While standing at my booth, I happened by chance to see a number of cool people walking by, and I employed a newly developed, and highly successful technique to get their attention and try to get them over to talk to me. This technique, I call the “rude shouting from behind the table” technique. I employed this revolutionary practice with John Dolmayan (System of a Down’s drummer), Grant Morrison, Eric Larsen, and Jim Lee. Each instance, I was able to rudely get their attention – if not on my first try, then by shouting even louder and calling them over. In each case, I gave them copies of my brand-new Doris Danger book. I had the feeling Eric liked it (he actually bought it), John would at least flip through it, Jim might or might not look it over, and Grant would leave it in the nearest receptacle.
I’ll tell a secret about my finding John Dolmayan. I’d seen him wandering around for the last couple years at Wondercon. This year, I made sure to visit the System of a Down website and make sure I had his name right. Sure enough, he walked by, and I shouted his name. He seemed like a real cool, down-to-earth guy. Very friendly, considering I shouted out his name. He said he liked the oversized format of the Doris book. I asked him about his drum set covered with comic book artist’s art. I had heard about it, waiting in line to see Michael Kaluta a few years before. It had Arthur Adams and hopefully Kaluta. I would learn it had Tim Vigil and Tim Bradstreet. He said the original had been stolen, but that he planned to debut the new drum set at the Warped Tour, then bring it to the San Diego con this year. That will be a FREAKIN’ COOL DRUM SET to see.
I used my now effective shouting technique with Bruce Timm, who for some reason I’ve been really intimidated by for years. I’ve seen him in the past, and tried to show him my book and ask if he might consider doing a pin-up. Once he just said no flat out, and the other times I was too ashamed to even ask after approaching him, because he seemed kind of like, “Oh, Christ, here we go again. Why the hell do I always get accosted by these morons?” So this time, he looked like he wasn’t opposed to me or my book, and just said these kinds of pin-ups weren’t really his thing. Fair enough. I told him I think he’s just about the most Kirbyesque artist of them all. One of the highest praises I can think of.
Also saw Howard Chaykin walking by, and shouted out his name. We had met at the Baltimore Con where I’d shown him photo copies, and I wanted to show him the finished book. He came over and chastised me for my audacious shouting behavior. I said, “Do you remember me from Baltimore?” He shouted back, No! “I’m the Kirby-style monster guy. Ryan Sook told me you’re going to do a book with him.” He perked up. “Is he here?” I pointed him out, and he excused himself, said he’d be right back, and walked over to Ryan. I watched them introduce each other and visit for a while, and then Howard walked off in the opposite direction and never came back.