Alright.
So this last weekend was such a blast.
First of all, the concert that Lindsey and I went to was awesome. It was the chamber version of Appalachian Spring, a piece that's totally incredible in it's normal orchestration, and ten times better like this. It's such an exposed, lyrical piece when it's only on a few of the instruments, it seriously gave me chills at multiple points.
That whole evening included dinner and some great relaxed time away from campus and schoolwork. In the end, it was a great Christmas present.
Upon arriving back in town, however, my attention immediately turned to my art project. Starting at about 11pm, and continuing until about 3am, Jack, Lindsey, and I stensilled, cut, and glued nearly the entire cover of the comic into place.
By 11 the next morning, Jack and I were back in action, finishing up with the lettering on the cover (the biggest pain in the ass of all), while Jess began work on shading Spider-Man. Pressing the 4pm deadline, we finally got it to a state where Bendis could sign the thing, and Jack and I headed up to the shop to meet him.
And without further ado, here are the pictures:
Jack and I in line with the comic. Geeks look on in awe as two super-geeks appear in the midst.
Bendis signs Jack's books. Jack wets himself.
And Bendis signs mine. I wet myself, the promptly run outside to throw up.
The signature. The project comes together, and my goal is accomplished. And I'm spent.
I can't even relate to you how awesome this guy was. Four or five times he repeated that Jack and I made his day. He chatted with me for a few minutes about becoming a comic writer. And at one point, he mentioned showing the pictures of us to Bagley (the artist), and seemed to think that he'd be impressed. More truthfully, his direct quote was "I gotta show these pictures to Bagley, he's gonna flip when he sees this!"
At that point I shat myself.
Afterwards, Jack and I rested for a few, then headed out for a bite at The Parkway and a celebratory drink. We continued our celebration later with a viewing of the new Broken Lizard film, which wasn't great, but entertaining nonetheless.
Since all of this, I've been totally focused on all the work I've been neglecting in order to finish my project (which still isn't even done!). Next week doesn't look much better either, but then it's break and I'm off to So Cal for a few days.
All in all, it was one of the most awesome weekends I've had in my entire life.
Hey, I had no idea there was another comics geek on the Bigwhoop. Congrats on your Bendis encounter. I remember the first time I met him, I was incredibly nervous to talk to him. Even now, I don't think I'd be able to if I saw him. He's one of those writers that makes me feel discouraged about ever being a comic writer.
Posted by: Justin at March 4, 2004 11:52 AMThat's funny, I think although it's intimidating to realize how human, yet how godlike Bendis is, my introduction to him only firmed my resolve to become a comicbook writer.
Not that I have any good ideas whatsoever. Or like I can draw worth anything. . . Yet.
Posted by: Andy at March 4, 2004 10:07 PMOh, don't get me wrong, nothing's going to dampen my resolve to be a comic writer. I just don't think I'll ever be as good as Bendis, and that's upsetting. Incidentally, you did much better in your first meeting than I did. I was an intern for Wizard at the time, which I thought was a great "in". So I went up to where he was signing and said, "Hey, do you know about the Wizard party tonight?" Of course he did, he's freakin' Bendis! He was very polite, though. I may have even been wearing my "Security" shirt at the time.
Posted by: Justin at March 5, 2004 1:21 PMHaha, that's great.
How did you land an internship with Wizard? What were you doing?
Posted by: Andy at March 5, 2004 4:05 PMI'm not sure how I landed the internship with Wizard. I pretty much just applied and got lucky. It was a good internship, with lots of opportunity for writing. I even got to spend an entire day in a meeting arguing about what the best cartoons of all time were. Best of all, it got me my current job as a ToyFare editor.
Posted by: Justin at March 9, 2004 6:30 AM
Man, that's a heck of a lot more fluids being expelled than I remember...
Posted by: Jack at March 4, 2004 1:03 AM