Shaenon K. Garrity ([info]shaenon) wrote,
@ 2006-02-13 01:35:00
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From now on, this is my thing. This is what I'm about.
Safari crashed on me, taking with it the post I'd been writing about Wondercon, which occurred in San Francisco this weekend. Suffice to say that Andrew and I got to see our friend Jesse Hamm, in from Portland with his recently-imported Swedish wife Anna. Tonight we had dinner with Jesse and Steve Lieber, and we had an excellent time.

On Friday night, Andrew and I had dinner with Gahan Wilson. Just the three of us. Every once in a long while, the life we've chosen is worth it. I mean, HOLY SHIT WE WENT TO MEL'S DINER WITH GAHAN WILSON AND LISTENED TO HIM TALK ABOUT STUFF. He had the fish and chips.

Wondercon, like most comic-book conventions, fills me with a deep, soul-devouring despair. I think it's from the double whammy of seeing a) just how much the comics industry sucks, and b) just how far I am from being good enough to contribute anything to it. Wondercon is generally worse because, until recently, it was a pretty shitty con. This year was better. There were booths selling actual comics as opposed to shoddy Japanese toys and "Challenge of the Superfriends" bootlegs, attendance was so high that the fire marshal made the staff start turning people away, and Grant Morrison was wandering around somewhere. Oh, and Phil Foglio gave me some awesome sketches of my characters. Nonetheless, the weekend has left me totally drained and considering a career in the noncommercial food service industry, just for the change of pace.

Andrew moderated a couple of panels, including the Spotlight on Chris Bachalo. At one point, Bachalo commented that he loved drawing Wolverine, which I thought was totally on crack, because Wolverine did not look to me like a fun character to draw. But I tried it, and damned if he isn't right.



That was the first one. And this is now my new thing. I am just going to draw Wolverine all day long. I hate it when pimply teenage nerds are right about something.







Here's Wolverine and Sabretooth. Andrew said I made Sabretooth look like a manga character (specifically, a character from "Bastard!"). I can't help it; he's designed like a Thundercat or something. The morphic contrast here is basically the same as Artie and Dave, because I have an extremely small artistic skill set.



This is what Wondercon has reduced me to. Viva Logan!



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[info]ursulav
2006-02-13 01:40 pm UTC (link)
Hey, don't feel bad. The world will hopefully never see the sketches that various furry cons have reduced me to...

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[info]chanlemur
2006-02-13 01:52 pm UTC (link)
Aww, he's sweet! In a boozed-up psychopathic sort of way!

I totally empathize, by the way, with the described feeling of "This whole scene and everything associated with it totally sucks!" running dead simultaneous to "Why can't I be a part of it?!?" You are not alone.

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[info]yaytime
2006-02-13 01:55 pm UTC (link)
Gahan Wilson!

Also I loved Bachalo in college. I'd buy any comic he drew :D

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[info]prodigal
2006-02-13 02:26 pm UTC (link)
Your Wolverine and Sabretooth are nifty. :)

Jealous as hell about you getting to meet Gahan Wilson, but wanted to mention that I really like the sketches.

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[info]serrana
2006-02-13 04:05 pm UTC (link)
*snerk*

I've been impressed, reading about it this year, that there were several people at WonderCon whose work I find interesting...because, really, it sucked sooooo badly the year we went. I found myself in a panel on Green Lantern, that's how bad it was (I desperately needed to sit down and nurse the baby somewhere, and it was dark). Of course, I remember Howard Chaykin being there and saying something about musical theater that I found entertaining, so it can't have been all Green Lantern, all the time.

I would throw something in here about how you really don't need to feel inadequate, because you're doing the only four-panel strip currently in production that I habitually find funny, but I assume your other correspondents will deliver appropriate whacks to the sides of your head. And, really -- dinner with Gahan Wilson? Damn, girl.

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[info]annechen67
2006-02-13 04:43 pm UTC (link)
You do have a way with making psychopaths cuddly.

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[info]blackbyrd2
2006-02-13 04:52 pm UTC (link)
Gahan Wilson's still alive? This is very good news. (I kid.) I have to admit to learning to love his stuff in Playboy when I was a teen. It eventually reached a point where I actually looked for his comics first. (Oh, fine. Second. But I was thinking about them, which made the looking for the first item feel very odd.)
I picked up a collection of his, which was probably the first collection of comic art I ever bought. Way before Far Side.
I still remember one of a guy at the Dr's office with a 'thing' clawed onto his back, and the Dr saying "I think we've found the cause of your problem."
I won't go on about how jealous I am, because you always make me jealous, what with all the talent and success and doing what you love and all that kind of thing. Poo.

...a) just how much the comics industry sucks, and b) just how far I am from being good enough to contribute anything to it.

You have got to be kidding, right? You're at least one of, if not the hottest property in webcomics right now. (Ah, let the flamage commence! Yay drama!) I'm not going to itemize all the things which indicate that to me, but I will say this isn't just me being a fan.

Oh, and yay Wolverine. :)

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[info]jaderabbit
2006-02-13 06:21 pm UTC (link)
I got a Gahan Wilson book Christmas before last. Every single visiting relative picked it up and laughed very hard.

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williamgeorge
2006-02-13 06:34 pm UTC (link)
I see you've now accepted the adorable power of us Canadian Canuckle-heads, eh.

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(Anonymous)
2006-02-13 06:42 pm UTC (link)
Great seeing you two, Shaenon. And I'm loving the Logans!

As for "being good enough" -- pshh, that's a tertiary concern for the Alex Rosses and Travis Charests to worry about. What readers value most in a cartoonist is a viewpoint that we find truthful and unique, and you've got that in spades.

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Oops.
[info]sirspamdalot
2006-02-13 06:43 pm UTC (link)
It's me!

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[info]kenshardik
2006-02-13 07:53 pm UTC (link)
I never thought I'd say this, but... Wolverine is cuuuuute!

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[info]mrcaxton
2006-02-13 08:15 pm UTC (link)
See what happens when you go to cons? Contagion!
Although, the Gahan Wilson thing was pretty cool. To say the least.

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(Anonymous)
2006-02-14 04:13 am UTC (link)
Wow, Gahan Wilson.

Love the Wolvereenie sketches. The third one is particularly great. The paunch really makes the character, I think.

- B Moore

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[info]_w_o_o_d_
2006-02-14 11:24 am UTC (link)
Wolverine was never so cute !

Sorry to hear that comic-book convention in the U.S. are so despairing. Come to Angoulême sometimes !

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[info]paperdummy
2006-02-14 09:30 pm UTC (link)
Um, Wondercon RULED. It was hilarious.

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[info]glitchphil
2006-02-15 05:02 am UTC (link)
Great. Now I want to draw Wolverine.

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[info]canucklehead909
2006-02-25 09:46 am UTC (link)
Awesome. Definitely the cutest Wolverine ever. Heh.

Out of curiosity, any chance I could try using a couple of these to make a new header for my LJ? You'd get full credit, obviously.

Anyway, fantastic drawings.

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[info]shaenon
2006-02-25 07:39 pm UTC (link)
Be my guest!

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[info]canucklehead909
2006-02-26 05:28 am UTC (link)
Here's the end result, in case you wanted to see it. Thanks again!

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