SDCC, Day 2

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Came in too late at night and too tired to post last night.

Kicked off the day with the Black Panel overseen by Michael Davis. A year or so ago I was on the Gay Panel which led some people in the audience to assume I was gay. I find myself wondering if people in the audience will conclude I’m black. For the most part, it was a tribute to the memory of Dwayne McDuffie (who I hadn’t realized until Michael put up the birth/death dates had died one day after his birthday). A very emotional panel that was a celebration of a creative guy’s life.

X-Men panel followed that went, I thought, pretty well.

Various business meetings followed by the panel with Al Collins for the International Media Tie-In Writers. I was given their Grandmaster award, which they call the Faust–named not after the Marlowe character, but writer Frederick Faust who wrote under the name Max Brand. (One must admit the Faust sounds more compelling than the Max, the Brand, or the Fred.)

Hit several parties in the evening. A young and, I think, slightly liquored up young lady draped herself on me at one point, I think mostly to see if she could disconcert me. At the party for Penguin publishing, ran into editor Ginjer Buchanan, writing king of the convention George R.R. Martin, and the ever lovely Amber Benson. Moved on to the Marvel party where I chatted with a wrestler named Fallen Angel, Todd and Dawn Nauck (the latter of whom seemed jazzed by my having disguised myself as the Green Hornet at Wonder Con), and the ever lovely Jewel Staite who I didn’t even know was attending.

Meanwhile my cell phone chose this weekend to completely break down. Brought it to an AT&T store where, after careful examination, they informed me that my cell phone had completely broken down. So, y’know, that’s great.

PAD

15 comments on “SDCC, Day 2”

  1. AT&T: Masters of the obvious.

    Not being critical (I use their DSL), just poking fun at ’em.

    Thanks for the updates from SDCC!

  2. …Frederick Faust who wrote under the name Max Brand.
    .
    And about thirteen other names, too.They could have called it the “Challis”, too.
    .
    (“Max Brand” was for Westerns – Destry Rides Again, for instance – and, for some reason, Doctor Kildare; “George Challis” for Renaissance adventures, etc.)
    .
    The only pulp writer whose works i’ve encountered who was both (apparently) more prolific and (definitely) a better writer than Lester Dent.
    .
    I love this summation from Wikipedia:

    When World War II broke out, Faust insisted on doing his part, and despite being well into middle age and having a heart condition, he managed to become a front line war correspondent. Faust was quite famous, and the soldiers enjoyed having this popular author among them. While traveling with American soldiers as they battled in Italy in 1944, Faust was mortally wounded by shrapnel. He was personally commended for bravery by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
    .
    Faust managed a massive outpouring of fiction, rivaling Edgar Wallace and Isaac Asimov as one of the most prolific authors of all time. He wrote more than 500 novels for magazines and almost as many stories of shorter length. His total literary output is estimated to have been between 25,000,000 and 30,000,000 words. Most of his books and stories were turned out at breakneck rate, sometimes as quickly as 12,000 words in the course of a weekend. New books based on magazine serials or previously unpublished works continue to appear, so that Faust has averaged a new book every four months for seventy-five years. Beyond this, some work by him is newly reprinted every week of every year, in one format or another, somewhere in the world.

      1. John Creasey used to do his first drafts at sixty words per minute..
        .
        L.Ron Hubbard kept three electric typewriters (when electrics were a new and expensive thing) loaded with a mystery a Western and an SF story on a desk, when he got cold on one, he’d switch to another.
        .
        The afore-mentioned Lester Dent wrote all but something like fifteen of the 181 Doc Savage “novels” … and one “Shadow” one.
        .
        Henry Kuttner and C.L.Moore kept several typewriters, often with partially-written stories in them. One would work on a story until they became cold and leave it; the other would come along, sit down and begin writing from there. Often, after the story was finished and published, neither could say with certainty which had written what parts or even how much of it.

  3. But Pad,
    Was Kathleen desperately trying to phone you on your cel, while it went bye-bye? I mean, that is when MY phone usually decides to die… 😉

    Charlie

    1. Your phone usually decides to die when Kathleen’s desperately trying to call you, Charlie? Is there something you need to tell us? 😉

  4. And tonight’s the last X-Sanguin party, X-Sanguin-X: Last Call. If you’re into hot girls in gothy zombie-apocalyptic outfits (and really, who isn’t), it’s-a going to be a good one. Goes from 10pm ’til 4am.

  5. Very cool that you got to chat with Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels, he’s been a favorite wrestler of mine for several years. You’d be surprised how many wrestlers are comic book fans (or maybe not, since they’re pretty close to real-life superheroes as it is).

      1. Steroids and surgery, baby. Key to a super soldier every time, but don’t forget the VitaRays!

      2. BTW, what is it with formulas, potions, etc. that can’t just make someone stronger but instead have to enhance all aspects of what they are? Is it a way to pretend he’s not just taking steroids here? (“Remember, kids, just say no to performance-enhancing drugs.” Brought to you by the 90-pound weakling who became a literal superhero thanks to a drug that enhanced his performance.”)

        And I liked CAPTAIN AMERICA, even if it was as simplistic as the propoganda movie within the movie. (Good guys — yay! Nazis, I mean Hydra — booooo!)

    2. OH MY GOD YOU GOT TO MEET DANIELS!!!!

      Ok, better now. Meeting him would almost be as cool as meeting PAD 🙂

  7. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to think when PAD said Fallen Angel immediately went to… oh Christopher Daniels, cool.

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