Before you read this comic, please know that I’m only portraying a very small portion of interactions I’ve had with people at conventions. For the most part, I really enjoy meeting my readers and I am very, very appreciative of 95% of them. I would not have a career if it weren’t for you guys. I know in the past (and hopefully always) I have made fun of comments and interactions, but I’m aware that they’re only a small portion of the audience and I certainly do not mean to be disparaging toward my audience as a whole. I love you nerds. Even some of the actions portrayed below are just accidentally awkward and I don’t include those folks amongst the other 5% who are interent trolls who can go fuck themselves.
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, if I met you at a convention I’d furnish you with cookies and (superior) UK chocolate then beg you for a sketch
(I’m shameless)
The last few times at SPX I haven’t gone up and said hello, perhaps to avoid these kinds of encounters. I think really I don’t want to bother you while you’re “working.” So if you make it again this year, I’ll say hello.
love this comic
I’ll have my first table at a comic show in two weeks (It’s CAKE, I’ll actually be across the aisle from you). I’m glad these are the exceptions rather than the rule. Still, I’m kind of worried how I would react to people like this. Is hot coffee in the face acceptable in these kinds of situations?
If I met you at a convention, I’d worship you and start a new religion: Juliawertzology! Meetings on sundays would be named “Fart Parties”. You are a genius! A beautiful, beautiful genius!!
gross
lol, people always say I look sad and upset when I’m not. Sometimes I feel pretty happy and get that…anyways, these are hilarious (to me), as usual
An angry face at rest. I know what that’s like. “is something wrong? Are you okay? Are you mad about something?” and blah blah blah blah blah etc.
Word up, cosign, retweet and all that.
I heart you, Julia.
I heart you too, Mari! miss you!
As a fellow sufferer of Permanent Bitch Face, I feel your pain.
haha permanent bitch face. I wish I’d said that and then put it in the comic.
I have a default angry face of my own, and causes me a lot of grief at conventions.
Love this… you have my sympathies, cos I’ve been there over the last 25 years. Can’t believe no one asked you if you knew where Jim Lee was. That’s the question that stands out for me. After a while, you just smile and say, this is what I get from leaving my family to meet the public.
I also suffer from PBF, especially when I have to wash dishes.
Real talk.
I’ve had similar reactions to my art pieces I sell at art fairs and such. People will walk over to the booth and say, “Wow, this is terrible…” to which I actually said, “yeah you’re right…so put it down so I can burn it when I get home.” My favorite line is “Oh…I could make that…” to which I ALWAYS say, “Probably. But you didn’t and you won’t.”
My last encounter:
Lady: “Are YOU Terry Tyson?”
Me: “Yes, pleased to meet you!”
Lady: “I loved that class you taught at Artfest last year.”
Me: “Hmmm, I didn’t teach last year…”
Lady: “Yes you did…and it was GREAT!”
Me: “I’m glad you liked the class, but I didn’t teach or even attend last year.”
Lady: “Ha-Ha…And I loved that BOOK you wrote last year, too.”
Me: “Ahhh, maybe you’re thinking of Terry Taylor? He taught last year and his book did come out last year. You sure you’re not thinking of Terry Taylor.”
Lady: “NO – IT WAS YOU!!!”
Me: “OK, really glad you liked that class and that book. I liked it, too.”
Lady: “Well, it was an honor to meet you. I’m really a big fan.”
Me: “Thanks. That’s very kind of you.”
She leaves for about 15 minutes and then comes back.
Lady: “You’re right. It was Terry Taylor. Never mind. I really like HIS work.”
She turned in a huff, looking at me as if I was selling kiddie porn.
NOTE: I’m old and instantly grumpy over this kind of thing. My patience is as thin as rice paper at times. I swear I could steal their rings and wallets while standing there because I apparently am able to be completely invisible to this yahoos. Keep up the awesome work, J. You’ve got an old and long time fan here. Cheers, lady.
Andrew has permanent cranky face. He’s the only man who gets other men telling him to smile.
My worst con conversation: Ages ago, a Diamond rep came up to my table at APE and recognized Narbonic because we’d submitted it for solicitation. He recalled that Diamond had rejected it, flipped through it, then said, “It must be because of the content.”
That was pretty much the end of my wanting anything to do with Diamond ever.
When I get around to it I still intend to do a comic for my book about the time I talked to you after a panel at NYCC that I went to to hear you talk about your comics, and then… uh… oh god. What happened there… I… I forgot? Dagnabbit this is what happens when you wait two years to do a comic about something -_-
Anyhow I just remember that after we chatted I started to leave and I heard you say something to someone there along the lines of “Well, I just came off sounding like a huge bitch”, which made me raise an eyebrow because I didn’t think you did.
Am I the only one that’s actually met you at a convention? I met you at the Columbia U. expo thing, and I even bought your book. You won me over when, in explaining why the slides you brought for your panel showed your studio and not your work, you said “obviously, I didn’t understand the assignment”.
I felt like a total dick when that happened at Columbia. They told us to send in slides of our workspace, so I did! and then I guess no one else did and it was weird when my slides came up. I’m glad it went over okay though.
Ha Ha Ha ha!
Panel 6 is a killer! that’s friggin’ hilarious!
Hee hee!
SO TRUE!!!! Some of my personal favorites are “you look angry right now” or “so is this a comic book or something?” as well as “I’ve been reading comics since you were in diapers!!” and I can’t forget the perennial “oh I don’t have any money on me but if I did I would totally buy something!!” (to which I always wonder “why did you come to a #$%^ing comics expo if you don’t have any money to spend on comics?!?!?!?!”).
Julia, I don’t care what anyone says, you *are* a beautiful, special person and your art and attitude bring joy to many many people. I know, fat chance of me convincing you of that, but it had to be said. I hope happiness finds you every day, but I do fear it might soften some of your edge.
Small price to pay, though. I don’t imagine you’ll ever become an all-kittens-all-the-time sort of artist, no matter how happy you get. Just keep doing what you’re doing and know that lots of us appreciate it, and you.
I lost my “edge” a long time ago, when I stopped being a 23 year old asshole
I’ll never forget I was working on a movie with Adam Sandler, and at one point, all these people swarmed him for autographs. There were three girls who got right to the front, all ecstatic to see him, and then one them looks him dead in the eye and blurts out, “Hey Adam! You suck!” Adam was like, “what the fuck,” the other girls were like “how could you do that??”, and the main girl was like, “calm down, it’s funny!” I guess it’s weird when you’re a public figure, because people think they know you, yet are so frequently wrong.
You didn’t lose your edge, you suddenly started whining about the pain and suffering of being offered tv deals. Plus, you draw people with creepy tiny heads for the past few months. What happened to you?? We used to love you..
I always hated you so now we’re even. And if you know about my issues with the TV stuff, that means you hate-listened to me talk for an hour on a podcast. that must have sucked for you
I think that guy in panel 3 is disappointed cause he got his satchel jacked by julia.
oops, thanks for catching that!
You should know that no one at Columbia thought you were a total dick. And I speak for the ENTIRE UNIVERSITY.
You were just as funny and smart and engaging as your work led me to believe you’d be, and you can show slides of any damn thing you want, as far as I’m concerned.
*erhm*
@Karen
Being told that you are not a “total dick” is something of a mixed compliment…
Adam Sandler is not that funny. I’m sure he is a nice person with human problems though.
Hmm, I’m sorry for your horrible con experiences. We’re dealing with a population laced with apathetic inducing substances, social platforms that tend to remove any kind of social etiquette and we work in an industry that for the states is a club house for a large population of outcast and socially inept children in adult bodies. That and i think women in comics get the crap end of the stick,.. Maybe its that sort of psychological thing where people looking down at someone at a table creates the opposite affect of someone being on a stage. Which is why i tend to stand up every once in a while at conventions. it mashes up their paradigms . Or maybe its not that at all. maybe people suck. Not all of them. But a lot of them. They suck and they happen to read your comics. Either way, i’m sorry just the same. Maybe its because i have dress and they equate that with islands and machete justice, that i’ve never had anyone say anything like that to me before….or maybe i need to do more cons….
Or dear.. forgive the typos… i’ve not had coffee .
Here’s your problem: almost every comment here has the word “I” in it. No one’s talking about YOU! The internet is ripe with self-aggrandizement.
I met Julia at the Mocca con in….2010…I think. Anyway, I thought because I make a supplementary income as a writer I’d be beyond geeking out at cons, but I really have to work at it. With Julia, I choked and couldn’t stop myself from sounding like an ass.
Do you really have that banner?
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