For those who know not of this event, "100% Cotton" occurs after the convention hall has dimmed its lights. It's billed as a no-holds barred discussion lead by Wizard editor Mike Cotton and featuring DC Artist-Supreme Ethan Van Sciver. It also features a cash bar, which is just one of the aspects that makes this a particularly unusual event for a comic book convention.
I entered the room to the musical stylings of the multi-talented Van Sciver, as he banged away on a piano. Throughout the two hours, Van Sciver would break into song during the natural lulls that occur in any good conversation. The music was a mixture of song parody and Lite FM versions of Limp Bizkit and it was all entertaining.
The highlight of the evening, however, was that "no-holds barred discussion" that certainly lived up to its billing. It was a fascinating insight into not just the comic book industry, but also into the mind of a great artist. The event was sparsely attended, perhaps twenty or so people, but that only helped the intimate setting.
Mike Cotton proved himself an excellent host, affable and clearly enjoying himself as he led Van Sciver into atypical convention topics such as Van Sciver's conservative leanings and his stance on health care. What really caught my attention was Van Sciver's insight into the workings of the industry today. I had heard tell of "creative summits" held by DC and Marvel, days of power meetings used to steer the storytelling for the next year. What shocked me was the revelation that these meetings were for writers and editors only - no artists. Van Sciver's frustration with this was obvious and he discussed the role of the artist in the creative process, how an image created by an artist can be the catalyst that springs the mind of the writer into untold directions. I know from personal experience just how true this. While developing Shadowknight, the real magic didn't start to happen until the talented Ariel Aguirre showed me what Grace (the main character) looked like. Sadly, Gracie never made it into "a comic shop near you," but I will always be grateful to Ariel for teaching me about the power of collaboration, particulary in comics.
Comic books are a unique medium. The balance between image and text makes for a wonderfully immersive storytelling experience, and one shouldn't hold sway over the other. The 90's saw a wild swing over to artistry in comic books, and the storytelling suffered. The 00's may have proved to be something of an over-correction if artists like Ethan Van Sciver are being locked out of the storytelling process during its most critical junctures, such as these summits.
One of the funnier rants involved Van Sciver's criticism of characters like Ghost Rider and of Marvel's "flexibility" in the rules of its universe, citing how the Spiderman storyline "One More Day" should have resulted in Spiderman becoming a Ghost Rider like figure - he described what his "Ghost Spider" would look like and it's an image the world needs to see. He then went on to describe how he would conceive Ghost Rider. I won't spoil it here in case he ever gets the chance to bring this to life, but I will say this: he approached the character the way a good writer would - by focusing on the character's conflict and clearly identifying what makes him tick, further proof that DC might want to reconsider it policies regarding these creative summits.
It was an entertaining and informative two hours. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would stay for the whole event, but the two hours passed so quickly that I was a little sad when it ended. And now I'm torn...clearly "100% Cotton" gets two big thumbs up from me, but I fear that my glowing review will lead to a packed house next time (assuming more than my usual four readers actually read this...) and spoil the casual un-"convention"-al atmosphere of this most excellent event.
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