Hi Everyone,
Well, this past weekend was quite an experience. First, I want to say a special thanks to my wife Denise’s cousin, who owns a condo across from Chicago’s Art Institute. We spent Thursday evening there with her, and it was ideal for getting to my early Friday morning Mancow radio interview on time.
As Denise and I waited in Mancow Muller’s green room, Darrell Hammond of Saturday Night Live fame came strolling in for an interview with Mancow and Max Brooks. Here’s some trivia for you: Darrell Hammond had the longest run on SNL – 14 years. He was hilarious as usual, and in combination with Max Brooks, a former SNL writer for 2 years, it was a really great interview. Darrell’s Al Sharpton impression slayed me. When Darrell left, I entered Mancow’s lair with Max and Mancow. It turns out, I need to hit the gym. Mancow noted immediately how much I looked like Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons. Ouch.
Mancow arranged a bit where Max and I identified Star Wars sound f/x. My wife says Max won this contest, but I like to call it a draw. Mancow drew out of me a story I wasn’t prepared to tell: The Keith Moon story. For those of you who don’t know it already, it’s a lot to write, but I’ll write it out for you one day. It will also be documented in my new book “Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman” by IDW/Desperado Publishing, coming out this summer (shameless plug, I know). Anyhow, before I forget, be sure to get Max Brooks’ wonderful books: “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead,” and “World War Z.” He’s a great writer and we all need to be supporting great writers, especially since the latest study shows that graphic novel sales dipped this past year. My hope is that the iPad and its sister digital readers will correct this.
So…C2E2 was a great show for me personally. I’ve heard mixed reviews from publishers and artists, but I liked the location, the show organizers (Reed), and the comfortable room with abundant natural light, ideal for viewing everyone’s gorgeous illustration work. I want to say thank you to all of the 501st brethren who stopped by – it means a lot to have all of your support. I’m an honorary member of the Midwest Garrison, which I don’t take lightly. A special thank you to my friends from the comic book store in Kalamazoo, MI and also SketchMaven.com for dropping by as well. It’s always good to put faces to names. I will be selling some of my original art on the SketchMaven.com site, so be sure to check them out, and I’ll post it here as well.
Some attendees were confused by the fact that C2E2 was held at the same time as KBIS, the Kitchen & Bath show, in McCormick Place. My wife used to work the KBIS show for GROHE and created some video comedy bits for Hansgrohe with Mancow’s former producer, Jocko Hedblade (see how small of a world it can be?) so she was doubly confused by the convergence of her two disparate worlds. More trivia: The El Jocko cigar is named for Jocko Hedblade, for those of you cigar afficionados.
While at C2E2, I purchased a couple of books from an old favorite – Archaia – I bought “The Killer Volume 2” and “Okko Volume 1.” I also bought “The Seven Swords,” a relatively new and very cool Hong Kong Samurai-style action flick I’ve been eager to own.
We were lucky to break bread with Mike Kennedy, the creator of videogame “Unbound Saga,” and his lovely wife Liz, who is a gifted editor. It was also great to connect with Charlie Athanas, Jim Tampa of Medallion Press and Kevin Sandstrom of Blick Art Supply.
Current projects this week include closing out a project for Magic: The Gathering, roughs for SoGoPro’s graphic novel project with Charlie Athanas, commissioned art for indie comic book creator Howard Feltman, and finishing up my aforementioned art book for IDW/Desperado Publishing. I’m also wrapping my head around the implications of tonight’s episode of LOST, and for those of you who love it like we do, we will be very bummed when the series ends. We are recording our “Wednesday is Comic Book Day” podcast tomorrow, but I’m unsure when it will be posted, so check with me here on that.
Thanks to everyone for reading. I hope you’re all having a good week. If anyone has questions you’d like for me to answer on the podcast, please call and leave a message on the podcast hotline at (206) 350-6326. I realize I’m opening us up for all of Denise’s crazy friends to prank us, but hopefully some normal questions will get through.
Dave Dorman 