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Written by Drew Melbourne
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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
You may recall that last week's column was called "Turning 30," because I (that's right) turned thirty last week.
And this week's column was very nearly called "Turning 50," because I (that's right) was recently hit by a HyperChrono Regression InhibitorTM, which made me age twenty years in one week.
Hmm. No, that sounds wrong.
Actually, this column was nearly called "Turning 50," because this week this column turns fifty. As in, "This is the fiftieth installment of Think Like Tomorrow." The first installment ran all the way back in January of 2005, so I'm not sure whether I should be proud or dismayed to be averaging a near bi-weekly output.
Wait. No. I'm going to go with "proud." That's clearly the better option.
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I figure most of you regular readers are familiar with the early columns by now, but just for the sake of nostalgia you can read my very first column ever here.
Why do I have half a skull superimposed over my face? I don't want to spoil it for you, but it involves walnuts.
And Jack Kirby. And mixed metaphors.
But mostly just walnuts.
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But enough nazel gazing already!
(Even if I have a pretty, pretty man-navel.)
Let's get down to what I really want to talk about this week: The second annual New York Comic Con. The con ran from Friday the 23rd to Sunday the Yesterdayeth, and I was there for all three con-tastic days.
Fellow Scryptic StalwartTM Elton Pruitt recently wrote a brilliant column about how to prepare for your first big comic book convention. One reason that it was brilliant is that he quotes me frequently! Another reason is that... wait, someone's writing this down for me to type in verbatim...
"I am a tremendous ass."
Stoopid roomates.
Anyway, Elton's column really is great. I found the non-said-by-me parts to be extremely helpful. (The said-by-me parts were less helpful for me personally, but only because I still remembered saying them in the first place.)
All that said, Elton's column is all advice and no application. And now till San Diego seemed like too long to go without a follow-up. So enter me to fill the yawning void with a day-by-day con report to end all con reports.
Some of this is going to be "be like me" stuff, and some of this is going to be "don't be like me" stuff, so pay careful attention.
DAY ZERO
Before you go to a comic convention, it's a good idea to set some goals. Generally, the more planning you do ahead of time (a) the more your plans will be ripped to shreds, and (b) the better you'll be able to cope once your plans are ripped to shreds.
I did minimal planning, which consisted of:
- asking my boss for Friday off
- setting up an ArchEnemies signing for Friday night
- getting a photo of Marvel editor Mark Paniccia from a friend who works at Marvel
- trying to pull together some sample art for We are the Conspiracy to show around
Emphasis, in the last case, on "trying." But that was my fault. I gave my artist about three days notice, when I should have given him a month.
Oh well! No We are the Conspiracy pimpage at this con!
And for those wondering, "Why did you need a picture of Marvel editor Mark Paniccia?" Well, I desperately want to write for Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, which Mark is currently editing. So I set a goal for myself to track down Mark Paniccia during the con and to beg him to let me write some MAFF.
How'd that go? Keep reading, True Believer.
DAY ONE
The way the New York con is scheduled, the first half of the first day is just for professionals and exhibitors. This is prime time for a comics creator! From 10 til 4 on Friday, you can wonder the hall, talk to editors, and not have to compete with 57 gajillion screaming fans.
Or - and remember I'm not advising this - you can totally sleep in till noon, play your vintage Super Nintendo for a few hours, and then roll into the convention at 4!
See, I live in New York, which makes the con extremely convenient for me, but it also allows me to be a lot lazier than I might otherwise be.
In my defense, I'd been up really late the night before. Bullet points don't just plan themselves!
Anyway, I got to the convention around 4, where I quickly discovered that Dark Horse had not left a badge for me as planned. Or maybe they did, and the convention staff misplaced it.
Either way, it wasn't that big of a deal. I just showed them a copy of the ArchEnemies trade (on sale now!), and they got me straightened out real quick.
You heard it hear first folks: Can't afford a weekend pass? Buy a copy of the ArchEnemies trade (on sale now!) instead.
Once I was inside the convention hall, I took some time to get the lay of the land. The space for this year's con was bigger than last years by a healthy margin, and Artist's Alley was separated out onto its own floor. Not ideal, but you could tell they were doing their best to avoid the kind of overcrowding that forced them to briefly shut down last year's con.
I got a chance to talk to Necromancer scribe Josh Ortega in Artist's Alley and Dan Slott at the Marvel booth. Dan gave me some really helpful feedback on the first ArchEnemies trade (on sale now!) and coached me on how to pronounce Mark Paniccia's last name, should I run into him.
I didn't, but I did run into Scott Adsit of 30 Rock and Moral Orel fame. He was just there as a fan, but I felt an obligation to stop him and tell him how much I was digging 30 Rock. We talked for a few minutes, and I totally convinced him to pick up a copy of the ArchEnemies trade (on sale now!).
At 6 o'clock, I met up with ArchEnemies SuperstarsTM Yvel Guichet, Joe Rubinstein, and Jim "Kep!" Keplinger for the official NYCC ArchEnemies signing. Attendance was light, but we moved some trades.
(If you haven't heard, we had them on sale.)
Yvel and I talked about doing another non-ArchEnemies project together. Yvel's request: The hypothetical project should include science-fiction elements or comedy or horror. I promised him all three!
After the signing, Scryptic StalwartTM Jeff Stevenson introduced me to Gail Simone and her husband, who are awesome. I also got a three second introduction to Sean McKeever, who is awesome-but-blurry.
Jeff, Kep, and I met up with Golden Goat GuruTM Ray Dillon and some of the Digital Webbing guys for dinner. Kep did magic while we waited for stragglers. We ate at a crowded little diner where we talked comics and sketched monsters in a little notebook.
About halfway through the meal, some of the guys left to go watch some guy pick a fight with Gary Coleman at a TGIFridays across the street.
Around midnight I made it to a bar on the Lower East Side where the Dark Horse crew was having a shindig. Got to meet Arvid Nelson, who writes Rex Mundi, and hang out with a bunch of my Dark Horse sales & marketing peeps.
Got home around 3:30 in the morning and, for some reason, thought it was a good idea to hang out with my roommates till around 6 or 6:30.
DAY TWO
Woke up around 8 am with a mild, throbbing headache. That's right. I went to bed a little after 6, and I woke up less than 2 hours later.
This is what having a day job does to you.
I took some aspirin, vowed not to drink again that night, and went back to playing on my Super Nintendo.
Rolled into the convention around 2, with goals as follows:
- find Mark Panicca for reason forementioned
- talk to editors at some of the indie publishers
- go to some kickass parties that night
- not let the parties kick my ass
When I stopped off at the Dark Horse booth, my inside source let me know that Dark Horse Prez Mike Richardson would be flying in for the con on Sunday. Mike is an understandably hard guy to book time with, so I set a secondary stalker goal for Sunday:
- get five minutes with Mike
But I'm gettin ahead of myself.
No Mark Panicca on Saturday, and the stars didn't really align to talk to any indie editors. The main obstacle: After never even opening my bag on Friday, I'd decided to leave it at home on Saturday. No bag meant no AE trades to pass along as samples.
Oh well, I thought. I can always get to that tomorrow.
All was not lost though. I did get a chance to catch up with Scryptic StalwartTM M. Sean McManus, TMNT artist and former High School co-worker Scott Cohn, new Nightwing artist Jamal Igle, and a few other creators.
Kep and I went to a Jim Steranko panel where (a) I realized that Steranko is crazy and (b) I was so tired that I nearly fell asleep. But I didn't fall asleep, because, I repeat, (a) Steranko is crazy.
Caught dinner with Jeff and Kep, where we talked about all the comics we pitched (or almost pitched) to Marvel's aborted Epic line way back in 2003. As some of you may know, the first completed draft of the ArchEnemies #1 script was written as an Epic pitch, complete with established Marvel characters. Jeff and Kep had come up with some great ideas too, which will hopefully someday see print in other forms.
I stopped by the Silent Devil/Xenescope party, but couldn't find anyone I knew. McManus swears he was there, but how can you trust a guy who writes for a company called "Silent Devil"?
So I skipped out and headed to the "not officially sponsored by Marvel" party. I've been to a bunch of these "nosbM" parties over the years, so I actually know some people when I go. Which is great, because I suck at introducing myself and making small talk.
But meet people I did, including Write Now! editor Danny Fingeroth, Kabuki artist David Mack, and Marvel editor Mark Panicca Bill Rosemann. Bill is a cool guy, but is not in a position to let me write all ages Fantastic Four stories.
Also ran into some of the Top Cow folks there and talked a little bit about Heroes of Tomorrow. I let them know about an artist that I've been eyeing for the book, and it turned out to be someone that they've been talking about too.
It may still be another million years till Heroes of Tomorrow hits the stand, but we continue to creep ever so incrementally forward!
I left the party around 2 and headed home. But, instead of going all the way home and going to sleep, I got talked into stopping off at a bar and hanging out with my alcoholic roommates for another three hours, while I nursed a Red Bull.
Got to bed around 5:30 and set my alarm for 9. I wanted to make sure that I got up early to maximize my chances of catching Mark Panicca and Mike Richardson on Sunday.
DAY THREE
Slept through my alarm. Woke up around 10:30, which was probably for the best. My body needed the sleep.
I took some aspirin, vowed not to drink again that night, and went back to playing on my Super Nintendo went to the convention like a good boy.
Stopped by the Marvel booth. No Mark Panicca. Which means I'll have to find another way to get a hold of him. I live in NY so it's not that big of a deal. Mostly I just wish he'd been around when I was talking to Slott, so he could vouch for me...
My Dark Horse sales & marketing peeps clued me in on when Mike Richardson would be stopping through. I killed time till then by stopping into a few panels, including Tom Breevort's super fun trivia game show event, complete with classic Marvel theme songs.
I also passed out a few copies of the trade to editors (ca-check!) and sold one to a needy fan (ca-thirteen dollars!) whose money I promptly spent on a burger (ca-burp!).
Back at the Dark Horse booth, I finally got my five minutes with Mike Richardson. We talked about [CENSORED] and [CENSORED] and a little bit about [CENSORED]. Good times!
And that was it. I made one last pass through the convention hall to say my goodbyes and headed home to lose a lot of money on the Oscars.
Stoopid Departed.
The NYCC was a lot of fun, and I think I'm going to get some work out of it too. So no complaints from me!
Could I have been even more productive if I had planned ahead more and spent less time goofing around and getting drunk? Probably.
Am I going to do things any different next time? My head says yes, but my gut says no.
I caution my audience to infer a moral from this story at their own risk.
 Drew Melbourne is the writer of this column, of Dark Horse Comics' ArchEnemies,
and of various projects upcoming. For
more about the author, visit DrewMelbourne.com.
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