San Diego 2008 Recap

Comicon delivered. Swarms of nutjobs in costumes. Heavy dudes with ponytails. Swanky condos in the sky. Beer and bars. Fancy tiki drinks. Good, GOOD friends. Thank you San Diego Comicon for being the kooky little universe I'd like to inhabit every day.

Visuals first:



From the Tori Amos panel.




That would be Star St. Germaine.



Mike Yoshioko and Miriam Libicki. (Hey Mike! your last name!!)



Hugging giant donuts with mollycules.



Molly's Huevos



I couldn't get his face right. I was really hung over, ok.


And now the highlights:
--The fake Field's, followed by the real Field's, and good old Irish beer.
--Solo day at the beach. Warm sun, my cute bathing suit, surfers, parasailers, giant new sunglasses, reading, the German boys who laughed like crazy at the seagull shit on their towels, no one to talk to for hours. Brilliant.
--Corey Feldman's personal assistant came over to me and Molly at the table and attempted to impress us with his fame. I respond with wide-eyed oohing and aahing, which he totally buys. He tells us Corey Feldman is a whiny dork in orthopedic lifts.
--Two times I had the floor in front of me cleared by security personnel, which of course means someone totally famous is coming. First time: Doogie Howser (aka Dr. Horrible). Second time: Samuel L. Jackson. Oooh!!
--Greek yogurt and granola.
--Little girls squealing over mollycules' art, then being utterly shocked and obviously impressed at the one of Peaches giving the finger. Their daddy bought them each a postcard.
--Mike and Miriam's how-we-met story. Sigh.
--Garrett Dillahunt came by the table and I said "hey! I saw your shows! how ya doin'?" We chatted about Deadwood, how this was his first Comicon, etc. Then, I asked him if he still lived in the Bay Area. He got a really nervous look on his face and said "no."
--Ordering a horny monkey. Ook!
--Drawing next to Keith Knight at the Cartoon Art Museum table and trying to get the fat fanboy in front of us to pose like the sexy manga character he wanted drawn.
--The beautiful Tori Amos panel that I thought would be cheesy but had me almost in tears.
--The weird look Elvira gave me when I asked her to sign a photo "Thanks for letting Amy stay with you!" She did it.
--Running into Dirk Tiede, a friend I used to draw with in Chicago. Getting misty-eyed. "Remember when I first met you and I was doing my first ever page layouts?"
--The beautiful Hyatt.
--Miriam's goodbye hug.
--Brunch with Tristan. The Bill story. Blueberry french toast.
--Potential.

I'm off!!

Leaving tonight for San Diego. I'll be twittering from the convention. Except for tomorrow, when I will be NOT-twittering from the fuckin' BEACH.

--Amy

SF Zine Fest recap

Zine Fest was... well, gosh. It made me sad, I guess. Conventions usually make me very happy and excited, but this one felt like a letdown, emotionally. I'm still going through the first year of conventions I'm doing by myself after always doing them with the ex, the one who got me started in self-publishing and really pushed me to draw comics and get them out there. He was always sort of shy and a table-hider at conventions, but he was a great partner to bounce ideas off of, and always ready with praise or encouragement when I needed it. I expect the first year I'll keep thinking of what it was like last year, when he was there. Once I get past APE the memories won't be so pungent, I guess.

Yeah. Zine Fest made me sad. It made me look at the numbers of men around me who are drawing and/or reading comics that exploit women. Comics that perpetuate the male gaze. (I had a great convo with someone about this at the Fest, and I was trying to think of the right words, and it confused me for a moment when she identified the problem as "the masculine gays.") It made me look at my comics and think that the best ones I've made are ones that were written by someone else. Not true, I know (although Sea Lion and OCB will forever be classics), but it is true that writing does not come easy to me and I am never sure that I'm getting my ideas across. The drawing part comes so much more naturally. Most of the time I just want to skip ahead and start drawing already.

Toward the end of Sunday a gal was reading Florridian at my table and laughing. Then she pointed to the last two pages of the "agnes ranch" story and told me exactly what they represent. I grinned like a fool and said yes, yes yes yes yes, exactly!! I told her there is more coming (there is). It was the best moment I had at this convention, except possibly when I randomly met the woman who defended me after I lost my job last year.
That was almost a fucking year ago. Wow.
I thought when that happened it was going to wreck me, and instead it made me a million times stronger.
Same as the breakup.

Wow. Life's a funny bitch, isn't she?

T-minus two days until I leave for San Diego.
T-minus one month until I live in San Francisco. My apartment is a mess again, but it officially no longer matters, because I'm MOVING, geez.

--Amy

There She Goes

Oh, la vie, she is a fickle bitch, non? One month you're blogging about how much you love your home in Oakland. The next month, you're signing a lease for an apartment in San Francisco. That's right folks, I transfer operations across the bay in approximately one month.

Goodbye, beautiful sunsets, giant apartment, massive amounts of studio space, hardwood floors, walking to Piedmont, warm summer days.
HELLO, fog and coffee, being able to buy groceries, staying out past midnight!
HELLO SAN FRANCISCO!!

Can't Keep It In.......

I'm officially too excited not to officially announce that I will be attending Comicon in San Diego! July 24-27. I won't be selling (well not officially), but I will be there, wandering around, happy as a peach in jelly. I'll be helping out at my friend Molly's table. This year I am DEFINITELY going to the Eisners and the Masquerade. Oh hell yes.

My Adoring Public:

You'll be tickled to hear that I will be appearing at SF Zine Fest, July 19-20. It's at the San Francisco County Fair Building, which is right inside the entrance to Golden Gate Park at Ninth Ave. and Lincoln. It's gonna be an awesome show, so come out and say hi while you're at it, geez!

Yes I Study Meat Loaf

The dude, that is. Here are some studies for a comic I'm working on about the big guy.

Sketches for "Parrot's Cousin Visits"