I got a lot done that first day, as far as hunting down all these artists, introducing myself, and getting their contact information.
We barely sold any books. Almost no one came over to our table. The convention was set up so that all the indie artists were along two back walls. It was a gaping, empty area. All the actual, known artists were inside the mass of aisles, amongst one another. We were over by the women’s restroom, in the back-most corner.
As the con was about to end, Lindy, Dick Ayers’ wife, came over and said they were packed up and going to start walking back to the hotel. She told me they walk slow, and she was sure we could catch up and find them. We caught up with them before they got out the door.
It was a really nice walk with Dick. He talked about how many pages he’d done in his career — over 50,000! — and how few he actually got back from the publishers, and how over the years he’d see these missing pages pop up for sale. Once he contacted the seller and explained the situation, and the seller gave the pages back to Dick as a gift. But on other occasions, the people had told them they were sorry, but they weren’t giving the pages back.
Dick talked about his new book, Chipps Wilde, and how the publisher wanted him to do a Western, and Dick said he’d do it, but it has to be in the 1920’s so he could draw cars and planes too.
On the walk back, we met Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord and man responsible for Free Comic Day, and Joe Ferrara, owner of Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz and winner of the Will Eisner “Spirit of Comics” Award. While we were in the lobby visiting, a woman walked over and started talking with Lindy and Elizabeth, and then her husband came, and before I realized this was John Romita and his wife Virginia, the pair had disappeared to have dinner. I couldn’t believe my luck.
Mart Nodell and his son Spencer joined our group in the lobby. Mart created the golden-age Green Lantern, and I found out he also helped create the Pilsbury Dough Man! Next thing I knew, we were invited by the Joes to join Mart and Dick for a delicious dinner. Dick talked about some of the experiences he had just put in the third and final chapter of his autobiography, which hadn’t been released yet. He said at the Angouleme Comics Convention in France, the mayor treated Dick like a war hero (He had fought in the war), had him sit in front, and awarded him with a medal.
We learned Joe Field originally ran Wondercon in Oakland, before Comic-Con bought it up.
Next thing we knew, we were stuffed and it was 9:45. As we left the restaurant, Michael Lark grabbed us and told us his friends were leaving the bar, and he was joining them, so we wouldn’t get to spend any time together that night. We were disappointed but glad to catch him, and he let us snap a quick photo with him. As he left we told Joe Field who it was, and Joe said, “Oh man, I love Michael Lark!”
When my first issue of Tabloia had come out, a friend of mine had gone to his local comics shop and ordered ten copies, and asked the store to leave these copies on their shelves. It was my friend’s way to try and get my book out there into new people’s hands. Joe now told me that it was his store my friend had done this. Small world. Then Joe said he’s actually planned to carry the book, and had already ordered copies for the store, before my friend gave him all these additional books.
It turned out both Joes had published a comic. Joe Field’s self-publishing ventures had guest artists galore, and he only sold 1600 copies. Then Joe Ferrara piped in that he had self-published a book full of guest artists, with only slightly better sales. I told them Tabloia’s first issue had only sold 660 copies. They told me living legend Dick Ayers’s autobiography had sold even less. Of course, those numbers are different, because the book had four times the pages and cover price, but it’s still really discouraging.
After dinner we still hadn’t yet checked into our hotel. We had gone straight to the convention. Just the same, we now chose to go to the bar, where we bumped into Matt Wagner and John Snyder. Both were very friendly and we had a nice visit. Matt mentioned meeting Craig Fleisher, creator of the golden-age Sandman, and I wanted to ask him about deciding to revamp the character, but we ran out of time. I would have liked to have gotten a photo with them, but I missed my opportunity.
As we left the bar, I realized I didn’t know the name of the hotel I had booked, or where it was, and I had managed to leave our reservation info and directions in the convention hall. Between Elizabeth and I, we somehow managed to remember the name, and from there, we scrounged up directions. Oh man was that tense, wondering if we’d have to stay somewhere else and pay two hotel bills for one night. What a great day!