NYC So Far
NYC
For those who don't know, yes I landed in NYC safe and sound. Its been a pretty crazy 12 days. I rolled in on a Tuesday evening and barely had time to get situated before New York City Comic Con events started the next night.
NYCC
For those who don't know, big cons like NYCC tend to get a bit overwhelming. The con itself is packed to the brim with attendees. Tens of thousands. I tend to stay away from that part as much as possible anymore, instead focusing on evening events geared towards the working professionals in the business. Its more fun for me, and its also a far better environment to meet friends and network than the actual con floor. I was able to see a number of old friends over the course of the week, and meet some new ones as well.
Friday night was spent at The Society of Illustrators with my friend, Paul Pope who's book Battling Boy came out to much acclaim last week. Friday night's event was the official launch celebration of the book, complete with a lecture by Paul and a signing after. The whole event had a strange feeling to it. Its very strange to see a person you're close to be treated like a celebrity. It was hard to wrap my head around it, but none the less, I was happy for my friend's success.
Saturday was a bit more quiet. Paul and I ended up having dinner with Bob Schreck, Matt Wagner and a few more of The Legendary Comics crew at an amazing Italian restaurant in TriBeCa. Bob is one of my favorite people in comics. For one, he's been around the industry longer than most, and he's a larger than life character. He's like the awesome uncle that would sneak you beers at family events when you were 13. We just sat and bull shitted most of the night and it was a blast.
Sunday ended on a quiet note as well. My roommate, Josh Frankel and I went to the post con Dead Dog Party and mostly hung out with our friends, and then quietly packed it up for a (semi) early night.
On The Horizon
So originally I only planned on being here for a few months, just to get out of Boise and network a bit here in the Big Apple while getting some work done. The thing is though, things have been moving pretty fast over here and I think I may stick around for a bit.
One of the things that's gonna keep me here for a bit potentially, is work with Paul. I found out on Friday after talking with Paul and his editor, that they'd like me to come on and help with the second book of Battling Boy. Over the next week, we're going to be figuring out exactly what that looks like, but suffice it to say, its not something I can do from Boise.
Some of you knew I had been talking with a writer here about a project for The Wu Tang clan. Well evidently that's happening as well. I met with the writer last week, and I'll be doing 5 pages for issue 6 of the book "12 Reasons To Die" and then take the book over for its second arc, which I'm trying not to get too excited about. After the disappointment with the Asher Roth project a couple of years ago, I kind of always expect this kind of stuff to fall through in the end.
Before any of that though, right now I'm finishing the flats up for a new edition of Paul's book "Escapo", that fellow Boisean Shay Plummer is coloring, a short story for the anthology "Amazing Forest" for my friends Ulises Farinas and Erick Freitas, and finally, my original graphic novel, "CARVER: A Paris Story". On the subject of "Escapo", Shay's coloring is proving to be more than anyone expected. Its looking gorgeous and everyone involved with the book, and who has seen it agrees. Its absolutely stunning. I wouldn't be surprised if he got nominated for an Eisner for it.
Sooo…
…I plan on sticking around here a bit. I miss Boise terribly but this seems to be where I need to be right now. Its been amazing being a nobody here and just blending into the crowd. There's so much to see and take in. It feeds something in me that just isn't present in Boise for me at the moment. though I can't wait until that's no longer the case.
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"Be so good they can't ignore you"
