I JUST finished up five pages for House of Mystery, a Vertigo book that’ll be due out sometime soon. I’ve never crammed so much detail consistently throughout a group of pages. The script calls for a character running through a desolated New York City as he tries to get to work on time. He’s slowed down by giant bugs, vampires, armed citizens and fellow foot soldiers meaning TONS of research on Google images. I have no idea whether it looks good or not but I do know that it’s DONE.

That aside, I did have a thought recently regarding comics and comic fans after my weekend in Philly. A lot of people came up to me complaining about the smell of the con (cons) and the types of nerds you rub elbows with at those things. Maybe it was the general look of displeasure on my own face that urged people to reflect what I was likely thinking each time some skanky 17-year-old girl walked by dressed as a duct-tape-manga-chick. But over the weekend I heard a few different people say pretty much the same thing: I want to draw comics but I don't understand these people.

The people who stop by my table at cons are usually not the normal comic books types. A lot of them seem to have good hygiene and dress in hip industrial/suburban clothing with punk shirts, Fidel Castro hats and dull colors. Don’t get the main 3 types of nerds you see at cons: the silk shirt Wolverine guys, The Simpsons’ “comic book store” type guy and the ones wearing costumes.

One day I’ll lead the people hanging around my table into a revolt against all the other nerds. And I’ll even put the guy who carries around brass knuckles up front (you know who you are).

For those of you who might be thinking the same thing about wanting to work in comics but being turned off by the other types of fans, take a page from old man Murphy: don’t worry about it.

If your art truly comes from the “spirit” of you, then it will usually appeal to people who have things in common with you. If you draw a lot of sci fi then you’ll get noticed by Star Wars and Trek fans. If you like crime then you might get more grounded types. If you’re like me and mix darkness and slop with realism and comic strips, then you’ll get bitter people with good senses of (black) humor. Whatever it is that you do, chances are that you’re “coming out” in your work and you’ll end up with people you have something in common with. And no, “coming out” in your work is NOT a gay joke. J

The other thing to consider, which I strongly believe, is something that was told to me by Skottie Young a while back. All those people you see at cons probably work some crappy factor job where no one will talk about comics with them for fear of being fired or shunned. Only in their own homes and among their friends do they get to geek about what they’re really into: comics. Not only do they love it, but they’re willing to drop a couple hundred on a plane ticket, a hotel room, the price of admission plus whatever they buy during the show in order to be around it. Cons are when they come out of the darkness and into the light. It’s weird and creepy, yeah, but there’s something beautiful about it.

The other comment from people was that they weren’t into superhero stuff at all, something else I have in common with them. Will comics in America always be mostly superheroes? I don’t know. A lot of younger people coming into the ranks seem to want to change things, but then again I imagine that there has always been people trying to change that. So who knows.

But it is funny when people who buy mainstream books complain about the state of the business. They bitch about the art, the stories, and about how Hollywood keeps ruining things. YET they buy those books and see those movies, thereby supporting the industry they claim to hate! In other words, they’re getting exactly what they deserve. We might all bitch about Indiana Jones but as far as the numbers are concerned, it did well because we all went to see it. Me included.

And, yes, it sucked.