)

The Pete Coogan San Diego Comicon 94 Report

This year's con, my third, went very well for me.  I hit every non-retailer
table and came back with more business cards (which are what I collect at
conventions) than the past two years and the Chicago con this year combined.  I
spent the week before the con in Phoenix visiting my older brother Dan and his
girlfriend Angela, so I was acclimated to the time shift.  Coming back the
other way wiped me out for about three days though.

I arrived on Tuesday morning for the Expo, although when I ran into Dean
Mullaney I wished I had gone on Monday and hit the cocktail party.  Dean was up
way late and said it was a terrific party, so next year I'm there.  My Expo
registration, faxed on the last possible day, had been lost, but I was able to
talk my way in as a part of Hogan's Alley, Rick Marschall's new magazine and
the name of his booth (actually I had the great luck of running into an Expo
worker who knew Rick from way back and she got me the badge and checked with
Rick even before I ran into him).  Since Rick wasn't at his booth I took charge
and began answering questions (mostly with "I dunno, you'll have to ask Rick
when he gets back"), and making nice with the neighbors (Starwatcher Graphics
and Cardz).

A slight leg wound (I stuck myself with some scissors at my brother's on Monday
night by accident) kept me fairly well hobbled to the booth (and anyone who
knows my peripatetic manner will understand how rare this is) for the day,
which I spent talking Hogan's Alley mostly.

That night, after dinner and a nap, I attended the midnight screening of Oliver
Stone's new film _Natural Born Killers_, starring Woody Harrelson and Julliette
Lewis.  Violent, Violent, Violent, but very good.  Usually I find Stone too
preachy and didactic, but NBK isn't clearly "about" one thing and is definitely
worth seeing on the big screen.

On Wednesday I made sure to hit all the exhibitors who were Expo only.  What I
mean by "hit" is telling them about _Hogan's Alley_ and my position as News and
Notes Editor, giving them a _Hogan's Alley_ flyer, letting them know about the
MSU Comic Art Collection, giving them a donation packet, and trading business
cards.  I brought 374 donation packets (each with a card) and 1400 business
cards, and returned with 35 packets and 800 cards.  Wednesday night saw me at
Jackie Estrada (Eisner Awards Administrator) and Batton Lash's (Wolff and Byrd:
Counselors of the Macabre) party.  Not many big names that I can remember at
present (Don MacGregor, currently of Zorro, and Michael T. Gilbert of Mr.
Monster).  They served a big Subway Sub, lots of diet pop and coolers.  The
beer (Michelob I think) ran out fairly quickly, so I made a run and got a
6-pack of Miller Velvet Stout (a good stout, nice and middle of the road, but
it sells for almost the same price as regular beer and is available at
convenience stores).  Luckily there is a beer store not far from their office
(the Gas Lamp district and down town of San Diego could use a few more beer
stores open late).

Thursday, first day of the con.  The first stop was Jim Drew's booth to drop
off the "NET" stickers to help identify netters.  Evidently there was some sort
of Netogether at the con but I missed it.  Then I made a food run for me and
Rick and Donna Barr. The best way to do food at San Diego is to hit the
Farmer's Bazaar (1 block from the Clarion, first stop on the A Shuttle) and
pick up a sub (starting at $2.50 weekdays, $3.00 weekends), some juice, fruit,
etc.  The subs stay reasonable fresh all day behind your booth (and next year
I'm buying a Styrofoam cooler once I arrive) and one sub will feed you all day
(or two can split it).

Loaded up with flyers and cards I hit every small presser, many of whom donated
to the library, including _True Swamp_, _Scud_, _My Name is Mud_, and the
Lethargic boys from Alpha Productions.  Many more people donated or promised to
and I came back with a suitcase filled with comics that was so heavy I couldn't
lift it.  Thanks all! the library loves you!

At 5:00 my first panel, "The Third Annual Comic Arts Conference: A Report,"
luckily followed Donna Barr's discussion group so she stayed on for my panel.
Donna served as a respondent for last year's Comic Arts Conference (CAC).  The
CAC seeks to bring scholars and professionals together to discuss the world of
comics and comics scholarship; it was held at San Diego in 92 and 93 and in
Chicago this year, and it will be in Chicago next year.  Presenter Solomon
Davidoff, of the Popular Culture Department at Bowling Green State University,
respondent Clayt Moore, of "Monte Monkey," and Jim Drew, an audience member
from last year, also participated on the panel.  Eric Reynolds, news editor for
the Comics Journal, came to the panel and we were able to talk for a while
after the panel, something I've been meaning to do for some time now.  He
wanted to get a piece on the Conference for the Journal, so look for that in a
few months.

I had meant to go to the Eisner Awards Thursday night, but some trouble at the
hotel (Solomon Davidoff and I spent 2 days at the Horton Grand and then
transferred to the Hotel San Diego) with our room reservation meant that I
didn't get back to the convention center until 9 or so.  On the way I ran into
Steve Riggenberg, who's worked all over the industry, and his pack, more on
them later.  The "Meet the Pros Party" after the Eisners was lame, although I
hooked up with Jerry Stratton, known to many netters as the Cerebus site
manager (where all my e-stuff is archived).  As I was leaving to go to the
Adhesive Media party I ran into Matt Groening who wants to get computer active.
 I gave him my card and told him that if I couldn't help him I knew the people
who could.  So he may turn up here somewhere in the near future.

The Adhesive party at the Hilton offered the prospect of free beer (and as
Arlen Schumer of Dynamic Duo Studios put it, "Pete's a free beer magnet"), but
it turned out to only be Budweiser (and I have a medical problem drinking
industrial beer, although I think it's getting better since I was able to drink
some).  The party had a small press/self-publisher crowd.  Adhesive, under
Aubrey McAuley, is working on getting publishers on-line in much the same way
as Tom Galloway.  Beer removed the details, but they're doing the right sort of
thing (as is Tom), not this AOL-DC crap (sorry AOLers!).

I arrived back at the Hotel San Diego around 1, after a detour to the
Doubletree, traditionally the Comicon bar, and ended up at Leslie Sternbaugh
and Adam Alexander's party until 3 or so.

Friday started with breakfast at the Y with Clayt Moore, Adam and Leslie, Arlen
Schumer, Steve Riggenberg, and Steve's friend Mike DeLeon.  The YMCA is usually
a very good place to get breakfast during the con, but for some reason it took
us an hour to get eggs from a not-to-busy waitress.  And since we were on
Leslie-Time we didn't get to the convention center until around noon.

Friday also meant more booth, booth , booth action as I worked my way
idiosyncratically across the room.  I generally wander around and hit the
tables I want to first and save Sunday for the systematic sweep.  Since Rick
Marschall was attending the Inkpots that night I had to man his booth from 5-7,
and then a nap.  I had intended to attend the Post-Inkpot party, featuring the
Seduction of the Innocent (Bill Mumy, Miguel Ferrer, Max Allan Collins, Steve
Liealoha, and Chris Christensen), but wasn't particularly driven since it blew
last year.  I thought I might run into some people, as I had run into Cat
Yronwode, Deni Loubert, and Trina Robbins last year.  Instead I ended up going
to dinner with Leslie Sternbaugh, Adam Alexander and a "Bob-is-God" Subgenius
guy.  Ray Zone's wife (whose first name I can't think of--Carol? Barbera?) went
to see Seduction instead of going to dinner.  We wanted to go to the Mexican
place down the street from the Hotel San Diego, but it was closed, so we chose
the Japanese restaurant right next door. Good choice too; lots of food and very
reasonable; I recommend it highly.

That night the Sin Alley party, with Mary Fleener's band as a counterpoint to
the official party and band, was held in the basement of the Hotel San Diego.
Luckily there is a beer store, open 'til 2 on weekends, located right next to
the hotel, so we were able to load up easily.  The basement was way too hot, so
bunches of the party headed up to the lobby.  Lots of the Fantagraphics crew
showed up, including Groth and Terry Laban (of Cud, which everyone should
read).  Coincidentally there was a rave going on on the first floor, which no
one could get in.  But I saw the Fabulons (or Fabulas), two very tall, very
blond chicks (and if you know them then you know why I use the word "chick"
which I never use), who ceaselessly promote themselves, except that I don't
think they actually do anything besides promote themselves.  Later when I
wanted to get in I was able to use their name to go in and search for them.
The cops at the door searched me (no drugs or alcohol at the rave) and I went
through; sucked, well it was a big transvestite dance party, but it had no
inherent interest for me.

At some point in the evening I went off to a bar with some group of people I
didn't know for a  while and then came back for the after party in Adam and
Leslie's room (664.  There is a 366, a 466, a 566, and a 664.  You figure it
out).  By then, around 2 or so, the party as much in the hallway as in the
room.  While I was down at the rave the hotel broke up the party because
someone broke something in the hall and the police were going to be called; a
successful party in my view.  Only the core remnants remained, but it was a
good core and I pooped out around 3 again.

Steve's friend Mike DeLeon (Legally Blind Comics, 2146 E 6th St #B, Tucson AZ
85719) produces a nice autobiographical comic that is quite different from the
typical Ed Brubaker (if he's typical) stuff that's around today.  His style
reminds me of Larry Marder in _Beanworld_ and his tone is somewhere between
self-aware and self-mocking.

Saturday meant lots of Hollywood previews, which for me meant lots of lurking
around until I could slip in and get the PR people's card.  But first a panel
on Seduction of the Innocent with Mike Silberkeit of Archie and the CMAA, Peter
David of "But I Digress" and lots of comics, and Al Feldstein of EC fame.   A
bit wiped from the night before and not really having anything to say
(originally I was going to get Amy Nyberg's dissertation on the Comics Code and
use it as a base to comment from ,with appropriate credit given to Amy of
course), I considered getting out of it, but decided that my responsibility to
the con, the panel members, and the audience dictated that I stay (I learned
something from reading comics all those years).  I ended up moderating the
panel and John Tebbel, a comics code scholar and husband of Martha Thomason who
handles Marketing at DC, lobbed up a nice soft-ball for me.  He asked Mike
Silberkeit why, in reference to the recent _Self Magazine_ article which
concluded that comics caused violence towards women, didn't the CMAA have
someone like Jack Valente to speak for the industry and respond to these
attacks.  Mike replied that both he and DC comics had responded but that _Self_
didn't print their responses.  This gave me the opportunity to discuss my
proposed Comic Arts Council, which will allow me to serve as a spokesperson for
the medium since the board of directors will be half-academic and
half-professional (look for an announcement this fall).  After the panel Mike
gave me his card and let me know he was very interested in my plans.

The panel itself was a little strange.  Silberkeit insisted that the Code was
put in place to save the industry because the distributors were returning all
comics, and further that the Code and the CMAA was not intended to push anyone
out of business.  Al Feldstein understandably had trouble accepting this view
of history, given the specific way the Code prevented EC from publishing it's
comics (the words "Terror," "Horror," and some others were forbidden from
appearing on the covers of comics, and this made it impossible to publishs EC's
titles).

I met some of the Hollywood people I intended too, but passed up a chance
(which I just discovered while looking at the program) to meet Roy Thomas, who
features prominently in my history of fandom for _Funnies and Beyond_ (Westview
1995); and at 5:30 came Arlen Schumer's "The Flintstones: An Anatomy of a Pop
Culture Classic."  Arlen does these fantastic four slide projector dissections
of various topics; last year he presented on the Death of Superman (and Joe
Shuster) at the Comic Art Conference, and the in 91 on "From the Superhero to
the Anti-Hero" in the Sixties.  I met some of the higher ups at Hanna-Barbera
and expanded my collection of Hanna-Barbera business cards to 2 (of 8, collect
them all!  a complete set sells for $3 on the trader's market), a Betty Rubble
and a Huckleberry Hound (I think I have a Scooby too).

Arlen, Mike DeLeon, and I then went to the Cabo Cabo for the Hogan's Alley
Party.  Joined there by Steve Riggenberg we stayed for food and beer and
proceeded to the Masquerade.  Fem Force, a book Steve had written, was
represented by a group costume and Steve set it up so that he could get his
picture taken with them on Sunday.

That night the party was the Fantagraphics-invite only party, but not too
invite-only.  Fantagraphics held this in conjunction with a local magazine so
the crowd was way too local and the party was way too crowded with non-comics
people. Gary Groth said that he didn't know anyone there either, which made the
party much different from last year's.   On a beer run (they only had Natural
Light in a keg and while I was able to mix this with Guinness for a while, it
was wholly unsatisfying) I ran into Don Donahue, an early underground
publisher.  We had to go all the way back to the beer store next to the Hotel
San Diego; by the time we were on our return trip we met people coming out of
the Fantagraphics party saying that the Fire Marshall was only letting
one-out/one-in, so I hooked up with a group going to the Dark Horse party.

At the Dark Horse party the bar had just closed (as Trina Robbins informed us
on her way out), but I had two Foster's with me, so I was okay.  Lots of Dark
Horse people and others were still there including Don Simpson (Bizarre
Heroes), Jim Pascoe (Fae Desmond's assistant at the Expo), Batton Lash (Wolff
and Byrd), Mike Richardson (runs Dark Horse), Jeff Smith (Bone), and so forth.
Mike Allred shared a Foster's with me and I finally got a chance to talk to
Frank Miller, whom I had met briefly in a hallway earlier in the day.  Diana
Schutz, thank goodness, made me shut up about business (I had started into my
comics scholarship spiel without really thinking about it), and she told the
story of how she met Frank years ago on the street outside a comics shop.  This
started a brief round of meeting-the-pros-stories.  Then it was late and we all
went to our respective hotel rooms (although I think I may have ended up at an
after hours at Leslie and Adam's, but it's been a week so I'm not sure).

Sunday, the last day of the con, meant checking out and checking our luggage.
I made a final sweep of the room and actually hit every table I need to
complete the day.  While at the Farmer's Bazaar I came across a Batman pi ata
(they also sold them for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Mighty
Morphing Power Rangers), and at $1.50 I had to buy both the Batmans they had.
Later I gave my extra one to Adam West, who was autographing stuff, "Wait there
might be a bomb in that thing!!" he exclaimed.  "That's the ugliest thing I've
ever seen," he continued, "get it out of my sight!"  And then he had one of his
people put it up where everyone could see it.  Later I ran into Bob Burden with
the pinata, so look for Flaming Carrot pinatas at next year's con.

At 3:00 I was on the Electronic Fandom panel, which went well, except for a
repeated disagreement between Tom Galloway, a netter, and Cheryl Harris, Sys-Op
for CompuServe's comics and animation forum.  I had to stop them twice and
remind them that they could take their issues up with each other after the
panel.  Almost everyone seemed to be on-line, which is a big change from last
year when most of the audience wanted information about getting on line.  Also
this year's crowd at the E-Fandom panel was much larger than last year's.  This
is a good thing I think.  Several people, many of whom I did not know, were
wearing "NET" stickers.

I wanted to have dinner that night with John Tebbel, whom I hadn't had a chance
to sit and talk with; Martha said that they were going to the Graphitti party,
a strictly-invite-only party (the invitation said, "This admits you only, not
you and your friends.").  I've met Bob Chapman a few times in the past, and he
gets my newsletter, so he was willing to give me an invitation so that I could
have dinner with John and Martha.  Since I had 2 hours before the party, I ran
my luggage out to the airport and got my seat assignment for the red-eye (leave
San Diego at 11pm, arrive Lansing,  Michigan at 9:30 am Monday); that way I
could stay at the party until 10:15 and still make my plane.

The party was great (and it's the one to go to on Monday if you're lucky enough
to get invited); lots of good Mexican food and Dos Equis (which was supposed to
be on tap, and then they ran out of the dark, but who cares?).  It was nice to
finally be able to sit and have a long conversation with John; I had been
schmoozing all week and didn't want to talk about the business of comics
scholarship with anyone at that point.

What struck me as interesting, as I mentioned to John, is that I've only been
going to the con for 3 years and yet I've worked my way into many of the most
interesting functions.  I think it comes from the fact that no one else is
promoting comics scholarship as a field in the way that I am.  This allows me
to come at pros from a different angle, one they don't expect.

It took me about 3 days to fully recover, and about 4 hours to work through the
600+ messages on my account.  I entered all the new addresses into my
database, wrote up a proposal for a Center for Comics Studies and a Comic Arts
Council, and am in the process of writing my news column for Hogan's Alley.
All in all it was a great con and I look forward to next year's.

There's my report: business cards and beer.

------------------------------

End of COMICS-L Digest - 17 Aug 1994 to 19 Aug 1994 - Special issue
*******************************************************************