In the madness of New York Comic Con, I wasn't able to keep up with my daily recaps of the convention. I'm just going to jump right into it. Strap in for the Comic News Insider goodness!
Friday: Friday started off with press rooms for me. First one up was Comic Book Men. I know this show is hit or miss with a lot of people but I still loves me some Kevin Smith. Luckily, our round table got him first as I had to bolt out after to get to another press room. Great thing about Smith is you ask him one question and he can go on for a long time as he's a storyteller. I managed to get in a couple and we even briefly mentioned him inviting me out to the set last year and hanging. (Okay, I mentioned it to him!) I then bolted out to get to the Justice League: War press room hoping to chat with the great Andrea Romano (whom has been on the podcast in the past). We got director Jay Oliva and he was great. Alas, I had to bolt out again to get to the next room for the upcoming film Vampire Academy. Thanks to my friend Tolley who got me in. Alas, it ran a little late to start (meaning I could have stayed in the other room) but once it did, it rolled on. To be honest, I didn't have much of an interest in seeing this film but after chatting with the cast, I'm in!
Back to the table for one of our fundraising raffles. As usual, our regular comes every year and spends over $200 on tickets and he wins a ton. Still, many people whom only bought 1 or 2 tickets did get some great prizes. I'm not sure how well it worked having our table in Artist Alley. I enjoyed the room as it wasn't as densely crowded or a clusterfuck like the main room. And I was surrounded by friends! But I think we do better in the main room (or the offshoot of the main room) especially when it comes to the raffle. Plus, for some reason, NYCC didn't put our "Podcast Arena" sign up and many people had difficulty finding us. Some not at all as I got a tweet about it later. The table was still pretty busy and lots of people stopped by to say hi from loyal listeners I got to meet and folks just wondering what it was that we do. We also had several friends doing signings over the weekend and pal Emma Vieceli started us off on Friday.
Later, it was back to the press rooms...which were on the OPPOSITE end from where we were located. Ergo, I had to hike back and forth often and due to the crowd was late on occasion to an interview room. Last press room of the day was for the hit animated series Bob's Burgers. It was a crowded press room and there were about 20 media folks at a table as they brought over cast members 2 at a time. Two women manipulated the table. One, was a "crazy old lady" with bright colored hair and "crazy" sunglasses on. She acted like she was having a convo with the talent. Constantly just jumping in and saying/asking ridiculous things. At one point, shouting loudly when she realized one of the actors was the star of his own YouTube comedy channel that her daughter showed her. I know this because she wnet on for over a minute or 2 loudly shouting, "OH MY GOD! THAT'S YOU?! MY DAUGHTER SHOWED ME THAT. YOU DID THAT THING WITH THE THING. THAT WAS YOU? OH MY GOD!" This went on and on. Next to her was another woman whom clearly had no idea what she was asking half of the time and just seemed to be talking to talk. She got information about the show and characters wrong several times. I'm barely exaggerating here but she went a little something like this. "So pretty much with season 2 and now upcoming season 3...pretty much...uh, so pretty much with those seasons like the upcoming season 3 and the just aired season 2, so pretty much...is there anything that pretty much you can tell us about it?" Trust me when I say the question went on even longer. The producers corrected her that it was season 3 that just aired and season 4 just started. Oh, and that last woman's first question to sereis star H. Jon Benjamin was about Archer even though it was the Bob's Burgers room. Sigh. Creator Loren Bouchard, clearly annoyed by the first crazy lady, even called her out at one point. When she asked something about the way characters look, he replied something like, "Let's say I had a character who wore sunglasses indoors. Well, actually no. I wouldn't because that's really distracting and annoying". We all laughed as he pointed at her as he said it. He's my new favorite person. I got maybe a question or 2 in here and there but they were ridiculous. And then I found out there were 3 OF THEM FROM THE SAME OUTLET at the same table! Who's vetting these people? Not only are they awful at what they do, but it is completely unfair/uncool if you have more than one person per outlet at table especially when they both manipulate the table. I'm no journalist, but I feel I've proven myself by doing this podcast for the last 8 1/2 years, not to mention my work with Stated Magazine and other outlets. I LEARNED journalistic ethics and feel I know how to act in a press room. I'm sure it's tough for publicists to go over every blog, podcast, webshow, website, etc...but maybe put an intern on that to see numbers, content, etc. Just because you have a website, microphone, camera, podcast, etc...DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD. Sorry, rant over.
Friday ended with a great steak dinner with pals Emma Vieceli, Andrew Ruddick, Becky Cloonan, Andy Belanger, producer Joe Gonzalez, Heidi MacDonald and a few new friends as well. Then the Image party which we skipped and a few drinks with friends. Early night for me as I was home by 1am.
Saturday: Early start to the day with the Archer press room which I got to a few minutes late due to train delays. Thanks MTA! Amazing cast and it was really great to chat with them all. Really nice to see old bar regular Judy Greer. When she was on Broadway, she came into my bar/restaurant a lot and we used to chat a lot. We laughed later that she didn't recognize me at first because I wasn't surrounded by liquor. Off to the Starz press room where I covered upcoming shows Black Sails and Outlander. I knew Black Sails was about pirates but wasn't sure of the premise as I had only skimmed the synopsis. I learned it was set 20 years prior to Treasure Island. We chatted with the cast and creator. I had an Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings moment with actor Luke Evans whom plays a younger John Silver. I'm confident enough to recognize a good looking man without questioning my own sexuality. Besides that, he was just really engaging and as we started talking about fight choreography (something we both are experienced in), I found myself melting into his words. Hiyo Silver indeed! Seriously though, he seemed like a really cool guy to have a beer with and chat manly things. Luckily, they brought one of the beautiful female casts members over after, thus, keeping my sexuality intact. Nothing wrong with it either way, of course! Oh Silver. After chatting with them all, it really seems like a cool show and I look forward to checking it out. Next, Ronald D. Moore (creator of revamped hit Battlestar Galactica) and Diana Gabaldon joined us to talk the Outlander series (based on Gabaldon's books). Again, sounds really cool. I chatted with Ron after reminding him of how we shared whiskey from my flask at SDCC one year and he had that moment of recognition!
Back to the table for signings and raffle. The amazingly talented (and one of my favorite writers) Kelly Sue DeConnick sat for an hour to meet/greet her fans and do a follow up interview with me. So great. I walked around a bit more and did some interviews with various cartoonists in Artist Alley. Back to the press rooms for Cartoon Network. I had only wanted to cover Dan Harmon's new animated series Rick and Morty but it was clumped with China, IL which I hadn't seen before. We got the producers on that show first along with one of the voice actors Brooke Hogan. Whom seemed REALLY out of place. She grabbed my digital recorder and laughed over how phallic it looked. First time anyone's ever done that. Oh Brooke! The show actually sounds pretty funny and I may have to check it out. Next up, we got Harmon and the other EP to chat about their show. And again, an ANNOYING media person at the table. I remembered this guy fromThe Walking Dead press room at SDCC. Kept jumping in with ridiculous questions and kept acting like he knew everything about the people and the show. Even when he said something completely wrong like, "So, the show is this..." and they corrected him, he would just keep going, "Yeah yeah. That's what I meant, etc". Jesus. He kept trying to talk to me before it all started and I literally just ignored him and looked at my phone.
Back to the table to chill and pack up. This time, I got us reservations (my reservation-fu was pretty good over the weekend) at a sushi spot in midtown. Most of the same crew as the previous night but including pals Gary Erskine, Simon Fraser and a few others. Good food and good times! Off to the Marvel party where we hung for a short while. Got to chat w/ many a pal but it was super crowded. Again, made the decision for another early night and turned down the karaoke offer. In bed by 2am. Not bad.
Sunday: I decided to take it easy as I'd been running my butt off all weekend. I got there for my new favorite person Michelle Mozes doing her signing at my table. She was so grateful and had a good time. I told pals Emma Vieceli and Becky Cloonan it was cool to cancel their signings as they had so much going on. Another favorite person, Veronica Taylor (voice of "Ash" in Pokemon), came by for her signing later. She is just so damn lovely and funny. We had a blast chatting along with her daughter. Always great to watch her fans come up and realize it's her. I ran around a bit more and even a bit onto the main floor. Still clusterfuckery. But all good! Show ended at 5 and we packed up and headed off.
My annual Dead Dog Bash turned out to be even more of a success than previous years. Normally, it's a chill laid back thing for my cartoonist friends away from fans and the madness of the con. It's kind of invite only (and sorry to rub it in your faces) but I trust my pals to invite their friends. And boy did word spread. By 9pm the place was packed! The whole UK crowd (Keiron Gillen, Andy Diggle, Emma Vieceli, Antony Johnston, Al Ewing, etc) loves it and says it's their fave bash each year. Of course, us Yanks represented too including John Cassaday, Robbi Rodriguez, David Mack, and so many more. It settled down a couple of hours later but even with the bigger crowd it was still pretty chill and fun. Thanks to all whom attended!
Monday: What do you mean Monday? Well, many of my cartoonist pals are still in town. I mentioned the restaurant Serendipity so we all went and stuffed our faces with the food and the famous desserts. I worked there in the 90's and saw an old manager and bus boy that are still there. Later, we went down and joined Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and Fletch Chu-Fong for a couple of drinks. Scott and Greg promised to put me in Batman. (They last part may not be true. Okay, it isn't. But one can hope!)
For the most part, it was a busy and successful show for us. I think next year it might be better if we're not in Artist Alley, as much as I love it. Big thanks to everyone whom donated for the raffle including DC Comics, Top Shelf, Image, JM DeMatteis, Shelf Life Series, G4TV, XBox, Archie Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, 2000AD, and more. Special thanks to all of my booth helpers Carrie, Emily, Gretchen, Nick, Malcolm, Lima, Taylor, and Kristin. Great job and I owe you all a nice big uncomfortable hug. Mad props to Producer Joe for all of his hard work (and upcoming on edits). Big ups to booth neighbors Will Sliney and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz for being supportive and dealing with our raffle antics. I saw so many friends and met lots of great new people. Too numerous to mention. But you know whom you are! YES YOU!!!
Thanks to NYCC for everything. While things went pretty well, there were definitely still a few problems. The RFID badge system seemed to be okay for the first couple of days but definitely did not liking being herded like cattle through ONE entrance. We were told we could use the revolving doors for Javits North since it's so far off from the main area. Nope. They wouldn't let us. Lame. And reports of sexual harrassment and not much being done about it are disturbing. Tough to control a 100,000 plus crowd but security should handle those things better. Press vetting needs to happen. Still too many people packed in. I know it's a for-profit company, but less of exhibitors like Chevrolet, Geico, etc. Besides these negative things, the show was still pretty great overall. Plan ahead for next year as it's only getting bigger!
