Comics212.net

SAN DIEGO!

1. I think I might have lost my cell phone… Either that or it’s with my checked luggage. Or Tom Devlin has it. Or it’s gone forever, I’ll let you know.

2. Today was much more productive than yesterday. Yesterday a combination of exhaustion, a summer cold, and drinking too much on Friday kept me away from the show the whole day. I actually have to say, I don’t feel like I missed much, actually.

3. Steven, I did not pick up those comics for you. I think I ordered them from her anyway, I’ll check when we get home.

4. I’m actually in Las Vegas, using their free Wireless Internet. God Bless Las Vegas and their free wireless internet for distracting me from worrying if I lost my cell phone.

5. The big talk Thursday and Friday was BEST SALES FOR CON EVER! Apparently, like me, a great number of people were scared away from Saturday at the show. The annecdotal discussions amongst most publishers/exhibtors I talked to seemed to indicate that Saturday was a slower sales day than Wednesday (now a full-fledged day of the show) or Thursday or Friday. Reasons for this? Well, like I mentioned, FEAR! The Saturday of the show was SOLD OUT IN AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT WAYS! That’s craziness. If you’re a fan that wants to spend money, are you gonna go on the day when it’s “the busiest”? Probably not. The other annecdotal evidence presented was that the three biggest panels of the con, the HEROES panel and… the other TV/Media ones, were all held in the same space, back-to-back. That pulls more than 5,000 people off of the show floor for three solid hours, and then those people will probably have to eat a meal. Sorta kills your sales momentum.

6. Still, in my rounds today at the show, more-or-less everyone I talked to said that the show was a sales success, and perhaps most importantly, everyone FELT really good. High spirits abounded in the small-press/indy-island, in the various comics publisher booths, and even in artist alley. Honestly and truly, I heard not even one negative feeling about the show as a whole.

7. In the San Diego Airport, Terminal 2, at La Salsa, an employee was screaming at the top of her lungs in the back room for better than 20 minutes. Screaming and crying about… something. In Spanish. She was a mess, to the point where security was called. It was really, really disconcerting. This is why I like McDonalds. At McDonalds, if an employee starts screaming and crying and freaking out? They just take’m out back and ‘solve’ them with a big long bolt to the skull, they same way they ‘solve’ the cows. It’s very efficient.

8. …which isn’t to say that everything was coming up roses. There are still huge logistical problems with the convention. The Thursday-morning check-in was apparently a free-for-all of thrown elbows and naughty words. I can’t believe those guys haven’t built a foot-traffic bridge over the train tracks. The convention centre is too small for the event. The city feels a little small for the event, now. The pretzels made me thirsty. Etc. But 100,000+ people all in one place and no one dies? V for Victory!

9. Apparently, heh, the scuttlebut is that large-scale exhibitors are being asked very nicely to scale back for 2008. Apparently booth sprawl has gotten out of hand, and in order to accomodate more attractions, exhibitors (and we’re talking the people getting more than 20×20′ spaces here) are being asked to plan for a more compact outing next time. I… can’t see this happening. Have you seen the exhibit hall? It’s all about who’s got the biggest dick (to use metaphor for a moment) and Hasbro won this year with their sprawling multi-media complex. Do you think Hasbro is seriously going to say “Oh, our biggest promotional opportunity of the year? Yeah, sure, let’s just leave Star Wars out next time. That’ll do it.” Not happening. I can’t wait to see if the Comic-Con organisers just decide that exhibitors are getting less space.

10. Chris Pitzer told me that he and Adhouse books were just… done… with San Diego. He said he was 40 and tired of sweating and lugging around boxes. This is a guy who had three outstanding debut books that all sold really well, and looked great. The show is going to be poorer for his absence, but as I’m in the midst of lugging a ton of heavy shit home with me myself, I totally understand where he’s coming from. With Mocca, APE, SPX, oh and TCAF, all much more focussed shows less interested in the established comics fan, I can see a number of legitimate art-comics publishers starting to pull back their appearances in the next couple of years… Of course… any publisher that’s trying to play the Hollywood Properties Game isn’t going anywhere.

11. Carla Speed McNeil brought up an interesting point at the end of the show–What’s going to happen to the Cold Cut sponsored Indy Island next year? This is the first year I can remember where Cold Cut was sponsoring the space and providing some sales assistance, it looked like, but they weren’t actually selling any of their own stock. With their future currently undecided, and with the rumoured… disappearance… of Artist’s Alley next year, the landscape of the show could be considerably different next year.

12. Oh yeah, I heard several people saying that there won’t be an Artist Alley next year. No official corroboration though. Tom? Dirk? Heidi?

13. Speaking of which, I didn’t see Tom or Heidi.

14. I did see a lot of hot guys though.

15. Heh.

16. Now, here is some special guest blogging from Peter Birkemoe, my boss and the owner of The Beguiling, while I go to the washroom. Take it away, Peter:

Now that I have hit the ten show milestone, I too am ready to stop coming to comicon.  How does Chris convince me to come back each year?  He reminds me how happy the artists we represent [for original art sales] are when they get cheques in the months after comicon.  We sold almost no art Thursday or Friday, and it looked as if he would not be able to convince me for 2008.  Saturday, however, Paul Pope laid some trully amazing pieces on us, something for most budgets too, and we were visited by one of our best regular customers (She not only likes the artists we do, and have chosen to represent, but she always picks the pieces that I am thinking about keeping for myself, thus making me money and saving me money at the same time, gotta love her!) 

After this, I was able to be much more enthusiastic about the show, and throw more energy into upselling those people who came to the D&Q booth [our wonderful hosts] and tried to get away with buying only one book.  Jamie, Rebecca and Tom weren’t able to sell down to a bare table this year, but they did a pretty fantastic job. 

Being able to be behind their booth makes all the difference at the show for me.  Even though I’m still on my feet all day, that sense of personal space, however illusory, not to mention a place to put down the stuff we are buying for the shop,  preserves my sanity.  I can’t imagine navigating those aisles all day.

The weather in San Diego is beautiful, but the convention centre, particularly before it opens and is filled with radiant nerd joules, is like a meat-locker.  This does however,  let you keep yoghurt in the booth for the weekend without any risk of spoilage. 

The costumes are always good for a cheap shot at fandom, but I’ve never brought a camera.  This year, the saddest thing I witnessed, was the middle-aged tank girl — somehow even if it wan’t as disturbing any of the age/body inappropriate wonderwoman/harley-quinn costumes, it feels, that if I had any ‘punk’ in me, I would be crushed.

17. Peter asked me what the saddest costume I saw was, and I was gonna say those dudes Cosplaying as their online video game characters (they just seemed so lonely) but actually? I didn’t really see a lot of costumes this year, so I had no complaints. It takes something truly heinous to really shake me now, having done so many shows, and luckily I didn’t see anything that bad this year. LUCKILY. I’m sure middle-aged Tank Girl would have upset me too.

They’re calling our flight now, so I’m gonna have to say goodbye to their lovely, lovely free internet. I’ll blog next time I can form a coherent sentence.

Best,

– Christopher

 

Man, Joel Plaskett’s NOWHERE WITH YOU is fantastic, isn’t it? I mean, this isn’t a new development, but, damn, It’s perfect blogging music. Heh. Maybe that explains my blog more than anything?

I’m going to be in San Diego for the big show this week. I don’t think I ever actually mentioned that? At least I was talking to a few people today who were kind of surprised that I would be there. Hey, between you and me, I wasn’t legal to fly into the country until this morning at 10am when I picked up my passport for the first time. But I’ll be there, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll have those two postcards I previewed a few posts back, and will be dispersing them amongst TCAF attendees and they’ll be dispersing them from there… Other than that, no plans except for meetings, schmoozing, and putting in a few hours on the day job selling original art for The Beguiling. Oo, speaking of which, I’m gonna run some PR at the end of this message. Apologies. 🙂

So, I wanted to include at least a little bit of content in this post, so I’ve come up with my Top 5 Favourite Memories of the San Diego Comic Con.

1. Being recognized from the blog. I was working for Drawn & Quarterly for a year or two at shows, before Peggy Burns and Tom Devlin and co. made me obsolete, and if you ever get a chance to work behind a booth at San Diego I recommend it. Being able to put at least 10 feet between you and every other human in the building? Not to be underestimated. Anyway, my badge said “Chris Butcher, Drawn & Quarterly” which I thought was anonymous enough (I still kept getting mistaken for Chris Oliveros though… yikes!) and I was helping a customer when they sort of did a double-take at my badge and said “Hey, do you do that blog? I love that blog!” and it was the first time a stranger had ever recognized my name. I was totally flustered (which probably doesn’t fit your mental image of me) but it was really gratifying to know that real people read what I wrote, and enjoyed it.. It only took 90,000 people for one of them to recognize me :).

2. Going “Retro” Dancing on a Saturday night before Retro was cool. The second time I went to San Diego, Chynna Clugston of Blue Monday fame had a dance party on Saturday night… in REAL San Diego. Not the San Diego where the convention centre is–the tourist area. But you know, up… North. Where people actually live. So me and Elin Winkler from Radio Comix, and maybe a friend of hers? We all piled into a taxi and went $19.00 away from the convention centre to… fuck, I have no idea. At any rate, it was a great little club, the drinks were cheap, and the music was awesome. I think Chynna regularly leads excursions on Saturdays, so if you’re cool enough, see if you can grab an invite.

3. Big Gay Dinner: The First. My friends Scott Robins, Aman Chaudhary, and myself all ended up having a sort of strange sushi dinner in San Diego, and we decided we’d make it an annual event. Being the social convenor that he is, Aman took the reigns and thus, The Big Gay Dinner is born. An off-the-record chance for gay comics fans and professionals to mix in a swanky, fabulous restaurant and lounge, the party’s a lot bigger now than I imagined it would be, but it’s always a great time. That very first one, who would have thought mediocre buffet sushi would have turned into one of the best…and most exclusive… parties in town? Always my fav event of the weekend. Drop me a line if you want an invite.

4. BUTCHERRRRRRR!!!!!: So I was a big loudmouth on The Warren Ellis Forum back in the day, and my first few Comic-Cons were spent attending WEF meet-ups and hanging with friends I’d met there. Sadly, as I got busier in the comics industry (either working for D&Q or doing Beguiling stuff or just mixing social circles) I was spending less time with truly awesome folks like Dan Evans, Charlie Chu, Han, Jason, Travis, Sam Humphries, the DeFractions, and… well, people. I felt bad, but I had like a billion different things to do and 5 days isn’t really long enough. I guess… I guess Dan felt particularly slighted, because one night a few years back, Dan sees me–big guy, red hair, freckles–walking down the street a block ahead of him. And so he calls out to me. BUTCHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! No Response. Now, I don’t know for a fact that Dan had had anything to drink that night. But he was particularly determined. BUTCHERRRRRRR!!!! only louder this time. Still no response. Did I mention that this person was not me? So Dan, thinking this is me, maybe ignoring/avoiding him? Just starts screaming BUTCHER!!!! louder and louder and following this guy. Him and a few other people. So it turns out, later in the evening, I DO catch up with Dan and those guys at a party on some hotel lawn. And Dan’s like THERE YOU ARE I WAS CALLING FOR YOU. I’m like “dude, what? No, I was off at a party [or something].” And he’s like, “No, we saw you walking down the street and now you’re saying that it wasn’t you cuz you’re embarassed.” They tell me about screaming BUTCHERRRRR!!!!!!! at some big red-headed dude. And I asked Dan “Did you notice have blonde hair this year?” because this is the San Diego where I dyed my hair blonde. We’re talking right-out-of-the-bottle. And Dan’s looking at me like… no… wait… and someone else there says something to the effect of “Oh shit, we were screaming BUTCHER!!!! at some random white guy for like 5 blocks.”

Whoever you were, I’m sorry, but at least I got a great story out of it. Dan still won’t admit it wasn’t me.

5. My first. You never forget your first. Scott Grunewald, the former editor of PopImage, booked a whole hotel for a bunch of WEFers. It was more-or-less god awful (I don’t even think it’s there any more), far away from the show, I was flat broke and a zombie for the whole trip due to some weird sleep stuff. I may owe Scottieboy for the room actuallyl. It was probably the best possible introduction to San Diego, the craziness of it all and the uncertainty and the fact that you just have to make do sometimes and relax and enjoy yourself, because I’ve had a great time at the show ever since. Thanks to Scottie for getting me there in the first place, lo those many years ago (2001- I even just found Han’s photoset from the occasion…). I hope your San Diego is as memorable.

– Christopher
P.S.: I also dyed my hair fuschia later that show. Thanks to Elin for the hair dye, and to everyone else for at least laughing behind my back.

P.P.S.: The worst time I had in San Diego was when James didn’t get me into the Dead Dog Party that all of my friends were at, and I was sad. To get back at him, I’ve never stayed over in San Diego on Sunday night since, thereby ensuring he can’t make it up to me. 

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(Press release removed due to formatting wierdness.)

Sorry for the interruption, but this is just an FYI that it looks like my old cro2@212.net e-mail address is over and done with. I had that address for like 10 years, and I’m sad to see it go. I mean, if you want to find me it’s not like it’s hard or anything, but still. Sad days.

(All the other ones still work.)

– Chris

Joe Sacco better watch his back, because Matt Groening and The Simpsons are entering the comics-journalism race. Their beat? Fashion.  In the August issue of Harper’s Bazzar magazine, Simpsons illustrator Julius Preite creates a fabulous 8-page spread that follows the new first family to Paris with former model Linda Evangelista for Paris Fashion Week.

The feature is dripping with fashionistas including Donatella Versace (who I only think of as a character played by Molly Shannon actually…) Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, and many more, all caricatured Simpsons-style.

Sure, it’s all just (incredibly clever) promotion for this summer’s The Simpsons Movie, but original content like Homer Simpson making fun of the (relatively) newly-skinny Karl Lagerfeld is the kind of advertorial content that I can get behind.

This isn’t the first time that comics and fashion have mixed, with the fashion industry having a historical relationship with illustration and the comics medium. Quite a while ago, Maurice Vellekoop did reportage from Paris Fashion Week in comics format, appearing in Time Magazine. Just recently Toronto’s own Kagan MacLeod covered Toronto Fashion Week for The National Post through comics and illustration, alongside more traditional reportage.

While I enjoy the Vuitton illo to the right, you’ve got to Gaultier with Maggie in his purse like some sort of miniature dog. Apparently chihuahua’s are so last season. This year: Babies. You can check out the entire feature at The Fashionista Blog.

– Christopher
Thanks to Nathalie for the heads-up.