See two posts down for my shameless fan-wanking and her lovely response.
(The illustration above is the work of Jeffery Brown.)
This is not the first time I have had friendly communication with comic folk I admire. Back in my Chicago days I had occasion to run into Jeffery Brown fairly often. He works (on his comics) at a neighborhood coffee shop near the former apartments of both my sister and brother-in-law. At the time I refrained from speaking to the man, because who likes dealing with strangers when you are trying to enjoy a frothy cappuccino?
The first time Tony and I spoke to Mr. Brown was at our first Comic Con. I was in a tizzy because I had just burst a blood vessel in my right eye due to stress. I was lamely promoting my own stuff and I have a horrible pants-wetting fear of self promotion. Hence the gory eyeball.
Anywhoodle, I met the man while he was signing books at the Top Shelf booth. From the look on his face he had clearly heard the same comments all damn day long. Truly he looked like he might kill for a nap. He was very polite and drew us a nice sketch.
The next time we saw him was at a quieter signing in Evanston IL at The Comix Revolution. Mr. Brown was kind enough to show us the new book he was working on "Cat Getting Out of a Bag". We bought his book "Every Girl is the End of the World for Me." for my sister-in-law Becky. We mentioned that she is single and he drew a picture of himself having his broken heart pulled out of his chest by a pretty girl (like Becky).
My craziest fan feelings are directed at the work of Alison Bechdel who wrote the highly acclaimed "Fun Home" and the great series "Dykes to Watch out For". She is a real master of the genre. She's been following the ongoing political drama of our country for decades through the eyes of regular folks just living their lives.
Tony and I went to a reading and signing of her memoir "Fun Home" at Women & Children First last summer.
You know that crippling self-promotional fear I mentioned earlier? I also suffer from bowel dissolving "meeting people I admire" anxiety. Beloved Husband however is the exact opposite. He asks intelligent questions of admirable people at every opportunity life presents to him. Tony once attended a lecture by Stanley Fish and was horrified that no one asked any questions, thus he vowed always to make the effort to fully participate in Q&A. This is one of the things I love about my guy.
So here are two versions of meeting Allison Bechdel:
Tony walks up to Ms. Bechdel and says "Your comics helped me realize that I am a liberal even though I respect and admire my friends and family who are largely conservative." She responded that his comment was more touching than folks who tell her that her comics helped them come out!
I am looking for the bathroom and run smack into Ms. Bechdel. We do the back and forth silent "Excuse me, no excuse ME" dance for a while. Finally I stop moving and look down at my shoes in shame until she passes.
Don't judge me. I have problems.
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