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                         Scott McCloud is my homeboy

It's been a week of lectures. Today, Bunny and I drove down to the Miami Book
Fair [1] to attend Scott McCloud's [2] lecture on comic trends [3].

[Scott McCloud by Bunny—she has a much better camera than I] [4]
>

The one thing that struck me about seeing Scott McCloud—his glasses aren't
opaque [5]. Second, he's going grey. Third, he's a funny guy (while waiting
for the technicians to finish up so he could start his lecture, he asked the
audience who was the most forgettable President. No answer was correct
because if you named a President, he wasn't forgettable. Um … perhaps you had
to have been there).

While the topic pretty much covered the territory in his book _Reinventing
Comics_ [6], there was still enough new material to make it fresh, especially
with comics that have come out since the book was published in 2000.

And since he was speaking at a book fair he tended to emphasize the
innovations that were (or needed to) happen in the print media, although he
did touch upon some innovative web comics.

[He included the obligatory three exclaimation points when signing
DESTROY!!!] [7]

(photo by Bunny)


After the lecture, he held a book signing. I brought along copies of
_Understanding Comics_ [8], _Reinventing Comics_ [9] and _Making Comics_
[10], but given the line behind me, I decided to have him sign _DESTROY!!:
The Loudest Comic Book in the Universe!!!_ [11], an oversized comic book he
did in 1986 of two superheroes slugging it out in New York City. He was quite
amused to learn I had a copy of it.

[1] http://www.miamibookfair.com/
[2] http://www.scottmccloud.com/
[3] http://smccloud.livejournal.com/18274.html
[4] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2008/11/15/scott.mccloud.jpg
[5] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2008/11/15/opaque-glasses.jpg
[6] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060953500/conmanlaborat-20
[7] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2008/11/15/scott.and.me.jpg
[8] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006097625X/conmanlaborat-20
[9] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060953500/conmanlaborat-20
[10] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060780940/conmanlaborat-20
[11] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000M14TU4/conmanlaborat-20

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