So I went to my first comic convention on Friday, the C2E2 down at McCormick Place. I went dressed as my favorite character: the middle-aged scribbler with writer’s block who is on the hunt for work. And if I do say so, my impersonation was seamless.
It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. I almost brought my daughter, but I’m glad I didn’t, which I’ll explain later. It was about what I expected, times 5. Lots of crazy pop culture going on. Publishers trotting out their star creators and titles. Indies trying to grab someone’s attention (If zombies are popular, and the Wizard of OZ is a perennial AND in the public domain, what could be better than….ZOMBIE SCOTTIE: TOTO’S REVENGE!!). Retailers from all over the Midwest trying to unload their stock to serious collectors. Numerous corset makers (well, I admit, I didn’t really see those coming, and wished I hadn’t seen them at all). And lots of fanboys and fangirls grabbing up free samples of everything.
I’m almost completely over any qualms telling people that I’m pitching a graphic novel idea. With the popularity of comic movies and TV shows, R.Crumb’s Bible adaptation and other inroads into bookstores, the slow invasion of comics into “acceptable” culture may finally be declared a victory. Then again, when I mentioned my trip to the convention later in the weekend, a writer friend of mine asked, with the slightest archness in his voice, “Do you have an ….. affinity for those kinds of things?” It was a bit of a conversation killer, but I did admire this playwright’s ability to choose just the proper word.
But besides defending myself from insinuations like these, and any and all comments about it from my mother, what’s the downside to it? If my project breaks through, it could have tremendous upside: Regular writing work, quick turnaround, an active fanbase, the chance to do something way out of the ordinary once I earn a publisher’s trust. Compare it to the state of “regular” publishing today, and I’ll take it. Or rather, there’s no reason NOT to take it, since comics aren’t so stigmatized and set apart anymore, at least when it comes to dollars and cents. A “regular” publisher could care less if your previous book was a collection of bawdy anagrams that slandered the Pope and the Freemasons, as long as that collection made money.
The deal hasn’t come through yet anyway, so this is premature to write about. Keeping my fingers crossed.
The thing that struck me the hardest at the con–and what made me glad my 12-year-old daughter didn’t come along this year–was the sheer amount of cleavage and jiggling on display. Especially in Artist Alley, where scribblers sat to meet with fans and get a little spending money from prints, quick sketches, and homemade chapbooks, there was cheesecake everywhere. I didn’t have any big problem with it, and I’m sure it drove traffic to the individual’s booth, but it was quite a lot all the same.
Some guys were clever about it. One artist was peddling a calendar of original art that combined pin-up girls with classic movie monsters, with corny sentiments like “Blinded by Science!” as Frankenstein’s monster and a lab tech in a short white coat dodged lightning bolts from the lab equipment. Others just took famous characters and drew them a little more R-rated, like Catwoman lounging dishabille, apparently after a particular humid caper. And one person had a portfolio explicitly marked “Not For Kids”, which had Betty and Veronica doing all sorts of nasty things they don’t teach at Riverdale High. (The creators of Archie Comics had a strong presence at this fair–how would they react if that portfolio turned up? Is it just wink-wink, nudge-nudge time, or are there serious copyright issues involved?)
One artist friend of mine was attending, and told the story about a collector who, after a few months of correspondence, got up the nerve to ask for a drawing of a famous national newscaster, depicted as a hamster. Oh, and naked, of course.
These kinds of stories never floated around Book Expo America, but frankly, I don’t care. If the comic geeks will have me, I’ll have them.