Friday, August 1, 2008

Lynda Barry San Diego 2008

My absolute favorite 2008 San Diego convention moment was getting my copy of What It Is signed by Lynda Barry.

Lynda's panel (which was in a big room and had a big crowd, I'm happy to report) was on Friday and it was one of the best panels I've ever been to. For anyone who was at that panel who was unfamiliar with her comic work (or her novels), I know they were still highly entertained by Lynda Barry's stage presence and one would easily think she's moonlighted as a stand up comic. She started by introducing herself by singing some lines from Coal Miner's Daughter, albeit with some altered lines to reflect her life growing up and she closed by singing a song without opening her mouth (I hope that these two bits somehow end up on youtube)!
On Sunday I made sure that I'd get my book signed by Lynda Barry and tell her how much I loved her work so I went over to the Drawn & Quarterly booth (the publisher of What It Is) and stood in line. She was very gracious to all of the people in line getting their books signed, but she seemed especially nice to me as I think she sensed what a huge fan of her work I am. I've been to a lot of conventions and have met a lot of comic book creators (most of them are really nice and appreciative of their fans), but I'd have to say that my face to face time with Lynda Barry will be amongst my very top memories of the people I've talked to within the comic book community. After talking to her I was on a high for the rest of the day!

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