60 in San Diego '05
This post has been a long time coming - I actually can't believe it has almost been two weeks since the Con - but I finally got the time and energy together to post these words and pics about the experiences John and I had in San Diego. Click on the pictures to see big views. Some need to be seen full-size to be appreciated.First off, the San Diego Comic Con is huge. Really huge. The biggest comic-book convention in the world, actually. There are so many panels and seminars and events going on throughout each day that there's no way to really see and do everything. The cons I attended in the '90s seem like intimate little gatherings compared to what we experienced a couple of weeks ago. We weren't here to see Peter Jackson's King Kong teaser, or Charlize Theron present some footage of the upcoming Aeon Flux movie (actually John, why didn't we catch that!?), we were here to show our pitch-book for 60 around, and get some honest-to-goodness, professional feedback. And get feedback we did.
The first guy we talked to was Ovi Nedelcu, an awesome guy who has an immediate place in our "Special Thanks" section when 60 gets published. His comic, Pigtale, is wonderfully illustrated and is a fun read. While talking to him about Pigtale, and getting him to sign the first three issues, John and I showed him our pages for 60, which he was very enthusiastic about. He thought our pitch-book was very professional "More than I had," were his exact words, and encouraged us to send it in to Image after we produced some more pages, even going so far as saying he would be willing to check it out again and possibly plug us on his website once we were done with said pages. This positive-feedback right off the bat really bolstered our confidence and we left Ovi and the Image booth giddy and eager to show 60 to others in the convention hall. We also used our meeting with him as a template on how to approach other creators. That is, talk to them about their books, perhaps buy a couple, then ask if they wouldn't mind checking out 60 and giving us feedback.
After talking to Ovi I didn't think things would get much better until we stopped at a booth John's commercial agent, Judy, was at. I was looking around at the original artwork and books around the booth, when I noticed some recent works by Jon J. Muth. Being a favorite comic book painter and illustrator of mine since childhood, I said something like, "Wow, I love Jon J. Muth!" Hearing me, Judy casually looked at me and said, "Really? He's right here. Wanna meet him?" and grabbed Jon, who was standing right next to her and introduced us. Turns out not only is he an amazing artist (check out Moonshadow, Sandman's The Wake or M), he's a really cool, rather Zen kinda guy. He checked out our pitch-book, and after going through the first three pages (the brightly-hued, Ace-in-his-youth flashback scenes), asked me if I had shown Scholastic the pages. That Jon J. Muth, a childhood hero of mine, thought I should show my artwork to a publisher, made my day. I'm still kinda riding high off that, actually. Anyway, gotta plug his children's books, The Three Questions, Stone Soup and Zen Shorts. Check 'em out.
After taking some time out to eat (John had a hot dog and I had a "gourmet" pizza, which I almost threw-up), we attended a panel on Webcomics since I'm thinking about starting one soon, and because one of my favorite webcomics creators, PVP's Scott Kurtz was on the panel. Turns out it was a really fun discussion and John and I both came away from it enlightened not only about webcomics, but the comics industry in general and how to promote your properties. Side note: James Kochalka is a funny, random dude.It wasn't all business, though. John and I were in hysterics over the varied personalities attracted to the Comic Con, including (click on images for full effect):
1. Fat Speeder Biker. "Does this Imperial Armor make my ass look fat?"
2. Big Hairy Klingon + sidekick
3. Superfly Superman
I also got pictures with a mech from a new Robotech, the original being one of the favorite cartoons of my youth, and Pikachu, 'cuz I love all things Nintendo. And Pokemon rocks.
We finally left the convention at closing, Saturday night, with a mixture of exhaustion and excitement. I think I had been going 72 hours at this point with about four hours of sleep.Totally worth it.
We were ready to hit the bars at this point.
Luckily, Kyle, a friend of John's from Boston, runs a local bar and restaurant called Dick's Last Resort so we went there. He totally gave us the treatment, getting past the waiting line to get in, and we had a blast drinking beers, eating crab and steak, and basically letting loose after the past few tumultuous days. I think John and I really just needed the break before our drive back. Later in the evening, Kyle brought out a banner-
sized piece of butcher paper and I drew a mean, young Ace on it, promoting the 60 website. Kyle stuck it on the door to his office. Maybe we'll get some traffic to the website from it. The hype has already started!Since there weren't any hotels available within a 100-mile radius, John and I took to the road after departing Dick's, to get back to L.A. Actually, that was an adventure in itself, but I think I'll let John take that one, if he wants to. I just remember being on the wrong side of the road at one point, with oncoming traffic directly in front of us, images of salmon swimming upstream running through my head. I also seem to remember being stranded in the middle of the road on a concrete island with John yelling, "Get out and push, bitch!". I could've dreamt all this, however, so we'll see what John's take on all this is.
Actually, I think we might have been abducted, too, as there are two hours on the road I can't account for. Good times.
posted by jefbot at 2:54 PM
3 comments
Here are the four pages we are using in the 60 Minute Broadway proposal. It's actually the opening of the story, but it also serves as a little teaser trailer in a way as well. Make sure to read them in order. Enjoy!
