Subject: Re: SDCC redux Date: Tue, 22 Jul 97 17:22:15 -0800 From: Brian Biggs <[b--a--n] at [sirius.com]> To: <[c--m--x] at [world.std.com]> Tom told it pretty much the way it seemed to me, but since we crossed paths only infrequently and since he didn't make it to the beach with us "younger" cartoonists, nor did he find himself under the tequila in Tijuana, I'll try try to supply you all with some of the more sordid details. Jessica, GlennGlenn, Matt, etc, fill in corrections and details where necessary. Steve "Yikes" Weissman and i drove down on Tuesday. We had rooms for a week so we decided to make a real vacation of it. Ordered pizza, watched baseball, drank beer upon arrival. A seemingly innocent beginning. Spent Wednesday trying to obtain our badges and supporting Michel (Vrana) as he screamed and yelled at the Man for putting us next to Verotika, far away from our logical spot next to D&Q and across from Fantagraphics. It worked. We were moved. Snuck into the Expo party on Wednesday night. Noticed a definite good mood swinging around and about as people were discussing comics they liked rather than people in comics they didn't. Had a $4.00 Corona. Left $1.50 of it sitting on a table. Aaah. Thursday. First con day. The new Black Eye books weren't in yet so we stapled catalogs. Seemed like a Friday. Quite busy. Got talked into going to Tijuana Thursday night. First Mistake. Went with GlennGlenn, Josh Neufeld, and Kurt Gelhausen and we met Mack White, Matt Madden and Jessica Abel there. Danced the disco-thing with Jess (the girl moves - watch out!) and stood in terror as Kurt had tequila and beer sprayed down his throat forcefully by a kind waitron. When Kurt came out of it laughing, we all relaxed. Kurt was the man. Matt and I bought some tacos from a guy on the street with a cart. Mistake #2. Had six margaritas. Mistake #3. Friday is a blur but the Fantagraphics party that night was ok. No loud music, some lame whipping/leather thing, and free beer. It was interesting to watch Michel and Gary Groth carry on an animated conversation for over and hour. I shared a cab ride to the hotel with Sam Henderson (who, by the way, has a wonderful editorial on selling out in his new "Magic Whistle" comic - check it out and review it, someone). Oh yeah, before the FBI party we made our way through most of the Eisners. Frank Miller's speech was just plain weird. The highlight of our evening was Walt Holcombe's award for best new talent. And Len Wong barely beat Jason Lutes on the betting pool. Things were hopping when i dragged myself into the convention hall on Saturday. All ears were open to listen for whatever parties were happening later. A few of us made it to Mary Fleener's party about the same time as the police. Mary worked out a deal and we all ate her food and drank her beer. She has an amazing bungalow in Encinitas. Imagine all you ever dreamed about living the good life in Southern Cal and that is Mary's pad. Tiki torches, dreamy flowers, and toy robots. At the "younger cartoonists" beach party, the pinata thrashing was already taking place, and there were unnamed naked cartoonists in the surf. Jon Snyder had his usual mix of truck-driving music and early 80's new-wave on the box, and a fire was raging in the middle of it all. We somehow got through the evening with no medical emergencies (last year Joe Chiapetta ended up at the hospital when his arm exploded). There were easily twice as many attendees this year than last, including Vertigo artist Bill Koeb and editor Shelley (Sherry?) Roberg (who says she saw my tuchus as I left the water). With the "mainstream" appearing for the first time, a few of us got nervous, but out fears were relieved when they all stripped to their skivvies and took a dive. Sunday, as always, was a bit frantic, and at the end of the day it seemed that both D&Q and Black Eye had done quite well. From my POV, I know that we sold out of Dear Julias 2, 3, and 4 and had unloaded a TON of Ed Brubaker's new _Low Life_ collection. All in all, Michel seemed rather happy. We celebrated with our annual bash at Cafe Lulu (where Ivan Brunetti drew the funniest, most frightening cartoons I have ever seen in Sam Henderson's big book) and the new Jackie Chan movie (which after the first fifteen minutes wasn't all that great). After breakfast on Monday, Megan Kelso, Jason Lutes, Michel Vrana, and Fred (from La Mouette Rieuse, who was sharing a booth with us) went back to the hotel and read comix all afternoon, until I left with Steve Weissman to head back up the central valley into beautiful (and COLD) San Francisco. Had a great time. See you next year. Brian PS: pictures of said events will soon be up on my websight in the BlahBlah area. If you were there and took pictures, send me copies and I'll post them). ___________________ Brian Biggs Picture Show 564 Market Street, suite 707 Sanfrancisco, Ca 94104 415 392 7452 fax 392 4155 www.sirius.com/~brain _________________________________________________________________ To leave this mailing list, send mail to [m--r--o] at [world.std.com] with the message UNSUBSCRIBE COMIX