Whew. I am exhausted.
New York Comic Con was great fun, but the sheer crush of people is wearying. Although out of those tens of thousands, I met a few new folks that were very cool, and a few old friends. Plus we had: ADVENTURES.
Here’s a quick video recap of Day 2 of NYCC:
First off, Jeff’s incompetence rears its ugly head as I arrived at 1:25pm for my 1:30pm panel, then went to the exact wrong location and stood there for a while, confused. After sprinting my way for half a mile of sweaty, costumed people, I arrived at the panel room 5 minutes late with sweat streaming down my face. When you do this, you end up sitting behind a monitor so no one can see you. Here’s my view from the panel table:
Afterwards, I found a complete, total stranger who is not my brother to give me an endorsement:
Then it was off to the Autograph area to sign books, and people actually showed up!
And a few people even brought my mysterious, largely-forgotten first novel, Lifers, which almost made me weep in joy:
We realized we were right next to Lou Ferrigno in the autograph area. Lou was not particularly friendly.
Erik who comments here all the time showed up! He had Lifers too, which made us love him. Then I stalked him for the rest of the day, until he called security and had us ejected.
When The Duchess invaded Lou Ferrigno’s space a little, he growled at her, and I had to remind her that I am a small, weak man.
Obligatory Princess Leia babe getting books signed by me:
Doug Finch of The Whirligig was there and stopped by despite the danger of my reputation being attached to him:
All in all, a fabulous experience. While I wouldn’t recommend showing up late for your panels and having to run the length of the Javits Center in a flopsweat, it all worked out, and we signed just about every book Orbit had sent along.
The Orbit crew deserves a special mention: They not only do a fantastic job of organizing things, they also make it fun. They also absorb my incompetence and somehow alchemize it into success, a mysterious process I don’t claim to understand. They rock!
I have lots more vids, but what I’m planning to do is edit them together into a coherent mini-documentary about my days at NYCC, which might take a few days to accomplish, especially with possible re-shoots and the special effects processing. Look for it!
I was at a convention and a group of little kids from a summer camp or day care were being taken through the show in mass. The group stopped on the way out and an adult took one of the children over to Lou Ferrigno’s table. There was no one else in line or waiting. The child presented a comic to be signed. Ferrigno said it would be 20 bucks [or whatever it was he was charging]. The adult said it was for the child, but Lou held firm — 20 bucks. The kid left sad.
A couple of things to consider: the child was less than ten years old. The adult with the child may have been 20, but probably not and I’m sure wasn’t related to the child. I can understand that Ferrigno makes his living selling photos and autographs. I realize that some of those autographs make their way to ebay. This child wasn’t going to ebay the photo. There was no one in line so signing the item wasn’t going to inspire others to try to get free autographs.
I couldn’t believe it. I told a few friends at the show about it and the next thing I knew I was hearing about how crappy Ferrigno treats his fans. I was really disappointed.
At another show my son and I were one of the first to enter thanks to a buddy who was a guest. A couple of people a head of us were also allowed to enter. Lou had the first table [front and center] at the show probably due to the release of the new Hulk movie that summer. The two fans slowed at Lou’s table to say they were fans — he said something to the effect of “Not now — the show isn’t open” — the fans walked on and I heard one say, “Man, he didn’t even want to hear that we are fans. I am done with him.”
Sad. Really sad.
For someone who doesn’t usually wear pants, you’re actually quite debonair.
Sounds like the Duchess had kittens when she saw those Lifers copies.
Free books! Jealous. Will have to keep bugging Hachette Australia until they till me when The Eternal Prison will be released here…
Have a lovely day! 🙂
Craig,
It’s unfortunate. Though I have to say: I stood there for 1 hour and was exhausted. You get the same question 50 times and you want to wow everyone who steps up to you. I’m not complaining – it was thrilling to meet people who have read the books and liked them – but man, if I did that for 8 hours, day after day, I’d be ready to kill someone too.
J
Tez,
I woke up and pants had already been sewn onto me. It’s a mystery. I had vague plans about taking them off in the bathroom – transforming into Captain Chaos – but I forgot my flask both days and thus never put that plan into action.
J
One of the big reasons I went to Comic Con — aside from getting actual proof of the existence of this fellow called Jeffrey Somers — was to get out of the house, where many accuse me of often lingering too long in a hermit-like cocoon. (You might say I like feeling hermit-ically sealed in.) But my video has been titled “Doug Finch in da house.” So, just to be clear: though I am currently in da house as I write this, in the Duch’s fine video (rivaling anything Scorsese has produced in quality and nuance, IMHO), I was actually out of da house. Still, nice meeting all of you in the Somers posse, whether it was when in, out, or in-between.
Doug,
Hmmmn, a semantic riddle I don’t think I have the wherewithal to solve. Personally, I find being outside the house to be overrated. Plus they also require pants outside the house, or so has been my experience.
Stoked that we managed to have a drink together my friend! Hope your plans later that night went well!
L
J