MattBrady
06-07-2003, 10:25 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Other_Publishers/jeffcover.jpg" width="175" height="222" align="right">by Mike San Giacomo
Damon Hurd did not set out to write a comic about breast-beating testosterone cases whacking the tar out of each other.
His story, My Uncle Jeff (Origin Comics, $3.95), is as simple as it is universal. It is the story of a family.
Every family has an Uncle Jeff, the likable brother of your mom or dad who is great to be around. He never succeeds in life, but has never let life crush his spirit. He tries and keeps on trying. And you know, deep down, that he would always be there if you needed him. He may fail then, too, but he would try harder than anyone else.
He’s the uncle you always end up sitting in the kitchen with talking about music. He’s the only uncle you have that understands music. You know the guy.
Often, independent comics often suffer from the narrow vision of the creator. The works can be terribly self-indulgent to the point where the message is lost among the detritus.
Other times they can be pearls, wonderful stories that tell something new about the human condition. This is one of the good ones. My Uncle Jeff is a simple story about a young man who sees his favorite uncle for the first time in a decade. For the first time he sees his uncle’s flaws as well as the qualities that made him so unique.
The art by Pedro Camello is masterfully understated without the excesses sometimes found in independent works. If you’re looking for a break from the ordinary, track down My Uncle Jeff or ask Damon at damon@origincomics.com where to find it.
He ought to know.
Okay, and now, one last look at the Wizard World East - or how I can snarf one more column out of a comic convention.
First things first, I’m formerly a Philly guy. I love the city, love the verve, the electricity, which are a few things Cleveland could use. Call me spoiled, the recent comic con was nice enough just not quite ready for prime time. It was better than Pittsburgh’s last year, but was a little less exciting than last year’s Wizard World con in Chicago.
All pale before the Mack Daddy of comic cons, San Diego. And I think they are all about the same price.
It’s hard to understand why the comic companies were not more excited about it. DC and Crossgen were there in a big way, though neither had the giveaways normally associated with bigger cons.
Marvel’s booth was small and they had even fewer creature comforts or giveaways.
There were artists, writers and editors on hand at all booths for signing and conversation. Perhaps that was the one saving grace of the column, there were fewer people in line because there were fewer people there overall.
That went for the talent as well. There were just fewer of them, though the ones that were there worked like dogs to keep people happy.
I was disappointed in the panels in Philly. Again, I’ve been spoiled by San Diego with its 10 panels at a time approach, movie screening rooms, free massages etc. Oh wait, there was a fee for the massages.
There was no shortage of comic dealers, perhaps the one bright light. The prices seemed pretty reasonable though one guy got insulted when I tried to bargain for an issue of Dell’s Mod Squad comics for my wife. Come on, it’s the Mod Squad. I must have been the first person to inquire about it in years.
This last part might sound nasty, but what the heck. It seemed like the folks in charge didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on. There must have been 300 volunteers and/or paid staff running around in yellow shirts but most were oblivious.
They didn’t know much of anything.
“Hi, where do we go for tickets to Kevin Smith?”
Blank stare.
The blank stare was pretty much the response du jour to any question. It was as if their only function was to keep people moving. We don’t care where you go, just get going.
On a reporter’s level I was surprised that in a place as huge as the convention center that there was not a single telephone outlet in which to plug in a computer to send a story, at least none that anyone could find. There was some kind of Internet access thing next to the pay phones, but I’ll be darned if I could get it to work.
So there you have it, the post-mortem to an interesting con that could have been so much more.
Maybe bigger is better.
Michael Sangiacomo is a statewide news reporter for the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. His syndicated "Journey Into Comics" weekly column on the state of the comic book business, can be found in newspapers and at the Newsarama website. His monthly comic book column appears the first Saturday of each month in the Plain Dealer Arts page and is syndicated through Newhouse Newspapers. He also writes a twice-monthly audiobooks review column covering crime thrillers and mysteries that can be seen at <a href="http://www.audiobookstoday.com" target="_blank">www.audiobookstoday.com</a>. He currently is developing Nowhere Man for Marvel’s Epic imprint.
Damon Hurd did not set out to write a comic about breast-beating testosterone cases whacking the tar out of each other.
His story, My Uncle Jeff (Origin Comics, $3.95), is as simple as it is universal. It is the story of a family.
Every family has an Uncle Jeff, the likable brother of your mom or dad who is great to be around. He never succeeds in life, but has never let life crush his spirit. He tries and keeps on trying. And you know, deep down, that he would always be there if you needed him. He may fail then, too, but he would try harder than anyone else.
He’s the uncle you always end up sitting in the kitchen with talking about music. He’s the only uncle you have that understands music. You know the guy.
Often, independent comics often suffer from the narrow vision of the creator. The works can be terribly self-indulgent to the point where the message is lost among the detritus.
Other times they can be pearls, wonderful stories that tell something new about the human condition. This is one of the good ones. My Uncle Jeff is a simple story about a young man who sees his favorite uncle for the first time in a decade. For the first time he sees his uncle’s flaws as well as the qualities that made him so unique.
The art by Pedro Camello is masterfully understated without the excesses sometimes found in independent works. If you’re looking for a break from the ordinary, track down My Uncle Jeff or ask Damon at damon@origincomics.com where to find it.
He ought to know.
Okay, and now, one last look at the Wizard World East - or how I can snarf one more column out of a comic convention.
First things first, I’m formerly a Philly guy. I love the city, love the verve, the electricity, which are a few things Cleveland could use. Call me spoiled, the recent comic con was nice enough just not quite ready for prime time. It was better than Pittsburgh’s last year, but was a little less exciting than last year’s Wizard World con in Chicago.
All pale before the Mack Daddy of comic cons, San Diego. And I think they are all about the same price.
It’s hard to understand why the comic companies were not more excited about it. DC and Crossgen were there in a big way, though neither had the giveaways normally associated with bigger cons.
Marvel’s booth was small and they had even fewer creature comforts or giveaways.
There were artists, writers and editors on hand at all booths for signing and conversation. Perhaps that was the one saving grace of the column, there were fewer people in line because there were fewer people there overall.
That went for the talent as well. There were just fewer of them, though the ones that were there worked like dogs to keep people happy.
I was disappointed in the panels in Philly. Again, I’ve been spoiled by San Diego with its 10 panels at a time approach, movie screening rooms, free massages etc. Oh wait, there was a fee for the massages.
There was no shortage of comic dealers, perhaps the one bright light. The prices seemed pretty reasonable though one guy got insulted when I tried to bargain for an issue of Dell’s Mod Squad comics for my wife. Come on, it’s the Mod Squad. I must have been the first person to inquire about it in years.
This last part might sound nasty, but what the heck. It seemed like the folks in charge didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on. There must have been 300 volunteers and/or paid staff running around in yellow shirts but most were oblivious.
They didn’t know much of anything.
“Hi, where do we go for tickets to Kevin Smith?”
Blank stare.
The blank stare was pretty much the response du jour to any question. It was as if their only function was to keep people moving. We don’t care where you go, just get going.
On a reporter’s level I was surprised that in a place as huge as the convention center that there was not a single telephone outlet in which to plug in a computer to send a story, at least none that anyone could find. There was some kind of Internet access thing next to the pay phones, but I’ll be darned if I could get it to work.
So there you have it, the post-mortem to an interesting con that could have been so much more.
Maybe bigger is better.
Michael Sangiacomo is a statewide news reporter for the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. His syndicated "Journey Into Comics" weekly column on the state of the comic book business, can be found in newspapers and at the Newsarama website. His monthly comic book column appears the first Saturday of each month in the Plain Dealer Arts page and is syndicated through Newhouse Newspapers. He also writes a twice-monthly audiobooks review column covering crime thrillers and mysteries that can be seen at <a href="http://www.audiobookstoday.com" target="_blank">www.audiobookstoday.com</a>. He currently is developing Nowhere Man for Marvel’s Epic imprint.