Brad's Week In Dork! (8/31/14-9/6/14)

I'm pretty much all recovered from my Wisdom Tooth surgery.  A little jaw tension, a slight ache.  Saw the doc on Friday, and he told me I didn't have to worry about the other one until next year...unless infection or pain flares up.  Fingers crossed.  Sooooo - good news!  I guess.  This week was a whole heap of random.  On Sunday & Monday, I was pretty much still feeling the aftershocks from the surgery so I  just hopped from one film to the next on VOD, enjoying life from the couch.  No rhyme or reason, just what looked interesting in the moment.  It did lead me down a rabbit whole of Errrol Morris documentaries that I was not expecting.  Enjoyed all three, and will definitely seek out others.  I dragged myself out of the apartment on Tuesday, for an Alamo 100 screening of Singin' in the Rain & I went back for more with JAWS on Thursday.  As Matt said in his Week in Dork, nothing like seeing a classic on the big screen to make you fully appreciate the craft of storytelling.  Still, the big event of the week was the Baltimore Comic Con.  It might not have the big deal celebrities like San Diego or the endless array of Wizard Worlds, but if you're actually into comics there is no better place to be.  Great way to finish off the week.

Fading Gigolo:  Who doesn't love John Turturro?  From Barton Fink to Transformers, whenever the man is on screen I'm entertained.  His directorial efforts have left me a little cold, but they're always interesting in their subject matter.  Fading Gigolo is no different.  After his psychiatrist says too much, Woody Allen encourages Turturro to whore himself out for a three way.  Business booms from there, and Turturro's florist quickly finds himself knee deep in.....money.  Of course, simple sex is never simple.  The subplot of a jewish widow suffering crippling grief takes over the film, distracting from the cartoonish antics of Sharon Stone & Sofia Vergara's sexual predators.  Solid performances from Turturro, Allen, and Liev Schreiber, but Fading Gigolo is ultimately the kind of film you watch once.

Cuban Fury:  When I see Nick Frost why do I always ask, "Where's Simon Pegg?" but the same is not true when it's just Pegg on screen?  Nick Frost is certainly talented.  The man makes me laugh, but he always seems like half a double act.  Maybe it's simply that Frost is not always part of the cleverest of projects.  Cuban Fury is decent.  The story of a onetime salsa prodigy returning to the sport in an effort to win true love is chuckle-worthy and cute.  It's not ground breaking.  Chris O'Dowd being regulated to office douche bag is certainly disappointing.  Ian McShane as the salsa coach gets some laughs, but the film could have done more with him (a complaint often associated with McShane movies - ALWAYS MORE MCSHANE!!).  You could do worse than Cuban Fury, but it's no Edgar Wright film....a very tough, and probably cruel comparison.  Still.

Rage:  "Who did it?  WHO DID IT!?!!  WHODIDITWHODIDITWHODIDIT WHODIDITGWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Oh Nicolas Cage, you so crazy.  Except you really aren't these days.  The above quote is a five second scream almost worthy of yesteryear.  Almost.  I'm not going to use this space to continue the narrative of Nic Cage's disappointing direct-to-dvd downfall, but I don't mind lamenting for a bit.  Season of a Witch, I miss you - never mind Con Air, The Rock, and Adaptation.  Rage could have been a kickass revenger in which Cage brutalizes the bastards responsible for his daughter's murder.  Unfortunately, the film is a boring collection of scenes pretending to be hardcore.  Embarrassingly dull.  Can the upcoming Left Behind prove a return to that mega-acting glory?  I'm always the optimist.

The Thin Blue Line:  In 1976, Randall Adams was convicted and sentenced to death for the shooting death of patrolman Robert Wood.  Errol Morris' documentary, through dramatic reenactments and various interviews with the people surrounding the trial, makes a strong, and ultimately convincing case for Adams' innocence.  How did Adams end up behind bars?  Bad timing?  Poor decisions?  The terrifying morality behind the Texas judicial system?  Yeah, that last one.  The Paradise Lost of its day, thanks to The Thin Blue Line Adams was eventually released from prison.  Should be required viewing for all Americans.

Singin' In The Rain:  I've watched the film twice now, and I still agree with my Cinematic Resolution assessment, it's absolutely a "joyous outpouring" of cinema.  Gene Kelly is a tap dancing man's man - something I didn't even know was possible until I saw Singin' In The Rain.  Jean Hagen's blonde dimwit is a tad too obvious at times, and I never quite understood her romantic roadblock.  But, thankfully, the love triangle is not the showpiece, as Singin in the Rain is rather a rollicking tour through Hollywood's early history.  Like The Artist, Gene Kelly is not willing to let modernity roll him over, and thanks to a little nudging from partners Debbie Reynolds & Donald O'Connor, he invents a new style of storytelling.  I'd probably rank Singin' in the Rain as my third favorite musical, right behind The Blues Brothers & West Side Story.  Hard to beat a Mission from God & Shakespeare.

Tabloid:  Another Eroll Morris doc, but maybe not such the essential viewing for the American populace.  Let's see if I can give the content it's proper justice - In 1977, beauty queen Joyce McKinney was arrested in England for kidnapping Mormon Missionary Kirk Anderson & holding him prisoner in a Devon cottage where she chained him to a bed & forced intercourse.  They had been a one-time couple, and McKinney claimed that the Mormon Church had brainwashed her beloved.  Once the tabloid papers got their claws into the story, they uncovered that McKinney was a former S&M model, sometimes prostitute, who often used her sexual wiles to conquer the minds of men.  Or is McKinney a simple victim of love gone sour?  Also, what does this have to do with dog cloning???  It's a damn strange story, and who knows what really went down in '77, but Morris details a fascinating story.  These days McKinney regrets taking part in the documentary, saying that Morris misrepresented her side of the story, but it's hard to argue with the words coming out of her mouth.  Tabloid is bonkers all around.

The Unknown Known:  Who knows why, but for some reason Donald Rumsfeld agreed to be interrogated by Errol Morris.  I certainly see what Morris had to gain, but what did Rumsfeld?  That question is never really answered.  Well, the former Secretary of Defense certainly doesn't take a beating?  He can dish it better than he can take it.  And Morris does not come across as the Liberal Shining Knight.  I'm not a terribly political person.  The game has never interested me - disturbed me, scared me more like it.  The Unknown Known picks over some of the most disturbing history in modern America, filtered through Rumsfeld's participation.  He defends in some cases.  He questions in others.  He sometimes shrugs when the words are simply not there.  How will the Bush Jr administration go down in history's annals?  Time will tell - The Unknown Known is not the revelation some will want.

JAWS:  I love this film.  Sometimes it's hard to keep talking about the films you love.  How many ways can I say that Steven Speilberg's Jaws is one of The Great Films?  This is the second time I've seen the film on the big screen.  It's a whole different experience when Bruce stretches his 25 feet across the entire width of your vision.  It's genuinely AWEsome.  I've seen the film a hundred times, and you'd think there would be nothing new to see.  This go-around, instead of focusing on the genius of Robert Shaw's shark killer, I attached myself to Roy Scheider in a way that's never happened before.  The scene where his son mimics his movements around the dinner table - "Give me a kiss." "Why?" "Cuz I need it."  Just crushing.  I'm an emotional guy, I cry all the time at the movies, but this was the first time I teared up during Jaws.  I cherish the way Chief Brody can never finish a meal, that fear bubbling in his stomach.  And the way Brody pushes through that fear, eventually delivering him to that ship's mast, a rifle in his hand, and a final quip on his lips - "Smile you son of a bitch."  This film spawned forth an infinite spew of knockoffs, but what the wannabes never understood was that Jaws is not about the big beastie.  Jaws is all about character.  How these three very disparate men come together to tackle their own demons.  Brody, the failed New York cop fighting through fear to protect family & home.  Hooper, the rich kid oceanographer making a name for himself through a passion for fish.Quint, the emotionally wrecked sailor, killing sharks as revenge for all those sailors lost at sea.  I love Orca as much as the next guy, but it's just not Jaws.

Wayne's World:  Man, I used to love this movie so much.  I might not have watched it as much as Jaws, but I've seen it a few dozen times or so.  But I have not bothered with Wayne & Garth in several years.  Just one of those movies that floated out to sea.  Friday afternoon, I played a little game of Netflix Roulette & suddenly I was "Party On."  It's a cute film, but it's also completely rooted in my teen years.  I can't disassociate it from my teenager brain, nostalgia lost.  Rob Lowe, there's no better sleaze.

Double Indemnity:  "I'm rotten to the heart."  When most hear Film Noir most think Double Indemnity. With good reason.  It's a hateful bastard of a film.  Fred MacMurray is an insurance investigator who falls for Barbara Stanwyck's Femme Fatale, and agrees to bump off her husband in exchange for sex & money.  The guy's a dope.  The dame's a demon.  They deserve each other.  Billy Wilder is much beloved in Hollywood; he made every kind of movie, but his best were the ugly ones.  Double Indemnity & Ace in the Hole sizzle with mean, cold, rage fueled dialog.  Immoral men and women damning themselves with every word.  I love it.  If I took any issue with Double Indemnity it's that Barbara Stanwyck has never worked for me as a Fatale.  I've never understood her allure, how she pulled MacMurray's dope into her web?  Switch her out with Gloria Graham or Veronica Lake, and I get it, but Stanwyck is an off-putting creature.  The film though, is delightfully nasty.

Baltimore Comic Con:  There were not a lot of new faces in the crowd of Comic Book creators this year.  Sure, they're were some big guns (Greg Capullo, Francesco Francavilla, Eric Powell, Jim Starlin, etc), but they're regulars at this point and there was no need to wait in any lines.  I spent the majority of Saturday snapping photos of cosplayers and diving deep into the dealer's room.  I brought less money this year than I've ever had before, but thanks to $5 Trades, 50% off tables, and dealers willing to haggle, I walked away with more comics than any previous Balticon.  My favorite get was the X-Statix Omnibus which retailed for $125, but I scooped it up for $49.  I also grabbed volume 1 of Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man, Superman - Secret Origin, Walt Simonson's Thor, a few Shazam classics, and a treasure edition of Jack Kirby's 2001 A Space Odyssey.  Comics, man.  That's what it's all about.  Time & money deemed only one day for Baltimore this year, but I had as much fun as I've ever had.  Still, it would have been nice to sit in on some panels.  Next year, next year.

--Brad

Matt’s Week in Dork! (8/31/14-9/6/14)

    I feel like I didn’t get a lot done this week, but I also know I was out and about, and very busy for most of it.  My downtime on Sunday and Wednesday night was just so unproductive…Anyway.

    Seeing two classics on the big screen this week did remind me of a few things.  Movies are simply better on the big screen.  Not only the size of the screen and (hopefully) the immersive sound.  But also the group viewing experience.  You can feel the crowd, sense their reactions.  At Singin’ in the Rain, you could feel the joy, hear the feet tapping with the music, and catch the giggles at various jokes.  At Jaws, you could feel the tension, hear the intakes of breath, and yeah, I heard that little kid nearby announce that she’d spotted the shark.  And having seen both films on the small screen, in the privacy and comfort of my own home, I can say that seeing it in a theater with a bunch of people was better.  Yes, you run the chance of having a bad experience.  Yes, I had that awful child with the jittery legs and the constant sniffing (seriously, two hours of sniff…sniff….sniff…sniff) when I went to see King Kong.  But those are relatively rare.  If you’re just watching movies at home, you’re missing out on the wonderful and strange experience of group viewing.  And living here, in the greater Washington D.C. area, I’m so lucky.  We have theaters all around, and many of them run various older films for special showings.  The Alamo, The AFI Silver, The Angelica, even the Rave at Fairfax Corner all do special showings of classics, 80s nostalgia, and more.  However, I’ve been very frustrated to see how little reaction local film buffs have to this.  I talk to movie fans all the time, and they always have excuses as to why they don’t go out and support this awesome activity.  The excuse usually comes down to ‘it’s too expensive’ or ‘I’m too lazy to be bothered.’  Now, the price, I get.  It’s not cheap to go to the movies.  I’d argue that most people I talk to would go spend that money on something equally frivolous (or more) like drinking at a bar or over-paying for sushi.  But whatever.  The laziness thing actually pisses me off.  ‘It’s too far to drive?’  We live in an area where there are almost as many movie theaters as Starbucks.  The Alamo recently tried to do a Spaghetti Western series, but each showing had less and less people, until they just canceled it.  That pretty much says to me that my hoped for Martial Arts film series won’t happen.  When we go to the AFI to watch some amazing screenings of movies like Sweet Smell of Success or Razorback, the place is mostly empty.  A beautiful, huge, comfortable theater with good popcorn and clean bathrooms, and nobody goes!?  I know not everyone is into movies like I am, or like Brad is.  But we have some amazing opportunities to see great films in the way they were intended (on the big screen, with crowds of other people), and on the whole, we’re squandering it.  We’re voting with our dollars to be stuck in our homes, being schlubs, not socializing or supporting interesting things.  It makes me sad.

    On Sunday, I did manage to finish up reading the newest Philip Reeve (with Sarah McIntyre) book, Oliver and the Seawigs.  It’s a cute, if slight kids book.  Probably best for kids graduating from stuff like the Magic Tree House or Boxcar Children to slightly more advanced books like Geronimo Stilton.  The illustrations are copious and enjoyable.  Reeve always weaves a good yarn, but I can’t help but want something a bit more meaty from him.  His last book, Goblins, was also a lot of fun in that Lloyd Alexander sort of way.  But I’m hoping for something a bit more Mortal Engines.  I just don’t know if he’s all that interested in writing the bigger, more epic, big-idea science fiction.  But I can hope.  He remains one of only two writers (Christa Faust being the other) I’ll buy anything written by, sight unseen.

 Masters of Sex: Season 1:  A good companion show to Mad Men, Masters of Sex actually gets some things right more often.  Like Masters’s family life is actually interesting, and his wife feels like a human character.  The show is cute, awkward, touching, sad, and occasionally uplifting and wonderfully pro-science.  I tip my hat to everyone involved.  The cast is excellent, with not only a good core group, but lots of very good supporting character performances.  There's a lot of good TV being made these days if you take the time to seek it out.  This is on that list, for sure.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhass:  Visually rich, this historic drama about a man pushed too far by injustice never quite becomes the movie you keep wanting it to become.  Throughout, it sets the stage for some grim, revenge fueled violence, but time and again fails to deliver.  Medieval Death Wish turns into Medieval Sleep Wish.

Singin’ in the Rain:  Seeing the film for my second time, and my first on the big screen, I feel comfortable calling this one of the best movie musicals of all time, and a wonderful movie all around.  And, like The Artist, which covers the same general subject, this is a movie for lovers of movies.  The silent era fades and the passing fad of sound takes over.  The musical numbers are great, but the story itself is also engaging.

Jaws:  My first viewing of Jaws on the big screen, and I’ve never enjoyed it more.  Jaws is a weird one for me.  On the one hand, I know it’s an excellent movie.  And while I’m watching it, I love it.  But when I’m not watching it, I’m not thinking about it.  It holds little sway over me.  Yet, while I was watching it, I loved it more than ever before.  The camaraderie that develops is beautifully played, with Robert Shaw as the salty old seaman, Richard Dreyfuss as the rich nerd who turns out to be as tough as the old man, and Roy Scheider as the cowardly cop, trying to overcome crushing fear.  An awesome movie all around, and a good reminder of what can be done with practical effects, and how they would not translate to CGI.  Look at this movie, and then imagine what it would look like if made on a substantial budget today.  It wouldn’t look so good, I can tell you that.

Magic in the Moonlight:  I don’t like Woody Allen movies since way back.  And I generally try to avoid them (especially if he appears in ‘em).  But I also find Colin Firth to be infinitely charming, and I do like old timey Europe.  Set in the Jazz age, the movie is about a stage magician/fraud debunker who finds himself believing in the possibilities of the supernatural when he meets a profoundly gifted young spiritualist.  There’s a lot of cute and some funny.  I found the presentation of Firth’s skeptic a bit annoying, as it felt like the condescending way they tend to be portrayed in many mainstream movies and more expectedly in Christian themed film.  Yet that portrayal belied the message of the film.  Which was lacking in what the kids call subtlety.  My other complaint is that it felt too long.  The last 30 or so minutes could probably have been trimmed to 10 minutes and been much, much better.

    On Saturday, Lisa, Brad and I headed up to Baltimore for the Comic Con.  We also met Robert and Emily there.  I believe a good time was had by all, though the first half was a bit rough for me, as I developed a debilitating headache (something I’m generally not prone to) and had a hard time thinking about anything else.  After taking some drugs, eating lunch, drinking a bunch of water, and seeing Thor stride forth from the men’s room in a manner befitting the God of Thunder, I felt better and was more into it.  With nobody I was especially interested in seeing, I looked around Artists Ally and the vendor booths a bit more than usual.  Actually, I feel like I was around the vendor booths WAY more than usual this year, and there were some very good deals.  A lot of trades for deep discounts.  But oddly, there seemed to be a lot of repetition in what was available.  I don’t know if all these folks got their bulk purchases from the same place or what.  But you’d see volume 2 of a slightly obscure series at every booth.  Anyway.  It was weird.  Overall, the show seemed pretty good, there was a lot of good cosplay (can’t believe I just wrote that), and everyone seemed to be having a good time.  One thing though, parents, don’t be dumb.  Keep better track of your children.  I think in all the years previous that I’ve visited this convention, I’ve heard perhaps one or two announcements about lost children/parents.  This year, it seemed to happen every five minutes.  What’s up people?

Photo credit: Brad.

-Matthew J. Constantine

Baltimore Comic-Con: looking in the rearview mirror, part 2

In the first part of my retrospective on exhibiting at this year’s Baltimore Comic-con, I went on about the fan-service aspect of the show.  The creators I finally got to meet, the books I got signed, the enjoyment I got from attending a “big” comic show for the first time in a number of years.  And it was a great time, on that front.  But how was the “professional” side of the convention?

Sales were soft, which is really downplaying how tepid our sales were.  And I saw a similar thing – a cone of silence expanding in a five-foot arc around the front of an exhibitor’s table – in a lot of areas of Artists Alley.  Which is not to say there weren’t some creators who did well here, especially the artists (with prints of zombies or Dr. Who, please, judging by the attendees).  We had high hopes for this show, and, admittedly, it was disappointing on the sales front.  It certainly seems our audience is at the Small Press Expo, which is usually held the weekend after Baltimore Comic-con just down the road in Bethesda, Maryland.  That said, this was a pretty great convention for me, as an aspiring writer.

Early on the first day, Chris Staros (one of the head honchos or Top Shelf Publishing) was walking through Artists Alley.  Recognizing me, he stopped to talk for a few minutes, commenting on the wealth of books we had on offer and asking specifically about the collections we had.  We discussed rejection letters and publishing and how the perception and the reality of both creating and publishing are very similar.  Staros is intelligent, frank, and overly generous with his time, and I’ve been having conversations like this with him since before Dan and I started writing seriously.  But since then, we’ve also been sharing our work with Staros, offering copies of our new works when we go to conventions and discussing what works and what doesn’t within our growing body of work.  Staros has seen us at these shows, has seen our growth as creators and is aware of our inability to give up on this “crazy dream.”  By continuing to create new stories, by setting up at these shows, by having these conversations with Staros in person and through email, we’ve fostered a relationship with him that may pay dividends down the road.  He knows we’re serious; he knows who we are; and I know that if I ever had a proposal I believed fit with the Top Shelf brand, Chris Staros would give it serious consideration.

That wouldn’t have happened if we’d given up after our first, disastrous time exhibiting.

Later on Saturday, another, smaller publisher (forgive me for being coy, but I am superstitious, to a point) came strolling through Artists Alley, right in front of my table.  I recognized him and called him over.  Turns our, he was walking this aisle because he knew I was set up in the area.  We’ve gotten to know one another through common online forums, as well as through setting up at smaller conventions these past few years.  I love what his new company is doing, as far as their publishing line, and he is another person with whom I’ve shared my newer stories whenever we were at the same convention.  We talked comics for a bit (at least at a comic convention you don’t need to come up with a pithy ice-breaker; we’re all there for the same thing), and then he third-eyed me (that’s how the kids put it nowadays, yeah?).  Looking to the future, he wondered if I’d be interested in talking with him about possibly working with his publishing company on a new venture they’re hoping to put forth toward the end of 2014 or into 2015, depending, as always, on how well the current scheduling stays on track.  Hell, yeah!  That conversation, right there, made my day.

This conversation and opportunity (one that doesn’t mean I will be working with them, but does mean I will have the opportunity to share my story ideas and maybe see something get published through them) was only possible because, again, I have continued to write – growing as a creator, as a result of this – and continued to get my stories drawn and fostered a relationship with this man.  Never would’ve happened if we’d given up after that first time in 2005.

So, after Saturday I was feeling pretty good.  Sunday only improved on that.  Joe Hill was going to be signing at the IDW booth that day, and I wanted to get a chance to speak with him for a minute.  When I went over to inquire about the logistics of the signing, I recognized the guy running the booth as someone who’d worked for Dark Horse when Dan and I exhibited at Chicago in 2005; he’d been the one handing out tickets for the Frank Miller signing that year.  So I asked him if he had worked for Dark Horse and then we chatted for a quick bit.  I mentioned that we were tabling as well and he told me to bring some of my work by to show him.  Not a fool, I made sure to get copies of both my give-away books for the Joe Hill line.  And after meeting Hill and speaking with him, I went back around and handed my books to the guy at the booth, who is the VP of marketing for IDW.  He thanked me and asked if I had his card.  No.  So he handed me his business card and told me to send along some digital copies so he could share them with the editorial staff.  Bam!  This, coupled with the Joe Hill signing (which is a great story but not pertinent to this “professional-centric” piece), had me feeling pretty damn good for a couple of hours.  Obviously, this doesn’t mean my epic graphic novel will be coming out from IDW in time for Christmas, nor does it mean I’m ever going to be published by IDW.  But my work will get a look from the editorial staff. 

And – I obviously cannot stress this enough – this opportunity would never have come about if I didn’t have a body of work to share with editors and publishers.  If Dan and I hadn’t been working toward exhibiting at a new show every year, I wouldn’t have been trying to produce new work and new stories.  I would never have gotten to the point I am now, where I am unable to not write.  It took a few years, but it has become a habit, something I really can’t live without because when I got a few days without writing, I become irritable and anxious.  It’s part of me, and I can see how far I’ve come since 2005, while realizing how far I still have to go.  But doors are opening, just a little.  And I need to be ready to take that step through.  Without having exhibited, without having written or created, without having gotten stories published (a result of those previous facts in this long statement), I wouldn’t be able to create these opportunities.  You have to do the work in order to improve, and you have to do the work in order to make your own luck. 

Now, the question becomes where to put my focus.  I know that SPX is the show where our audience is, and it’s the show where we have the most success sales-wise, and it is a show I love.  But there are very few publishers there, as compared to a show like Baltimore.  And with the reality that Dan and I can only do one show a year, along with where my life is at this point, being a “publisher” is not something we can pursue, and, truth be told, not something I want to pursue.  I want to find a publisher willing to get my stories into readers’ hands.  But do we get a table again, especially with Baltimore going to a three-day show?  Or do we choose to merely go as attendees and walk around with our books to share, as we see fit?  I’m not sure.  At least I’ve got some time to think about it.

Meanwhile, I’ll be writing – working toward creating more opportunities for myself.  It’s what I do.

-chris

(As always, you can read more from Chris at Warrior 27)

Baltimore Comic-Con: looking in the rearview mirror

                                                                         

Part 1

The Baltimore Comic-con took place a little over a week ago.  And Dan and Matt and I set up in Artists Alley with our wares – copies of Warrior27, Mainelining, and Reading Watchmen, among a few other things.  So, how did it go?

First – the older I get, the more that fact becomes obvious during these 12-hour drives Dan and I endure to attend these conventions.  (when you live in Maine, going anywhere means you have to drive for a while, but there’s nowhere you can’t get to within five hours, so twelve can come off as a bit ridiculous).  But we love these shows, so it isn’t that big a sacrifice.  I just wish we didn’t have to do the overnight drive immediately after the show ends (and, to be fair, the traffic isn’t as bad when you’re traveling at night, so we got home at 4:30, eleven and a half hours after departing, rather than the standard twelve from Maryland to the heart of Maine).

Second – sales were soft, to say the least.  I saw a lot of dead areas in Artists Alley when I got a chance to trawl down the aisles.  One of those happened to be directly in front of our table.  We sold a few things, made back a little less than half our table fee, but we didn’t do nearly as well as we have, in the past, at the Small Press Expo.  I talked to a number of other creators who had similar things to say.  A couple of really talented artists I know, who have a larger profile than myself and Dan and Matt, were not happy with their sales.  They weren’t going to be able to cover costs, and one of these guys had a book published through a small press publisher earlier this year.  Odd. 

But here’s the thing.  As “indy-friendly” as Baltimore is said to be – and I can’t outright deny that, as I know a couple of other guys in Artists Alley who had good shows – it really is a show for fans of Big-2 comics and their creators.  With retailers at the front of the hall offering longboxes full of Marvel and DC comics, along with books from other, smaller publishers, and writers and artists such as Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Amanda Conner, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Jim Starlin, Frank Cho, Mike Mignola, Art & Franco, Ramona Fradon, Justin Jordan, Rob Venditti, Sean Murphy, et al. available to meet with their fans, this show is heavily geared toward the mainstream comic fan.  And with as much of the market share as is taken up by those two publishers, it makes sense.  That means it’s even harder for the “little guy” to succeed at this show, unless they’re pushing zombies, which does not seem to be a fad that has yet to run out of steam.

The nice thing about doing these shows with Dan, and Matt this year, is the fact that none of us is tied to the table.  We can give each other a breather and allow for opportunities to stretch our legs, maybe do some shopping, peruse the tables of other Artists Alley exhibitors, and do the fan service thing.   Dan and Matt did some of the former, with Dan managing to fill in some more of the dwindling holes in his Batman collection and Matt picking up some cool prints from an artist just down the line from us, while I focused on the latter.  And, to be honest, I was surprised at how easy it was to get to meet some of these creators.  Other than one major exception, which I’ll get to in the next installment, the longest line I got in was for Mark Waid, and that one went very quickly. 

Other creators with whom I spoke included J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen, and Kevin Maguire (I got all three to sign my original Justice League collection), Mark Buckingham, who signed two issues from his Miracleman run with Neil Gaiman, Mike Mignola (who only had three people in line when I got there o_O seriously?), Justin Jordan, Tradd Moore, and Rob Venditti (who’s been a great guy to talk to at conventions through the years and super-supportive of my writing), Mark Nelson (who drew an Alien in my collection of the original Dark Horse series), Greg Larocque, and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, who drew a beautiful Wonder Woman sketch in the front of the sketchbook I purchased from him.  I managed to get some of my favorite books signed and was able to thank the creators for what they’ve done, while also getting the opportunity to speak with some newer creators about writing and comics and various other topics.  All the writers and artists, with a glaring exception I will keep to myself, were very approachable and came across as genuinely pleased to meet their fans.  So, from the point of view of a fan, this show was definitely a success. 

But how would I judge it from the point of view of a writer working to “break in,” as it were?  That’s for next time.

-chris

(You can read more from Chris at Warrior 27.)

Matt’s Week in Dork! (9/8/13-9/14/13)

    Sunday took Chris, Dan, and myself back to Baltimore for the second, more mellow day of the Baltimore Comic-Con.  I got more chances to see things, and there was a lot more variety of cosplay.  A good day, all round.   Otherwise, the week was mostly filled with work and not fun/not Dork behavior.

Doctor Who: Ghost Light:  One of the better Sylvester McCoy stories, this is OK.  It’s a play on a lot of those old BBC costume dramas and adventure yarns, with dashes of ghost stories and Holmesian mystery.  Again, I can’t really sing its praises, but for McCoy’s run, it’s not bad.  Worth watching.  The end is pretty crazy.

The Violent Men:  Glenn Ford is a tough hombre.  He plays it cool until he can’t play anymore.  Then he devastates everyone who gets in his way.  This isn’t any kind of groundbreaking or special Western, but it’s quite good, and worth watching.

The Dark Knight Returns:  This animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s industry changing Batman comic is pretty good, but weighted down by source problems.  First off, Miller seems to have a real problem with women, and all the women in this movie are kind of awful (with the possible exception of the new Robin).  But it feels more consistent than the original.  It’s a pretty good story with some cool plays on classic DC universe ideas.  I’m just not in love with the whole thing.  This one is very, very much not for kids.

House:  Oh, Japan.  Less boring than a lot of Japanese horror films (especially of the 60s and 70s), House is about as jumbled and random as they come.  I found it hard to pay attention or care about what was happening, because little logic or reason can be applied to the plot or characters.  There are some good moments, and enough crazy that fans of weird cinema should enjoy seeing it once.  But this isn’t my cup of tea, that’s for sure.

    On Saturday, Brad and I headed up to Bethesda for SPX (the Small Press Expo).  This show has grown dramatically since I first attended five years ago.  Even with increasing the size of the actual venue, it was still quite crowded by so many comic fans.  And the diversity has increased, as well.  I noticed it wasn’t all just 20 to 40 year old, bearded white guys in flannel, with their tattooed girlfriends in boots.  There were more young people, more (a bit more) ethnic diversity, and more variety in the artists attending.  I felt a lot better about what I saw on the tables.  It just makes being poor that much rougher, as I couldn’t buy from half the people I wanted to.  Still, managed to get a few cool prints and mini-comics.  SPX is evolving, but feels like it’s keeping true to its more do-it-yourself vibe.  (Brad has a cool story, which I'll let him tell in his Week in Dork).

    Otherwise, I’ve started reading The Great and Secret Show from Clive Barker, which I’m really enjoying.  And I’ve been trying really, really hard to get some meaty writing done.  Sadly, most nights when I return home, I find myself staring at the wall, or zoning out with some music.  Writing has been tough.

-Matt

Brad's Week in Dork! (9/1/13-9/7/13)

After a rather abysmal Summer I found myself aching for Great Cinema.  I'm sick of disappointment.  How to cure these Blockbuster blues?  Well, after the last Barnes & Noble sale, I found myself with a massive pile of Criterions stacked next to my television set.  What better way to enter the Oscar Bait season than with a month long Criterion-A-Thon.  Yes, I'm one of those hipster assholes that drinks the Kool-Aid that is The Criterion Collection.  I'm not going to say that every one of their releases is a classic, but I've never encountered a film from them that I didn't find redeeming in some fashion.  You'll notice a theme of Anger running through most of the films listed below.  Does that reflect on the builders of the Collection or my own current mood?  Serious Cinema tackling the big issues.  That being said, this week is mostly filled with genre content, and that is certainly a reflection on my own tastes.  Next week I'll have to branch out with some foreign film, but for now I was just giddy to jump from Seconds to Lord of the Flies to Robocop to Black Narcissus.

The week concluded with the Baltimore Comic Con.  Maybe not as popular on the Internet as say San Diego or New York, but Baltimore is the real deal for fans of comic books.  At the very least it's an assault on my wallet.  Of course, despite the con, I actually didn't get any reading done this week.  Gotta work on that.  I've certainly have a lot of options right now, and SPX is just right around the corner.  No trips to the theater, and I only watched one film not a member of the Criterion family; Matt finally planted me down for The African Queen.  But I gotta say, this was one of the most pleasurable Weeks in Dorks that I've had in months.  Watched a lot of my favorite films, discovered some new ones, and had a blast spending money on the four colors.  I think I made a good call with this particularly broad movie marathon.

Seconds (Criterion Spine # 667):  "I thought you had a better chance."  Like the best Twilight Zone or Star Trek episode, John Frankenheimer's Seconds is an angry, trippy exploration of morality safely filtered through the science-fiction genre.  After receiving a mysterious phone call from a friend thought once dead, bored old husband John Randolph travels to the city's meatpacking district where he encounters an organization promising an escape from his failed existence and a chance at a new life.  One teeth cracking surgery later, and John Randolph is now Rock Hudson.  He has a new passion for painting, a beautiful woman randomly discovered on the beach, and a cadre of friends willing to STOMP THOSE GRAPES!  But how long can this new life hold his interest?  Can this new man just accept his past failings?  Of course, Frankenheimer directed The Manchurian Candidate, so there are no happy endings.  Hudson certainly delivers his finest performance, and Murray Hamilton is extraordinaire in his one scene, but the real stars of this flick are Lewis John Carlino's screenplay and James Wong Howe's cinematography.  It's a biting brutal story shot & cut in the fever of a nightmare.  An absolute highlight of the Criterion Collection, and certainly this year's strongest blu ray release.

Homicide (Criterion Spine # 486):  Not to be confused with the equally excellent Baltimore based crime show, David Mamet's Homicide is a mystery when unravelled that cares less about the answer and more about the horror exposed along the way.  Joe Mantegna is a rage-fueled detective pulled off a flashy cop killer hunt to investigate the murder of a Jewish shopkeeper.  What begins as a distraction from glory slowly grinds into an obsession of newly found faith.  A lot of typical dark territory is explored in Homicide, and it's all layered in that too-smart Mamet dialog, but the racial anger stirred by the events is infectious.  This film will leave you mad.  Mad at people.  Mad at the system.  Mad at yourself.  So basically, it's everything you expect and want from Mamet's rabble rouser.

Lord of the Flies (Criterion Spine # 43):  "After all we're not savages, we're English!  And the English are best at everything!"  Everyone knows the story.  A group of prep school kids shipwrecked on an island.  Fending for themselves against the elements, and an unseen monster, the boys quickly form a society of rules and regulations....superstition and greed brings it all crashing down.  Too often regulated as High School Summer reading, William Golding's novel is a violent declaration against hypocrisy, and Peter Brooks' film manages to perfectly capture the author's contempt.  But where other adaptations have failed in kiddie performances, Brooks' films succeeds solely because he gathered an exceptional cast of children.  There is no difficulty in supplanting your emotions into James Aubrey's Ralph; the young actor balances youth and wisdom perfectly, and you never cringe at the "acting" on display.  And then there's Tom Chapin's Jack.  What a monster.  So easy to hate.  He never went on to do anything else, but he takes on your disgust as easily as Aubrey takes your heart.  Kids as strong as these are certainly a real rarity in movieland.

Eating Raoul (Criterion Spine # 625):  "He was a man.  Now he's just a bag of garbage."  Another graduate of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking, Paul Bartel leaves behind the exploitation brilliance of Death Race 2000 for this equally broad & whacky ribbing of American consumerism.  Bartel and Mary Warnov are a financially strapped married couple who resort to killing swingers as a means of funding their country restaurant.  This demented endeavor finds real success after partnering with Robert Beltran's cat burglar, but can their marriage survive someone so handsome?  The answer may surprise you.  Bartel's comedy is certainly not for everyone, and I found his special brand of odd more successful in Death Race, but Eating Raoul certainly nibbles a funny bone or two.

The Last Temptation of Christ (Criterion Spine # 70):  "Fear.  Look inside me and that's all you'll find."  Martin Scorsese has made a career of exploring man's relationship with the divine, but never has he been more blunt with this struggle than here.  The Last Temptation of Christ portrays Jesus as both man and god, as such he is victim to both doubt and desire while fulfilling his role as messiah.  This is not the masterpiece the director or his followers might have wanted, but it is a fascinating insight into the creator's religious struggle.  The film certainly suffers from budgetary constraints, and Scorsese's bullpen of performers don't quite jive with the average vision of these characters.....however, there is something incredibly refreshing about Harvey Keitel as Judas or Harry Dean Stanton as Paul.  Scorsese is reaching for the humanity in these characters, to shake the dust off, and treat them as real-deal human beings.  As such, I think he succeeds.  The Holy aspects of the film work less for me, the miracles come fast and loose and feel like the highlight reel from a Super Hero film - capes & spandex stuff.  The final temptation on the cross certainly stirs the pot, but only the most stringent of terrified censors will take umbrage with this postulation.  And Jesus's confrontation with Paul over his manipulation of the crucifixion is probably the most brilliant sequence of the whole movie, and absolutely makes Scorsese's cinematic quest.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (Criterion Spine # 61):  "If we didn't have crucifixion, this country would be in a right bloody mess!"  While Scorsese attempts to deconstruct belief, the mad buggers that assemble Monty Python sharpen their swords for war.  Brian Cohen is born on the same night and just a few doors down from Jesus Christ, which confuses The Three Wise Men and sets the idealistic young Brian down an absurd parallel path.  Religion is such an easy target for Python, and no other comedy troupe can match smart & silly with as fierce precision as these nutjobs.  I dare you not to laugh within the first five seconds of the movie, and once you start you will not stop.  After all, what good have the Romans ever done for us?!?!

The African Queen:  Another Cinematic Resolution has been met.  Why did it take me 34 years to see this John Huston classic?  I love Bogie.  He's the king of cool.  The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep.  The man can't be shut down.  Katherine Hepburn...never been a fan...never tried to be.  What little snippets I had previously seen of this movie highlight Bogart's five o'clock shadow, and Hepburn's virginal old maid.  Just never screamed "WATCH ME!"  And, yeah, it's a weird one.  Bogart is utterly gross and pathetic in this film.  Never seen anything quite like it from the actor.  Sure, he's done pathetic (gin diving in Casablanca & gold scumming in The Treasure of Sierra Madre), but his stomach growling steamboat captain is just an absolute mess of a human being.  And Katherine Hepburn is simply angry and shrill.  I found it hard to wrap my brain around this Beast & Beast romance, but in war torn Africa all they have is each other...and mosquitos.  I only wish the film followed the inevitability of their romance instead of ditching doom for Hollywood happy.

Robocop (Criterion Spine # 23):  "Excuse me, I have to go.  Somewhere there is a crime happening."  In a lot of ways, I think of Paul Verhoeven's Robocop as the ultimate geek film.  You've got the endless outbursts of squibby violence to appeal to the savage teenager inside us all, and then you have the blunt force trauma of the consumer satire to appease our wannabe intellectual side.  This is the Wall Street for the genre crowd, but Verhoeven has no use for Oliver Stone's subtlety -- HA!  And has there ever been a gang of villains as despicable or as terrifying as Kurtwood Smith's posse of cop killers?  The murder of Alex Murphy immediately establishes these villains as demons of capitalism, joyously toying with the hot shot cop before delivering the coup de gras.  It's gut wrenching; so much so that you'll cheer when Robocop rediscovers his humanity by delivering some arterial revenge.

Black Narcissus (Criterion Spine # 93):  "We're all human, aren't we?"  A group of nuns are charged with the establishment of a convent in the himalayas, but their contract with god is challenged when they find themselves seduced by their surroundings.  Attempting to forget the failed romance of her youth, Deborah Kerr's Sister Superior finds her heart reawakened by David Farrar's brusk British official, but the man's good looks also draw the attention of Flora Robson's twisted Sister Ruth.  Directed by the dynamic duo of Michael Powell & Emric Pressburger, Black Narcissus is a sensual British melodrama that practically descends into the realm of horror when the bent eventually snap.  And as strong as the performances are, Jack Cardiff's transformative cinematography deserves equal billing; who wants On Location filming when British backlots can look this damn good?  Of all the films I watched this week, Black Narcissus takes top prize.

The Game (Criterion Spine # 627):  Not my favorite David Fincher film (that's Zodiac).  Not my least favorite either (that's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).  But what earns The Game entry into The Criterion Collection?  Popular filmmaker + attainable rights = Criterion.  Simple as that.  Still, I have to admit that I was a bit perplexed when I first got the news.  There is a lot to like about this film.  Michael Douglas is an assholey mess of a human being, and the wringer that Consumer Recreation Services puts him through is thoroughly entertaining even if the payoff is not exactly what this genre fanboy desired.  I have just never bought into that anticlimax.  And starting this week with Seconds really established The Game as a pretender to the paranoia throne.

The Baltimore Comic Con 2013:  As much as I drone on & on about the real Comic Con (San Diego), there is nothing that can top the comic book goodness of Baltimore.  You want movies and celebrities than grab your ticket for the west coast.  You want to score an obscene amount of funny books?  Baltimore is the place to be.  Sure, you've got your comic book creators (snagged an autograph from Joe Hill), but the main attraction are the half-off trades.  This year I came away with a complete run of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol, the latest Animal Man, Scott Snyder's Gates of Gotham, and Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.  Plus a few toys (Magnum PI Hot Wheels, a Frank Frazetta beer stein).  Baltimore can fill up with panels and autograph sessions, but I pretty much treated this year as a bazaar.  And with Matt working the Warrior27 table with Dan & Chris, and The Wife busy with her day job, I was free to spend the hours roaming the dealers room with my buddy Robert.  Spending far too much money.

Baltimore, like every convention nowadays, is also a great excuse for Halloween Part II.  Cosplay.  When I was younger, I never quite understood the appeal of dress-up, but the more conventions I attend and the crazier a display of costume I witness, I swell with fanboy pride at the passion on parade.  Twenty years ago, Comic Conventions were a collection of 30 year old white guys and the occasional wandering child.  Now we have boys & girls of every race SHAZAMing it up as Iron Man, Deadpool, Poison Ivy, Captain Marvel, Jack of Hearts, and...holy cow - Hulkbuster Iron Man.  I got a taste for the giddiness of cosplay when The Wife & I participated in the Alamo Drafthouse Shaun-Off a few weeks back, and it was fairly thrilling.  Can I see myself one day dawning a cape and browsing the convention floor as Darkhawk?  Maybe.  But don't hold your breath, I'm shy.

The Most Dangerous Game (Criterion Spine # 46):  This film is most famous for being a coproduction with the 8th Wonder of the World, King Kong.  The same jungle sets used for Skull Island can also be seen as the hunting ground for the diabolical Count Zaroff.  The film also stars Fay Wray & Robert Armstrong, but the hero of the piece is an incredibly young Joel McCrea zigzagging the island in an effort to turn the tables on the big game madman.  The Most Dangerous Game might not be as famous as its primate brother, but I would argue that it's nearly as thrilling.  At just over an hour in running time, the film races to its finish and has no time for narrative fat.  It's all action.  Character moments last no longer than a wink & a smile.  Oh McCrea, you dog.

--Brad