Date: Wed, 4 May 1994 22:52:57 CDT Sender: COMICS Discussion List <[COMICS L] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]> From: Bill Hayes <[IANR 012] at [UNLVM.UNL.EDU]> Subject: Volume 4 Issue 16 Part 3 May 4, 1994 The Comics List Weekly Vol. 4 No. 16 Pt. 3 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 3 May 94 12:02:23 PDT From: [j r d] at [frame.com] (James Drew) Subject: CON: Wonder-Con 8 (long) CON REPORT Wonder-Con #8 April 22-24, 1994 There *will* be spoilers in here for all sorts of things, most of them minor. Consider yourself forewarned. You may find an imbalance of concern or interest in this report on gay, lesbian, and otherwise queer themes. Live with it; consider it a growth experience. There is nothing obscene in here, but neither will I whitewash anything. However, the mention of a person, even in an extensive role, should not be taken as an indication of his or her orientation, unless specifically stated. Wonder-Con is usually termed the first major convention of the season. It is not, however, the first major convention of the year, being preceded by ConFurence (southern California) in January, a Great Eastern Convention (New York) in February, and the Motor City Convention (Detroit) in March. Still, this is definitely one of the major shows, with an expected attendance of some 10,000 people and most of the significant publishers present. I had intended to have Ciao! v2#2 published in time for Wonder-Con. No such luck. v2#1 has gone back to press, though, and Wilde Oaks #5 is due in late May; I hope to have v2#2 out in time for A.P.E. in early June. I registered for the convention at 1:05 pm on Friday. One of the advantages of working as a paid editorial cartoonist for a local newspaper is that it provides a professional credit for registering as a guest at these conventions. (This sometimes gets you into special functions and certainly saves you the cost of admission. I did not try to parlay it into attending Pro/Con during the preceding days; newspaper editorial cartooning is at best tangential to the greater comics industry.) Immediately after I registered, along came Sharon Cho (Star*Reach), Rob Tokar (Marvel artist), and Denys Cowan (Milestone). I largely hung out with Tony Shenton at the NBM booth, filling in for him when he needed a break during the day, but I also spent significant time chatting with Steve Howearth (Comics Against AIDS), Brad Rader (The Mark, storyboard on Biker Mice from Mars), Sharon Cho, Donna Barr (Desert Peach), and Roberta Gregory (Naughty Bits). I saw the net's "zombie" walking by in a Squid shirt and did the point-You-Come Here routine (much the same as how I first met Andy Mangels at San Diego three years ago, but in reverse). There was a brief look of terror ("Who, me? What did I do?") on his face, I think. Dinner on Friday was at a nice Chinese place with Brad and Tony. Among our topics of discussion at dinner was "Which Marvel superhero(ine) would you like to do as queer, and how would you do him or her? Or how would you created a new queer character in the 'mighty Marvel tradition'?" We also discussed a revamped Vartox -- now an alien leatherman with his sights set on Jimmy Olsen. And then there's Andy Mangels' upcoming work on Liefeld's Bludwulf (or are there actually some "o"'s in the name?), which we all agreed was probably going to be overwritten if everything Andy has told us gets into the comic. (An overwritten Image comic? That might be refreshing!) And as to the character's name, we decided that "Bloodclot" has just the right ring. Friday night was Sharon Cho's "No Comics Party" (yeah, sure) with Brent Anderson, Matt Healy (Ghost), Donna Barr, Barb Rausch (Barbie), and a few other folks I don't know. It was also the night of the DC party which, by most reports, went better than most such tend to. According to Donna Barr, fanboys (and girls) were a major topic of discussion, including (but not limited to) filkers and MU Press' Skunk comic book. Brent has been working on a project for several years called the Spacing Dutchman. He got one publisher interested in it, they bought the rights, and then went under. Once Brent was able to get the rights back, he pushed it at DC. They bought the rights and then decided that the market had changed to much to make it profitable. So it sits at DC, with Brent unable to even self-publish it without repaying the advance. He says he has learned a valuable lesson out of this. Donna regaled us with some tidbits on the differences between German and Yiddish. For example, the German word for "jewels" is the Yiddish word for "family jewels" (aka "balls"). "Yiddish" itself is just a slight corruption of "Ju:ddisch" (I think) -- "Jewish". And the German word for "speaking with a Jewish accent" is evidently "maus" -- I wonder if Art Spiegelman is aware of this? Saturday, of course, was the big day of the convention. I didn't get there until 3:00, though, due to dance practice in San Francisco. Such is life. Saturday was more of the same as Friday for me. Wonder-Con does not tend to be a panel-going con for me (San Diego tends more toward that). Not to mention that I can get the latest greatest publisher news here on the net and I rarely want to spend an hour listening to Jim Shooter expound on whatever. According to Cat Yronwode, this was the first convention she has been to since 1981 where she didn't have a table to stay behind (since the collapse of Eclipse). Saturday night was the annual Friends of Suicide Squid dinner -- Len Wein even showed up briefly, hoping to find Tom Galloway with a shirt for him (but no!). Six of us (me, Mark Schlatter and his wife, Byron Go, and, uh, I can't remember their names) went out to the Pacific Pub and Brewery (so much for the tradition of Asian food at Wonder-Con and Fast Food of All Nations for San Diego!): three root beers, two pints of Double Diamond Ale (and a toast to Erica, of course), and one pint of Amethyst Ale (how about a trade paperback of the series, DC?) were consumed, as was food, of course. Following dinner, I ran into Tony Shenton and drove him into the City and had dessert while he ate dinner (at Pizza Love; not especially recommended). We then headed over to the Lone Star, where we ran into two of his friends (Jeff and Jeff) from New York who had just moved out to San Francisco; one of them is a fan of The Maxx and the Legion. Tony and I later headed to the Eagle and I bunked in his hotel room that night rather than driving 45 minutes home at 2 am. Sunday was a short day, mostly shopping the 25 and 50 cent bins (and making some wonderful finds -- see below). I ended up getting invited to Roberta Gregory's birthday party, since I'll be in Seattle that day. The buy of the con -- and I seem to be getting in the habit of making a $40 purchase shortly before leaving -- was an original horse-and-rider piece from Donna Barr (it will only be the fifth piece of Donna's work on my walls, once I get them all hung -- I am not a fanboy, I am not a fanboy, I am not a fanboy B-). She was making deals so as to not have to cart the pieces home. I suspect the other pieces (a couple from the "Hader and the Colonel" universe) were donated to the Cartoon Museum of Art. I did hit one panel -- "The Sunday Funnies: Humor in Comics" -- which was supposed to feature fan-favorite Peter David and the Family (well, *Don* Simpson, *Don* Rosa, and *Donna* Barr), but turned into Peter and Mark Evanier. In and among all the usual oft-repeated stories about Hulk and Groo, we became privy to a couple tidbits. The Hulk will be spending a couple issues in Asgard in coming months; look for him to fight a pair of Frost Giants using a Three Stooges' routine (no, I won't tell you which one). According to Peter, Rick Jones *knows* he is in a comic book, as does Miguel O'Hara, but Peter doesn't want to do Fourth Wall stuff a la Byrne. Peter also claims that it was *not* him performing the wedding -- it was just someone who happened to look like Peter David; peter says his script just called for an incredibly handsome fellow playing that part. In return for sticking him in there, Gary Frank gets to be passed out behind a potted palm in #419, which has a fill-in artist. No word as to whether Aquaman will continue to look constipated on the covers of his new series. After making my goodbyes, I headed back to San Francisco for the Bears of San Francisco "bear bust" at the Hole in the Wall Saloon -- wearing my Bears Mailing List t-shirt, of course, and forgetting to remove my con badge (oh, the embarrassment!). But that is a tale for another day (and not this newsgroup/mailing list). People encountered (who aren't mentioned above): Paul Mavrides (artist, Cartoon Museum of Art), Steve Leialoha (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Jeff Smith (Bone), Edd Vick (MU Press), Phil Foglio (Buck Godot), Batton Lash (Archie Meets the Punisher), Bob Kahan (DC), Randy Emberlin (inker), Ken Meyer, Jr. (Negative Burn), Don Simpson (Bizarre Heroes), Mart Nodell (Golden Age Green Lantern), Sheldon Moldoff (Golden Age Batman), Dan Fraga (Image artist), Monika Livingstone (furry artist), James Owen (Starchild), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), Mike Sagara (Tank Vixens), Matt High (Antarctic), Max Fellwalker (painter), Mark Schlatter (the net), zombie (the net), Tom DeFalco (Fantastic Four), Berni Wrightson (Frankenstein), Julia Lacquement-Kerr (colorist on Shaman's Tears), Charlie Wise (Blue Moon), Kaja Murphy (pronunciation note: "kigh-uh"; Palliard Press), Al Gordon (Wildstar), Mike Friedrich (Star*Reach), Abby Janifer (Star*Reach), Dan Clowes (Eightball), Adrian Tomine (Optic Nerve), Fred Rhoades (Sad Sack), Don Rosa (Life of Uncle Scrooge), Aaron Lopresti (Sludge), Maggie Thompson (Comics Buyer's Guide), Ron Lim (Silver Surfer), Dwayne McDuffie (Milestone), Craig Flessel (Golden Age artist), Art Adams (Monkeyman & O'Brien) Quotes: * "Why would you want to avoid Image?" -- teenage boy "Because we're grown-ups." -- Mark Schlatter's wife * "Free posters!" -- the Extreme booth, across from the MU/Palliard booth "Leave me alone. I'm looking at Xxxenophile!" -- me * "Defiant Comics -- I really thought they'd go before Nixon." -- Mark Evanier * "The Flintstones [movie]: my one word review -- Ishtarpit." -- Mark Evanier Neat things bought or acquired: other than a little bit of new issue buying (Bluebeard #1, True Swamp #1, Girl Hero #1, Greenhouse Warriors #3-4 [which are awful expensive at $3.95 each]) and a couple NBM purchases [Forever War I, Hungarian Rhapsody], most of my purchases were limited to the 25/50 cent bins. They held real treasures this year, though: Captain Canuck, Jazz Age Chronicles, lots of Micronauts vol.1 and Alien Legion vol.1, Angel Love, Albedo Anthropomorphics vol.1, nightlife, Stig's Inferno, Heckler, Boris the Bear, Redfox, Katy Keene Special, Yummy Fur, and Neil the Horse. (Notice that most of these are fairly well-regarded books and that you can't reliably find *any* of them in anyone's back stock!) I also picked up a Madman Adventures foil ashcan (for 50 cents), probably from Hero or Wizard; given that Mike Allred has now joined the Legend crew, value just may go up on this. (Incidentally, *anything* of Mike's related to Madman had its price boosted -- such as Grafik Musik and Creatures from the Id [very rare, that one; I saw it priced at $15 -- a year ago, you couldn't give it away at 50 cents]. Nobody had copies of Graphique Musique, much less the very rare Dead Air or the Citizen Nocturne collection -- my favorite work by Mike.) (Hmm, now where is that page of original art from Allred's Dead Air that Mike gave me for free back in 1989...) Marvel has a nifty poster for the new Conan book and Donna Barr gave me another copy of the Desert Peach musical's poster (I've already got one framed on the wall) which I'll put to use at A.P.E. and San Diego (see below). News and such: * Here's the text of DC's "Zero Hour" promo flyer: [page 1] Imagine: the world you have known all your life suddenly begins to change. [big number 4] [page 2] The changes are almost imperceptible at first. But soon everything comes crashing around you. Past and present contradict each other. History is no longer immutable. Those long gone are no longer dead. Dinosaurs and other extinct animals roam in your neighborhood. Worst of all, your friends and loved ones are vanishing... or changing. [big number 3] [page 3] The very fabric of reality surrounding the DC Universe is unravelling. In Smallville, Jor-El and Lara have returned to take Superman back to an unexploded Krypton. In Metropolis, Superman is faced with a *multitude* of Batmen. Meanwhile, Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Barbara Gordon are shocked to meet another, *different* Batgirl. Elsewhere, the legendary Justice Society of America [editorial comment: so what's wrong with that?] answers the call to action. The timestream, made fragile by countless twists and myriad travellers, is now spinning out of control. Time is running out... *quickly*. Only the greatest heroes of every era and reality [editorial comment: Captain Carrot, too?] can stop this *Crisis*in*Time*. And stop it they must or the DC Universe will cease to exist -- perhaps never to have existed at all. [big number 2] [page 4] With little warning, the end draws near. Anomalies in the DC Universe threaten its future... and its past. The 25th and 30th centuries have been swallowed into oblivion. [editorial comment: which explains that big sucking sound going on recently, no?] All that remains of all that once was is the 20th century [editorial comment: see, it's even affecting our dialogue!], now isolated in nothingness and threatened by destructive forces blindly chipping away at this lone pocket of time. As heroes battle to prevent the end of time, momentous events occur. New heroes are born, while others are lost, and as time itself is extinguished, two beings take part in a final showdown with nothing to lose -- because *nothing* is left. [big number 1] [page 5] A void. Empty of sound, light, even life. Reality -- the DC Universe -- is no more. But then there is a glimmer of hope, the glint of a new beginning. [editorial comment: a white event] A new reality emerges, a reality born from nothingness. It is a chance to start anew. From that moment, the DC universe faces a new existence. Some heroes are newly discovered, rising from the void; others are renewed, experiencing vague hints that something has gone before. All of them are focused on what lies ahead. Zero Hour represents a stronger, cohesive, more vital DC Universe where, like its heroes, readers can start anew. Newcomers need no prior introduction; loyal DC fans can savor the breadth to which the rich DC history has grown. [editorial comment: oh, bite me.] [fold-out] Extant [I presume] menaces the heroes: Batman (Bruce Wayne), Robin (Tim Drake), Superman, Guy Gardner: Warrior, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Geo-Force, Darkstar (Donna Troy), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner?), Green Dragon (Ultra Boy/Jo Nah), Waverider, Batgirl, Superboy (current one), Atom (current one), some big purple thing with a mist-enshrouded head (Metamorpho?), Green Arrow (current one), Flash (Wally West), Flash (Jay Garrick). The new heroes float in the background: a guy with purple glasses (Starman?), a guy in white with *big*red*shoulderpads* (Xenobrood?), an unshaven guy with an ankh tattooed on his right eye (Fate?), and the members of what must be Primal Force (including Red Tornado). [back page lists the shipping order and dates (editorial comment: we'll see) and the Zero Month #0 issues] * According to Barb Rausch, Barbie is selling about 30K on the newsstand and 10K in comics shops. This means it may well be outselling perhaps 20% of Marvel's line. * Donna Barr has been invited to be art guest of honor at ConFurence 6; writing guest of honor is slated to be Larry Niven. Donna has an avowed dislike of much of furry fandom (like it or not, Donna, a significant amount of your output *is* attractive to furry fans; you just seem to have run afoul of some of the worst facets of the fandom). Donna said she'd only do it if the rest of the Skunk artists were invited, too. Roberta Gregory and Colin Upton said they were available... that leaves Chuck Melville, Tom Verre', and whoever did the back cover. * Donna is going back to press for another run of tapes of the Desert Peach musical soundtrack. If she gets enough orders soon, she'll even do a run of CD's. Order the two cassettes for $25 (includes postage) from Donna Barr, 1318 North Montgomery, Bremerton, WA, 98312. It's a wonderful soundtrack; I fully recommend it. (Tell her I sent you.) * Edd Vick continues to claim that he is receiving mostly favorable reactions to Skunk (which has a lot of furry fandom on the net up in arms). His sales in general were way low at the con, though. * Bill Sienkiewicz has done a nifty poster for Milestone. * Mark Evanier confirms that the references in Crossfire #3 to the horror actor's dead partner were early references to AIDS in Hollywood (circa 1984). I'm evidently the first person to ask him about the references. * Expect a Ghost series out of Dark Horse's Comics Greatest World in comic months. * Mike Allred (Madman) is now apparently an official part of the Legend crew. * Barb Rausch has done the cover for the Marvel/Disney Beauty and the Beast comic. * A fellow was going around doing some promotional work with publishers, getting their interest up for a biography/sketchbook on Craig Russell. * Steve Howearth said everything is a go for a Comics Against AIDS booth at San Diego. The San Diego con will be donating booth space. Marvel found their conscience and will be donating funds; look for a blurb in the letters page of Hulk #420, too (with luck). All funds raised will be split between three AIDS charities. Expect to be able to buy con sketches from a number of artists at San Diego for $20 bucks a piece; Steve is getting all sorts of support from the creative community. There will also be more significant pieces up for auction; nothing is guaranteed, but Howearth is hoping for a piece from Bill Watterson. * Speaking of San Diego, when it comes to Sunday at the con, be afraid, be very afraid. There is supposed to be an appearance by the Might Morphin' Power Rangers. According to Steve Howearth, a recent appearance at the Anaheim Convention Center utterly swamped the place. Remember the mob scene when Image tossed comics at a convention last year? I hope the MMPR's will be on the far side of the con from me. * I stopped by the Creative Interests Agency table to pick up their submission guidelines and scan there current client list -- nobody you would recognize. And writers, don't bother. They're not accepting writing submissions "at this time". Feh. Next Report: Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E.), San Jose, June 4. Ciao! Publications plans to have a table at both this and at the San Diego Comic-Con! ------------------------------ | "Wow," I said, scanning the absent sykline. Jim Drew | "San Francisco, 1877. This is incredible!" [j r d] at [frame.com] | "This is impossible," said Suzanne. (Furry: Randy Puritan) | - Marc Lynx, "Haight in the Time of Cholera" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- End part 3, parts 1 and 2 will arrive shortly! Honest!