Dinner (and Comics) for Five

Dinner (and Comics) for Five

Jul 08

Evan Dorkin has a nifty contest going wherein you must name the five comics-related folks you would like to have dinner with…and then the five who would “make for the worst night you can imagine.” Lots of interesting responses in both categories — so much so that Evan added a postscript asking people to please keep it civil (why is this always necessary, fellow fanpeople? Don’t we ever learn?).

Anyway, I decided not to enter the contest (I can’t quite bring myself to answer the second part of the question!), but putting together a Dinner for Five-type list is so simultaneously delicious and painful that I must at least do that part. This is not necessarily a “five favorite creators of all time” type of thing, but rather, who I want to have dinner with RIGHT NOW. This list would probably be different if I were to write it next month or even later tonight. Feel free to share your own picks in the comments (or go enter Evan’s contest and then post here as well).

Marc Andreyko: I am on a serious Manhunter kick — SERIOUS! I don’t think there’s another superhero series out there right now that blends solid, non-whiny interpersonal drama with good old-fashioned action-adventuring as well as this one does. Kate Spencer is great, the supporting cast is great, the slightly skewed perspective on the DCU is great. But beyond all that, what really gets Mr. Andreyko the nod is his MySpace photo and the fact that he isn’t afraid to use a smiley-face emoticon in his profile. (Also, it says he wants to meet “people who read Manhunter!” That must mean me!)

Lynda Barry: Not only is Lynda Barry completely brilliant, she just exudes…niceness. I can’t think of a less dippy way to put it. I found her thanks to that touchstone of my teenaged years, Sassy, and have followed her ever since. A while back, I ordered one of her “100 Poses of Marlys” pieces and included a probably-weird fan letter and she wrote me this really sweet missive in return (in which she apologized for the piece taking “so dang long”). Others have experienced this niceness as well. I’m sure she’d have tons of fascinating insights of her own to share, but I also imagine her being wonderfully, genuinely curious about what the other dinner guests would have to say.

Gail Simone: So funny! So effortlessly cool! Well, at least that’s the impression I get from the Comic-Con Q&A a couple years back and pretty much everything she does and says on the internets. Like this. And this. And this, which made me a diehard fan in the first place. Oh, and there’s all the awesome comics writing she does. That’s pretty cool, too! Also, I have MANY QUESTIONS to ask her about the new Secret Six series.

Neil Gaiman: I was quite the little pseudo-goth Sandman fangirl in high school and college and I still buy everything he puts out there, but what really gets him the nod is an incident circa ’99-ish, wherein I went to his signing at The Other Change of Hobbit in Berkeley. The Other Change of Hobbit is not a big store. In fact, it is charmingly tiny. That day, it was packed to the gills with geeks of every stripe — smooshed together on the floor, lined up against the walls, dog-eared Dream trades in hand. So Neil gets up there and a dude sitting right smack dab in the middle of the floor blurts out: “Will you say ‘wanker’? It’s always FUNNY when British people say ‘wanker.'” So what does Neil say, without missing a beat? “Don’t be a wanker.”

Hope Larson: I just bought Chiggers. I was pretty in love with her work already, thanks to Gray Horses, but Chiggers really, really sealed the deal. There’s summer camp and nerdy girls and cute boys who woo via D&D. And the art just has this beautiful, emotive quality that works in perfect tandem with the words. I also don’t know much about her beyond her work, so I would love the opportunity to ask questions about her inspirations and such (and also find out if she’s tried the new D&D 4th edition rules!).

How’s that for a Five? And who would YOU choose?