So… I Spent All My Signing Money on Jae Lee
So I went to a signing this weekend with a pocket full of money.
I came home without the money.
Jae Lee has the money now.
And honestly? Worth it. 😂
I got a chance to actually hang out and talk with Jae for a bit, and he's an awesome dude. Turns out he lives right here in Vegas, which immediately got the comic-shop-owner wheels turning in my head.
Then we figured out we had something else in common — we both went to The Art Institute. I went for Media Arts & Animation, eventually took a completely logical career path that somehow ended with me owning a comic shop, and Jae took the slightly more successful route of becoming Jae freaking Lee.
Naturally, I told him all about the shop.
I also told him we're changing the name to Issues.
He didn't like it.
😂😂😂
Thanks, Jae.
So apparently I now have two missions:
1. Convince everyone that Issues is a great name.
2. Convince Jae Lee that Issues is a great name.
But seriously, one of the things I'm trying to do with this shop is make it more than just a place where you walk in, buy your books and leave. There are some insanely talented people in the comic industry right here in Vegas, and I'd love to find ways to bring more of that into the shop.
And Jae is absolutely somebody I'd love to work with.
If you're somehow a comic fan who doesn't know his career, the dude has been doing this for decades.
He broke into Marvel incredibly young and made a name for himself on Namor, then went on to work on books like Inhumans, The Sentry, Fantastic Four, Batman/Superman, Before Watchmen: Ozymandias and Stephen King's The Dark Tower, along with a ridiculous number of covers and projects for Marvel, DC and other publishers.
His work on Inhumans with Paul Jenkins won an Eisner Award, and his art is one of those styles where you don't even need to see the name on the cover.
You just know it's Jae Lee.
Heavy shadows. Crazy lighting. Huge compositions. Everything looks like it belongs framed on a wall.
Which probably explains where all my signing money went.
So Jae, if you happen to read this:
I love your work. I'd love to do something together at the shop someday.
And I'm sorry…
We're probably still calling it Issues. 😂