Anyone going to see JMS this weekend?!?

[B5sweepsfan]

ARRRGHHH!!!

JMS will be four hours from me this weekend!!! I told my hubby and he's raring to go...my kids will be miserable. Oh well!!

Only problem is...according to the schedule (unless I missed it) the only speaking he will be doing, minus the comics forums, is Friday at noon. There's no way I can get off work for that...all the rest are signing sessions.

He's supposed to be making a MAJOR announcement...I can't stand it. If anyone goes and gets any dirt, they have absolutely got to let us know!!!

Individual day tickets are $10 and 3 day passes are $25.

What would just be icing on the cake....SIGH... Peter Jurasik lives about 2 more hours out from Charlotte than me...if he just so happened to popup, life would be wonderful....I'm not holding my breath....but I can cross my fingers!! And take his book for him to sign just in case he does....

[Jan]

Well...as of this afternoon it looks like I'll be there. I'm driving up from Florida so I'll also miss JMS's Friday session but I'll be there in time for the panel he's in with Joe Quesada.

I must be insane...I hate driving. But with news as exciting as 'Changeling' I want to congratulate him personally.

Jan

[vacantlook]

Grr! I'll be in Charlotte next weekend for a wedding. If only the two were the same weekend!

[Ninja_Squirrel]

I was there. I'll fill you in...

I live in Winston-Salem, NC, so this is the closest that JMS has ever come, as far as I know. Charlotte's only 1.5 hours away for me, and it was worth taking the day off work to go hear his talk.

The line for his talk serpentined about a large walkway and balcony area. The door to the room was apparently locked up until the last minute. Something that was amusing to myself and a few guys standing near me was that JMS got in the back of his own line. He could have walked up to the front of the line and stood by the door until it was unlocked. I don't know if he got in the back out humility or if it just made sense that things couldn't start without him so why not be the last one in, or both. It just looked funny seeing the guest speaker of an event be in the back of his own line. Anyway...

Early on in the talk he did have some cryptic Babylon 5 news that he could only refer to, secretly, with a sound effect that might be something you'd hear from a baby elephant ("pffvvvv"). He did give one detail that narrowed down what "pffvvvv" could be, but I can't remember if he said to keep that under wraps or not, so I will, just in case.

He also let slip a couple hints about future comic book developments, but he did specifically say not to spread that around, so I won't embellish there either.

Other than the opening news about possible B5 stuff ("pffvvvv") and the Changeling script that he sold to Ron Howard, the entire two hours were driven by a question-and-answer format, or more accurately, a question-and-storytelling format. The questions bounced back and forth between Babylon 5 and his comics. Almost all the comics questions were related to Amazing Spider-Man or comic book writing in general. Probably less than half a dozen questions were regarding Rising Stars or Squadron Supreme. I don't remember a single question about Midnight Nation or Jeremiah. Only one or two questions were about Crusade. One question was about his early cartoon writing like He-Man and Ghostbusters.

Many of the stories and behind-the-scene tidbits he told were ones that have been told before either online or in the B5 script books, but it was still cooler to hear them in person. He's admitted online and in the script books that he's shy and doesn't like public speaking, but you wouldn't know it, because he was excellent at it. I think he's written that he has "tricks" that allow him to get through public speaking, so maybe re-telling familiar stories is one of those tricks.

There was one time in the whole two hours in which he had trouble finding the right words. Someone asked if he'd ever tell about the adventures of G'Kar & Lyta. He said that would never happen since Andreas has passed away. It's obvious from what happened with tMoS that no other actors will play pre-existing B5 characters. So, the person clarified their question, inquiring if we could ever get more about G'Kar & Lyta in a novel or comic book format. You could tell JMS is still taking Andreas's death hard, and he was eventually able to make it clear that with Andreas gone forever, G'Kar is also gone forever, in every shape and form. It's unfortunate that such a great character is gone like that, but it's also incredibly appropriate and respectful of him to treat G'Kar and Andreas with such reverance.

I'm very shy myself, so I didn't ask a question. I had almost worked up the nerve to ask a question about Crusade when someone beat me to it. JMS said that Crusade was really meant to be a TV show, so the only way we'd get it is if it's picked up again somehow. So, I guess a Crusade novel or comic book line is out of the question. He didn't elaborate, but my guess is that the mood of the Crusade story wouldn't be the same without live action and music.

I really enjoyed the talk. It was not only funny and informative, but JMS can also be inspiring too. He talked a lot about pursuing passions and doing with your life what you love to do.

Between the talk and the signing session, I went to get something to eat & drink from a coffee stand. About 40 feet away I saw JMS at a concession stand too. I was almost tempted to go buy something from that concession stand instead so I could talk to him, but he walked away right before I could have approached him without seeming stalkerish. I haven't had many opportunities in my life to meet famous people, so it was somewhat surreal to know that the person whose brain contains a million-year history of an entire fictional universe portrayed in what is my all-time favorite TV show -- was 40 feet away buying what I think was a fruit smoothie.

I'm not sure it was a fruit smoothie, but I recall the concession stand having some Hawaiian frills about it, so I'm assuming the drink was fruity. Regardless, my brain will now always make a weird connection between B5 and fruit drinks. Surreal.

[vacantlook]

Thanks for the recap/review/thing Ninja_Squirrel.

[FuryPilot]

Thanks for being our Ninja, Squirrel.

Something tells me that if he gave a hint about the B5 project in an uber-public forum like a con, you *can* tell us here. Especially if he didn't go "shhhhhhh" or some such right after saying it. But if you don't feel comfortable sharing then good on ye.

Question: did he say "baby elephant" or was that your interpretation of the sound? Inquiring minds and all that...

Because if he specifically said "baby elephant" in relation to B5 -- then one interpretation would be that because B5 was a television series, the "baby elephant" B5 would be a mini-series. I don't know if that makes sense, in the real world, but that's what keyed in my brain.

Thanks, off to throw axes and shoot arrows for the weekend.

Cheers!

FuryPilot

[vacantlook]

I've already "Hmm"ed about the possibility of this new B5y mystery being mini-seriesish once several days ago. I'm wondering if I should really try to keep my hopes from getting up that maybe, finally, there truly is something of some weight new coming down the pipe B5ish and just make myself expect something really tiny.

[Jan]

I was there, too.

Hi, Ninja! Sorry we didn't have a chance to meet yesterday. Are you going to the con today? I was the one who teased JMS about the number of posts archived here at JMSNews.com so if you come today please look me up and introduce yourself. It was nice meeting with one of the posters from the moderated newsgroup (you here, RC of NC?)

I didn't know the part about JMS getting in the back of the line. I was in the front and saw him when he arrived. He asked me by signs if the door was locked and I confirmed. He was about to go get somebody to open the doors but another man in line had already gone to the con folks so we called him back. When a lady came and opened the doors I asked him, again by gestures, if he wanted to go first and he didn't. This was the first time I've seen him where somebody didn't introduce him.

FP, there were a couple of things that he mentioned that he *did* ask that people not put on the nets. I think one of them was about the format of the B5 thing described by sound effect. No, I don't think he said 'baby elephant', but it was a distinctive sound effect. Unfortunately my recorder ate the tape practically just as the session was starting. I've got a back-up for today, though.

As Ninja said, JMS made it clear that any stories about G'Kar will now be left untold. He said that the character is 'gone'. It was hard for him to say. Another question was about the fate of Lennier and he hinted that we might possibly learn something about that in the 'pthffft' project-no promises.

He certainly sounds busy. I'd asked him about the publishing schedule for Book of Lost Souls and he said that it would be going back to monthly or every 6 weeks in the future. In addition, of course, he'd been working on 'The Changeling', the 'pthffft' B5 project, the Touchstone TV project and the rest of the comics.

He did mention that he'd just come back from a retreat at Marvel and that they'd planned out the coming year's comics. There's something coming up with Fantastic Four that he seems very pleased about. He has a panel with Joe Quesada of Marvel today so we may learn more then.

One other fun thing I noticed was that when JMS arrived for his autograph session, he took a picture of the line waiting for him.

Sorry I didn't report in last night. I drove up overnight from Orlando and my body isn't happy about the lack of sleep and food so when I got to my hotel, I just kind of dropped. It was a fun day, though, and I'm looking forward to today.

Jan

[AmyG]

One other fun thing I noticed was that when JMS arrived for his autograph session, he took a picture of the line waiting for him.

Haven't we seen him do that before, Jan? I can't remember where, but I swear I can precisely picture him doing that (and since both times I saw him, you were there, too...).

[Jan]

If so, I don't remember it, Amy. I was thinking that the reason he did it here was because the line was strung out down a long hall. At Wizard we were all in those 'people mover' corrals and at Hawthorne we were out the door into the school hallway.

Jan

[frulad]

Thanks for the updtaes Ninja Squirell and Jan!

[phazedout]

JMS Talk

Aaron over at sci-fi dig apparently recorded most fo the two hour talk JMS gave, it's down as part 1 and 2 of sci-fi dig episode 64.
webstie is here
Phaze
on the "recording phazecast #1 in about 15 minutes" ID

[AmyG]

Aaron over at sci-fi dig apparently recorded most fo the two hour talk JMS gave, it's down as part 1 and 2 of sci-fi dig episode 64.
webstie is here

Thanks, phazedout. So much for JMS keeping that secret B5 stuff quiet...

[Ninja_Squirrel]

Hi, Ninja! Sorry we didn't have a chance to meet yesterday. Are you going to the con today? I was the one who teased JMS about the number of posts archived here at JMSNews.com so if you come today please look me up and introduce yourself. It was nice meeting with one of the posters from the moderated newsgroup (you here, RC of NC?)

Hi, Jan. When you spouted off a few JMS statistics by memory, I thought you might be "thee" Jan.

I was in the aisle seat directly two rows behind you. The guy right in front of you, the one JMS said had "the power of the shorts" when he fixed the feedback problem by unplugging an extra microphone, is the older brother of a friend of mine from high school. When I went to talk to him afterwards, I got the impression he didn't remember me though.

The con was pretty much a one-day thing for me, only about five hours in fact. I'm just barely into comic books. Collected X-Men in the early '90's and have followed Amazing Spider-Man ever since JMS started writing it. I'm not much for buying individual issues, so I often wait until several issues are released together in graphic novel format.

Anyway, because of all that, I found the rest of the con not too interesting--just rack after rack, box after box, stack after stack of comic books. I really only went to listen to JMS's talk and get his autographs.

I even ended up being within about 10 feet of Rosario Dawson a couple times by accident, but for the life of me, I can't think of a single movie I've seen her in (yeah, not even Sin City). So, even that wasn't a thrill for me.

It was worth getting the day off work, 3.25 hours on the road, and spending money on admission & parking just to hear JMS. I wish he'd come to Charlotte more often (or Greensboro, or Raleigh).

What other titles does JMS write right now? I know Squadron Supreme (I have the first two issues of that). Wasn't he going to write for F4 and Silver Surfer? Also, did he ever finish Rising Stars? I have the first two graphic novel volumes, but I've never found the final volume.

[Joansie]

I am right now listening to JMS on that podcast. I have a question. Is he like this at all the con's? He sounds like this deal with Ron Howard has made him giddy with happiness or am I wrong and sounds like this all the time.