Each year Unshaven Comics has been around, we’ve declared a goal to meet. At first, the goal was simple: make a comic, and sell it at “the con”. Done. The following year? “Sell more books than we did last year.” Checkity-Check. To be fair, this has remained a sub-goal every year thereafter. In 2013, our goal was to attend literally as many conventions as we could possibly get into, and sell as much merchandise so-as to afford a trip to the glorious Valhalla of conventions, San Diego Comic-Con. Suffice to say, had we emptied out all our coffers? We would have succeeded. But, spoiler alert: We didn’t get accepted as artists for the alley at SDCC. So, we’ve wiped the tears away, and looked towards 2014. As suggested to me by Joe Olmsted, who I’ll actually talk about here in a just a bit, I’d like to share with you the conventions Unshaven Comics will be attending this year… and why we chose them.
This is the time of year when the ComicMix crew starts to firm up our attendance at various comic conventions in the year ahead. It’s a frustrating process because there are a lot of shows and we can’t go to all the ones we’d like to attend.
It also makes me really angry.
Last year was the first in a long time that I went to a bunch of cons. It was fascinating and fun most of the time, but annoying at others. Twenty years after we started Friends of Lulu, there are still remarkably few women invited to be guests at the shows.
This is odd, because there are a lot of women working in the industry, and (capitalists take note) even more buying comics and tickets to cons. Wouldn’t show organizers like to demonstrate to this market segment that they are welcome and valued?
I, for one, am sick of complaining about it. I’ve decided to do something.
I want to use my position as a busy body on this website to point out conventions that don’t have many women on their guest list. For example, Emerald City Con, which I’ve always wanted to go to and sounds amazing has, on their website, a list of 235 guests, of which 20, I think, are women (I qualify that because there are some names that could be appropriate for any gender).
Here’s another example. Heroes Con, which is one of my favorites, has 48 announced guests, and only four are women.
The Asbury Park Conhas announced 54 guests, and three are women. No women listed on any panels currently scheduled.
A press release I received today from Baltimore Comic-Con said, “This year’s previously confirmed guests for the show include: Marty Baumann (Pixar artist); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Dave Bullock (Batman Black and White); Greg Capullo (Batman); Bernard Chang (Green Lantern Corps); Sean Chen (Amazing Spider-Man); Jimmy Cheung (Infinity); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (X-Men: Battle of the Atom); Richard Clark (House of Gold & Bones); Steve Conley (Bloop); Alan Davis (Wolverine); Tommy Lee Edwards (Suicide Risk); Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys); David Finch (Forever Evil); Bryan JL Glass (Mice Templar); Michael Golden (The Ravagers); Cully Hamner (Animal Man); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Adam Hughes (Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan); JG Jones (Green Lantern Corps, Batman Black and White); Justin Jordan (Luther Strode, Green Lantern: New Guardians); Barry Kitson (Empire); David Mack (Shadowman); Kevin Maguire (Guardians of the Galaxy); Ron Marz (Witchblade); Bob McLeod (X-Men: Gold); Tradd Moore (Deadpool Annual); Mark Morales (New Avengers); Dan Parent (Archie, Veronica, Kevin Keller); David Peterson (Mouse Guard); Eric Powell (The Goon); Joe Prado (Justice League); Brian Pulido (Lady Death); Ivan Reis (Aquaman and The Others); Budd Root (Cavewoman); Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man); Andy Smith (Superman #23.1: Bizarro); John K. Snyder III (Zorro Rides Again); Allison Sohn (sketch card artist); Charles Soule (Thunderbolts); Ben Templesmith (The Memory Collectors); Peter Tomasi (Batman and Two-Face); Herb Trimpe (GI Joe: A Real American Hero); Billy Tucci (Shi); Rick Veitch (Saga of the Swamp Thing); Matt Wagner (Grendel); Mark Waid (Daredevil); Bill Willingham (Fables); Renee Witterstaetter (Joe Jusko: Maelstrom); and Thom Zahler (My Little Pony).”
As you can see, that is two women.
There can be a lot of reasons for this. Sometimes, publishers promote their “hot” talent for guest spots. Sometimes, the people planning the show want a particular kind of fan to attend, and that kind of fan has testicles.
However, when there are no women on the guest list, not only does it send the false message that women haven’t achieved prominence in our corner of the entertainment industry, it also reduces the number of women on panels, taking part in our public conversations.
So I’d like to keep track of who is being welcoming to women, and who isn’t. I would also be delighted to report on who is being welcome to other groups who are under-represented, such as people of color and LGBTQ folks. It would be my honor to be your ally.
I’m not asking for a quota at shows. I want to see more women, but I don’t have a number in mind. I’m not making any demands. I’m simply reporting facts, gathered from promotional material (including websites) created by the shows’ promoters.
It is my opinion that if there are more women welcomed as guests at these shows, there will be fewer incidents such as this. As I said in a previous column, “It would be easier for women to be taken seriously by convention goers if they were taken seriously by convention planners. I don’t think we should sit back and wait for others to fix the problem. I think we need to fix it ourselves. Every time we see bad behavior, we should say something, loudly. Every time a convention or industry event ignores women, we should ridicule them for their lack of knowledge about our industry and its future.”
So while I’m trying to keep track of how many women are treated as professionals at shows, I’d also like to also offer my mailbox (martha@comicmix.com) as a place where women can share their unpleasant experiences with disrespectful men and boys at the same shows. With their permission, I’d like to ask show promoters to explain how such things can happen under their auspices. If my editor and I think there is a story, we’ll run it.
All e-mails sent to me will be considered to be “on the record” unless there is a compelling reason to keep it confidential. This means that if, instead of keeping to the spirit of this conversation, you hurl gratuitous insults or threat me, I’ll make it public (including taking it to the authorities if I feel threatened).
Let’s stand up for ourselves and let our voices be heard. The people, united, can never be defeated.
SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman
SUNDAY: John Ostrander
MONDAY: Mindy Newell
A WEEK FROM THIS AFTERNOON: Oh, that would be telling…
I’ve been going to big-time national comic book conventions for 45 years. This amazes me because I can’t imagine doing anything for 45 years. I’ve got a very short attention span.
The first major shows were run here in New York by Phil Seuling, and they were wonderful. Just about everybody in the industry was there, surrounded by more fans than anybody thought existed. In 1968, attendance was around 300 people – 300 fanboys, virtually all fan boys, virtually all asking themselves the same question: “You mean, there are 299 others who are just like me?”
The following year, Seuling’s comic con grew to over a thousand, and many think twice that. Attendance continued to grow like Hank Pym on crack. Conventions proliferated to the point where, perhaps a decade ago, they started attracting extremely serious “support” from the sundry media industries and running a comic con became big-time business.
So this past weekend, 45 years and three months after Phil’s first, we had the New York Comic Con. Numbers are all over the place, but the show sold out some time ago. Evidently, some 135,000 people showed up – if true (and we’re not counting guests, pros, speakers, and press), then the New York Comic Con attracted a larger audience than the San Diego Comic Con, but, to be fair, both are severely limited by a lack of floor space and a lack of navigable aisles.
That’s not all NYCC has in common with SDCC. If you want to buy a Chevy, you could do it on the convention floor. If you want to insure your new car with Geico, you could do that as well. If you want to find out if you’ll get a parking space anywhere near the convention center the next day, there was a psychic there who might advise you accordingly.
Whereas NYCC had an enormous amount of media attractions and booths and panels, SDCC still has more because, essentially, Hollywood moves down to the border during Con week. Nonetheless, it is clear that NYCC shares at least two things with SDCC.
The first is that the aisles are clogged worse than Chris Christie’s arteries. If you’re trying to go from aisle 100 – where the ComicMix booth lived – to Artist’s Alley, it was a 20-minute walk, with the wind. If the Javits had decent taxi service, I would have considered using it. 135,000 people in the building built to comfortably house half that many at best means “you can’t get there from here.” There are lots of friends I wanted to see but couldn’t get to without borrowing vines from Tarzan.
The second is that neither show has all that much to do with comic books. NYCC still beats SDCC on that front, but only by a very narrow margin. It’s an autograph show, it’s a media frenzy, it’s a celebrity clusterfuck.
I believe I went to six major shows this year. Of those, I personally enjoyed only three, and those are the three I always enjoy. The MoCCA small-press show in Manhattan is always inspiring – it’s a two-day affair full of youth, creativity and energy, and it only requires one day of my life. The Heroes Con show in Charlotte North Carolina is truly about comic books. It’s large but it’s very well managed, and Reed Pop!, the people who put on both the NYCC and Chicago’s C2E2 (and who seem to know very little about comics and clearly care even less) should go out there and take notes.
My favorite show remains the September Baltimore Comic Con. It’s been growing steadily and attracting enough pros and decision-makers to sink the Titanic. It’s all about comics – strictly comics, to repeat myself for the sake of emphasis. The Harvey Awards dinner always is one of the highlights of my year, and it would be even if they didn’t hand out the best swag-bag that one can barely lift, let alone carry.
This year the Reed folks added something to their NYCC. They had chips on all the badges. You had to stand in line until a staffer scanned your badge with an iPad in order to verify your legitimacy. That’s annoying, but it’s even more annoying to leave the place. You had to stand in line for another chip scan in order to get out of the building. If you left at the end of the show day, it could take you a half hour to get from your last roosting place on the floor to the scanning line and then to the door.
I don’t know what would happen if your badge came up invalid when you were leaving. What would they do? Throw you out?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love going to cons that also put a lot of focus on media guests. As you can tell if you’ve read my column, I have a great time attending panels about Battlestar Galactica or Warehouse 13, or interviewing the cast of Psych, the cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (coming soon!), or the voice actors behind Animaniacs or Futurama. But sometimes, it’s nice to go to a comic con that’s still all about the comics – and that’s Baltimore Comic Con.
At Baltimore Comic Con last weekend, I did one of my favorite things to do at a comic con – which is to simply wander Artists Alley for much of the weekend, looking at everyone’s art and comics offerings, saying hi to some brilliant friends, and meeting some new comics folks. I got to catch up with the awesomely talented Bill Willingham, Barry Kitson, Francesco Francavilla, Tom Feister, Cully Hamner, and more. I met a guy named Dave McDonald, who does a cute children’s comic and made a Lunar Dust Bunny puppet to go with it. (Come on, how cute is that? So cute.) I chatted with Matt Sturges, a kindred spirit and fellow TV Tropes addict. I also finally met fellow ComicMixer Martha Thomases and got to catch up with the other ComicMix folks and the Unshaven Comics group, which is always nice.
And then there was the shopping. Ohhhhh, the shopping. Every comic/genre con has a Dealers Room or area, and I always enjoy looking around them when I get a chance; but at a lot of cons, there’s so much going on that I sometimes miss the Dealers Room entirely. In Baltimore, though, I had the time and energy to wander through the wares, and thus came up with some awesome finds, like this little Donatello that I’d been wanting ever since Rob Paulsen (voice of Donatello on the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) tweeted a picture of it. And then there was the My Little Pony Applejack purse (complete with pony!) which was adorable in its own right, but even better since I’d forgotten a purse to go with my red dress for the Harvey Awards. Not only did I luck out in finding a geek purse that matched at the last minute, but then it just so happened that Thom Zahler, who’s recently done some MLP issues, was nearby, so of course I ran on over and got it signed. And then off I went to the Harveys!
Baltimore Comic Con is a great home for the Harvey Awards, which honor “excellence in the comics industry.” Sure, the awards ceremony can get a bit long (I think several babies were conceived and born during this year’s), but I tend not to mind, because I actually thoroughly enjoy seeing creators who have produced awesome comics getting their moment in the sun. (And I enjoy the swag bag. And the tasty desserts. And, of course, I really thoroughly enjoy the pre-and after-partying.) I also enjoy the MCs, who have included folks like the hilarious and geeky Phil LaMarr, and, this year, the super-talented Bill Willingham. Bill did a great job discussing the history of pictorial storytelling from cave paintings to now and reminding us that “We in the comic book industry have to content ourselves with being the stones upon which all of civilization was built.”
Amen to that! He’s so right, and there are so many great comics out there; and that’s why I like going to Baltimore Comic Con, a con that’s big enough to attract excellent comics guests, relaxed enough to still feel friendly and a bit familial, and wise enough to really celebrate the comics that are the cornerstone of so many things we enjoy.
Baltimore Comic Con has already got their dates set for next year (September 5 through 7), so if you’re looking for a good comic con to go to, I recommend putting it on your calendar; and until next time, Servo Lectio!
This past weekend, the Unshaven Comics crew split our duties (heh heh). Kyle traveled to Cincinnati, where he single handedly crushed records, and declared himself Lord of the Sale. Matt and I (along with our pretty, and amazing, and totally-not-looking-over-my-shoulder-as-I-write-this wives) returned to Charm City for the Baltimore Comic Con. Again we took in the sites, the fine food, and the amazing fans. But of all the new memories made on this sojourn across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland… it was the impromptu brainstorming session that will stick out as the best part of the trip.
As our wives listened to their iPods, or slept, Matt and I did what we always do. We talked extensively about the Bears, about toys, about movies we loved… and then we started brainstorming about The Samurnauts. I know, I know. I talk about them a lot. But you know what? I love my creations with Unshaven Comics. One of the honest-to-Rao best moments of my weekend was hearing Mike Gold say to another publisher “I really love what those guys (Unshaven) are doing.” And the best part? I didn’t even have to bribe Mike to say it. I know as we’re all “co-workers” or whatever here on ComicMix, but facts are facts. Mike Gold’s résumé in comics,= and his discerning tastes are that of legend. And to be given a nod of approval from an editor like that? Well, it made my beard tingle. But I digress.
So, somewhere between Ohio and Pennsylvania, Matt and I turned the radio down, and started spit-balling. “You know we should do?” “What?” “Take that joke commission of Lucador Samuranuts and actually, you know, do it.” What proceeded after that, was several hundred miles worth of ideation. From a single jokey-dare to a fully fleshed out idea complete with Aztec gods, nomadic kung-fu monkey masters, and a five-on-five tag team tornado match to save the world. The best part? We weren’t done.
“Well, that’s cool. But you know what we could never do… Disconauts. Like… The Samurnauts of the 70’s.” “Yeah, I know. But like… if we did…. maybe they’d each have their own vehicle.” “Yeah, and those vehicles would be like M.A.S.K., right?” And so on, and so forth. Suffice to say, by the time we reached Baltimore, we’d created two completely new mini-series ready to be outlined, sketched, and built.
I related this all to Mike at our goodbye dinner where Mike and I dominated the conversation of our four top, letting Marc Hempel and my wife smile and eat their crab. No sooner did I finish telling him about our Luchadornauts did a smile creep across his face. And as he’s prone to do, he launched into a story of his own. He related to me the time he and John Ostrander took a walk around a lake close to his house, and came up with the pitch for Wasteland. And it was there, in a beautiful restaurant in the suburbs of Baltimore, with a crab cake the size of my face plated before me… did I find that first true connection with Mike Gold that did not relate specifically to good BBQ or amazing conversation. Here was a guy who with his good friend, found a camaraderie not just in opinions and shared experiences… but in an idea and creativity.
Since we were kids, Matt and I founded our friendship on just that. The spark of creation more than anything else… binds us as brothers-from-other-mothers. And just like icing on a cake, cream filling in an Oreo, or crab cakes bound with bits of smaller crab (bless you, Baltimore), Kyle joined our menagerie and completed our circle. We creators of sequential fiction are a curious sort. And my generation – the one bred by toy commercials and Nintendo – was onslaught by our elders to never have to be creative again. Why create when TV, comics, toys, movies, and then the truly evil Internet, is right there awaiting your procrastination. But there, on the road surrounded by small mountains, rest stops, and snoring wives… I was reminded of who I am, and why I do what I do.
As you read this, I’m riding the rails to Baltimore for the Baltimore Comic Con, one of the more pleasant shows of the year. I expect to have a weekend of discovering new comics, seeing old friends, and spreading the word about ComicMix Pro Services.
However, as I write this, instead of thinking about comics, I’m obsessing about what to pack. I need to wear my ComicMix shirts, because that’s the brand I’m promoting. I need to wear comfortable shoes, because I’ll be on my feet a lot, either welcoming people to our booth or walking the floor. And I’ll need a garment – pants or a skirt – to go in-between the shirt and the shoes.
I could wear blue jeans (most people do), but I don’t think they look right with a dark blue shirt. I could wear my white jeans, but it is after Labor Day. How much of a rebel do I wish to be? Will I get credit for being a rebel, since no one seems to be aware of this rule at all anymore? I could wear a skirt, but then I have to sit with my knees together and shave my legs. Which I mostly do, but I have the illusion of choice when I wear pants. I could wear khakis, but I don’t own any, since they make my hips look ginormous.
My choice of garment is also determined by other factors. If I select something snug, I might look thinner, but not be able to comfortably eat. If I opt for something baggy, then I might look like I’m not taking my job seriously. I want to look somewhat cute, because then I look friendly and approachable. I don’t want to look like I’m trying to be 40 years younger than I am, because that is pathetic and sad.
It occurs to me that there are certain parallels between my fashion quandary and telling stories in mass market comic books. There is the licensed character, which media moguls insist on calling “the brand” instead of calling it the character, which is what it is. There is the story, which must be appropriate to the medium and the genre. I might want to wear my favorite shirt, but it’s not appropriate to the task at hand, nor for the people whom I’m trying to reach in this particular venue. Similarly, if I’m hired to write a Superman story, it should feature Superman, and it should follow certain conventions. One does not wear a t-shirt with a taffeta skirt.
My convention look is not made up of only three elements. I may choose to wear jewelry, or a scarf. My hair is styled a certain way that is uniquely mine. I may add layers, a jacket or a sweater. Similarly, my Superman story might have Superman, super-powers, super villains and threats to humanity, but it will also have elements that are unique to me, to the way I write and what I value in the character.
None of this has anything to do with high art, but it does have to do with respecting one’s audience. I want to give the reader not only what she paid for, what she wants, but also what she doesn’t even know she wants. A unique discovery, a bit of joy, that cements our relationship.
So, that’s settled. Now, what should I wear to the Harvey Awards?
The ballot for the 2013 Harvey Awards is now available. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry’s most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. The 26th Annual Harvey Awards will be presented Saturday, September 7th, 2013 as part of the Baltimore Comic-Con.
For the first time, Harvey Awards nomination ballots may be submitted using an online form. If you are a comics professional, you can vote online at harveyawards.org/2013-nomination-ballot/. This will enable easier and faster methods for the professional community to submit their nominees. Ballots are due for submission by Monday, May 6th, 2013.
Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators: those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. The Harvey Awards are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.
In addition to being available on the website, ballots will be sent to all major publishers and distributed at comic conventions. We look forward to your participation and input in this process, and we look forward to seeing you at the Baltimore Comic-Con and the Harvey Awards.
The Harveys would not be possible without the generous sponsors of the Awards. Sponsors for the last year’s 2012 Harvey Awards included The Baltimore Comic-Con; Boom! Studios; Captain Bluehen Comics; Cards, Comics, and Collectibles; ComicMix; ComicWOW!; ComiXology; DC Entertainment; Geppis’s Entertainment Museum; Insight Studios Group; Painted Visions Comics, Cards, & Games; Richmond Comix and Games; Steve Conley’s Bloop; and Write Brothers Inc.
Companies and individuals interested in sponsoring the 2013 Harvey Awards can contact harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com
This year’s Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 7-8, 2013. The ceremony and banquet for the Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 8th. Additional details about the Harvey Awards and the awards ceremony will be released over the next few months.
With a history of over 26 years, the last 8 in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con, the Harveys recognize outstanding achievements in 22 categories. They are the only industry awards nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. For more information, please visit http://www.harveyawards.org
The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 14th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. With a guest list unequaled in the industry, the Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 7-8, 2013. For more information, please visit http://www.baltimorecomiccon.com.
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, my ComicMixers! I hope you all had a merry Christmas, a sassy Chanukah, and grumpy Festivus if you were so inclined. So, with Father Time about to hit the retcon button on our daily calendars… I thought it would be apropos to reflect a bit on those amazing and terrible things that made my year. Please note: this isn’t ALL about comic books; you’ve been warned.
Because I like to start on a dour note… here’s The Worst!
5. Avengers Vs. X-Men Vs. My Sanity: Simply put, this stands up as yet-another-example of what makes me hate the mainstream comics business. No matter how many times they lather us up with “we’ve got the best talent on this”, “this will change everything”, and “you won’t believe what happens!”, they always end up the same. Bloated, predictable, and unending. Every Marvel event since the dawn of Brian Michael Bendis has finished up in deeper doo-doo than when they began. His boner for “shades of grey” is unnerving. We get it; making our favorite characters wail on one another is why we buy comics. But, hey… guess what? It isn’t. I’d much prefer a well thought out story that ends instead of a non-stop soap opera.
4. The 2012 Election: Not the result, mind you, but the unending nature of it all. For what felt like nearly the entire year, we were privy to 24 hours a day coverage of not only our POTUS but everyone vying for his seat. It brought out the worst in the candidates and the politically charged masses along for the ride. In the worst case, certain louder-than-usual politico-creators became so unnerving I was forced to hide them from my feeds. First world problems? You bet. But no less annoying on my life and times this year.
3. Wizard World Conventions: The movie definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So Wizard World changes the guard on high. They attempt to make sweeping changes on the floors of their traveling circus, making D-List celebs the premier attraction. They continue to maintain the second highest per-show cost for visiting artists. In short? They continue to drive away the very thing that started them out so very long ago: comics and the people who make them. While my li’l studio always sells well at these abominations… rarely are we joined in celebration at the end of the cons. Hence, my finger of shame this year.
2. Green Lantern: Another finger of shame… a ring finger! Geoff Johns has taken Grant Morrison’s Five-Year Plan model and Michael Bay’ed it to death. As I’ve been forced to note several times this year, the continual event fatigue on the entire line –which shouldn’t even be a line – is too much to bear. And while the majority of 2012 was spent with Sinestro and his gal Friday Jordan traipsing around the universe righting wrongs… this Rise of the Third Army is the emerald icing on a sheet cake of excess. Too many McGuffins, too many predictable plots, and a brand-new Lantern who thus far is more a caricature of “not-a-terrorist” than a fleshed-out legacy ring-slinger. One I’ll happily predict will last in prominence half as long as the last not-ready-for-prime-time-player, Kyle “Costume Change” Rayner.
1. Comics News Coverage: Well it finally caught up to us too, didn’t it? CNN begat CNN, and from them spawned the 24-hour news cycle that has extended to comics. Between Newsarama, Bleeding Cool, Comic Book Resources, and others (hold your tongue for a second, please) all looking for an audience… We’re left scouring trash-bins and date books in order to report anything about our beloved industry. I waive the white flag. And now to those who think I hold this very site on the fire? Nay. ComicMix is about writers expressing their opinions, and that’s enough for me to remove us from said blaze. Simply put, the news is important, but the environment we’ve built to report and sustain it is sickening. Marvel, DC, and the like can’t sneeze without us finding out about it… and then creating a backlash over it before the press releases have hit an inbox. Enough is ‘nuff said.
And now… The Best:
5. The Dark Knight Rises: Three cheers for Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus. Yeah, I know… The Avengers was more fun. But it wasn’t close to TDKR’s level of sophistication. Neither movie was flawless, but Batman kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole way through. The depiction of Bane was as good as it will ever be – menacing, big picture villainous thinking, and an actual brain amidst the brawn. But Bane wasn’t what made the movie. Bale’s Wayne was nuanced, angsty without being annoying, and above all else… visibly human. Nolan, in spite of Frank Miller and Grant Morrison showed that you don’t have to depict the God-Damned Batman to show the world a fantastic caped-crusader. Add in a brilliant turn for Selina Kyle, and it added up to one of my favorite flicks of the year. I would have put Django Unchained in this spot, but I haven’t seen it yet.
4. Marvel Now: If you read my reviews over at Michael Davis World (and I know you do…), then you’d know just how much I’m loving the House of Mouse these days. Fantastic Four / FF is proving thus far to balance the whimsy the series used to be known for with mature overtones. Iron Man, while nowhere near as good as Fraction’s run, is still entertaining. Superior Spider-Man has me legitimately interested in the wall-crawler again. Mike Gold has tried several times to recommend Captain America to me. My Unshaven Cohort is reading an X-Men book for the first time ever. And Avengers? Epic as I’d ever want it to be. Marvel looked at DC’s retcon-reboot-whatever, and opted instead to play it safe. Frankly, it’s proven to me that it was the right thing to do. Sales spikes or not. By choosing not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, Marvel is stealing me away one book at a time
3. The Baltimore Comic-Con: Unshaven Comics took the 13-hour drive to the East Coast, and boy howdy was it ever worth it. We sold an incredible amount of books. We rubbed elbows with industry giants at the Harvey Awards. We got to hand our book to Phil LaMarr. We had dinner with Mark Wheatley, Marc Hempel, Glenn Hauman, and Emily Whitten. And at that dinner? We had crab cakes as big as softballs. Frankly? It was a weekend of a lifetime. Such that we’ve already registered and purchased our table for 2013. It’s the most comic-book-centered convention we’ve been privy too. Charm City? Color me charmed.
2. Unshaven Comics’ Sales: Hate to get all self-promotional here, but screw it. Unshaven Comics had a simple goal. With no distribution, no investors, and nothing more than our blood-sweat-n-tears… we wanted to sell 1000 books over the course of a year. After attending a dozen shows, and doing our best work ever? We sold 1406. We made amazing connections, saw fans actually seek us out at shows, and gained over 300 Facebook fans without purchasing an ad or doing anything more than hustle. By hook or crook, we’re making the smallest impact known to man on the comic book industry. But I’ll be damned—it may actually be working. All it’s done is fuel our fire for 2013. 1,667 books moved next year will mean we see the shores of San Diego in 2014. Beards on.
1. Bennett Reed Fishman: Simply put, no other moment, comic book or otherwise, is worth a hill of beans in my world. On January 27th, 2012, I became a father. Ever since, every single thing I’ve done has been for the betterment of his life. Having been an ego-centered bearded ne’er-do-well for far too long, suddenly became moot. In his eyes and smile, the world around me means nothing. And when at 5:30 every day he stops whatever he’s doing, and smiles ear to ear when Batman: The Animated Series comes on? It tells me this kid is my kid. And my worldview is 100% different. Sorry, comics. You never stood a chance.
Happy New Year to all of you who read my articles week in and week out. May 2013 prove to be a safe, prosperous, and amazing year for you all.
One great thing about Dragon*Con is that sometimes it inspires me to check out new shows or genre fiction, and sometimes it inspires me to re-visit a past favorite. After this year’s Battlestar Galactica panel I had a super-cravi ng to go back and watch the show again; thanks to Netflix I’ve been re-living the intensity that is BSG.
What I love about the show, as someone pointed out in the panel (BSG – Bright Shiny Futures Are Overrated) is that it uses the harsh situation that the few remaining members of the human race find themselves in to explore numerous complex themes that resonate with real world conflicts and historical events. Along with plenty of action and drama, it’s an intellectual show that challenges viewers to think about the choices being made, and highlights the complexity and imperfections of the main characters as they constantly make difficult decisions that will affect the whole of humanity. It’s also sometimes exceedingly grim – so much so that the first time I was watching it, I found that I had to take a break for awhile about half-way through the series and go watch something a little less bleak. But that is a testament to the way the show tries to confront the cruel realities that must be faced in times of war; and is balanced by the way it also celebrates the kindness and heroism that can be drawn out by the same intense situations.
Another thing that’s great about the series is that since it appears at first to be set in a far, far distant (though not technologically unrecognizable) future, it’s aged well. Also, in tune with the recurring theme that “all of this has happened before; and all of this will happen again,” the stories and interactions follow cycles of our own human interactions that we can identify with, so they do not seem not dated, and the themes are still relevant. If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend giving it a try. Even if you have, you may not have known (as I didn’t, the first time I watched) about the tie-in material like Razor and the webseries, so you could always check those out as well. In the meantime, here are a few words from some of the stars of the show, who I got to talk to while at Dragon*Con (although I sadly missed getting to chat with Katee Sackhoff).
While discussing film projects, James Callis (a.k.a. Dr. Gaius Baltar, who looks and sounds uncannily similar to his character in person, but is thankfully much nicer) shared with me the interesting tidbit that his favorite TV or film character – not one he wants to play, per se, but one he loves – is Frank-n-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (as played by Tim Curry). I can’t deny that he’s a fascinating character! And Callis’ favorite part of the con? “Meeting all of you guys.”
Jamie Bamber (a.k.a. Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama), who was wearing a fantastic “My Other Ride is a Viper” shirt, told me he’s currently involved in a new series based on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s novel Monday Mornings(also starring Ving Rhames and Alfred Molina). The show will be produced by Gupta and David E. Kelley and is centered around the Monday morning morbidity meetings at a Portland hospital, where the doctors reflect on what went wrong the previous week. Bamber says, “I’ve seen the pilot, and it’s really the best start to something that I’ve ever done.” High praise, considering how awesome Battlestar Galactica was! And Bamber’s favorite part of the con is “catching up with old friends, like the Battlestar Galactica group and everyone.”
Michael Trucco (a.k.a. Sam Anders), who is super tall in person, let me know that next on his agenda is at least six episodes of season eight of How I Met Your Mother… “and I can say that my character takes a turn that’s… ‘ironically comical.’“ As for what he loves about Dragon*Con, that’s pretty much everything, i.e. “the panels and the Walk of Fame, as well as the interactions with the fans.”
Richard Hatch, (a.k.a. Tom Zarek, and also Captain Apollo on the original 1978/80 series) and I chatted about a number of upcoming events in his life, including (alert, alert!) a Battlestar Galactica con from May 23-26, 2013 in Houston, Texas, with actors from both the original series and the new series. And we just re-launched battlestargalactica.com, which is sort of like a Facebook for fans.” Also he recommends fans check out whothefrak.com. “We’re developing it into a reality show with me and some industry friends. I’m also hosting a cruise to the Mediterranean next year, and will be teaching my seminars and everything during the cruise.”
There’s also an album out called “From Apollo to Tom Zarek: The Battlestar Galactica Memoirs,” regarding his career in both of the series’.”And I’m also working on a big epic sci-fi series that’s in development called TheGreat War of Magellan, for which we are developing a game and a novel.” Whew! Busy times in the life of Richard Hatch! But he still has time for the fans, and at Dragon*Con, says “I love the Battlestar party and the steampunk ball and the panels.”
Thanks to the stars of BSG for their time and awesomeness! And that’s it it for this year’s Dragon*Con experience, but stay tuned, because Baltimore Comic Con, which is next up, was just as fun!
Until next week, Servo Lectio!
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis Goes Back To High School
WEDNESDAY MORNING: Mike Gold and Archie’s Sex Change
Yeah, I know. The illustrious Mike Gold has already written at length as to why the Baltimore Comic-Con is an amazing experience. But Mike’s career in comics is older than I am. I had thought, for only a second, that maybe I should just move on and try another column to piss people off. But here I sit, and man, I still can’t stop smiling. So, screw it, you’re gonna hear (again) about the Baltimore Comic-Con. Maybe you’ll get a different perspective. This was my first trip to the Charm City, and I think Mike may have underplayed just how awesome this shindig is. Oh Baltimore Comic-Con, how do I love thee… Let me count the ways.
As many here have read my recent tirades about the Wizard Conventions may know… I have been seriously duped. I was raised on a convention where I honestly believed that in order to make it successful, one needed the publishers (especially the big ones) to anchor the show. How wrong I truly was! BCC was a show where the publishers were truly secondary to the main draw – the creators. In one of several walks I took away from our own table, I realized I was feet away from a litany of personal heroes. Brian Bolland, Cliff Chiang, J.G. Jones, and Gene Ha only to name a few. And while there were publishers there, they were in non-monstrosities that made them feel a “part” of the show, not the driving force behind it. The driving force truly was the community of creators. And given that I was amongst them? It was one of the few times in my five years as one I felt comfortable owning the term.
Far cooler though was the chance to truly “meet” Mark Wheatley, Marc Hempel, and ComicMix’s Emily S. Whitten. Over an amazing dinner (joined by my amazing friends/Samurnauts Erik and Cherise Anderson, Unshaven Sales Machine Kyle, and the always tall Glenn Hauman) we swapped stories, histories, personal politics, jokes, and more. And sure the crab cake was some kind of life altering experience… but just the chance to be at that dinner table in the suburbs of Maryland was some kind of amazing that I’ll be chasing for years to come. I know this is not an experience one gets simply by being at this con… but this was one perk of writing for this site that certainly is continuing to pay off in spades – even if it’s in food and stories alone.
As Mike already mentioned, the show was the perfect length. No “preview night” to force an extra day’s parking money out of the creators… just a packed weekend of festivities. It was almost as if the show runners knew that the creators who got into town early might find one another prior, and take the responsibility themselves to find a good time in the city. Preposterous!
What Mike didn’t mention (mainly because he wasn’t there to sell…) was the positively unending crowd. For two days the traffic at the show was never sparse. Our booth was literally in the last aisle of the convention center, and there was rarely a time where there wasn’t a nice gaggle of comic fans walking past our table. Unshaven Comics walked into the con with a “it’d sure be nice” goal of 150 books over two days. On Saturday alone, we netted a personal record: 137 books sold. And Sunday helped us tip the total to over 200. That makes me beyond proud to announce with three more conventions still left on our schedule, we met our years’ goal of 1000 books sold. For three guys making books in their basement, selling only on the convention floor? I’d say Baltimore put the icing on a cake made of success.
And how about those Harvey Awards? Well, all points from earlier in the week stand true: We were in awe in attendance of living legends. Phil LaMarr was an amazingly hilarious host who proved that beneath all the funny was a legit fan. Ross Ritchie proved that beyond the Gutters’ continual assault on his character, he’s a humble and very passionate man. His call to action only cemented further Unshaven Comics’ love of the medium. And hey, the 30-pound gift bag they let us leave with was nothing short of super. It’s more than possible that it will take an entire career for me to get one, but mark my words: Unshaven Comics will take home a Harvey before we retire our pencils and Wacoms.
Suffice to say, the Baltimore Comic-Con showed me exactly what Wizard is missing in it’s conventions: comic book creators. We’re not a sideshow or a footnote to be hidden on the con floor. We’re the reason this industry exists – from the billion dollar movies we create to the never-ending stream of ideas. The BCC knows how to elevate and celebrate this fact.
As a creator and as a fan, I was (and am) awestruck at what I was witness to this past weekend. And sure it took a twelve-hour car trip to get there, but it was truly a small price to pay for a head full of memories I’ll be hard-pressed to replace…
