The Watchtower 7.28.04

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Ok, so at this point you might be sick of reading me and/or Tim Stevens writing about the San Diego International Comic-Con (and having written approximately 60 pages, single spaced, on the subject, I probably wouldn’t blame you), but you’ll have to forgive me (or stop reading this column…wait, come back!), for I simply have so much more to get out of my system that couldn’t fit into or wasn’t done justice to in (or in a few cases, took place after) the reports. As I just told my friend on IM when he asked how it was being back at home after the Con: “It’s like coming down from a week long heroin binge” (or so I gather from reading Motley Crue’s “The Dirt”) and I need to get it all out of my system.

So here, in chronological order as best I could arrange it, some more stories, anecdotes, news tidbits and more from my five day odyssey in the greatest city on the west coast (in my humblest of opinions); in other worse, if you enjoy stories about Jamie Hatton being hammered, this is the column for you!


Wednesday

-If we didn’t give a good indication of it in our reports, Tim and I were most definitely not comfortable when we first walked into that convention hall on Wednesday night. Despite the fact that I co-run a fairly well known comic book web site, I had never been to any sort of comic book convention (outside of some flea market junk when I was younger), so to walk into the biggest one in the world absolutely blew my mind. At home none of my friends are into comics (my girlfriend is nice enough to let me vent my excitement over the latest issue of The Flash on her so that I have an outlet), so to suddenly be immersed in the thing I loved and surrounded by others of a like mind…I truly felt as if I had come home. But Tim and I could not just walk up to the first creator we passed by (of course that happened to be Neal Adams, so it wasn’t just anybody) and say hello as if they were normal people…these were our heroes.

-It should come as no surprise to anybody who has read my work [fanboy hero worship mode on] that Geoff Johns was the guy who changed all that; we didn’t have that long at Preview Night, so we quickly decided that meeting Geoff was to be our top priority. I was a bit nervous that the excitement Geoff had expressed over getting a drink with us at some point was just him being nice to two fans over the internet assuming he’d never have to pony up, so this was a bit of a tense moment for me; also, I’d spoken to Geoff over the phone a few times and he’s done some pretty big favors for me over the past few months (which I’m not really at liberty to discuss…yet), so I felt like I was not just meeting my hero, but a guy who I owed big time. I was put at ease quite a bit when the guy ahead of us in line recognized the name on my name tag and said hello; turned out to be Eric Sellers (of Geoff’s official site, which I encourage you all to go to, great message boards and some excellent people), one of my fellow zombies. Eric is a very nice guy and just chatting to him about the nature of conventions (he’d been to a good share in his time) helped calm us down a bit. Finally we reached the front of the line and I thought Geoff wouldn’t recognize us, but immediately a big smile came over his face as he said “Ben…Tim…so great to finally meet you guys” before we even opened our mouths. He shook our hands and assured us, we would indeed be getting that drink.

-Wednesday was also my first opportunity to meet James “Jamie” Hatton, a reviewer here at this site (as if you didn’t know…but did you know he made a documentary on 24 Hour Comic Day?) as well as his lovely girlfriend Danielle. This was the first time I had met anybody from the site (outside of Tim) and, again, I was nervous, but we hit it off immediately. As far as I know, Jamie was not drunk at this point…as far as I know.

-I also got the chance to meet Andy Serwin, Mike Cotton & Richard Ho of Wizard Magazine after Tim and I waited in line and dominated their puny “trivia challenge” (my question was to name Deathstroke’s kids…c’mon) and got to spin their wheel o’ prizes. For Tim the wheel landed on “Air Guitar” and my buddy busted out a great riff of…something, to earn him a copy of Toyfare and Astro City #1/2. I got “1/2 issue” right off the bat and got…Vampirella #1/2…um, awesome. Anyhow, if you haven’t realized it, I pattern a lot of writing style on the stuff from Wizard, and those three are the big guns, so again, it was another mind-blowing experience, more of which seemed to be waiting around every corner.


Thursday

-This was the first day we went to panels and, I must say, I greatly preferred it to the alternative. The floor is a tremendous experience and you could spend all day just taking in the sights (not to mention find any comic or piece of merchandise you ever wanted), but damn if my leg muscles weren’t tight as hell when I went to bed on Wednesday night (and I’m a superb physical specimen/former all-star amateur wrestler…imagine how hard it was for Tim! Or Jamie, who has enough trouble standing up in between swigs from his flask!).

-One of our first stops was to the Voice Actor Tryouts panel, just for fun, where we ended up sitting next to Jamie entirely by coincidence (and where he foisted free copies of his DVD and press packet on us…unlike many people who threw press packs at me the minute they saw the press badge, I’m pretty sure this one wasn’t self-motivated, given that we both work for the same site as him). The panel was hosted by an old woman who was one of the original Little Rascals and the model for Disney’s Tinkerbell; for an old broad she was very funny and had lots of moxie, so you know we loved it.

-Next stop was of course Geoff’s panel. Lots of good Q&A with Geoff finding about three hundred different ways to say, “I’m not going to tell you the answer to your question” and nobody catching on. My readers will probably appreciate much more than the crowd the humor of me asking “the zombies from JSA seem to have acquired a real cult following…any chance we’ll be seeing them in Rebirth?” to which Geoff replied “No…sorry Ben, they’re done” (Eric Sellers, bless him, was the only one besides me and Geoff to get it and laugh).

-The DC: In The Name of Justice panel (JLA and related titles, including JSA) was the first chance we got to see the cool sort of camaraderie amongst the panelists that makes going to cons like this worth it; editor Mike Carlin was so the father figure trying to keep his rowdy boys (Chuck Austen, Geoff, Joe Kelly and Ron Garney) under control and at the same time seem cool (and he did an admirable job on both fronts). I never would have respected that Ron Garney had such a tremendous sense of humor (in response to Geoff saying the appeal of JLA that differentiates it from Superman/Batman is the opportunity to see a third hero in the middle, Ron immediately shot in “like Wonder Woman…we’re going to be launching a new book called JLXXX”) or imagined what a great sense of comedic timing and rapport these guys shared (Carlin added “we bough the X from Marvel,” a follow up to an earlier question about if any difficulties were encountered in Busiek’s JLA arc, which follows up on JLA/Avengers, and Joe Kelly saying “well, Batman now has Captain America’s shield,” and when a fan asked what Cap would do with the shark repellent in Batman’s utility belt, Geoff simply said “Cry). I gained a lot of respect for Chuck Austen as I could tell from his answers he was indeed fazed by the critics on the internet, but is still determined to tell the stories he wants to tell; I don’t always like or agree with those stories, but I respect Chuck for having the courage to write them. After the panel, I had my sort of break through moment of realizing I could indeed approach these guys (having asked questions at both panels helped) and thanked Carlin for answering our questions (he said he felt compelled to call on Tim and I because we were wearing suits). I also really like the fact that it was a question Tim asked about rotating story arcs that prompted Carlin to announce JLA: Classified; if Tim hadn’t asked, would he not have announced it? The world may never know…

-Later in the afternoon, we were heading to a panel we thought Geoff was on, but couldn’t find it. Who should we run into in the hall but a frantic Geoff looking for the same panel. He asked what we were looking for and when we said “your panel” he said “dammit, me too;” a cell phone call later all three of us learned the panel was Friday and Geoff said “let’s get a drink.”

-I won’t bother recapping the interview with Geoff for you (you can check it out here, if you haven’t already), but again, our experiences with him blew my mind and took my appreciation of where we were to a whole new level. Tim and I had sat for three hours over drinks the night before and just talked about nothing but comics; here we were doing the same thing, just with a third guy…who happened to be Geoff Johns. We were pretty nervous at first, but within about five minutes, it was seriously just a great conversation about comics; not two kids sitting awestruck with their hero, just three dudes chatting about what they love. I know now the reason that Geoff’s work is so good: he is a bigger fan than any of us. He truly loves what he does and it shows and it makes me love what he does that much more. He walked us through the way he takes a Rogue and gets inside his head and it was simply phenomenal not only to follow this incredible thought process, but also to hear the passion with which he voiced it. It was truly an experience I will never forget, though if I’m lucky it will not be a once in a lifetime one (Howard Porter just randomly stopping by in the middle of the interview didn’t suck either).

-We headed straight from Geoff’s hotel to the Napa Valley Grille, where we had been invited to the Scholastic launch party for Graphix, their new graphic novel imprint which will begin with a reprinting of Jeff Smith’s Bone. It was a good thing we wore ties, because this thing was pretty ritzy. It was also our first experience of people (including no less than the publisher of Scholastic and Jeff Smith himself) coming up to us before we got a chance to even approach them and asking if we wanted interviews (this was the beginning of what Tim called our “completely unearned confidence” phase). The whole thing was a classy affair from top to bottom and I came out of it with the sense that Scholastic really wants to make this thing work and would love to see Bone replacing some books in classrooms, and to me, that’s probably the most uplifting news I’ve heard in awhile (oh yeah, and some waitress thought Tim was hitting on her when he asked how late she had to work…and she told him she’d be off at nine if he was interested…Tim is such a stud…in sad contrast, I was on the phone with Daron discussing our top story for the next day).


Friday

-Marvel’s Universes was our first panel of the day and our first Marvel panel overall, so we didn’t know what to expect. It was very different from the DC panel as, while the DC guys are plenty charismatic in their own right, Joe Quesada is a natural showman who knows how to get a crowd excited. He’s also a much nicer guy than he is often made out to be online who just happens to have a very sharp sense of humor. The slide show presentation was also hilarious with witty little captions on many of the slides (my favorites being “Daredevil Father: due out Summer 2008!” and “Oh crap…” on the slide with Gwen Stacy on the Amazing Spider-Man cover). Brian Michael Bendis didn’t exactly change my opinion on his attitude towards killing off characters, but he did sell me on the fact that the stuff we’ve seen in the preview pages of Avengers Disassemble are part of a much bigger story I’m very excited to read.

-I made a brief trip to Marv Wolfman’s Idea To Script panel just to hear another one of my heroes speak. Marv was a surprisingly shy and soft-spoken guy who was honored that people had showed up to hear him; given that, in my book, he’s made some of the most significant contributions to comic books in the past twenty years and had the single greatest run (outside of Stan & Jack) on a book ever (New Teen Titans, duh), he shouldn’t have been the one feeling honored.

-Eliza Dushku is every bit as charming in real life as the characters she portrays on television and in the movies. She had the huge crowd at her Tru Calling panel in the palm of her hand from the word go. With comments like “wow, the shiny things on my shirt are reflecting light off my bosom” and “why the hell wasn’t I asked to be in Bring It On 2?!” it’s not hard to imagine why. I’m only disappointed that the time on the panel ran out before I got the chance to ask my question about whether or not she went to my pre-school (we both grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts at about the same time). Check out season 2 of Tru Calling if you’re sick of Smackdown, it looks really good.

-As Tim said in our report, the Superman panel was a bit of a let down, as none of the panelists had anything really new to share and the questions were pretty crappy. The only highlight was when one particularly annoying fan asked I he had missed something between the last issue of Steve Seagle’s Superman run and Brian Azzarello’s first issue. As literally every person in the crowd was yelling “it’s set a year later” and the guy still didn’t get it, Jeph Loeb and Greg Rucka tried in vain to explain it to him, for they knew if they failed, the cobra known as Azzarello was coiled and ready to strike. To describe Brian Azzarello as “intense” is a bit of an understatement; as one pro (who shall remain anonymous) said to me re: Azzarello: “Sometimes you dance with the bear and sometimes he tears you to shreds” (or something to that effect). Finally, Azzarello could be restrained no more and seized the microphone, stating quietly but powerfully, not once moving his stone cold glare from the questioner: “Look. There’s seven more issues. Either you’ll get it or you won’t.” And that sat the kid down; Tim and I were terrified of Brian Azzarello for the remainder of the convention.

-There is no doubt that the DC Comics: Fans Turned Pro panel was the best of the entire convention. There is a summary up at The Pulse, but it would be impossible for any written report to do it justice (so I won’t try). It was just Judd Winick, Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns sitting there talking about comics and loving it (not unlike Geoff, Tim and myself…dude, we should have been on that panel). Remember what I said about Geoff being a bigger fan than any of us? Ditto for Judd and Brad. It was a joy to listen to, certainly not hindered by the fact that these are three of the funniest guys I’ve ever heard speak. I’ll admit, even after our interview with Geoff and other amazing experiences the day before, going back to the hotel and staying up until 6:30 typing it all up was hard work; listening to these three reminded me why that work was important and worth it and why I could do it every day for the rest of my life and be a happy man. I love comics, no explanation necessary; thanks to Judd, Brad and Geoff for reminding me.

-At the Avengers/Marvel Heroes panel, the highlights for us came before the thing even started. I came up with the clever idea that we should put business cards on each guy’s seat before the panel rather than try to chase them down afterwards. Joe Quesada gave us the ok to do so and we did. But there was already one guy sitting down, so we figured we’d ask nicely if he’d just point out to his fellow creators to check out the cards. Not only did Allen Jacobsen, writer of The New Invaders and director of King of the Hill give us his own card in return, he physically handed out our cards to the likes of Mark Waid and Brian Michael Bendis; thank you, Mr. Jacobsen! Also, while we were sorting out the cards on the table, a guy from Comic Con asked if we were on the panel and if we needed anything; we replied that we weren’t scheduled for this panel but would fill space if necessary (the “completely unearned confidence” phase was in full effect). This is also where I ran into Tom Toner (formerly of 411, now of ComiX-Fan…boooo…to Tom, not CXF, I love that site) and while telling him how we were saying nasty stuff about Newsarama to try and spark a feud, I was interrupted by a gentleman from the front row…from Newsarama. Needless to say, no blows were exchanged (I totally could have taken him though) and we actually had a nice chat and tried in vain to plan a massive news site brawl ala Anchorman for the final day of the show. And once again, a Tim question (“what’s the story with Thunderbolts?”) prompted a major announcement.

-After an excellent pizza dinner, Tim and returned to the convention center for the Eisners; make no mistake, when they describe this thing as “the Oscars of comics” they ain’t kidding. I hate sitting through awards shows but always wanted to go to one personally, so this was pretty cool. Besides the fact that Tim and I’s running commentary should be released on DVD (if I repeated the things we said here you would not be reading anything on this site tomorrow, for it would be gone, and Widro would have killed me), the Eisners was a slick affair, top to bottom. Michael Chabon’s key note speech on the need to brings comics back to kids was nothing short of inspirational and Jim Lee’s acceptance speech for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s “Defender of Liberty” award was equally rousing. Still, the quote of the night is and will forever remain Chip Kidd’s repetition of what he had overheard on the floor earlier: “If you like zombies…and you like Jesus…you’ll love Zombie Jesus.” That may become this column’s tag line.

-Following the Eisners, we headed to the Hyatt bar to meet up with Jamie, who was (obviously) drinking. This is where Tim ended up getting Frank Miller to buy him a beer and I got to hear Dan Buckley’s reaction to Ricky Williams’ retirement while waiting for my drink. But the highlights were us getting to tell young James the “secret origin of 411” (too many of these whippersnappers think Daron started the site and don’t remember the time when he was my lowly head of reviews) and the three of us conceiving the official “411Mania hand sign” (picture hopefully coming soon). Danielle was dead on when she said “you guys are definitely the frat house of comic book news sites.”


Geez, there’s two more days and change left to cover and I’ve still got so much to tell, but this is getting long…you know what? Consider it a blessing or a curse, but you guys are getting a bonus Watchtower at some point later this week. If you enjoyed this column, blessing, if you hated it…don’t read.

Until next time…

If you like zombies, and you like Jesus, you will love Zombie Jesus.