Wondrous WonderCon 2006

I'll be there doing the shake and howdy thing. Will there be enough ILCers there for a FAP of some kind?

I'll be there!

Mostly to help myself sort out my schedule:

Friday
430-530 Spotlight: Mignola
6-7 Spotlight: Allreds

Sat
230-330 Spotlight: Grant Morrison
330-5 Quick Draw! Sergio + Evanier
6-7 Spotlight: Rucka

Sun
1230-130 Spotlight: Frank Miller (wherein I will ask what is wrong with him)

First off, I'm old! This is two cons in a row where I wanted to quit before the end of the day (Comic Con 05 being the first)!

I get in about 3 with only three Allred floppies (SOLO, the last X-Statix, and Dead Girl) and two All-Star Supermans and my convention sketchbook, and I don't have a plan like I usually do when I go to a con. When I go through the entrance, the first thing I see is a line for Mignola signing at Dark Horse's booth, but I have nothing for him to sign. But I have nothing else I can think of doing, so why not? And... it looks like he's doing quick sketches! Does this mean I've finally gotten my Mignola monkey sketch! YES. After three (more probably two) years of trying!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/mignolamonkey.jpg

While I was waiting, I find out Frank "I used to idolize him" Miller is going to be signing, wonder if I really care.

I stumble around for a while, trying to kill time before the Mignola panel at 4.30, passing the DC booth where I see Rucka signing Private Wars. I say hi, hey, that's a "pretty good" book. You suave fox, Leee! I tell him I'll be bringing my stuff later in the weekend. (Lazy me, we shall see!)

Around 4, I pass the View Askew booth, and stop only because I see a hardcover of Madman. I thumb through it, a lady passes by me and exclaiming at the guy behind the counter doing a commission, "MIKE ALLRED HAS A BEARD." I look up, and it's MIKE ALLRED WITH A GOATEE. I must look interested, because one of the View Askew peons asks me if he can help me. I say my question is "Allred-related" (I think my exact words), and then a lady on my side of the booth comes up to me to offer her knowledge and expertise. I ask if he'll be signing, and she says, "Yes, we'll be in the autograph area at 4.30." We? I check her nametag: LAURA ALLRED. Sorry Mignola! I only get one shot, I do not want to miss my chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo!

Somehow, I don't remember how, I wait 25 minutes and then I go to the autograph area. Peeps are already lining up, but this being WonderCon, I'm 5th in line. Not much later, here they come! And now I notice that Mike's wearing a Velvet Underground tee!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/allreds.jpg

The girl in front of me has the issue of Solo, and when he's signing it, he mentions that he's glad she brought it, and that it was, in fact, the first issue that he'd had the chance to sign! I say, "You should write, 'FIRST COPY SIGNED!'" Great idea! He has trouble writing the date -- his time in Europe apparently threw him off, and when it's my turn, I get "SECOND COPY SIGNED" and he asks how to do the date again. ROFFLE.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/solo.jpg

Then he sez to me, he sez, "You know, this'll be the first issue of Dead Girl that I'll sign." One nudge nudge wink wink later, and I get the same treatment. w00t! I say some garbled fawning compliments, I'll be seeing you (Mike & Laura) again tomorrow with all my Madman, and also in a few hours at their panel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/deadgirl.jpg

At this point, I should interject that I actually talked to some GURLS at this con!! OMG!! Of course, they were all either there w/ the boyfriends, from far flung places (San Diego), or teh 1esbian pr0n stars. ¡C'est la vie!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/indieomg.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/plechazunga/loeg.jpg

So 6pm, the Allreds panel. For the first 30 minutes solid, Mike talks about LDS after an opening question about the Golden Plates. After another faith-based question re: RR7, I ask him for his five favorite CDs from 2005. He has trouble remembering what came out last year, but offers the Walkmen and the Killers discs.

Which takes us to 7pm, and I'm tired! Home, and for tonight,

~*FIN*~

Day 2
Shook Frank Miller's hand. Kind of wanted to wash my hand right afterward. Had to volunteer, missed Allreds. Tired, can't talk in complete sentences.

Are people finding these entries entertaining? I feel like I'm talking to myself!

Lurkers are being silently appreciative. Your posts, for all these cons you've attended, have been much enjoyed.

Particularly the sketches. Had no idea that was one of the bonuses of attending a con, and your sketchbook scans are both brilliant and envy-inducing.

Lee! I tried to get a hold of you but my phone didn't store your number and I was unable to call you back on Friday. Yes you did reach me and yes I'm a mook for rushing through your message and not taking note of the return number.

Working on Wondercon entries on my blog currently. highway-62.com/blog/

Some promising stuff, some stuff that's gonna be an absolute trainwreck, some good socializing (Hi Doug! Too bad both of us were completely knackered by the times our paths crossed) and some lovely cheap comics, including a copy of KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND, which I'm anxious to actually read since I never have before.

Ah, vindication! Thanks!

Thus:

Day 3
Mucn less eventful. If there weren't any Rucka or Morrison, I wouldn't have gone. Got my run of Gotham Central signed by Rucka (Oh noes! I didn't weed out all the Brubaker issues!). Then I interviewed a pr0n star. Then I got We3 and the All-Star Superman signed. Oh, and I got a 12" Buffy DON'T CALL IT A DOLL action figure for volunteering for all three days. I'm rather proud of myself for spending only $15 on a nerdy T-shirt, when past cons have seen my drop obscene numbers of benjamins.

Other titbits I forgot to mention from the previous days.

Day 1
Allred stopped reading comics when Gwen Stacy died! TRAUMA!! But an Air Force buddy got him back in. Aaaand, he got into comics writing because of, get this, BLUE VELVET.

Day 2
At the Morrison panel, he opened up to questions right away, but after a number of heady, philosophical questions, he begged the audience for spandex questions. No such luck! I line up behind the microphones they have set up in the aisles, and in responding to the guy just before me, he answers what I'm about to ask. Still, I go ahead anyway:

Me: Do you think, at least at a trans-temporal level, that narratives pre-exist in some kind of a Platonic ideal, casting a shadow onto the manifested text, or is your writing process more linear?

[A second of bewildered silence.]

DC Editor: I feel like I'm the stupidest person in the room.

GM: You lost me after "tran-temporal."

Me: What I mean is, do you think the Hulk can beat up Superman?

[Much laughter and hooting.]

GM: Nobody can beat up Superman!

Me: Cool.

I actually hoped that this exchange would have made it onto the blogosphere, and didn't want to mention it so that I could coolly take credit for it. But the time for modesty is over! It was me!

Matt: that's ok! My shyness got a hold of me again, and I didn't get to the Isotope thing. I was probably just as beat as you, and it would've been like two zombies talking.

ZOMBIE #1: brains? (shows signed copy of ASS #1)
ZOMBIE #2: brains! (gives thumbs-up, by holding left thumb in right hand)

Yeah, pretty much like that.

And I thought that was you at the Morrison panel. I'm actually just blogging that now.

You're some kinda smartass, aren't ya?

Not so smart, but yeah!

Waddya mean? You asked a question that stopped GM dead in his tracks. Seems pretty smart to me.

I was just being faux-modest! I know I'm brilliant.

I'm not really up-to-date on my post-Socratic philosophy, but I don't really get the question. You oppose linear writing process with platonism, but I'm not sure why these should be mutually exclusive...?

My question engages with the temporality of texts, especially in regards to the creation of a text. Is a text fully formed and predetermined, an artistic Athena, or better yet, Michalangelo's David, even before the author puts pen to paper, at least in 4-space? With each additional word, is the author chipping inexorably away at all the non-possibilities towards this story? Or is the journey towards creating a story part of the story itself, the vicissitudes of the craft impinging upon the text? Admittedly, it's an unanswerable question because these are two completely different universes we're talking about, and neither DC nor Marvel will accede to the Hulk or Supes battling it out.

So, essentially, you asked the same question twice.

Well, everything's already happened. We're just perceiving it one second per second in the fourth dimension stylee. So, I suppose the answer to your question would be the former, not the latter. Impossible to *prove* however.

Just like it's impossible to prove that Superman would indeed beat the Hulk.

Exactly, it's a matter of 3-space perception vs. 4-space perception, and now I've helped kill the joke dead.

Actually, that'd be 4-space and 5-space, since we're in the fourth. No really, I've been keeping track of this.

And this is why ILC never gets blurbed on trades.