Conventions aren’t always about falling into humiliating pitfalls, no. Sometimes, there are small, great moments that make it all worth it. Here are a few, again in chronological order:
Devouring a homemade loaf of bread on the floor of the hotel room. You live a kind of in-the-moment existence when you’re at Comic-Con as a fan. The first year I went, my husband and two of our friends drove down from the Bay Area. Our friend Igor had a loaf of bread that his mother had made for us. By the end of the first day, we were so exhausted and hungry that we collapsed on the floor and tore it apart with our bare hands, leaving nothing but miniscule crumbs.
Praise from Will Eisner. I never got my wish of shaking Will Eisner’s hand, but one year he stopped by the SLG booth and praised our comics, telling SLG Prez that he was the “future of comics.” It was a great moment.
A compliment from Noel Neill. Despite my indie-comics credentials, I love Superman. Specifically, I love the innocent, fun Superman as embodied by the 1950s TV show The Adventures of Superman. (A recent topic on “Talk of the Nation” on NPR was about making Superman more relatable — I didn’t hear it all, but I wish someone would have mentioned the best way to accomplish it: To remember that Superman is actually Clark Kent.) I also adore Lois Lane, who was played in the TV show by Noel Neill. Brian is even more of a fan than I am, as he grew up watching the show. When we went to get Ms. Neill’s autograph at Wondercon one year, Brian was too thrilled to say much of anything, so I told her how much we enjoy the show and all that pleasant chit-chat you try to make at conventions. Ms. Neill replied, “You’re so pretty!” I was elated. (Oh, vanity!)
Talking stories with Lynda Barry. Lynda Barry has a profound understanding of creativity and storytelling, and is so friendly and easy to talk to that you wish you could just hang out with her all day. (Don’t do this, though. I am still mad at the Canadian guy who talked in line to Guy DeLisle for so long that I didn’t get to have my books signed and talk to him.) Somehow, when she was signing my copy of What It Is, it came up that I had be re-reading The Epic of Gilgamesh. We exchanged a few words of how primal that story is, how it touches on the heart of human doubts and desires, and then parted. It was great.
