CON-ODYSSEY: ComicCon - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

CON-ODYSSEY: ComicCon - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Geez, I only JUST noticed that my entire previous conjournal entries for the Gathering and ConVergence all have the YEAR wrong. 2008, not 2009.

Cripes.

Anyway...

12am - I'm still prepping for ComicCon.

2am - I watch an episode of the L-Word.

4am - I web-browse, looking for info on my buddy Cary Bates' new comic for Marvel: True Believers.

5am - I go to bed.

10am - I get up, pack, etc.

12pm - I say goodbye to Erin, who is home sick, and head to Ralph's market to buy road snacks.

12:20pm - I finally hit the road. I eat a Butterfinger, Pringles and Evian. I'm listening to Steve Martin's great autobiography Born Standing Up.

3pm - I arrive at the Omni Hotel and check in. My room (non-smoking) smells like cigarette smoke but only in the entry way. I think smokers stood outside the room by the window and some of the smoke seeped through. I'm too lazy to complain or change rooms, but I later bring it to the front desk's attention as I'm paranoid I'll be blamed for the situation and charged a huge "cleaning" fee. Otherwise, the room is very nice.

4pm - I have "lunch" with Michael Vogel, Chris and Mike Ross at Sweetwater in the Hard Rock. I have a number of cokes, a bacon cheese burger and a big pickle. Jennifer Anderson catches up to us.

5:30pm - Jennifer and I go to Mary Janes (also at the Hard Rock) and I have dessert: Apple Pie ala mode.

7pm - We get to the Old Globe Theatre just before curtain. The play is "The Pleasure of His Company". It's a very fun and funny production. I lose a contact part way through the play however. So we head back to my room so that I can change into my glasses. We then head out to meet up with Seth and Sammy, who are at a restaurant. We are warned that it's a "long walk" -- but are not told that it's flat out TOO FAR TO WALK! Eventually, we call and force Seth to come pick us up.

11pm - At the deli, I have an OJ, a French Dip Sandwich and Potato Salad.

MORE TO COME...

THE BIG BAD NEWS (and a little bit of good news).

THE BIG BAD NEWS (and a little bit of good news).

As many of you have probably heard, we found out Saturday (7/26/08) at San Diego ComicCon that the GARGOYLES (including BAD GUYS) license will not be renewed after it expires on 8-31-08.

Just to be very, very clear... this is NOT the result of poor sales. GARGOYLES is still one of the best selling book SLG publishes (if not THE best). BAD GUYS doesn't do too badly either by SLG standards. Of course, delays didn't help sales... and there are probably other factors that reduced the upside -- including the writing -- but none of that is the point.

According to SLG's President, Publisher and Owner Dan Vado, the Disney execs told him that the money they were taking in did not justify their administrative costs. So they raised the license renewal fee to a rate that put it beyond SLG's reach. (Dan had hoped to renew both Gargoyles and Haunted Mansion -- though not Tron or Wonderland -- but neither book will now be picked up.)

I don't know what effect recent announcements about Kingdom Comics and Boom! Comics had on this decision. Dan was told one thing had nothing to do with the other. No one at either company has approached me about doing Gargoyles, and I don't know that there will be any interest now that the license is coming to an end.

That's the bad news. But there is a bit of a silver lining.

There will be NO STORY INTERRUPTUS!!

We will finish both GARGOYLES: Clan-Building and BAD GUYS: Redemption. That's the equivalent of seven more issues of material.

BAD GUYS #4 should be out next week. The book is done and has been done for some time. It's been sent to the printers.

GARGOYLES #9 will hopefully be out next month. David is done with the art. All that remains is for Robby to color it and David to letter it -- tasks that both these gentlemen have proven able to do with great speed.

Whether or not the remaining issues (BAD GUYS #5-6 and GARGOYLES #10-12) are published as individual issues is a bit up in the air. BAD GUYS #5 and GARGOYLES #10 have decent (if long) shots at getting out in time. But whatever doesn't get out as individual issues will still be scripted, drawn, colored or toned, lettered and published as "BONUS MATERIAL" in individual trade paperbacks that will collect GARGOYLES: Clan-Building Volume II and BAD GUYS: Redemption. And these compilations WILL come out! There's still a lot of work to be done. (Personally, I still need to script Gargoyles #11-12.) So I WON'T take this moment to thank everyone and say au revoir. That'll come later. For now, we're still a going concern.

In addition, Dan hasn 't given up on us. He wants to put out these two new trades and keep all three trades available for sale (and btw we sold a bunch of the trades at ComicCon -- when I left Sunday at 1pm, hours before close of con, we only had a handful of Clan-Building Volume I left to sell). After a year, he hopes to go back to Disney with a different, perhaps more modest offer to do Gargoyles Graphic Novels. Might work out. Might not. But he's still game and just in case it isn't 100% clear...

GREG WEISMAN HAS NOT GIVEN UP!!!!!!!!!!

I'm as determined as ever -- if not moreso -- to continue bringing you canon Gargoyles stories. The eighteen issues we've done/are doing have only whetted my appetite! I'm still going to be out here swinging... for more comics or graphic novels, for the DVD releases, for a live action film, etc. But I can't do it alone! So please don't you guys give up on Gargoyles either!

Remember, a few years ago, we didn't even have this. In that time, we will have brought you two big arcs, six big stories, eighteen "episodes" and numerous sub-plots, plot-twists, new characters and old familiar favorites. Would we have Shari, Quincy, Coco, Amp, etc. if the fans haven't kept the faith?! No. Would we grok the Illuminati number system?! No. Would we have seen Goliath and Elisa declare their love?! NOPE!!! (Oh, and for those of you who wish Demona could have figured more prominently in the comic... well, guys do you really think I'd do a twelve issue re-introductory story arc in Gargoyles without prominently including the crazy red head? Please.)

So what can YOU do? Well, nothing's changed on that front, really. We still need people to buy comics, trades, DVDs, HOT TOPIC T-Shirts. We still need people to attend the GATHERING. (Check out www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com ) And whether or not you've spent all the disposable income you have to spend on the property, then help us SPREAD THE WORD!!!! Make sure every gargoyle fan knows about what's out there. Show friends the first 39 episodes on DVD. Lend them the comics or trades. Create converts.

And mostly... just keep the faith.

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Monday, July 7, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Monday, July 7, 2009

12am - The Memorial Panel for those who have passed officially made the con a 5-day event. Chocolate Fish.

1am - A bunch of us hung out for hours. Chris, Ken, Lex, Tim, Windy and others.

5am - Back to the room.

5:30am - Sleep.

10:30am - Wake-up. Five hours. Not too bad for me.

11:30am - Packed up with some difficulty. All those extra t-shirts and the crochet'd Goliath made it tough to fit everything in. Lex and I headed to Axel and I had gumbo, an Onion Ring and an Axel burger.

4:20pm - My delayed flight finally took off.

6:20pm - Just barely made my connection to my L.A. flight.

9:30pm - Arrived at LAX.

10:00pm - Home.

And that's that. Finished just in time, because tomorrow I leave for Con-Odyssey II: San Diego ComicCon!! More when I return.

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Sunday, July 6, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Sunday, July 6, 2009

12am - Returned to my room.

3am - Went to sleep.

8:30am - Wake-up.

10:30am - Brunch w/Uncle Joe and Aunt Nancy: V8, French Toast, eggs, bacon, hash browns. Then we headed over to Joe & Nancy's house for a bit.

12:30pm - Adaptation panel w/Marv & Vince.

2pm - Another signing with nothing to sign.

3pm - Went to Dairy Queen with Lex and had a dipped cone. Then we wandered about the con for a bit.

5pm - Closing Ceremony. I'm embarrassed to say, I found myself tearing up at Jeremy and Tim's farewell. (They've been part of the Triumvirate of Seven running the con for ten years now -- but have resigned after a noble and long run.)

7pm - Macaroni Grill with Lex, Megan, Mark, Eryn, Amanda and Len. Meatball Soup, Bread, Lobster Ravioli, Cheesecake with strawberries and chocolate.

10pm - Listened to the reading of the surveys. This may be my favorite part of the convention.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Saturday, July 5, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Saturday, July 5, 2009

12am - Lex and I met up at COF2E2 and hung out chatting for hours, joined by James toward the end.

5am - I returned to my room and pretty much went right to sleep.

9:30am - Wake-up.

11am - I had a Buffy & Angel panel. Yeah, yeah, what am I doing on that panel? Just being a geeky fan.

2pm - Comic book panle w/Terry Beatty, Chris Jones, Mark Evanier, Marv Wolfman and Len Wein.

3:30pm - A panel on Continuity with Chris Jones and others.

4:30pm - Took a nap.

7:30pm - Dinner at Vantage with Lex. Coke, Bread, water, Tomato Soup, Edimame, Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans. Good food.

9:30pm - Comics as Movies Panel w/Terry.

11pm - Mature Comics Panel w/Hank, Damien and Eve. This was probably the one dud panel of the entire Con-odyssey. It should have been fun and raucous and raunchy like a blue mug. But we got off to a serious start and never quite found a rhythm, though Eve tried when she arrived. Felt strangely on the defensive -- for no particular reason. But I did pimp BlueMugProductions.com.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Friday, July 4, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Friday, July 4, 2009

5am - Finally went to sleep.

9:30am - Wake up.

11am - An animation panel with Mark Evanier, Wally Wingert and Matt Waterhouse. We covered a lot of ground about the business. (Some of it pretty disheartening, I'd think.)

12pm - I toured the art show.

12:30pm - Dr. Jim Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes, gave a talk on the costumes and accessories of superheroes, including unstable molecules (although as I pointed out to him later, he really only dealt with how they worked for Mr. Fantastic, not for the Invisible Girl of the Human Torch) and Captain America's shield. It was great.

2pm - I had a Gargoyles panel. Always fun.

3pm - Lex and I went to Dairy Queen for "lunch". Had a cheeseburger, fries and an Orange Julius. Got a chance to talk with Ken Hite and his wife Sheila. Ken's the only guy doing more panels than me. I shrug it off... for now.

5pm - I have a signing alongside Marv Wolfman and Wally Wingert. I have nothing for people to sign. But I learned some lessons from Marv about this that may prove useful at CopperCon later this summer.

6:30pm - Matt Waterhouse, David Margosian, Jennifer Menken and I have ANOTHER animation panel ("Cell vs. Chip"). It starts out as a bit of a struggle to make sure it's not just a rehash of the panel earlier in the day, but it winds up being pretty fun and unique enough. It helps that I have an ENDLESS quantity of showbiz horror stories.

7:30pm - Went out to Olive Garden with Mark Temple, Mark Evanier, Jody, Chris Jones, Marv Wolfman and Len Wein. Had breadsticks, minestrone and angel hair with shrimp.

11pm - A panel on "The Rebirth of the Heroine" with Charlotte Nickerson and Jen Manna. This was a fun one too. But I missed Soylent Blue because of it, which was a bit of a bummer as I remember them being really, really funny the last time I was at CONvergence.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Thursday, July 3, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Thursday, July 3, 2009

4:30am - Finally went to sleep.

10am - Wake up.

11:30am - Went out to breakfast at the Edina Grill with Uncle Joe. (Joe is my wife's father's brother.) We mostly talked about the crazy industry I work in. I had Eggs, sausage, hash browns, sourdough toast.

2pm - All the con's special guests (over twenty of us) had a photo call. After that, I went to check out the Dealers' Room.

5pm - I had a panel on the Spectacular Spider-Man.

7pm - Opening Ceremony.

9pm - Lex took me for a comparison Juicy Lucy (this one w/Blue Cheese that didn't quite get liquid), Lemonade, Cheese Curds and Onion Straws.

10pm - We got back to the hotel in time to see a pretty good fireworks display in the distance. I toured all the cabana parties, but I wasn't into it, so...

11pm - I went back to my room.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Wednesday, July 2, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Wednesday, July 2, 2009

3am - Went to sleep.

12:30pm - Wake up. Yep. I was pretty tired.

2pm - Lex and her husband James and I go to Matt's for Juicy Lucys and fries.

3pm - Lex and I go to a mall (not THE mall) and grab some Cherry Garcia before...

3:55pm - We saw Wall-E. Which I thought was just great. Really liked it.

7:10pm - Went to the Guest Reception at the hotel. They served cake. But "NO FORKS!"

10pm - I was back in my room and a bit restless. Just started watching television. See even when I catch up on sleep, I wind up blowing it the next night...

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Tuesday, July 1, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Tuesday, July 1, 2009

4:30am - Finally went to sleep.

9:30am - Wake-up.

11:15am - Car took me to the airport. Grabbed some McDonalds: Quarter-Pounder w/cheese, fries, coke and an apple pie.

2:15pm - Flight departs for Minneapolis. Had some tomato juice on the plane.

3:45pm - Arrived in Minneapolis.

4pm - Lex Larson, my CONvergence guest liason picked me up and took me to the Sheraton in Bloomington to check in.

5:30pm - We arrive at the amazing new (to me) Guthrie Theater. We had dinner at Cue, the restaurant there. The food was amazing. Breadsticks and bread, Salad, Flatiron Steak, potatoes, green beans...

7:30pm - We saw THE SECRET FALL OF CONSTANCE WILDE, a play about Oscar Wilde, his lover Bosie and especially his wife Constance. It was a great production. Very creative. Amazing performances... and PUPPETS!

10:30pm - Back to the hotel.

MORE TO COME...

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Monday, June 30, 2009

CON-ODYSSEY: GATHERING & CONvergence - Monday, June 30, 2009

12:30am - After the ballroom dancers went their separate ways, a few of us (Susan, Jennifer, Mara, Gore, GXB, Patrick, Karine and I) went up to Susan's room to hang out, talk, laugh, debate the virtues of Twizzlers vs. Red Vines, etc.

4am - Back to my room. Had another apple.

4:30am - Bed.

8:30am - Wake up call.

10am - Had breakfast with my cousin Alex and her friend Tobin. Orange Juice, Begniets, toast, potatos, eggs, bacon.

11:30am - Took a break, but as I understand it that one-eyed pig Edmund Tsabard had a panel with Jennifer, Karine and Mara to talk about Blue Mug Productions and show some samples. For more info, stop by BlueMugProductions.com.

1pm - Closing ceremonies. Always bittersweet.

3pm - Goodbyes. Pretty much everyone took off, except myself, Patrick and Susan and her family. Susan took Patrick and I to her house, where we met her many, many, many, many dogs and saw her many, many, many cells. Very cool.

5pm - Susan, Rob, Carly and Chloe took us to yet another great dinner. Had shrimp, clam chowder, coke, steak, lobster tail, rice, slaw. Then Rob and Chloe took Patrick and I back to the hotel.

7pm - I was back in my room. And pretty darn tired.

9pm - Sleep.

11:30pm - Knew it was too good to be true. Woke up. Had another apple. Watched some television and read some Ross Macdonald.

The end of another FANTASTIC Gathering... and yet my trip is only half over!

MORE TO COME...