by Sebastien Plante
In an interesting mix of events, The Beguiling in Mirvish Village was hosting a booksigning by webcomic artist/writer Chris Onstad on Tuesday, November the 4th during the USA Federal election. The booksigning was held next door at The Central – a regular meeting venue for Beguiling events – and was part meet and greet, part political throw down.
The event organizer, Christopher Butcher, informed me that though many of the author meets follow the more familiar format of Q&A followed by a book signing, the anticipation and response leading up to the event implied that there would be a modest showing, and opted for a simpler book signing only. The event drew far more numbers than expected, however, and the lineup ended outside on the sidewalk at its peak.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Chris Onstad and webcomics in general, Achewood is among the earlier popular webcomics to have become popular. Launching back in October, 2001, the comic began picking up momentum a few years later when the various anthropomorphic animals and robots of the story started getting into more and more surreal adventures. Over the years, Onstad has also written various blogs and a cookbook, all written from the perspective of, or at least within the universe of the various Achewood characters. As a result, Onstad has successfully both focused almost entirely on Achewood and its characters while also avoiding being a one-trick pony.
In this incarnation, Onstad has been touring to promote his latest work The Great Outdoor Fight, a compilation of the story arc surrounding a 3,000 strong brawl that ran from January 25 to March 30, 2006. The original strip is available in the archives of the Achewood website, though the new book offers so much more, including various bonus materials such as the history of the fight and some recipes. Though The Fight itself mostly involved the strategizing of Ray and Roast Beef – two of the Achewood protagonists – as they tried to think their way through their own Thunderdome (and taking the time to debate the subtle differences between a fugue and a berserk), it did occasionally show the more gruesome, somewhat more badass side of the fight, including someone’s jaw being torn out and a standoff between our heroes and some gun-totin’ jeeps. For those unfamiliar with the Achewood legacy, The Great Outdoor Fight is an excellent starting point as understanding the various characters’ backgrounds and personalities is less crucial here.
The atmosphere of the event was rather strange; the crowd itself was very relaxed and patient to meet the author, sales were decent but casual, and the author had the time to chat with fans as they pleased. Meanwhile, fans having already gone through the line (as well as the organizer) occasionally checked in upstairs to the lounge area to see how the federal election was progressing. Eventually, the evening progressed and the line slowed down to only five or six deep, just as Colbert and Stewart bantered back and forth and were surprisingly unfunny in an uncharacteristic seriousness. The night ended with cheers and screams as Obama won, and soon after Onstad went upstairs to join the few stragglers who were alternatively discussing webcomics and American politics. When I spoke to Onstad later about the election, he told me that once you have children you become much more comfortable admitting to tearing up – something which he had done openly when he first heard of Obama’s victory.
When I spoke to him afterwards, as the event organizer packed up, I managed to ask him about his influences. He coyly admitted to me that he generally wasn’t one for comics, including and perhaps especially webcomics. The one comic which he had admitted to being an influence was Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware – which is less a comic per se and more a narrative piece d’art in book format – but otherwise admitted that largely he was influenced mostly in terms of story and characterization, and in that sense he was influenced all over, by many different books and authors.
I admit that I’ve never been one for booksigning events. They’re hard to cover as they’re typically little more than a bunch of people in line to speak to someone about why they think that that someone is worth reading. Things have to be pretty dramatic to be worth commenting on anything more than numbers and enthusiasm, or a damn good interview needs to follow. In this case, the event was interesting partly because the tiny intimate crowd, partly because the author had the time and the freedom to meet people as he desired, though mostly because so much was happening all at once and that all of it was equally interesting. I suspect the world of literature in general could become far more exciting if more of such events were concurrently organized with another event to encourage more cross-talk.
Link to episode #1 of the Great Outdoor Fight
http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/uua3gFZWq
Beguiling’s Promo
http://www.beguiling.com/2008/11/final-reminder-achewood-signing-tues.html#links
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