Elizabeth and I went and found Simon Bisley, who was gushing our praises, saying how we’re the sweetest couple. We had a blast visiting with him
After the fun we had had at Bristol Con, hanging out in bars and visiting after-con-hours, we realized we should spend as much energy as possible trying to figure out where people would be hanging out at night, and then going to those places to try and spend time with them. This was a major game plan for us, and great source of fun this year around.
We asked Simon where he would be that night, and told him we wanted to hang out with him. He told us the hotel, but when we looked for him that night, we didn’t see him. We did, however, bump into Mike Mignola. We told Mike about a Dick Clark’s New Years Eve Party our friends had been given free tickets to attend, but when they got there, they found themselves forced to watch all the band performances on a screen. They’d been duped! All the “live performances” had been pre-recorded. And when they figured out what bullshit the whole event was, they realized they’d been locked in! They weren’t allowed to leave, because the show wanted to make sure it looked like the place was so packed and fun all night, and it was a night of torture for them.
We went to another bar and saw JH Williams III, who looked very busy entertaining with his wife. We didn’t want to disturb them, so we wandered around some more and found Peter Kuper. He was fun to visit with. He told me he’d gotten his start in comics as an assistant to Howard Chaykin. I never would have guessed this, because his art is so out there; I didn’t know he ever did mainstream comics. He talked about his daughter, so Elizabeth bought him a copy of her favorite children’s book, “The Paper Bag Princess.”
We also saw Arthur Adams, who introduced me to some DC editors, and told them I’m a Kirby monster guy. Had a nice conversation with Mark Chiarello, who said he’d stop by our table the next day. He said he’s a big Star Wars fan, and bought a light saber this con, which he plans to make a tax write-off, because he’s doing a Star Wars comic. “Reference!” What a great industry, I say! He did come by our table, and I had the feeling he enjoyed my Kirby-style monster comics. He offered to give me contact info for Axel Alonso and Joe Quesada. Wow! He said he felt, based on the subject matter, Marvel should have a first shot at it. He also said “Solo” is his book, and he’s been trying to convince DC to do a “Jack Kirby Solo” book, because there’s a bunch of the King did for them, way back when, and I think he said a lot of it was never published.
The next day, we found Simon again, and told him we didn’t see him at the hotel. Really? He said he was there, and pointed in the direction opposite where we knew the hotel was. But he was adamant, and we realized there were two of this hotel.
That night, we were headed to the hotel Simon said he was actually at, and was going to be at again, and there’s Dave Gibbons outside the hotel. We say hello, and tell him we’re meeting Simon, and he kind of gives a grimace like he swallowed something unpleasant, and then out the door walks Simon. We call him over, and Dave says hello to him, and Simon says, “Hey Dave, I’ve got a Superman story I want to pitch to you,” and he goes over and mumbles in his ear, and Dave has suddenly looks taken aback, and settles into a look on his face like he’s going to be a gentleman, but Simon said something really improper.
I ask him later if he said something to Dave that would reflect poorly on us, and maybe cause Dave to not care to associate with us anymore. He thought about it for a minute and said, “Well, no, I…well…I think…well, yeah. Yeah.”
When we spotted him, Simon was leaving the bar and heading out for dinner with his friends, and invites us to tag along. So off we go. We’re walking along the street, and Simon has a bit of a stumble to his walk, and one of the women with us falls down while she’s walking. We see some punk kids that look and act like they could be tough gang kids, just milling around on the sidewalk, and Simon kind of sidles up to them with a sneer and gets up in one of their faces, and E and I aren’t sure if we should run for it before trouble happens. We don’t know what to expect. Simon kind of mumbles something in this guy’s ear, then backs up a bit and waits, and the kid stares for a second…and then smiles, and the rest of the punks giggle. And Simon smiles back, and the two of them light cigarettes together and we walk on.
On the way to the restaurant, Simon bumped into a parking meter, and started mumbling to it, “Pardon me, ma’am. Oh, aren’t you a lovely one.”
At the restaurant, there were stairs going down to the bathroom. Simon went down fine, but on his way back up, looked a little wobbly. Then he paused for a moment, like he was going to pass out. Or like he was concentrating. All of a sudden, he squatted down and took a big leap, maybe three or four stairs up. Like as far as he could jump. This is a high end, crystal-and-white-table-cloths place. He landed unsteadily a stair lower than he’d attempted, and started to teeter backward. His hands flailed a bit, then grabbed the rail, and he steadied himself. What a show. But I’m thinking, What the hell is he thinking?! I was picturing, if he had stumbled backwards down the stairs, if I should try and help him up, or just keep going up the stairs and pretend I don’t know him.
We had a really nice dinner. Elizabeth and I had already eaten, so we just visited. I told Simon that I hadn’t been familiar with his work in England, so the first works I saw of his were the covers of Doom Patrol, and it seemed like I hadn’t seen anything like them. Simon asked if those were before Lobo, and one of his friends said Doom Patrol was first. Simon talked about how he began working out in the gym, in large part, to help give him a better understanding of how the muscles of the human body work, for his art.
He just published a book of Christian imagery, and I asked him if he was religious, and he is very strongly NOT religious. I asked why the subject matter, and he said it began as just an exercise, and he did a sketch, and then he did another, and another, and next thing he knew, he had enough for a book. I asked why this subject matter, if he’s not religious. He said, whether you believe in it or not, it’s very powerful imagery, and a lot of good stories that make great images.
We had a really nice, personal talk about his family, and how much he loves his kids. Jim Williams had told us the bar he would be at that night, and we wanted to go spend some time with him, but Simon wanted to drink somewhere else, so we sadly parted our ways.
We hooked up with Jim (“JH”) and his wife, and spent a little time with them. I talked a little about wanting to try and shop my projects to publishers, and he was a real good listener, and made suggestions of companies he thought I should try. He told me some of the behind-the-scenes going-on of Alan Moore taking his “Lost Girls” project to Top Shelf. Chris Staros feels it’s a huge, important project, but that it could theoretically result in his company being closed and him going to jail, because it’s hardcore pornagraphy. So the deal could literally make him or break him.
We didn’t want to get too much in Jim’s hair, and started to say our goodnights. They were so sweet; they asked us what we were rushing off for. We admitted we didn’t want to wear out our welcome, but he and Wendy kept saying, Oh, please. So we stayed.
They introduced us to their friend Alex, who it turned out was Alex Sinclair. I didn’t recognize him at first, but figured it out using my sleuthing skills (perking my ears when he said something about what he was coloring). I told him how kind he had been with my portfolio review way back in 2001, and how he had promised to put my work on an editor’s desk. He said he thought he remembered all that, and seemed appreciative to be reminded of the story.
That night, someone told me a very entertaining Simon Bisley story, which they said they heard from Kevin Eastman. Simon is big on big fast cars, and was racing the streets in a Ferrari or something. A cop spots him and pulls him over, walks up to his window, and there’s Simon wearing a Batman mask. Simon says things like, “Don’t you know who I am? You can’t pull me over. I’m Batman.” Then Simon races off again, and the cop has to pull him over again. The cop asks for his ID, and Simon is reluctant to hand it over. Finally he gets his driver’s license out, but tells the cop, “all right, but please keep this under wraps. That’s my secret identity.”
I accidentally found where Jae Lee was, because the con is so huge, you’ll just be wandering along and realize things you want to see are going on all around you. I approached him, and he cut me off to tell me he was exclusive. I found Murphy Anderson, and he was clearly not interested in doing any drawings. I found Phil Jimenez, and he said he never does pin-ups under any circumstances. I found the Hernandez Brothers signing at Fantagraphics, and asked Mario if he could convince his brothers to come over to my booth for a photo, and he seemed stressed and busy, and I wished I hadn’t asked. All this rejection began to wear on me over the course of the con. It’s such an emotional, draining, experience, just the enormousness of the convention. My moods tend to swing really hard. I began feeling like, you know, there are only so many artists out there, and I’m beginning to run out of people I’d like to get monster pin-ups from. I started feeling like, is this my only way to connect with all these artists? And if there are no more artists to ask, and I’ve asked everyone else, does that mean I won’t have any excuse to visit with all these people any more?
And never mind that I’d been hanging around with them at bars and going to dinner with them. Sometimes you just don’t see the forest for the trees.
Overall, the con was a blast. We once again lost a ton of money, but that was expected, even though we had gotten a bigger booth in what we thought was going to be a better location. Elizabeth pointed out how important it is to go out at night and hang out with our friends. This year, not only did we get to spend some time with Peter Kuper, Simon Bisley, JH Williams III, Arthur Adams, Dave Gibbons, and Mike Mignola, we also met Mark Chiarello and Alex Sinclair. We were getting a feel for this convention thing now, and we were starting to make more and more friends in the industry, who would actually even hang out with us.