What do you do when you meet the Buddha on the road? Ace the bastard! Colin Upton’s Buddha on the Road is recommended in The Staros Report 1997 and the first issue lives up to its billing. I’ll be picking up the next few issues tomorrow. Basic storyline: ex-military man accepts a contract on God. Buddha on the Road is available through Aeon/Mu Press. The “Buddha on the Road” tag-line comes from Buddhist myth: if you meet the Buddha on the road, it’s an imposter. You will never meet the Buddha, because that only happens at the end of the journey, and the journey to meet the Buddha never ends. Everyone else is playing with your mind or trying to take your journey/soul for nefarious purposes. Upton’s main character has that view for most religious that he meets.
The Staros Report is also highly recommended. It is available from Chris Staros at PO Box 1282, Marietta, GA 30061-1282, USA, $4.95 a copy, plus $.55 per book shipping. The 1996 report is also still available, at the same price.
A sign of the times: Comic Book Law 101 filled to overflowing. Nothing particularly special (this seminar continues throughout the con as “102”, “103” and “104”) except that Charlie’s Angels is probably still a trademark since a movie is coming out. Also, it is only a $20 fee to file with the copyright office. “It is silly not to.”
Standing at the window on the mid-level, I can look out over the entire exhibitor area, and smell cheap barbecue sauce wafting through the air. Police lights are in this year; I can see Chaos! all the way across the floor. There’s something to do with Ants over to the right, and Dark Horse is now the most imposing company to display. Everyone is using the same displays as past years, even DC. Marvel might not have, as I didn’t see them, but they’re listed as being here somewhere. White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast are at opposite ends of the floor. TSR has been reduced to an appendix off the end of Wizards of the Coast, but the new Dragon Magazine is out.
I decided to pick up Dragon just for the hell of it: haven’t bought a TSR product since Spelljammer. I recognize none of the names on the masthead. It isn’t too bad: nice wilderness spells, notes on training dogs, poisonous lizards and amphibians, what to do when your character is a real animal, that sort of thing.
On the other hand, it was a bit rushed, as they admit in the editorial. The Gen-Con registration deadline is… January 31, 1997. The convention listing goes from January to April of this year. You’d think they could’ve just taken those out and put in some editorial from Peter Adkinson or something.
The Write Stuff!
The Write Stuff! featured DC’s best writers, the Americans pitted against the Brits: ganging up on each other with a young one to keep the piece. Peace. Whatever.
Chuck Dixon has been “virtually ignoring” Bruce Wayne for two years: “I took some static for that.” He’s not a rich playboy or anything cool like that. “He’s a guy who’s got a lot of money but has never found a way to use it. A waste.”
The best way to break into comics, particularly at DC:
- Keep it short: ONE PAGE!
- Be Brilliant… in ONE PAGE!
- Be Imaginative… in ONE PAGE!
- Find an editor you like, an “editor you think like”
Good luck. “This is your competitition:” John Ostrander, Chris Claremont, Mark Waid, Dan Jurgens, Ron Marz, Dan Raspler; and, on the right, Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar.
Editor Chuck Dixon: “DC and Marvel are not the place to learn. You come to us when you’re at the top of your game.” What about using an obscure character? There are no obscure characters. “James Robinson is doing something with the Red Bee—just to give you a clue.”
Will we ever see the Rick Veitch crucifixion Swamp Thing? There was more going on with that fiasco than just the religious issue, is the rumor spread. On the other hand, “Talk to Rick—get him up here!”
How do you stay fresh? Dan Jurgens: “You can’t get too fresh. That takes you away from the character.”
And Chuck Dixon’s final advice to writers: “feed your head”. I seem to be the only person Grant Morrison hasn’t shared drugs with.
Garth Ennis points out that “all the best stories have endings”. That Dark Knight didn’t have an ending, that he didn’t die at the end, was an editorial decision that weakened the story. Grant: “You don’t want to be reading a novel for the rest of your life.”
God, who has already made a hands-on appearance, will be appearing fully in Preacher. Full frontal nudity from God? You heard it here first. Don’t let Jerry Falwell in on the secret. Let it be a surprise.
What are you working on right now?
- Ostrander: Necropolis: The City in Limbo. The living, the dead, and the living dead.
- Claremont: A couple of novels.
- Mark Waid: A nap.
- Dan Jurgens: The Titans-Legion cross-over.
- Ron Marz: Firestorm
- Garth: Hellblazer, Sgt. Rock, Bitches Behind Bars (that’s just a working title, mind you)
- Grant: JLA, Flash, and a sitcom.
- Mark Millar: The Flash
Who is the best villain in the DC Universe? The Joker won with three votes, Lex-baby came in second with two, and Grant Morrison split his vote on Darkseid and Mr. Myxylpltz, and I know Tom will correct my spelling on that.
Vive la Revolucion!
The PRI had best be on their guard tonight. The Chicago Mafia’s J Street Connection is spearheading an expansion into Tijuana. Dead frogs beware.
Comic Relief of Berkeley has Tardi and Enli Bikal, among others, in French. As near as I can tell they are the only retailer displaying anything not in English. So much for “Comic-Con International”.
On-Line Comics
Paper is a fetish. So saith Scott McCloud at the On-Line Comics panel. And more wisdom from the Understander: “Any comic that takes longer to download than to read is going to be unsatisfying.” That, however, was only a statement on the current technology, not on the possibilities, and hyperlinked into the side answer, which is that “Technology is anything invented after you were born”. His big question, which should be repeated at “The Future of Comics”, is “How can comics operate differently when they are liberated from the page?”
The biggest problem, of course, is that there is zero collectibility on-line; the reader is thus “forced to enjoy the work for what it is.”
And let’s face it, McCloud adds, on a price per minute basis, comics are overpriced.
Only one URL was mentioned during the entire thing: Nat Gertler’s www.Gertler.com. Michael Fragassi’s Alternative Comics page was hyped but the URL went unmentioned. No one else seems to know where it is, but you can get it here for less than a micropayment: http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~mfragass/altcom.html
One person mentioned that books are “longer lasting” than digital. But this is true only in a superficial sense. There are many books that have disappeared entirely. We may (Scott again) be standing at the edge of what future historians will call history. We call the beginning of writing history, because before that we have to guess at what was going on. Today, we are already archiving everything that is written on web pages; everything that is said in public forums; we even have people seriously proposing portable video cameras recording your entire life a year at a time. All of this easily searchable on any text, unlike the local library. In the future, historians will be able to look at the actual conversations of individuals when trying to determine the significance of this or that event. But before Dejanews, they’ll have to guess. Pre-Internet will be the prehistory of the future.
New Comics and a Hat
I’ve got a hat that says Angry Young Planet. We are today focusing too much on the harlequins and not enough on the novels. Jessica Abel, Megan Kelso, Eddie Campbell… these are the artists who would be the real draws if the industry were healthy. Superman? That’s the Harlequin Romance of comics. It’ll have its fans, but it won’t be the entire industry. I hope.
The first comic buy of the day was Silly Daddy #14, from Joe Chiapetta. Joe walked to the Con from the airport. When we tell you that our airport is downtown we mean it kids. This Silly Daddy is a collection of memories, and remains a must-have.
ArtBabe is now distributed by Fantagraphics, as everyone who is anyone knows. With ArtBabe #5, Jessica Abel has moved to full-length stories rather than shorts. The cover says “Mature Readers”, I assume that means you have to like well-written stories about people. Jessica also had her “Doc Trader” and “Intrepid Girl Reporter” available. Here’s the blurb for “Girl Reporter”:
Over the last three years, I’ve developed a sort of second specialty outside of all those drippy romance tales of gen-x losers in my comic Artbabe. Starting with the NewCity, a Chicago free weekly alternative tabloid, and spreading like a virus to several other publications (the Baffler, the New Art Examinder, the U of Chicago Magazine), these are all the black and white journalistic strips I’ve done so far.
Eddie Campbell has more Alec stuff coming out in deeVee, which appears to be coming out quarterly. Two issues are currently available: summer and autumn 1997.
“Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors” is a 25-cent mini about “The Women Who Made Comics Great”, including Fanny Y. Cory, Ruth A. Ford, Nell Brinkley, and others. An interesting short, and what’s a quarter?
The Invisibles, is, of course, still in the crapper. Buy it now. JLA brings Green Arrow into the League and sets the stage for the Revenge Squad!
And I rolled seven on the dice, so I picked up seven Zippies at Fantagraphics along with ArtBabe.
News from the Freebie Pile
“Get Your Weekends Back and Keep What’s Left of Your Sanity”, is a computer publication for figuring out what the heck you need to do to keep your Windows computer running. I haven’t turned my Windows computer on for months; I own a Mac now, and I no longer spend my weekends fixing my computer. Or reading books on how to fix it.
Indian Jewelry is available for “up to 50% off” in Old Town. “To the indians, turquoise has the life-giving power of sky and water and is held in high esteem. This beautiful blue and green gem that the earth has given is their sign of wealth as well as a symbol of protection from the forces if evil.” MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover accepted. The forces of evil better watch out.
Bitchen Industries, better known as South Bay EcoProducts, continues to sell Political Tees such as George W saying “I grew hemp”, and the “Urine trouble now!” drug testing tee. Bitchen Industries is the brainchild of Twist and Shout’s Michael Mayer, so X-Flies tees are also available.
The Fantagraphics catalog sports a beautiful and touching cover by Ralph Steadman.
Lance Johnson’s Tales of Suburbia City stars “Eagle-Man”, with a special appearance by “Goth-Girl”. The LSH had better watch out. Contact Lance at [EagleMan 22] at [aol.com.] You mean to tell me there were already 21 EagleMen at America On-Line?
The Intercomics web site features work by Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley, among many others.
“RadixAncha” appears to be the story of Bill Gates: “…in a time when technology has raged out of control, souls are sold, lives destroyed, one man creates, and begins the destruction of mankind…”. From Smiling Face Productions and Dark Flood Linez.
Meet Moe at Odd Adventure Zine, also available through Diamond and Cold Cut.
Pixel Planet features reviews of comics and instructional videos, and news about conventions.
Gross Point, from DC Comics and by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, illustration by S.M. Taggart, Roger Langridge, Josh Myers, and Rick Parker, appears to be a cross between Addams and Batman Adventures.
