I've got some other stuff ("engineering systems analysis"--blechh) to be
working on, so I'll keep this relatively brief; but I thought some of
you might be interested in hearing about the Planet Comicon that took
place in Kansas City (Overland Park, to be precise) this weekend.

For the past several years, we've had a series of semiannual cons here
in town which essentially showcased dealers from around Kansas,
Missouri, and Nebraska.  There were always plenty of dealers and lots of
books, but there was a noticeable dearth of big-name guests (the last
one was Byrne in, I think, spring 1996).  The Planet Comicon is a new
operation.  Their first go-around was six months ago; I was disappointed
in it, mainly because there were reams and reams of ancillary
merchandise--toys, cards, bootleg videos, etc.--but not very many
comics.  This past weekend was a one hundred percent improvement, in
that I went waaaay ($100) over my budget on comics alone and don't
regret a penny of the expenditure.  (Though when I'm starving next week,
I might think differently about this.)

The con had a massive jump in attendance this time--there were twice as
many people at this one as I've ever seen at a con in KC.  There were a
lot more women there too--not just ones who looked like their boyfriends
had dragged them, but actual honest-to-gosh comics readers.  I don't
know what it's like elsewhere, but here that's unheard of.  Both of
these trends are definitely Good Things, and I hope that they continue.

After my associates and I bankrupted ourselves within two hours of
arriving on Saturday morning, we decided that we ought to troll the
guests.  There was a huge line for the "Buffy" actor who showed up, but
the buzz around the artists' area was considerably more modest.  This
was actually a good thing--for us, at least--because we got to visit for
a while with everybody.  Having never had the cash to attend a con out
of town, this was a decidedly interesting experience for me.  Here's
what happened in brief:
-----
Steve Lieber:  Quite a nice guy, and a hell of an artist to boot.
Unlike the other artists, most of whom brought unfinished pages, Xeroxed
charater designs, etc, he had a big stack of life drawings he'd done.
This was fascinating, because I really got to see where his naturalistic
style comes from--you get the feeling that, where other artists are busy
practicing drawing giant guns and Porsches, he's quietly honing his
mastery of the human form.  I was able to buy the WHITEOUT TPB and a
much-sought-after copy of TWO-FISTED SCIENCE directly from him since
(thankfully!) he accepted personal checks (with a remark along the lines
of, "if you can't trust people in Kansas, who *can* you trust?"
Er....)  I mentioned reading his posts on this NG, and he immediately
proceeded to draw a really nifty sketch of Carrie Stetko for me.  I was
bowled over and I'm afraid I babbled about this for the rest of the
day.  If you're reading this--thanks, Mr. Lieber!

Chris Sprouse:  A quiet, friendly guy.  Really modest, too--he seemed
amused at people's (very positive) reactions to his TOM STRONG
originals, as if it were much ado about nothing in particular.  He
listened to my friend complain about how the comics at our local shop
are getting pushed out by Pokemon crap, and agreed that the only way to
really revive the industry is to bring more readers of all ages into the
fold.  He seemed quite passionate about this, calling it Alan Moore's
"vision."  By the way, even without coloring or dialogue, I could tell
that TOM STRONG #5 is going to rock.  You heard it here first.

Kevin Nowlan: He said the best part about doing Jack B. Quick was that
it was such a short feature, "because I'm always running late."  In
fact, he said he's a bit overtime on the Jack story for TOMORROW STORIES
#4, so if it's late you know who to tar and feather.  He'd brought his
very well-mannered young son along--who was obviously the model for
Jack--and the pages for the third Jack feature, complete except for the
coloring.  It's about Jack getting a new pet--let's leave it at that,
shall we?

Gene Ha: He seemed thrilled to be working on TOP 10.  In fact, all the
ABC guys, except maybe Rick Veitch, seemed vaguely beatific, as if they
were seeing and hearing things no one else could.  They all spoke with
mixed tones of awe to be working for "THE Alan Moore."  Gene must've
been high on the fan energy and appreciation, as he would just randomly
let off a thousand-watt ear-to-ear grin for no apparent reason.

Mick Gray: For those of you who've been wondering, Mick confirmed that
Alan is indeed writing the entire ABC workload one month at a time--not
relying on years of stocked-up stories or anything.  He said that JH
Williams (his collaborator on PROMETHEA) usually gets his marching
orders faxed to him piecemeal, a page or two at a time.  He talked about
the difficulty balancing the need to publish on a regular basis--which,
I told him, we here at the receiving end appreciate more than he can
imagine--with the need to do his best possible work.  He said that, when
confronted with a deadline-obstinate editor, Williams would usually go
in with all guns blazing, while he (Gray) preferred to take "the Silicon
Valley approach--tell 'em, 'sure, whatever you say', then hang up and
keep on going the way you were going before."

Rick Veitch:  What a guy.  If the other young, pleasant, enthusiastic
ABC guys were analogous to Tom Mix and Roy Rogers, Rick was their Jonah
Hex.  Very grizzled-looking and -acting.  He cursed a lot, which people
found cute.  A sample quote: "Fucking industry's a fucking train wreck.
Fucking distributors like to fuck retailers and publishers in the
fucking ass.  Fucking assholes don't know what they're doing.  Fucking
readership's a fraction of what it was in fucking 1993."  He continued
in this vein for a while.  Don't get me wrong, though--he was a nice
guy, he was just letting loose with both barrels.
-----
Random Notes:

Oni Press darling Jim Mahfood also attended, having finally deigned to
come back to his lil ol' hometown after a couple years of broken
commitments.  Though I enjoyed meeting him in connection with his book
COSMIC TOAST a few years ago, I didn't bother this time, mostly because
of how incredibly pissed I've been at the attitude he's been copping in
GRRRL SCOUTS (to wit: the relentless bashing of stereotypical comics
fanboys while simultaneously pretending that the audience for SCOUTS is
completely different and, presumably, hipper and better-looking;
combined with some unbelievably specious bumper-sticker-caliber
political thought.)  Though I noticed there was no shortage of pouty
goth women lined up to meet him.  Blah.

My friend Shawn observed that the best artists always seem to be people
who could be mistaken for engineers or salesmen, whereas the people
whose wardrobes scream "I am an artist!" always suck.  This was true
here as well--there was the usual assortment of homegrown talent, mostly
pushing pseudo-Gothic vampire dreck.  Not coincidentally, all these guys
wore black and had hair down to their asses.  And Jim Mahfood had a
goatee.

PREACHER #41 is officially impossible to find.  Not a single dealer in
the place (and we tried 'em all) had it.  Methinks I sense another
quixotic back-issue hunt looming...

I need more sleep.  G'night, all.

    Reverend Jake