Beau Smith, Middleweight Champ Of Image Comics

by Beau Smith

Love/hate relationships are strange. For many years I had one with working conventions for the various publishers and companies that I worked for: Eclipse Comics, Image Comics, McFarlane Toys, Todd McFarlane Productions, and IDW Publishing. The Love/Hate part was working the booth.

Working the booth started with making sure everything got to the convention site, dealing with what didn’t, setting up the booth and displays, greetings and meetings through the convention, selling merchandise, doing panels, and tearing down the booth when the show was done.

Beau Smith with the infamous Eclipse Neon Sign 1988

I did this a lot and for a lot of years (1987 through 2000), sometimes twice a month traveling all over the country. I loved the excitement building up to the show and that same excitement was the fuel that helped build the booth and set up the displays. Also keep in mind that I was younger then. It was always a thrill to be setting up your booth and see all your friends and rivals there setting up their booths. By rivals I mean friendly ones. That’s the way it was during the pre-internet-had to pick a side days. I can remember many a time helping the competition set up their booths and them doing the same for me. That was really helpful when not all of us that worked for the same company got in town at the same time. I always liked to get in early to head off any potential problems that may come up. When I worked for Eclipse Comics we had this beautiful, large neon sign that said “Eclipse Comics” and no matter how well Cat Yronwode and Dean Mullaney would pack it, it almost always got to the convention busted in some way. After a while, Dean would pack replacement parts with it and I learned where all the shops in that town were that fixed neon signs. I ended up learning more about neon signs that I ever thought I would.

Image Comics Days 1994

In the early days, the booths were pretty simple. Sometimes it was a couple of tables and a few stand up displays. As time marched on and the companies and conventions got bigger, so did the booths. While with Image Comics during their glory days, we had to hire professionals to come in and construct our “booths”. (They were more like mini-cities at that point.) I think about some of the contraptions that we had during those days and my head almost explodes. Some of you may even remember the huge rocket ship-like display that Extreme Studios had. It was eye-popping and amazing. Folks loved stepping into it and checking it out. Hell, I was always like a little kid and I had been in it a bunch of times.

Todd McFarlane & his henchman Beau Smith At Toy Fair

One year at Todd McFarlane Productions/McFarlane Toys, we literally had an underground town as our display. It was an enclosed maze system that displayed all our Spawn stuff as well as the current line of McFarlane Toys. Please remember, we also had the real-life Spawn Mobile as well. Al Simmons used to haul that thing all over the country all year round. Lucky for me, by that time I was VP of Marketing for Image and McFarlane, so I didn’t have to dirty my hands with the manual labor part anymore. I had a ton of “important” meetings to attend to. I have to admit, even I got caught up a little in the rock-star atmosphere of the times. Unlike a lot of my fellow employers and employees, I understood that this wouldn’t last forever (and it didn’t).

The 1990’s were some very wild times in comics/toys. Things were growing so very fast then and this was all pre-internet. I can’t imagine what the landscape would’ve been like if we had today’s technology at the same time when 50,000 copies sold were a reason to cancel a book. During those times, I loved traveling all over and not having to worry about setting up the booths and taking them down. But I hated the fact that as an industry, we were starting to lose some of that camaraderie that truly made all of us in comics a family. Everyone’s time became less and less. It was wasted for the most part with useless meetings on when to have the next useless meeting. There were more distractions than tank tops and short shorts at Hooter,s only not quite as pleasant.

I started finding myself missing tearing down the booth with the only worry being getting everything packed up and on a truck (and how much cash to slip the union guy).

Young Ted Adams Pre-IDW Publishing 1990

After I left Todd McFarlane Productions because things were just getting too big, I got my wish for the simple life in my next job as VP of Marketing with IDW Publishing. I found myself back with a company that had about five people working for it and we had one book, The Art Of Ashley Wood. The booth was once again small and just a few of us could set it up. Everything was back to being grassroots and I have to say, it was nice. It was like my electrical plug had been found and shoved back into the AC outlet. Yes, we went through some very tough times, but we did it together and really enjoyed every accomplishment that came with it because you knew you worked hard to get it. IDW CEO- Ted Adams and I got to do what we did when both of us started out at Eclipse Comics and it felt great. Ted had partnered up with Robbie Robbins, Kris Oprisko, and Alex Garner, all of whom he worked with while at Wildstorm Studios, and it wasn’t long before IDW started to grow strong. That’s very evident today as IDW has just become a Premiere Publisher with Diamond Distribution.

I left IDW Publishing a few years ago to work on my freelance writing career. I still do some marketing within comics and the toy business on a freelance basis, but my main work is through writing these days. Granted, it doesn’t pay quite as much as when I was doing  marketing full time and writing part time, but life is what it is. That said, I must admit, a part of me does miss all the traveling, the company credit card, and never having to worry about paying for my meals, bar tab, and hotel. Okay. I admit it. I miss that part A LOT! I even miss setting up the booth and tearing it down a little. Not a lot, but a little. You never know when all of that will change. You may see me setting up a booth for another publisher again. I never rule anything out and listen to all offers. I may even be able to pay for the next round of beers as well. I’d like that. I’m guessing you would too.

Your amigo,

Beau Smith
The Flying Fist Ranch
www.flyingfistranch.com

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