Eddie Berganza and the Misses, showing up at the SDCC in style... A photo after a long fun dinner at a Brazilian steak house. I got to sit with Dwayne MacDuffie and had a pretty Brazilian bartender shake a drink for me tableside.
Going around the Naked Fat Rave booth counter clockwise we start off with Michael Golden and Renee Witterstaetter. A few people tell me these two have been getting into arguments with sketch buyers. I don't know anything about that as I don't buy sketches from them. I can say that in Avilés Mike made piles of free sketches for the fans and they were spectacularly good.
Also, I like hanging out with both of them. They are top notch dinner companions (this is in Avilés). I should mention that only half the legends about Mike are true. But he enjoys all of them.
A hero from my angsty teenage years. Matt bleeping Wagner. I don't know anyone who appreciates fine comics and great food like he does. Reading Mage changed my life, man. Genius. And someone else you need to eat dinner with. He's supposed to be an incredible cook.
Tim Sale and Jeff Scott Campbell. I haven't been able to hang out much with Jeff but Tim is great. He has a creepy resemblance to Hugh Laurie as House. But almost no resemblance to Hugh Laurie as Wooster.
Booth Boss John Fanucchi and some guy who likes to draw apes. And dinosaurs. And really pretty women. Sorry, no photo of Joyce Chin.
Our two booth volunteers, Kevin DeAntonio and Lisa Fung. Missing from the rotation are J H Williams and Wendy. I took 'em for granted and didn't take any photos of Jim. I do have a nice pic of Wendy on the regular blog.
Bruce Timm. Each day he showed up he took a pile of sketch orders and produced a steady stream of stylish head sketches. He was very worried about how the fans would receive his new Superman/Doomsday cartoon. It went well.
Phil Noto. Before I met him I thought: yes, this is the work of an Asian American. I can see the cultural influences. He is not Asian.
Amanda Connor. Charming and an almost perfect Greek profile. Another one I haven't had enough time hanging out with.I'm not easy to intimidate but this group is crazy talented. Beyond their drawings skills they also showed a lot of humor and taught me a lot about the business side of comics. I'll be with them next year when folks like JIM LEE join us.
Four fans I like:
Dave and John.
Kelvin and his wife. I have her business card but I can't find it right now! Arggh.Onto Avilés Spain.
A group of us on the first day. This statue was new for this year. But the end of the con most of the vinyl letters had been moved off. I would've joined in if the letters were there for "Fawlty Towers".From the left, Alex Maleev, Roberto enjoying the view, me, Angel, a nice volunteer whose name I've misplaced, another one, Marc Andreyko, Jorge, Michael Gaydos, and George Perez.
George Perez was nicknamed "St. George" there. He is crazy nice to the fans. No one drew more free sketches than him and they were all great sketches. Every other talent there was floored. One night he noticed two fans couldn't get into the restaurant where the artists were eating. So he followed them out and had dinner with them.
A slightly enraged and noticeably excited Hulk. Angel Medina tries not to stare.
Carmen, that same unnamed volunteer, and Diego who mastered our ceremonies. He can also translate hand motions and random noises into Spanish.Carmen helped carry my heaviest suitcase. She has excellent upper body strength and carries a small light saber in her car. Cool chica!
Diego accepting my gratitude for translating. He had a summer cold but still kept at it.
Me an Mark Buckingham, in San Diego. He was also in Avilés.
Bucky's wife Irma. She's a Spanish TV personality but speaks such flawless English that I assumed she was from London. She says that in the UK they think she's from Australia or such.Here's she reveals the true face of tiramisu: evil!
With Jorge and his girl, and Pepa, an Asturian theater actress.
At the Pro/Con Volunteer vs Fan fútbol match! Hanging out with Jaume Vaquer, who took Dolmen comics magazine from a photocopy newsletter to a glossy newstand book. Unfortunately I didn't arrive in time to see Dougie Braithwaite become an Asturian fútbol god. Five-nothing.
Two fans took Angel Medina and me to their flat and taught me to make tortilla (in Spain, a potato omelet). Here are Cristina and me with the finished result.
Me, Cristina and Angel.
Javier and Cristina were also the fans George Perez went to dinner with. In honor of their deeds they got a nice trophy at the closing ceremony, as did George.
With the waitress at one of the local restaurants. She handed me a pad of paper to draw on but I didn't have any tools with me. After I began drawing with wine, coffee, and soggy cigarette ashes someone at the table finally brought out his bag of markers. Sigh.I almost used Alex Maleev's cow lighter for blacks but a marker saved us from a fiery doom. The next day Alex claimed he had a witness that I'd stolen the lighter. I discovered who had the lighter but swore him to secrecy until I left so I could yank Alex's chain a little longer. I assume you returned that lighter, Miguel!
I'll end with my favorite Spanish perro. She looks uncannily like Georgia!Gene Ha
