Press on Friday

I woke on Friday after a particularly sleepless night and grabbed a quick bite before hoofing it out quickly for the bus ride to the city. I borrowed a power strip from my friend before leaving (thanks again, Gail) thinking that maybe, just maybe I could get some work done in the press room this time.

My shoulder and back were already sore from hauling around my computer all day prior but I was thinking that with the frequent breaks off my feet this day it wouldn’t be an issue. I had a meeting scheduled with Miya Sohoza of the Rare Elements Foundry at the McDonald’s a block away from the Javitz Center fairly early, in which I was going to learn a little about the product she had created for games, and what she planned for the future. I grabbed a giant coffee from the extremely busy McD’s crew and sat down to wait, while also watching for any fellow Bleeding Cool writers. I didn’t see any of them, but I certainly saw a large proportion of convention attendees flowing through before hitting the as-yet-to-open exhibition hall.

Once Miya arrived and we got down to brass tacks, she showed me some of the wonderful coins she’s having minted as part of the Rare Elements product line and we talked for nearly two hours, giving me a wealth of information that I hoped to turn into a good write-up for Bleeding Cool.  I was surprised to discover she had also been to this year’s GaryCon (mentioned in the last A Leaf on the Wind, i.e. the coolest game convention yet) and I didn’t notice until my memory began to wake up. I didn’t see the stuff at GaryCon, but it is quality work and more people should be aware of it. In fact, do yourself a favor and stop by the website, www.rareelementsfoundry.com and see for yourself. Here are some pics to motivate you.

Miya and I separated before heading into the con. I had been getting text messages all morning from my friend John Amenta, who was heading in from Connecticut to get his geek on, and my mum, the beautiful and amazing Tara Johnson, known to most as Tarachu! And don’t you forget it. She was appearing as a “booth babe”, or a “booth bunny” in my nomenclature, for a friend who had a new anime-styled product out. She was appearing in costume of one of the characters and I figured I’d swing by the booth to see what this thing was.

Since I didn’t get into the con at opening, I didn’t get to see exactly how long any of the wait lines were. I imagine they were pretty deep, as my vantage point from the top of the stairs to the main entrance showed a massive glut of con attendees at their specified entry point. Anyone trying to get through that way to the North Hall of Artist’s Alley was in for a long trek of crowd surfing, or in the esteemed words of my friend Bob McCallister, “Toy Show Etiquette”.

[An explanation: Toy Show Etiquette is essentially used to describe the way certain convention attendees would bump into you, sometimes on purpose, and not excuse themselves. Or just rudely bash their way through to get to the ‘good stuff’. It tends to work as a name for just about any large convention where people bottle up and shove their way through.]

I stumbled around a bit, making a few more notes and writing down “overheard at the con” lines from people. And then I began to feel unwell. Was it the beer from the night before? Was it the food? Was I already getting hit with the dreaded Con Crud that seems to infect large scale conventions? Or was it the fact I had two giant coffees at McDonald’s on top of the two Vivarin tablets I took at the bus stop? (There was a booth handing them out at the show all weekend). I mean, who gets sick from caffeine, right? Well hey, it can’t be that, must be something else. So, it’s time for a go-to home remedy: Coca-Cola! Woo! Feel that sweat pour off me as I move around the multiplying cosplayers standing and waiting for photos to be taken! See me cringe in growing irritation at the stumbling, shambling mouth breathers that look like tourists on their first trip! Watch as I push through the sweat and oogly haze of blechh as I try to regain myself in my almost loud shirt!

Anyway, I met up with Mr. Amenta and his friend Lou Federico in the Artist’s Alley section, shooting the shee yite while passing judgement on various creators, companies and comic stores. Just like any decent comic book fan is wont to do! By the way, Jim Calafiore is still a fantastic artist and person, Atomic Robo from Red 5 Comics (www.red5comics.com) is still one of the best, most overlooked comic books on the market and Kevin McGuire still draws the most expressive faces seen in comics. Go ahead, tell me otherwise! I dare you!

After abandoning John and Lou to Alex Maleevemealone, I staggered through the costumes, the swinging bags, the poor kids nearly being trampled by the ignoring crowds, the lackadaisical event staff and the overwhelmed convention volunteers, headed for the Walk on Water booth, where me lovely mum was at. I had some time before the panel I had signed up to cover was scheduled, so it worked out well, regardless of my increasing wooziness. The booth was smack dab in the center of what I like to call the “small press” area, because it holds the most concentrated amount of small press publishers at the show.

Before I continue, I’ll say this for the NYCC organizational staff, at least as far as how they lay out the even floor: it makes no bloody sense. It never really has. At the main entrance, you get the biggest, most prominent booths for those that want to pay the price for it, as is standard. This could be comic book publishers, toy companies, movie promo booths, video game companies or anything else that fits. Geico* wants a giant motorhome near the main entrance? Bill ‘em! Steve Geppi** wants a huge area to promote his comics museum? Have him pay up! But when it comes to the rest of the show, other than Artist’s Alley, it makes no sense. Why is there a booth selling flasks in the shape of old Nintendo cartridges right next to a booth promoting some low-budget horror movie? Why is there a girl at a booth dancing on a stripper pole near one selling comics for a younger audience? Why is one game manufacturer at the furthest end of the show from another? Why are all the small press guys not in one section? Mindboggling to be sure, and something I’ll come back to regarding Saturday’s adventure.

I spotted Tarachu in her interesting costume at the booth and we shared a fun greeting and chat while people took pictures of her next to the life-sized standup of the main characters of the book Walk on Water was promoting, The Seven Scrolls of Shitorio. Tara introduced me to the artist on the book, her friend Tristan Powell, who explained a little of the book to me. The concept still eluded me, an anime-inspired novel with art. Tristan designed the character Tara was modeling at the booth, the lightly attired Katora. Here’s a pic of us together: 

You can’t tell, but I was feeling more and more horrid prior to this pic being shot. I also look fat. Regardless, I spoke briefly with Jacob “J.J.” Kirten, writer of the book, and before I took my leave, he and Tristan gave me a copy. I still had no idea how I’d turn what they were doing into an article, but inspiration was just a nap away.

I figured a sit-down would do me good, as well as some time spent on the computer. I headed to the press room and discovered every plug in use. I was going to offer up the power strip when I realized I had only an hour before the Library-Based Comics Conventions panel was to begin, so I opted to try later. I rinsed the sweat off my head in the tiny men’s room (I’ve opted out of telling the tale of the bathrooms of this area… I’d rather forget it, myself) and went back to rest and brainstorm in the press room. Seats were at a premium and I had a couple of nice chats with folks there, learning that my problems with the room were the norm for everyone. I was told the year prior, there was a whole row of computers for use, as well as outlets for everyone. Go figure. I tried to take a quick 15 minute nap to shake off the woozy, but that didn’t work out. Some of the others told me I looked under the weather, which didn’t help me. I couldn’t sit for long, though. I felt better when moving about and figured a good long walk to the panel would do well for me. And it did. On the way there, a tiny convention volunteer was rushing through with a fellow volunteer and smashed her face into my upper arm. She didn’t look too well and I apologized, even though she was the one that walked into me, but they just kept walking to wherever they had to be. And if she thought my arm was like hitting a brick wall, she should be glad she didn’t hit the other side, where the computer was slung. Yow.

I located the panel area, which was closed at the time I got there, so I sat outside with the five or six others that were interested in it. We all were joking about how few people we assumed would be in there while we discussed the con, the crowd and other such inanities. While sitting there, a younger couple came down to the end of the corridor that we were at and he started helping her out of her clothes. She was dressed as the DC Comics character Zatanna under her street clothes and he just knelt down and started stripping her. Surreal. Good costume, though. Many that try and do Zatanna miss something here or there and it looks… less. Here’s a recent a good image of Zatanna next to a decent cosplay of her.

The panel was about to start, but not in the room we were led to believe. It was setting up in the room next door, for some reason not explained by the volunteer manning the door. And if it wasn’t for one intrepid person, those of us sitting and waiting would have been left to sit and wait. Lovely.

The room for this panel was in one of the smallest designated for them, yet still seemed larger than I expected. I’d been to the larger panel area in previous conventions (some with disasterous and aggravating occurances) where the lines are structured with switchback ropes, as if in a bank. I call it herding, you can wall it waiting. The fellows running the panel seemed to be out of sorts for a few minutes, giving me time to get out my pocket recorder – which died on me two minutes into the talk. I must have put the dead batteries back into the thing when I was checking them, but what the hell? They shouldn’t have worked at all if they were the dead ones.

Back to the handy, dandy notebook. Sometimes, low tech is just the best tech.

The panel ended rather quickly, it seemed to me, and was much better attended than I expected. It was likely some of the people were riding through it to get to the next scheduled one, but I’d heard everyone was being asked to vacate before entering again. I wonder if that was true for all of the panels or just those deemed “hot”. I grabbed the offered handouts on the program and you’ll likely be hearing more about this from me in the future. Let’s just say I’ve already approached my local library to see if they’d be interested in such an event.

After this it gets a little hazy. I know I went outside to see if a bite to eat would help my woozy, but even my favored food cart couldn’t help. In fact, it was extremely difficult to get anything down. I tried to walk it off a bit more, texted a few “cheers, I’m outta here” and headed back to the crash pad.

I typed up a couple of quick articles for the site and sent them off. And then, down for the count.

*Geico actually did have a huge motorhome set up near the main entrance. I still don’t know what the hell they were trying to do.

** Steve Geppi is the president of the only comic book distributor left in the country, Diamond Comics Distributors. Regardless of what you may think, the Department of Justice deemed that NOT to be a monopoly after a three year investigation. He also runs a museum of comics, comic art and merchandise in the Baltimore, Maryland area. No, I’m not linking to it.