It's been a week of lectures. Today, Bunny and I drove down to the Miami Book Fair [1] to attend Scott McCloud's [2] lecture on comic trends [3].
[Scott McCloud by Bunny—she has a much better camera than I] [4] >
The one thing that struck me about seeing Scott McCloud—his glasses aren't opaque [5]. Second, he's going grey. Third, he's a funny guy (while waiting for the technicians to finish up so he could start his lecture, he asked the audience who was the most forgettable President. No answer was correct because if you named a President, he wasn't forgettable. Um … perhaps you had to have been there).
While the topic pretty much covered the territory in his book Reinventing Comics [6], there was still enough new material to make it fresh, especially with comics that have come out since the book was published in 2000.
And since he was speaking at a book fair he tended to emphasize the innovations that were (or needed to) happen in the print media, although he did touch upon some innovative web comics.
[He included the obligatory three exclaimation points when signing DESTROY!!!] [7]
(photo by Bunny)
After the lecture, he held a book signing. I brought along copies of Understanding Comics [8], Reinventing Comics [9] and Making Comics [10], but given the line behind me, I decided to have him sign DESTROY!!: The Loudest Comic Book in the Universe!!! [11], an oversized comic book he did in 1986 of two superheroes slugging it out in New York City. He was quite amused to learn I had a copy of it.
[1] http://www.miamibookfair.com/
[2] http://www.scottmccloud.com/
[3] http://smccloud.livejournal.com/18274.html
[4] /boston/2008/11/15/scott.mccloud.jpg
[5] /boston/2008/11/15/opaque-glasses.jpg
[6] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060953500/conmanlaborat-20
[7] /boston/2008/11/15/scott.and.me.jpg
[8] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006097625X/conmanlaborat-20
[9] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060953500/conmanlaborat-20
[10] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060780940/conmanlaborat-20
[11] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000M14TU4/conmanlaborat-20
![[4] /boston/2008/11/15/scott.mccloud.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2008/11/15/scott.mccloud.jpg){kind=link}
![[5] /boston/2008/11/15/opaque-glasses.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2008/11/15/opaque-glasses.jpg){kind=link}
![[7] /boston/2008/11/15/scott.and.me.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2008/11/15/scott.and.me.jpg){kind=link}