I-con XXV Mini-report
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:43 am
Well gang, back from the convention and still exhausted.
Here's a quick report of what it was like: AWSOME!
I didn't request a table because I didn't have anything to sell so the tabling woes that affected the other comic artists wern't one of my problems. Without a table to manage this left me free time to hangout with all the people much cooler than me. The Greenroom is like a mini convention within a convention that only a select few ever get to enjoy.
I-con staff treated me sooooooo well. It was awsome, I felt like I was a real celebrity and not just an internet celebrity I was so well treated.
My personal highlights were, of course, doing panels with Jon Rosenberg and Randy Milholland. I was so glad to see they were invited back to I-con with me. I defy you to ever find a webcomics panel more entertaining than one with the three of us, and some poor "4th guy" together. The fourth guy in our panels almost always gets religated to the role of "straight man" while Randy, Jon, and I are the stooges. It was like a bizarre improv sketch comedy troupe. I swear Jon, Randy and I have got to take our show on the road and tour the finer dinner theatres of North America.
The other personal highlight was getting to not only meet, but spend a great deal of time hanging out with R. Stevens. When you're a webcomic artist yourself you don't tend to get a lot of time to read other people's webcomics. There are people who are brilliant webcomic artists who I don't read simply because I'd never get anything done if I read everyone I wanted to. Diesel Sweeties is one of the very few webcomics I have to read every day it updates. I couldn't tell you in words what it is I love so much about that comic. It may simply boil down to the great feeling of nostalgia it gives me as the pixel graphics take me back to the 1980s which was truly the golden age of personal computers. There were so many different platforms and amazing new technological innovations were being released each day. You could really feel the science happening all around you. Now PCs have become homogenized and common place. A lot of the spark and magic of those early days is gone but I feel it live on in Diesel Sweeties with its retro pixel art and its bold, quirky, explorative humour.
I was really looking forward to meeting R. Stevens and was pretty disappointed to see we wern't scheduled to be on any panels together. Jon told me he asked him to come join us on our last panel and I immediately began pleading with him to do so. But Richard was all "No no no, I don't want to do any panels" so I was kind of disappointed. But then he surprised us, or at least me by becoming the secret 5th panel member by joining the audience and firing all sorts of oddball questions at us. Greg Dean had the unenviable task of being "4rth guy" on this panel (a job he accomplished quite well), Randy, Jon, and I were the stooges and R. Stevens was the rube. Oh so much comedy ensued, and we discovered that of all of us poor Greg was the most tramatized by his childhood.
It was a real pity nobody had a video camera running during our panels as the DVD sales alone would have been a small gold mine.
The panel moment that will most live on as convention legend will be our "Why people suck" panel. Our "4th guy" was Sean McGuiness and he either misheard or misinterpreted an audience question and went off on a speech about how comics will be opened up to more people as technology advances lower the price of internet services and art supplies.
I had to call him out on the last one, "Wait a minute, what 'technology breakthrough' are we waiting for on pencils to lower their price, I think most art supplies have pretty much reached their technological plateaus."
Jon jumped on this and opened his pencil box, took our a pen and slowly held it up in awe. Randy and I gazed upon it with wonder while singing the themesong from 2001 (which the entire audience joined in on) as the pen was slowly raised over our heads. Then all at once we began acting like frightened australophithecines and began making bold but wary jabs to touch the monolithic pen while screaming like chimps. The scene ended with Jon taking up the pen and using it to beat his rival Randy to death.
I have a feeling our panel antics are either going to cause convention guests in the future to request to NOT be out panel 4th guy, or alternately cause people to actually request to be our panel 4th guy.
I know Randy and I have actual theatre background but I'm not sure if Jon does or if he's just a natural performer. The whole panels come together in a way that is simply pure magic and it is unbelievably awsome to be a part of that. Both our "4th Guys", Sean on two panels and Greg on one, did a great job of holding thier own against our wanton acts of stoogery. It can't be an easy thing to be on with three such dominant personalities.
I really hope this won't be the last time I'm on a panel with Randy and Jon, and even R. Stevens as our secret 5th. If you ever do get to go to a convention where we have a panel together... you have to bring your video camera you never know when you might be capturing a moment of convention history.
Now for the part of the show where I become a name dropping whore.
Apart from the panels the other humbling moments of awesomness for me to part either at a bar or in the green room. One day I got to enjoy breakfast in the company of George Takei. He may well be the sweetest man on earth and his voice. If I ever become a billionier I am going to hire George Takei to read me bedtime stories until a fall asleep. He's the only guy I've ever met who speaks in a warm, soothing hug. I also learned that he may well have the other half of this amulet as like me he assosciates coffee with work, beer with relaxation, and milk chocolate is for sissies.
The next day I enjoyed my breakfast with Ron Glass, a man who could just as appropriately be named Ron Class as he speaks and carries himself with an effortless sense of style and elegance. I was almost a little worried that he felt like I was giving him an interview instead of just casual breakfast chat but I had so many things I wanted to know. I learned many fascinating details about the man, Firefly, and Barney Miller (I think I may have thrown him off by asking so many questions about Barney Miller something I don't think he expected at a SF con). I got so wrapped up in my conversation with Ron Glass I ended up missing my bus to the convention.
Randy had driven there so he came to my rescue by making room in the back of his car and giving me a lift. I then got to spend several a few hours touring Long Island as we got hopelessly lost since the main route to the convention was closed for a marathon. I was a little saddened to miss out on Richard's panel but I was absolutely thrilled to get some time to just hang out with Randy and his friend and get to know them better. It's hard to get to know someone on the internet and I know that Randy and I both have our fair share of anti-fans who think we're the biggest jerk-asses to walk this planet. The truth is, Randy's a hell of a nice guy and if he's brought his teeth down on you, well chances are more than likely you did something to earn the nip. Saddly the leasurely drive was not as enjoyable for Randy. He was the one driving. When you're lost, but in no control of the situation it's easy to relax and just go with the flow. If you're the guy in charge though it's not so easy to take it all in stride. I still greatly enjoyed hanging out with him and his friend, I'm sorry I've forgotten her name though.
Please don't anyone ever feel offended by me forgetting their name. I am the worst person in the world when it comes to names and faces. This is why I have so many character which are only known by descriptions, like Cosplay-girl and Chick-boy. I cept calling Randy's friend Sue in my head because she reminded me of a Sue I knew in highschool who was the girlfriend of my best friend that I had a huge secret crush on (that is a huge secret crush on his girlfriend, not my friend... who oddly enough came out of the closet after highschool so it would have been very ironic if there was actually a secret crush triangle going on there, but as far as I know my friend never secretly longed for me, because believe me I gave him plenty of opportunity to hit on me and nothing ever happened... of course I would have been so clueless maybe he was hitting on me and I didn't realize it... hell I never recognized it when a girl was hitting on me I don't know how if I'd even be able to register it if a guy was to do so).
Another highlight was a great conversation at the bar with Spider Robinson which culminated in receiving a free, personalized autographed copy of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. I will treasure it forever.
Lots more to talk about about the convention (hey Suprise Chibi Inside, what happened to you, I was going to draw you a picture of Freddy but then I never saw you again during the convention) but it will have to wait. I'm still exhausted and I have a huge backlogue of work to take care of. I just wanted to drop a quick note to let everyone know I had the time of my life at this convention. Met all sorts of great people, celebrities and readers alike, renewed and made new friendships and got lots o' free food.
Anyways, nap, then work.
Here's a quick report of what it was like: AWSOME!
I didn't request a table because I didn't have anything to sell so the tabling woes that affected the other comic artists wern't one of my problems. Without a table to manage this left me free time to hangout with all the people much cooler than me. The Greenroom is like a mini convention within a convention that only a select few ever get to enjoy.
I-con staff treated me sooooooo well. It was awsome, I felt like I was a real celebrity and not just an internet celebrity I was so well treated.
My personal highlights were, of course, doing panels with Jon Rosenberg and Randy Milholland. I was so glad to see they were invited back to I-con with me. I defy you to ever find a webcomics panel more entertaining than one with the three of us, and some poor "4th guy" together. The fourth guy in our panels almost always gets religated to the role of "straight man" while Randy, Jon, and I are the stooges. It was like a bizarre improv sketch comedy troupe. I swear Jon, Randy and I have got to take our show on the road and tour the finer dinner theatres of North America.
The other personal highlight was getting to not only meet, but spend a great deal of time hanging out with R. Stevens. When you're a webcomic artist yourself you don't tend to get a lot of time to read other people's webcomics. There are people who are brilliant webcomic artists who I don't read simply because I'd never get anything done if I read everyone I wanted to. Diesel Sweeties is one of the very few webcomics I have to read every day it updates. I couldn't tell you in words what it is I love so much about that comic. It may simply boil down to the great feeling of nostalgia it gives me as the pixel graphics take me back to the 1980s which was truly the golden age of personal computers. There were so many different platforms and amazing new technological innovations were being released each day. You could really feel the science happening all around you. Now PCs have become homogenized and common place. A lot of the spark and magic of those early days is gone but I feel it live on in Diesel Sweeties with its retro pixel art and its bold, quirky, explorative humour.
I was really looking forward to meeting R. Stevens and was pretty disappointed to see we wern't scheduled to be on any panels together. Jon told me he asked him to come join us on our last panel and I immediately began pleading with him to do so. But Richard was all "No no no, I don't want to do any panels" so I was kind of disappointed. But then he surprised us, or at least me by becoming the secret 5th panel member by joining the audience and firing all sorts of oddball questions at us. Greg Dean had the unenviable task of being "4rth guy" on this panel (a job he accomplished quite well), Randy, Jon, and I were the stooges and R. Stevens was the rube. Oh so much comedy ensued, and we discovered that of all of us poor Greg was the most tramatized by his childhood.
It was a real pity nobody had a video camera running during our panels as the DVD sales alone would have been a small gold mine.
The panel moment that will most live on as convention legend will be our "Why people suck" panel. Our "4th guy" was Sean McGuiness and he either misheard or misinterpreted an audience question and went off on a speech about how comics will be opened up to more people as technology advances lower the price of internet services and art supplies.
I had to call him out on the last one, "Wait a minute, what 'technology breakthrough' are we waiting for on pencils to lower their price, I think most art supplies have pretty much reached their technological plateaus."
Jon jumped on this and opened his pencil box, took our a pen and slowly held it up in awe. Randy and I gazed upon it with wonder while singing the themesong from 2001 (which the entire audience joined in on) as the pen was slowly raised over our heads. Then all at once we began acting like frightened australophithecines and began making bold but wary jabs to touch the monolithic pen while screaming like chimps. The scene ended with Jon taking up the pen and using it to beat his rival Randy to death.
I have a feeling our panel antics are either going to cause convention guests in the future to request to NOT be out panel 4th guy, or alternately cause people to actually request to be our panel 4th guy.
I know Randy and I have actual theatre background but I'm not sure if Jon does or if he's just a natural performer. The whole panels come together in a way that is simply pure magic and it is unbelievably awsome to be a part of that. Both our "4th Guys", Sean on two panels and Greg on one, did a great job of holding thier own against our wanton acts of stoogery. It can't be an easy thing to be on with three such dominant personalities.
I really hope this won't be the last time I'm on a panel with Randy and Jon, and even R. Stevens as our secret 5th. If you ever do get to go to a convention where we have a panel together... you have to bring your video camera you never know when you might be capturing a moment of convention history.
Now for the part of the show where I become a name dropping whore.
Apart from the panels the other humbling moments of awesomness for me to part either at a bar or in the green room. One day I got to enjoy breakfast in the company of George Takei. He may well be the sweetest man on earth and his voice. If I ever become a billionier I am going to hire George Takei to read me bedtime stories until a fall asleep. He's the only guy I've ever met who speaks in a warm, soothing hug. I also learned that he may well have the other half of this amulet as like me he assosciates coffee with work, beer with relaxation, and milk chocolate is for sissies.
The next day I enjoyed my breakfast with Ron Glass, a man who could just as appropriately be named Ron Class as he speaks and carries himself with an effortless sense of style and elegance. I was almost a little worried that he felt like I was giving him an interview instead of just casual breakfast chat but I had so many things I wanted to know. I learned many fascinating details about the man, Firefly, and Barney Miller (I think I may have thrown him off by asking so many questions about Barney Miller something I don't think he expected at a SF con). I got so wrapped up in my conversation with Ron Glass I ended up missing my bus to the convention.
Randy had driven there so he came to my rescue by making room in the back of his car and giving me a lift. I then got to spend several a few hours touring Long Island as we got hopelessly lost since the main route to the convention was closed for a marathon. I was a little saddened to miss out on Richard's panel but I was absolutely thrilled to get some time to just hang out with Randy and his friend and get to know them better. It's hard to get to know someone on the internet and I know that Randy and I both have our fair share of anti-fans who think we're the biggest jerk-asses to walk this planet. The truth is, Randy's a hell of a nice guy and if he's brought his teeth down on you, well chances are more than likely you did something to earn the nip. Saddly the leasurely drive was not as enjoyable for Randy. He was the one driving. When you're lost, but in no control of the situation it's easy to relax and just go with the flow. If you're the guy in charge though it's not so easy to take it all in stride. I still greatly enjoyed hanging out with him and his friend, I'm sorry I've forgotten her name though.
Please don't anyone ever feel offended by me forgetting their name. I am the worst person in the world when it comes to names and faces. This is why I have so many character which are only known by descriptions, like Cosplay-girl and Chick-boy. I cept calling Randy's friend Sue in my head because she reminded me of a Sue I knew in highschool who was the girlfriend of my best friend that I had a huge secret crush on (that is a huge secret crush on his girlfriend, not my friend... who oddly enough came out of the closet after highschool so it would have been very ironic if there was actually a secret crush triangle going on there, but as far as I know my friend never secretly longed for me, because believe me I gave him plenty of opportunity to hit on me and nothing ever happened... of course I would have been so clueless maybe he was hitting on me and I didn't realize it... hell I never recognized it when a girl was hitting on me I don't know how if I'd even be able to register it if a guy was to do so).
Another highlight was a great conversation at the bar with Spider Robinson which culminated in receiving a free, personalized autographed copy of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. I will treasure it forever.
Lots more to talk about about the convention (hey Suprise Chibi Inside, what happened to you, I was going to draw you a picture of Freddy but then I never saw you again during the convention) but it will have to wait. I'm still exhausted and I have a huge backlogue of work to take care of. I just wanted to drop a quick note to let everyone know I had the time of my life at this convention. Met all sorts of great people, celebrities and readers alike, renewed and made new friendships and got lots o' free food.
Anyways, nap, then work.
I wish I was there to see that...