My God, what a beautiful day. I spent the morning at the beach, and when the sun got too hot I put the top down on the car and headed out to the convention.
Today is the sort of day where a dashing young adventurer might, in the appropriate mental state after taking a previously unknown turn in the dealer room, find himself staring at a comic book based on an early seventies patriotic musical. It’s that sort of day.
It’s a beautiful day and I can’t stop writing. I stopped at a trash can immediately on entering the con and I can’t put the notebook back in the bag without thinking of something else pithy to write.
San Diego Convention Tip #1 (Food and Rest): There are booths from real San Diego restaurants under the sails. You can sit down beneath the sky to almost reasonably priced full meals, rather than spending your life savings for a slice of pizza in the exhibition area.
If you need to get Donna Barr’s books through a bookstore, e-mail her for the ISBN number. You don’t even have to tell the booksellers it’s a comic. Call ’em “drawn books”.
One of the things that differentiates a comic-con from any other pop art convention is that the features are also attendees. Kurt Busiek would say that it’s because the inmates have taken over the asylum. Many of the creators are fans. You’re as likely to turn around and see Scott McCloud fanning it up with his children in tow as any Joe Reader.
“A country is the people who have moved there.” This happens to be written in my notebook, and the note says it came from a Wales brochure. What kind of a country that makes the Comic-Con, I don’t want to know.
Comics as a Force for Social Change
Joe Chiappetta, John Sulaki, Ed Brubaker, Tom Hart, and Sam Henderson joined forces to talk about using comics to change the world. John handed out a free mini called “Social Skills”. To get issues 2 through 3 in the mail, send $2.00 to John Sulak, 535 Geary #604, San Francisco, CA 94102. He doesn’t say how much for issue 1, but it has a cover price of $1.00.
Part of Joe’s change-the-world goal is changing parents, especially fathers. “Kids don’t come with an instruction manual,” he says. He made a lot of mistakes he’d like other fathers to avoid.
Sam: “Comics were invented initially as a way of changing things.” Tom: “What, in Egypt?”
Tom: “Are we learning from the movies that black people are OK?” Joe: “Yes.”
Sam: “Do you think comic books can do that because they’re so marginalized and cheap?”
Joe: “I can’t go get on TV right now,” but he can make 3,000 comics for $1,300.
Joe: “We have a certain amount of power as publishers.”
Joe: “I’ll hit anyone any way I can.”
Howard Cuse of Stuck Rubber Baby was in the audience and was cajoled into coming up. “I’m sorry for butting in, but you’re talking about too many things I care about.”
Incidentally, Paradox is doing Baby in the comics shops, and Harper-Collins is pushing it in the bookstores.
The World Ends
Not with a whimper, but a comic book. When I wrote the first paragraph to today’s report, it was wishful thinking. But with one minute to go before the con exhibition turned to frogs for the night, I held in my hands the 1,776th name of God. The world ends in the morning.
I now have the comic book adaptation of 1776: The Musical.
I completely forgot about the Artbabe/Girl Hero poster giveaway. They raffled off their sign about half an hour ago.
Rumor has it that Len Wein and some other pros will be competing in the masquerade tonight.
Kirby Tribute
This is the 14th Jack Kirby tribute that Mark Evanier has conducted. It’s the third at the San Diego Con. Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, and J. David Spurlock joined Mark on-panel, and there were many others in the audience. Roz Kirby, Jack’s widow was there with some other of the family.
Roger’s first Kirby comic that made an impact on him was the Green Arrow backup in an Adventure Comics comic. It had to do with them using a giant arrow to travel interdimensionally and meet a huge other-dimensional version of Green Arrow.
Marv said, “same answer.” His first important Kirby work read was a story with “a giant arrow coming down on Earth.” That’s when Marv became aware that this artist was different from all the rest.
J. David: Avengers #1, just the team-up idea, and Avengers #6 with Lava Man.
Mark announced that they’re just about through with the legal wrangling necessary, and in three months they should be able to announce a target date for the Kirby tribute book.
Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier have co-written at least one Superman Animated Series show.
Mark: “We had interesting political discussions. I remember one time we talked about Nixon for two hours. Afterwards he went down and drew an issue of Superman with Darkseid.”
Masquerade
I’m sitting in line waiting for the masquerade to begin. The line stretches in both directions further than I can see, twisting around the concourse. I’m reading a comic—The 1,001 Nights of Bacchus, I think, although the name isn’t important. There’s a rustle of feet ahead in the line and a five-year old in a Superman costume runs by yelling “the line is moving! The line is moving!”
And it is, We in the city live for moments like this. The line is moving!
Snake is back, but this time Kurt Russell has to escape from Los Angeles.
Troma is coming out with another sure-to-be-classic: Cannibal! The Musical, which looks to be about the Donner Party. “In the tradition of Friday the 13th Part 2 and Oklahoma!”
Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and one other person whose name I didn’t catch were “The Brothers Endless”. They didn’t do much but that was fine after everyone else doing too much. Everyone and their brother was “Sailor Moon”. (Actually, their brother was Wonder Woman.)
Overheard in the beer line at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund benefit party afterwards: Last Gasp may have had a visit from the cops asking them if they’d sold any “questionable” material to minors—based on “hearing” that “someone” had bought “something” from “somewhere”. When the Last Gasp rep professed innocence, they were asked to finger other stores that might have done it. “How many other people here could have done so?” There must be 700-1,000 dealers… The CBLDF had Nadine Strossen of the ACLU in town for the convention. “What is it, having Nadine attracts these people?”
Saturday Grab Bag 1996
- Daffy: Get Ready to Jam, November 15.
- Golden Apple On-Line
- Argent Small Arms can cartridge silver bullets in 9 mm, .38, .357, .44, .45, 5.56x45, and 7.62x39 calibers. Ask Steve Gallacci for more information at [b--n--g] at [netcom.com] or hang around rec.guns.
- D. Schiller, Bone Dance
- Dark Horse (like you haven’t heard about them already. Where ya been?)
- Comicraft Comic Book Fonts
