Comic-Con 2011 and the continued search for an illustrator.
So Yeah, Comic-Con came and went, and it felt pretty much the same as it did last year for me. Nothing too spectacular, and anything big we may have missed we heard about afterward. The place was over crowded and the lines suck, as always. They've got to do something about those lines. Well, it's not that they're long, it that people will get into one line to get into a room hours before what they really want to see starts, thereby keeping other people from getting into what they want to see when the first people don't really care about it. There are some exceptions, though: we were in line for Penn & Teller (same as last year) outside and it was late and cold. The panel before P&T was Voltron, and even though the room was large, and it was [ooh] Voltron, there was still very few people in there; so they decided to let the P&T people come in from the cold. The only problem with this was that when the Voltron people left there was a huge rush for those front seats.
[The new Voltron show didn't look interesting at all, and I've recently seen a bit of it on TV and it comes off as even less so. The only thing I took from the con was Phineas & Ferb. Which initially looked like all the other crap on Nick: but, holy crap!, I'm a huge fan of the show now! What gives?! You can usually tell what shows are actually good by seeing what the larger group of kids... I mean “big kids”... I mean adults (lets get real, here) are into.]
Lego had a similar issue. I mean, besides not having anything to do with comics, their daily giveaways were causing some problems in the dealers room and the fire-martial was giving them warnings. Well yeah, if you're giving away something that people are flipping on eBay for $80-$100 during the con, then what do you expect. The line for their “other thing” wasn't bad bcz you had to fork out fifty bucks for it. At one point, with their free giveaway line, they decided to get tricky: seeing as how they were breaking up a line every time it tried to form, and telling people the line won't start until xx:xx, on the nose, they changed where the line was going to form and announced this to everyone at xx:xx, thereby starting a stampede. Yeah, we were there, obviously, and, unlike everyone else wanting to get in the line, I knew that by the time we were at the start we have to make our way to the back while the line formed itself, which was counterproductive. So I just headed in the opposite direction, to the place where I thought the line would be by the time I got to it. I also missed all the excitement on the other side: yelling pushing, people falling. I got in the line, sort of, and some of the victims of the riot came in next to me. In front or behind? who knows, that's just the way the line was. They complained to one of the Lego stormtroopers, who happened to be walking by to tell people, in line, to get closer to the wall. He really couldn't do much outside of saying how sorry he was and it really wasn't his fault; and he's right, sort of. There's more to be said about this, but lets see how they handle it in 2012, first.
Oh, and the Hasbro line! It's worse and worse every year. I think it's bcz of the immediate resale value of some of the items. Admittedly I do tend to buy things to resell on eBay but I really only do so to break-even with what I do actually want: buy two, sell one for double the price. And that's what buyers are willing to bid the price up to, also!
Oh, and this brings me to another thing: line cutters. Everyone freaking hates line-cutters. If you're planing on trying to cut in line at Comic-Con, keep in mind that many people see this as stealing; and in many ways it is. If there's any kind of giveaway, whether it be tickets [for any kind of event], items, autographs, or something of a limited quantity, if you cut into that line you are stealing from someone near or at the end. [or is it the beginning? Wait, the start of the line is the end of the line, and the back of the line is the beginning of the.... uh... anyways...] or even the person behind you, if the items in question are all custom originals and you took the one that they wanted... unless that dick was your friend, then good, they deserve it for letting you cut in line! LOL
In years past we've had people try to cut in front of us, and behind us. There was this one time where this guy actually leaned over and pretended like he was saying something to Hilda, who was standing next to me, as if he was friends with her and had already been standing there. It was so funny bcz I guess he thought she wouldn't notice, but she did and told him that “the back of the line is over there” *pointing*. He had this attitude like “Oops, dur, I didn't know...” Shortly after that, some other guy came by and tried to cut in front of us. Sometimes, though, you can tell that people just don't know...
...and that's what I hope people thought when we accidentally tried to cut-in at the Hasbro ticket line. We got there early and rushed around trying to find the end of the line. I asked the staff where it was and he pointed me to some posts & velour-ropes that marked off the aria. It looked like there was some room in line and it was all opened up, so we went for it. In this aria there was lines everywhere: freaking everywhere! We saw more people getting into this line so we dashed for it. Heading in, some guy asked me: “Excuse me. Are you trying to get into the Hasbro line?” “Yeah,” I said, like, yeah this is it, right here. “The end of the line is way over there,” he said, pointing to a huge line of lines.
Aw-man! I asked someone at Hasbro and they said the line was closed for the day. Not even 10am and they were closed for the day. Yeesh... I just want to buy a pony!!! LOL
[Korra line?]The Korra line was another disappointment, but the fact is, I should have gotten there early. But even still they shouldn't freaking mix lines! They should keep track of how many people are in what line for what panel; or at least become a little more organize than telling you, at the last minute, after waiting several hours in a line, that “The room is closed.” Agrivating.
Crap, crap crap!!! Enough about lines!!!!!! Let me check my Comic-Con notes....
Okay, so my notes about Comic-Con were: “write about Comic-Con.” Damn. Good job.
Oh, when do we get to the comics? What are comics, you might ask? I'd tell you, but I don't even know myself anymore. Lets try to remember some things, shall we?
Preview night was pretty darn crowded. I mean, it was just ridiculous. It really seemed like that was the crowdedest(for lack of a real word) day of the whole con. From what I understand it use to be only exhibitors and industry badged people who were allowed in for preview night. But I could be wrong. Preview Night is about previewing the crowd more than anything, really. I was like, crap, this is what it's going to be like the rest of the con?! Sunday has the least amount of people, which is nice, but for some reason it always feels the most dangerous.
Speaking of danger, there was this one time on the trolly, heading back to Qualcomm Stadium where we parked, when this one dude totally freaked out. [This was one of those train-like trollies, not the ones you see in images of San Fransisco. Far and fast, they go.] We were a ways away, maybe sitting in the middle of the trolly, when I heard these guys “getting into it” in the back end. I was facing them but the trolly was so unbelievably packed that I couldn’t see much. The trolly hadn't moved, yet, and we were all sitting around waiting for it to get us the hell out of there, when I heard the commotion: “Don't touch me! Don't touch me!” Then quiet, fallowed shortly after by a scuffle, some more yelling, and then quiet. I could then see one taller man, a white fellow with glasses who I assumed was one of the ones involved, leaning up against the back wall of the trolly looking very nervous: shaking, as if about to pop. The other man, I also assumed was involved, a shorter latino guy, was standing in front of the tall guy trying to face away from him while reaching up and constantly hitting the emergency button above the door. Some people reacted to this, yelling at him to not press the button, and “that doesn't open the door.” But I'm pretty sure he was hitting it bcz he wanted to get the attention of someone of authority. I could be wrong, though.
It was very quiet and no one really said anything, probably bcz it was so freaking dificult to even tell what was going on to have a vociferous opinion about it.
Finally, in this crowded mess, a freaking loud scream shot thought the cabin. It came from the tall, shaky white dude, who was now barreling down the aisle of the trolly while still screaming maniacally with fear. It sounded something like “BWAhHHHhHHhhHHHHHhHh!!!!!!” If I recall. Anyways, it really shook a lot of people up, which actually contributed to my holding back of laughter. One gentlemen, shaking in his words, yelled out, “Fucking, crazy,” or, “Fucking asshole!” I can't remember which. What really contributed to my amusement was how fast people moved out of this guy's way as he moved. You know what, now that I think back on it, I think he was screaming actual words. Or maybe he started to scream before he ran, and that turned into nonsense. I remember a lot of “Don't touch me!” screams.
To be honest, the whole time I was really worried that some kind of weapon would come into play, and that would have really not been good. There's really no way of checking for that kind of thing on trains and trollies, so it quite possibly could have happened. One of my real fears about riding those things. Some taller woman turned into a child, crawled onto another woman's lap, and cried hysterically(hysteria, not mirth). I think a lot of other people were just as surprised by that as they were the running man.
At some point the door opened and the shorter, latino guy got out, and soon one of the conductors came into the trolly car. No one said a word, as far as I could hear. He pulled the emergency button back out and left. What an odd time that was.
Ah, what else...?
Oh, the other thing that always bugs me about Comic-Con, and it's a personal one, is how depressing it can be. I'm a writer and former artist, and it's really hard to watch so many people try and shill their work. Well, that's what it feels like sometimes. I understand that there's a niche market for most everything, and sometimes those niches are very small, but some of these people have to realize that not everyone is going to be into their work. Well, it's also safe to say that they might write well and have crappy art to go along with it. And there's a lot of judging books by their covers at Comic-Con, to go along with that. I generally like to check out reviews before spending $9-$15-$20 on something... am I that cheap?
An all to typical scene that I saw on one of the days. A man stops another man and starts talking to him about his “book”. I don't even think this guy was at a booth, either. He hands the man a bookmark, like a business car, and asks him if he'd like to “step over here so I can tell you about my book.” The man refuses and adds that he's in a hurry and he's not that interested. The first man says “okay” and tells the other man he can keep the bookmark. But the man refuses it, handing it back he says, “No, that's okay.” -I really don't know who to feel more sorry for.
It wasn't all that bad, but that's one of the more typical examples with the struggle that goes on there by artists... some artists.
This is all very depressing for me bcz I too, as I've stated above, am a writer (Oh the horror!!), and visionary, hopping to someday bust into that end of the industry. So I usually come back home all depressed and bummed out. On the other hand, I do get inspired, but not in the usual way. This inspiration comes by way of all the crap that's out there. The thought that, if you can do this, so can I! I mean, your stuff is crap, and while my stuff isn't much different, you have readers and most likely so will I! LOL
Peter S. Beagle was there again this year. Last year he was only there for one day and maybe only a few hours. I've talked to him once, years ago, but now there's always too much of a group of people around him for someone like me to even try. It's really hard for me to get any kind of conversation started, let alone an acknowledgment that I want to say something. My fault, not their's; obviously. [can I use “their's”?] Sure, I'm a big fan of The Last Unicorn, like most of the people that talk with him, I'm sure, and fallow him on FaceBook, or whatever; but the one that really did it for me was TWO HEARTS. [*Warning* please, please, please do not read this without first reading The Last Unicorn!!! I had a friend once that I'd lent my Samurai DVDs to and told him that “The first two are okay, but part three was the best,” only to find out that he watched part three and only part three. So, he couldn’t see that that was just not going to work? I'm sure with Two Hearts there is some level of self-containedness, but there's no way it's going to be anywhere near the same experience you would have by first reading The Last Unicorn. Go read The Last Unicorn, dammit!] I love the short story format more than novels. IDK, maybe it's just a phase. Anyways, Two Hearts was really a huge inspiration for me, and helped give me more of a push into writing than I'd already been. Crap, it's hard to talk about this without talking about the story itself. Oh, well. Anyways, again, I really wanted to tell Mr. Beagle how much I enjoyed Two Hearts and what an awesome addition it was to the world of The Last Unicorn, and what a great gift it was to readers and fans. I've heard that future printings of The Last Unicorn will have this tagged onto the end. I hope that's true, bcz it belongs there. Or maybe it already has been? IDK. [Wikipedia claims Two Hearts is 218pp long, but it's not, it's short: it's a novelette that you will blast through in no time]
Anyways, I'm currently (currently, being the past few year) looking for someone who's art style matches with what I'm writing at the moment, or someone who would be able to work in different styles. I'm an artist also but I can never really be all that happy with what I do. And it depresses me to even think about picking up a pencil. Interested? Know anyone that's interested? Does picking up pencils not depress the hell out of you?! You might be the one!... or that person you know.
Here's the thing, I'm not really in any position to pay, and I'm not looking for free work or trying to be a freeloader (if those are not the same thing). What I'm really looking for is someone who's interested in working together to get a book published. I'm not really sure how much illustrations there will be, either. I guess that all depends on the person doing the art... or people doing the art.
The book is other-world, fantasy based, and will be comprised of [atm] three short stories dealing with the same characters. It will have the feel, some what, of a children's book, but not really be for children. That is to say, it will not be “adult” either. To be real, it would be more or less like older children's books, before people started getting all freaked out about things like poison, wolfs getting chopped up, and old women eating little children. Hmm... that's probably not the best description, either. LOL
I'm really not egotistical about my own writing so any input is good to hear. My most concerning interest is to make sure the reader understands what the heck it is I'm trying to say. So ifs I don'ts makes sense... I don't want to hurt your head, I want to heart you head. LOL
What a pitch, huh? I will tell you nothing and you will come and work with me. LOL
Anyways, Comic-Con was fun [beside the distance traveling to the convention center each year gets worse and worse] and I'm looking for someone interested in illustrating a book for and chunk of whatever the book sells for... if it sells. LOL
That's about it
[These guys!]
[And these guys!]
[I really don't understand the LJ formating. It just seems to do its own thing at times.]