Ok Hi Im Mike, a writer for the small press company that does Nice
Comics, and Ill be doing a somewhat different report for the 1998
Comic-Con International. This is my sixth year Ive attended the
convention and my third year as a professional. The one thing that
is certain about this con is there will *always* be something to be
excited about no matter where your interests lie. Comic books,
science fiction, television, toys, movies and even wrestling are all
represented in one form or another in the several hundred exhibitors
that are present at the con.
For me there were several things to look forward to with this convention. After reading Superman Adventures #21 Ive become a really big fan of Supergirl in all of her incarnations (well, except that whole Matrix thing) and several creators who work or have worked on Supergirl in the past were in attendance at the convention. Its always fun for me to check out the Small Press Area where our table for Nice Comics is located. Nearly every year I find something new and cool in the SPA. My only regret is that Girl Hero creator Megan Kelso was not scheduled to be a guest at the con this year. Anyway on to the play-by-play.
No matter how hard we try, it seems as if we will indefinitely be scrambling at the last minute to get to the con on the first day and this year we managed to make it with only being 10 minutes after the doors opening. After finally getting settled in, I got a chance to look around the general area and what did I see at an adjacent table, but a man and woman in Mexican wrestling masks!!! At first opportunity, I went to talk with them and found out about their publication called From Parts Unknown. This magazine has a lot of wacky articles and pictorials primarily on masked wrestlers from Mexico, although also some Japanese and American stars. Being a big wrestling fan, this was definitely a good start to the convention.
Fairly early into the first day, Sheryl and Sidra stopped by the table and Sid was turning a lot of heads with her classic Night Girl costume. I know almost right away 2 or 3 people asked to get a picture. Later Thursday, I went to the 40 years of Legion fandom panel with them and found this to be a lot of fun. I am not reading the Legion books for reasons that were expressed by panelist/sometimes-Legion creator Colleen Doran; her argument being that the Legion titles were too difficult to pick up and jump into for a new or returning reader. This sparked a lot of debate for both the panelists and the crowd. One amusing part for me was when towards the end of the panel, a couple in front of us dressed as Captain America and Firestar turned and asked us if we smelled gas. I hadnt noticed it until then, but there was a scent of some sort of gas in the room. Cap said "This doesnt seem very safe" and they both left the panel which ended around five minutes later anyway. Dont ask me why this just seemed very surreal. :)
While looking around the various booths, I found several gems I really didnt expect or even really know I was looking for. One booth had a box of Silver Age comics in beat up, but readable shape, on sale for $2 each. One of my big weaknesses is Avengers issues featuring a membership drive. Not only did I find 3 of these issues, but I also found a few other Avengers comics from early on in the Stan Lee/Don Heck run. The characterization was very simple in these books, but the pure storytelling in these comics is so incredible it blew me away to look at these comics. I think for a lot of modern artists and writers it would be a good idea to look at these books and check out the dynamics that made the storytelling an art in itself. I know that I plan on picking up more of these classic books whenever I can find them at a reasonable price.
After several days of attempts, I was finally able to get a sketch commissioned from Supergirl artist Leonard Kirk. Between obligations at panels and company signings, a lot of these creators are pretty tied up throughout the con as it is, which makes it even that much cooler that they go out of their way to do sketches for their fans. I also managed to get a couple of Supergirl pages for a really good price which is great, since this is my favorite book right now. This leads into a part of the con I really was sort of let down about though...
Several weeks before the con, I had emailed several original art dealers to see if they were interested in buying some original art pages I had bought a few years back but was looking to sell, including a Mike Mignola Hellboy page and a Tony Harris Starman page. While I didnt originally buy these pages with the intent of reselling them down the line, I figured I could use the money and saw similar pages by these artists all over the web going for $200+. Now I was certainly not expecting this, but was hoping to get a reasonable amount for them after having several dealers express interest through email. Once arriving at the con, I spent several hours over two days trying to sell these to any of the various dealers with absolutely no success. Luckily, I was pointed in the direction of an art dealer I had missed, who was a Harris fan and bought the Starman page but I learned a *very* important lesson about Original Art: it is no easier to resell as a collectors item than the comics themselves are. From now on, Im going to be much tighter with my money when it comes to buying any original pages. Its a better bet to get a commissioned sketch for an artist because its a lot more personal and can have more nostalgic value.
Another high point of the con was finding out about a new artist who was in the Artist Alley. Jeff Parker is an artist who has done some work for Lonestar Press as well as some work at DC. He had some really great watercolor painted sketches on display including one of an animated style Batgirl and Robin and an animated Harley Quinn. I talked with him for a few minutes and commissioned a sketch of Supergirl in the animated style. I came back the next day to pick it up and all I can say about it is wow. Ive gotten a lot of sketches over the past couple of years at the con, but this one is definitely one of the coolest and is getting framed and put on the wall. Im also gonna be keeping my eye out for any work by Mr. Parker, who is definitely a nice guy and a real talent.
Another aspect of the conventions isnt as much what goes on during the con, as it is what goes on afterwards. When you gather 40,000 comic fans and creators into downtown San Diego, chances are things are gonna be going on in any bar or restaurant you go into. On Saturday night, my friends and I went to the Hyatt bar which was located on the very top floor of the Hyatt Hotel and overlooked the harbor. My friend Lee, who works at Wildstorm was downstairs at the company party for a few minutes and then he came back up later and was able to get all of us into the party down in one of the private suites at the Hyatt. This party was pretty crazy and the drinks were free, so what more could you ask for? After having a reasonable amount to drink, I decided it was time to go back to a friends room at the Mariott and crash. About an hour or so later, everyone except Lee came back to the hotel and Lees girlfriend said he was downstairs talking with a couple of older gentlemen. I went down to see who it was and lo and behold, Lee is sitting in the hotel lobby talking with Jim Steranko!!! Little did I know as I headed towards the lobby, that Id be participating in a 3 hour discussion on comic book philosophy with one of the greatest legends in the business. At one point, he was starting to explain the look of a certain page he had drawn to Lee, but then made the point that describing a comic book page for hours can never do the page itself justice without actually viewing the page in question. This is a great parallel to this whole discussion. Although Steranko does very few conventions, if you ever get the chance to hear this man speak about comics, I recommend you drop anything else going on and listen. He has very strong opinions, some of which you might not agree with, but his blunt honesty and respect for the artform of comics certainly invigorated my interest in creating comics and did for Lee, as well.
After this, I wasnt sure that the last day of the con would hold much for me other than making a few last minute purchases. I was scoping out some of the booths towards the back of the convention hall, when I saw a Girl Hero T-shirt hanging on the wall of one booths for Highwater Books. I immediately went over and saw that they had a copy of Megan Kelsos Queen of the Black Black, a collection of her short stories from her self-published comic Girl Hero, that was supposed to have come out earlier this year from another publisher but was canceled. Although she wasnt there at the time I first stopped by, later in the day I was able to talk with Megan who was in fact at the con and I found out about some of her upcoming projects. About 4 years back at San Diego was the first time I really encountered both Girl Hero and Small Press comics in general, so for me Girl Hero or any other project Megan Kelso works on is at the top of my buylist. Also at Highwater Books I picked up a copy of creator James Kochalkas cd Monkey vs. Robot. I didnt know what to expect other than a group similar to They Might Be Giants, but this album was really quirky and cool. It became the unofficial CD of our drive back home.
Theres a lot of other stuff that I prolly left out of this report but so much goes on at every San Diego con that there are high points that will definitely stand out for anyone who attends. This convention is the Superbowl of comic book conventions and no matter where you are in the country (or the world for that matter), if you can make it to the convention than it will almost certainly become an annual trip.
