|
|
Making Waves 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||
June 1, 2000The Cruise Report! At
first it seemed like a joke. That's certainly what the Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund's Executive Director Chris Oarr must have thought
when he got an e-mail from Fantagraphics
publisher Gary Groth proposing a fundraising cruise. The concept
was simple and remarkable: take the cream of comics' artistic crop, put
them on a boat bound for Mexico, open it up to a limited number of fans,
and see what happens. "I got the idea from reading The Nation," Groth said.
"I was reading the magazine's columnists write about their cruise and it
just popped into my head that a lot of magazines and fundraising organizations
do cruises, so I jumped to the logical conclusion that if they can do it,
so can the Fund. Chris thought I was insane at first, but a week later he
called me up and enthused over the idea."
The idea was so crazy that it seemed worth trying. After months of hard work and promotion, Making Waves set sail from Los Angeles on April 9 and surpassed everyone's expectations. For those who couldn't make it this year, we offer the following as a scrapbook of what happened on this history-making celebration of comics. Our Able Crew "The Fund did a great job choosing the guests for this cruise," said Frank Miller, sipping a Corona at the poolside bar. "It's a really amazing selection because four generations, and virtually every aspect of the field of comics, are
represented." This first-rate guest list included innovators of the graphic novel Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and Frank Miller, along with visionaries in the superhero tradition Martin Nodell, Neal Adams, Kurt Busiek, and Mark Waid. Vanguard alternative artists Chris Ware, Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, and Adrian Tomine were seen rubbing elbows with top shelf fantasy artists Jeff Smith, Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, and Linda Medley. Meanwhile, seasoned veterans Matt Wagner and Brian Pulido were found trading talk with promising new talents Zander Cannon and Judd Winick. What separated the cruise with its extraordinary guest list from any other comic book convention was the level of interaction between pros and attendees. "It's been great," enthused attendee Jeff Miller. "I've been able to hang out in the bar with Sarah Dyer and Neil Gaiman. Everyone's been really nice and it's been a lot of fun." Tomine agreed. "Everybody seemed to be friendly and pretty personable. For me it felt more like a vacation than a convention." "There's nobody on this guest list that I wouldn't enjoy spending more time with," added Frank Miller.
A high point of every convention is the dinner party that wraps up a hard day's show. While at most conventions fans and pros split off after dark, aboard Making Waves dinners were where the crew and the passengers really came together. Cruise guests and attendees enjoyed the rare opportunity of breaking bread together at arranged seating dinners. Held in the Imagination Restaurant on board the Elation, Making Waves participants were treated to gourmet meals and lively conversation. "The dinners were great," said one cruise attendee. "One night I got to watch Frank Miller and Neal Adams get into an argument about Michelangelo and later in the week I talked to Kurt Busiek about Australian history! The coolest night though was when I got to listen to Jeff Smith and Will Eisner talk about cartooning." "I had a fine time at the dinners, " said Groth. "I sat with people I ordinarily wouldn't sit with and I enjoyed talking with the fans, who were generally more 'with-it' and intelligent than the fans you'll meet at an average comic book convention." "The dinners were a nice opportunity to get to know everyone on board," added Winick. "As a fan myself, it was just great to be able to share a meal with Frank Miller, and as an artist it was a lot of fun to meet the readers and find out what they're all about. That, and the desserts were just awesome!" At Sea
No convention would be complete without panels and lectures about the field of comics. Making Waves was no exception, with the days spent at sea filled with noteworthy events in the most luxurious environment comics programming has ever known. Held in the comfortable Cole Porter Room, panelists on stage faced a relaxed audience seated on couches enjoying drinks. The Making Waves panels ran the gamut of comic art concerns. The first panel of the cruise was the noteworthy "Graphic Storytelling: Structuring Narrative In a Visual Medium," a conversation with Eisner, the Hernandez Brothers, and Ware. Each artist shed light on the process of creating comics by discussing their different approaches and common understanding of what comics storytelling is. Later that day Ware and Los Bros were joined by Tomine for "The Long and Short of It: Growing Within Alternative Comix," a discussion of form, development, and voice in comics. Later in the week alternative comics fans were treated to Dorkin, Winick, and Ware mourning "The Death of Comedy in Comics." Other discussions of comic art included "The Superhero with a Thousand Faces," with Busiek, Waid, Nodell, and Dorkin; "Allegories, Myths, and Legends: Fantasy in Comics," with Gaiman, Medley, Russell, Smith, and Thompson, and "Cinema and Comics," a discussion with Adams, Gilbert Hernandez, Eisner, and Pulido. The week's best attended event was undoubtedly the premiere of the long-awaited film by comics legend Neal Adams. Challenging conventional theories about the earth's geological history, the film serves as an introduction to Adams' upcoming graphic novel of science, Two Guys in a Bar, or, A New Model of the Universe. The most unique aspect of the Making Waves programs were the Comics Colloquia. Designed for aspiring comics creators, these focused discussions featured creators offering insight into their own methods and techniques. Smith, the Hernandez Brothers, and Wagner each led colloquia on different aspects of the creative process. "I had a blast at my talk," said Wagner. "I showed how I approached a comics page by asking everyone in the audience to write a panel description, which I then threw into a hat. I pulled out a few panels and drew a page based on those. It was a lot of fun because I got to show how I do what I do and everyone there was really, really into it. That's not the kind of thing that happens at a regular convention." All the programs were well attended and furnished many topics of discussion for dinner and drinks each night. "I think the panels were very good," commented Eisner. "The topics were very well chosen and I think some good things were said. I only wish there were more of them!" Shore Leave
The high points of Making Waves for most everyone were the shore excursions. With ports of call in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas, the Making Waves crew enjoyed relaxing at some of the world's most beautiful beaches. At Puerto Vallarta, most of the crew went to Mismaloya Beach, where John Huston shot the classic film Night of the Iguana. Here our crew, which included Waid, Pulido, Gaiman, Wagner, Winick, Gilbert Hernandez, and others, enjoyed swimming, parasailing, jet-skiing, and other fun activities. Later that day the group headed out to a secluded restaurant in the hills of Puerto Vallarta where they indulged themselves with a superb seafood dinner and swimming in a freshwater stream. The following day the group stopped in Mazatlan where everyone descended on the beach and Gaiman had his now legendary parasailing accident. Following the afternoon in the sun, the crew enjoyed a Mexican feast at a popular restaurant further up the coast. The final shore excursion was a morning in Cabo San Lucas where our crew enjoyed shopping and breakfast before popping back onto the boat. At each port, there was plenty to do for cruisers who didn't feel like spending all their time on the beach. Tours of the Mexican cities and countryside, shopping excursions, and much more was available for getting the most of the time in these fascinating ports of call. Schmoozing and Boozing Each night after dinner, guests and pros made their way over to the bar outside the Cole Porter Room for drinks and chats that would last through the night. Anyone who's ever been to a convention knows that all the best socializing happens in the bar after dinner, and so it was aboard Making Waves. "I think some of the best times were when it was unstructured," said passenger Wendy Jung. "Like after dinner when we all had a couple drinks in us! People got a little less shy and we were able to talk about what we liked and what we don't like. Nobody was censoring themselves then!" "The bar time was great because it's so casual and so easy for everyone to be approached," said Cannon. "Just imagine talking to Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, and Will Eisner about storytelling!" said attendee Dan Merritt. "It was great just being a fly on the wall for some of these conversations." Other overheard discussions included Ware and Dorkin on tacky poolside fashion; Adams and Groth in a heated argument about Jack Kirby; not to mention lots of insider gossiping. The bar time (and all the drinks) led to a sense of common ground that's unusual at conventions. "It almost feels like a meeting of the clans," said Frank Miller. "All these disparate parts of the field that have been so separate and suspicious of one another are just sitting around over drinks and talking. It's refreshing realizing how much we all have in common." Making Waves provided a meeting place between professionals and fans alike and encouraged an interaction more intimate than at any other comics gathering. Jeff Miller summarizes it best, saying "the bar time was the high point for me. Just that chance to spend a good chunk of time with people who share my interest and the creators, artists, and writers in a relaxed setting was what really made this cruise great." Land Ho!
If the 2000 cruise was anticipated with some apprehension, it's looked back upon with nothing but delight. Everyone stepped off the boat feeling rested, refreshed, and newly excited about comics. "I hate to admit it," said known comics curmudgeon Groth, "but I enjoyed pretty much every part of it." "It went a lot better than I thought it would go, particularly since we were a bunch of professionals trapped in a ship with very avid fans!" laughed Eisner. "It turned out that everyone aboard were really first-class, serious people who were well-versed in the medium. On the whole I think it was a splendid idea and ought to be done again. I think it could be a great institution." Gaiman agreed. "I think it's been astonishing. I had fully expected to have to grit my teeth and endure it. If a convention is hard work and something that you have to, to some extent, put up with, I figured that a convention on a ship that you couldn't leave would be that a hundred times. Instead, from the start almost to the end it has been an extraordinary pleasure." "I think it's surpassed expectations," commented Frank Miller. "I didn't know what to expect. Until I actually crossed the gangplank I had no idea what would happen. I ended up having a much better time than I thought I would. More importantly, though, I think this really establishes the Fund as a force. That Gary and Chris were able to put this together and make it succeed I think shows everybody that the Fund is no joke." While Making Waves was a wonderful time for everyone involved, it also served some more serious purposes. Like few other events in the industry, it helped build a real sense of community in comics by bringing together professionals and fans for the best comics vacation one could hope for. Making Waves was an extraordinary opportunity for fans and pros to interact with each other and celebrate why we all love comics. And thanks to the support of the event's many sponsors, all proceeds from the trip benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The money raised by the sale of tickets will help the Fund protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, retailers, publishers, and fans. Making Waves was made possible by the generous support of The Comics Journal, Cartoon Books, Dark Horse Comics, Diamond Comic Distributors, Drawn & Quarterly, NBM Publishing, NextPlanetOver.com, Oni Press, Sirius Entertainment, Slave Labor Graphics, and WonderCon. Special thanks go to Rick Geary for his postcard design, Norman Witty for his contributions to the on-board auction, and Bob Chapman and Gary Groth for all their hard work making the cruise a reality.
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. For additional information, call 413-268-7776 or e-mail the CBLDF staff. 271 Madison Avenue, Suite 1400 Web design and site maintained by Eric Griffith / Squished Frog Productions. |
