Scott Who?

Not ever having any real schooling I find myself in my day to day discussions
about art falling back on the principles put forth in Understanding
Comics. My wife says I’ve had a longer relationship with Scott that
I have with her, because I’ve been waving his book around from before
the time we met.

Thanks to an invite from Erika
Moen (she’s very well connected) I had the opportunity to see Scott
lecture in person, to meet him, go to dinner with him, show him around my office
take him to the airport. It would be an insult to call it an honor, there has
to be a better word. I am so prone to quoting McCloud in discussions of art
and comics that I had to continually catch myself as to not quote him, to him.

And he’s just like he is in the comic. Not in appearance, his hair was
not a solid mass of black and I would imaging that his Zot! T-shirt must be
getting pretty worn after 10 years, but the way he casually puts forth ideas
make you think about things you hadn’t and re-thing the things you had
was exactly the same.

The dinner was the first night was fun, I got to meet Kip
Manley and Jen Manley Lee who are
just cool. Barry Deutsch was vibrating
with energy. Erika was sweet, and need I say my wife was breathtaking?
She was. I got to hear lots of cool stories, hear inside scoops and most of
all got to sit around waxing geek with people I like and respect. Here, Claire
took this picture:

The next day Scott hung out after his Microsoft lecture and after listening
to the fascinating Bill
Hill talk about the future of computers, displays, graphics and storytelling.
I then volunteered to show Scott around my work, Fasa
Studios before his flight.

Even though most people weren’t in, it still was fun to show up to my
friends offices with Scott and Erika in tow.

Jose: “Paolo, Scott McCloud is in your office, how do you feel about that?”

Mark: “You’re Scott McCloud, I know you hear this all the time but
your book is brilliant. Mine is in two pieces on the bottom of my back pack
covered in pears, but it’s brilliant.”

And so forth.

Afterwards we dropped off Erika and went to the airport where I got to ask
geeky questions about the justice league and hear first hand about the ending
to Zot!.

I couldn’t have asked for a better time than that.