Comic Professionals (Myself Included) Drink Too Much

Ran into the C.E.O. of a company at one of the many bars I hit tonight, and I think I came on a little too strong.  It was all "money" this and "time" that.  What an asshole (me, not him).  

In any event, I've already caught up with loads of people over drinks.  Who'd have thunk it.  It's like comic pros all double major in comic creation and boozing.  We are a gifted lot.  New York is looking hot so far, and I have yet to pass out the biz card, so...  Then it's on.

If anyone is reading this blog and wants to meet up with me, I'll be posted at Top Cow or in artist alley hassling folk.  I have the short hair and short beard right now, as a number of people mentioned that they didn't recognize me without the fro.  Oh well...

New York...

...is cold.  And there is snow and black ice.

Pretty uneventful day, just travel and travel and then finding some food.  Got a drink and some conversation with the inimitable Bryan Hill.  Solid vibe, decent ratios even on a slow night, and a British accent.

The con approacheth, and I have no idea what time I'm supposed to be anywhere tomorrow for setup.  I also plan to get up and run, maybe work out in the exercise room (not to be confused with a "fitness center").  Hopefully no one cares what time I show up, because it's 3am now, and I'd like to get a decent night's sleep before the drinking starts.

New York, New York

Nothing clever today, or at least that I can think of on a booze-addled, sleep-deprived brain.  I have 3 hours until my flight, and I have yet to start packing.

In any event, by the time most of you read this, I'll be on my way to NYC for the con.  Holla at a playa if you see him on the street, at a booth, or in general.  Looking forward to a great show and catching up with all of my compatriots.

See you in NY.

Mark Waid is both Better and Smarter than Me (& Probably You)

Mark Waid is one of those guys who just gets it.  On his worst days as writer he's having better days than 90% of the dudes out there.  And he started as an editor before making it to the superstar table, so he gets extra props from yours truly.

Lo and behold, a question from a friend about pitching led me to see what he was up to blog wise as there are pearls of wisdom to be grasped from his mind and the vile clutches of the Internets.  In addition to blogging on Kung Fu Monkey (also home to TV and comics scribe John Rogers and novelist and comics scribe Michael Alan Nelson), he's now blogging over on his own site, www.MarkWaid.com.

Bookmark it, RSS feed it, and learn from what he puts up there.  Mark's a funny and entertaining guy, but when class is in session, PAY ATTENTION.  And class is in session now, at least if you're an aspiring writer.  Click me.

A Good Question...

My dad called me on his way home from work today to check in and see what I was up to.  He asked if I had any meetings, and I told him about my two very promising meetings today, and that my pitch was nearly finished up.  He fired a volley my way:

"How many projects can you work on at one time?"

It's a good question.  Considering I've only written one mini (which I won't be credited on), I don't actually know how much time it'll take me to write comic scripts in addition to any of my own writing (features, prose, etc.) at the same time.  When I did it before, I was always squeezing it in at night and on weekends.  Now my days are full of meetings and writing, and talking about meetings and writing.  Sometimes even meetings where we talk about writing!

But yeah, I'm not sure.  There's definitely that one aspect of the freelance mentality where you take anything that's offered because you don't know when the phone will stop ringing, but that's really not my steez.  If I can't bring my voice and my A-game to a project, I can't accept it.  I think it's easy to make that mistake, but if you're any good (and I like to think I am) and even somewhat prolific you shouldn't have a problem.

I have a LOT of tentatives, but nothing 100% concrete just yet, so for now I'm keeping my mind and schedule open to all.  Possibility is an awesome thing. 

TGIM - Travel

We take for granted the ease in which we can get from one place to another.  Anyone who has ever played Oregon Trail knows what a pain in the ass it is to break an axle or when one of your kids gets dysentery.  Today we have a veritable cornucopia of travel options beyond just foot and horseback - planes, trains, automobiles, subways, lightrails, bikes, donkeys.  All of them far more efficient than when the wild west was the Wild West.

We can go anywhere, the world over, in a few hours time.  We don't have to worry about whether or not we'll survive a months long journey on a boat to get somewhere, or what to do when we discover the edge of this flat world.  Travel is a relatively painless process (provided you don't drink the water) that can take you anywhere you want to go.

Rather than bitch and moan about how we like things to stay the way they are, we need to take advantage of travel.  There is, to quote a trite cliché, an entire world out there.  There are things we can't fathom and cultures left of center that need to be experienced in order to enrich our own lives, regardless of how exciting or mundane they may be.

I am a definite xenophobe.  My two trips outside the country (hitting England twice and France once) haven't been the best experiences.  But if you'll recall from an earlier post, I have travel goals and want to get out there and see what this crazy blue ball of water and dust has to offer.

It's so easy and cheap compared to how it once was.  The Internet and multi-band (or disposable) phones make staying in touch a breeze.  There are no excuses for not traveling.  Don't believe me?  Plan your trip now.

And so I'm not all hype, this week I head to the Big Apple for a 7-day jaunt, then off to Birmingham and The ATL next month, and who knows where April will take me.  I know I'm hitting Mexico at some point this year, San Diego in July, and I'll likely head back to Texas at some point.  And that's just domestic travel.

Demand Better

It's the mantra I say to myself every day.  It's the slogan I pitched to Top Cow to replace "A Different Breed" that they've been using for a while.  It's what the world, needs now, not love, sweet love.  It's the only thing, that's gonna get, us outta this rut.

Here's the thing.  Entertainment is stagnant.  No one is taking chances, but worse than that, no one is reaching.  I've told lots of people that I'm a big fan of "beautiful failures."  What does that mean?  It's when someone tries, when they stretch the limits of what they're capable of, and they come up short.  Sometimes just a hair short, sometimes substantially.  But it's those who reach that get us further.  Some recent examples include Kanye's 808s and Heartbreak, and Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain.  I'm long a believer that Memento was the last truly game-changing movie that has come out.  Secretly I worry that it'll be the last innovative film of my lifetime, but I hold out hope.  And I demand better.

So where is all this coming from?  Well, I watched the Superbowl today (whilst working on a pitch), and found myself really paying attention to the commercials.  I've taken a particular interest in advertising and marketing of late, and we as American consumers have been trained to expect the best and brightest in advertising during one of the most consistently overhyped games of the year.  And while I thought this year's matchup turned into a pretty solid game with a great final quarter, every single year doesn't deserve to have one of the post-game announcers say, "This is exactly what the National Football League is all about."  

Long story short, the ads were incredibly underwhelming this year.  I can barely remember any of them (the one with the scarecrow was cool, but I forgot the product), and if it doesn't stick with you it's not good advertising.  I don't expect more from the GoDaddy's of the world.  They've found a niche (largely because of a Superbowl spot several years back), and they're going to beat that dead horse until it's the second coming and then kill it again and beat it some more.  That's cool.  But the perennial advertisers - beer companies, Coke, Pepsi - they need to step up their games.  Beer seemed especially poorly represented this year.  I don't know if they're all crying over the death of Sparks or if the economy is to blame.

There was a fairly prevalent undercurrent of nostalgia in a number of the ads.  The previously mentioned Scarecrow ad, the very entertaining Grand Theft Audi ad with Jason Statham, the Mean Joe Green riff with Troy Polamalu, and Pepsi's Forever Young ad all included in that, with probably others.  There were attempts within that to do something new by looking at the past, but it just shows the reluctance by advertisers and brands to really break away and do something new and innovative.

Doritos probably had the best showing, with ads that showed eating their chips will cause crazy to happen.  They pushed Snack Strong Productions, which spun out of their Crash the Superbowl campaign.  Not surprisingly, the CTS campaign was about user-submitted ads making it into the Superbowl.  They let people get creative, with little to no constraints outside of it being a 30-second spot.  If the spot is voted to #1 on the USA Today Ad Meter then the creator gets a cool million bucks.  Not bad, and it would make for a great story for Doritos too.  You can check out their Grand Prize winner HERE as well as check out their other finalists.

And let me just say that I get the economic position of advertisers.  There's some more articles on USA Today's site HERE that cover some factors and provide a bit of analysis.  I've discussed this with colleagues and there's one tenet that always holds true.  "There's always a reason to say no."  To taking a chance, to innovation, to reaching, to demanding better.

But if we don't take that chance, how do we improve?  I don't have all the answers, but the proverbial IT is broken, and needs fixing.  Demand better in your own life.  Demand better of those around you.  Demand better of your entertainment.  Take a stand now.

Study.  Improve.  Innovate.  Impact.

Demand better.

Anyone wishing to check out the ads from this year's Bowl can do so RIGHT HERE, courtesy of LT's linkage.

***

Somewhat ironically, while typing this post I happened to have an interview with Kid Cudi on in the background.  You can check it out here, and it's notable for what he says around the 3:40 mark.  "It will be the most magnificent and innovative album to come from, you know, an artist in '09... There's not gonna be anything that ever sounded like this...  My album is gonna be like anything you've ever heard, in your life.  And I been working diligently to like, bring that product, and I will make everybody happy and I will blow people's minds.  And it will fuck people in their ear pussies."

Big words, but the dude is reaching so I respect him for that.  Hubris is something to be watched for, as is arrogance, but you have to have a measure of that blind overconfidence to really stretch beyond the boxes people want to put you or your work in.  

Never settle for what's expected.