OCTOBER 27-28, 2006<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never been there, but I heard that the convention center, where the con would be, was a major, BIG place, so that made me hopeful that the convention would be an impressive size.\u00a0 <\/span>When we arrived there, it took some time to figure out where the comic convention was.\u00a0 <\/span>We couldn\u2019t find any signs saying \u201cStumptown\u201d or \u201cthis way,\u201d or anything like that.\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t see anything to point out there was a comics convention here at all.\u00a0 <\/span>It turned out that there was a convention center sign flashing all the events going on at the con, and if you waited about three minutes, you would get through the full rotation and see the comic con listed.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0 I jumped out at the main entrance, dragging my suitcases full of books, and poked around.\u00a0 <\/span>Wandering the halls, it took some exploring, and finally I asked a security guard, who told me what elevator to take, and what halls to go down.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t know that I could have found it again.<\/p>\n The room of the con was pretty small, relative to some of the cons I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a tiny room tucked away.\u00a0 <\/span>But we were located basically right at the front door, which seemed like a pretty great location.\u00a0 All the comic shops up this way seemed really indie-friendly.\u00a0 <\/span>One shop, Cosmic Monkey, glanced at my table, and it turns out they had ordered every one of my books over the last couple years, but didn\u2019t realize that one person (me) had put all the different titles out, and that seemed to delight them.\u00a0 <\/span>That was a nice feeling.\u00a0 <\/span>Not only that a store was out there somewhere, ordering my stuff, but that they seemed to be enjoying it.<\/p>\n At Dan Cooney\u2019s recommendation, I spoke with and got business cards from all the shops that I could find there.\u00a0 <\/span>One shop kept eyeing my stuff, and said one day he was going to have to pick something up for the shop.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him I\u2019d give him a discount if he was ordering for his shop.\u00a0 <\/span>Stores get a fifty percent discount from Diamond distributors, so I give the same to shops, if they approach me at conventions.\u00a0 <\/span>The next day he came over, and he said, \u201cI\u2019ll take this one book.\u00a0 <\/span>Fifty percent off, right?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>And I\u2019m thinking, Well, that\u2019s what I said, but when someone says they\u2019re going to order stuff for their shop, they usually get eight or ten books.\u00a0 <\/span>I was kind of speechless, and I just said, Okay.\u00a0 <\/span>So THEN, he says, \u201cSo do you just want store credit?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I was flabbergasted.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him, \u201cNo, if it\u2019s just one book, I\u2019ll just take the cash.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>So THEN he says, \u201cCan I write you a check?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>And we\u2019re talking about FIVE DOLLARS here, for ONE BOOK \u201cfor his store\u201d (and if he only buys one, it makes me sarcastically wonder if he\u2019s just going to take it home and read it for himself) and I\u2019m wondering if I should just tell him to forget the whole goddamn thing, because this feels like such bullshit.\u00a0 <\/span>But I took his check, and thought to myself: He\u2019s in this same pathetic, frustrating industry I\u2019m in, and can use a deal as well as I can.\u00a0 <\/span>And if I\u2019m getting one book out there into new people\u2019s hands, that\u2019s all that really matters, and if it\u2019s a store owner, he might like it and decide he\u2019d like to pick up more for some of his clientele, so what the hell is my problem anyways?\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes I need to chill out.\u00a0 Fantagraphics, Oni, Top Shelf and Darkhorse were all at this con.\u00a0 <\/span>It surprised me how many companies were there, but all these companies except Top Shelf are \u201clocal\u201d (within a few hours), so it makes sense.\u00a0 <\/span>I wanted to discuss possibilities of working for some of these companies, so I walked by Darkhorse and Top Shelf and Fantagraphics, but didn\u2019t see anyone I knew to talk to.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n At Oni, I spoke with Randall, who I make a point to visit with every con, and who\u2019s always really friendly.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him I hadn\u2019t spoken with him about it for a while, and just wanted to mention that I was tired of losing money self-publishing every issue I did, and what could I do to try and get work from them.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him I already suspected they had plenty of writers, and that I was willing to draw.\u00a0 <\/span>He said that was the case, and that, in fact, they were always in need of artists for all their stories.\u00a0 <\/span>I was surprised at this statement, because it suggested to me I might be able to land work after all.\u00a0 He asked if I wanted to draw in my Kirby style, and I explained that I\u2019m happy to draw in all kinds of styles, and that for me, that\u2019s half the fun of it, coming up with styles that work for a given story.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him my favorite style to work in is noir, but with retro, thick-brushed linework.\u00a0 <\/span>He then said that they actually have a couple noir projects coming up, and he\u2019d send me a sample of the scripts to take a look at.\u00a0 <\/span>I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u00a0 <\/span>Wouldn\u2019t that be great to do a crime book for Oni!<\/p>\n I told him I knew I had kind of snuck through the back door, landing work through them with Sam Kieth\u2019s Ojo project.\u00a0 <\/span>(Sam hired me to do the work, and Sam paid me out of his paycheck, so all my dealings were with Sam, not Oni).\u00a0 <\/span>Randall laughed and said he\u2019s heard that the comics industry is likened to a castle, because no one can ever get through the walls, even though everyone\u2019s trying.\u00a0 <\/span>And then someone will find some crack to slip through, and soon as he\u2019s in, the industry seals up that crack too, and it\u2019s that much harder for everyone else on the outside.\u00a0 <\/span>He nailed it.\u00a0 While we were there, we watched Scott McCloud walk in, and start wandering around.\u00a0 <\/span>My friend Dan told me that Scott had announced he was touring, so he put all his stuff in storage, and decided to go see all fifty states.\u00a0 <\/span>I assume something brought him up this way, and he decided to pop into the convention while he was here.\u00a0 <\/span>I said a quick hello, and reminded him I was the guy doing the Kirby-style giant monsters (I find you have to remind people who you are, or they won\u2019t remember.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, even if you remind them, there\u2019s a good chance they won\u2019t remember) and let him know he\u2019s inspired me to do a web comic of my own.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s always real friendly and polite, but I get the feeling he isn\u2019t particularly excited to hear what a complete stranger (me) is up to \u2013 and why should he?<\/p>\n While I was sitting around, I saw Eric Reynolds walk into the con, who I\u2019ve been getting to know better because he\u2019s usually manning the Fantagraphics booths.\u00a0 <\/span>I called him over to my table, and he said he\u2019d received a copy of Dr. DeBunko I\u2019d sent him, but hadn\u2019t had a chance to read it.\u00a0 <\/span>I asked about the possibility of getting work at Fantagraphics.\u00a0 <\/span>I told him I assumed Fantagraphics doesn\u2019t hook artists and writers together, and basically is looking for people\u2019s creations, ready to go.\u00a0 <\/span>He said exactly.\u00a0 <\/span>I said something derogatory about my Doris Danger stories.\u00a0 <\/span>Something along the lines of \u201cI know you weren\u2019t interested in them\u201d or \u201cI know it wasn\u2019t good enough for your company.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>He sweetly emphasized that my stories are good, he just didn\u2019t think they would fit in with the Fantagraphics line.\u00a0 <\/span>I mentioned Dr. DeBunko, and he again said, He just didn\u2019t think Gary (Groth) usually went for the parody stuff.\u00a0 <\/span>This was a good insight, but once again I\u00a0 <\/span>was surprised by a person\u2019s perspective of my work.\u00a0 <\/span>It had never crossed my mind that I\u2019m just a \u201cparody\u201d guy.\u00a0 <\/span>Sure, Doris Danger parodies the Kirby style, Dick Hammer parodies Micky Spillane\u2019s hardboiled novels.\u00a0 <\/span>But all this time I thought I was invigorating my parodies with so much depth and intellectual stimulation that they were surpassing mere parody.\u00a0 <\/span>But not, apparently, in the eyes of Fantagraphics.\u00a0 <\/span>And a lot of other people who look at my work, it turns out.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s good to be aware of how people perceive what I\u2019m doing.\u00a0 On the second day, in walked Matt Wagner.\u00a0 <\/span>He had told me he wouldn\u2019t make this con, because he\u2019d be going to a different convention the same weekend.\u00a0 <\/span>I was surprised and excited to see him.\u00a0 <\/span>I shouted his name and called him over, and of course since he hadn\u2019t wound up going to the other convention, he popped in here, to see what was going on.\u00a0 <\/span>I asked him, if we come up again some time, if he\u2019ll have dinner with us.\u00a0 <\/span>He said, \u201cOh yeah, of course!\u201d and shrugged as if to say, You don\u2019t even need to ask.<\/p>\n I think one of my favorite visits with an artist was Tom Orzechowski, a letter who\u2019s been in the industry for years.\u00a0 <\/span>I actually met him at Wondercon earlier this year.\u00a0 <\/span>He was walking by and actually got a laugh mid walk from my Doris Danger treasury.\u00a0 <\/span>He stopped to flip through it and visit.\u00a0 <\/span>He had said then that he never had the opportunity to letter the King.\u00a0 Now, at Stumptown, I asked him if he was still lettering, and he said he is, but he does it all on computer now.\u00a0 <\/span>I asked what made him decide to make the switch.\u00a0 <\/span>He said the comics companies told him, \u201cIf you want to keep working for us, you\u2019ll buy this lettering program, and you\u2019ll learn to use it.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>So he was forced.\u00a0 <\/span>I asked how he likes computer lettering.\u00a0 <\/span>He said it\u2019s just different, and he enjoys different aspects about each.\u00a0 <\/span>He pointed out, if you give a bunch of people the same font, you can give a few pages to a few guys each, and get a full book lettered in a few hours.\u00a0 <\/span>If different guys all hand-letter the same pages, the book won\u2019t be consistent.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s quite an advantage over hand lettering, if you\u2019re on a deadline and in a pinch.\u00a0 <\/span>Never really thought about that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n He said he tried lettering something by hand recently, and he just doesn\u2019t have the chops any more.\u00a0 <\/span>I really enjoyed hearing about the professional lettering industry from him.\u00a0 <\/span>Goodbye (sniff), hand-made letters!\u00a0 I was kicking myself all weekend, because I forgot to bring copies of the Lump trade paperback.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t know how I could have blown that, because it\u2019s my newest book, and if I\u2019d just sold a few of those, I think I could have done much better at the con.\u00a0 <\/span>As it was, I made back my inexpensive table costs, but didn\u2019t make back my inexpensive flight up.\u00a0 <\/span>Everyone at the con agreed the weekend was kind of quiet.\u00a0 <\/span>One of my poor friends there told me he only sold two trade paperbacks the whole weekend \u2013 both on the second day.\u00a0 <\/span>That second day must have been hell, but that FIRST day must have REALLY been hell.<\/p>\n The guy who ran the con sent out a really nice letter after, pointing out all these weaknesses of the con, and said he\u2019d try and do even better next year.<\/p>\n I still thoroughly enjoyed myself.\u00a0 The con had a great indie vibe, and I had a lot of nice interactions, and just maybe I\u2019ll hit this con again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OCTOBER 27-28, 2006 I\u2019d never been there, but I heard that the convention center, where the con would be, was a major, BIG place, so that made me hopeful that the convention would be an impressive size.\u00a0 When we arrived there, it took some time to figure out where the comic convention was.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t 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major, BIG place, so that made me hopeful that the convention would be an impressive size.\u00a0 When we arrived there, it took some time to figure out where the comic convention was.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chriswisniaarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}