Aliens, monsters, zombies, soldiers, scientists, artists,
actors, writers, rappers, beasts and geeks invaded San Francisco
and it wasn’t for Bay to Breakers or Halloween.
Aliens, monsters, zombies, soldiers, scientists, artists, actors, writers, rappers, beasts and geeks invaded San Francisco and it wasn’t for Bay to Breakers or Halloween.
What compelled close to 40,000 people to swarm the Moscone Center in downtown? WonderCon – a fun, comic book convention held every spring despite the topsy-turvy economy.
At the Charles M. Schulz Museum booth, artists Bob and Vicki Scott signed copies of their graphic novel “Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown” based on the story by Craig Schulz and Stephan Pastis, creator of the comic strip, “Pearls Before Swine.”
Pulitzer Prize winner Berkeley Breathed came to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his comic strip “Bloom County.” He signed copies of his book, “From Bloom County To Mars, The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed.” He also gave a hilarious presentation about his days in the comics industry, including discussion about Nancy Reagan’s Xerox photo in the background in one “Bloom County” strip.
President Ronald Reagan loved it – but Breathed didn’t believe it at first.
“The next morning I get a call, I had just gotten out of the shower … the White House was on the phone,” Breathed said. “And they said, ‘Please hold for Ronald Reagan.’ Which of course you think it’s one of your friends calling you up with a joke. Sure enough he gets on the line … it’s just as if it was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit about the ‘resident calling me. He was so tickled … of seeing a drawing of his beloved in my comic that’s normally savaging him all day long.”
The Reagan Diaries, posted on www.Freerepublic.com, tells the president’s version, ” … In 1985, he writes: ‘I phoned Berkeley Breathed – cartoonist who does ‘Bloom County.’ He obviously thought I was calling to bitch about something; I called to thank him for the Sunday strip where he had Nancy in the strip looking lovely.”
Subsequently, Breathed was invited to the White House for dinner.
Members of the casts of Fox’s “Breaking In” – a new comedy about a security firm written by Adam Goldberg – and BBC America’s “Dr. Who” delighted everyone at WonderCon. “Dr. Who” is about a time lord who travels through dimensions, time and space in a blue police box called the TARDIS. Actor Mark Sheppard, who works on “Supernatural”, came with director Toby Haynes and writer Neil Gaiman.
“It’s a dream of a lifetime,” Sheppard said. “It’s a show I grew up with as many of its incarnations primarily Pertwee and Baker and now, you know, Matt Smith is my doctor. That’s the bottom line … We’re fans of ‘Dr. Who’.”
Christian Slater who plays the main character, Oz, on “Breaking In” is also a science fiction fan.
“I was sort of over the moon at the opportunity to meet and shake the hand of the guy who played the Gorn in the ‘Star Trek, Arena’ episode,” Slater said. “It was a big deal for me to get that signature. They charged me $20.”
“I’m a nerd,” said Alphonso McAuley, who plays Cash in ‘Breaking In.’ “If I’m a minimal fanboy then (Cash) is like Defcon 5 fanboy. He is definitely like a ‘Stars Wars’ dude. He knows it back and forth. He can even speak Jabba The Hut’s language Odi ba ha!”
Meeting creative talent stationed at their tables was enlightening.
Matt Gallagher talked about the Hero Initiative – a nonprofit to help retired comic book artists and writers in financial need. The group partnered with the Cartoon Museum in downtown to raise funds with host Breathed Saturday.
Although held in San Francisco, WonderCon had local connections.
“My great-grandfather was Massey Thomas and they named a road after him in Gilroy,” said Chris Perguidi, co-collaborator with Allen Angel of “Hero Town.” “Apparently, Wendy Pini who was a really famous comic book artist in the ’80s and me share a great-grandfather. … Interestingly enough, it was ‘Elf Quest’ (that got me into comics) because I grew up in Gilroy and Wendy Pini was from Gilroy. So they had, in the library, all the ‘Elf Quest’ books. I’m from Gilroy too, maybe I could do comic books.”
Richard and Wendy Pini, the world-renowned creators of ‘Elf Quest’, were at WonderCon too. Wendy talked about her days as an artist in Gilroy in 1969.
“It was tough; it was a trial by fire because I was one of the weirdoes, one of the different ones, artistic, imaginative. The school system was very conservative, very oriented toward sports and not that encouraging of the arts,” she said. “It made me tougher and made me stand up to criticism. I left Gilroy as quickly as I could to get into the world. Now, I take every opportunity I can to encourage young women who want to get into the business. But I always let them know this is going to be tough. You can’t expect the world to take care of your feelings and emotions. It’s going to be as hard on you as it is on the guys.”
Wendy Pini lives in New York and Los Angeles, but said she would like to visit Gilroy again someday.
“I would be delighted to come back to talk to high school students and answer any questions and encourage them in any way I can.”
