Brian K. Vaughan Discusses Acme Novelty Library Cameo
Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald points us to a recent entry in Brian K. Vaughan’s blog in which the writer explains his cameo (playing himself) in Chris Ware’s Acme Novelty Library 18. Vaughan explains that the appearance wasn’t the result of any friendly arrangement, but rather a contest that he had entered and won. The Lost scribe goes on to explain that he hopes his appearance won’t bring down the overall quality of the project.
"Thankfully, it’s a small moment, but an unbelievably huge honor for this fanboy. I won’t tell you how and when I show up–not that you should be purchasing this modern classic to play Where’s Waldo? with my slaphead–but I will say that, even though I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting the author, the line of dialogue he gave me perfectly captures the way I haplessly fumble to articulate my feelings about true art, which is exactly how I feel whenever I try to describe my love for Acme Novelty Library."
We do this at SF conventions frequently. An author will donate an appearance in a book to an auction and the person who wins it gets a line or a minor part, or even a death in the author's next book.SF authors sometimes include their friends (or enemies) in books anyway. A character based loosely on me is in one of Allen M. Steele's books and she unravels the evil conspiracy by doing something I did in real life.