3 Days. 3 Targets.
3 Days. 3 Targets.
The True SDCC Story of one former
fanboy's take down of 3 Comic Superstars.
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| Signed, Sealed, and Dismembered. |
"This is a triumph for comic geeks everywhere!!!!!"- Hart D. Fisher, American Horrors
First off, this story spans 20 years. I shit you not.
The year was 1995, my last year of high school.
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| With Liz O, My Los Animales co-creator and actual high school friend 20 years ago. |
I was the the school's “Weird Art Kid”, and was voted “Most Unique” to prove it. I was an alternative music listening, half-assed psuedo goth. You have to give me credit though- I attended a Catholic high school.
I was the type of goth who rocked black
Bahaus shirts under his uniform. Wore black and white stripey socks
and black steel toed work boots (Hey! they looked good with the khaki
uniform shorts). Painted only his thumb and pinky nails for easy
concealment from the school deans. Listened to bands like The Cure,
Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, or Sisters of Mercy during
lunch on a yellow, busted Walkman held together by duct tape. On
ACTUAL cassette tapes! My gossipy Art class teacher was scared of me,
which left me time alone to have free reign over what work I did in
class.
That didn't stop me from bringing
comics to class to read and pore over and study the artwork and
stories.
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| Actual Yearbook page |
I followed the works of Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and Todd Mcfarlane like I had been reading the bible gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I witnessed their emancipation from Marvel, and followed them blindly into their new foil embossed, 2 stapled, fully colored religion, The Holy Church of Image Comics. WildCATS. YoungBlood, Spawn. They were the Holy Trinity- and I lapped that shit up like a kitten's first bowl of ice cold milk.
Back to my Senior year. By this time, I
had begun to discover Underground Comix, DC's Vertigo line, SlaveLabor Graphics, and more. One day, I was shopping at my go to place
since I was a kid- Continental Comics in Granada Hills (a quiet
suburb in the San Fernando Valley). Shout out to Paul, the store's
owner! In fact, I believe it was Paul who suggested I check out these
books he thought I would dig by a hardcore independent company named
Boneyard Press. The books were Kill Image & the follow-up, Kill
Marvel.
I was hooked. My friend Brian & I
sat in a booth at Biff's Diner near Continental (RIP, it's now a
Denny's I think) laughing our asses off at the books as the waitress
kept rolling her eyes at us while she refilled our coffees (that was
about all we ordered anyhow).
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| The Infamous Marvel Can Suck My Cock Boneyard Shirt! |
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| Hart & I at my 1st signing at Komic Kid, a local comic shop in the Valley. |
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| Komic Kid flier |
One day, I was on a date with a then girlfriend at a movie theater in Granada Hills when I see Hart Fisher, clad in a black trenchcoat, walking toward us and into the local Wherehouse Music store. She convinced me to grab my sketchbook that was in my car and go say hi to him. I'm glad she did. Apparently, Hart liked what he saw and soon enough he published one of my very first published pin-ups in one of his Bill The Bull comics!
My 1st crowning achievement
in my Boneyard Thugdom came in 1995. At the Northridge (Mall) Fashion
Center.
It was there I met the legendary Stan Lee.
Lee was there on a hot summer day in
August, for the reopening of the shopping mall's Bullock's department
store which had sustained major damage in the 1994 Northridge
earthquake. I went with my brother, and we waited in line with all
the other fan boys and collectors. I was repping Boneyard with my
killer Kyle Hotz Bill The Bull t-shirt, and copy of Kill Marvel in
hand. Sure, I was nervous about meeting Stan “The Man” Lee- but I
kept it cool as I plopped Kill Marvel in front of him. He grabbed it,
squinted at it, and peered up at me, asking me if it was “One of
theirs?” I blurted out “Yes, Sir!” before his wrangler could
get a chance to tell him NOT to sign it!
I'll never forget the sheer terrified
look on his wrangler's face as Stan signed my book, or the smile
creeping on the old man's face as he handed it back to me. I thanked
Stan and waited for my brother to get his X-Book signed.
Mission Accomplished!
The ONLY film presence I can honestly
remember was a young student handing me a flyer for some Missing
College Students. I looked at the sheet, and realized that the girl
who had handed me the flier, was ALSO the girl ON the flier! I told
her, “Waitaminute! I FOUND you!” and she explained to me that they
were doing grass roots marketing for her film that would be coming
out soon. When I asked her what the film was called so I could be on
the lookout for it, she replied, “Blair Witch Project”!
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| Waitaminute! I FOUND you! |
I have very fond and very good memories of my 1st San Diego Comic-Con during the late 90s, thanks to Hart.
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| Fred Seibert of Frederator Studios & Jeaux Janovsky |
Since then, I have gone on to Art School for fine art and graduated from Calarts in their esteemed Character Animation department. Worked for such places as Disney's Buena Vista Games, Frederator Studios (Producers of the CartoonNetwork hit, Adventure Time), Mattel, Topps, Spiral Toys, Ralph Bakshi Productions, Rembrandt Films/Gene Deitch, and Welcome Literary (children's books). Interesting enough, working for Hart and Boneyard as Managing Editor prepared me and gave me the skill sets that I use and still apply to everything in today's Social Media savvy world and climate. P.S.- you can find me on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter. ;)
Hart was a brilliant mentor, and I'm so
very thankful for the time I was able to share learning from him.
Going back to a modern day San Diego Comic-Con has
been a complete mind fuck, to say the least.
Too much media. Too many people. No
room to walk around. Too little comics. What happened to the Late 90s
comic filled Utopia? Where did it go? Ah, yes. Hollywood took over
like Captain Ahab harpooning the San Diego convention center like it
was the Great White whale, Moby Dick itself. It's a completely
different beast. A bloated, washed ashore, rotted, decaying
whale.“The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth.” They said. Too many tv
shows, and films of all sorts. Video Games. A Cosplay wasteland. What
happened to the comics, man? Ugh.
I decided to go back this year with a vengeance. 20 years later I wanted to get my copy of Kill Image signed by the Holy Trinity. Bring it back full fucking circle. This will grant me Boneyard Thug Immortality Status. Like 2Pac.
I became a shark. I began researching
my targets. Stalking their facebook fan pages, their company twitter
accounts, making notes as to when and where they'd be appearing to
sign. All 3 were going to be at
Comic-Con this year. Their pencil and ink stained blood will become
mine.
Friday, Day 1. Target: Jim Lee. DC's
Boy Wonder.
There was one problem though.
I didn't realize it was standard and
required now to get bracelets or wrist bands in order to get a
signature from the “BIG” Comic Superstars!
Here's how it works now: you HAVE to
get to the comic con floor at 9:00-9:30am in the morning in order to
receive these magical wrist bands. They ONLY hand out 100 of the
fuckers. Yea, I know. Lame. I didn't get any on Friday, for Jim Lee's
day. I was super bummed. I decided to try my luck and just wait with
the people who were lucky to get a wrist band. The super fans. The
comic bro dudes who bring 20 of the same damn comic, in this case,
Justice League shit because of the new films coming out. Fucking fan
boys, collectors, retailers. I stuck to my guns even though I could
feel them burning a hole in the back of my soul with their hate for
me not having the glowing wrist band.
It only fueled me more.
I made sure to blend in with them, a
wolf in sheep's clothing, by bringing along a few old school items
I’ve had in my collection of comics for each artist to sign to show
them that I, too, am a die-hard fan. And that they'd never suspect
the next book, Kill Image, to pop up and punch them right between the
eyes.
So I waited in line for an hour.
Anticipating getting kicked out of the con, by Lee, Mcfarlane, or
Liefeld. Nervous to pull off this Comic-Con hijacking. Finally, it
came to my turn in line and the line checking dude at the DC booth
Jim Lee was signing at was pissed that I had no wrist band. I told him I
wasn't going anywhere, and that I'd press my luck and try to see if
they'd take me after the blessed 100 lucky fanboys got their shit
signed. Luckily the 2 assholes behind me were the last of the wrist
banders and I firmly stood my ground.
Finally came my time. I dug out my books, he said he'd “Only sign 5.” I said “Ok.” I spoke no other words. Silent. Like a ninja. He was super stoked to see one of his first published works, a copy of Alpha Flight #53. He also signed Batman Black & White #1, WildCATS #1, one of the Jim Lee X-Books (it was for my brother), and finally my copy of Kill Image.
Finally came my time. I dug out my books, he said he'd “Only sign 5.” I said “Ok.” I spoke no other words. Silent. Like a ninja. He was super stoked to see one of his first published works, a copy of Alpha Flight #53. He also signed Batman Black & White #1, WildCATS #1, one of the Jim Lee X-Books (it was for my brother), and finally my copy of Kill Image.
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| Disappointment Strikes! |
That was when his smile stopped and he actually did one of those cartoony double-takes, where his eyes popped open really big and he momentarily looked stunned as if to say, “Why the fuck would you bring me THIS to sign?”
He
signed it, I said “Thanks.” and went on my merry way with the
hugest shit-eating grin on my face. Thankfully my friend Lisa was
there to snap a few pics of him signing the book.
Comic Superstar Take Down Rating
Who: Jim
Lee
Level of Kill Image Disappointment:
7 bullet holes
What were they doing in 1993?
WildCATS
What are they doing in 2015?
Co-Publisher of DC Entertainment
Overall: He's
a signing Terminator machine, and has his doctor quality signature
down to a science. Doesn't talk much, but seems appreciative of his
fans.
Saturday, Day 2. Target: Todd
McFarlane. Toy Maker of The Gods.
Saturday was a
shit-storm cluster fuck for me. I woke up at 6am that day. Showered,
got ready. Lisa gave me a ride to the convention center around 8am.
So I'd be sure to get there bright, and bushy tailed at 9am on the
dot to get the fucking wrist band for Todd's signature.
All, ok... SOME of
the security there are assholes with SEVERE power trips. Some were
nice. This whole thing was badly disorganized. They allow
professionals in early, but... we weren't allowed to wait on the
first floor for some reason. So I loitered around the Professional Badge Registration areas as long as I could before
getting kicked out, or told to go upstairs. I got kicked out a total
of 2 times. But kept finding the nicer security guards to let me in again.
It was a finely tuned Tango dance.
9am comes and
rolls by. I'm freaking out at this point, because the Image Comics
booth told us we had to be there AT 9am in order to get a limited
wrist band. Things are running super hectic late for the con and they
decide to open at 9:30am. LUCKILY, they allowed the Pros in
15 minutes early, so I booked it right the fuck to Image's booth and
made my way to the line.
“YES!”
I cheered to myself. “I made it to the fucking Todd line!” I felt like Rocky having just finished running up the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art! I inch
closer and closer, trying not to pat myself on the back too hard when
all of a sudden- with 2 fucking people in front of me, the girl
passing out the wrist bands shouts out, “We are NOW all out of Todd
McFarlane Wrist Bands!!!”. I was livid. But kept cool. I asked her
if it would be possible to “hang out behind the lucky ass asshole
Todd McFarlane wrist bander fanboys, and see if we'd also be given a
shot to have something signed as well?” (not exactly in those
words.) She looked at me like, “Whatever.”
and said that “I could try but no guarantees.”
I was super
bummed. Again. So I Charlie Brown walked my way around the Con for a
bit, tired and checking stuff out. I decided to go see if maybe Rob
Liefeld was around to sign my stuff. Nope. No one at his table. A
super small table, like the size of one chair at the very end of
Artists Alley. No one guarding his table, just a big ass poster of
Deadpool staring me in the face. Mocking me. Like an asshole.
Todd's signing is
at 2pm, so I figure I'd go check the Image booth and see if people
started lining up. I arrive at the booth, and see no one. So I wander
out to the Mcfarlane Toys side of the Image booth, and who do I see
standing right next to me, signing autographs while standing (like a
champ saying “Fuck Booths bitches!”) with a semi mid-to-long
line?
Todd “Muthafuckin'
Fuck Booths Bitches!” McFarlane!
Seriously? How
cool and gracious is that of him to have an impromptu signing before
his Actual signing??? He is a true bonafide Comic Superstar
Gentleman.
The wait time
wasn't that bad. Yes, there were the usual fan boys there. But I made
friends with a great kid, and his father who was a prop man in Hollywood back in the day who happened to work on the original Spawn
film. So it was neat talking to them both. Great guys. Makes a world
of difference when you're stuck in a line and waiting. I asked the
kid if he'd take a few pics of me getting my stuff signed by Todd,
and he agreed to.
From there it's a
blur.
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| McFarlane Toys' Walking Dead Michonne's Pet Walker mini Zombie SDCC Swag |
Todd's promoting his new buildable mini-sets for the Walking Dead for his toy empire, McFarlane Toys. I got a free blind bag zombie toy. His toys are great and super detail oriented. Which I'm a sucker for. He doesn't have a lot of time to sign everything I brought. So I figured I'd hit him with the Old School Fan bit, and then the sucker-punch. He is genuinely happy to see a copy of one of his 1st published DC comics work, All Star Squadron #47 from 1985!
The conversation goes as follows:
Todd: Hey buddy. (beat) oh wow, the Old School stuff! Killer!
Me: Heh. Yea. I've
had it for a long time. Thanks for the signature, can I get a pic?
Todd: Sure!
Me (after pic):
Can I actually have you sign something else?
I pull out Kill
Image.
Todd: …
(Disappointed look which then flays out into a shark's smile, nay
Venom's crazy smile!)
Todd
then holds the book up to his wrangler, smiling, and says, “Somebody
hated us!”
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| Disappointment Strikes! |
He signs it, then
I ask his assistant to snap a pic of us, and Todd holds it up to the
camera!
(Inside my head):
HOLY SHIT!!! VICTORY IS MINE!!!
2 down. 1 more to
go.
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| I LOVE this pic! |
Comic Superstar Take Down Rating
Who: Todd
McFarlane
Level of Kill Image Disappointment:
5 bullet holes
What were they doing in 1993? Spawn
What are they doing in 2015? CEO
of McFarlane Toys & Todd McFarlane Entertainment
Overall: I
was expecting Todd to be an asshole. But you know what? He wasn't. He
was actually a pretty stand up (haha literally) guy, very genuine and appreciative of
his fans. He takes the time with his fans, and that's what counts.
Again, not much was said, but he shook my hand with that McFarlane
charm in his eye. I felt like a fan boy again for a split second. No
remorse though.
Sidenote: Was really hoping to get this little gem signed, for no good reason at all. haha
Sidenote: Was really hoping to get this little gem signed, for no good reason at all. haha
Sunday, Day 3. Target: Rob Liefeld.
The Artist Alley Mercenary.
Clearly,
this was Rob's Con.
With
the hype machine pumping the Deadpool movie, this was his con to
shine. And he shone so brightly, he was NEVER at his booth deep in
the trenches of Artist Alley. I tried looking for him, for 2 days and it was as if Deadpool had assassinated him.
I
finally caught him on the last day of the SDCC Con. By this time I
was Conned Out. I felt like I had seen everything I could possibly
see at the Con. I tried for 3 days to find ANY horror items that piqued
my interest, but to no avail.
The
only thing left for me to do was to get my last target's signature. I
had been circling his rinky dinky artist's alley table corner for
days, and I could smell his blood in the air. The shark was getting
closer, Rob. I even wore my Jaws shirt for the occasion.
Rob
had a long line. But significantly shorter than his Ol' Image
buddies. Considering all the Deadpool hype they gave him, I'm
surprised you didn't need golden wrist bands or magic bracelets. I
made friends with a few people behind me in line.
The
one kid who was behind me didn't even know who Liefeld was, he just
got in line cause he saw all of us in line waiting for someone. But
he sure knew who Deadpool was. He didn't have anything for Rob to
sign, so I told him that he should have him sketch him a Deadpool and
sign his SDCC Badge.
I
felt bad for the other artists who shared the row with Rob. His line
covered their tables for a good 40 minutes solid. No one was checking
out their work. It was awkward. I finally made my way up to Rob, and
shook his hand, congratulated him on the success of Deadpool.
He's
a good guy. But all about the $$$. He almost immediately went into
salesman mode, pointing to a sign posted on his table about all
Deadpool related comics signage prices. Turn off for sure- but ya
can't get mad at a brotha making a buck off his creation. Hate the
game, not the playa. I didn't want to blow my cover, so I paid an
undisclosed amount to get my copy of Marvel's New Mutants #98 signed.
Hey, it was Deadpool's first appearance. That comic was going like
hotcakes at the con, and you could not find a copy anywhere at the con for
cheap.
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| Disappointment Strikes! I love the dude in the back with the Sanrio hat checking out Kill Image! |
I pulled out my copy of Kill Image. He looked at it for a moment with a brief and fleeting disappointment in his eyes. There's the rub, Rob. It may have lasted mere seconds, but I savored that moment.
He
scrawled his autopilot messy signature all over Jim Lee's face on the
cover.
I
asked the kid behind me to snap a few pics for me, with me holding up
my signed prizes. A proud hunter, standing over his freshly killed
carcasses. Breathing in the smell of blood... Victory.
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| He looks like he's grabbing my ass here! Check out the dude behind us checking it out. LOL |
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| Like a proud hunter, standing over his freshly killed carcass trophy. Victory is mine! |
Comic Superstar Take Down Rating
Who: Rob
Liefeld
Level of Kill Image Disappointment:
8 bullet holes
What were they doing in 1993?
YoungBlood
What are they doing in 2015?
Slumming it in Artist Alley,
but reaping the insane benefits he will undoubtedly get from the
Deadpool film.
Overall:
Who really won over who? Yes, I got his signature- but it was
literally at a price. He's the one laughing his way to the bank. And
for that, I have to give him props. He's a down to business kind of
dude, but still pretty chill. He still does it for the fans though. I
know Deadpool is going to be a huge success for him, as well as the
world of comic book films.
Sidenote: I was really hoping to get my copy of Captain America #1 and Troll #1 signed by him, but I was too pissed I had to shell out for the New Mutants autograph. I was literally TROLL-ing him.
Sidenote: I was really hoping to get my copy of Captain America #1 and Troll #1 signed by him, but I was too pissed I had to shell out for the New Mutants autograph. I was literally TROLL-ing him.
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| Trollin' |
20 years.
At
times I felt like a time traveler, lugging around books that were
older than most attendees there. ALL my books are well read. Some
wrinkled and dog eared, plastic bag and boards holding them and their
bones together. I actually read
my books. I enjoy
them. I love studying the artwork in them, the writing.
Some
of these collectors, man- and their pristine, perfectly mint books.
Vacuum sealed, and pro-graded. 15-20 copies of the same book, signed,
with the sole purpose so they can make some moolah off of Ebay or
their comic shops from other needy fan boys. I don't get it. I don't
get their world. And I don't want to. I must look like an alien to
them.
For
me, the con has always been about the love for comics. And that love
has been diminishing for quite sometime.
The
actual Comics section of the con is one of the only spots where you
can freely walk around, with all the space you need. Breathing in
that musty, familiar scent of newsprint paper and ink.
It's
there in that section, where you can still catch a glimpse of the
Comic Con Utopia days of yore- if you stare hard enough towards the
right place.
-Jeaux Janovsky, Boneyard Thug Immortal For Life
-Jeaux Janovsky, Boneyard Thug Immortal For Life
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| Too Tough For Color |
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| I did it Hart. |
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| Wanna Watch? |
Labels: batman, boneyard press, comics, dc, deadpool, deadpool film, fred seibert, frederator, hart fisher, image, jim lee, kevin smith, marvel, mcfarlane toys, rob liefeld, sdcc, spawn, stan lee, todd mcfarlane, walking dead
posted by Jeaux Janovsky @ 4:59 PM
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