Welcome to the weblog that is unafraid to tackle tough questions. Today's tough question is: "Why do airlines keep telling me to be 90 minutes early for flights that take off two hours late?"
Tonight, we're coming to you from San Francisco International Airport where I arrived at 7:15 for an 8:50 flight which they're now saying may (a note of hopeful expectation in that "may" take off at 10:15. Fortunately, I found a nice eatery here in the airport called Max's Deli that has a pretty good matzo ball soup and — of greater importance — tables on which one can dine and set up one's laptop. Let's see if my patience or my Lithium Ion battery runs out first.
Today's session of the Wondercon didn't seem as crowded as yesterday's. Then again, there were scenes in Ben-Hur that didn't seem as crowded as yesterday's Wondercon. The joys were many, the complaints were the usual for most cons…rotten, overcrowded food stands and long lines and nearby hotels and eateries that charge on the presumption that everyone's on an expense account and is charging it all to the home office. I think I may stop bitching about these things and just learn to accept them as a part of most convention-going. Wherever you go, no matter what the con, the food at the convention center is going to be awful and way overpriced, and there's nothing the operators of any one convention can do about it.
I did a nice panel today called "The Art of the Cover" with Al Feldstein, Nick Cardy, Gene Colan, Phil Jimenez, Tony Harris and Michael Turner. I showed random covers these gentlemen had drawn for comics and they discussed how and why they'd done what they'd done. Not only did the audience seem to find it interesting but the artists were intrigued by the "shop talk" aspect of it all. Gene was supposed to leave early for another engagement but he elected to stay because he found the discussion so enlightening. (Gene's been drawing comics since Johannes Gutenberg used to print them between running off Bibles. And I suspect that one of the reasons Gene is still doing stellar work, eclipsing his previous personal bests, is that he doesn't regard himself as too experienced to learn something from someone else.)
Not much more to report other than to say it was a great con, as always. Oh, yeah — and there's this: Late in the day, Russ Heath (who's been doing comics about as long as Gene Colan) packed up his table and left, and he gave me permission to set up my laptop there and get a little work done, which I did. So I'm sitting there typing on this here machine and a young man comes up with a pile of DC war comics. Seeing the sign on the table which still says "Russ Heath," he informs me that he always loved the way I drew Sgt. Rock and asked if I'd mind signing a batch. I know Russ doesn't look his age but still…
I can't post this from the airport without paying T-Mobile a serious chunk of change for wireless access so I'll put it up on the site when I get home. If you're reading this, I did. I hope the time stamp below isn't too late.