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Underground > Comic Books >

Grant is in New York Saturday!

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00:36 / 08.06.06

Here's the info

I'll be there, though I'm also doing a table over at the MoCCA con, promoting my graphic novel, Division Shadow so it'll be a busy day. But, I am very excited for this. Anyone else going to the signing, or to MoCCA?

00:39 / 08.06.06

FinderWolf is going.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

01:02 / 08.06.06

I'll be at MoCCa. I doubt I'll go to the signing though unless it's like a reading or something...is it? I don't feel like wading through people with stacks of 52 comics (52 copies high no doubt) just to sheepishly stammer something to the guy.

01:25 / 08.06.06

oh, I'm not going...I just posted the info. about it in a separate thread (I mistakenly thought it was Friday June 9 in that thread, please take note). I have plans during the day; it would be fun to meet the G. himself, but I'm overall not really into meeting celebrities for the fun of meeting them for 2 seconds at a signing because as Benjamin points out, what is it except saying a sentence to someone, really and maybe getting something signed? I might do that sentence-long quick meeting if I didn't have other plans that day, but alas, that is not the case.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

01:52 / 08.06.06

See you at MoCCA, Ben!

I'll be standing next to Patrick under the big Zebra banner!

06:38 / 08.06.06

Checkitout kids - I'm gonna be at MoCCA AND the Morrison signing!

Neither is "official," I have no table at MoCCA and I'm not doing any signings alongside Grant, but I'll be there, milling about.

17:49 / 08.06.06

Anyone knows if he will be doing any new interviews during his stay on U.S. ground?

Was hoping to hear more from him about AllStar, even more so about his creative process and future works.

18:33 / 08.06.06

Even if I were in New York, I'd be ashamed to go along. He must be terribly disappointed with me for the way I've behaved on Barbelith. Truly am I wretched.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:12 / 08.06.06

Oh Ganesh, don't be so hard on yourself. You just can't process metaphor. You're probably schizophrenic or something.

19:35 / 08.06.06

dude, that is old, older than 'george'. =D

19:56 / 11.06.06

http://flickr.com/photos/28665507@N00/164385422/

20:58 / 11.06.06

Why doesn't GM appear more in public in London though? New York's all right, and better, I suppose, for work-related meetings, but George, the only the person who really understands your work lives here*.

* Not Haus. Haus is a well-loved and respected member of this community, but I'm willing to bet he doesn't even know where your real 'house' actually is! What a lightweight, honestly.

Dr G seems caught up with his own agenda, Sax, apparently ... well the less said about that the better, so I'm now you're best pal in the whole world, whether or not you realise it. So once I've finished this post, George, I'm booking myself an air ticket, right now. See you soon!

23:54 / 11.06.06

I'd never met Grant before and talking to him, even for just a couple of minutes was amazing. The biggest news was about the new Invisibles project. It's going to check in with the characters between the end of the present events in 2000 and the 2012 issue, showing them on their way to becoming those people. He said it would be sort of like Endless Nights, but with more connections.

The sense I got was that he was really attached to the characters, and that's why he wanted to go back, sort of like David Lynch with Fire Walk With Me, he wasn't ready to leave the world behind.

We then talked about the supercontext and his general philosopy, very cool stuff and a great guy to talk to. It was a very long line, but it was definitely worth the wait.

01:24 / 12.06.06

great photo, Patrick! Now I wish I could have been there....glad you had a cool experience! How are those sideburns doing?

01:27 / 12.06.06

and it sounds like you got to exchange much more than 2 sentences, which is very cool.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

11:49 / 12.06.06

Grant is definitely one of the most articulate and caring people I've ever met. After having been in line with Patrick for... 3 hours... I was thinking there was no way I could say anything to Grant. I wanted the next guy to get up there and not wait as long as I had.

Instead I found myself talking to him about the artistic process and how not everyone has the ability or need to abstract their environment. Some people are just more in touch with the tactile world with its rules and systems. He nodded and added that those people have a role as well.

I have to reiterate that it was not my intention to say anything. I had my table to get back to and was exhausted, but it all spilled out of me. The rational response could have been for Grant to roll his eyes, sign my comics and be done with it but he made such intense eye contact and stayed focused on me, talking about how we all have roles to fill, including the government and the artists, etc. He then posed with a copy of my book and after I explained what it was said that DC could use more new ideas like mine as the company was 'all dusty up there.'

I was beyond touched and thanked him.

Grant was just so positive and insightful. His understanding of how the world works and how we are all connected on a cellular level came through once again. But the effect was much deeper after hearing it in person versus in his writing.

It was an incredible experience.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:19 / 12.06.06

Meeting Grant was also an amazing experience for me. Unfortunately, the other 350 people at the signing were blank-faced animals who did not understand his work at all.

Incidentally, Mister Six, weren't you done with the lot of us?

Mister Six, whom all the girls

14:27 / 12.06.06

Yep.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:39 / 12.06.06

Just checking.

Back ontopic, inasmuch as there's a topic here rather than an event notification - I do have to say seriously that these accounts make me respect GM a lot. Like a good pop star, he does appear to understand that the work is just one part of an overall brand package, and that dealing well with emotionally intense and overawed young people - being friendly and empathic, providing encouragement and support - is part of the package.

I don't know if there are any examples of creators who definitely _don't_ do this - inside, I'm screaming "John Byrne", but he might be very nice to his actual fans - but it's something that shouldn't be undervalued. Poncing about being all "wooooo, I'm the Magus and you're nobody" is all terribly tempting, but being nice to people... now, that's admirable.

14:47 / 12.06.06

The biggest news was about the new Invisibles project. It's going to check in with the characters between the end of the present events in 2000 and the 2012 issue, showing them on their way to becoming those people.

"The Invisibles: The Hidden Years"?

*throws up on shoes*

ONLY NICE THINGS

16:05 / 12.06.06

Could be worse - could be the Invisibles: the Wonder Years.

I learned something that day - that in the end, not even a child-murdering squid encased in 5-dimensional armour and bristling with seizure cannons could stop the love between a father and a son.

It sounds like one of the things GM periodically says which he may well be entirely sincere about, and which may well be being discussed, but somewhere along the road will probably be quietly abandoned in favour of something else that will prove more interesting to author, fans and publishers... mind you, I could be wrong.

19:43 / 12.06.06

He sounded really into the project, like he wanted to spend just a bit more time with the characters. It's perhaps not a project there was an urgent need for, but at the same time, I think it would be really interesting to play out the character arcs in light of what's happened in our world since the end of the series back in 2000. I'd also be interested in seeing how he reconciles the 2005 Robin lived in with the 2006 we are now living in.

23:21 / 12.06.06

perhaps the comic books portray Ragged Robin's memories of "the future" (which have gotten distorted) versus the actuality?

(threw that idea in just so GM could make use of it.)

uh, but I do find it real weird to talk in terms of "branding" and all that when, really, geesh, here you have this guy meeting appreciators of his work. a human being. not some sterile thing about brands. I hope we want to get away from that. everything getting marketed and corporatized.

01:53 / 13.06.06

I'm sure part of it's about building the 'brand,' but at the same time, this is a guy who wrote an entire book as a hypersigil to create people who would explore and share his ideas. So, I don't think it's this horrible burden to have to go out and talk to the people who his work has affected enough that they decided to wait three hours in line to talk to him. I've been to a few signings and Grant seemed to be genuinely enjoying things, it was actually the store employees who were saying that maybe they should put a limit on how long people could talk to him.

Plus, from a practical standpoint, this guy isn't a musician or actor, so it's not like he's constantly running into fans. He probably very rarely gets recognized or meets fans, so there's got to be something cool about actually meeting the people who know your work. And if he was just acting it, then he put on quite a show.

04:56 / 13.06.06

No one taped what the man had to say, or vaguely transcribed on any website?

I'm curious to what he would have to say about All Star now that some of us fanboys, having read it, can ask a few questions about it.

ONLY NICE THINGS

05:59 / 13.06.06

I've been to a few signings

***

He probably very rarely gets recognized or meets fans

Quoted without comment.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

11:50 / 13.06.06

Sha*am Sparrow: The reason no one transcribed what he had to say is that it wasn't a speaking opp. He talked to each person in line, one at a time.

I overheard bits of what he had to say to Patrick and if you're really interested could try and remember what he had to say to me, but in my case it had little to do with comics and more to do with a world perception. For a good ten minutes afterwards I could recite exactly what Grant had said but in time it faded into my own patter about my comic at MoCCA.

But it was a really cool event. They were playing a playlist of songs from the Invisibles which is probably the only comic you could do that with. I noticed 'Teenage Kicks' and Special AKA as I came in and thought I was just lucky to be surrounded by cool music but the store employee explained he had spontaneously put together the playlist the night before and wondered if Grant had 'influenced him' in some way.

He said that Grant was very happy to hear Kula Shaker as he hadn't listened to the band in ages.

ONLY NICE THINGS

11:59 / 13.06.06

There now - aren't you lucky that we didn't accede to your demand that we ban your suit now, Sixy? We succeeded in helping you.

uncle retrospective

12:09 / 13.06.06

Can we stop doing this?

"Quoted without comment."

It's really annoying.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:27 / 13.06.06

Well, Uncle, you can certainly stop doing it, and I dare say that many others can as well. Whether they will is probably another question. It is often a useful indicator that somebody is representing two entirely different points of view so ably that, like Jerry stepping out of a whirling fight with Tom and leaving the hapless cat to capture and attempt to eat his own tail, the only thing one can really do is step aside and watch the ongoing narrative with awe.

As it happens, I don't see a huge conceptual gulf here - George may be a very nice and friendly man, he might be a man who really enjoys talking about the Invisibles, and he might be a man who appreciates and feels loyalty towards his fans all at the same time. He probably isn't a man currently agitating for Mister Six to become Editor in Chief of DC Comics, but then anything's possible.

12:55 / 13.06.06

I dunno. I kind of wish that the invisibles could be put to bed and we could all move on without constantly having to revisit its themes in almost every GM comic published.

13:10 / 13.06.06

>> They were playing a playlist of songs from the Invisibles which is probably the only comic you could do that with.

I wonder if there's a list of all the songs somewhere online...? I smell mixtape/CD!!

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:59 / 13.06.06

I think you might be being a bit hard on George there, Hester. He certainly has a lot of recurrent themes and motifs, but some of his recent stuff - Seaguy and Vimanarama, say - seem to have found another... idea palette, if you like. Now, arguably they're in some ways stylistically and conceptually retrograde - referring back to the Doom Patrol and Kill Your Boyfriend - but that needn't be a bad thing. Seven Soldiers, arguably, takes themes from the Invisibles and treats them in a snappier and smarter fashion.

However, this is probably not a good thread to talk about this, as it is devoted to talking about playing swingball with the Great Man (do you see? GM! 11! 23!).

17:06 / 13.06.06

you make a good point. And if the wonder years comes out i'll definately still buy it.

19:01 / 13.06.06

>>>However, this is probably not a good thread to talk about this, as it is devoted to talking about playing swingball with the Great Man (do you see? GM! 11! 23!)<<<

Why do you have to be a jerk about it, Haus? The guy's excited because he got to meet and converse with someone he admires - I don't see what harm it causes, and I don't see the need to be condescending.

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