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Well, the Act-i-vate party was all that and a bag of chips. Everyone showed up, just about, and there was much schmoozing and cruising, and even a little freestyle. Bobo_Dreams has a few pictures up and the rest we just don’t remember.

One sociological note: This gathering was kind of reminiscent of the old Cartoon Show parties Danny Hellman used to throw at Max Fish. It was a completely different generation of cartoonists, of course. At Danny’s show everyone worked for the New York Press or magazines, with maybe a few animators thrown in. This gang works on the web or in comics. Also, unless we missed some assistant editor we don’t know, there was no one from Marvel or DC — in the olden days you’d see a few mainstream adventurers at indie gatherings.

There were, however, lots of people from the book world. This is the third or fourth generation of cartoonists who grew up and didn’t think that working at a mainstream comics publisher was the epitome of a career in comics. They seem to have fewer and fewer yearnings in that direction. A page rate is nice, but they take creative control for granted. Web to book deal/graphic novel is the new career path. In fact several people were hinting at new book deals, so the river is still moving with no signs of a drought…or even a slow down, really.

1 COMMENT

  2. Very apropos that Jason Little is featured in this pic when you discuss this web-to-book deal paradigm.

    For me, reading BEE on his website in 2002ish in glorious full-color, with his greyscale/2color/4color options for print weeklies (and rolling it together into a hardcover) seems just about the best method to get your UNTOUCHED work read and enjoyed I’d ever seen. Years ago, Jason took his covered wagon across a rubbly plain that the rest of us knucklehead creators and publishers are just now figuring out.