Another wonderful day without finding a geocache (then again I really can’t say I was looking today). I headed out with a goal or two in mind- first was to get to at least one session and the other was to pick up some more comics for my classroom. I did both and now I’m tired… goodnight.
Alright a little more detail… headed out and planned that my first panel would be “After the First 1,000 Pages” this panel was great, each member talked about the growth in their drawing style and confidence after finally reaching 1,000 pages of comic book art. They also talked about some of the pitfalls that they still encounter. THings like trying to figure out how to draw something and how now as they are sometimes scripting their own comics they still give themselves challenges. One panelist (and I am sorry for not being detailed, it is late and while I listened I did not take notes) talked about how he hates drawing crowd scenes and then how when he wrote a script for himself it ended up having a crowd scene! He thought he could avoid it but that’s what the story called for. Like my first session this was a small gathering, the room was almost full, but there wasn’t much of a line which was nice. I did some rough calculations and if I continue producing 3 strips a week I should hit 1,000 strips somewhere between 2015 and 2016. Either I have to speed up the process making it a daily (yipes) which would give me 1,000 strips somewhere around 2013 or just keep plugging away. That was one thing they did mention which was just having the persistence to keep going and how they learned some of the most important things by being under a deadline and ending up creating shortcuts that worked and altered their drawing technique to create their style… kind of cool.
The other session I went to was Robert Kirkman’s session on what he is going to be doing with his comics in the next few months/years. Since I read both “Invincible” and “The Walking Dead” I found it really cool to gain a little insight into what the future holds for some of my favorite characters. I won’t go into much here (sorry… while it was nice to hear it, I know I’ll garble the message like in the game “telephone”) all I can say is I am waiting to read Invincible #64 and curious as to the changes that will happen in “The Walking Dead.” The big bomb that was dropped was that Kirkman’s “The Astonishing Wolfman” Comic will stop after issue 25. He will have told the story that he wanted and feels that after the final arc there will be nothing left to tell. I have picked up a few issues and while good it never really hooked me like his other titles. The final part was his collaboration with Todd McFarlane (of “Spawn” fame). They will be working together on a comic called “Haunt.” It looks interesting but I was unable to pick up a preview today.
What I was able to pick up was what seemed like a gazillion pounds of comics for my classroom! I finally found Jimmy Gownley’s booth and picked up “Amelia Rules!” trades and some comics from Ray Friesen which look very promising. “Amelia Rules!” is one of those comics I picked up at my local shop and shared it with my class… it is a great story about growing up. I also stopped by Blue Dream Studios booth- Home of “The Dreamland Chronicles” and picked up two of everything that they had. Scott Sava writes such fantastic all ages stories and they can all be found at www.thedreamlandchronicles.com.
So what else did I do all day? Besides running around with Cecil and getting more pictures of him (While it was Star Wars Day there were more and more people in costumes of all variety) I also spent a good deal of time in the morning chasing down an illusive Mythbusters bag. As I walked into the convention center I saw all these people with gigantic Mythbusters bags. I asked someone where they had gotten it and was told that someone was handing them out on the street- so off to the street I went looking for the ones with the bags. Nope, all I saw were more people with Mythbusters bags so I finally just gave up and pulled out the Dark Horse Comics bag I received at preview night and used that. The funny thing is I must have had Mythbusters on my mind because when I headed to Room 29 to pick up my 40th Anniversary History of Comic-Con book, I was walking by the always packed Ballroom 20 and I could swear I saw Adam Savage of Mythbusters! So confident was I that this must be Adam Savage I boldly came up and said “Hi! Could I get a picture of you with my monkey?” As I was focusing the camera I noticed the name tag which did not say Adam Savage, but I politely said “Oh I’m just picking people at random and getting their picture taken… Thanks!” I keep going back to the photo and don’t know, but think it is a pretty amusing anecdote dealing with the power of Cecil once again getting me to do something I normally would never have done.
Finally as the day drew to a close I had to make a decision do I stick it out and go to the Eisner Award Ceremony or do I just say I’m tired and head back to the hotel with my metric ton of books. I chose the later convincing myself that I would probably have to wait in line for hours, then not get a seat and it would be a waste of time. I finish this post and the Eisner’s will have just concluded and my only thought is I guess the next time I try to attend I’ll either have a professional badge or I’ll be nominated for the award. What’s that quote? “Reach for the stars- you may never touch them, but you won’t end up with a handful of mud either.”