I was just telling someone yesterday that the comic book medium offers the most accessibleenvironment for fans to meet and interact with their favorite creators. Comic Book conventions (especially smaller shows like the Baltimore Comiccon , Heroes Con, Ape and Mocca) provide one on one contact with the biggest names in comics and sci fi entertainment. I remember talking with Dan Slott a few years back at Baltimore where he acted out the entire unpublished issue of the then-recently cancelled Thing series--he even did the voices. More recently, I had the pleasure of thanking Ray Bradbury for all he had given to science fiction. Dan Didio does "a conversation with Dan" at every convention, where a bunch of fans and creators hang out and describe what they love about comics. (Marvel head Joe Quesada does a similar "Cup of Joe"panel where he answers any questions -- which is why this page is called Joe's Cup of Geek and not Geek Cup of Joe).
In short, conventions provide great place for fans and creators to express their art and appreciation in a respectful manner. This not only propells the industry into the future (Today's best creators today were yesterday's die hard fans). But, it creates a great sense of community where these conventions are more like reunions than marketing ventures. Are there people like the Comic Shop owner on the Simpsons? Absolutely (In fact, the character of Superboy Prime is an amalgam of all that is bad in fandom--ironically he has recently been imprisoned in his mother's basement.) But, thankfully they are the minority.
But, then I see things like the Superfunadventure Blog. This guy thought it would be funny to make Rob Leifeld, one of the founders of Image, apologize for his run on Captain American, where the controversial creator revamped the character for the much-maligned Heroe's Reborn era of Marve in which the orgins of many of its non-x-men characters were given a modern spin by top name creators. (Marvel would later go on to great success with essentially the same idea in its Ultimate Line). Not satisfied with simply berating Leifeld, the fan goes on to buy him a copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (which is a great book BTW) and gice it to Leifeld with a handwritten request again asking him to apologize inside. Was it a joke? Was it a die hard fan crying for vengence? Was it a scene for the new Borat movie? It doesn't really matter, it was rude and in poor taste and reflects badly on fans.
What is more amazing, however, is the sheer volume of posts from some of the most respected creators in the industry (to name a few: Cameron Stewart, Jamal Igle, Jimmie Robinson, B Clay Moore, Eric White, Ron Marz, Steve Bryant, Brian Wood and Jim Lee) that took this guy to task. Apparently, George Perez asked to have his picture removed from the site (although someone else also claimed to have made that post later on the page.) While there is no such thing as bad publicitiy, I'm not sure this is a very good thing to have on your resume.
So, next time you are at a show, walk up to those creators that make the books that you spend most of your disposable income on and thank them for the work that they do. But, if you do see someone that killed your favorite character or who you believe can't draw feet, do me a favor and walk the other way.
In short, conventions provide great place for fans and creators to express their art and appreciation in a respectful manner. This not only propells the industry into the future (Today's best creators today were yesterday's die hard fans). But, it creates a great sense of community where these conventions are more like reunions than marketing ventures. Are there people like the Comic Shop owner on the Simpsons? Absolutely (In fact, the character of Superboy Prime is an amalgam of all that is bad in fandom--ironically he has recently been imprisoned in his mother's basement.) But, thankfully they are the minority.
But, then I see things like the Superfunadventure Blog. This guy thought it would be funny to make Rob Leifeld, one of the founders of Image, apologize for his run on Captain American, where the controversial creator revamped the character for the much-maligned Heroe's Reborn era of Marve in which the orgins of many of its non-x-men characters were given a modern spin by top name creators. (Marvel would later go on to great success with essentially the same idea in its Ultimate Line). Not satisfied with simply berating Leifeld, the fan goes on to buy him a copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (which is a great book BTW) and gice it to Leifeld with a handwritten request again asking him to apologize inside. Was it a joke? Was it a die hard fan crying for vengence? Was it a scene for the new Borat movie? It doesn't really matter, it was rude and in poor taste and reflects badly on fans.
What is more amazing, however, is the sheer volume of posts from some of the most respected creators in the industry (to name a few: Cameron Stewart, Jamal Igle, Jimmie Robinson, B Clay Moore, Eric White, Ron Marz, Steve Bryant, Brian Wood and Jim Lee) that took this guy to task. Apparently, George Perez asked to have his picture removed from the site (although someone else also claimed to have made that post later on the page.) While there is no such thing as bad publicitiy, I'm not sure this is a very good thing to have on your resume.
So, next time you are at a show, walk up to those creators that make the books that you spend most of your disposable income on and thank them for the work that they do. But, if you do see someone that killed your favorite character or who you believe can't draw feet, do me a favor and walk the other way.
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