So, after years of wanting to go, I finally went to the San Diego Comic Con. A trip that was to be a "dream come true" for my family and I. Needles to say, it was sensory overload from day one....and WAAAAYYYY more waiting in line than I EVER wanted to do. One of the things I was MOST looking forward to was meeting some of the artists whose work I admire. One I was really looking forward to meeting was Adam Hughes. I had amassed quite a collection of his work & I was excited for the opportunity to see him.

   His booth was easy to spot: the giant image of the White Queen (as rendered by Mr. Hughes) looking seductively at me from across the exhibit hall. I waited in line, patiently & while doing so, noticed that Mr. Hughes was wearing an arm brace and had a sign up stating he wasn’t signing! I was disappointed & felt badly for him but, I still had a chance to meet him in person! I browsed a few items on the table as I waited. Spent $10 or so on an art book, featuring Catwoman on the cover, which Mr. Hughes had graciously signed beforehand.

   After a bit more waiting, I finally had an opportunity to approach and I said hello, expressed how much I admired his work and attempted to thank him for all of the wonderful art he has created. To my surprise, I received barely a nod & he turned away from me as I was talking. I was stunned! Here I was, attempting to express my gratitude to, in my opinion at the time, one of the greatest comic artists of all time & he blew me off. Now, I suppose if there had been a mob at the table at the time OR, if I had been rambling on and on, I could see him having this reaction. I said THREE sentences to the man. Something to the effect of "Hi. Just wanted to tell you how much I admire your work and I wanted to thank you for the amazing art that you have created!" I think I lost him around "Hi".

    Needless to say, I was disappointed. I understand that he is a busy guy and probably has a lot on his plate but, I was to understand that he was at Comic Con to promote himself & create awareness of his work. The only thing I was made aware of is that he was kind of a jerk. I don’t know, I guess I expected him to behave as some of the other artists had, such as Adam Kubert, Bryan Hitch, Franchescio and Scott Campbell (who was nice enough to walk down the line at the Marvel booth to sign autographs when some interview with a WWE clown was holding up the start of the signing). Just an acknowledgement that I was talking to him would have been nice. Heck, the guy could have even said SOMETHING. “Thanks” would have been MORE than enough.

     After leaving Mr. Hughes booth, I think I gave my $10 book to a guy who was sitting at the table, where my wife was waiting for me & when I cam home, I began selling much of my AH! merchandise on eBay. I'll probably keep some that I really like but I certainly won't be collecting his work with the same enthusiasm as I once did...if at all.

If you've been reading the bios I have been writing or editing lately, you may have noticed that I don't write bios of writers...only artists or artist/writers. There is a reason for this. Namely, that I find folks who are exclusively writers are rarely at a loss for words when it comes to talking about themselves, their projects, their opinions...whatever. Artists are generally not like this. They tend to be a quieter breed who do not have an answer for everything.

Beside the fact that Adam is a friend of mine, I'm afraid I resent the fact that you assume that he was ignoring you. Haven't you ever been tired or distracted when you were in a crowd of 100,000 people? San Diego Comic-Con is hardly a cakewalk when you are one of the exhibitors. Believe me, I've been there. And the utter rudeness of many of the members of the public who attend is staggering. So if a certain artist, who is pretty shy by nature in the first place, is having a bad day, don't take it personally. It is not fun to be an artist when someone commissions a drawing, you spend two hours on it, and then the person decides it's not good enough and wants to pay less. This is the kind of stuff that happens all the time at these large conventions.

Rx

Slight problem with that: Adam Hughes is a writer. He's written the odd issue here and there, and is writing All Star Wonder Woman. But maybe he's just a quiet, shy guy?

Yeah, he kinda writes...but I'm talking about WRITERS...guys who write all the time. Guys with really big mouths who never shut up. :) :) :)

Guys who I avoided calling on the phone long distance back in the day because I'd end up paying 30 bucks on a single call. Grrrr...

Rx