I had been pretty regularly bugging Ryan Sook over the last few years to see when he would be going to San Diego, and year after year, he’d say he just doesn’t go to that con, because it’s too expensive, and too far away.  He told me the only cons he goes to are Wondercon and the Supercon in Oakland.  Both of which are relatively “local” for him, in the grander scheme of things.

So imagine my surprise when I heard from a mutual friend that he was down this year!  On the first night, as so often happens at this immense convention, I was sitting at the booth, and I just happened to see him standing nearby.  I went running out to intercept him, and sure enough, it turns out that Adam Hughes, who he met at Supercon, was able to get him a booth in artist’s alley, sitting between Adam and Bernie Wrightson, in the same row as Tim Bradstreet.  Talk about getting set up in the power aisle!

I told him Elizabeth and I really wanted to spend some time with him, and he seemed up for it, and we decided to go get sushi one night.  He hadn’t really had much experience with sushi, but we knew a place that was decent in quality, but amazingly cheap for sushi.

At the end of the convention, he met me at my table, and we walked to the sushi restaurant together.  My wife was meeting us there with Matt Silady.  She told me the street cross-sections, and Ryan and I began heading the direction we thought it was.  Then Ryan figured out we were going the wrong way, and we headed back the four or five blocks we’d gotten off track.  Then Elizabeth called us back, and said she’d gotten the address wrong, and we headed back the four or five blocks we’d just come from.

We had plenty of opportunity to visit during all this walking.  He was talking about how he charges so little for his convention sketches, compared to what a lot of people were charging, but he just doesn’t feel comfortable charging more.  He said that sometimes, you do a sketch, and it just doesn’t turn out as good as you’d like it to, and he feels that the inexpensive amount he’s charging is fair, in case of eventualities such as this.  I asked him if he’d ever looked on ebay the day after the cons, and he said he knew exactly how much his sketches were selling for.  Just a year before, he wasn’t charging for them at all, so it was a big deal to him that he was charging the tiny amount he was charging, as it was.  We talked about how his name is worth a dollar amount now.  We talked about not underpaying himself for his talent.  Finally we discussed him maybe having a secret code-word for all his die-hard fans of many years bygone, and how if they use the code-word, he’ll charge them less, but he’ll have a regular charging amount that is more.  I don’t know what he’s going to decide to do.

I was telling him about my experiences with Steranko, and with Simon Bisley.  He said Mike Mignola had a fun Simon Bisley story, which I have to share.  Mike had never really talked to Simon much, but one night, got a call from him, at I think around eleven at night.  Mike has a kid, and is usually sound asleep by this time, but just happened to be up that particular night.  He said, Hello? 

On the other line, with his British accent: Mike? 

Yeah.

“This is Simon Bisley.”

An uncomfortable pause, as Mike is wondering why Simon is calling.

Simon: What time is it there?  (Mike lives in New York.  Simon lives in the UK.)

Mike: It’s 11 pm.

Simon: Well, okay.  Thanks.

And that was the phone call.

Good ‘ol Simon.

Later, I saw Mike Mignola, and said we should swap Simon Bisley stories.  Mike said, he didn’t have any, except that Simon called him in the middle of the night once, and asked what time it was.  I said to Mike, “Well, all right then,” because I was trying to mimic Simon’s response, but then Mike and I had an uncomfortable silence, as I suspect Mike thought I was telling him that this was the end of our conversation.

As we spent more time with Ryan that night for dinner, he kept slipping out interesting things that I never would have guessed about him.  We knew he was religious, but he said he was a pastor at his church.  He said he used to smoke when he was younger.  He used to work in construction, doing serious manual labor.  He used to be a drummer in a band, and opened up for Hole!  And he and his wife were high school sweethearts.  What an interesting guy.  We had a blast with him!  We told him we would love to come visit him at his home on the coast (he invited us way back at Supercon), and he again offered his warm invite.  If only we can find a way to make it the five hour drive, with a little one on the way.

FINDING GEOFFREY DARROW

 

I had heard Geoffrey Darrow had been at San Diego the year before, but a combination of not finding him and being too intimidated by him prevented me from approaching him.

As this year’s San Diego was getting closer, I had looked for a website or email of Geoffrey online, and after poking around a fair amount, found his mailing address.  It seemed like a long shot, as I haven’t had good luck sending artists cold packages.  But I sent him my Doris Danger book, and asked if he might be willing to do a giant monster pin-up.   A month before the convention, I received a phone call from him. 

I said, “Wow, this is an honor to get a phone call from you.”  He was self-deprecating.  “Why?” he said.  He was real friendly, but seemed a little cautious.  He said he might be willing to do something for me, but it would depend on payment and schedule.  I told him there’s no hurry, and I’d like to pay him based on what he thought his time was worth.  I offered an amount, and he asked if that’s what I paid a particular one of my other pin-up contributors, who I assume he thought would charge considerably more than the amount I was offering him.  Lucky for me, this particular artist was one of the few (maybe two?) AMAZINGLY kind artists who hadn’t charged me anything to use their  pin-ups.  I said if possible I’d like to keep the piece, and he laughed, “For that price?”  We finally decided we would speak more at San Diego, and see what his schedule was like then.  Although he said he never draws sketches or pin-ups at conventions, because it’s too hectic.  He said he sits with Mike Mignola every year.  It made me wonder how I’ve missed him.

At the con, I enjoyed visiting with him.  He’d drawn a gorgeous giant monster in his latest issue of Shaolin Cowboy, and I told him so.  He had some convention original art with the Shaolin Cowboy facing off against giant monsters, and I asked about just buying and using one of those.  He said I could do it, but then said, maybe he should draw something new, so that it’s formatted to fit the page correctly.

He said he’d like to do a pin-up, because it’s a good book.  That was real nice flattery.  But again he said it will depend on his schedule.  So we’ll see how it pans out.

VISITING WITH NEAL ADAMS

One of my friends at the Skeptic Society told me they had been contacted by Neal Adams regarding his recent geological beliefs.  I knew Neal Adams had an interest in this phenomenon, and had been producing films to share his beliefs.  I heard he debuted a film at last year’s San Diego Con, and you could access them at his website.  But I never looked into what his beliefs were.  The Skeptics Society didn’t tell me either.  They just said they tried to get a dialogue going with him, but were having trouble.

I found where Neal was sitting, but he looked busy most of the day.  I finally found a quiet time as the convention was closing on the first day.  I used as my opening the Skeptics Society.  He said he thought he remembered speaking with them, but they hadn’t really listened to what he was saying, and they’d pissed him off.  He didn’t go into detail with me as to what exactly had happened, even though I asked.  He didn’t go into much detail with what he believed either, or with what his dispute was with the Skeptics.  I asked him about how he came to begin researching this subject matter, and he said he just became curious, because he was listening to “facts” that the scientific community was claiming, but they didn’t make sense to him.  He said he started thinking about it, and one thing led to another.  He said that scientists talk about the creation of the universe, but whether it was created or just appeared, he feels that the universe must have come from somewhere, and scientists don’t address this.  I tried to defend science and scientists without being critical of his views, and I thought we had a decent (polite) discussion.

Neal got up to go, and I asked if I could take a picture with him.  He declined, because he and his family were leaving for dinner.  He said, “Is today your only day here or something?” and told me we could do it the next day.  Coincidentally, we ate where he ate for dinner that night.  I didn’t bother him.  I popped by his booth a couple times later in the week, but never found the time to snap off a shot with him.

 

TIM SALE ALREADY DID A KIRBY-STYLE GIANT MONSTER!

Our booth was located facing the lettering giants, Comicraft.  They had a ton of great artists and writers hanging out with them throughout the days, and at one point I spotted Tim Sale hanging out, doing signings.  I ran over, because I hadn’t seen him for a couple years.  He remembered me, and was impressed with my Doris Danger book, and asked if he could have a copy, and asked me to sign it.  I always think that’s so sweet when established artists do that.  They know how to make me feel like I have some value.  Simon Bisley had done the same the year before.

Tim just landed work doing the comics art for the television show, Lost.  The show has a character who’s a comics artist, so whenever the show shows this comic artist working, Tim provides the work that this actor “did.”  So Tim tells me he’s still been thinking about doing the pin-up for me, and he kept wondering if he could do a giant monster drawing or not.  And for this tv gig, he actually drew a Kirby-style giant monster, he tells me.  He digs around in his portfolio and opens up a page, and WHOOSH! here’s this gorgeous giant monster he actually drew in the Kirby style!  It was SO GORGEOUS!  I was so jealous.  I can’t believe he drew a Kirby-style giant monster for someone else!  I thought we had something!  The slut!  The two-timer!

But he kept assuring me he didn’t feel anything when he did it, so to speak, and it was just helping him to get in the right frame of mind to do a nice one for me.

Later in the week, I saw him in a hotel, going back to his room, it looked like.  I said good night, Tim, and he said, Good night, Chris, and I was proud that he actually knew my name.

I really like Tim.  He’s always really sweet to me.

FINDING THE LEGENDARY (IN MY OPINION) LUIS DOMINGUEZ

San Diego 2006

After I got out of college, I started picking up a lot of comics in back-issue bins.  This was right after the Image bubble burst, so there was always a lot of bad nineties comics.  But there were also some decent mainstream eighties comics.  Every now and then, since stores were starting to go out of business, you could find seventies comics in the cheap bins, if they were lesser, non-superhero books, that the store couldn’t sell.  If I saw old Western or War or horror comics, I would always grab them, because they were rare.  But also, I tended to really love the covers.  Especially the horror books.

Sure, Berni Wrightson was doing gorgeous covers back then.  And Michael Kaluta did plenty of gorgeous horror covers.  And Neal Adams had his share of gorgeous horror covers.  And even Joe Kubert was doing occasional spooky covers.  But there was this one artist whose images really spoke to me.  His covers were complete stories all themselves, so much so that I rarely bothered with issues they contained, and just bought the books for those covers.  You could read a whole story in one cover.  They had the ultimate portrayal of something really bad or shocking about to happen, and you had a pretty good idea what would happen next.  For example, you see a corpse stuffed in a grandfather clock in a gothic, dark mansion, and the people are saying, “I wonder why the clock has stopped ticking?”  Or you see kids climbing up into a cellar, and saying, “There’s nothing to be afraid of up here,” and unbeknownst to them, they’re climbing up into the arms of a headless ghost.  I cannot express how absolutely I love these covers.

The old Ditko and Kirby covers from Marvel had this quality, but those books had the additional advantage that their work was inside, and just as good (in my opinion) as the covers.  But then there was this one other artist, I began to realize.  And even though the insides of the books were anthologies by primarily unknown, beginning artists at that time, those covers, man…

First I began to recognize his thematic style, and then his line-work.  Scratchy, detailed, fairly realistic.  Kind of like Bruno Premiani.  And the way he drew faces, with those penetrating eyes.  My collection of these issues grew, and his cover work was immense.  He was on just about every horror comic that DC was putting out back in the seventies.  He also did Jonah Hex covers.  I didn’t recognize who this cover artist was, not by the style.  And he never signed his issues.  But then I started spotting that all these covers were signed with a subtle, inconspicuous “LD.”  If I saw a new cover that was great, and wondered if it could be my mystery artist, I would scan the image, and sure enough, somewhere, I’d eventually locate that recognizable “LD” somewhere on the page.  But who is this mysterious “LD?”

I asked my local comic shop owner, because he knows his comics, especially the older stuff.  I explained the types of covers, and the names of the books he did, and the “LD.”  He didn’t recognize the artist, or know who it was.  He looked in his catalogues and price guides, and still couldn’t find any info for me.  He even found a bunch of the very comics covers I was telling him about, with those “LD”s on them, but couldn’t say who it was.

If I had been vigilant, I probably could have found a comics fan or store owner, or someone in the industry, who knew their comics history, and could have told me who this artist is.  But then one day, by some freakish accident or twist of fate, I was flipping through the issues, and realized, “Hey!  This story looks like it was drawn by that artist!”  I feverishly flipped to the beginning of the story.  To the credits.  Luis Dominguez.  LD.  At last!  A name to go with all these amazing images!  This was maybe five years ago, or more.  And I didn’t know if he was still around, still doing comics, still appearing at conventions.

So I was absolutely stoked when I heard that Luis Dominguez would be at the San Diego con this year.  You have no idea how thrilled I was to see him listed at the Comic-Con website.

I found him almost immediately.  He was sitting in the same row as Brian Bolland and Shag.  I introduced myself and tried to get the pronunciation of his name.  I wasn’t familiar with the spelling, because it was different than “Louis”.  I asked him, “Is it loo-WEEZ?”  And said, “No.”  But he wouldn’t tell me what it was.  And he changed the subject to other matters.  He told stories about other countries.  They were entertaining, but he had an accent, and I had trouble understanding why he was sharing all these stories from all these locales.  I continued trying to learn the pronunciation of his name when he paused.  And I would say, is it, loo-WEE?  And he would say, “No,” and begin a new story.  Finally, I guessed, is it, LOO-wis? and he said “Yes.”  He really made me work for it.

He was just as friendly as can be, and enjoyed visiting.  He was absolutely up for doing a pin-up of a giant monster.  I came up later to solidify the deal, and if other people came up, he’d tell them I was his boss, and he’d let me know he wanted to get more work from me. 

He kept asking, “So you want a drawing of a giant monster?”  Yes, and I would explain my giant monster book.  He would look at the book, and say, “So you want a drawing of a giant monster?”  And I would say, Yes.  “But not a monster like this?” and pointing at a picture of Frankenstein.  And I’d say, “No, not like that.  It has to be a monster you create, so I don’t get sued when I publish it.”  And then we’d be visiting for a while, and then he’d ask, “So you want a drawing of a giant monster?”  Yes.  “But not a monster like this?” and he’d point at a picture of Dracula.  And I’d explain again.  I really enjoyed him.  Fun guy.

Luis was sitting with Arnold Drake, who wrote a ton of great silver age stuff.  I loved those Doom Patrols especially.  And he was saying he and Luis were from New York, and that Luis would be staying with him for a while.  He said that DC just gave them the okay to do a brand new Doom Patrol story.  He said it wouldn’t be the Grant Morrison-revamped team, but rather a “lost adventure” that hadn’t been documented before.  I thought that sounded like a lot of fun.

 

Kirby is my overall favorite artist, but I might just have to say that Luis Dominguez is my favorite cover artist.  Honestly, check them out.  They’re great, fun stuff!

 

 

MEETING SHAG

I strolled on down to artist alley pretty early on, because a lot of great artists were going to be hanging out there.  I was shocked to hear Shag had a table there, because I assumed he would just make a couple short, quick appearances, and be otherwise unapproachable.  Looking at his booth, he had a sign saying the times he would be available and signing.

I came back at the designated hour, and there was a line of maybe ten people, and the line was moving fast, because they were all just saying hi and buying postcards or a print and then moving on.  I handed him my comic and asked if he ever read comics.  He said a very sweet answer: “No.  But I’ll definitely read this one.”  I thought that was the greatest.  I didn’t bother to ask him about doing a pin-up, because I was too intimidated that a “high artist” whose work is in galleries in L.A., Tokyo, Paris, New York, in art books, postcards, magnets, and everywhere else in pulp culture, wouldn’t bother with low-brow comics.

Later (maybe a day later), I was just poking around in artists alley again.  I saw Shag still had a line, about the same as the one I had waited in, even though he wasn’t at his table yet.  But behind the line, all by himself, just standing around, there was Shag!  I suspected he was either just arriving, and gearing up to begin his signing, or maybe taking a quick break and stretching his legs.  But in any event, no one in the line realized he was right there behind them.

I walked up and said hello, and to my pleasure, he remembered who I was.  I asked about his education as an artist, and drawing in different styles besides the “Shag” look.  He said he had gone to school for art, and of course had taken figure drawing classes and the like, in which he of course didn’t do the “Shag” look.  And when he got out, he did design for a while.  But he said he feels lucky, because if he had to choose a style to draw, he said it would be the “Shag” style.

I told him I had to ask, because I was right there with him.  I said that my comic has a number of drawings of giant monsters by different artists, and does he ever consider doing commissions.  He said he stopped doing them a few years ago, and his reason was just fantastic…for him, anyways.  He said now that his paintings are so popular, he doesn’t need to do commissions any more.  He can just draw whatever he feels like, and he knows they will sell.  Talk about success.

I happen to know that his paintings sell out before he even finishes them.  His dealer basically takes a list of names, and I assume payments, and these people just pay up front to get on a waiting list to receive whatever painting he finishes next, without having a chance to see what the painting will even be!  They just want to own one of his works that badly!  What a successful artist!  I’m blown away…

So then I told him that I know he’s drawn a number of giant monster images in the past.  I knew he’d done plenty of tikis, and some Abominable Snowman paintings.  I asked if he might consider giving me permission to publish one of them.  He said that was a possibility and gave me his email.  I told him I would write my info on one of my little promo cards.  I had two, of the two upcoming Doris Danger comics.  I asked if he wanted outer space or war, and he said outer space, and I realized how obvious that choice was for him. 

Wow!  I just got the personal email of Shag, and I’m going to contact him to discuss publishing one of his pieces in my next comic!  I am in shock.  That would be amazing, if I can only afford him.