“Pandora…Zwieback? Isn’t that, like, that cookie you give to babies?”
—average Boston Comic Con attendee
Why, yes. Yes, it is.
So, here y’go: the definitive Boston Comic Con report you’ve all been waiting for!
Okay, maybe you haven’t been waiting for it, and maybe it isn’t definitive…but it is a con report. So there is that…
First off, let me apologize to the people of Boston for not being at 100% efficiency at the show, but I already had a cold when I arrived there and it only got progressively worse. That’s right—I don’t catch the dreaded Con Crud; I bring my own. Not that I spread it to anyone—I was working that oversize bottle of Purell I brought along pretty hard over the weekend.
So, how was the convention? It was okay; it probably would have been better if I hadn’t been sick for the whole thing. (Also, I’d gone there alone, so I wasn’t able to wander around and check out the show, or take pictures and stuff.) I didn’t go there to sell anything, just to promote the company and the Saga of Pandora Zwieback series, so I wasn’t looking to make any money.
Nevertheless, despite my illness and the unattractive venue—a huge cinder-block room with no windows in an otherwise nice-looking convention center—the comics fans’ turnout seemed to be pretty good, I got to meet some talented people, and there was certainly interest in Pan’s adventures, so overall it was an encouraging show.
(Describing Pan’s series as “Ellen Page and Salma Hayek in a Hellboy movie” and “Blade for girls” did a lot to get people excited for the first novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. Never let it be said that I don’t know how to grab folks’ attention with a one-line description!)
My next-door neighbor was Enrica Jang, writer of the comic Azteca and the head of Red Stylo Media. Azteca is about a serial killer in Mexico trying to prevent doomsday from happening when the Mayan calendar runs out in 2012; the best way to describe it is Se7en mixed with Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil. The writing really impressed me—hard-edged yet character driven, although the first issue was mostly a setup for future issues, with questions still to be answered (especially who the killer/hero is). Definitely check this one out!
The highlight of the show for me was spending ten minutes on Saturday talking with Gahan Wilson, a legendary artist whose macabre cartoons rank up there alongside Charles Addams and Edward Gorey. Back when I was an editor for publisher ibooks, inc., I got to oversee two collections of Wilson’s cartoons: Gahan Wilson’s Gravediggers Party and Gahan Wilson’s Monster Party. I love his stuff!
He was at the con to promote Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons. Problem was, the copies hadn’t arrived yet, so he announced that he’d do sketches until the books showed up—and got swamped with requests! When he stopped at my table in artists alley he was giving his drawing hand a break. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, do yourself a favor and check it out. I think you’ll appreciate it, too.
So, that’s the report. Maybe not definitive—but informative, right? Next stop: Wizard World’s Big Apple Con on May 21–22. See you there!
