COMIC-CON MEMORIES

Okay, so these are long overdue and in retrospect not even all that interesting... this year's convention wound up being an odd affair (for reasons that will be apparent if you keep reading). I had a good time, but not nearly as much as I used to.
I got worn out really quickly and - pretty much from day one - found myself wanting to be back home with Leigh and Otto. MOST of my time there was spent doing work-related stuff... and when I wasn't engulfed in career stuff, I was drowning in the crowd. It really has just gotten way too big for my tastes.
I guess I've just kinda turned into a homebody... but - fortunately - I was there to help promote the premier of 'Yin Yang Yo!' for Disney, and when you're with 'The Mouse' it makes it really easy to navigate the rocky terrain of the comics convention. If I couldn't go in under the umbrella of 'professional', I'd never go anywhere near it.
Anyway... here are my Comic-Con 2006 sketches. They are what they are.


Just a little practical advice for future attendees...
The drive from L.A. is generally about 2 hours, and I - shockingly - made great time this year. Of course, that MAY have had something to do with the fact that I hit the road by 9AM (the convention wouldn't even be open util 6PM).
Fortunately, even though I showed up early to my hotel - which had a great view of the ocean and aircraft carriers - they let me check in early (THANK YOU, DISNEY!) and plop my stuff in my room allowing me to jam on over to the convention center a full two hours before my passes would become available. I was the first in line.


'Preview Night' was started last year as a way for professionals and the truly hardcore to show up before the rest of the mobs... but preview night was just as jammed as the regular convention.
Thank god for my PSP that's all I gotta say. I waited in line for over an hour - but I had "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" to keep me company.
Usually you can count on people in the 'professionals' lines to be a little less weird and a little more civilized than the comics fans themselves, and yet there was some gray-haired older dude screeching and stamping his feet with rage like a friggin' crybaby because he had to stand in line.
I mean, I'm as annoyed by lines and waiting as much as the next guy, but c'mon... this was a grown man - presumably a professional - and he was literally throwing a temper tantrum.
By the time I got back to my hotel (which was ridiculously far from the convention - THANKS, DISNEY! - I was sweaty, exhausted, smelly and starved.
Fortunately, Leigh's care package kept me energized (and fat).


I always bump into Louie and Julie DelCarmen at Comic Con (see his site - Random Anomalies - for a much better post-con wrapup). This time it was easy, though, 'cause Louie had not one but TWO books for sale at his very own booth. I did this superfast sketch of he and Julie as they sat at their table. Both of Louie's books are brilliant. Buy them by the gross.
Louie's new book was the only thing I purchased on my first day at the convention. This was a precursor to what would be a slim buying year for me.


I use the name 'Chris' because I'm not sure if he'd want me to use his real name... anyway, for those of you who know me, it's probably not who you think it is.
Anyway...
'Chris' passed on some very upsetting information to me. I don't go into details, but it was just another reason this year's convention was an emotional roller-coaster ride.

HEY BIG SPENDER!
Yep... that's me...
Most of what tickled my fancy this year came in the form of dollar-bin stuff like this... but I gotta say, I feel like I struck gold. The 'Super Goof' comic was honestly a very charming read (and NOT in an ironic way... IRONY CAN KISS MY ASS!!! I'M SICK OF IRONY!!!)... the 'Seymore My Son' - which was really just a lot of haiku-like stories about a father with a teenage son with lots of kinda lame, typical "Oh-These-Kids-Today"-style jokes - had the appeal of obviously being illustrated by Dan DeCarlo - one of my favorite comic book artists (best known for his work on 'Archie' books)... and 'The Witching Hour' was typically weird 70's fare, but I remember being scared to death of the covers of these books when I was a little kid, so it was fun to read this now that I'm all old and cynical and stuff. The psuedo-perverted cover was a fun find as well. And, hey, it was a buck.
The fact that this year I probably spent about a total of twenty-five ACTUAL dollars on ACTUAL comics (I usually spend over a grand) at the convention is a sign of how disappointed I was with it.
I usually drop the majority on my dough in 'artists alley' (mostly handmade mini-comics) and the small-press area... but this year - I dunno - it was just a lot of 'sameness' in both places.
It's not that there wasn't anything 'good'... there was... but there were no real 'must haves' (apart from Louie's books). Does anyone think about - I dunno - entertaining their audience any more? I mean, I'm all for 'Art for Art's sake', but if you really want my money, I'm sorry... call me another dumb, fat, American slob... but I like my comics to be entertaining.
That doesn't mean they have to be 'commercially entertaining', but gimme SOMETHING to latch onto.
It seemed as though all of the small press and independant stuff was either so UTTERLY void of originality (how many more superhero parodies can there be?) or so UTTERLY inaccessibly abstract (I guess the ravens symbolize your inner pain... or they're easy to draw...?) or UTTERLY without content at all (okay, enough sketchbooks filled with your lifedrawings from your first year at art school) that I just found myself saying "I don't need this" a lot.


Yep... this was how day 3 began. Kinda put everything in perspective and suddenly Comic-Con seemed even MORE silly than it usually does.
I couldn't possibly have made it home in time for the funeral, which just frustrated me... I wasn't particularly close to my grandma, but I wanted to be there for my dad.


This was the view of dudes I ate dinner with that night. This was my first real day of doing lots of promo stuff for YYY, so I was dressed semi-formally and, of course, decked out entirely in black... so I was a sticky, sweaty mess by this time.
The food at this place was great, though... it's one of those Brazillian places where they just continuously bring skewer after skewer of dead animal flesh - freshly grilled - to your table and you devour it like a carnasaur. My kinda restaurant!


This was where everything really deteriorated. These idiots showed up after I had tucked my little head into bed and was in a blissfully deep sleep (I let them all crash in my hotel because I'm just really great like that) and, naturally, their arrival meant we had to all get up and go to the hotel bar for shots and talk about 'Spider-Man'. It was great.
From here on out everything was a blur of doing autograph signings at the YYY booth and panels and screenings and meetings and interviews etc. etc. etc.
My most heartwarming thanks to everyone who came to the panel as well as everyone who stopped by the booth.


Speaking of booths, MAD props (as the kids say) to Ira, Albert and Raphael for not only selling a ton of 'Hot Mexican Love Comics' (go to www.hotmexicanlovecomics.com) but for scoring a distribution deal with Diamond Press! This means - before you know it - the anthology (with a story by me'n'Leigh) will be available across the nation and around the world!
I really must give HUGE credit to Ira who did such a bang-up job composing, editing and marketing this book.
In the photo, that's Ira and Raphael and the sad-looking dope in the back is me.


This little guy represents everything that's still good and pure about Comic-Con.