Highway 62

Well on Saturday morning, they had bupkis. They’d actually moved stock in from the store to fill the wish lists of five Wonder-Con attendees. And yeah, I was number six on that list. Lucky me. Hey, on the bright side, the project was a success and more folks will get exposed to the Kirby Love, right? That’s never a bad thing. Though my gut tells me that more people are exposed to Kirby through the invisible aspects of his style and the impact he had on superhero comics storytelling. His mad imagination is impossible to emulate, even when some guys try really, really hard.

Made a quick run through artist’s alley and the small press area to get a glimpse of my future fate. Next year, that’s me. No wandering, and probably no panels, unless I’m speaking on one for some godforsaken reason. I mean, geez, what could I possibly have to say about anything that’s of any use? Yeah, thought so.

First panel of the day: DCNation, I think. No, it wasn’t. It was the Kirby panel. Other folks have covered that reasonably well, and I don’t think anyone left much out. Really not much to add, other than Darwyn is a big softie (and I mean that in the kindest possible manner). It’s a testament to Kirby’s power that he can still get an emotional reaction thirty-five-plus years after a story was published. Hell, I still recall the stabbing feeling in my six-year-old chest I felt after watching that dolphin get skewered in KAMANDI.

There were lots of DC fans and Dan DiDio and some creator folks, including JMS (no, I’m not going to try and spell his name from memory and this is being composed offline, so no wikipedia for me) who didn’t have any snarky things to say about Marvel now that he’s working for DC (though I can’t recall if it’s one of those “Exclusive to everyone but the other guys” contracts or not.) And a lot of talk about a new weekly series, this one “Trinity.” Realize that there’s no way I’m going to like this project, pretty much no matter who’s attached to it, because it’s another kinda gimmicky presentation that only reinforces the weekly comics run. Which I’m more or less over, to the chagrin of my local retailer, I’m sure. But, they’ve got good people on it, so I hope it all turns out well for them, though it’s not my thing, you understand.

As for the rest of the panel, I guess the operative word was “Mayyyybe.” Which was the answer given to most fan questions about the fates of their favorite characters or whether they’d appear in a given series or hook up or whatever. At this point, I’m basically impervious to the kinds of…audience manipulations, for lack of a better word. The version of Superman that I give a damn about only comes out once every six months or so in the pages of ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. I haven’t found a version of Wonder Woman to cotton to, but maybe I’ll check into the first arc of Gail Simone’s take. Uh, as for Batman, no offense to Mikester, but even ALL-STAR so totally doesn’t connect that really there’s no way for me to engage the character any longer (though Ed Brubaker’s overlooked DETECTIVE issues) are a good place to start. Yeah, I’ll read FINAL CRISIS, and try not to feel too bad about it (oh, yeah, the tagline is “The Day Evil Wins”), but again, without a satisfactory place to take things, and y’know, conclude them, there’s not much of a place for me to grab a toehold into these books. I’m not motivated by an unbreakable connection to the characters (and that goes for all the publishers out there.) If a book doesn’t click, or doesn’t interest, I don’t have much patience for it, and it gets unceremoniously dropped.

Huh, I didn’t talk much about the panel. Sorry, folks. There was a little good news, like DC attempting to get a Supergirl book for kids. TINY TITANS looks promising for a kid’s starter book, but I don’t know what exactly they’ll transition readers to. The biggest problem for DC (and Marvel, too), is that they let their books grow up with their audience in the 70s/80s/90s. And now they’re kinda stuck. Their main lines are tailored for readers who’ve been longtime readers and they have blessed few entry points, and even if they cover those, what books do kids pick up between TINY TITANS and the new TITANS book, ‘cause I’m just guessing that most parents would freak right the hell out if they knews that a 13-year old was reading it. But then maybe my mom thought the same thing of UNCANNY X-MEN back in the day. I never heard about it, however.

And I still haven’t talked about the panel so much. Sorry, my head just wasn’t there. Though the reappearance of Wyatt was kind of a nice touch. I’m almost suspecting that he was planted, but sometimes real life trumps fiction.

Decided that I was going to stay at the con on Sunday, so I needed a new place to flop for the night. I went back to the Courtyard on Second street. They treated me nice last year, and were a far sight chaeaper than some alternatives. Moved the car, got the room, had some lunch at the sushi bar right across the street from the show. I drove off the chill silver drizzle with a big bowl of miso soup. Nothing beats miso soup for that. Returned to the show in time for the Vertigo panel.

I was a bit more receptive to that than the main DC panel, but then Vertigo has a different model, one that actively embraces stories with endings, so I can get down with that a bit more. I suppose the most welcome news out of that, though, was the announcement of a James Jean ART OF FABLES book. Which is kinda funny, because I’d asked Mr. Jean about it last year, and he asked me to pitch it to his editor.

Oh, I didn’t. But there are some things that you just can’t stop. James Jean’s art is as much a part of FABLES as Dave McKean’s was part of SANDMAN, though both of them stick to covers. This is a welcome move, and I’ll be picking up a copy just as soon as I see it. I seem to recall that it’ll be out next year sometime, loaded with all sorts of nice touches, in an oversize format. Whether that’s DUST COVERS oversize (just barely) or PROCESS RECESS 2 oversize (HUUUUGE) remains to be seen.

Let’s see. Oh yeah, Matt Wagner on MADAME XANADU with an unknown artist whose name I don’t recall. This looks promising. I’m generally a fan of Mr. Wagner’s writing (particularly on SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, whose trade status seems stalled, sadly), so I’ll give this a look. Apparently it also co-stars the Phantom Stranger, who “you don’t know whether to like or hate” and is “more active” as his previously-shown stoic neutrality is brought into question. The Phantom Stranger is one of those characters who’s better the less you know (y’know, like Wolverine), so this should be an interesting balancing act.

And the crowd finally teased the DEMO 2 announcement out of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan (didn’t see that one coming, did ya? Oh, you did, right along with me. Okay then.) It looks as if Vertigo has found their current round of baseline titles: FABLES, JACK OF FABLES and DMZ. Now they really need to find a way to foster a new group of writers/artists. SCALPED is really solid, but has a ways to go before it finds itself shouldering a load of the line. And the continuing tug of war between Mainline DC and Vertigo over Swamp Thing is always precious. Vertigo hasn’t leaned on DC concepts for some time (barring HELLBLAZER, which was always in a shifty little corner of the universe.) But SWAMP THING has an aura about it that still seems worth digging in and bearing down for. Maybe Mike can explain that to me.

Oh, and apparently Mike Mignola was at the panel. Who knew? Oh, it wasn’t Mike? And that questioner embarrassed himself horribly? Yeah, that happened.

Spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Rory over at Comic Relief who asked me if I had books to drop off. Sadly, no books. Heck, I’m on pins and needles myself. I did inquire as to stocks of the Evanier KIRBY book, and he told me I might be in luck. Maybe. But I’d have to tune in tomorrow at the same Bat-Time and channel. Some more vague discussion of the DM and where it’s been, plus where it might indeed be going. Always an interesting time, and I’ll be blunt. Rory’s offered support where I got stony silence from a lot of retailers. That means quite a bit to me. He’s doing it his way, and seems to be doing just fine. Granted, that means he found something that worked for him, and it’s likely not going to work for anyone else.

Oh, I almost forgot. Stuart Ng books has a one-volume compilation of all the TORPEDO albums by guys like Alex Toth and Jordi Bernet. Half of this stuff hasn’t been seen in the US unless it was imported in small batches. I was ready to drop a C-note on it right then and there. And then I tried to read the text.

Yep. Italian. My Italian is really bad. I know that I’m supposed to just look at the pictures and shut up, but I can’t quite do that. Folks have assured me that it’ll make it over here in English sometime, but I think I’m weak and will break long before that. Besides, Bernet is going to be in San Jose in a couple of months, and the thought of getting a signed volume will probably hurl me right into the abyss. Besides, other, ulterior, motives may be at play here…

Joined up with Ian (Brill, doncha know) and forged out into the rainy San Francisco night, which was cold, rainy, and umbrella-inverting windy. Went several blocks in the wrong direction before we figured out that it was indeed the wrong direction to get to the Io9/CLBDF party. iPhone to the rescue. That map thingy is pretty darn handy when you don’t know exactly where you’re going (oh yeah, and Minna Street, which we were searching for) breaks in the middle. That’s cheating, so you fight cheating with mobile internet technology is what you do.

Finally made it there, pelted by the rain-howl being funneled down alleys and generally wondering why the hell I wasn’t just going back to my room. But we made it. One bourbon on an empty stomach later, I was at the party, doing my usual anti-mingling thing. Had an interesting conversation with Brian Hibbs, which I really should follow up on sometime. Finally caught up with Graeme there, and a few other SF folks who I end up seeing only once a year if that. Didn’t take long for the bourbon to catch up with my lack of food and I stepped out before making an ass of myself (which I am capable of doing, really, you should see me once I get started.) I’d hoped for a bit of Hunan Ham and Hunan Henry’s #2, but those guys close up miserably early. Settled for a plate of curry at the Thai place across the street that was still open. Nice and sweet, though not hot at all, even after assuring them that I wouldn’t burst into flames if they served it normal strength.

I really wanted to get over to the Isotope for the Darwyn Cooke party, but I was about peopled-out I’m no misanthrope (that may be a lie), but I don’t always do well in crowds. And it was raining. And cold. And the New Year’s Night parade was making an utter mess out of Market street, so the thought of walking down to the Isotope just didn’t win. I heard it was a good time, though. James knows how to throw a party. I just wasn’t going to appreciate it, so better that I tried to sleep, after a couple nights of junk sleep from the days previous.

And watch those steel utility/access panels. Even with the diamond grip texture, the rain makes them slicker ‘n deer guts on a doorknob.