C2E2 2013: MEETING JIMMY PALMIOTTI

Ladies and gentlmen, after being a huge JONAH HEX fan for nearly 15 years, I finally have a few issues signed.  No, none of the classics, sadly, but they’re still kick-ass issues.  The first five from the new JONAH HEX.  Not the ALL-STAR Hex, but when he first came back after Lansdale’s final run.

At first, I was going to thank Jimmy Palmiotti for finally getting Hex out of Gotham, back to his element, but I didn’t want to become the whiny fan, and besides, Palmiotti was too nice to take shit from me, since thanking him for that would mean complaining about the storyline (and the stupid sidekick idea).  In fact, aside from James Cosmo, Palmiotti was probably the happiest to be there.  He greeted me with one of the strongest, most enthusiastic handshakes I’ve ever experienced at a show, and he had one of the most natural smiles I’ve ever come across.  He was eager to talk about Hex, and when I told him I had every appearance, he was all the more excited to talk about the book.  He strikes me as an actual longtime fan of the book, which is rare in this day and age of making classic characters “their own,” whoever “they” might be.

I should mention that I met Palmiotti before the DC New 52 panel, at which some awful news about the future of Hex was revealed.  Chances are, I would have still played nice, because Palmiotti is a hell of a guy and I like him, but part of me would have wanted to beg him to abandon this foolish idea.  Besides, the story’s done already.  There’s no going back.

C2E2 2013: THE WILDSTORM PRESENTS CHRONICLES #1: MEETING AMANDA CONNER

I’ll be honest, I’ve not come across much of Amanda Conner’s work.  The extent that I’m familiar with is her work on BEFORE WATCHMEN:  SILK SPECTRE and a small bit that she did for WILDSTORM PRESENTS.  The main reason I wanted to meet her was because I was trying to get as many BEFORE WATCHMEN people as I could.

Her line was one of the longer ones I waited in at this convention, and by the time I got to meet her, I could see why.  She’s done some pretty good work with Supergirl and a few other superhero titles.  Not my thing, but I can definitely recognize amazing artwork.

She was incredibly nice and engaging.  She was glad to see my issues of SILK SPECTRE, and as she signed these, I broke out one of my big guns:  a collection called WILDSTORM PRESENTS.  I’d initially bought it because I saw Brian Azzarello’s name on it, but when I found out who else was in it, I was impressed.  Georges Jeanty, Paul Jenkins, Ed Brubaker, Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, Richard Corben, Jill Thompson, and shocker of all shockers, Patton fuckin’ Oswalt.

Since many of them were going to be at the convention, I thought I’d get as many signatures as I could.

When I set it down in front of Conner, she looked puzzled.  “I’m not in here.”  I reassured her she was, indeed, in there, and pointed out which story.  Then, recognition blazed on her face.  “Oh yeah, I remember this!  I’ve never seen it, though.  Very cool.”  And she signed it for me.

Much to my surprise, this scenario would recur several more times during the convention.

She marveled at it for a while, flipping through the pages, excited to see her some of her work that she hadn’t seen since she put the finishing touches on it and sending it to Wildstorm.  She asked me how long I’d had it, and I said a couple of years.  She said she was wondering if it had just been printed.

I moved on then, because she was sitting next to Jimmy Palmiotti, and I hoped to get him to sign a few things.  Then, as I waited at the back of the incredibly short line, unpacking my things for Palmiotti, I noticed something.  I’d brought TRANSMETROPOLITAN:  I HATE IT HERE because I’d been working on getting all the artists in there to sign it.  I was hoping to get Palmiotti and Tony Harris to join the ranks of Rodney Ramos, John McCrea, Warren Ellis, Eduardo Risso, Tim Bradstreet, Dave Johnson, David Mack, and Cliff Chiang in signing this thing.

In that moment I realized that AMANDA CONNER IS IN THIS BOOK, TOO.  Fuck.  I turned around and saw that Conner’s line was just as long as it had been when I’d first gotten into it.  I just resigned myself to getting back in it when I’d finished up with Palmiotti.

Suffering through that line a second time was a drag, but fuck me for being so stupid.  When I got up to her table again, she laughed, surprised to see me again.  I apologized for being a fool and presented her with her page from the book.  Chuckling, she signed it and said, “Why am I always drawing people on the toilet?”

Why, indeed?