« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »

September 30, 2007

Stumptown 2007

Lessons from the Convention Floor
Stumptown, September 2007

1. Never Fly Alone
Having to totally close up your table just because you need to heed the call of nature really puts a cramp in your style. That and people are gonna steal your stuff, so get a buddy. Well, that and so you can actually see the show, too. I was able to get out for all of about forty minutes to take in the show.

2. The Limits of Electricity
So here I was with a neat little Quicktime movie to show and a creaky old laptop that only had battery power for about two hours at any given time. I brought an extension cord, but not long enough, and not small enough to keep itself from being a tripping hazard. So, no multimedia blitzkrieg for me.

3. Eat a Hearty Breakfast (corollary: bring antacid)
Buffet breakfasts are great bang for the buck, as I learned in college, but man, can they be murder on the digestive tract.

4. Bring a Tablecloth
White vinyl is never in style. I saw some really neat patterned tablecloths being deployed by a number of artists, which were both functional (vinyl makes me sweat something fierce) and easy on the eyes. Now, do I go for basic black or something like a calico given the Western theme in MURDER MOON?


5. Dress Appropriately (‘cause it’s cold like a banker’s grave)
I brought a jacket. I left it in the room. And you know, I’m not a little guy who’s got to work to maintain core temperature. I can hold onto my heat, but not in the face of industrial air conditioning. Of course, they fired up the heat on the second day, so layering is a good counter-strategy.

6. Ya Gotta Watch ‘Em Like a Hawk
It says “One Buck” on the cover. Right there. You’d think that plainly stating the price would keep people from walking off with your ashcans. You’d probably be wrong.

7. Enunciate Muthafugga.
Public speaking is not one of my strong points. When you mush words together, people tend to forget your name, title of your work, etcetera. Speak directly into the microphone, sir, and the world will be your oyster.

8. I Gotta Get Me One of Those (Paul’s Rig)
Paul Guinan had a sweet little setup for his signage. It all fit in a shoulder-slingable cylinder, stood proudly and was easy to see across the room. I will get one of those. It looks just ever so much more classy than the PVC-framed signs I’ve seen.

9. Smile, You Big Sourpuss
Nobody likes a sourpuss. They think it’s catching.

10. Cross-Sell, Lieber’s Right Down There
And Lieber’s famous, so they actually want to get his signature. Though I had more than one person spontaneously ask me to sign the MURDER MOON ashcans I was flogging. But I gotta work on that signature; it’s just so…uninteresting.

11. Did You Bring Water, Chump?
Well, did ya? If not, then it’s a buck fifty for water you could have had bought for fifty cents at the convenience store last night.

12. My Magic Is Invisible
When you’re surrounded by cartoonists, most people seem to assume that you, too, you, that guy selling comics, can draw. I cannot. I understand my limitations, and unlike Hal Holbrook in THE ENFORCER, know how to work within them. I suppose I could offer to write out script passages in my stellar longhand or something.

13. Brett Warnock Knows Good Lettering
No, really. He does.

14. Hipsters Wake Up Late
And when your show is going to be attended largely by hipsters, things might take awhile to start. Saturday didn’t get rolling until noon or so. Sunday didn’t take off until almost two.

15. People Will Poach Your Artists w/o a Second Thought
Someone, who seemed to be from a small comics company whose name I recognized, looked over the ashcan of MURDER MOON and nodded sagely, saying “Good art. Is he here today?” And I could see the predatory gleam in the guy’s eye. Authors, protect your artists. Be their best friend (unless they’re late, in which case, call their mothers if you have to), but don’t give them away.

16. I Have Seen More Waxed Moustaches Today Than in a Year
No, really. I saw a couple at the airport and at least two at the show. I don’t think I’d seen any since SDCC, and that was just a single aberration in an otherwise stable flock of neatly-trimmed moustaches, goatees or Van Dykes.

17. Bring Small, Non-Sequential Bills
You’re selling stuff, so you can make change right? Oh? So you’re off to the bank then, are you? Luckily I made that realization on Friday night before the show.

18. Your Lanyard Always Faces the Wrong Way
I wonder how they make it do that. Is it some kind of wonder ink that seeks out body heat? Maybe a smart material in the cord of the lanyard. Whatever it is, it’s good. Damn good.

19. Evidently, Pork-Pies and Fedoras are Fashionable (corollary: don’t wear one with a leather jacket; corollary: or with a feather in it.)
Really, gentlemen (and ladies.) Fedoras go nicely with a suit coat, particularly a double-breasted. They don’t go with jeans. They don’t go with unkempt black trenchcoats or leather jackets. And they most certainly don’t go with feathers. Please stop doing that, or I’m going to have to call Blackwell on you.

20. Indy is Benevolent
You remember that I had an issue with power cabling? Well Indy, the guy who Makes Things Happen, got me a spot with more electricity than I could use in a lifetime. Thanks, Indy! The show goes on because of you!

21. Librarians Are Cool
Or maybe it’s just Northwestern Librarians in urbane urban settings. Either way, they’re cool. They’ve got graphic novels and even minicomics out for checkout. That’s just beyond awesome.

22. Sometimes, Being Parked Next to a Crowd-Drawing-Retailer Isn’t.
Mike from Bridge City Comics is a damn nice guy. It’s not his fault that his half-off graphic novels and fifty-cent bins drew a mass of people that clogged the hallway with a human logjam. But it did make it hard for people to casually glance over my table and see the awesome stuff that I’d brought for sale.

23. Portland Rocks the Utili-Kilt
Now I know why Jeff Parker was inspired to have Hank McCoy wear one recently. Portland is riddled with the darn things.

24. People Love Any Old Free Thing
They really do.

25. Steve Says: “Always Be Closing.”
About 4:30 PM the first day, I ended up burning out a bit and staring at a fixed point in the middle distance, not unlike desert travelers out in the sun for too long. But Steve Lieber was right there to bring me back in time to make a sale.

26. I Cannot Smile on Command
That much is true. But I can be surprisingly social when the moment calls for it. However, I still seem to clam up pretty tight when there’s a large party involved. I blame the medication. But really, don’t try to stage me in a picture and expect me to smile. Just can’t do it.

27. I Am Going to Make a Big, Big Sign That Says: “Cowboys and Werewolves.”
You bet I am. People would stop by the booth for a lot of reasons, whether it be the gorgeous cover or the intriguing typography or the enticing trailer. But what really got their eyes to light up were those three little words: “Cowboys and Werewolves.” The fast pitch is the best. Yeah, it discards subtlety and laughs at nuance, but it is very good at getting people’s attention. Now, will it work on retailers? It seemed to work on the three who I talked to in person.

Encounters with the Awesome.

1. Salt and Pepper Tofu is awesome.
I eat tofu on occasion. It’s tolerable. Good in hot and sour soup. But there’s always the niggling “Chew on me, I’m good for you” feeling. But Salt and Pepper tofu that’s been lightly breaded and fried? Yeah, I could hurt myself on that.

2. Cosmic Monkey Comics is awesome.
It’s the kind of store I’d be in a lot of time. If I had a lot of time to be in comics stores, and had time to drive to them. Open aisles, places to sit, great art on the walls, fun design, non-dungeon-esque, a wide variety of things to choose from and a well-stocked children’s comics rack (featuring the utterly indispensable GUMBY by Bob Burden and Rick Geary: “Please tell me that they’re selling this as an all-ages book,” said Sarah as she read issue #2, with Gumby as a golem and the spirit of Johnny Cash. Yes, Sarah, they’re selling this to kids, as they should.)

3. Carla Speed McNeil? Awesome.
Yup, yup.

4. Portland has too many options for good food. And books. And Coffee.
I mean, geez, there was a caravan of food trailers right across the street from Periscope Studios that I could have spent a week eating three meals a day from and not have to repeat restaurants or ethnic derivations. I stayed the hell away from Powell’s, because I know that my suitcase wouldn’t take the strain. And generic hotel coffee is better than the coffee shop coffee near me.

5. Periscope Studios is filled with crazy good art/ists.
And it’s in a cool old building. Though, truthfully, I’m not sure how much work I could get done in a studio environment. But it’d be a great place to be a guest artist in for short periods of time. And hey, I even got to teach Steve some of my secret Photoshop hax. Kirby, Hernandez, Al Williamson and others all representing on the studio walls and priceless reference volumes out in easy reach of anyone. Paradise? Perhaps not, but maybe as close as we’re going to get on earth.

Brushes with Suckitude
Thankfully few. But the joker who left the alarm set on 5:30 am better pray that I never find them. Oh, and I lost my ATM card, but I’m not seeing fraudulent charges being racked up. Yet.

September 26, 2007

Full Bleed #3

Full Bleed 3

Hmm. I've made three weeks in a row now. Spooky.

And really, I meant this column to be all about why I love superheroes, but it ended up turning into something else.

Oh, well.

Hurm.

Wizard Entertainment

Steve Gerber interviewed by WIZARD magazine regarding DR. FATE, but far more interestingly, about HOWARD THE DUCK 20 years after and what he'd do with CAPTAIN MARVEL, you know, that SHAZAM! guy? Worth a quick look.

September 24, 2007

MURDER MOON rolls on

Diamond has accepted MURDER MOON for Previews. No dates, no codes, nothing else just yet. But I'll toot my horn for the moment. Formal PR shall follow.

Oh, what's MURDER MOON? Dig the preview.

September 19, 2007

It's Wednesday, that means trash day, right?

Full Bleed 2

Or it means another Full Bleed delivered right to YOU!

September 13, 2007

BARDO F'ING POND

Bardo Pond Photography

That's what I answer when someone asks me for recommendations for "heavy" music. Start with AMANITA. But be sure to check out the wacked out photography and effects pedal catalogues.

Cribbed from Quartz City.

September 12, 2007

Full Bleed resurrected

Full Bleed 1

Like it says. Full Bleed, for folks who don't know, is the name of my weekly (oh God I hope I can keep it weekly) column covering comics, pop culture, writing and whatever else I can do to keep my savage editor at bay for another week. It originally ran at Broken Frontier from 2003-2004 or was it 2005? I can't even remember any longer.

But it's back. Cthulhu help us all. Especially me.

September 11, 2007

Murder Moon preview video

I sure hope this works, or I'm going to end up looking like a damn fool again.

Please let me know if folks have a problem watching the above. Working on a Mac in a PC world is sometimes...frustrating.

Thanks again to Steven Smith for use of his gorgeously atmospheric music, David Wellington for the great quote and Mike Trent for technical consulting.

BUMPED back to the main page on 9/12.

September 05, 2007

The Story So Far

Now, in a perfect world, there'd be a bit of traffic coming this way after posting the MURDER MOON trailer. So it occurs to me that I should probably have a bit of an introduction for the folks who are coming around here for the first time.

MURDER MOON, the graphic novel, was originally slated as a traditional monthly series under the name STRANGEWAYS, to be published by Speakeasy Comics back in December, 2005. Nevermind how long I'd been working on it before that. On the eve of the first issue's publication (a publication that had been pushed back numerous times by last-minute publisher-side delays), with the second issue turned in and the third issue in the process of being made press-ready, I pulled the book from Speakeasy's lineup. It was clear that Speakeasy was not going to make it through the winter, despite regular protestations to the contrary. Adam Fortier, the then-head of Speakeasy, let the book go graciously.

As much as I'd wanted to get a finished book out onto the stands, I wanted more for the story to be complete. Had the book stayed, I'd have gotten one issue on the stands before things went sour. One issue does not a story make. Putting out one issue then a trade collection tends to make a lot of readers mad, forcing a format change in order for them to get the whole story. The story remained intact, but unpublished.

So I spent some time getting other publishers lined up. Some were quick about their rejections. Some took their time about it, even after hiring a second artist (that they liked) to redraw pages because they really liked the material, but they just weren't wild about Luis Guaragña's art. Time to get submissions in, time to get artists to redraw pages, interminable time to hear back from them before figuring out that it wasn't gonna happen. Time to move 500 miles and re-settle, buy a house, sell a house, raise two kids (still in the process of doing that) and all the other fun things that make life worth living.

So, STRANGEWAYS is dead as a monthly title, but the name lives on as a series of books. The first one is called MURDER MOON. It's a black and white western horror story, about ex-Union soldier Seth Collins, haunted by his own ghosts and making his way through an increasingly haunted frontier (a region called the Strangeways, where there's things worse than bandits and rustlers waiting in the shadows.) The first book is done, done, done. I'm waiting to hear back from Diamond about whether they'll carry it (somehow this is an issue to me, even though most folks tell me not to worry about it.) Hopefully distribution will be settled shortly so that I can get on with selling the book.

Look for a preview of the first chapter to go online after I have a publication date settled. I like to give folks a chance to look a chance at they're gambling their thirteen bucks on.

Forgot to add: there's a 5-page preview up over at my ComicSpace page. Dig it.

September 04, 2007

An update of sorts

Murder Moon?

Sitting in Diamond's hands right now. Enjoy the preview below.

Travels?

Going to the Stumptown Festival in Portland, OR at the end of the month.

Anything else?

Working on the second round of STRANGEWAYS scripts, now that the revolving door of artists has finally stopped revolving so damn much.

Is that it?

Oh yeah, I'm resurrecting FULL BLEED, my old comics column. It's not been officially announced, so I won't say where it's going just yet. Will aim for weekly editions, but that's worked out so well for me in the past that I'm not going to play that game anymore.

Are you sure you're not forgetting something?

I went bowling yesterday. I got 111. With bumpers (my kids and their cousins were using the lane). Yes, I know. I need some work on that.