I added a handful of new links to my linkity-link-link-link section, including Franklin's Findings, which I always seem to end up at for some reason and Dirk Deppey of the Comics Journal.
I formalized my list of links to homepages of great comics, like Age of Bronze, Girl Genius, Amy Unbounded, Sandwalk Adventures, Colonia, and Thieves & Kings. I'll add to the list as I find good comics with correspondingly good sites.
I also added the Emerald City ComiCon. Now, I've got a little story to tell about this con, that won't seem like it's about this con until I get into it a bit. Bear with me.
Back when Peter David announced that he was quitting Aquaman, and Erik Larsen was announced as his replacement, I was skeptical. The only thing I knew about Erik Larsen was that he and Peter David had been involved in a long-running argument that culminated in the pages of their books. While I figure both guys showed a serious lack of maturity in continuing the battle, I felt that Peter David won the "comic book" battle simply because his entry was actually amusing and on-topic. He had the Hulk put a fun on his head for a disguise and reject it as being too obvious. The original argument was that Image comics, with all this great potential to do all kinds of books, stuck with super-hero comics instead of expanding the world of comics. Like Larsen's apparent rip on the Hulk, instead of something original. Erik Larsen, on the other hand, drew an offensive caricature of Peter David annoying the Hu-- er, Savage Dragon in his own comic. It's was both unfunny and it didn't say much.
So, coming out of the gate, I wasn't impressed with Erik Larsen, and the announcement that he was taking over Aquaman filled me with worry. I was assured by some of his fans that his work was actually very good, so I went out and bought some Savage Dragon and read the stuff. It was awful. No narrative to speak of, horribly exaggerated artwork that bordered on soft porn in some places... it was the epitome of everything I hate about comic books. To this day, I still can't see what anyone sees in the book, although legions of fans can't be wrong. There must be something good there, even if I can't see it.
Unfortunately, I gave my review of Savage Dragon to my Aquaman Mailing List, which had just gained a few members who were SD fans in anticipation of Larsen taking over the book. These Savage Dragon fans shared my reviews and opinions with other Savage Dragon fans, and I promptly started getting threats.
Most of them were the standard "Girls shouldn't read comics because they don't understand them!" rants that only insecure little boys write. But one particular person started writing obviously mis-typed notes that, he claimed, kept me up-to-date with how much the Savage Dragon list hated me. It included frequent references to one Jim Demonakos, the moderator of the list, and how he had to hate me because he let the notes go through. He also made more specific threats to my person, all because I didn't like Savage Dragon.
It got so bad that I subscribed to Jim's list under an alias. As I suspected, they weren't talking about me at all. The guy was yanking my chain, pushing every emotional button I had, and he almost succeeded in driving me off the web. I even took down my website for a time, not certain I wanted to have anything to do with a writer/artist whose "fans" were willing to cause so much pain just because someone disagreed with them.
At some point I e-mailed Jim, and together we tried to figure out who my tormentor was. I don't know that he ever did, but I gave up after a while and figured out which notes went into the bit bucket after learning the guy's style. However, through Jim I found the other side of Savage Dragon fandom. Intelligent, well-spoken, and kind. They are everything I like about comic book fans. I hung out on the list a little while longer, and while I never developed an understanding of why anyone likes Savage Dragon, I did develop an appreciation for *most* Savage Dragon fans.
I also decided that Jim Demonakos is one of the best guys you could possibly have on your side in a fight. I think there is nothing this man cannot do.
And, from the looks of it, Jim is one of the driving forces behind the Emerald City ComiCon. If he's involved, count on this thing happening, and count on it being successful. That's just the way it is with this guy.
I hope to make it to the con, despite the financial straights hubby-Eric and I are in.
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