June 29, 2007
If there was only a way to travel back in time, the things I would tell my fourteen year-old self. Why, Neil? Why!?
Hmm...I wonder what the forty year-old Neil is thinking right now about the twenty-nine year old Neil? (Gulp.)
MoCCA is awesome every year, and this time was no exception. It was nice to not have to man a booth for once and actually experience the show in all its glory. I'm not going to bother name-checking all of the people I saw and friends I met up with like I did for the BEA report as the list is simply too long and would probably bore you to death. Anyone who's anyone in comix was there. That's all you need to know. And if you didn't go, you missed out on something really cool.
After the convention, I hit up the Indie Spinner Rack dinner in Chinatown and ate, for the first time, what my friends and I would later refer to as "a dessert chicken". Don't ask. Most of the gang ended up heading to the Top Shelf party afterwards, but I'm an old man at 29, and was feeling pretty tuckered out from the day, so I called it a night and head back to Astoria. Yeah, I know I'm lame, but whatever.
I got a bunch of books, but I haven't read them yet so I can't say if they're any good or not. I would, however, love to spread a little love for a few of my friends who debuted some new books this weekend:
First off, my pals at Royal Flush whose new issue took almost four years to produce. And I can see why. Soooo beautiful. If you like heavy metal, drinking, comics, punching horses, pro-wrestling, and/or diarrhea-plagued dogs, this is the magazine for you.
Next up, is fellow member of the lost Thin Bald Cartoonist Jew tribe, Jamie Tanner. Adhouse Books put together a great package of his mini comics in a nice paperback package title The Aviary. I haven't read the trade yet, which I know Jamie has reworked a lot of his stuff and also added a bunch of new material for, but have had the pleasure of reading pretty much all the mini's. The mini's are great. The book should be even better. You simply must get this. And if you live in NYC, Jamie is having a release party at Rocket Ship in Brooklyn on Saturday, the 30th. So why not get it there and have him sign a copy for you? (And if you ask nice enough, he might even draw Wolverine in there.)
Finally, I picked up the new issue of Rabid Rabbit, the anthology that's art directed by pal, Paul Hoppe. Their books are always entertaining. One of these days I'm going to get my act together and contribute something to them.
It was fun being on the other side of the table for once, but I'm looking forward to getting back next year where I'll hopefully have the new Mr. Wiggles book to debut. I think the timing is just about right for that.
Oh, and really quickly in some website news, I'm going to be adding these blog updates into the rss feed because some people have been asking for it. Let me know if it works OK for you or if it's annoying.
MoCCA + Update
June 21, 2007
For the first time since its inception, I won't be exhibiting at The MoCCA Art Festival. I just needed a break from promotion and don't have any new comic books out this year. However, I will be attending on Saturday as a regular convention goer so if you see me walking around and want to say, "Hi." be sure to flag me down.
The Art 101 column I talked about a couple weeks ago is most likely going to be postponed another couple of weeks. I've got some projects that came up that I need to take care of first—one Wiggles related (more news on that after it's done). Gotta pay the bills first before I can do the free fun stuff.
Daniel Robert Epstein
June 15, 2007
I just rolled back into town only to discover the sad news that Daniel Robert Epstein passed away Tuesday night. Daniel was a great guy who interviewed me a few times—first for Newsarama, later for the Happy Ending Reading Series, and again for Suicide Girls. He was my favorite interviewer and, although we'd only met on a handful of occasions, I always looked forward to talking to him. Daniel was just the nicest guy with such a love and fandom for comics, movies, and underground and pop culture and had an unparalleled enthusiasm that seemed to resonate from his very bones. It was always great to see him and run into him at comic shows or once even on the street in my neighborhood (we lived fairly close by each other). And if you browse through the suicide girls archive of his interviews, (sorry, I don't know how to link directly to his, but dig around) you'll see the talent and incredible body of work he left. It really is a sad loss. Daniel was 31 years old and is survived by his parents and his wife Andrea.
Via suicide girls:
The family urges those who want to help in some way, to make a donation on behalf of Daniel to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a cause that was very important to him both as a fan and writer of graphic novels.
Attached is info for anyone who may be interested in making a donation in the name of Daniel Robert Epstein. This is one of the many causes which were important as well as near and dear to his amazingly large heart.
CBLDF Membership
Support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and help preserve comics as a vital medium for the next century. Everyone in the comics community, from fans to pros to retailers, has a vital interest in preserving the medium’s ability to grow, and by joining the CBLDF, you'd be helping protect First Amendment rights of the comics you love. (Please add one separate item for each membership.)Address:
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
271 Madison AV STE 1400
New York, NY 10016
800-99-CBLDF
212-679-7151
212-679-0631 fax
info@cbldf.org
www.cbldf.org
You'll be missed, Daniel.
New Column
June 7, 2007
I'm not sure if you'll all remember this, but last month I wrote about a popular website that contacted me to write a regular column for them about comics, art, and design. Well, it looks like it's not going to happen. After I emailed them with my ideas for the column, I never heard back. And it's been almost a month so I'm figuring this thing is dead in the water. The column, by the way, was going to be for Suicide Girls, which would have been very cool to have been a part of. But Suicide Girls' loss is your gain, so to speak, because I'm going to write the column anyway. I'm just going to do it here. I'm going to call the column Art 101. It's going to be a little different than what I had pitched to SG. What I'd like to focus on are my thoughts on art, making it as an artist, and the education of an artist. Some columns will be: my views on art school as both someone who's attended and someone who teaches at one, a how-to of comics creation, an analysis of humor and joke-making, thoughts on book design and the publishing industry, and experiences one deals with as a professional in the creative industry just to name a few. My hopes with the column are really to educate. I get a lot of emails from people asking about process and how to get to the point that I'm at in my career (really, you should aim much higher!) and I thought it might be nice to share some of what I've learned so far in the short time I've been a professional. I hope that it's something people will get something from and enjoy. The column will probably run here about every two weeks or whenever I have the time or inspiration to do so. Every two weeks is what I'm shooting for, I just can't guarantee it. I'm out of town all next week visiting family in Michigan so it will probably start the week of the 18th when I return. Look for Art 101 then!
B.E.A.-O.K.
June 3, 2007
B.E.A. was a really cool experience and I'm totally psyched I got to go. This is the first time I've ever been and here is my accounting of my day spent ogling books and hobnobbing with the glitterati of the publishing world:
In case you're unaware of what B.E.A. is, it stands for Book Expo America. It's a yearly trade show for the publishing industry. It's sort of like a comic convention with extremely attractive people. (Hey, I love me my comic peeps and I'm one myself, but you know, there's "comic hot" and then there's "adult trade hot" and they're not anywhere near close.) Anyway, it's where a lot of deals are made and big plans announced that would knock the socks off those who are fans of the written word.
My day started off leisurely as I met up with my friends and editors from HarperCollins to prepare for my book signing with Barry Yourgrau for Yet Another NASTYbook. The Harper booth was packed and I was happy to see two books I worked on—Diary of a Fly and Castle Corona—featured very prominently. Barry arrived soon after and amused us with complaints about his terrible, horrible, tragic life of having to fly to exotic cities with his girlfriend who is a food writer to sample various delicacies. Horrible indeed! Once all parties were accounted for, we headed over to the signing booth with Barry sitting front and center and me off to the side. This was Barry's show afterall—I was really just happily along for the ride.
The signing was only half an hour and went by really quickly. It was a constant stream of people coming. Most of them were older folk (by my young person standards anyway) representing school libraries and a lot were already familiar with Barry's work. For each person, Barry explained that I was the illustrator when they seemed puzzled as to why I was also signing their book. I was greeted with a lot of, "Oh, how nice!" and "Oh, great!" Really, what else would you expect anyone to say?
Barry signed until the very end when they asked everyone to stop so they could set up for the next author. He's truly a pro at dealing with people—always having some sort of anecdote to relate to wherever they were from or what their interests were. I, on the other hand, am horrible at that kind of stuff and just sat quietly and nodded politely and said "Thank you" where appropriate. I'm always in awe of people like Barry or anyone I guess who can talk to whomever without the slightest bit of problem. I can never think of what to say to anyone and it's always awkward. I barely even know what to say to people I know, let alone complete strangers. It's a wonder I even have friends. So it was nice watching Barry work his magic.
With the signing done, my Harper folks went off to grab lunch and Barry ran off to a meeting. At only 12:30pm, I was left with plenty of time to wander around the convention and see the sights. I started off on the bottom floor which had a lot of smaller presses. I figured I would just work my way left to right from aisle to aisle as I had no plan of attack or any particular publisher I was interested in seeing. In fact, I didn't even know which publishers were exhibiting.
The first section was the self-published section. It was a little sad. Very empty. Not much traffic. I walked through trying not to make eye contact with too many people. Unfortunately, a couple did manage to get me and I ended up having to take some advance reading copies of books that sounded pretty bad because I just didn't have the heart to tell them, "No." But just past that section, I happily stumbled upon Mark Murphy's publishing imprint. Although I've never seen his books in person, I've seen them online and I'm a fan of the work he puts out, his design aesthetic, and all the artists he associates himself with. People like Joe Soren, Jonathan Weiner, and Cathie Bleck for instance. Mark and Debra—the woman assisting him—were incredibly nice and I chatted with them for some time. If you get a chance, you should definitely check out his books. I know a certain somebody who's going to purchase a Jeff Soto calendar as soon as it's printed.
The next interesting booth I stumbled across was the McSweeney booth. I'm sure a lot of you know who they are. I've never actually read a McSweeney book I must admit, but have seen them and have always been impressed by the cleverness of their design and their pure tactile-ness. They always look really cool and are packaged in odd and interesting ways. Coincidentally, the gentleman I talked to there was a cousin of Laura Geringer of Laura Geringer Books, an imprint of HarperCollins fame. The same Laura Geringer Books that I was the Art Director for and worked with for five years with. So that was a nice moment of synchronicity.
After a couple of hours on the bottom floor, I made my way to the top where the larger publishers were. After not too long a period of walking around, I stumbled into the Abrams booth where I encountered fellow Harper alumni turned boy designer, Chad Beckerman and chatted it up for a while. Also on hand was the always affable and busy with a capital "B" Charlie Kochman, the editor of Abrams' Image graphic novel imprint. Charlie and I would love to work together at some point in time so hopefully one day we'll get to. He has a great love for comics, having also been at D.C. for many years, and has wonderful insights into the work. And, as I've mentioned, heck of a nice guy.
When I went to B.E.A.,I wasn't expecting to bump into anyone I knew, yet, for some reason, every few aisles I happened to see people—some that I hadn't seen in years. I heard someone shouting, "Neil!" and turned to see fellow NY Press exile Scott Bowen whom I'd met on several occasions at NY Press parties back in the day. Scott used to be a writer and editor for Field and Stream when we last spoke and now works for The Lyons Press. We exchanged some nice pleasantries, grumbled a little about The NY Press (or maybe I grumbled), and bid each other a fair day. By this time, I'd already been at B.E.A. a lot longer than I'd intended to and was trying to make haste through the aisles.
But, of course, I kept running into people. Next up was friend and fellow Syracuse Illustration grad (and, come to think of it, also another NY Press freelancer from the Swaab era), Marty Dundics, who is now the Creative Director over at National Lampoon. He informed me that LL Cool J had been in the booth next to his promoting his book on how to get awesome LL Cool J Abs. While chatting with him, I was greeted by Brad Balfour and Brooks Williams of TimesSquare.com, who were going around interviewing people on video for their website. I knew Brad from doing a Virgin Megastore panel he set up a few years back and also through a couple of other acquaintances. Brad used to be an editor at Heavy Metal back in its heyday and regaled Marty and me with some amusing anecdotes about the competition between them and National Lampoon. I gave them a little interview about why I was at B.E.A. which will probably end up on their site I'm sure, if it isn't already.
On the comics and art books front, Last Gasp had some awesome stuff as they always do. I was particularly drawn to the new Camille Rose Garcia book. I love her work and that book is simply exquisite. Amazing spec's. I have a few Last Gasp art books, my favorites being one of Mark Ryden's (looks like it's unavailable now) and one of The Clayton Brothers'. Great stuff!
Next, I hit up the Drawn and Quarterly booth where, surprisingly, Adrian Tomine (of Optic Nerve fame) was hanging out without an audience. I introduced myself to him, explaining that my Parsons class had been in one of his lectures with Seth and that I knew him through another friend and teacher there, Frank Olinsky. Adrian mistakenly thought I meant that I was a student at Parsons in Frank's class, but we quickly cleared up the confusion. I had forgotten that Adrian had also done a different lecture in Frank's class the year before so that's where the mistake came from. Adrian was really great to talk to. Totally down to earth and humble and easy going and quite happy to converse. I scored a poster for his upcoming book, Shortcomings, that he signed for me.
I then moved on to the Fantagraphics table and had an unfortunately unpleasant interaction with head Gary Groth, who seemed disinterested in talking to me and not particularly friendly, projecting a very negative vibe. Oh well, maybe the convention was getting to him? I grabbed a catalog though and it looks like some good stuff ahead for them, particularly the new Angry Youth collection which I'm excited about.
Afterwards, I rounded a corner and stumbled across my own publishers, NBM, who sadly did not have a copy of my book on display. For shame! I guess they were only showing the new books, but still, can't say that I was thrilled with that. Just goes to show that even if you have a publisher, you need to do a lot of the work yourself. You can't rely on them for everything.
I was almost at the end of my tiring day at the circuit (by now I'd been wandering around for almost 5 hours) when I came upon the Manic D Press table and chatted with their extremely cute and nice representative whose name, unfortunately, I never got. I was glad to see them since I am going to be published in one of their anthologies edited by Julia "Fart Party" Wertz about Craigslist Missed Connections. I tried to explain this but totally blanked on Julia's name because I turn retarded in front of nice, cute girls and she seemed unaware of the project. We had a very pleasant conversation and then I lamely gave her my card in case they ever needed any illustration or design work. I was thinking of asking if she had dinner plans, but figured I should make a retreat before I totally stigmatized myself. Afterall, I would like to publish with them in the future possibly. Anyway, Manic D Press puts out some very cool books. In fact, I didn't realize it until after I got home and looked through their catalog, but they published one of my favorite books, In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot by Graham Roumieu. So there you go.
And that was pretty much it. Afterwards, I left the show and passed out in my bed, my legs sore from 6 hours of walking, my brain fried from the mental exhaustion of talking to people all day and from the intake of so many sights. It was a really great day and I had an awesome time. I hope I get to go again the next time it's in NYC.
So what did I learn from it? Well, first off the publishing industry is TINY. I'm just a little socially awkward fish in the pond and I couldn't believe how many people I was connected to. Granted, this is something I already knew, but it's nice to see it in action. (Incidentally, I also missed out on two other friends who were there with their respective publishers that I found out about the next day.) Secondly, I learned that print is not dead yet no matter what the internerds are trying to say. There is just something beautiful about a real book that you can hold and feel and I think people will always want to connect with that. At least I hope they do. There are some great books coming out this year that really don't translate to the same experience seeing them on a digital monitor. Thirdly, I learned that there are a lot of publishers out there. I mean A LOT. Over 6 hours of walking worth! Again, not exactly news, but it's quite a thing to see them all gathered under one roof. It makes me wonder why anyone would even want to get into that business with so much competition, but also extremely grateful and glad that so many people do. And as much as I tried to avoid the self-publishers this trip, I have to give them huge props. I come from a self-publishing background myself and it's an admirable thing for someone to put their money and time into a dream to share a story and experience with the world. Believing in something and putting all of your energy into making it happen is the definition of cool in my (as-yet-to-be-published) book. And lastly, I learned that I really need to work on my "talking to cute girls" skills. As with most of my other experiences, not exactly a revelation, but again, nice to see it in action.