digest #451

[Don Rosa]

Well, I'm back from my very enjoyable and worthwhile trip to Oslo! I'll
leave it to Nils to report on events when he finds time. But I certainly
thank him over and over again for being the prime driving force in the
publication of my college and fanzine and local-paper comic strips from
20-30 years ago! I am certainly also quite gratified by the many fans who
wanted to see my old work -- I signed books for mail-order customers
(including folks here on the ML) for about 2 hours in the office of the
Tronsmo bookstore there in Oslo, then after bracing myself with a
"Texburger" (more like a Rhode-Island burger by American standards) and a
trip to the WC (so I would not have to stop and leave anyone waiting in
line), I went to the main floor and autographed books and anything else
anyone put in front of me and posed for snapshots for 4 hours nonstop...
after which for another 90 minutes I signed more books for people unable to
visit the store. I don't know if the books will continue to sell as well as
they did that day, but I am certainly gratified by that turn-out.

But if I am going to allow Nils to speak of that week, why do I mention the
7 1/2 hours during which I talked, signed items, posed for pictures and
shook hands, of course all for free? Well, maybe because on returning home
and sitting down to answer all of the 153 e-mails that await me, I find
this Digest with a message from someone whom I assume never knew I was in
the newsgroup to call him the liar that he is, or that he may even have
waited until I left for a week before he tried to slip his lies into view
(anonymously, *and* poorly spelled, I might add, typical for his ilk).

I recall the event at the Oakland Comic Convention vividly -- it was the
ONLY bad experience I've had in my 14 years of appearing at conventions
and signings. It was not last year, but two years ago in 1999. The person
who wrote the message showed up with an equally ill-mannered friend and
after I told them that I was not doing drawings during that show, he
*insisted* it was MY JOB to do everyone who wanted it a full-color original
pen and ink drawing on request on the spot. He demanded it! Needless to
say, it's a total lie that I "wouldn't sign anything,... initial anything,
bless anything or discuss anything".  For two days straight for 6 hours
each day I was signing everything and showing everyone who visited my table
all my works that were on hand, and talking to everyone about the
Barksducks with the passion I always do. But the ONLY thing these two boors
would accept were full-color drawings, something *no* other artist at any
convention has ever done in my experience, but something I *had* previously
done for years (until I saw the drawings turning up on eBay and fetching
hundreds of $ for the people who tricked me out of the labor posing as my
fellow fans). I am not an employee of Disney, nor Egmont, nor of the
Oakland Comic Convention -- I am a freelance artist and what I do at any
point in time is my own choice. As do all conventions, the Oakland
convention billed me as being "in attendance", not as being there to "draw
full-color illustrations for everyone through the door". If I discussed the
*other* unpleasant aspects of my life and times with these two boors, it
was to help them see how they were fitting into that unpleasant list. After
that, they stormed off and I was later told that they confronted the
Convention organizers who told them exactly what I told them, then
*refunded their money* and told them to *leave* due to their behavior. It's
being tossed out of the hall which is what is probably still eating at the
guy after two years, not that I would not become his personal slave for two
hours producing color drawings on demand. Or... perhaps he's still upset
about those lost eBay sales?
Anyway, after these oafs left, I continued to talk and sign items for the
people who were standing there during their display of temper... and I seem
to recall that the witnesses were a ML member and his girlfriend/wife,
though they may be off-line at this time. But other list-members like
Michael Naiman and Eric Chan and perhaps still others were also at that
convention and heard about these two characters from several sources.
But... I guess it's like writing and drawing stories that I know will never
please 100% of everyone all the time. Even though I have never seen anyone
who devotes more labor to fans at conventions, nor can I imagine anybody
else who spends 2 to 4 hours each day answering e-mail from fans, I know
that I will *still* not always make *everybody* happy! (At least it's nice
to notice that the one guy who complains is one of those geniuses who, as
Dan Shane pointed out, can't seem to master the intricate techniques of
correct spelling and punctuation. That's probably something to take pride
in, eh?)