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My SDCC 2006 - Part Six
Like I said earlier, Friday was really my big day. Not sure what I have to offer here. Lessee...
I got to the Con around 2:00 p.m., because I'd been up late the night before. Not that I partied much--after the Eisners I couldn't get a hold of my friends until after I'd gotten on the trolley taking me to the mall where I'd parked, and the trolley actually had stopped running all the way back there, so I had to take a cab from Old Town to Mission Valley, for those of you who know San Diego. Only about five miles or so, but an additional hassle. Got some Taco Bell on the way home, I think, and ended up watching a goodly chunk of Godfather II.
Anyway, I got there in time to catch the Yoshihiro Tatsumi/Adrian Tomine panel. I didn't take any notes or anything, so I don't remember a lot of it. There was some interesting stuff about Tatsumi's youthful admiration for Osamu Tezuka, and how that led to their meeting, though when Tatsumi started doing his dark gekiga he never mentioned it to Tezuka as he knew Tezuka wouldn't like it. However, once it became somewhat popular, Tezuka apparently did a story very much in Tatsumi's style, so he must've become aware of it at some point. Tatsumi continued to have great respect and affection for Tezuka all his life, and they were friends, but he confessed to not being interested in the work Tezuka did "for children"--presumably Astro Boy--so he went years without reading more. Tomine did a good job interviewing him, though he's a really nervous guy (Tomine). Not like quivering or anything, but he looked over whenever anyone entered, took a seat or left--just very aware of what was going on around him, and with a disapproving look for any disturbance.
I was very curious whether Tatsumi was still cartooning and what recent works of his might be published in English, and apparently he is completing two. One is a smallish graphic novel that's kind of a romance involving reincarnation, and another is more of a memoir or at least semiautobiographical, called The Journey of a Feather or something like that. I think in the latest collection, Abandon the Old in Tokyo it might be called The Journey of a Gekiga, but that wasn't what he called it during the panel, so maybe it's still up in the air.
Couple Tatsumi-related bits from Friday's graphic novel panel I forgot to mention:
1) Arnold Drake, who cowrote one of the many contenders for "first graphic novel" with It Rhymes with Lust, as well as cocreating The Doom Patrol and Deadman, attended the panel as an audience member but stood up to take about 10 minutes talking about the reprinting of the book in the latest issue of The Comics Journal. I didn't know it was Drake, as he didn't introduce himself, or I might've told him later how much I liked his Doom Patrol stories. The kinda funny thing was at the end, when he got on his Rascal and almost ran over Tatsumi's wife with it. He was also wearing the same cool hat seen in the photo.
2) I overheard in the audience Joel Meadows, the former publisher of defunct comics magazine Tripwire, talking to other English friends about how none of them had any clue who Tatsumi was. Presumably he was better prepared for the Judge Dredd panel.
Back on the floor, Marc Mason and I saw some areas we hadn't seen yet, or at least I hadn't, like Artist's Alley. I did also see Steve Rude's booth, and though I was kind of hard on him last year for not being that friendly and for his sketchbooks being a little pricey (as far as I'm concerned), the joy I experienced this year with the Nexus reprints really wiped most of those feelings away.
John Ridley was giving away copies of his MMPB Those Who Walk in Darkness, starring a heroine who "kicks mutant ass." Mason is a huge fan, and it was free (to stir interest in the sequel that's out or coming out soon) and he was signing it, so what the hell. No idea when I'll actually read it.
The Adult Swim booth was really lame--lots of phony pillars topped with fake plastic owls--but they were giving away a little book of postcards related to their shows, which was pretty cool.
I like Kyle Baker, so I visited his booth just like last year, plus this year I could mention my Eisner judge gig, which had the night before netted him two awards. Very nice guy, though I don't think the awards mean that much to him, which is probably best. You shouldn't be doing the work for that, anyway. Apparently Plastic Man is cancelled, joining Solo as a strong, acclaimed, wider-audience-possibility book that they canned rather than continue as a classy series that doesn't make a lot of dough. What the good publishers/studios/record labels/networks know is that sometimes, you keep something on or put something out because it's just good, even if it's not as commercially successful as you'd like it to be. I bought the new Nat Turner: Encore Edition that collects the first two issues. The reason for the delay seems to have a great deal to do with Baker having to scramble for post-Plas work, such as some animation stuff and an upcoming Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror story.
Neal Adams really needs a new shirt. I think he's worn the same blue dress shirt the past five years or more.
And then came STERANKO! Yes, I saw him at the Vanguard booth, and though I normally would've been too shy to approach him, I had that Eisner thing as currency, so I did end up talking with him for a few minutes, interspersed with Michael Dooley and I think Arlen Schumer vying for his attention as well. I think Schumer brought up some old comment from John Romita, Sr about Steranko that I guess was meant to be flattering but was just a real reach to have any relevance today (not the quote itself but the fact it was being used as a conversational gambit so many years later). What was more interesting was the mention from some other guy that he had some anti-drug pamphlet that Marvel did in the '60s, drawn by Steranko, and that Steranko didn't even own a copy of anymore. Anyway, Steranko was quite nice and self-effacing, just like in his Eisner speech. He said his time in comics was so short compared to the other Hall of Famers, who had devoted their lives to comics, and that he loved comics still but just hadn't done enough of them to deserve the honor. I gave him just what he wanted by saying that while his body of work was small, it was a real flashpoint and inspiration for so many others, which was the rationale behind him getting in the Hall of Fame. He smiled with satisfaction and agreed that, yes, maybe it was pretty influential. I believe it, too, and you know, old smoothie that he may be, he was obviously really pleased to be honored, and I was happy to be a part of it. If it was up to me, Matt Baker would be in there ahead of him, but what the hell. Maybe next year.
Had dinner with Mason, the Jerwas, and Rybandt at steak place Lou & Mickey's, though none of us ordered steak or anything in that price range. Edward James Olmos was talking with an acquaintance of mine, Bert, who I talked to on the way to our table a bit about his Star Trek obsession. I guess he has a Vulcan motorcycle with "Live Long and Prosper" painted on it. His waitress was into independent comics, and I tried to get her to visit our table, which wasn't part of her station, but it didn't happen. A tip for hitting on waitresses, though: never use the word "serve" in relation to what they do for you. They help you. It's less demeaning.
Dinner was nice. We had a corner table outside, so we saw lots of people--Patton Oswalt walked by and spoke briefly about maybe stopping by, as Brandon Jerwa had made a connection with him and Brian Posehn the previous night when he told them he was going to write in a cameo for them as Viper pilots in his Battlestar Galactica comic, which they were apparently really excited about. There was a lot of conversation that can't be repeated, though we all had a good laugh at a silly joke that spun out of some story Brandon was telling about a guy caught sneaking into a stable and fisting horses. It was decided that HorseFist sounded like a Rob Liefeld character, an equine superhero with a star over one eye, and because Liefeld was drawing it, you never got to see the hooves.
There were some more funny moments later at the Hyatt, and even an arrest, but I'll just leave it on the horse-fisting note. Thanks for reading.
I got to the Con around 2:00 p.m., because I'd been up late the night before. Not that I partied much--after the Eisners I couldn't get a hold of my friends until after I'd gotten on the trolley taking me to the mall where I'd parked, and the trolley actually had stopped running all the way back there, so I had to take a cab from Old Town to Mission Valley, for those of you who know San Diego. Only about five miles or so, but an additional hassle. Got some Taco Bell on the way home, I think, and ended up watching a goodly chunk of Godfather II.
Anyway, I got there in time to catch the Yoshihiro Tatsumi/Adrian Tomine panel. I didn't take any notes or anything, so I don't remember a lot of it. There was some interesting stuff about Tatsumi's youthful admiration for Osamu Tezuka, and how that led to their meeting, though when Tatsumi started doing his dark gekiga he never mentioned it to Tezuka as he knew Tezuka wouldn't like it. However, once it became somewhat popular, Tezuka apparently did a story very much in Tatsumi's style, so he must've become aware of it at some point. Tatsumi continued to have great respect and affection for Tezuka all his life, and they were friends, but he confessed to not being interested in the work Tezuka did "for children"--presumably Astro Boy--so he went years without reading more. Tomine did a good job interviewing him, though he's a really nervous guy (Tomine). Not like quivering or anything, but he looked over whenever anyone entered, took a seat or left--just very aware of what was going on around him, and with a disapproving look for any disturbance.
I was very curious whether Tatsumi was still cartooning and what recent works of his might be published in English, and apparently he is completing two. One is a smallish graphic novel that's kind of a romance involving reincarnation, and another is more of a memoir or at least semiautobiographical, called The Journey of a Feather or something like that. I think in the latest collection, Abandon the Old in Tokyo it might be called The Journey of a Gekiga, but that wasn't what he called it during the panel, so maybe it's still up in the air.
Couple Tatsumi-related bits from Friday's graphic novel panel I forgot to mention:
1) Arnold Drake, who cowrote one of the many contenders for "first graphic novel" with It Rhymes with Lust, as well as cocreating The Doom Patrol and Deadman, attended the panel as an audience member but stood up to take about 10 minutes talking about the reprinting of the book in the latest issue of The Comics Journal. I didn't know it was Drake, as he didn't introduce himself, or I might've told him later how much I liked his Doom Patrol stories. The kinda funny thing was at the end, when he got on his Rascal and almost ran over Tatsumi's wife with it. He was also wearing the same cool hat seen in the photo.
2) I overheard in the audience Joel Meadows, the former publisher of defunct comics magazine Tripwire, talking to other English friends about how none of them had any clue who Tatsumi was. Presumably he was better prepared for the Judge Dredd panel.
Back on the floor, Marc Mason and I saw some areas we hadn't seen yet, or at least I hadn't, like Artist's Alley. I did also see Steve Rude's booth, and though I was kind of hard on him last year for not being that friendly and for his sketchbooks being a little pricey (as far as I'm concerned), the joy I experienced this year with the Nexus reprints really wiped most of those feelings away.
John Ridley was giving away copies of his MMPB Those Who Walk in Darkness, starring a heroine who "kicks mutant ass." Mason is a huge fan, and it was free (to stir interest in the sequel that's out or coming out soon) and he was signing it, so what the hell. No idea when I'll actually read it.
The Adult Swim booth was really lame--lots of phony pillars topped with fake plastic owls--but they were giving away a little book of postcards related to their shows, which was pretty cool.
I like Kyle Baker, so I visited his booth just like last year, plus this year I could mention my Eisner judge gig, which had the night before netted him two awards. Very nice guy, though I don't think the awards mean that much to him, which is probably best. You shouldn't be doing the work for that, anyway. Apparently Plastic Man is cancelled, joining Solo as a strong, acclaimed, wider-audience-possibility book that they canned rather than continue as a classy series that doesn't make a lot of dough. What the good publishers/studios/record labels/networks know is that sometimes, you keep something on or put something out because it's just good, even if it's not as commercially successful as you'd like it to be. I bought the new Nat Turner: Encore Edition that collects the first two issues. The reason for the delay seems to have a great deal to do with Baker having to scramble for post-Plas work, such as some animation stuff and an upcoming Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror story.
Neal Adams really needs a new shirt. I think he's worn the same blue dress shirt the past five years or more.
And then came STERANKO! Yes, I saw him at the Vanguard booth, and though I normally would've been too shy to approach him, I had that Eisner thing as currency, so I did end up talking with him for a few minutes, interspersed with Michael Dooley and I think Arlen Schumer vying for his attention as well. I think Schumer brought up some old comment from John Romita, Sr about Steranko that I guess was meant to be flattering but was just a real reach to have any relevance today (not the quote itself but the fact it was being used as a conversational gambit so many years later). What was more interesting was the mention from some other guy that he had some anti-drug pamphlet that Marvel did in the '60s, drawn by Steranko, and that Steranko didn't even own a copy of anymore. Anyway, Steranko was quite nice and self-effacing, just like in his Eisner speech. He said his time in comics was so short compared to the other Hall of Famers, who had devoted their lives to comics, and that he loved comics still but just hadn't done enough of them to deserve the honor. I gave him just what he wanted by saying that while his body of work was small, it was a real flashpoint and inspiration for so many others, which was the rationale behind him getting in the Hall of Fame. He smiled with satisfaction and agreed that, yes, maybe it was pretty influential. I believe it, too, and you know, old smoothie that he may be, he was obviously really pleased to be honored, and I was happy to be a part of it. If it was up to me, Matt Baker would be in there ahead of him, but what the hell. Maybe next year.
Had dinner with Mason, the Jerwas, and Rybandt at steak place Lou & Mickey's, though none of us ordered steak or anything in that price range. Edward James Olmos was talking with an acquaintance of mine, Bert, who I talked to on the way to our table a bit about his Star Trek obsession. I guess he has a Vulcan motorcycle with "Live Long and Prosper" painted on it. His waitress was into independent comics, and I tried to get her to visit our table, which wasn't part of her station, but it didn't happen. A tip for hitting on waitresses, though: never use the word "serve" in relation to what they do for you. They help you. It's less demeaning.
Dinner was nice. We had a corner table outside, so we saw lots of people--Patton Oswalt walked by and spoke briefly about maybe stopping by, as Brandon Jerwa had made a connection with him and Brian Posehn the previous night when he told them he was going to write in a cameo for them as Viper pilots in his Battlestar Galactica comic, which they were apparently really excited about. There was a lot of conversation that can't be repeated, though we all had a good laugh at a silly joke that spun out of some story Brandon was telling about a guy caught sneaking into a stable and fisting horses. It was decided that HorseFist sounded like a Rob Liefeld character, an equine superhero with a star over one eye, and because Liefeld was drawing it, you never got to see the hooves.
There were some more funny moments later at the Hyatt, and even an arrest, but I'll just leave it on the horse-fisting note. Thanks for reading.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 10:48 PM [Link to this post]
2 Comments:
That was as detail-filled and singularly-voiced as one could ever hope for from a blog report. Good stuff. Thanks for doing it.
Hi Joel. If I embarrassed you, my apologies. Everyone has holes in their culture; certainly that applies to me. Reading Gravett's Graphic Novel book really pointed out that I'd missed a lot of interesting books. Best, CA.
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