1. It was pointed out that This Ship Is Totally Sinking's correspondent had been up for almost 24 hours, and had barely eaten.
Con education 101—bring some snacks, and sleep more often.
2. Having not attended a comic convention besides the MOCCA festival since the Atlanta DragonCon when
Spawn #1 first came out, preparation for "covering" the con extended to re-reading what it is that the people at Funnybook Babylon hate about convention coverage, and asking for advice from some notable comics writers who have done it before, namely Tom Spurgeon, Michael Dean and Johanna Draper Carlson. Their kind and informative responses made it clear that, along with the high expectations of the FBB-type crowd, the best I could hope for was to just be ignored long enough to learn how to do this, as well as reminding me that honest-to-goodness journalism is a trade best practiced by those who actually went to some kind of school for it.
3. Kyle Baker not only turned out to be one of the most amiable and gregarious members of the comic community I've ever met, but also one of the most honest. He was more than willing to openly discuss various topics, such as the perceived mishandling of book placement in retail stores for DC's recently failed
Minx line. Baker pointed out that his successful
Birth of a Nation graphic novel is shelved alongside works by Aaron McGruder, and the award-winning
Nat Turner is found in the biography section. From there, he questioned what the hell a company that couldn't figure out the audience for his recent
Babies & Kittens was doing being a publisher in the first place? After all, it's about adorable babies and cute kittens, together. Thankfully, the book is being published, by Image Comics, as well as going into development with the Fox network as an upcoming show. Out of everything he was willing to riff on, the funniest had to be when he rhetorically asked why Warner Brothers would make a Batman film he couldn't take his children to--after all, adults aren't going to buy the Underoos, and that's where the real money is. Mr. Baker might be a little out of touch though—there was definitely a smattering of adults at the con who were willing to open their wallets for super-hero themed underwear.
4. On the subject of costumes, the convention was a bit of disappointment. While there were a couple of Europeans who had clearly spent a massive amount of money on dueling Spider-Man costumes, your correspondent was defiantly unhappy that he never found a Stormtrooper. Later reports made it clear that he should have kept trying, but still: it's a comic book convention. One shouldn't have to
try to find Stormtroopers. They should be in abundance, like tears in the rain.
5. One hopes that I misheard Chris Staros, Top Shelf Comix publisher, when he said that the company currently attends an insane 22 conventions a year. Either way, Staros continues to be one of the strongest examples of a publisher with a serious commitment to the company and his artists—besides the moment at the Harvey Awards cocktail hour when he made sure that his artists didn't have to get their own drinks, his ability to remember names is one that's almost superhuman. The man is never anything less than friendly, without it smacking of anything but a genuine interest in anyone who takes the time to speak with him. As I've noticed at previous trips to the MOCCA Arts Festival, the Top Shelf booth continued to be one of the most well-put-together and attractive booths of any at the convention, one that, against all expectation, put the more expansive DC Comics booth to shame. Any number of publishers at the show could take a lesson from Top Shelf in how to present their product and introduce their artists—it clearly doesn't require the financial backing of an Image or Top Cow. It just requires care and dedication—something Chris Staros has in great abundance.
6. Due to a time constraint and the extensive lines to meet the DC creative team, I decided it would be best to lurk and only take up these fan favorites' time when I wouldn't be keeping them from meeting their excited fanbase -- many of whom had brought on the order of 10,000 comics to be signed. The end result of my being nice was an instructive lesson that the lines to meet DC creators may last as long as the creators are capable of breathing, but I was able to speak with Jimmy Palmiotti for a few minutes after he finished signing a man's entire collection of the Marvel Knights
Black Panther series, which Palmiotti had to examine to figure out what his role had been. (He edited them, apparently.) The conversation was a brief one, but certainly interesting—having recently noticed that Palmiotti had teamed up with fan favorite Garth Ennis to write a five issue mini-series for Image Comics called
Back To Brooklyn, I was curious as to why he hadn't gone through the Vertigo imprint, or more specifically, the upcoming Vertigo Crime imprint, which
Back To Brooklyn seemed perfect for. He openly admitted that it was so the team he'd assembled would maintain any ancillary profits that the comic produced without having to share them with the Warner Brothers conglomerate; then he went on to explain an interesting series of events that had resulted in the comic's publication. First, he and Ennis had devised the story "late night at the bar" and after producing the script, they sold a percentage of the movie rights to a Los Angeles-based production company called KickStart for enough to pay
Back To Brooklyn artist Mihailo Vukelic. Thus Palmiotti and Ennis won't have to deal with the Hollywood negotiations for the series, leaving them to focus on what Palmiotti said he really cares about anyway, which is the comic book itself. Considering how many times at the convention professionals like Brian Michael Bendis and Robert Kirkman talked about "lawyering up" and making a sustainable income from creator-owned comic books, it was refreshing to have someone like Palmiotti speak so openly about an actual method without resorting to empty phraseology. On top of that, he was giving away
Jonah Hex comics, and I'm a sucker for westerns.
7. During a quick conversation with the group at the Top Shelf table, I had a chance to talk with Jeff Lemire, who let me in on what I assume is not a secret, that besides his upcoming Vertigo graphic novel
The Nobody, he'll also be handling a new ongoing series for the Vertigo line. He wasn't in a position to talk about the title, but I did find out that it is not going to be a part of the upcoming Vertigo Crime imprint. He also confirmed what I'd heard rumored about his three volume
Essex County series, which is that it's doing remarkably well in libraries—it's not a subject that comes up that often, but I thought it was a mark of intelligence on Lemire's part to pursue information about how his work is being received in that market.
8. There was a bit of a controversy in the last year when a group of comics critics, including Tim Hodler, Johanna Draper Carlson, Heidi MacDonald and Newsarama's Matt Brady sat on a panel about Comics Journalism where Mr. Brady talked about holding back on stories at the request of corporate comics companies, seemingly implying that if he didn't operate in accordance with their wishes, it might put his site in a position of losing "access." I was reminded of that while waiting for my wife to come out of the bathroom after the DC Nation panel. Sitting in the hallway was Mr. Brady, preparing what is probably the most inclusive report on the 90 minute panel, when Dan Didio walked by him, turned, and asked if Mr. Brady was interested in getting lunch. The request was turned down, as Mr. Brady wanted to finish typing up his panel report. I was pretty taken aback—make no mistake, I was standing between the two when they had the back and forth, so it's not like I was sneakily eavesdropping—but wouldn't the readers of Newsarama, a vocal group of super-hero comics fans, prefer for the head of the website to take any and every opportunity to sit down with the Senior Vice President of DC Comics, even if it's for an informal conversation? Wouldn't that be something far more interesting, rifer with quotable moments, than anything that came out of what the DC Nation panel had provided? I've got nothing against Newsarama, and I happen to quite like some of what the Blog portion of the site provides—but I couldn't help but see this little random moment, a random moment I literally walked into solely because my wife was in the bathroom, as a terrible error in judgment, and one that I still find markedly absurd. While I don't want to denigrate the way Mr. Brady does his job -- and his dedication to getting the information from the DC panel up as quickly as he did is admirable -- his refusal of face time with one of comic books' most well-known figures bewildered me. If there's one thing DC fans would kill to read more about, it's what Dan Didio has to say when he's not stuck in front of a microphone answering questions about when there will be a new mini-series featuring the Suicide Squad. But hey--that's probably why he writes full time about comics. I'm just a guy who didn't know a button-up shirt was going to make me overdressed.
9. Due to a lack of note-taking on my part, I'm unable to fully represent the talk I had with Chris Pitzer at the Adhouse table. Basically, it began with me taking the opportunity to let him know how grateful I was as a reader for the hardcover publication of
Skyscrapers of the Midwest, which has to be one of my "best comics" for whatever year it's considered a part of. From there, we talked about—well, pretty much everything that's possible to talk about, including his genuine excitement at the recent debut of Rafael Grampa's
Mesmo Delivery, the Grendel "shrine" he's got in a spare bedroom at home, and how funny it was when my wife called
Secret Invasion "a prom for super-heroes." Comics fans should take note of Adhouse anytime they attend one of these conventions—they're definitely some of the most fun people to talk too, if you can borrow enough of their time.
10. The following people were noticed at multiple times having absolutely no one to talk to, which seems completely insane to me, as well as an abject reflection that I clearly don't understand why people go to these conventions: Kyle Baker, Don Rosa, Carla Speed McNeil, Matt Kindt, Christian Slade and Jeff Lemire. Alternatively, if you hire women to dress in what can nicely be described as lingerie, and rudely described as "you've got to be kidding, there are little kids here," your booth will be mobbed constantly, despite your seemingly having about as much comic book-related product on the market as JD Salinger does.
11. Actual purchases were few and far between, as your correspondent was knee deep in the meat of it trying to get some face time, but they did include the following:
• A cheap, battered trade of Howard Chaykin's work on
The Shadow, purchased from the fine gentlemen of Basement Comics, who were struggling to deal with an aggressive amount of customers yet were some of the most open and friendly retailers at the show.
•
The Secret Voice #1,
Superior Showcase #2 and
Mesmo Delivery from the people at Adhouse Books.
• The trade of Rick Veitch's
Brat Pack, which is apparently going to make me not like
The Boys anymore, from the people at Top Shelf Comix. Due to Chris Staros having about as many people to talk to as Dan Didio, Jeff Lemire, the award winning cartoonist of the
Essex County books, had to fill in as cashier. It wasn't until after I'd left the booth that I realized he didn't give me my change, which means that, as nice as Jeff Lemire is, he owes me a nickel.
*
Apologies and credit due to Jog The Blog, Glenn Gould & François GirardTucker Stone's writing may be found in print in Comic Foundry and online at The Factual Opinion, where he frequently reviews new releases.
This Ship Is Totally Sinking is © Tucker Stone, 2008
