Hello from Phoenix where I think I'm beginning to understand some of the political antics of this state now. When you live in this kind of heat, you're bound to do crazy things. It hit 105° today and if that doesn't horrify you, the AccuWeather people have come up with something called RealFeel™ which tells you it's 105 but that it feels like 111. Gee, thanks. Science is always working to make you feel worse.
This trip to appear at the Phoenix Comicon was the first time I've flown in about a year. When did Security get to be so simple? Didn't have to take my shoes off. Didn't have to take everything out of my laptop case. Didn't even have to strike that statue-like pose in the full-body scanner when via which some non-smirking TSA employee sees you naked. I used to enjoy that part.
OK flight on Southwest including (I'm not kidding) an a cappella song on the P.A. system from one of the flight attendants…and she wasn't bad. I've heard worse on Brittney Spears videos.
Long wait for the limo. Long line at the hotel check-in. Long, long line to get my badge. After what seemed like hours, I made it to a window that said "Guest, Professional, Panelist Registration" where I told the lady I was all three. Given that and the amount of time it took me to get to the front of the line, I thought I deserved three badges.
Somewhere in there, famished for want of food, I ducked into the most convenient place, which was an Einstein Brothers Bagel Shop. Every time I see one of those places, I expect to go inside and see Albert Brooks and Super Dave Osborne behind the counter.
They have me at Table 2222, a nice easy number to remember. I brought absolutely nothing to display or sell — I never do — so I guess it'll just be me sitting there the next three days. Today, I actually signed an issue of Groo that Sergio hadn't already signed. How that one got past him, I'll never know.
I chatted with Don Rosa, Wendy and Richard Pini, Mike Baron, Katie Cook and many others. Another old friend (and a fine writer-artist) Dan Jurgens and I had dinner together in the revolving rooftop restaurant at the Hyatt. It's called the Compass and it makes an entire 360° revolution every fifty-five minutes…a fact I elicited from our server. Actually, I peppered her with a lot of questions about the place since this was my first meal in a revolving restaurant. With great patience, she told me that no, they can't make the room go counter-clockwise. And no, they don't put Dramamine in the food to help diners who are prone to motion sickness.
Dan and I talked about the Old Days in comics…and our mutual amazement that we've been in the business long enough to have Old Days. When seemingly grown people tell me, "I started reading your books when I was ten," I look about, fully expecting to see Joe Kubert or Jack Kirby behind me. That has to be who those people at my table are talking to, right?