Long Weekends

Last Updated on Monday, 6 July 2009 08:28 Written by Scott Wegna Monday, 6 July 2009 06:46

Why is it that holiday weekends, which in theory give me more time to relax, leave me more exhausted than weekends that I spend 3/4 of my time catching up on work? I hope everybody in the States had an excellent 4th of July and drank and ate more than they should have. I think I went into a red meat coma at some point Saturday evening and if I don’t see another steak tip or hot dog for a very long time that will be okay.

I think part of what was so tiring was that large portions of my weekend were spent with people I didn’t know. On the 3rd and the 4th we spent several hours at parties where we knew the folks who had invited us but no one else. In both cases we had a really good time, but being on your best behavior like that for two days can really tucker a guy out.

Weekends are a funny thing when you do a job that you love more than almost anything else. They sort of suck. Of course I love getting to spend time with my family. And I always end up putting in a few hours at the drafting table every weekend. But I never feel like I get to work as much as I want to. It’s kind of like being a little kid on summer vacation all the time. You just want to play in your sandbox all the time, but you keep getting interrupted by visiting grandparents, and that annoying kid from down the block who you don’t really like, but your mom makes you play with anyway.

That feeling of “leave me alone so I can sit here making my little stories” was particularly strong this weekend, coming off two weeks of Widget Gone Wild -which is what I call that annoying period between the end of school and the beginning of summer camp. The fact that it rained for that entire time compounded the suck-factor. As a result I got 7 pages of Robo 3.5 done instead of the 12 I had hoped for. So this weekend I was chomping at the bit to get some work done and was quite shocked to learn that there was a third day tacked on because of the holiday. (That’s another funny thing about working for yourself -no paid holidays ever so you don’t keep track of when other people may have some arbitrary day off.) But we had a great weekend as  family and yesterday I put in a solid bunch of hours and got an eighth page completed.

So that’s all cool.

On a not so cool note, I made the mistake of letting slip that I hold opinions about other people’s comic books in a public forum again. I can never figure out where I come down on this. What I mean is -should a “professional” (and I use that term very lightly) express their opinions about specific books they may or may not like? Generally I try to praise the stuff I dig, and say nothing about the books I don’t like. It’s just basic manners. Nothing good to say? Then don’t say anything.

But sometimes we do say something, and for whatever reason, what we say is examined with far more scrutiny than if Joe Blow Comic Book Reader had said it. Evan Dorikin (the grumpiest -and therefore most entertaining- man in comics) was roasted alive on Twitter just last week for commenting on the RAMPANT ballot stuffing that goes on with the Harvey Awards. “Do you have fifteen friends and an email address? Then you too can get nominated for a Harvey.” And he’s absolutely correct. The worst part of all of that (and Dorkin said this himself) is that many great books get legitimate nominations and their accomplishment is cheapened by that sort of thing.

Hell, Dorkin’s comments were even noted on CBR’s Robot6 blog, as was one of my own joking comments about having  ” . . .voted for NASCAR HEROES #5 47 times.” All in all, it was a weird thing to observe -I agreed 105% with everything Evan was saying, but at the same time there was no way I’d ever have the balls (or disregard) to say them out loud. But Twitter is a funny thing -it feels private like IM, or semi-private anyway. but you have no idea who is watching you. Good lesson in that.

Now what I said this weekend was a little different in that it was directed at a specific comic and one particular creator. I wasn’t specifically nasty I don’t think. But I was petty. I do have a grudge against this person/book and without thinking I kinda made it public. But I apologized for it. And I’m glad I apologized while at the same time I resent the fuck out of feeling like I had to. I’m allowed to hate whatever comics I want to hate for whatever reasons I want, aren’t I? Sigh. But I recognize that I occupy a position that 99% of the comic book community does not and for better or worse my words, at times, can carry more weight than they deserve.

At the end of the day though what bothered me about the whole things was that the person who said to me that maybe I was being a bit too harsh was a fan of both the book I was ragging on and Atomic Robo.  And what I said has no doubt altered this person’s perceptions of me, and by extent, Atomic Robo. The one thing I care most about in this world.

. . .well okay, Wife, Widget, and Robo are the most important things in my life. Fine.

Speaking of the Widget I’ve gotta go -she starts camp in an hour and I need to get her ready! Later!

PS: Before anyone asks, No I will not be sharing a link to my stupid comments.

RANDOM SPLENDOR

Popularity: 12%