You'll have to click on the above photo to see it enlarged but when you do, you'll see almost all the folks we had on this year's Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel which kicked off my Sunday. Here we go, left to right, starting with those standing: Athena Finger (granddaughter of Bill) is in front of Kurt Busiek, then there's me, Brent Anderson, Walt Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Jim Chadwick, Dan DiDio and Paul S. Levine. Seated are Mike Royer, Louise Simonson, Marv Wolfman and Mike Thibodeaux. The empty chair at one point contained Paul Levitz but he had to leave so we'll say it was for Elijah the Prophet, who I know to have been a huge fan of resurrection, bringing down fire from the sky, and Jack Kirby.
Paul S. Levine is the lawyer for the Rosalind Kirby Trust, which some folks mistakenly refer to as "The Kirby Estate." We also in the audience had Jack's daughter Lisa and three Kirby grandkids — Tracy, Jillian and Jeremy. And boy, we all had a good time.
I love this panel because I love talking about Jack. He was a wonderful man and if you think he was just a comic book artist — or even just a writer-artist — then you don't, as they say, know Jack. He was more like an industry catalyst, a guy who was always striving to "take comics to the next level," which was a phrase I just have heard from him fifty times. We talked about him Sunday morn for 75 minutes, which is enough time to barely scratch the topic. Many of those on the panel spoke of his influence on them — and not just in their earlier days but presently and ongoing.
I dashed from that panel in 5AB to 6A for Cartoon Voices II. Here's a pic of three of the gifted actors from that panel…
Photo by Bruce Guthrie again
We had a little problem getting Chuck into the room thanks to a Security Person who reminded me of a Groo story we once did in which Groo is told to not let anyone cross a certain bridge and being pretty stupid, he refuses to let anyone cross, including the people who hired him after they tell him the guard job is over. This Security Guy refused to let anyone in a certain door including the moderator of the panel (me) and an 81-year-old show business legend (Chuck) — and he was pretty damned rude about it.
The following does not apply to all of those who work security at the convention. It probably doesn't even apply to 98% but there are people in this world who, once you give them the tiniest bit of power, become crazed with it. Something deep inside them allows arrogance and contempt for others to override the common sense that they need to do their job properly.
Years ago, I was invited to do a "ride along" in a Las Vegas police patrol car. It was supposed to be all night but it wound up being less than an hour because of a major emergency call which they felt they could not take me to, so I was dropped off near a casino where I could grab a cab back to my own hotel. Before that happened, the patrolmen and I had a nice conversation about the image of police officers. Both said that in their experience, that's what creates "bad cops" — that inner desire to just boss people around. One officer said, "They can usually conceal it long enough to get the job but once they get it, it comes out. They start giving people orders just because they can…and that's their answer to every problem — order people to obey like puppets."
Thinking back, the only negative moments I had in 4.5 days at the con were because of folks like that. When we got there, my friend Amber and I were told we couldn't go into the hall where our badges were waiting for us because we weren't wearing badges. A guard earlier in the day had reportedly done that to a senior official of the convention so I would imagine that will be corrected. Admittedly, this is a minor gripe and I have absolutely no major ones about the convention. Then again, I wasn't trying to get into Hall H.
We got Chuck in and of course, he was delightful on the panel. In addition to Bob Joles and Neil Kaplan, we had Nickie Bryar and Debra Wilson up there for a program that went so quickly, Chuck turned to me at the end and said, "It's over? But I just got here."
From there, I dashed downstairs to sign copies of the new edition of my book on Jack Kirby, then dashed back up to host Cover Story, which is a panel where fine illustrators discuss what goes into the creation of a great cover. Here's a photo of this year's fine illustrators…
Back row is me, Mike Grell and Arthur Adams. In the front row, you have Erica Henderson, Joyce Chin and Joe Staton. This is always an interesting panel because it involves what the late, loved Will Eisner used to call "shop talk" — artists sitting around sharing wisdom about how they do what they do. One thing we all learned: Because of deadlines, it's becoming increasingly the case that when an artist in comics draws a cover, he or she doesn't have the foggiest idea what's occurring inside the issue it adorns.
After Cover Story, I had to race all the way to the same room for The Business of Cartoon Voices, a panel I've been doing each year at the con for some time. As I explain, there are a lot of fine, honest folks around who can coach you on a career doing voices for animated cartoons. There are also many who don't really know what they're teaching but who somehow manage to relieve a lot of aspiring performers of a lot of cash without inching them any closer to a career. One characteristic they all have is that they'll tell anyone they have the necessary talent. Anyone with a checkbook, at least. Scrupulous coaches turn down a lot of people.
So each year, I do this panel which this time around, had these people on it…
The lady on the left is Julie Nathanson and the one in front of me is Debra Wilson — two of the "workingest" voiceover performers around today. At right is Sandie Schnarr of AVO Talent, one of the best agencies in the field. Sandie has all the qualities that a good agent has, one being that she doesn't just represent anyone who might get a job. She reps people she thinks are honestly good and because they are and she knows how to "sell" them, her clients work all the time.
We dispensed 90 minutes of honest advice about the business to folks who might someday join it. I have had people attend this panel and go on to careers. Some have even been successful enough to be panelists on my main Cartoon Voices panels, which pleases me greatly. At the very least, I hope we've stopped some folks from shelling out good money for bad coaching.
That's always my last panel of Comic-Con and then I wander to a fave restaurant to meet certain friends for a decompression dinner. Comic-Con has an odd way of always being too long but at the same time, not long enough. When I get home, I'm glad to be there but I wish I was back at the con with a few more days to look forward to. I can't believe how much I did but I have a long list of things I wanted to do and didn't, and people I didn't see. I can't wait 'til next year's but when it comes time to prep for it, I'll think, "Already? Didn't I just unpack from the last one?"
This was my 48th Comic-Con. I've been to at least one day of every one of them and I can't recall enjoying one more than this one because I enjoyed every minute. That is, except a few involving security people who thought they were like Robocop when in fact, they were a lot more like Groo the Wanderer.