Wednesday, July 24, 2013

San Diego ComicCon Excitement

Always enjoy visiting San Diego, and this ComicCon was especially pleasant weather-wise... very cool and comfy.  I did my usual investigation of various dealers, though for the first time in years I didn't buy any collectible comics.  I did however buy several collections (Golden Age "Phantom Lady" anyone?) which may explain why my appetite for pricey old books has diminished.  If I just want to read old comics, many are readily available in multiple forms. 

My greatest find was a page of original art from the 1960's "Herbie" comic -- specifically the last page of "Egyptian Conniption" from Herbie #19 (1966), where Herbie brings a bloated Cleopatra to present day to please his father, only to figure out that Dad was actually lusting over the much prettier Elizabeth Taylor version.  A Herbie website notes that this particular page features possibly the most optimistic father-son moment in the entire Herbie catalog -- Herbie's straight-laced Dad gives the son he usually calls "a fat little nothing" a wink after Herbie makes Cleo disappear before Mom comes home.  If you've never had a chance to check out Herbie, trust me, it's one of the most bizarre and somewhat subversive comics to ever come out.  And the entire 60's run is available in glorious hardback reprint from Dark Horse...

My only complaint about the convention this year would be my multiple run-ins with overzealous security.  Arriving to participate in a (fun!) Battlestar Galactica panel, I was told that panelists are not allowed to enter through the front door (!). When I asked which door was permitted, there was no answer.  When Richard Hatch and the rest of the panel went through the forbidden front door I just bulldozed along with them, but really?  Later I grew increasingly more grumpy with long lines of autograph seekers blocking entire central aisles with security approval.  I can't count the number of times I was told to detour and/or "keep moving" while wandering the crush of the con. I suppose it's heresy to even suggest this, but maybe those sessions need to be moved off the main convention floor...?

Oh, okay, one more complaint, but this is totally outside convention control: the price gouging by local hotels.  I could buy a very nice room in a high end Hawaiian resort for what it cost to stay in S.D. this year, and while I love San Diego, trust me, I love the Kona Coast even more.  But oh well.  I doubt I'd find too many Herbie pages on the big island...

 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Catching up...

Now that the frenzy of Sharknado has abated and the big San Diego ComicCon looms, time to FOCUS.

NEWS!  I'll be on the Battlestar Galactica panel at SDCC on Thursday, 7/18, at 10:30AM.  I understand there may be other surprise guests including a possible "hello" from the Admiral himself.  Since security wouldn't let me in last year (the room was full) I figured the best way to SEE the panel was to ask to be on it, and moderator Richard Hatch was kind enough to tender an invitation.  Anyhow, BSG is always fun to  blab about...

NEWS! Some very cool developments work-wise, but I have been asked to hold off any revelations until all can be coordinated.  I'm told an announcement of one of the projects will surface any day now (keep your eyes on Deadline Hollywood!). Suffice to say my lazy Summer has suddenly become a Worknado of writing madness...

NEWS! I actually did watch Sharknado.  First, I think it's cool that Anthony Ferrante, former editor of Fangoria, is now directing movies.  Second, well... I think it's cool that Anthony Ferrante, former editor of Fangoria, is directing movies.  Okay, that's a little snarky.  Actually, I'm kind of impressed by the sheer amount of bad CGI and "action" given what I assume must have been a *ahem* modest budget.  Plus it was set in Santa Monica, my almost home-base here in Los Angeles.  And John Heard was eaten by a shark.  Okay, that's enough on Sharknado...

* UPDATE 7/14: After much thought, I'm not sure Mr. Ferrante was actually the editor of Fangoria, but he did write for them...

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Lazy Tuesday Mulling... Original Comic Art Edition

I've been picking up the odd piece of original comic book art from time to time.  I have quite a few examples from my own books, but also a number of pieces by my fave/most intriguing artists and books.  I doubt there are too many other collectors dying for a page of Tony Tallarico art from the Dell 60's "Werewolf" series, but at $30 a page, I'm there!

One thing I don't particularly like are pages that don't have the lettering actually on the artwork.  Almost all current comics are lettered with computer programs and overlays, a process which put a lot of fine hand-letterers out of business (*sigh*) but which makes editing, corrections and (*sigh* again) rewrites infinitely easier.  So I get the practicality of it all.  But original art still looks naked without the balloons and captions... meaning the vast majority of my original art collection is pre whenever the computer age of lettering kicked in.  Happily, most of my comics were done when the lettering was still being inserted by hand.  I just... like that.

In fact, I am inordinately pleased that I started my comics career way back when (some) books were still being published on newsprint-ish paper, with (mostly) hand-lettered cover copy and less than optimum color separations.  Because that's "comics" to me.  Everyone's eye adjusts to their own age of comics, so I'm sure most modern comics fans find older books unbearably primitive. But for me, the anti-slickness is most of the attraction.  I love the hand-made, seat-of-your-pants look that came from hand-lettered cover copy and logos, from a time when lettering Gods like Artie Simek or Sam Rosen or Ben Oda or Bill Spicer could make or break artwork with their truly remarkable styles.

This isn't some Luddite repudiation of computer lettering or better printing.  I know artists from the old days were endlessly frustrated with bad printing and the loss of detail that resulted.  And there are some modern artists who do their own lettering on the page (hello, Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Robert Crumb) because the letters are a design element just as important as the artwork itself.  I guess I'm mostly thinking that slick for slick's sake isn't always a plus.  Anymore than crude for crude's sake always works.  I don't like those Tony Tallarico pages THAT much...