ACTOR -- THE AMAZING THANKS PARTY
December 7, 2002
The first inclination here, in going to a party with an open bar on December 7, is to make a stupid joke that "it's a good night to get bombed." But maybe, after sixty-one years of someone saying that at a party held on this date, it's time to move on. So I'll do that and resist the lame, easy joke.
At any rate, I did go to a free party on December 7. It was a party put on by ACTOR: A Commitment to our Roots. If you're not familiar with ACTOR, it is "the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping comic book industry veterans."
Among ACTOR's Board of Directors are Mark Alessi, Joe Quesada, Jim Valentino, Mike Richardson, and the guy who invited me, WIZARD's Jim McLauchlin.
The party was called "The Amazing Thanks" party, just a fete to raise awareness of the organization and thank people who've donated and helped ACTOR in their almost-two years of existence. It was held at The Lounge at Astra, a smallish, chic bar inside the Pacific Design Center on Melrose Avenue in L.A., a cultural and archtiectural landmark in the West Hollywood area.
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Me and the girlfriend (attending her first comic book-related event, so I was a little nervous. Sure, this wouldn't be a comic con setting or anything, but you never know what to expect...like, maybe the Wizard Bunny would be running around or something else she'd be best sheltered from) headed over right around the time it started. In fact, driving over, the big boss called and said I was crazy for bringing here..."I wouldn't fuck you after bringing me to a comic book party." But I think he was just trying to make himself feel better for missing the party--he'd be editing JERSEY GIRL until late that night, and we could swing by after this party if we wanted.
The Lounge at Astra is a cool bar...inside this Pacific Design Center, it's mostly design firms with fancy furniture showrooms, an advertising agency, and some other businesses. But there's also a few foofy bars, too--the Lounge was one of those. I say that in a good way--it has this future-retro chic feel to it, like a bar of the future as envisioned by designers in the sixties.
Walking in, the first person we spotted that I recognized was Tone Rodriguez, artist of VIOLENT MESSIAHS and the upcoming SNAKE PLISSKEN book. Tone's pretty easy to recognize. But beyond that, it's tough to know who's around by appearance--comic creators are known by their work, not their face, so if you're not in WIZARD's Top Ten writer or artist list, I might have a tough time spotting you.
We settled in, grabbed a free drink (thanks, Van Gogh Vodka and Rogue Beer!) and found Jim McL. Said hi and talked a little, but Jim was kind of serving as the M.C. of the night, so he had to hang near the front and do a meet-and-greet. There was some ACTOR info right up front, a flyer and a couple samples of their wares (the Mike Oeming POWERS poster is especially nice), but other than a large drawing board at the front, you'd never know it was a comic book party. The board was for any attending artists to add their sketch, and the completed piece would be auctioned off for the charity.
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We sat down next to a group of guys from Top Cow (who had an additional reason to be there, as I learned later) and rapped for a while, while also taking full advantage of the numerous trays of appetizers that were trotted out. It's cool to me that the Web site actually gets nods of recognition now, and not just incredulous look and comments of "Movie WHAT Shoot?!?" We spent most of the time talking to Tomas Bar-or, an intern and hopeful artist who worked at the Cow. In fact, we then spent some of the night stumping for Thomas to get some background work. After all, Mark Sylvestri was there, and a couple of background artists were also in attendance. And, since they're looking for their own books, well, someone has to take their place, and Tomas, fresh out of art school and rarin' to go, seemed a good choice to us. And after he added a Darkness sketch to the page up front, it was clear he had some talent, too.
We talked to Mark a little, too, but man, he's a tall guy. Tallest in the room, for about 10 minutes. That was when Tyler Mane walked in. Tyler (Sabertooth in the X-MEN movie)...is maybe the biggest man I've ever seen. And a very nice guy to talk to, also. His girlfriend is a Top Cow employee (also pretty tall--I wondered if Sylvestri hires tall folk the same way the guy at Monk's Cafe in SEINFELD only hired girls with big breasts). Tyler and I rapped a little bit about Bryan Singer and these recent rumors in the New York Post. But more interestingly was the fact that, while not in X2, Mane is signed for two more X-sequels.
Christian Gossett (THE RED STAR) came by a little later, and we said hi. Jim got up and gave the status of what ACTOR has done so far, and, while it's a good start, I was hoping the number'd be higher--the charity could use a bit more help from all of us, I think. There's lots of guys who built this industry who could use some help.
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Josh Dysart showed up, as did Joe Casey, whose rock star vibe wasn't as evident tonight as most other times I've seen him (the sunglasses surprisingly didn't appear). I didn't get a chance to say "hey" -- I interviewed the guy a couple years ago and I don't think my attempts at joking made much headway, but regardless, I'd planned on making with the hellos, it just didn't happen. Still, the cool thing about the night was, it was just a nice, classy cocktail party. A cocktail party where it was okay to discuss comics and careers in that industry and not be met with rolling eyes. I know it sounds ridiculous to say, that people who work in the business are perfectly normal, but seeing enough comic cons and rabid message board postings from the fringe elements of fandom sometimes obscure that fact. It was a nice time--complete with even a little parting gift with some comics, a mini lunchbox, a Sock Monkey notebook and some other things. We ended up staying for the entire party, until around 9:30.
Checking in on JERSEY GIRL
From there, we headed over to the facility where Kevin was editing JERSEY GIRL. We got there around ten, and found he and Scott Mosier still in the middle of editing the flick. Scott soon took off, possibly because I asked about his conversion van (I recently watched the upcoming AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH DVD and a bit in there has Smith calling Mosier during one of the engagements to discuss Mosier's new conversion van). But probably just because it was ten on a Saturday night and they'd been editing all day.
Kevin hung in for a couple more hours--we rapped about the flick and various other things. But the girlfriend, who'd gotten to see about 45 minutes of JG when we were in Philly, couldn't really take it any more and just asked flat out if she could watch the rest. She fell in love with what she saw back in September, and is convinced more than ever now that Kevin's female fanbase is about to grow by about 200%. He obliged, and started us off with the scene where we do a little cameo--which, even for the couple seconds we appear, I have to say, is cool as hell.
I think this flick's gonna resonate more with us than others because we were there for some of the shoot, but regardless, and also regardless of the fact that he's my employer, the thing is gorgeous. It is, really beautiful, the colors rich and vibrant, and the shots themselves, the framing and what-not, all just add lustre to the thing. Finally, he has a flick that looks as good as it sounds--the visuals only do the words the justice I think they deserve. I know I've said this before, and I know I've raved about Affleck's performance before (and both of which have gotten people to accuse me of sucking up, but so what? I'm not lying to ingratiate myself or anything--I work for the guy because I think he's damn good at what he does, and this is a step beyond what's come before), but man, this flick kills me. His acting is so good, and the words, the interplay between the characters, are note-perfect. I've seen some performers' act kind of wilt under parenthood--Howie Mandel and Dana Carvey will never be what they once were--but being a parent, and a husband, has informed Smith's work with maturity and feeling that might have been there before but maybe got obscured by dick jokes. And while this thing still has its share of humor, the heart that's evident in almost every scene is pretty amazing. I'm watching this last night and feel like a parent, swelling with pride -- "That's my boss!"
However, that said...dammit, we still didn't get to see the end. The girlfriend is fairly dying at this point--she has to see how this ends. It's not the kind of movie that reading the script would do it justice, so I didn't offer her that option. She'll just have to wait. But it's coming together in a beautiful way, I have to tell you. Kevin said the release date might change, might be moved up, but we'll see. Still, they'll be ready to start testing it soon enough in 2003, so hopefully you'll be able to check it out soon (and keep your mouth shut after, you AICN reviewers--there's some bits that shouldn't be spoiled). Word of advice, guys--bring a date to see this flick, really.
For more information on ACTOR, go to www.actorcomicfund.org
Thanks to Jim McLauchlin and everyone else at ACTOR for the party.
Chris Ryall
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