From: [b--ea--y] at [po-box.mcgill.ca] (bart)
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 04:25:41 -0500
Subject: Used-to-be-Berlin Spirits

- -Poster: [b--ea--y] at [po-box.mcgill.ca] (bart)

Seven hours each way on a bus? Must be comics involved as I trundled off to
Ontario ("yours to discover!") for a weekend of dining with the parents,
obsequiousness and impulse buying in Kitchener, my one-time stomping
grounds.

None of the locals from here could be cajoled into making the journey, even
with promises of meeting Larry Marder being made. Just as well as it turned
out since Larry wasn't there (probably busy trying to convince Marvel that
a Liefeldian _Fantastic Four_ is a good idea), and we didn't need them
anyway (nor did we need Martin Wagner, Valentino, Jana Christy and John
Mitchell, David Lapham or any of the others whose plans changed, bad year,
we understood).

I remembered how to find the Walper with just enough time to spare so that
I could grab a smoke in the rain before heading in to watch Sim and Gerhard
pick up all their stuff and move half way across the hotel. Headed straight
for Joe Chiapetta to right the grievous wrong of not owning his complete
works. Fixed that easily enough and we chatted for a while since there was
really no one around (it was 10 in the morning on a Sunday after all). He
gave me a room number and told me to awaken the
Glenn-of-the-everchanging-name. Glenn required a half dozen coffees and
twice that number of Camels to become even vaguely coherent, which was ok
since I needed just about the same amount.

Heading back to the show we passed Chris "I cannot under any circumstances
remain at my table" Howard for the twelfth time.

Some remembrances of the artists:

*Sim/Gerhard line was always huge. I talked to Dave briefly right around
ten when no one had found him yet and he showed me how the really cool
Cerebus hand puppet worked. Glenn and I admired Sim from a distance purely
for his ability to sit there and talk to all of those people. We decided
that we'd go insane.

*Steve Bissette also usually had a huge crowd, and he was tucked into a
corner which made getting near him difficult. Got to watch he and Veitch
sketch at the bar later which was fun. Glenn got Rick all riled up about
the possibilities of the web.

*Colleen Doran starting giving away all of her things in the bar. A
particular fave amongst the drunks was A Distant Soil #4, which had us
fighting for the male bondage covers. She gave us some really odd vampire
book of poetry written by a woman none of us had heard of. When we asked
who this person was she replied "How the hell should I know?"

*Charles Vess was seriously under-mobbed and you could talk with him at
almost any time, which surprised me. I'd love to be that mellow.

*Mark Oakley's Thieves and Kings booth was always crammed with people so I
never got a copy of the first issue, so I've still never read that book.

*Paul Pope was in great demand but if you got to talk with him he'd go on
about various topics at length. Glenn got a very nice sketch from Paul
which he did in about two minutes without stopping talking and without
paying much attention to what he was doing. Suddenly I understand how he
puts out so much work. I think the deal is Buzz Buzz and THB 6 in December,
Pig Dog Parade in March, the Kodansha story in summer, a tpb of the current
Dark Horse story in the fall with about another 100 pages of unpublished
stuff, the tpb of THB in ? Oh man, I really can't recall but he seems to
know when it's coming out.

*Jay Stephens cut off all his hair and took his book to Kitchen Sink,
though I'm not sure if the two are related. The KSP deal is not final but
he did announce it in his newsletter. Apparently the Bongo deal died a
horrible death after about eight months of negotiating. He's also doing an
additional book in 1996, featuring the non-superhero characters from Nod
(with each issue highlighting one character, the first will be Space Ape
#8) which will be quarterly from Black Eye. Also look for an Oddville book.

*Marcus Lusk will never survive in the comics biz with his present
attitude. Not only can he talk at length and with intelligence about the
history of the medium but he gives away stuff like it's going out of style
(he gave me six copies of his first issue). He had solid orders for #1 and
seems to understand what it is that he needs to do to become known and to
keep stuff in print so hopefully he'll do well. I haven't read any of those
six copies yet so I still don't know what the book is about...

*Steve Stegelin gave a nice pitch for his book Boondoggle, the third issue
of which is dedicated to the memory of the Jon Stewart Show. If any of you
have had to suffer through an episode of Tom Snyder recently you'll
understand why I felt obliged to pick those up. Looks cute, though I'm not
sure if it's furry or funny animal yet :)

*Matt Feazell and Sean Bieri continue to entertain and I was able to fill
up on all the issues I was missing. Glenn and I convinced Matt that the net
would wipe out all phones and that he should have fiber optics implanted
into his skull. He thought this was a good idea when we suggested that he
could bypass traditional distribution by selling through the web. "No
Diamond?" His eyes positively glowed at that point

*There were a number of people whose books I bought on whims (and once or
twice out of pity, to be honest) though I don't have them in front of me to
drop their names. If those turn out to have gems in them I'll let you all
know. Chris Howard kept saying he was going to sell us his book but he
always disappeared. It became a sort of game trying to find Chris at his
table.

Chris was impressed that I actually did grow up with Greg Hyland and that
we did play the Marvel Role Playing Game in his basement and that I did
whine that it was biased against me. Greg pointed out that that was because
I always played the villains and the Marvel game is set up to let the
heroes win. I had never considered that :) Hint: when playing the Marvel
game use the Silver Surfer to decapitate the villains' hench men and then
throw the heads at the villain. It causes the villain to lose morale and
run away!

Greg has had a lousy year dealing with corporations whose name start with D
and is now back living at home. I wonder if he still has that Marvel game?
I feel confident these days.

The post-gig party was fun and made me realize that I need to buy a
sketchbook to take to these things. Glenn asked for a truly Canadian dish
so I got him to eat poutine (fries, gravy, cheese curd). Paul Fricke was
astounded that I know Alanis Morrissette personally. The rest of the table
was appalled.

All of this jocularity will be repeated in the Spirits Mark II tour of '96
which heads towards Ramona in the next couple of months before landing here
in Montreal on April 13. You are all personally invited to crash on my
couches.

I must say that I was slightly cynical going in because of the fact that
none of the best known Toronto cartoonists (Brown, Smyth, Vellekoop, Matt,
Seth) were going to be there, and the division between small-press and
self-published seemed kind of weird given the state of the industry. The
event did win me over though and I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and
picked up a lot of stuff. Well organized, well attended (by both pros and
fans) and much needed. Cool beans.

bart
Attempting the Nevins inspired content-less post