Jun 25 2012

Heroes Con – Days 2 & 3

Saturday

Apparently, Stan Lee’s superpower is the ability to turn Heroes Con into a complete zoo. The convention center lobby was packed like I’d never seen it before on Saturday morning, and apparently the extra hubbub was all for “Stan The Man.” Getting Stan Lee as a Heroes Con guest was a pretty big score, but honestly y’all: what is Stan Lee going to say in 2012 that’s any different than his basic schtick of the last 30 years or so? On the other hand, it’s Stan the Man! ‘Nuff said. Anyhoo…

Despite the extra crowds–who did indeed eventually descend onto the main floor once Stan’s deal was over–the general sentiment I heard from folks was that Friday and Sunday wound up actually being busier days sales-wise than the usually-busy Saturday afternoon. My sales were certainly slower on Saturday, although a lot of that may have been due to the fact that I was really engaged in trying to knock out a piece for the Heroes Con art auction before I had to leave for my panel at 1:00. I wasn’t really presenting a very welcoming face to passers-by since I was all hunched over in “drawing mode” all day.

Heroes Con does an art auction each year to help raise money for the next year’s show and I always try to contribute something since they graciously offer me a table every year. The big sellers in the auction tend to be either cheesecake lady superheroes or pop culture stuff, so I went with the latter since my women characters always wind up looking kind of like Olive Oyl. I decided to do a recreation of the movie poster for Star Wars. I was throwing that sepia wash on there literally at two minutes to one. Here’s the finished piece:

I mentioned our “Mega Panel,” Echoes of ’82, in my pre-Heroes post, but the general idea was a look back at a few significant comics/events of ’82 (since it’s Heroes’ 30th anniversary). The panel went well overall, although it ran a bit long. Even cutting out my planned “Critic’s Favorites” talk on Pacific Presents #1, it went to a bit over two hours–which is probably a bit much. Next year, we’ll maybe trim things down a bit time-wise. That aside, the whole panel went really well and I’d have a hard time picking any particular favorite part of it. I was, though, really impressed with the thoughtful and impassioned talk that Heidi MacDonald gave on the Marvel/Kirby situation–especially since she said she put it together in her hotel room the previous night! I’d never heard Louise Simonson speak before (she was discussing Warren publishing, which closed up shop in ’82) and I was was really impressed with how well-spoken, smart, and charming she was.  Heroes Con panel organizer Andy Mansell gave a pretty fired-up talk about Master of Kung Fu. In an alternate universe, Andy is a “hellfire and brimstone” tent revival preacher.

By the time I got back to my table, the con was near closing so I didn’t take any more commissions on Saturday. My friend Jordan dropped by, though, to show off this hilarious Edith Keeler “action figure” from the old Star Trek episode, City on the Edge of Forever:

I left the convention area entirely for dinner and went out on the town with an old friend from my music-playing days in Charlotte. I’d intended to get back in time for the art auction, but alas one thing lead to another and I wound up hanging out in his back yard for a while knocking back Miller High Lifes and listening to metal. I took a cab back to the convention, by which time the auction had concluded, and talked with a few folks at the usual roaring Saturday night Westin bar party, but it was late and I was done for the night… Off to bed for me.

I heard later that my Star Wars piece sold for $400. Holy Cow!

Sunday:

Sunday got off to a pretty cruddy start: overslept, followed by a twenty minute elevator ordeal (everyone leaving simultaneously), a monster check-out line, then dropped and broke my art box, sending my drawing supplies careening all over the Westin lobby. Once I managed to actually get to my table and get some food in me, things improved, though.

Sales-wise, Sunday, which is often slow at Heroes, was really spectacular this year. I sold out of Amelia books, which (since Midnight Sun and Farewell, Georgia are out of print and I don’t have copies for sale) put me in the odd position of having no books for sale. I also sold a bunch of Animal Alphabet and AlphaBeasts originals. I’m down to maybe two animals and a dozen or so beasts.

I also got a few commissions on Sunday. Here are a couple. First is for a themed “Wolverine vs. the honey badger” sketchbook:

Also, here’s a Mad Men commission. The guy who commissioned this had me add two male figures in the background, but I think I actually like it best at this stage, with just the profile and the two women:

In addition to being Heroes Con’s 30th anniversary, it’s also Wide Awake Press’s 10th anniversary and WAP’s founder, J. Chris Campbell, gave me a “Ten Years of Pain and Suffering” anniversary calendar that has some really funny send-ups of us folks who’ve published stuff with them. Here’s a hilarious tribute/roast of me by Adam Casey:

As the show wound down on Sunday, I found time to leave my table and go buy some stuff. I bought a few minis that I haven’t unpacked yet, but I also bought a couple of really great pieces of original art. Here’s a Charles Adams-esque piece by the great Patrick Dean:

And here’s a beautiful page from Dustin Harbin’s Superior Showcase story from a few years back:

All in all, for a schmuck who’s not had a new book out in a couple of years, I had a pretty great show. A big thanks to everyone who reads my stuff and buys my comics and original art… and of course a HUGE thanks to the folks who organize and run Heroes Con! Its reputation as the funnest, friendliest, best-run convention around is well-deserved. See you next year, y’all!

Jun 23 2012

Heroes Con 2012:Day 1

As has been my tradition in the past, I’m posting a late-night Heroes Con round-up before hitting the sack. As has also been my tradition, It’s gonna be short and pretty sloppy. Here goes:

After dragging myself out of bed at an hour unseemly for any true gentleman, I hit the road for Greensboro where I rendezvoused with my pal Rob Ullman and then packed up and motorvated Charlotte-way. Rob skipped Heroes last year–some lame thing about “having a baby” or whatever–so it was great to catch up on comics on the way down. Wait… did I say “catch up on comics”? I meant to say “talk about our kids non-stop!”

Load-in and set-up was, as usual, pretty smooth. Heroes’ reputation for being one of the best run shows around isn’t undeserved. Despite what I thought was a thorough check of people I knew seated near me for my previous blog post, I apparently totally missed that I was seated next to Christian Sager this year. Nearby were also Heroes “regulars” such as Brad McGinty, J. Chris Campbell, Patrick Dean, Josh Latta, etc. A raucous time was had by all.

Confirmed by chit-chat at the various post-con watering holes, the floor seemed unusually busy today for a Heroes Friday. Most folks chalked the extra draw up to the presence of Stan Lee at this year’s show. I didn’t expect to do much book-selling this year, given that I’ve not had a new book out in a while. Since it’s Heroes, though–easily the most original-art-centered comics event around–I kept pretty busy doing commissioned sketches. I forgot to take a pic of at least one, but here’re a few I snap pics of:

Inside jacket sketch in Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean

X-Men sketch cover drawing of 80s-era “Mohawk” Storm

Commander Davidson Bulloch from Oyster War

Mysterious Fanboy from the Paul Pope issue of X-Statix

It was great to meet/re-meet and talk to a ton of folks on the convention floor–particularly a number of people that I routinely yak with on Twitter but rarely get a chance to speak with in person. After the con, and after a quick dinner, I stopped by the benefit Drink-n-Draw at Fuel Pizza across the street. Having just come from dinner, I didn’t have my drawing stuff with me, but the place was so packed with people drawing that I didn’t feel too bad about it.

I spent the rest of the evening rotating between the Drink-n-Draw, the Westin bar, and “McGintyFest,” an event that was intended to be a venue for screening some of animator/cartoonist Brad McGinty’s animation, but consisted mainly of people playing Guitar Hero on a projection TV and/or hilarious “dramatic readings” of terrible comic book dialog.

As first days of Heroes con, this one was pretty damn good. See you tomorrow, folks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jun 18 2012

Heroes Con 2012!

“Heroes Caaaaaaahhhhhnnnnn!”

Heroes Con ’12 is right around the corner, so here’s some basic info on what’s going on vis-à-vis yours truly:

Where Will I Be?

I’ll be seated in “Indie Island” at table AA-544. Here’s a quick map of the 500 section of Indie Island with my table marked, as well as the tables of some of the Heroes Con “regulars” that I’m pals with. (There are plenty of other great people nearby as well–I just don’t know them personally!):

The 400 section of Indie Island has some pretty great folks also, but rather than reinventing the wheel, I’ll just direct you to Chris Schweizer‘s dubiously-named “Best Block” map (how it could be the “best” without me escapes me):

What Comics Will I Be Selling?

Well, this will be yet another year where I’m wracked with guilt for having pretty much nothing new to show for myself comics-wise from the past year. I’ve been spending the bulk of my time working on regular updates to Oyster War and doing the various weekly “Alpha” projects (and teaching at SCAD, and doing freelance work, and taking care of my four year-old daughter, yadda yadda yadda…).

Of my older stuff, Midnight Sun is apparently out of print, so I won’t have any copies of that. I believe I have a very few copies remaining of my first book, Farewell, Georgia, though. And, of course, I’ll have plenty of copies of Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I’ll have a few copies of Strikes, the minicomic written by Bret Parks that I illustrated. They’re $3.00 each.

How About Original Art?

Yes, I’ll have a lot of original art for sale. I should have pages available from pretty much all my books, plus assorted pages from anthology pieces, freelance illustrations, etc. I generally sell my originals at conventions for less than I do online since I don’t have to fool with postage, packing, and mailing. If you’re interested in one of my original pages, Heroes is a great place to pick one up! If you have a particular page you’re interested in, please email me beforehand–even if it’s just one you want to take a peek at for fun.

I’ll also have original drawings and paintings from some of the past “Alpha” projects. I usually round these down to $10.00 so I don’t have to deal with making change. My supplies of AnimalAlphabet watercolors are dwindling, but I’ve got a fair number of Dungeons and Dragons AlphaBeasts originals available. I predict they’ll go quickly, though; I’m selling these originals for less than a lot of folks sell prints.

Am I Doing Commissions/Sketchbook Drawings?

Yes! I’m not, though, taking commission requests to be picked up at the show. I’m just too bogged down with prepping for the show right now. Definitely do, though, come talk to me at my table if you want to commission something at the show. If it’s something big or elaborate, I’ll likely want to do it after the show and mail it to you, but I’ll do smaller commissions at the show. If you have something very specific in mind, please remember to bring reference.

My most popular commissions are these little superhero pinups that I do for $10. I have the old Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Who’s Who of the DC Universe on my phone, but if you want something more modern, please bring reference:

I do sketchbook drawings for about the same price–and will do them free usually if you buy a book from me.

Am I Participating In Any Panels?

I’m only doing one panel this year… but it’s our usual “mega-panel.” Here’s the skinny:

Echoes of ‘82–This year, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Heroes Con, cartoonist Ben Towle and blogger Craig Fischer turn their attention to 1982, and ask: What are the comics, and comics events, from 30 years ago that continue to influence comics culture today? Ben and Craig zero in on three—Destroyer Duck #1, Love and Rockets #1, and the demise of Warren Publications early in 1982—and they’ve asked an all-star roster of creators (Jaime Hernandez, Louise Simonson) and commentators (Stergios Botzakis, Toney Frazier, Heidi MacDonald, Andrew Mansell) to join them in discussing these and other comics. We’ll also beam in some off-site commentary from Kirby experts Steve Bissette, Geoff Grogan, Charles Hatfield, John Morrow and James Sturm. With a lineup like that, how can you resist pulling on your leg warmers and joining us for the fun?

That’s held Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm in room 209. Be there!

Jun 18 2012

E is for Elric of of Melniboné

These AlphaBooks drawings are skewing far heavier toward fantasy and SF than my actual reading habits–I guess because they make more interesting subjects visually. Anyway, here’s this week’s “E” entry, from a series I read ages ago:

E is for Elric – From Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

With my last few entries, I’ve written a bit about the book the character was from and even occasionally cited some favorite passages. I haven’t got much on that front this go ’round, I’m afraid; I’ve not read the Elric series since maybe high school and I can’t really remember much about it other than just the basic premise behind the character itself. “Kept alive with drugs and magic,” etc. That’s one thing that people often seem to gloss over when doing visual interpretations of the character, actually: He’s ill, and physically frail as a result. (Moorcock originally had the character taking some sort of drug to stay alive. He later changed that to “herbs.”) I tried to keep him pretty scrawny here to reflect that.

Here’s the way Moorcock describes Elric in the first chapter of the initial book of the series:

It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone.

I’d probably have a more substantive blog post if I’d gone with my other possible “E” choice: Edgar from David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (and I’d have probably thrown in the dog, Almondine, in as well), but in the in lieu of that, here’ s Michael Moorcock’s sometime-band Hawkwind, doing their song “Eric the Enchanter” off their Elric concept album, The Chronicle of the Black Sword:

Next week: “F”…

You can find all the AlphaBooks entries to-date at the AlphaBooks tumblr: http://alphabooks.tumblr.com. You can also follow many of the entries as they’re posted in real-time by following the #AlphaBooks hashtag on Twitter on Mondays.

Jun 11 2012

D is for Danny

I’m almost a day late–my first late entry in all the alpha-series!–but, finally, here’s my “D” entry:

D is for Danny – From Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

This week was a tough choice for me character-wise, since two of my absolute favorite books have strong “D” characters. So far my roster of characters for this project is short on females, so I was thinking I’d try a drawing of Daily Alice Drinkwater from John Crowley’s Little, Big. My initial sketch of her wasn’t really promising, though, so I went with Danny from one of my other absolute favorite books, Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. (He’s just referred to as “Danny” throughout; I don’t believe a last name is ever given.)

There’s very little description in the book of Danny’s physical attributes–only, “Danny was small and dark and intent. At twenty-five his legs were bent to the exact curves of a horse’s sides.” (He’s a recently discharged WWI mule skinner.) With his pose, though, I tried to capture as best I could a bit of his character. While he’s certainly a wine-sotted slacker, he’s also the King Arthur analog in the book (more on that below), so I tried to give him a regal gait and expression.

Tortilla Flat gets a bit of a bad rap these days for its decidedly non-P.C. depiction of its Mexican-American characters, who are–shall we say–not known for their work ethic. Much as with Apu, from The Simpsons, though,  I think the larger point is that the Paisanos in the book–for all their boozing and lounging about–are ultimately portrayed very positively: in the midst of the Depression they stick together, look out for one another, and are ultimately happier and to my mind more honorable folk than the more “upstanding” white folk they likely would be compared to at the time.

(Curiously, I also read some criticism of the way the characters speak in the novel as being “inauthentic.” The book is so obviously a riff on/homage to the King Arthur fables that I’m truly stunned anyone couldn’t figure out that their “inauthentic” language is pretty much cribbed right out of the Thomas Mallory King Arthur stuff.)

The opening two paragraphs of Tortilla Flat are among my favorite introductory paragraphs of any book:

THIS is the story of Danny and of Danny’s friends and of Danny’s house. It is a story of how these three became one thing, so that in Tortilla Flat if you speak of Danny’s house you do not mean a structure of wood flaked with old whitewash, overgrown with an ancient untrimmed rose of Castile. No, when you speak of Danny’s house you are understood to mean a unit of which the parts are men, from which came sweetness and joy, philanthropy and, in the end, a mystic sorrow. For Danny’s house was not unlike the Round Table, and Danny’s friends were not unlike the knights of it. And this is the story of how that group came into being, of how it flourished and grew to be an organization beautiful and wise. This story deals with the adventuring of Danny’s friends, with the good they did, with their thoughts and their endeavors. In the end, this story tells how the talisman was lost and how the group disintegrated.

In Monterey, that old city on the coast of California,these things are well known, and they are repeated and sometimes elaborated. It is well that this cycle be put down on paper so that in a future time scholars, hearing the legends, may not say as they say of Arthur and of Roland and of Robin Hood “There was no Danny nor any group of Danny’s friends, nor any house. Danny is a nature god and his friends primitive symbols of the wind, the sky, the sun.” This history is designed now and ever to keep the sneers from the lips of sour scholars.

Next week: “E”…

You can find all the AlphaBooks entries to-date at the AlphaBooks tumblr: http://alphabooks.tumblr.com. You can also follow many of the entries as they’re posted in real-time by following the #AlphaBooks hashtag on Twitter on Mondays.