Here we are, fresh as daisies: AiT writer/publisher Larry Young, Human Swiss Army Knife Pat Donley, and Ash Aiwase as The Eliminator. Without Mimi at the booth for the second consecutive year in a row, the whole thing'd be a mess without these two. As it is, not only did no one get hurt, we had one of the best shows ever... and we were shutting the doors on the back of the van Sunday night before six pee-em. We'd have had the thing done in 45 minutes if those 15 year old Cure fans without boxes or dollies hadn't been clogging up the line to the freight elevator. Sorry for introducing your five year olds to sailor's epithets, ma'am. Blame the snot-nosed teens.
Ash, though, cracked me up. This might be the only picture taken with the three of us at the booth at the same time. Pat and I were the day shift, and Ash was the night shift. In fact, Sunday, when I got up at 5:30 am to park the van closest to the elevators to make the move-out go smoothest... I got up 15 minutes after Ash got in.
Ah, youth.
Those of you who follow my exploits via the RPF know I have a soft-spot for the Tupperware suits, and this one was so sweet, I nearly got diabetes just looking at them. That kid had a killer to-scale snowtrooper. I asked dad if he was 501st and he threw me the thumbs-up. Man, I love those guys.
Speaking of the RPF, fellow propman Nick Derrington dropped on me the coolest thing of the show... a pack of SPACEMEN cards written and drawn by himself. I gotta ask him if I can't scan a few and post 'em up. That guy is a talented artist. I call him "the American Moebius" and I gotta tell you that's not a stretch.
First thing Thursday, Pat was feeling a little... shall we say... not so fresh... so I snapped his mugshot...
....but then this kid came by and filled up his tank again with free high fives. We talked for ten minutes about how much he looked like Zachary Quinto, but then we realized anyone with that haircut could be Fake Sylar.
Here's my good pal Jim Cox at the AiT Eisner table. Jim and Adrienne Rappaport are the leaders of The Legion of Substitute Mimis at San Diego, keeping me out of trouble, reminding me to keep hydrated, making sure I've got a pocketful of business cards, and offering a fistful of napkins while smiling wanly yet without accusation while I look around befuddled after accidentally knocking a beer out of Fabio Moon's hand because I was so thrilled Bá gave Mimi and me a shout-out for being early champions of their work as he collected one of their seven Eisners. Honestly, with creators usually positioning themselves to their fans as doing it all themselves, you could have knocked me over with a feather when Bá thanked us. But I should have known he'd have been looking out for us.
I have to say, I was very touched, and I'm sorry Mimi wasn't there to hear it. We're proud of you guys.
Newsarama's JK Parkin and The Homeless Channel's Matt Silady on the big night. Make sure to check out JK's coverage of the So, You Want to Do a Graphic Novel? panel I moderated on Thursday. Man, that thing was packed. Tom Spurgeon came up to the booth the next day, and was quite complimentary (if not a bit flummoxed) by the buzz he had heard. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what were they doing there?" he laughed.
People just want to make comics.
Also at the AiT Eisner table was Our Man In Britain Who Is Not Charlie Adlard, the webcomics virtuoso Daniel Merlin Goodbrey. I had never noticed this until now, but Merlin (left) looks incredibly like my old college roommate and "One Night at the Olympia" author Rob Lavender. I hope Rob doesn't ever commit a crime in the UK, because Daniel'll be in the line-up.
One of the things I love most about San Diego is getting to hang out with my good friend Adam Beechen, and fend him off as he scouts all the original art dealers and tempts me like the devil with his knowledge of where all the good stuff is. This year, only the fact that I had a kid (and that the excellent, excellent Image hardcover came out) prevented me from buying a few American Flagg! pages. Here's Adam and Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible kickin' it at the booth on Sunday while the show was winding down.
