Here at the New York Comic Convention, I have a tale of two Stephens.
Stephen Number One:
Got to meet Stephen Colbert. Actually, believe it or not, he wanted to meet me because of his cameo in "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man." I was at my table in Artist's Alley when a convention rep showed up and said, "Stephen would like to see you." In point of fact, Colbert (so I'm told) was perfectly willing to come over to my table at the Alley, but the con folks were concerned about crowd control (and I can't blame them.) So the mountain happily came to Mohammed and we had a nice chat about kids, science fiction, and comic books.
Stephen Number Two:
One of the major panels at the convention was the Dark Tower panel, attended by the entire DT team and the man himself, Stephen King. The vast majority of questions were for King, which is of course as it should be. How many opportunities, after all, do both comic fans and DT fans have to tell The Man himself what his work means to them or pose questions about his work. For me the best moment was when one fan said that King and I are his two favorite writers and that he's thrilled that we're actually working on a project together, and King reached over and we high fived.
In the course of the convention I've also had the chance to meet and/or chat with Stan the Man, Nick Brendon, Hayden Panettiere (Heroes Cheerleader), Juliet Landau, George R.R. Martin, James Leary, and a host of comics pros. And there's been none of the overcrowding fiasco of the previous year. Saturday passed, to the best of my knowledge, without incident, unless one counts the barrage of flashes going off in King's eyes when he showed up for the panel. I'm amazed he wasn't blinded by them.
PAD
Posted by Kathleen David at February 24, 2007 10:40 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingPAD,
That is really, really cool!
Did Colbert and King only show up for the panels, or did they have tables where they signed autographs as well?
Chris
Did Colbert learn about the FNS cameo because he was told about it or is he a regular reader?
Colbert signed friday night, but I think it was a ticketed event. King I don't know about.
Wow. Sorry that work prevented me from attending.
Colbert signed friday night, but I think it was a ticketed event.
Afternoon, actually, and it was a limited ticket event that only lasted about 45 minutes.
"For me the best moment was when one fan said that King and I are his two favorite writers and that he's thrilled that we're actually working on a project together, and King reached over and we high fived."
Wow. Yeah, it doesn't get much better than that!
So did you meet Stephen Colbert or "Stephen Colbert?"
Its a shame Colbert didn't ask you to appear on his show, that would be something to see :-)
BTW: Kinda off topic, but does anyone else have trouble accessing this site? Sometimes, when I try, it closes down the window (and any others I happen to have open at the time).
I was hoping Cobert would mention his appearance in the comic on his show, but if he did, I missed it.
I saw who the guests would be for that convention in an ad and was totally bummed I wouldn't be able to make it, since I'm way out in Nebraska right now. I told my wife, "Look! Peter David and Stephen King! How cool would that be??"
OUt of all the cons I've been to, this one probably had the highest rate of incidences of randomly running into professionals (from Rich Johnson to Paul Dini) on the floor in addition to seeing those who had scheduled booth signings and the like and just having a nice brief chat before moving on. Kinda like a really cool cocktail party with a dealers room.
Well, that explains part of what Colbert was doing during the week off last week. :)
Hmmm. Well, I will now have to make a point of watching Colbert's show this week to see if he mentions Peter and the Con.
I am very impressed that the Colbert Report still makes me laugh after over a year on the air. I thought that it would fade rather quickly, but it has not.
Wow! You really got to meet Stan the Man?
Though I'm too young to have ever seen him play, I have a baseball cap signed by him!
;-)
Sorry, as a diehard Cardinals fan, I was morally obligated to make the joke.
If he hasn't already, Musial should have a guest appearance in a Marvel comic book.
I went to the con and enjoyed quite a bit about it. The energy there certainly reminds one that the comic industry isn't quite dead yet. I was a bit put off by what appears to be some continued logistical issues as far as the size of the venue and capacity issues. Many were left standing in the cold, at least one pro from one of the Big Two with credentials was not allowed by sercuity to go to the floor for his assigned signing and sketch drawing session with fans and was not allowed in until more than 30 minutes into his assigned hour of meet and greet. It was only because I had been on the floor, walked to the comic company he works for, asked to speak to and provided said creator's cell phone number to an editor for the company that he was allowed in at all. I'm guessing that this wasn't the only incident since the creator had made several attempts to get in over nearly an hour's period of time.
I stayed away from the artist alley floor for the most part due to the pushing, nearly non-movement that was occuring for most of the day. I did have a chance to spot Peter while hanging with buddies on the bottom floor of Javtiz as we waited to leave. He walked by, I simply said, "Hi Mr. David" to which he said "hi", leaving my fiance with several questions for me that I hadn't expected.
Colbert won't mention David or the convention at all on his show. This was kind of his "down time," unless he had a camera crew following him. And remember, his screen persona is somebody who doesn't know anything and doesn't read. If he were to mention Peter David at all, he'd say that it's too sweet a wine and he prefers a good bottle of Ripple.
The awesome of those two events overwhelms me.
I think Stan Lee was almost blinded by all the flashbulbs too. We had a good 5 minutes of picture taking before Stan and Joe Q (very good naturedly) called for security to make us all sit down at the hour long chat he gave on Friday.
That was a magical moment tho...people were just applauding and whistling at Stan and telling how much they loved him. Even my girlfriend who has no interest in comic books was captivated by Stan's charisma.
"So did you meet Stephen Colbert or "Stephen Colbert?"
The former. He was dressed casually and had a couple days' worth of beard stubble. He was definitely not in character.
PAD
Peter, after the shitty time you had of it recently -- the death of a friend, your car being burglarized, and your family getting ill -- I'm glad to hear life is throwing some nice things your way.
Have never been a Stephen King fan, by the way. Nevertheless, I'll check out the comic-book adaptation of Dark Tower. In this case, YOUR name is the big draw for me.
Peter, i wish you were live-blogging the Oscars, because it would be a lot more entertaining than the real thing, so far. Though I'm enjoying the PAN's LABRYNTH love.
Hey Peter -
Great to have seen you, and this year was certainly MUCH less crowded - artists alley wasn't perfect but not as bad as last year and the exhibor floor was much better thought out. Voulenteers were also in general better informed.
Maybe next year they'll a) figure out how to get people inside in time for the early panels b) do it all at a time of year when one dosn't have to wait in the cold and c) start giving out tickets to the ticked panels when they say they'll be available and not hours earlier - if it says 3 o'clock pm Friday for Stan Lee ticket distribution should start at 3 pm, not 7 am just 'cause people were in the building and asked!
and the security guys - geeze, never seen so many guys with bad attitudes 'cause they couldn't get the mall security jobs!
Thanks again for the signatures and again I say that I wish there had been more stories with the Blasters! Snapper Carr rocks!
And your little snoozing sidekick in the stroller is a cute-pie!
stay groovy,
mike "shaggy" g
Suspect you and GRRM got along well, particularly as he's a long time comics fan. Hope he's recovered from the food poisoning bout he had at the tail end of Boskone last week.
Posted by: Mike "shaggy" g at February 25, 2007 09:39 PM: "Maybe next year they'll b) do it all at a time of year when one dosn't have to wait in the cold"
Next year the NYCC will be held in April.
Posted by: Rich Drees
OUt of all the cons I've been to, this one probably had the highest rate of incidences of randomly running into professionals (from Rich Johnson to Paul Dini) on the floor in addition to seeing those who had scheduled booth signings and the like and just having a nice brief chat before moving on. Kinda like a really cool cocktail party with a dealers room.
You ought to try the science-fiction WorldCon for that sort of thing.
Tom Calloway stated: "Hope he's recovered from the food poisoning bout he had at the tail end of Boskone last week."
I went to Boskone as a teenager in the Mid 80s. What kind of Con is it now? I heard it went from a party-hearty con to a cerebral reader's convention. What's Boskone like 20 years later?
Marvelfan wrote: "BTW: Kinda off topic, but does anyone else have trouble accessing this site? Sometimes, when I try, it closes down the window (and any others I happen to have open at the time)."
Yes. I have. In my old dial-up days I could not get on at all--it would time-out. This also happens if my DSL is running slow.
Thanks,
Captain Naraht
(Ray from NH)
I personally am excited about your WWH Prologue one-shot and would love... nay, *demand* some tidbits or details.
Posted by Gary Dunaier-
"Next year the NYCC will be held in April."
Hopefully late April. (IE, not a conflict with the Philadelphia Film Fest, my traditional week and a half vacation)
"And remember, his screen persona is somebody who doesn't know anything and doesn't read. "
But his screen persona is also someone who glories in any and all publicity.
Posted by Gary Dunaier-
"Next year the NYCC will be held in April."
I actually heard this on saturday, but it was bein said by someone behind me on line out in the cold at about 9:30am, so I hadn't leant it a lot of credit as an absolutely true fact as yet.
But thanks - hope it's true! :)
April 18-20th will be next years convention...I saw a sign somewhere at the convention for it. I know I didnt dream it because I excitedly, at that moment, called two people to tell them that next year I wont be standing out in the freezing cold :)
Yep. April is the month and I believe that Michael J. has the correct dates. I had a dicussion with one of the people who runs the show on Saturday.
Personally I had a blast as did Caroline and Ariel. To those of you I met, it was nice to meet you.
God, thats the last time i try to type leaning back in my chair with my feet up. When Kath replied to me as "michael j" I was like: whu??? I know I typed that, but Im not Michael j. But apparently I am.
Next year's date was also printed within this year's program on a full page solicit for the con.
I had the privilage and the honor of meeting PAD on Saturday.
I got to purchase 2 scripts from him (I wish more writers would do that). I got X-Factor #'13 and 14. I loved that PAD used Madagascar as a visual reference in the script for issue #14. Having a 2 year old son means I've seen Madagascar close to 50 times.
I also got a page from the final issue of Captain Marvel signed by both PAD and Mr. Giffen. It will be hung up soon in a place of honor.
I also got a chance to chat with Ethan Van Sciver, Mike Oeming, and Kyle Baker. All were incredibly nice.
I had a great time at the con, and I am already looking forward to next year (it will be in April).
Just wanted to say that it was fantastic meeting you at the convention on Saturday, Mr. David. Hope that the rest of the con finished out well for you, and that things are going well in terms of your writing.