GHOST ZERO BLOG

Or, the curious tale of how a small artist came to Chicago.

I had no intention of going to the Wizard World Con at Chicago this year.  That is, until artist Doug Klauba read his copy of “Ghost Zero: Ghosts with Guns!” and decided that I had to come.  Doug is a prince of a fella.  No kidding.  I was constantly amazed that he had clothes on, because he would literally give you the shirt off his back, if needed.  Anyway, Doug thought that I needed to show GZ around to some publishers and get professionally published, so up I went.

The maps on Google and Yahoo will tell you that Chicago is a little over a 7 hour drive from where I live in Kentucky.  Those maps know nothing about Chicago traffic, or construction detours, which actually make the trip a butt-bruising 9-hour trek.  Needless to say, when I rolled into Rosemont, just outside of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, my brain (and butt) was mush.  I closed my eyes for a few minutes in the hotel room, and after calling Doug, walked down to the convention center and into Wizard World itself.

Now, I hadn’t been to a major Con since GenCon in 1993, and I was totally unprepared at how big the con was, how noisy, colorful, and chaotic it would be.  It was like falling into a box of cracker jacks…a bit overwhelming at first, but sooo sweet.  After the shock of seeing that everyone..EVERYONE..had a t-shirt with an image on the front, (in all fairness, I did too, the first day) I felt completely at home.

The experience of going from pretty much total isolation as a comic creator to being plunged into a mix of hundreds was very similar to the experience that Harry Potter must have had when we arrived at Hogwarts for the first time (thus the clever title of this post).  I honestly felt in my element and could go up to anyone to strike up a conversation.  I met some fantastic guys..Mike, Jason, Adam, Aaron, David….most of whom were hanging out in artist row behind the Tranfuzion and General Jack Cosmo booth….and I finally got to meet Doug Klauba himself.

(This pic catches Doug in mid-punch to my mid-section)

Everyone at the con was very corteous and friendly, and I actually had the really cool experience of having a couple of people walk up to me and say “Hey!  You’re the guy that writes Ghost Zero?”, which was phenomenally cool.  Everyone who saw the GZ poster and comic was really blown away.

And, of course, there were the publishers.  The big change for me with this Con as opposed to previous ones is that I really felt more like an insider and less like a fanboy on the prowl for a sympathetic publisher, which is great.  I had serious discussions with a couple of publishers, Moonstone books and Ape Entertainment, both of whom publish some great, pulp material, and both of them bringing different things to the table as publishers.  I’ll have more conversations with each of them this week as I make my way to a decision about which place would be a good home for Ghost Zero.  Either way I go, I really can’t make major moves until I have the “Vigilante Crypt” story arc complete…which will be sometime next year.  I mean, no matter how cool your concept is, it all comes down to the goods….which comes down to the discipline of working every day.  After taking a break doing coloring work, I plunged back into the comic pages last night, and it felt good.  Seeing all of the fantastic art at the Con was just what I needed to pump up the inspiration batteries.

So, now that the Con is over, what’s different?  Well, I can tell you that I’ll definitely be doing more large Cons.  Meeting with the people is fantastic, and I honestly had a hard time saying goodbye to some of them.  I think it’s good for me as an artist to see others and be seen.  Also, I’ll continue conversations with the publishers until something is settled.  A relationship with a publisher is like any kind of relationship…both parts have to be comfortable with each other.  I also have to reconsider serializing on the web.  If I’m going into print, I should focus on that.  Not to say that I won’t be giving regular peeks at what’s going on with the books.  And, of course, the constant is work on the comic.  The Ghost Zero story is literally huge…there’s so much to tell….and none of it happens without sitting down every night to draw out another page.

So, that’s how Wizard World was to me. 

-Dave