A nerd eat nerd world (Wizardworld LA recap)
I have to say that WizardWorld LA was a lot more fun this year than in previous years. A lot of people there that I knew from the world of comics and animation, along with a good sized crowd.
Still, I wish Wizard did a better job with registration for pros. Comic Con does a great job handling pro registration, making it easy to pre-register, they give you a badge with a big easy-to-read label, and, perhaps more importantly, it's FREE. WizardWorld makes it really difficult to pre-register and it costs $10 for pros.
But the show itself was fun. Had work on Saturday morning, so I didn't get to the L.A. Convention Center until the afternoon. Met up with my friends (NAME DROPPING AHOY!) Matt Wayne, Dwayne McDuffie, Charlotte Fullerton, and Amy Wolfram.
Hung out with the uber-talented Sean "Cheeks" Galloway. If you haven't heard of Cheeks, you will - he did designs on the Hellboy animated films and he's blowing up. Check out his work at his web site and definitely order his sketchbooks. For $25 each, they're a bargain.
Saw the great and talented Man of Action guys again. Chatted with the awesomely talented (and awesomely tall) Joe Kelly, interrupted Duncan Rouleau's lunch, and finally got to meet Steven Seagle. Seagle's girlfriend went to college with my friend Dani, and Seagle had actually heard of me because Dani had told him about me. What a small world. Man of Action has a new animated project they unveiled at WizardWorld LA called the 7Cs - cool stuff that you can see on their website.
Went to Marvel's X-Men panel - I was distracted by the sheer volume of laptop computers in the room. I counted at least seven guys with laptops transcribing every word spoken by the panelists. It's wild to imagine that comic book creators have to be careful about every word they say, because it could end up word-for-word on the internet. After the panel I met Christopher Yost, who I've talked with many times but had never actually met in person (which is a surprisingly common relationship in the world of animation writing). Chris introduced us to Craig Kyle, who is hysterical.
Got to meet Peter David, which was pretty cool. I wanted to gush to him about an essay he'd written about becoming a better writer by expanding your influences and reading more than just comic books. I was a teenager at the time I read it and it'd really inspired me. The problem is that there's no good way to pay a compliment like that without them feeling insulted and self-conscious about their age, so I kept my mouth shut.
Saw Len Wein and checked out his new Palm device. Len can't believe how many of us keep up on his life by reading his blog. He's also got some great projects for Bongo Comics coming out in the next few months.
Also ran into Marv Wolfman, got introduced to Todd Nauck, Chris Ryall, a few others whose names escape me. Oh, and I saw Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell signing autographs - she is so adorably plucky cute in real life. I wanted to just go up and pinch her cheek as proof of her adorableness-ness. Wonder how many times this weekend she got asked whether her show's been cancelled?
After the show, ten of us headed out to dinner. The group included Len Wein, Sam Stormcrow Hayes, Charlotte, Dwayne, and Amy. I'd read good things about the Liberty Grill next to Staples Center, which turned out to be great. Lots of great stories over dinner, especially about the worst convention panels we've ever seen. Good time had by all.
Oh yes - I almost forgot the story about where the title of this post comes from. Over dinner, Len Wein's son told a story about having something stolen from him at San Diego Comic Con one year. We couldn't believe that someone would jack something at Comic Con. I responded with my line about it being a nerd eat nerd world. A few moments later, someone suggested a line of t-shirts with the phrase - Eugene says, "It's a nerd eat nerd world". I wouldn't buy one, but then again, I have a negative reaction to anything with the word "Eugene" in it...
Back to work. In the meantime, no more conventions for me until San Diego.
Still, I wish Wizard did a better job with registration for pros. Comic Con does a great job handling pro registration, making it easy to pre-register, they give you a badge with a big easy-to-read label, and, perhaps more importantly, it's FREE. WizardWorld makes it really difficult to pre-register and it costs $10 for pros.
But the show itself was fun. Had work on Saturday morning, so I didn't get to the L.A. Convention Center until the afternoon. Met up with my friends (NAME DROPPING AHOY!) Matt Wayne, Dwayne McDuffie, Charlotte Fullerton, and Amy Wolfram.
Hung out with the uber-talented Sean "Cheeks" Galloway. If you haven't heard of Cheeks, you will - he did designs on the Hellboy animated films and he's blowing up. Check out his work at his web site and definitely order his sketchbooks. For $25 each, they're a bargain.
Saw the great and talented Man of Action guys again. Chatted with the awesomely talented (and awesomely tall) Joe Kelly, interrupted Duncan Rouleau's lunch, and finally got to meet Steven Seagle. Seagle's girlfriend went to college with my friend Dani, and Seagle had actually heard of me because Dani had told him about me. What a small world. Man of Action has a new animated project they unveiled at WizardWorld LA called the 7Cs - cool stuff that you can see on their website.
Went to Marvel's X-Men panel - I was distracted by the sheer volume of laptop computers in the room. I counted at least seven guys with laptops transcribing every word spoken by the panelists. It's wild to imagine that comic book creators have to be careful about every word they say, because it could end up word-for-word on the internet. After the panel I met Christopher Yost, who I've talked with many times but had never actually met in person (which is a surprisingly common relationship in the world of animation writing). Chris introduced us to Craig Kyle, who is hysterical.
Got to meet Peter David, which was pretty cool. I wanted to gush to him about an essay he'd written about becoming a better writer by expanding your influences and reading more than just comic books. I was a teenager at the time I read it and it'd really inspired me. The problem is that there's no good way to pay a compliment like that without them feeling insulted and self-conscious about their age, so I kept my mouth shut.
Saw Len Wein and checked out his new Palm device. Len can't believe how many of us keep up on his life by reading his blog. He's also got some great projects for Bongo Comics coming out in the next few months.
Also ran into Marv Wolfman, got introduced to Todd Nauck, Chris Ryall, a few others whose names escape me. Oh, and I saw Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell signing autographs - she is so adorably plucky cute in real life. I wanted to just go up and pinch her cheek as proof of her adorableness-ness. Wonder how many times this weekend she got asked whether her show's been cancelled?
After the show, ten of us headed out to dinner. The group included Len Wein, Sam Stormcrow Hayes, Charlotte, Dwayne, and Amy. I'd read good things about the Liberty Grill next to Staples Center, which turned out to be great. Lots of great stories over dinner, especially about the worst convention panels we've ever seen. Good time had by all.
Oh yes - I almost forgot the story about where the title of this post comes from. Over dinner, Len Wein's son told a story about having something stolen from him at San Diego Comic Con one year. We couldn't believe that someone would jack something at Comic Con. I responded with my line about it being a nerd eat nerd world. A few moments later, someone suggested a line of t-shirts with the phrase - Eugene says, "It's a nerd eat nerd world". I wouldn't buy one, but then again, I have a negative reaction to anything with the word "Eugene" in it...
Back to work. In the meantime, no more conventions for me until San Diego.
posted by Eugene at 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
I regularly read Peter David's and Marv Wolfman's blogs. Good stuff on there.
By the way, can you ask Dwayne McDuffie if they're ever gonna release Static Shock in season sets? Gotta finish up those DCAU collections! (For that matter, they should release Gotham Girls on DVD, too.)
I asked Dwayne - he said-
I'd love to see Static Shock season sets but for now, Warner Home Video doesn't have any plans.
Sorry I missed you at the event :( :(
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