[Groop]San Diego (& Ellis Comment)

[Gary Grossmann]

Hi Folks!

Well, I thought I would pass on a few more things about San Diego to go with
the other reports.  First off, it was great seeing all the Groopies who made
it there on Thursday and Friday!  What a great, diverse, and totally fun
bunch of folks!  I had met Eric, Ruben, and Scot before, but everyone else
was new to see in person.  Larry reminds me of a cross between my two best
friends from high school!

Oh, and as for Warren Ellis, well, he is a sad and pathetic person indeed if
his commentary on comic convention fandom is indicative of his outlook on
life.  I try to be a "the glass is half full" kind of person and I know
there are "the glass is half empty" types.  But Mr. Ellis seems to be a
"there is a tiny fly in it, so throw out the whole glass" type person, which
is really too bad.  Juxtapose his comments with what I observed while
hanging out at Sergio's table.  I saw 70 year-old folks from Mexico who had
known Sergio for 45 years and also little kids who didn't know him but were
amazed at his drawings, and every age in between.  Some folks he knew and
greeted with hugs and kisses.  Some folks  were total strangers and he
greeted them with a warm smile, a quick sketch, and maybe a joke or two (in
one of two languages no less).  Sure there were one or two folks who were a
little disappointed that he wouldn't do a sketch on a board, but most
understood the whole "ebay problem" and were very glad to get a sketch on
the inside of a Sergio or Sergio/Mark book.

And from what I have observed in general during my three visits to San
Diego, the Ellis view of the Con world is a look at a very narrow slice of a
huge eclectic pie.  Sure there are the classic comic book geeks as well as
art and what have you that is not to my taste . But there are so many other
interesting facets of the pop culture/art world, both in terms of creators
and devotees of all ages, that you really have to be searching for and
focusing on things that you hate in order to come away with a sour taste in
your mouth.

OK, I'm done. (How was that, Larry?)  Now fun stuff!  Gosh where to begin?
I guess I'll just bop around.

The way the Original Sketch card thing happened is pretty much the way Larry
described it except it was actually EVEN WORSE and I wasn't there when the
pack was opened.  I really had been thinking about buying one of the boxes
of cards Sergio had put out.  I guess he brought 4 and two had sold and one
of the two that was left was kind of scrunched.  So I had almost decided to
buy that one-it seemed the Groo-ish choice to make-even though Sergio told
me several times not to buy one because the chances of finding a sketch card
were so remote.  So I come back from somewhere and everyone starts saying
"Gary! Gary! you won't believe it!  These folks just bought a box and they
pulled out a Sketch Card!!!!"  "Was it the crunched box?" "Yes!"  It was at
this point that bystanders may have thought I was hyperventilating.   They
were wrong.  Actually, I was having a mild stroke.  And I did start trying
to negotiate a trade and we exchanged addresses, but the guy is a Las Vegas
attorney (If that isn't a combination to deal with!)  so I am not too
hopeful. (although really the guy seemed very nice.)


I've got to sign off for now and there are other things that folks may be
interested in, but maybe other attendees would like to tell about our goofy
dinner at the The Last Resort Tavern, not to mention the Groo-ish way we
ended up there in the first place,  and other stuff.  Also, I would like to
hear about what went on and who showed up on Saturday and Sunday.  Greg
needs to tell about his cool presentation to the Groo Crew.  I gotta go
know, but tommorrow I will tell you about some of the totally cool folks
from Mexico I met.  If everyone from Mexico is like these folks, I'm going
to take an immersion course in Spanish and move there!

Take care all (and remember if you are bored to tears by the time you get
here, you could have deleted this based on the Subject)  -Gary G.