The Future Doesn't Care (II)
Ah, where was I? Oh yes. It was the Thursday that felt like Saturday. Which is why I spent an inordinate amount of time not on the show floor and in panels or eating fresh fish and chips (which are criminally underrated--freshness is the key) or drinking (very moderately, contrary to the image of a booze-fueled GIN MAKES A COMICS CREATOR MEAN sort of affair) in the comfort of Seaport Village or the Hyatt bar. But again, if there was a tranquil yin to the swirling yang of the Media side, it was the comics/dustcatcher side of things. But then again, they weren't giving stuff away for free over there. Free stuff (like booze) tends to make people do silly things. Amusing to watch from a safe distance, but sometimes harrowing when you're in the teeth of it.
Heidi has mentioned that folks are shellshocked already. I'd corroborate that, to a point. Pros seem shellshocked; everyone else seems to be having a hell of a time. But for the teenager I spotted out front yelping "Mom, I'm at the end of my rope here! I'm not having a good time!" into the the cellphone screwed into her ear. And if you have costume, you're golden. You're a god. You're a beautiful American freak (no matter what your nationality) living the American dream. Captain Kirk's got nothing on you. Cosplay is king. Bow down to your new rulers, etc.
Lunch made me late to the instructional section of a graphic storytelling panel headed up by Darwyn Cooke, Coleen Coover, Carla Speed McNeil and Cameron Stewart. I ended up with just the tail end of things, the oft-dreaded questions from the audience. Which is kinda too bad. I'd shell out good money for an hour with those folks. But it seemed that I'd picked up enough by osmosis that the Q/A didn't do too much for me. Might have to scout out video of the first half of it though.
Given an early wrap-up for that, I had some time to kill, so I wandered through the show floor, sticking to the relative sanity of Indy Island (which generally has a pretty solid signal/noise ratio). Jim Ottoviani is no exception to that. His BONESHARPS, COWBOYS AND THUNDER LIZARDS from last year was a very moving portrait of Science Gone Bad, warped by personal jealousies and pettiness into something that not only retarded actual progress but corrupted two brilliant minds (in very different ways.) If you haven't read it, you really ought to give it a try. At any rate, Jim had not one but two very different offerings for the show this year, LEVITATION and WIRE MOTHERS. After talking with him a bit about BONESHARPS, he indicated that WIRE MOTHERS would probably be the more rewarding choice. I look forward to it. And so would anyone who is even vaguely interested in not only science, but the very real humans behind it. Even smart people jump to very dumb conclusions from time to time. And that's where things get real interesting.
Time, then, to head upstairs for the Darwyn Cooke spotlight panel. Darwyn is a pretty unique guy in the midst of a unique industry. He has (rightfully, many would argue) a reputation for being a prickly character to work with, but then he makes no bones about it either. He has a very clear vision for his projects which always makes it to the page, love or hate the work. But you know what, I'd rather see that than homogonized blends of Jim Lee sketchiness with Joe Mad smoothness and a touch of Hitch-like over-rendering. Anyways, back to the panel, which was moderated and introduced by frequent Cooke collaborator J. Bone. In a lot of ways, what Darwyn had to say wasn't much of a surprise (though I suspect many of the approaching-middle-aged-geeks would rather he talked about whether the Spectre could beat up Superman) to anyone who'd known Darwyn or his work.
Most interestingly, Darwyn talked without shame about having a moral center for superhero books. This subject is pretty solidly taboo these days. Granted, the morality of might making right is up in the air, but let's accept that superheroes use their powers for good and not for personal gain. Instead of having license to do anything that they want, Cooke looks at superheroes as being members of an Order, an order with a fairly strict moral code, one that puts themselves in danger so that others less powerful don't have to experience said danger. This is in direct opposition to superheroes pretty much going out and just kicking ass, y'know? Cooke stated directly that THE NEW FRONTIER was a response to the challenge of writing superheroes as they were once written and yet have them come off not as chumps for sticking their necks out, but as something else, something greater than that.
He also confessed having little interest in traditional superpowered heroics, hence his focus on Hal Jordan ("The only one in the JLA who wasn't a freak") and characters like Batman, Catwoman and even Slam Bradley in his other work. He couldn't come up with a long laundry list of characters he'd like to work with, of toys he eyed enviously in DC or Marvel's toybox. And then there's his comments on the Direct Market, which echo mine in many ways. Basically the big two are in stasis now. They don't want new ideas; they want to mine their old ideas. That the monthly format is going to have to give way to a new format, sooner rather than later. That the shift to specialty stores may have saved the monthly superhero comic in the 80s, but it also made a sort of velvet coffin (my phrase) for comics. Very comfortable in the short run, but still a coffin nonetheless. Another of Cooke's bete noires was the reliance on shock storytelling and out of character plot hammering, and oh yes, the misuse of the "mature" label. "Most of the books labelled as mature these days are as juvenile as it gets, right?" Again, all points I can agree with. Oh yes, and there was some discussion of the fact that the room was mostly filled with middle-aged readers and very few if any kids. Once you stop catering to the kids, where are the big two gonna get readers, he wonders. I kinda wonder that myself.
Then the bad news. He and J. Bone will only be on THE SPIRIT until #12. The book will continue, but editorial changes made him pack up things a year early. However, he has two creator-owned graphic novel projects in the works. One is a near-future "fairytale" (though on his description, I might offer "fable" as a better summation) aimed at young adult readers. The second one is a much more mature offering, about a middle-aged-guy whose life starts unravelling. Neither has a publisher attached to it. But you can bet that I'm looking forward to both of those.
There was also a bit of discussion on the NEW FRONTIER DVD, which sounds interesting and all, but if I want to read that story again, I've got the great big ABSOLUTE edition sitting on the shelf.
After the panel, I took another run through the floor, came across a new Steven Grant-penned crime comic called 2 GUNS at the BOOM! booth. I'll give his work a shot whenever I come across it, though I'd really prefer a done-in-one sort of presentation, but I guess I have to take what I can get. I also ran into Cameron Stewart and was lucky enough to see some pages from APOCALYPSTIX, which will be coming out from Oni sometime this year (I hope.) If you were lucky enough to read the earlier APOCALYPSITX stories in the ROYAL RUMBLE anthology or the FCBD anthology from last year, then you know what to expect. Gorgeous, expressive cartooning meets post-apocalyptic power-trio action.
Oh, and I got a picture of Josh Dyshart (of the criminally-overlooked recent SWAMP THING) in a Halliburton shirt. And if you know anything about Josh from his writing, you'll find the irony rich.
Last up for official activities: George Romero. You heard me. George Goddamn Romero at his own spotlight panel. I'll just go over a couple of the highlights with a longer writeup later (time is short and I'm not hauling this damn computer around with me to get it done on the floor.) 1) DIARY OF THE DEAD (his most recent project) is a subjective camera portrait of three film students recording the first night of the dead rising from the graves. It is nearly done and will premiere in Toronto later this year. 2) J. Michael Straczynski is pitching a longform drama series based on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. 3) Max Brooks (who MC'd the panel) has a graphic novel based on THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL HANDBOOK in the works; I'm guessing at Avatar but that's unclear. I took extensive notes, but probably won't have time to get them input until the end of the show.
And with that, I called it a night, to then meet with friends and watch the shenanegains unfold in the Hyatt bar. Always entertaining, never boring.