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May 14, 2008: Emerald City Comic Con 2008 Report

The hometown cons are always the best. The people you know the best, no strange place, and you get to drive home at night. To that end, Emerald City Comic Con remains my consistent favorite over the years.

It changed venues this year, moving from the stadium area to midtown Seattle, making it a little harder to get to, but with several palpable benefits. Cheap food nearby, panel rooms instead of simply "upstairs," extra heat, and a HELL of a lot more creators. I was told that instead of the 100 there were last year, there were 160 this year, and it showed.

It's pushing smaller local cons as well to strive for greatness, and has promoted increased interest in the awesome Bell-Con (in Bellingham) and the upcoming Spokane Con, in Spokane.

But NEAL, you scream, why are you concerning an international site with tens of thousands of hits with the local flavor?

Well, because I think you should come here and try some of it. And no, the chamber of commerce has not paid me off. I just truly love the locality of where I live (even if my neighborhood is a bit rough).

The guests were plentiful, incredible, and everywhere around me, it was insane. Unlike San Diego, where I hear they throw the artists upstairs now in favor of video games, here you're thrust right into a sea of creators. To my left was Brian Lee O'Malley, to my front Kurt Busiek, Ed Brubaker, Mike Choi, to my right Gail Simone and Pia Guerra. Over two aisles were Bill Willingham, Greg Rucka, Jen Van Meter, Eric Trautmann. Also around was the gent who plays the younger Odama on Battlestar, Wil Wheaton, whose blog is an insanely good read (BUY HIS BOOKS (AFTER YOU BUY MINE)), and Gigi Edgley, a con favorite. The only person who I heard got shafted was Matthew Clark, one of my favorite artists, who got an apparently cramped booth.

I went to two panels, but in retrospect, I wish I had attended more. The lack of a huge group of people, per San Diego, coupled with the intimate setting allowed for great fun. In the Wil Wheaton panel, I got to see a snickering Ed Brubaker (on the prodding of Bill Willingham) get up and ask Wil if he wanted to play D and D later, because Wil is an avowed Dungeons and Dragons man. I'm not sure if Wil knew it was Brubaker, but I saw them chatting later, so I'm sure all was well. Still, when I walked over to Bill, who I've learned to like very quickly after my escapade in a trunk with him, he 'fessed up. Good times.

I'm always worried at these things that one of the artists whose work I haven't enjoyed will come over and punt off my head like a football. It's rough, because I can't help what I like or don't like, and I don't like the idea of a creator reading my reviews and having their feelings hurt. Gail and Kurt, whose work I was largely negative on, didn't kill me. I guess that's... good?

I'm a blurb! Scot Alan, the man who draws the "Oh Brother!" has produced a fine collected edition in FULL COLOR! When I arrived at my table, there was an awesome scroll inviting me to come over for my FREE PRIZE! When I got there, Scot handed me the book, which has my blurb on it from a few cons back:

"Oh, Brother!" is mostly a hit, which is something that I love in a web comic, the punch lines always pop, the characters are fun, true, vivid, and original. Further, they all have distinctive flair and character. The humor applied here is incredible, fun, and worth a definite add to the weekly webcomic list.

Being a writer type, I obviously wanted to correct my work after the fact. And so I will, in the hopes that Scot wants a new blurb for the second edition when this one sells out like gangbustsers!

Flattery WILL get you somewhere. Heh. But I mean it.

The crowning achievement of the week was going to Pia Guerra and asking for an Ampersand. No, not the monkey. A LITERAL ampersand, going "Oook! Eeek!" Pia is so rad, she indulged me. I have a literal ampersand (&) making monkey noises thanks to Pia.

John Munn, my guy at Comic Book Ink in Tacoma, put it very well, when I walked over and showed him my ampersand. "You have PIA GUERRA right there, and you had her draw an ampersand?"

I'm still giggling. I like that idea. I want a sketchbook filled with bad stick figures drawn by writers. In fact, I will start doing that with the next con. Remind me if I don't. Except Bendis. That's cheating. He can draw.

Jeevn Atwal and Tony Flores, who you may recall from previously as the folks who drew me into their comic, had another "L'il Jeewee" comic, which I read and greatly enjoyed. They got that lunch with Dan DiDio... I have to ask them how it went. Jeevn asked me if I had any questions. Astonishingly, I had none. Maybe, "Is Libra Barry Allen?" That's my sneaking suspicion based in the captions.

I also got to talk with the Bluewater gents, thanks to Chris Clow, my longtime friend and an organizer of Bell-Con. They release the Ray Harryhausen work in comic form, and I finally got to knuckle in and enjoy their sampler, which rocks.

The Superman Homepage already covered what DiDio had to say about the late books. What wasn't covered is that I found out something that surprised me. I'm in the minority.

Most of the hands raised would gladly have waited over a year for a book.

The question went like this: "How many of you read books for the artist teams?"

Most hands went up.

"How many of you would wait one month for a late book?"

I put my hand down, my new hardline stance, trying to show DC with my pocketbook, blah blah blah. I think my hand was the only one.

"How many of you would wait two? Three? Four? Five?"

Most of the hands went up. DiDio made a valid point that it makes business sense.

And, writing the Smallville review, I realize, it DOES. I mean, there are folks who write me threatening to kill me when my Smallville review is late. Joking, I hope, but anyway, the point being, I can understand that. They will not suffer for late books. I realize that now.

I stand by my opinion, though. But I know why I hold it, and no one else does. Because I feel a very heartfelt obligation that if you guys want to see something, I get it done and to you as fast as is humanly possible, and if I can't do a thing, I will be open and honest about it. If I were to get sick, I would write a long letter to be published online explaining that.

Half of business in media is playing it close to the jacket, I am learning. I will be poor at this, because I can't really hide things very well. If Adam Kubert got sick, they should have told us. We would have sympathized. We would have sent well wishes. If Adam was lazy, they should have told us. We would have sent condemnation, and been angry. But with no press release or info of any kind beyond Johns, we are simply PERPLEXED and buying as a captive audience.

I also got to hang with Rebecca Hicks and her husband James, creator of LITTLE VAMPIRES! They rock! Rebecca is a hilarious, wonderful gal, as is her husband (Er, wait...). Almost every con I hit, we banter back and forth, and this weekend I got the joy of walking around Seattle at night with them, searching for a bathroom and eating Sushi. They're, like me, taking the extraordinary risk of quitting a regular job to write, so please, if you see Little Vampires, Elohim, or any associated work, SUPPORT THEM at cons. They're good people, and they deserve to live the dream.

Sion, my best local friend, and Tami, his wife, helped me survive, giving me breaks for panels and bringing me food. Spencer and Briana, their niece and nephew, put up with my craziness rather well. Poor Spencer had to deal with me answering the door with a loaded rifle once... it's a long story, but for that alone they deserve a shout out. Sion comes from that Brittania place across the water, so he calls me Ensign Yankee Bear, and I call him Limey Bear. It's a long story. To understand it, you'll have to read Checkmate #25, pages two and three...

Beyond that, thank you to ALL of the great people who stopped by with suggestions! You'll see that because of your feedback we've put links to Trade Paperback collections in our Comic Index lists, and we're working on a few other great multimedia features...

EMERALD CITY HONOR ROLL:

Kristen Arntzen (POWER GIRL)
Sion Heaney
Tami Sortore
Greg Rucka
Eric Trautmann
Jen Van Meter
Brittany (My 14-year-old leather jacket "groupie"! Best... Nova genius... ever.)
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Pia Guerra
Scot Alan
Jeewn Atwal
Tony Flores
Rebecca Hicks
James Hicks
Tom Miller (I GOT YOUR LAST NAME THIS TIME! Thanks for all the help, Tom!)
Jim Demonakos (He got us there, folks)
Matthew Clark
Bill Willingham
Gail Simone and Kurt Busiek (I LIVE!)
Wil Wheaton (Inspiring man. Seriously, guys)
YOUR NAME HERE.

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