Back in the office after a snow day yesterday, mainly spent recovering from the New York Comic Convention this past weekend. I was only able to attend for one day, Sunday, but even from that limited exposure I can tell you that it was much better organized than last year, and the additional hall space was a godsend. A great time was had meeting fans, talking with pros such as Steve McNiven, David Finch, Olivier Coipel, Tony Harris, Mark Brooks and others, and generally cavorting around.
On 12:30 on Sunday, I hosted what has in a very short time become a Marvel tradition, our give-away game show PRIZE OR NO-PRIZE (otherwise known as the one panel that received absolutely no Internet coverage over the weekend.) With the able assistance of "Prize Monkey" Molly Lazer, DJ Jim McCann, girl-on-the-end Jen Grunwald, and special guest judge C.B. Cebulski, we more-or-less entertained a hall full of people, giving away autographed items, limited edition variants and custom-drawn sketches by Marvel artists (as well as a page of original art from POWERS donated by Mike Oeming) to those who were able to answer all sorts of inane questions about the Marvel titles and characters. We've still got some elements to tighten up--this was our first dry-run of the year, so there's some fine-tuning to do before we hit Wizard World LA in a couple of weeks--but overall I'd deem it a success, for the most part.
And despite my blog post from last Friday, while a couple of people stayed behind to chat with me after the panel was over, none of them were there specifically to complain about the ending to CIVIL WAR. In fact, for the most part, what I heard from the readers in atendence was praise. Which I think goes to show that, as a generality, we're all just a bit more polite and restrained in person than we are via e-mail, or on the Internet.
Also, just a word to the wise: you'll know you married the right woman when you come back from a show such as this one hauling a mountainous assortment of "junk comics" from years gone by purchased out of the buck and two-buck bins, and rather than saying something sensible such as "don't you have enough comics already?" or "where in the world are we going to put all this stuff?" or even "how much money did you spend?", your spouse's first reaction is concern that you might have hurt yourself carrying what amounts to a short box back from the city.
More later.
Tom B
I was at the panel and even got it on tape. Unfortunately, Jim McCann dimmed the lights, so we'll have to see if it's even useable. Bah!
Posted by Agent M on 2007-02-28 14:41:52
Tom,
PLEASE write a series of columns on "How to train your wife to accept comics"!
Also, was the talk from around September about JMS writing a Thor ongoing just a red-herring, or was there really a plan for Thor to get launched?
Posted by bigdaddyhub2 on 2007-02-28 15:19:20
Yeah, there IS a Thor book written by JMS, drawn by Olivier Coipel, being launched later this year. The only red herring was the suggestion that the Thor that appeared in Civil War #3 was the real Thor. :)
Posted by Fetsur on 2007-02-28 16:15:14
If it's worth anything, I gave it some internet coverage.
http://www.4thletter.net/?p=368
It's under Day 3, natch. Truly my story is a heart-wrenching triumph that rivals even Rocky Balboa.
Posted by Gavok on 2007-03-01 04:21:18
Oh, that's nothing. How would your wife react if you moved fifteen years' worth of inventory, hundreds of thousands of comics, into every nook and cranny of the house for the six weeks it'll take to move your store from its current twenty-year-old location?
That's what my usual retailer had to do a couple of weeks ago. I think she's going to be given an Eisner award this year.
Posted by Ihnatko on 2007-03-01 05:17:00
wife and comics My wife was somewhat unaccepting of comics until I let her read some of the Mary Jane books. Now, we read Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane together every month and she is totally accepting of my 3,000+ comic book collection.
Posted by cecil021 on 2007-03-05 13:51:42
Finally someone said it I can relate and confirm that theory, my exgirlfriend the only thing she ever did was tell me comics were for kids and that I should grow up. She said should couldnt deal with the concept of comics because you alway had to continue the issue, the story never ended so it frustating to her.---to me thats funny because she loves soaps and soaps on tv are nothing if not inconclusive. We broke up 3 years ago and for 3 years she's been trying to come back and I always laugh because in my head Im thinkin "look who needs to grow up now" If your going to be married to a women then as an added bonus try comics on her, if she supports it and likes it marry her the next day, if she doesnt yet doesnt say anything about you passion for it then shes still cool. If shes mocking your hobby the moment you get married say By by to comics and anything else she thinks to her is dumb.
Posted by terciera on 2007-03-28 09:55:06
Array
Enter a response to this blog post:
About this blog: Ramblings and musings from the mind of Tom Brevoort. "It won’t be clean. It won’t be fun. It mostly won’t be coherent."
About the author: Tom Brevoort is Executive Editor for Marvel Comics, and oversees such titles as New Avengers, Civil War, and Fantastic Four.
)
save this link
