Making Love

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Although Thor wasn’t out until next year, 2017, Tom and Chris had to attend San Diego Comic Con to promote it. Those who weren’t required for filming on Avengers 3 also went, even although that was two years away, in 2018.

In total it was Tom, Chris H, Mark, Jeremy, Scarlett and Clark, plus Kevin Feige and one of the writers of Ragnarok, Craig Kyle.

Dr Strange was out in a couple of months, and Guardians two was even sooner, so their casts were there as well and they took precedence over us (well, I say ‘us’, I mean ‘Tom and the Thor/Avengers cast’).

As well as a panel, there was some early footage from Thor Rganarok, signings and many interviews to be given throughout three days.

Because of the travelling, I was happy to stay at home but Tom convinced me to go. Apparently there’s nothing like the atmosphere of a convention and he said that, among my fellow geeks, I would feel right at home.

Although most comic conventions had been hijacked my science fiction and fantasy movies, there were still comic artists and writers present, some of whom are my idols, so once he’d showed me the guest list, I was pretty easy to convince.

I’d got into comic books via the 90s X-Men cartoon but as I got older, I’d branched out into less mainstream fare, such as Chew, Fables, and the Walking Dead (sure, everyone knows of it now, but the original comic was ground-breaking).

I had only illustrated a handful of comic series myself, usually short 6 to 24 book runs from independent publishers, and they were all far too small to be showcased at a convention of this size, but I wondered if I’d find a few issues in the dealer’s rooms. My favourite of the comic’s I’d illustrated was Watchers, about an agency set up to police superheroes who had become corrupt over the years but of course, the watchers themselves were open to corruption over time too, and then who watches the watchers? So maybe not the most original premise, but the writer’s wicked and at times, macabre sense of humour made it my favourite to draw.

We didn’t have much time in the city, just four nights, and exploring the city was out as the cast had events to attend, but Tom said he should be able to show me one or two of his favourite restaurants in the evenings, but he warned me that the parties were so good, I might not want to go far.

I was happy to just go with the flow.

When we arrived, I asked about the possibility of purchasing a day pass to see some of the panels but as well as a back stage pass so I could be with Tom, I was given an access all areas pass for free. I felt a bit bad about being given a ticket but they waved off any offers to reimburse them, so I decided to give the money I would have paid to The Hero Initiative, which provides help to comic writers and illustrators who are unable to afford medical bills and have other quality of life issues.

It’s unfortunate but many of the people who created the world’s most iconic characters, even ones that are still the mainstay of today’s comic books, had to sign away the rights to their creations as a condition of being hired, and the big comic book companies have essentially washed their hands of these people because legally, they can.

That’s not such an issue in the UK, we tend to take free healthcare, benefits and other assistance for granted. Then you read about one of the creators of Rocket Raccoon, who was left brain damaged after a hit and run accident 20 years ago and has been living in poverty ever since, cared for by family, even although his creation is one of the most popular characters in cinema at the moment. Bradley Cooper, who voiced Rocket, probably got ten times more money than the man who actually created him.