The Fans Speak!
Actual interviews with actual Comic-Con attendees!
Miguel & Erlina Vasconcellos
Erlina, do you read comic books also?
(with niece Sydney and nephew Kenny)
Erlina: I read maybe two comic books a year, but I love the illustrators. He has a sketchbook and I like watching the artists do their thing.
Give us the basics.. Miguel: The first Comic-Con I went to was in 1998. I collect comic books. I’ll give anything Warren Ellis tries a go, I’ve liked a lot of Mark Millar’s stuff, Joss Whedon’s X-Men, but I’m not a massive super-hero fan. What I buy is more Vertigo and independent stuff. Erlina: I started coming because of [Miguel] in ‘98. It’s like Christmas for him, so I come and watch. I missed one year because we were getting married, so I was busy. But he came anyway. Miguel: (quickly adding): I came the Friday. You made me come. She said it was okay. Erlina: (laughing): I did say it was okay. Miguel:: Being here for the day was like the equivalent of my bachelor party. Did you get married Comic-Con weekend? Erlina: We did, but we did not get married at the Con. Or in costume. Miguel: We didn’t even have the Star Wars theme playing. Photo by Barry Brown.
Does your sketchbook have a theme? Miguel: The Bride from Kill Bill. She’s in a tracksuit. I do have a separate sketchbook because I don’t know that I could ask someone like Andy Runton, who does [children’s graphic novel] Owly, to draw the Bride for me. That would be kind of weird. One of the cooler things is when you wander the aisles in the Small Press or Independent [Comics] Sections and you find these people that you’ve never heard of, whose art is just incredible, and they’re totally cool about going with the theme that I have in my book. What’s one of your favorite events from this year’s convention? Miguel: Meeting Jim Rugg. He did one of my favorite comic book characters, Street Angel, and he was at the Slave Labor booth. He did this great sketch of Street Angel as the Bride, which was awesome, but I also got a separate commission from him as well. [Before Comic-Con] I was on Heidi MacDonald’s blog and she posted that he was taking commissions, which I wouldn’t have known otherwise. So I contacted him and he seemed fairly excited. It’s on an 8x10” board and it’s probably one of the best Bride pieces that I’ve gotten at this point. Winter 2008 • Comic-Con Magazine 37