posted April 24, 2003 12:59 PM            

I'll be there for my (gulp!) first comic convention. I'll be the one that looks like a deer in the headlights. 8=)

If I can find you, I'll definitely stop by to say 'hi'.

posted April 24, 2003 01:36 PM               

New Orleans not exactly a comic "hotbed", so I don't think the(major) convention circuit visits the metro area I've always wanted to hit one of those "big ones".

On my "things to do in life" list!

posted April 24, 2003 02:58 PM            

Sigh.

posted April 24, 2003 04:21 PM               

-Adam!

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Interested in joining Hal's Emerald Advancement Team? Check out www.glheat.cjb.net, and if you agree with our mission statement, then email the application to me at SilverAgeAdam@yahoo.com

I INVITE YOU TO SUPPORT OPERATION EMERALD STORM!!

Send your extra comic books to the families of our troops fighting in the Persian Gulf!!

posted April 25, 2003 12:48 PM               

Chris

posted April 26, 2003 05:02 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
Dunno yet.
Bob Wayne is here--I chatted with him a couple of times today, but since he's an old acquaintance, I didn't want to just jump on him directly with a bunch of archive questions. I'll try to draw him out a bit tomorrow. Bob Greenberger isn't here.

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posted April 27, 2003 12:02 AM            

I've got to say that I really enjoyed my first comic-con. I was in there for 9 hours and didn't get to do everything that I wanted to.

A really big surprise is how little people care about "traditional" comics vs. movies, anime, cards, etc. For example, there couldn't have been more that 30-40 people to see Joe Kubert and Russ Heath (!!!) yet there must have been 400 people crammed in to see movie trailers. I mean, come on, this is Kubert and Heath!

posted April 27, 2003 02:26 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by NecessaryImpurity:
Just another sign we are in the end days of comics.

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For me that sign was at last summer's SD Comic Con, when I walked into the convention hall and said, "where did all the comics go?" Seriously, in past years the convention hall was filled with comic book dealers, but last summer the dealers were relegated to one corner of the hall and there weren't that many of them!

posted April 27, 2003 12:36 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by chris_ccl:
I'll be at the Motor City Comic Con
May 16-18,2003 @ Novi Expo Center Novi, MI, working a booth. If anyone is going, I'll post more info so you and I can meet.

Chris

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Chris, I'll be a Guest at the MCC this May. What booth will be yours?

Jim

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"...this child has become the parent." The Red Tornado

posted April 27, 2003 02:46 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jim Beard:
Chris, I'll be a Guest at the MCC this May. What booth will be yours?

Jim

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I'll be there all day Sunday working with my friend Mike of Phoenix Comixs (http://www.phoenixcomixs.com/).
I'm not sure where the booth will be for sure. When it gets closer to show time, I'll drop you an e-mail.

Chris

posted April 28, 2003 01:07 PM               

I learned one thing about the line as a whole that I find extremely encouraging, and a couple more specific bits that didn't please me so much, but overall things look good. Since he obviously didn't want to talk in yes-or-no terms about specific characters (though I did get a couple of "nos" that surprised me), I didn't press him too hard. My impression is that the archives line is solid--maybe more solid that I'd thought--and is going to be there, and growing, for the long haul.

posted April 28, 2003 01:19 PM            

You'll just have to come up with a clever way to impart this info -- in an indirect manner, of course -- during your future postings on different topics that may/may not be impacted.

I was able to read "between the lines" on one of these items already....

"...he was reluctant to tell me much concrete..."

That must mean that there are no immediate plans to archive Paul Chadwick's Concrete -- ha! Figured that out!

posted April 29, 2003 06:18 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joe Average:

I've got to say that I really enjoyed my first comic-con. I was in there for 9 hours and didn't get to do everything that I wanted to.

A really big surprise is how little people care about "traditional" comics vs. movies, anime, cards, etc. For example, there couldn't have been more that 30-40 people to see Joe Kubert and Russ Heath (!!!) yet there must have been 400 people crammed in to see movie trailers. I mean, come on, this is Kubert and Heath!

---

I'm very rapidly becoming a grizzled veteran of the convention scene. I remember the days when I ran around in a frenzy trying to get in as soon as the convention opened, trying to make every possible purchase before closing time and opting not to meet any comic artists so that I could have more time to dig through quarter boxes.

This time around, I had too much convention-related work leading up to WonderCon, and I was really burned out by the end of it (midway through, probably). Random observations follow:

*Never buy food within the confines of the convention center, ever. Hot dogs (not footlongs, mind you) were $4.50, hamburgers (from what I heard) were $8, Coke had to be at least $3, and my favorite: Pizza for $4 a slice or at the bargain rate of $28 for the whole thing. I wouldn't pay $28 for a pizza if it were cooked by Wolfgang Puck, let alone the generic warm cheese on bread stuff that passes for pizza at a comic convention. My fiancee and I walked the half-block to Chevy's and had a decent lunch for the same price that we'd have paid for two hot dogs and two Cokes at the convention.

*Jim Lee's REALLY popular. The wait to see him had to have been at least two hours, and line had to be re-routed behind a curtained-off area to prevent it from taking up too much space. Straczynski, who's only been in comics for a few years, had really long lines, too. If Joe Kubert had started signing right away (I think that he sat for a half-hour or so talking to people at the front before deciding to move the process along, but I can't be sure), I probably would have only waited about 15 minutes to meet him. As it was, I'd gladly have waited another hour for the opportunity. He and Russ Heath were both very friendly and personable, much as I expected them to be.

*I actually spent no money at all at the convention, which surprised me and everyone I know. I guess that living near a lot of great comic shops, ebay and the used bookstores in my area have cut down on my potential shopping list at conventions by quite a bit. There were a number of rare and out-of-print books that interested me, but not at the prices I found at WonderCon.

*I spent most of my off-duty time at the convention hanging out with the artists and exhibitors that I see pretty frequently already. The number of artists who made the trip to WonderCon seemed really small this year, so there weren't all that many people to meet, from my perspective. With the exception of a few special guests, I think that most artists had to pay their own way, which really cut down on their numbers.

*Sergio Aragones is the friendliest, happiest man in comics. Every time I see him, it's a great experience, and getting to talk to him again was one of the high points of the convention.

*The convention itself seemed really small and scaled back compared to the previous two that I attended in Oakland. Within my first hour of walking around, I felt that I'd seen all of it. By the second or third lap, I was feeling pretty let down by the overall size. Not many comic dealers, lots of toy and nudie art sellers, no B-movie actors, not all that many Stormtroopers...it felt too small by half.