Wizard World Dallas, Day Two
Second day, better than the first.
When I did Raider, a lot of people liked the story, but the art didn’t make much of an impact. That’s fine. Ever since my days at Kubert, I’ve known that on the baseball team of art, I’m a solid utility infielder.
But that changed when I did Love and Capes. I found a style that was more in my wheelhouse, to stretch the baseball metaphor, and people started to really notice. People have compared me to TyTemplton, Bruce Timm, and Darwyn Cooke. I’m nowhere near that good, but it’s nice to be mentioned in the same paragraph as them.
At conventions, people go around getting sketches and commissions from artists. Now, at WizardWorld Texas, I’ve become one of those artists. People are actually buying artwork from me, and that’s just so cool. Yesterday I drew Pathetic Fallacy from Fables, Ripcord from GI Joe, Firestorm (that’s what you get when you leave the choice to me), four members of the Justice League, and an slightly-inappropriate Supergirl wearing nothing but her cape and boots.
So, between the sketches and having the full six-issue set of Love and Capes done, printed and ready to sell, it’s been a very successful show.
* * * * * *
After the show, Jesse and his wife, and a couple of our friends went to dinner at a place called Babe’s. Don’t worry, it wasn’t some Texas version of Hooters, although some of the waitresses were pretty cute. It’s a fmaily style restaurant with great food. You go in and the vegetables are all you can eat. All you order is your drink and your meat.
We all had the chicken fried steak, except for Andy, who had the fried chicken, but he’s an Eagles fan, so he’s a little touched in the head anyway.
Man, Tesxas has good food. And a lot of it, usuallly all on my plate for some reason.
Afterwards, we headied to the Martini Ranch for some… surprise… martinis! I had a Wedding Cake Martini or two, a Grand French Martini (decided to try something different, and it was fine, but won’t be having it again) and finished off Linda’s Chocolate Martini since she didn’t like it. Waste not, want not, I figure.
By then, the night was over and we came home and collapsed to await Wizard World Day Three.
Wizard World Dallas, Day One
I’m out here in Dallas for Wizard World Texas. I get to spend some time with my friends Jesse and Linda, and some of their (well, now our) friends.So the show is always a good time, regardless of the convention itself.
Fortunately, the show was very good today.
First story. A couple (boyfriend and girlfriend, man and wife, I’m not sure) came over to the booth and we started chatting. She didn’t have that far off stare that some comic-book widows seem to get, so I figured her for a reader. She bought a copy of Love and Capes #1 and asked if I’d be there all weekend so she could pick up the rest. I assured her I was, and that I’d even give her the six-pack deal if she came back.
What surprised me is that as we left, her boyfriend turned to us and mouthed “Thank you!” to Jesse and me. It was obvious that she didn’t read comics, and that it was a huge deal that she actually bought a comic. We’ll see if she comes back tomorrow.
Second story. Much shorter. Someone comes up to the booth and says “Give me all six. I’m sick of reading them online.” That was good too.
I also got to go to the Heroes For Heroes party. It’s an organization raising money to send pop culturey things over to our troops. Books, DVDs, whatever, to help them pass the boring times (and let’s hope they have plenty of boring times). They had the party at the Diamond Club at the Ballpark at Arlington, where the Rangers play.
It was a cool venue, and cooler still was the charity auction. A dozen artists or so worked at easels making original art in front of the attendees that was later auctioned off. It was amazing to watch them work and see how they put the pieces together. It made me itch to draw, and given how much I work, causing me to feel that way is really something.
So, I sold decently and had some fun. Hopefully it’ll keep up tomorrow.
The Post I Wish I Wrote
By the time this posts, I'll be flying over the Midwest to Dallas, where I'll be at Wizard World Dallas and hangin' with my bud Jesse Jackson. No, not that one. (That never gets old.) But I caught this thanks to Kevin Melrose at Newsarama, and I think it's a great blog post o'advice to prospective artists. As I just did a Career Day at North High this morning, it kind of hit home. If you're interested in this Koo Koo Crazy Whirlygig Career of Art, it's worth checking out.
Why, Lois, Me? Superman? It Is To Laugh.
It's true, Superman did teach me the art of super-obfuscation. The years of protecting his identity have been an object lesson in how to color the truth. I particularly focus on Action Comics #457, which is one on the seminal super-liar seminars.
Thomas, the Guy in Charge of the Blog, is a very nice guy who I know through e-mail. When Safari has a number next to his RSS feed, it's always a spot of joy in my browser. He was also kind enough to say this about Love and Capes...
"It really is a great comic, fun with superheroes without having fun at their expense. And the art's just brilliant. It's like Bruce Timm, Ty Templeton's Adventures style and Tex Avery's respective works had a beautiful love child."
That made my day.
Signing Reminder
Tonight. You. Me. Bob Ingersoll. Barnes and Noble in Mentor. 7:00pm. Star Trek signing. Be there.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
Over the summer I did an illustration for Scene Magazine featuring a number of Cleveland icons including the newly-minted Iron Chef Michael Symon. Everybody else is doing Symon-based stories today, hoping to use his newfound fame to geneate a little notice for themselves. Strangely, I am no exception.
Boxing Day
I just unloaded the boxes of Love and Capes #6 from the printer. Cooler than the other side of your pillow.
So, if any of you fine journalistic folk need a review copy, let me know who you are and who you review for, and I'll try to get you one. The book should be in stores by the end of the month, so you'd get the book a little before that.
And, I just sent the print files for the Mid-Ohio-Con 2007 Program Book to the printer. Two huge things in one day. Man, that's a load or two off my mind.
And Speaking of Pants
There's a pretty substantial interview with me up on the Comic Pants website. Check it out.
And Goofing Off is Half the Battle
I should be working right now. It's one of those days where I don't feel driven to do the work I'm supposed to, so I'm playing around with something else. Hopefully it'll act as a warm-up and I'll be able to draw the three other illos on my drawing table.
The guys on the always-excellent podcast Comic Pants did a program on the GI Joe comic. I was a Joe fan in the Eighties, and have mentioned how the famous silent issue of GI Joe managed to inspire my Raider series. I haven't read the book since then, and maybe it doesn't hold up, but I think it was that perfect combination of solid writing and solid storytelling that combine to make a project stronger than the whole. And Larry Hama deserves a lot of credit for wrangling a toy franchise into a darned interesting comic book, and writing something that, while it wasn't necessarily the real military, certainly felt like it. I think the big words crowd would call it verisimilitude.
My favorite character of the original set was Flash, the Laser Rifle Trooper. I dressed as him for Halloween one year, my Dad making a kick-butt costume, including a laser rifle that lit up. So, I decided to try another all-digital piece featuring Sgt. Anthony S. Gambello, and yes, I had to look that up.
And, if you get the chance, take their geektastic GI Joe Mission Challenge, where you get the opportunity to send a team of Joes to attack Cobra. Yo Joe!
Our Revels Now Are Begun!
It's time for my hand, an actual printed copy of Love and Capes #6 straight from the printer, Booster Gold and Skeets, and yet another Mocha of Victory! The books look good, I'll be taking possession of the bulk of them on Monday and they'll be shipping soon. But for now, let's revel in my done-itude! Revel I say!