Just a Tad Nervous...

So it's no big secret that I like to write—it's a bit of an ego-trip for any writer to see their byline in print. It's likewise no big secret that I'm a comic book fan, though I've moved from the mainstream superhero genre that rules the Marvel and DC universes into much more darker and off-color graphic novels and story lines. Everything pales in comparison to Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and for those who know my spending habits well enough, against my better judgment of saving my rebate check, I will be spending it on these marvelous statue bookends of my favorite fictional characters ever, Dream and Death.



In short, combine the two together, my love of writing and of comic books, and there you go, it's a match perfectly made for me. So in my quest of working on this perfect marriage, I'm keeping an eye out for anything comic book-related in the media, which is actually no small matter since there's become a big craze lately about all things superhero: March 10th's The New Yorker had a "Reflections" piece by Michael Chabon about superheroes, and the New York MET will be running an exhibit about superheroes influencing fashion from May through September. Books keep coming out about the medium (i.e., David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, who will be speaking at the Brattle Theater on Thursday, April 3rd, at 6pm, sponsored by The Harvard Bookstore) and Art New England just ran a feature about the beginnings of graphic novels in their February/March 08 issue, so now's my time to shine, right? I just need to nail a few pieces about the genre and then I'll be on my way...to what though?

I remember when my biggest dream was working for DC or Marvel when I grew up—I didn't know in what capacity. I suppose it would have been as an editor or writer, since that's my thing now, but is that the direction I'm going in? I have an interview with Hellboy (pictured below) creator, Mike Mignola (who will be at the ICA also on Thursday, April 3rd, at 6:30pm), in an hour, for a Q&A in the March 27th edition of The Boston Phoenix and I'm scared. Yes, I did the research, have my questions, know my stuff, but I can't help feeling nervous and downright scared. I suppose not about the interview so much, but about where I'm actually going and what my future goals are. I don't know anymore...I just don't know. But hell, as scared as I am, boy are the possibilities exciting.