BEA, Marvel, and conversations

I went to BEA with Peter yesterday. He had a few pieces of business to conduct and I had a few people I wanted to see. I have been to both ABA and BEA and I have to say it was pretty quiet over all. On Saturday it was easy to walk around and look at the booths when it use to be very crowded. I asked some people I know who have been going to this for more than 20 years and they said it was one of the quietest ones they had seen. It is like the industry is holding its breath. There were many fewer give aways and not many book bags for free. And a lot of the ARCs for the bigger companies were being handed out as e-books. You were given a post card with the site of the manuscript and a code to download it. This did not sit well with some booksellers as the murmurings went.

The real reason we were there was at Marvel’s invitation to join them at their booth to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Marvel comics. They had very nice muchies and a bar with booze so the event was well attended. I said hi to various people I know at Marvel and caught up with some other people who were there as well. I ended up with Peter, Glenn, and Chris Claremont talking about comics and movies and comic book movies and Star Trek.

I am standing there discussing some comics I have been reading with Chris when my brain geeked on me. I thought, “I am standing here talking to Chris Claremont about X-men and the industry. Wow! Sometimes my life is so cool.” I started reading Chris’s run on the X-men back when he was the only writer of X-men. I had Giant sized x-men #1 and all the ones the followed. I was a fan of Chris’s work and his name was enough for me to give sometime a try and he didn’t disappoint me.

I had met Chris a couple of times over the years at various conventions. It was neat to me but just another con person to him which as it should be. Usually the fans well remember are the ones that annoy and stick out in the mind as “oh yeah you” when met again. Peter introduced us at a Marvel Christmas party when Peter and I first started dating. Chris and I hit it off and I spent a chunk of the evening with Peter and Chris discussing all kinds of subjects. After that he remembered who I was and we always have nice chats about this, that and the other. Wind Peter and him up and you are off to the races with fascinating conversation.

I am grateful that I know Chris.

BEA, Marvel, and conversations

I went to BEA with Peter yesterday. He had a few pieces of business to conduct and I had a few people I wanted to see. I have been to both ABA and BEA and I have to say it was pretty quiet over all. On Saturday it was easy to walk around and look at the booths when it use to be very crowded. I asked some people I know who have been going to this for more than 20 years and they said it was one of the quietest ones they had seen. It is like the industry is holding its breath. There were many fewer give aways and not many book bags for free. And a lot of the ARCs for the bigger companies were being handed out as e-books. You were given a post card with the site of the manuscript and a code to download it. This did not sit well with some booksellers as the murmurings went.

The real reason we were there was at Marvel’s invitation to join them at their booth to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Marvel comics. They had very nice muchies and a bar with booze so the event was well attended. I said hi to various people I know at Marvel and caught up with some other people who were there as well. I ended up with Peter, Glenn, and Chris Clairmont talking about comics and movies and comic book movies and Star Trek.

I am standing there discussing some comics I have been reading with Chris when my brain geeked on me. I thought, “I am standing here talking to Chris Clairmont about X-men and the industry. Wow! Sometimes my life is so cool.” I started reading Chris’s run on the X-men back when he was the only writer of X-men. I had Giant sized x-men #1 and all the ones the followed. I was a fan of Chris’s work and his name was enough for me to give sometime a try and he didn’t disappoint me.

I had met Chris a couple of times over the years at various conventions. It was neat to me but just another con person to him which as it should be. Usually the fans well remember are the ones that annoy and stick out in the mind as “oh yeah you” when met again. Peter introduced us at a Marvel Christmas party when Peter and I first started dating. Chris and I hit it off and I spent a chunk of the evening with Peter and Chris discussing all kinds of subjects. After that he remembered who I was and we always have nice chats about this, that and the other. Wind Peter and him up and you are off to the races with fascinating conversation.

I am grateful that I know Chris.