BLOG

A few days ago I arrived in Seattle to attend the Emerald City convention.  Met with Dustin Nguyen and a few other friends to get a bite before turning in.  I was already tired with the time shift, but Dustin and his crew are usually low key—just my speed at these shows.  After a great dinner and two beers, we head back to our hotel—which was PACKED with other pros.

We all had that moment where we looked at each other and tried to decide whether we had the energy for another round.  It was 3am in New York, so I was ready to get some sleep.  It was hard turning Dustin down for another drink, but DAMN was I tired.  And I didn’t want to be half asleep while meeting artists I respected.

Now it’s 2am Seattle time.  I’m half asleep when Dustin comes in and lays it on me.

“You should have come down man.  People were asking about you…” Or something to that affect.

“Yeah—sorry dude.  I’m just so tired.  I’d be afraid to say the wrong thing.”

“You know I know a lot of people in comics, right?” he asks.  Now I’m starting to wake up.  I feel Dustin about to lay it on me.

“Yeah…”

“Well, they all like your stuff and want to meet you, but I got to be honest—I’m ending up defending you a lot.”

Now I’m awake.

“I know you and I know you’re passionate and really serious about this stuff, but a lot of people have the impression that you’re really negative or something.  You should try to open up a bit.”

An hour later, Dustin is asleep and I’m not.  Thanks Dustin.

But he’s right.  People are curious about artists and it’s not wise to hold onto your anonymity too tightly.  I used to write pretty vitriolic posts here on DA which brought me a bit of heat.  Not much, but enough to make me stop for the last year.  And since then I’ve done nothing.  And even though I haven’t added to the vitriol lately, those nuggets are the last things I’ve said.  So people can’t be blamed for thinking that I’m an asshole.

So I’m going to try and change that.  So here’s a play-by-play of my weekend from behind the table, in case anyone is curious:

-Get to Seattle.  First time ever.  It’s dark and I can’t see the city.  I sucks that I travel like this to shows and don’t really get to see the city.  I see the convention and people at my booth.  Then I see the hotel room and sometimes into the toilet as I hurl into it.  It’s technically Seattle, but not really.

-My friend and art dealer, Paolo, pick me, Dustin Nguyen and Peter Nguyen up at the airport with his buddy Justin.  We have five people and a ton of shit for the convention.  Justin drives a new VW bug with ZERO storage.  Somehow we stuff ourselves into the back.  Luckily Asians don’t take up much space.  The ride to the hotel is amazing.

-Go out with my friends to a bar.  I’m careful to only have two beers.  This weekend my only goal is to NOT get drunk.  We finish, go back to the hotel.  Dustin hits the bar and comes up to the room later.  Gives me the guilt trip.  The next morning I’m pensive.

-Sit at my table and set up with Dustin and Peter.  Paolo managed to get us all sitting next to each other.  Don’t ask me how he does it.

-Sitting next to me is also Chrissie Zullo—cover artist for Vertigo.  Met her once before and she’s really sweet.  Super talented.  Super nice.  And super cute.  Her mom is there as well.  I barely speak to my mother so it’d odd to see someone do that, but they’re both really cool.  If a girl’s mother is any indicator for that girl’s future appearance, then Chrissie comes from good stock.

-Start taking commissions.  I only took 10 and charged $60 each.  I know I could get more, but who cares.  I make a good living with DC and don’t need to rake my readers.  Within 2 hours I’m filled up—usually it doesn’t take that long.

-I’m in awe, once again, of Dustin and how he handles himself at his booth.  I’ve seen it before but never stop being amazed—shaking hands, meeting people, being chatty and polite and not tripping over himself.  It must take practice because I suck at it.  But Dustin is right about what he told me, so I’m gonna try and be like him.  My table is my stage, my banner is the curtain.  Let’s see how well I can perform for the people.

-Lots of people love Joe the Barbarian.  Good.  Lots of people were confused by the story but still loved the art.  Good.  I’m glad that people can separate them because they often get mixed together.

-Tons of people wonder why the book was late.  I tell them all that it wasn’t on my end.  I try and explain that Grant’s really busy with Batman and other stuff, but the truth is that I understand their frustration.  At least now they’re not mad at me anymore.

-Mike Mignola is at my table looking at my stuff with Arcudi, the writer for BPRD.  Mike is a hero of mine so I try to contain myself.  I do pretty well, but I still slipped up when I started to point out to him the mistakes I’ve made on the pages.  He compares me to old Bachalo stuff—which means a lot.  Mike also says he likes my storytelling.  Right there my friends, is high praise from the master.

-Dinner with Paolo, Justin, Ryan Ottley and Skottie Young.  Skottie and I have a passionate debate over the nature of Podcasts.  I wish there was a podcast that had an artist at the helm—you know, someone who could get interviewees to say things a normal podcast couldn’t.  Skottie agrees and disagrees.  We have a blast talking it out over the next 90 minutes.  Skottie has a fast mind and I love talking with him, even if we don’t always agree.  Ottley and the other two get bored of us and start talking amongst themselves.

-Ottley is awesome.  I joked around with him a bit—maybe too far.  He seems super happy and untouchable when it comes to my prodding.  I hope I didn’t offend him because he really is a star to me.  Both of them.

-Chat with Chrissie a lot over the weekend.  She smiles a lot which is good because it’s contagious.  I imagine that she gets creeps coming up to her booth a lot—being a chick in the comic industry must be rough.  Her mom makes a joke about being there to protect Chrissie.  I laugh and tell them about what it’s like when I have Colleen with me (my girlfriend).  By mentioning Colleen, Chrissie will hopefully not think I’m flirting with her.  Mental note: if Chrissie is ever at a show alone, I should probably keep an eye on her in case some loser won’t leave her alone.  Then I could swoop in in a big-brother-sort-of-way.  What can I say—childish daydreams never die when you’re in comics.

-I’m late for the panel.  Again.  I missed one years ago with Bruce Jones and Dan Didio—it might have hurt my career a lot.  But things are better now.  The panel is fun but mostly people want to talk to the writers.  Chrissie, oddly enough, is sitting right next to me.

-Someone in the audience asks about what it’s like working with DC—something about DC controlling it’s artists or something.  Will Dennis shoots me a look and we both laugh.  I just had a run-in with DC’s PR over them canceling an interview I did with Newsarama.  They want me to be more positive, I would rather be honest.  I’m willing to play their game a bit, but mostly I don’t trust them.  There’s no evidence that PR involvement leads to increased sales of books.  Bam.

-Talk to a comic reporter later on at a Marvel party.  She tells me about DC’s PR listening in on a phone interview between her and a big writer.  I’m shocked.  Sounds like Big Brother.  No way I’d ever allow that.

-Dustin doesn’t know about DC’s PR people.  Why are they after me then?  And the writers I know?  Am I on some sort of list?

-Meet Jeff Lemire at the bar.  I tell him how much I admire the work he’s doing.  He’s going to run the show at DC one day—something about the way he carries himself.  We both came up around the same time—me, him and Snyder.  Luckily we’re friends.  I joke around about the three of us changing DC.  Maybe we’ll all threaten to leave or something.  I hope he knows I’m joking—I don’t want to be the Gordon Gecko of comics.  I already have the “Gordon”.

-Hang out with 2 Topcow inkers.  Bother of them are really cool and have been doing this for a while.  I’m amazed they like my stuff when we’re using such different styles.

-Meet Tony Harris.  Tony is awesome.  Tony is talented.  Tony doesn’t like being messed around with and is kind enough to swap comic book horror stories with me.  I like Tony a lot.  For some reason I kept fucking up his last name and calling him Tony Daniel.  What the hell is wrong with me?  I hope Tony knows that I like him a lot.  I tell him that if he ever needs me to go into DC and confront someone about a late check or something, he can call me.

-The next day, Chrissie asks me for a commission of X-23.  She claims that I draw the best women.  I think my women suck, but I try to make them REAL and not plastic.  I tell both Chrissie and her mom that the secret to drawing women is GETTING LAID.  Luckily, they both laugh.  Good thing, because they could have really backfired.  PR would not have approved.

-Frank Quietly came by my booth when I was walking around.  DAMN I would have liked to meet him.  But I did meet Kurt Busiek who is anxious to work together some day.  I hear that a lot from writers.  It’s great to be able to choose.  Too bad I’m writing my own stuff, but one day I’ve love to work with each of them.

-Around a dozen people ask about Punk Rock Jesus.  Some of them are Christians, some of them aren’t.  All of them are cool.  Luckily, no one wants to have a go at me.  I’ve gotten a half dozen hate-emails from Christians over PRJ recently.  More to come probably.  But I think I can handle it.

-William Riker is at the show.  I miss an opportunity to geek out over him and Spiner, but oh well.  Turns out he was on my plane!  I hate flying.  But knowing a capable First Officer was on board helped me rest easier.

-Get home, nap, play with the dogs, and write this journal.  Time to post.  Dustin did the right thing.