I'm not lazy, honest I'm not. There are those that will tell you that all creative types are inherently lazy. But I am not one to buy into that. So with that in mind, you'll no doubt ask yourself, "Why is this new column less helpful than your last ones?" Well that's because I've had a pretty rip-roaring month in here, with little time to write. And when I did have time, the good Lord conspired against me.
Normally I would have finished my column earlier in the month, after giving the subject matter some thought. This time around I'm having to write it at the last moment. But thanks to a suggestion from that "other Drew" (that would be Mr. Melbourne) I did happen on to subject matter that you might find interesting.
I'm going to give you the details of what delayed my column. A few little torrid details about my life if you will. You might find it exciting or you might find it duller than dirt. But none the less it's what I have. So here you go...
USHICON (Jan 27-29 2006)
As mentioned in my earlier column, I do very well with the Manga/Anime crowd. I have no real theory as to why. They just take to me and my work a little better than fans of American comics. Based on past convention appearances at related cons, I had been asked to do some panels for Ushicon 2006. My good friends and creative comrades, Park and Barb Cooper, would be taking part in the panels with me.
Jami and I had decided to stay at a friend's house and forego expensive hotels. We arrived on the 26th of January. Unfortunately the second night we stayed there, some drunk decided he was going to pound on his girlfriend's (that would be our friend's upstairs neighbor's) door all night long.
Being a forgiving man at heart, I tried to wait him out at first. I thought surely this person will either tire or get bored. How wrong I was! My lovely, sloshed, friend continued well into the morning. Waking up everyone in the apartment, including our friend's young son. This was at 5:40 in the morning and I finally called the police. After they escorted our fine fellow away, I decided to do some laundry at the washing machine upstairs. On route to the laundry, I over heard several tenants wondering why no one else called the police. I guess I'm always the guy who ends up doing the dirty work or the dirty laundry.
Despite this close encounter of an inebriated kind, the con itself went very well. Our first panel, the Coopers and I, went very well. The subject was on "writing the supernatural" for comics. Our audience at first was a little on the quiet side, so I decided to scare them to life by
doing something panelists don't normally do. I got up out of my chair and started asking THEM questions. Being quick on the uptake, the Cooper's followed suit and soon we had the entire room talking like old friends.
At my booth things were a tad slower, but none the less promising. I had been located next to a young woman that does a Tokyopop title called "Steady Beat." Her fan base seemed rather large and soon a line had started in front of my booth. Past con experiences had taught me that this can go one of two ways. Most often with me being ignored. Thankfully that wasn't the case this go around. Those waiting in line for her, actually asked a lot of questions about my comic. Soon I had sold out of all of my products.
On the last day of the convention, the Coopers and I had our second panel. This time it was geared toward marketing web comics. However once the panel started, it ended up being more about general web comics. Park and Barb dominated this panel with their scholarly ways, and I ended up being more of the "funny, off hand comment guy." Which was fine with me, because I was tired and my brain was shot. I was much more in the mood to crack jokes than make with the wise words.
BACK IN DALLAS (Part 1)
We arrived safely back in Dallas after a productive, if quickly paced convention experience. I enter our home with the normal collection of business cards and web addresses. My aim was to get onto the internet and check some of these folks out online.
To my dismay, phone lines are out through our neighborhood. Internet seems equally troubled. Business for the next three days is conducted via Kinkos and a local coffee bar with wireless access.
The following evening I return to a night job I have recently taken, working the late shift in a butcher shop. My co-workers are fairly un-aware of my creative career. The customers are equally ignorant of the "celebrity" in their midst. I muddle through the rest of the week writing all day and chopping up meat by night. Still no idea on what I'm going to do for a new column. I accept that it will probably come to me soon and try to forge ahead. Jami was busy preparing for a convention appearance of her own.
TEXAS FRIGHTMARE WEEKEND (Feb 4th and 5th 2006)
Jami and I switched places in the role of "psuedo-celebrity" for a weekend. Her work as a TV horror host and genre model allowed her a stint as a featured guest of a Dallas based, horror convention. Thus she got to rub elbows with the likes of Tom Savini and Brinke Stevens. Not to mention Betsy Palmer -- AKA "Ma" Voorhees -- the person I was probably most excited to meet.
Once we entered the door way, I was shocked at the large mob of black clad horror nerds. This was a first year con after all. None of us were expecting such a large crowd. Before we had even fully set up, Jami started to get mobbed. There was a small amount of confusion about where her table was supposed to be, and at every turn there was someone wanting a photo with her. Needless to say, getting the table put together was a slow process indeed.
After Jami set up, I managed to sneak away from the table and walk around the con for a while. There was lots to buy and see, but I was trying to be thrifty. An oversized Jason Voorhees action figure did
catch my eye. I talked to the guy selling it, but he wanted 45 dollars. I passed and bought some overcooked frito pie instead.
After chatting with some friends, a buddy of mine and I walked into one of the three autograph areas they had set-up. In the room was Joe Bob Briggs, Betsy Palmer, HG Lewis, and the fella who played Leatherface in TCM 2. While I didn't have the money to buy a photo, I did walk by Ms. Palmer's table.
Unsurprisingly she had several photos from her entries in the Friday the 13th series, but she also had some nice 50's/60's styled glamour shots of her as young woman. We both were a bit taken aback at how "Jason's mom" had once been fairly hot. This of course also made us a little embarrassed at our limited knowledge of her body of work. She'd always been Mrs. Voorhees to us. We said "hi" to her, shook her hand, then walked away, hopefully a little bettered by the experience. We now knew there was life before horror films!
The next day Jami was going to do a screening of her TV show, so we had to get there fairly early. Once at the con, we noticed a couple of middle aged women walking around, talking pictures and taking notes. They seemed fairly taken with Jami as well. Turns out they were reporters for The Fort Worth Star Telegram. They did a brief interview with the both of us, and took a lot of pictures. But in the final product, yours truly ends up as more of a foot note. Guess I ain't photogenic enough for the local paper. But that isn't much of a surprise, is it dear readers?
After our star treatment we started over to Jami's showing. The crowd was small, but lively. In the audience was Joe Bob Briggs, sitting silent, watching the show with hawk eyes. He got up a little prior to the show ending. We weren't sure of his feelings on it till a little later.
(Be patient. I'll get to it).
Afterwards there was a brief Q&A panel. Jami was introduced by Z-movie legend Lloyd Kauffman. He proclaimed Jami "better than Elvira" and talked a lot about how her show was the kind of entertainment Troma liked to support. The audience laughed and cheered. Every seemed to be having a good time, despite the fact that a lot of them seemed to have hangovers.
Shortly after Jami's panel, Joe Bob Briggs was walking around the room. Jami took the opportunity to pass on a copy of her DVD. After Joe Bob talked to Jami briefly, he got surrounded by some fans, so Jami started talking to Job Bob's lady friend -- a red headed scream queen. She informed Jami that Mr. Briggs did indeed like her show and that he thought she was "hot." So in one fell swoop she was good enough for Troma AND Joe Bob Briggs.
Take that how you will. We kinda dug it.
The rest of the horror con consisted of Jami signing autographs and selling DVDs. I managed to haggle with the guy selling the Jason action figure. He went down to 25 dollars. Jami made almost a thousand dollars that weekend. The con was over. We were tired but happy, with just a week away to yet another convention experience.
DALLAS SCI-FI EXPO FAN DAY (Saturday, Feb 11th)
Just one mere week after the horror convention I was going to yet another con. This time I was going just to go. It was a "free" show set-up for fans. There really wasn't much of interest to me there. It was mostly geared toward STAR WARS fans, but HALLOWEEN MAN artist (and self-proclaimed "Hot Topic poster boy") Terry Parr was going to drop by. I thought we could hang out for a few hours.
Despite it being fairly warm outside, I dressed up in my snappiest zoot suit and headed for the Richardson civic center.
If there's one thing geeks love more than STAR WARS, it's meeting STAR WARS actors for free. The place was a madhouse. I wandered around and talked to a few people
I knew there. I had my picture taken with a group of fans, as they wanted to know which character I was "cos-playing." I told them I dressed up as myself, which seemed to confuse them.
Terry and his girlfriend finally showed. We wandered around. Terry looked at some ten cent comics. I looked at an autographed nude photo of Mimi Van Doren. I considered buying it for Jami as a Valentine's gift.
Terry and I caught up on old times, but soon I was feeling under the weather, so I left. On the way home it was clear that I was running a small fever. No time for that. Work at the butcher shop beckoned. Yuppies can't chop their own meat after all! I managed to work two and a half nights before succumbing to a full on cold. My shift boss sent me home. Hot chicken soup and my DVD set of KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER was waiting for me.
A quick call to the electric company proved relatively futile. Our power would not be turned back on for another 48 hours. The old Edward's luck was still holding true to form, because then the cold front hit!
After shivering in our living room for a few hours, we gave up and relocated to my dad's place for the night. In his typical fashion, he bought us a nice steak dinner and talked our ears off. Later that evening I went up stairs and watched HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 on the Sci-Fi channel. Truly a sign of illness if ever there was one.
The next morning we left for Austin bright and early, to beat out the supposed freezing rain that was headed our way. Despite these ominous warnings we ended up at our hotel without much in the way of a incident. Unless you count eating at Cracker Barrel and getting gawked at.
Despite intending to stay in the hotel, I ended up going to the show. My older brother, his boyfriend, and the Coopers were all planning on showing. I felt I needed to be there to keep them entertained before the show started. The club was relatively empty. Texans don't have much in the way of skills when it comes to driving on ice. So that seemed to keep even the local goth crowd away. The people that were there all seemed loaded with beer. There was even a fellow dressed like David Bowie from the movie, giant 80's hair and all.
After the show was over, we went to an all night diner named Katz's. By now I was feeling really crappy, but I did my best to put on a happy face and drown my sorrows in decaf coffee. We ended up going to bed at 4:00 in the morning and getting up at 8:00. If we were going to make it back to Dallas before the second cold front hit, we needed to move quickly.
While I was still sick, I planned on going with her and couch surfing most of the time at the hotel room. All our planning however was interrupted when our power was suddenly shut off. We had paid our bill earlier in the month, so this confused us greatly.
